Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Kunar

Kunar

Hit from Many Sides (2): The demise of ISKP in Kunar

Obaid Ali • Khalid Gharanai •

One year ago, the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State – called Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) – lost its last territorial base in Afghanistan in Kunar province. This followed a first severe defeat in their major stronghold in the country, in Nangrahar province in late 2019. No open ISKP presence is left in Kunar […]

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Blood in the Abode of Peace: The attack on Kabul’s Sikhs

Fabrizio Foschini •

At a time when Afghans face a looming pandemic and worsening conflict, one recent event has stood out: the attack on the Sikh gurdwara in the Old City of Kabul one week ago. It was an unprecedented, sectarian attack on a peaceful, non-Muslim religious minority. 26 people were killed and 11 wounded, men, women and one child. […]

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ISKP fighters photographed alongside their captured weapons after their surrender to Afghan government in November 2019. (photo: Noorullah Shirzada/AFP)

Hit from Many Sides 1: Unpicking the recent victory against the ISKP in Nangrahar

Obaid Ali •

In the very high mountains of Nangrahar are hiding out the last few, small groups of Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) fighters in that province. The group was driven out of their last remaining bases in Nangrahar at the end of last year. Who drove them out is, however, contested: the government, the Taleban and […]

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Fazlullah has Mulla Omar’s backing

AAN •

The News International (Pakistan), 8 November 2013 Although the "news" in the headline is not detailed and based on anonymous, somewhat dubious sources, the rest of the article is highly interesting because it details the inner strcutures and dealings of the Pakistani Taleban, in he light of the killing – through a drone attack – of […]

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Afghan special forces commando defects to insurgents taking weapons with him

AAN Team •

The Telegraph, 21 October 2013 In an article about the defection of an Afghan special forces officer, an AAN analysis is quoted: Although analysts say the ANA and police have done a professional job in quelling terrorist attacks in Kabul, there are signs that Taliban threats are making it difficult to retain security forces. “The ANA […]

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What exactly is the CIA doing in Afghanistan? Proxy militias and two airstrikes in Kunar

Kate Clark •

AAN has discovered that the NATO airstrike on Kunar on 13 April 2013 which killed as many as 17 civilians was the second strike on almost the same location to have been requested by the same mixed Afghan/CIA force. President Karzai’s spokesman has reported the president’s assertion – and anger – that the Afghan unit […]

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The Civilian Casualty Tightrope: Karzai Bans ANSF Calling in ‘Foreign’ Airstrikes on Villages

Gary Owen •

In a blistering speech on 16 February 2013, President Hamed Karzai called requests to foreigners by Afghan security forces for airstrikes on Afghan villages ‘shameful’.(1) His office said that tomorrow, he will issue a decree formally banning requests for strikes on what is being described in the English press as ‘residential areas’. The president’s move […]

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Shelling at the Durand Line: Popular outrage building up

Gran Hewad •

For the second year in a row, Pakistan is shelling Afghanistan’s eastern provinces, especially Kunar. The issue has recently become politically explosive, with calls for an army of volunteers to man the border and two key ministers being dismissed (on 4 