Taliban say they took Panjshir, last holdout Afghan province

Afghan resistance front and anti-Taliban uprising forces patrol on a hilltop in Anaba district, Panjshir province. (AFP)
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Updated 07 September 2021
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Taliban say they took Panjshir, last holdout Afghan province

  • Continued fighting may lead to resurrection of various militant groups in Afghanistan, says Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff

KABUL: The Taliban said on Monday they have taken control of Panjshir province north of Kabul, the last holdout of anti-Taliban forces in the country and the only province the Taliban had not seized during their blitz across Afghanistan last month.

Thousands of Taliban fighters overran eight districts of Panjshir overnight, according to witnesses from the area who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a statement, saying Panjshir was now under the control of Taliban fighters.

“We tried our best to solve the problem through negotiations, and they rejected talks and then we had to send our forces to fight,” Mujahid later told a press conference in Kabul.

Pictures on social media showed Taliban members standing in front of the gate of the Panjshir provincial governor’s compound.

Taliban forces said had entered deep into Panjshir Valley on Sunday amid calls for a ceasefire from Afghan religious scholars.

Intense fighting between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan in Panjshir began last week, as US forces officially completed their withdrawal and ended a two-decade presence on Afghan soil.

For the past few days, Taliban forces and the resistance front, which comprises thousands of fighters from regional militias and Afghanistan’s former security forces, have been claiming battle gains. On Friday night, Taliban sources told the media they had seized the mountainous northern region, but resistance leaders quickly denied the claim. New advances were announced by the Taliban on Sunday, after heavy fighting reported a day earlier. A Taliban commander in Panjshir said fighters had entered deeper into the valley and taken control of new districts.

“Now Anaba and Rokha districts are under our control, mujahideen are gaining ground and they are moving to Bazarak,” the commander, Mawlawi Ezatullah Badr told Arab News from Panjshir. “Yesterday, we took Shotol district and now we have stopped the war, the enemy have suffered massive casualties.”

At the same time, the resistance front said the Taliban who had entered the valley were trapped by their forces.

“The Taliban were ambushed in several fronts in Shotol, Khawak and also Dara-e-Tang. During this operation, the Taliban suffered massive casualties and at least 1,600 Taliban fighters has surrendered to NRFA,” resistance commander Zemaray Ahmadyar said.

As the fighting continued, religious scholars who before the Taliban takeover were in the Kabul chapter of Afghanistan’s Ulema Council, called on both sides to return to negotiations.

“Ending the war is urgent, we need to speak with both sides,” the scholars said in a joint statement on Sunday. “This war is harmful to everyone, and it must be stopped immediately. We would continue to negotiate with both sides; first we would discuss this issue with the Taliban and then we would go to Panjshir.”

Earlier negotiations did not stop the fighting.

“We held negotiations, but they failed. The other side welcomed war rather than peace. Now the mujahideen are ordered to continue their offensive operations and we are close to the center of Panjshir,” said Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission.

Resistance front spokesperson Fahim Dashti said last week the Taliban had offered them a 50 percent share of power in Afghanistan, but the offer was declined.

Panjshir has a history of resistance. In the 1980s, its famed commander Ahmad Shah Massoud defended the region from Soviet forces, and in the 1990s led an offensive against the first Taliban regime. He was assassinated in 2001, weeks before the Taliban were ousted by a US-led invasion.

The resistance is led by Massoud’s son, Ahmad Massoud, and Amrullah Saleh, who until the Taliban takeover of Kabul and the collapse of the Afghan government over two weeks ago served as first vice president.

While seizing Panjshir would give the Taliban complete control of Afghanistan — something they did not achieve when they ruled the country between 1996 and 2001 — a top US general warned on Saturday that continued fighting may lead to a wider civil war and resurrection of various militant groups in Afghanistan.

“I think there’s at least a very good probability of a broader civil war,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with Fox News.

“That will then in turn lead to conditions that could lead to a reconstitution of Al-Qaeda or a growth of ISIS (Daesh).”

Afghanistan has been without a government since President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the Taliban entered Kabul on Aug. 15.

The power vacuum has thrown Afghanistan’s economy into disarray, as most payments to the country, which for the past two decades has depended on foreign aid, have been suspended.

Plans to unveil a new government were postponed as the Taliban waited for Panjshir to fall, sources say.


South Korea investigators attempt to arrest President Yoon

Updated 10 sec ago
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South Korea investigators attempt to arrest President Yoon

SEOUL: South Korean investigators entered the presidential residence early Friday seeking to arrest Yoon Suk Yeol, with the impeached leader’s die-hard supporters massing outside to protect him, AFP reporters saw.
Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is probing Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law, were let through heavy security barricades to enter the residence to attempt to execute their warrant to detain Yoon.
Yoon, who has already been suspended from duty by lawmakers, would become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.
Senior CIO prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan was seen entering the compound with other officials, according to AFP reporters.
Dozens of police buses and hundreds of uniformed police lined the street outside the compound in central Seoul, AFP reporters saw.
Some 2,700 police and 135 police buses have been deployed to the area to prevent clashes, the Yonhap news agency reported, after Yoon’s supporters faced off with anti-Yoon demonstrators Thursday.
Yoon has been holed up inside the residence since a court approved the warrant to detain him earlier this week, vowing to “fight” authorities seeking to question him over his failed martial law bid.
The embattled leader issued the bungled declaration on December 3 that led to his impeachment and has left him facing arrest, imprisonment or, at worst, the death penalty.
It was unclear whether the Presidential Security Service, which still protects Yoon as the country’s sitting head of state, would comply with investigators’ warrants.
Members of his security team have previously blocked attempted police raids of his presidential residence.
After staging chaotic protests Thursday, a handful of Yoon’s die-hard supporters, which include far-right YouTube personalities and evangelical Christian preachers, had camped outside his compound all night — some holding all-night prayer sessions.
“Illegal warrant is invalid” they chanted early Friday, as police and media gathered outside the residence.
“Yoon Suk Yeol, Yoon Suk Yeol,” they yelled, waving red glow sticks.
Yoon’s lawyer confirmed to AFP Thursday that the impeached leader remained inside the presidential compound.
Yoon’s legal team has filed for an injunction to a constitutional court to block the warrant, calling the arrest order “an unlawful and invalid act,” and also submitted an objection to the Seoul court that ordered it.
But the head of the CIO, Oh Dong-woon, has warned that anyone trying to block authorities from arresting Yoon could themselves face prosecution.
Along with the summons, a Seoul court issued a search warrant for his official residence and other locations, a CIO official told AFP.
South Korean officials have previously failed to execute similar arrest warrants for lawmakers — in 2000 and 2004 — due to party members and supporters blocking police for the seven-day period the warrants were valid.


Brazil examining black boxes from crashed Russia-bound plane

Updated 18 min 55 sec ago
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Brazil examining black boxes from crashed Russia-bound plane

BRASILIA: Brazil has started examining the black box recorders from a Brazilian-made jetliner that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people aboard, the air force said Thursday.
The Azerbaijan Airlines plane, an Embraer 190, crash-landed on Christmas Day as it flew to the Chechen capital Grozny in southern Russia.
The Brazilian air force said in a statement that the data from the recorders would be extracted and analyzed as soon as possible.
These devices captured cockpit dialogue and flight data from the plane. They are being examined by the Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center, a unit of the Brazilian air force.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has demanded that Moscow admit it mistakenly fired on the plane as it tried to make a scheduled landing at the Grozny airport.
Russia has not confirmed that one of its air-defense missiles hit the plane, though President Vladimir Putin told Aliyev in a phone call that the systems were active at the time and that he was sorry the incident took place in Russian airspace.
Russia said Grozny was being attacked by Ukrainian drones when the airliner approached to make its landing through thick fog.
Investigators from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia have traveled to Brazil for the investigation, officials said.
The Brazilian air force said Kazakhstan is in charge of releasing the results of the black box analysis.
 


Bosnia peace envoy declares Serb parliament’s orders illegal

Updated 03 January 2025
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Bosnia peace envoy declares Serb parliament’s orders illegal

  • Lawmakers in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated regional parliament last week ordered Serb delegates in the central government to block legal reforms needed for Bosnia’s integration into the EU

SARAJEVO: Bosnia’s international peace envoy on Thursday sought to keep the country’s European Union integration on track by rejecting the Serb Republic parliament’s orders last week that would have blocked progress.
The lawmakers in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated regional parliament last week ordered Serb delegates in the central government to block legal reforms needed for Bosnia’s integration into the EU.
High Representative Christian Schmidt, whose authority Serbs do not recognize, on Thursday prohibited “any attempt to implement the dangerous elements” of those orders.
The Dayton Accords that ended 3-1/2 years of ethnic war in the Balkan country in 1995 gave the high representative final authority over whether such decisions are allowed under the peace deal.
The peace accords split Bosnia into two autonomous regions, the Orthodox Serb-dominated Serb Republic and a federation dominated by Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks, linked in a weak central government. That secured peace but left Bosnia dysfunctional as a state.
Schmidt’s move on Thursday was part of his efforts to stop Bosnia from sliding into a new political crisis and keep EU integration advancing.
Serb Republic President Milorad Dodik has tried for years to withdraw the region from Bosnia and has sought to stop state institutions from functioning. He is on trial in a Bosnian court on charges of defying Schmidt’s decisions.


US Army soldier shot self in head before Cybertruck exploded outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, officials say

Updated 03 January 2025
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US Army soldier shot self in head before Cybertruck exploded outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, officials say

LAS VEGAS: The highly decorated US Army soldier inside the Tesla Cybertruck that burst into flames outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel shot himself in the head before the explosion and likely planned to cause more damage but the steel-sided vehicle absorbed much of the force from the rudimentary explosive, officials said Thursday.
Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference that a handgun was found at the feet of the man in the driver’s seat, who officials believe is Matthew Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado. The shot appeared to be self-inflicted, officials said.
Damage from the blast was mostly limited to the interior of the truck. The explosion “vented out and up” and didn’t hit the Trump hotel doors just a few feet away, the sheriff said.
“The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience,” said Kenny Cooper, a special agent in charge for the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

 

Among other charred items found inside the truck were a second firearm, a number of fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch, McMahill said. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally.
The remains were burned beyond recognition and investigators have not definitively identified them as Livelsberger, but the IDs and tattoos on the body “give a strong indication that it’s him,” the sheriff said.
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners. He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said.
He was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor. Livelsberger was on approved leave when he died, according to the statement.
McMahill said Livelsberger rented the Tesla electric vehicle in Denver on Saturday and the sheriff displayed a map showing that it was charged in the Colorado town of Monument near Colorado Springs on Monday. On New Year’s Eve, it was charged in Trinidad, Colorado, and three towns in New Mexico along the Interstate 40 corridor.
Then on Wednesday, the day of the explosion, it was charged in three Arizona towns before video showed it on the Las Vegas Strip about 7:30 a.m.
McMahill said investigators obtained charging station photos showing Livelsberger “was the individual that was driving this vehicle” and was alone.
“We’re not aware of any other subjects involved in this particular case,” the sheriff said.

 

Authorities searched a townhouse in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday as part of the investigation. Neighbors said the man who lived there had a wife and a baby and did not give any sign of posing a danger to anyone.
Cindy Helwig, who lives diagonally across a narrow street separating the homes, said she last saw the man she knew as Matthew about two weeks ago when he asked her if she had a tool he needed to fix the SUV he was working on.
“He was a normal guy,” said Helwig, who said she last saw his wife and baby earlier this week. Helwig noted that people in the townhome on a hill with views of the mountains don’t interact much except for when they’re getting the mail or walking their dogs.
Another neighbor, Keni Mac, who said she had only seen the man around the neighborhood, said he had tattoos and an “even keeled” demeanor. Mac said she saw the wife, who goes to her gym, walking their dog Wednesday morning.
The explosion of the truck, packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters, came hours after 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police. That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack. The FBI said Thursday that they believe Jabbar acted alone, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others.
Both Livelsberger and Jabbar spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a massive Army base in North Carolina that is home to multiple Army special operations units. However, one of the officials who spoke to the AP said there is no overlap in their assignments at the base, now called Fort Liberty.
Chris Raia, FBI deputy assistant director, said Thursday that officials have found ‘no definitive link’ between the New Orleans attack and the truck explosion in Las Vegas.
Seven people nearby suffered minor injuries when the Tesla truck exploded. Video showed a tumble of charred fireworks mortars, canisters and other explosive devices crowded into the back of the pickup. The truck bed walls were still intact because the blast shot straight up rather than to the sides.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that “we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself.”
Musk has recently become a member of Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk was in Las Vegas early Wednesday. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at his South Florida estate.
“It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla vehicle, but we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology,” said Spencer Evans, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Las Vegas.
Musk spent an estimated $250 million during the presidential campaign to support the former president. He was at Trump’s resort on election night and has been a frequent guest there. Trump has named Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government’s size and spending.
 


Ethiopia defense minister visits Somalia in sign of detente

Updated 03 January 2025
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Ethiopia defense minister visits Somalia in sign of detente

NAIROBI: Ethiopia’s defense minister traveled to Somalia on Thursday, a senior official in Mogadishu said, the first bilateral visit since relations nosedived a year ago over an Ethiopian plan to build a naval base in a breakaway Somali region.

Somalia’s state minister for foreign affairs, Ali Omar, confirmed Ethiopian Defense Minister Aisha Mohammed Mussa’s visit in a message to Reuters but did not say what she was there to discuss. Ethiopia’s government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Ethiopia has up to 10,000 troops in Somalia to fight militants from Al-Shabab, but Mogadishu has threatened to expel them if Addis Ababa did not renounce an agreement it reached a year ago with the breakaway Somaliland region.

The preliminary deal called for Somaliland to lease a stretch of coastline for an Ethiopian naval base and commercial port in exchange for possible recognition of Somaliland’s independence.

Somaliland has had effective autonomy since 1991 but its independence has not been recognized by any other country. Mogadishu considers it an integral part of its territory and called its deal with Ethiopia an act of aggression.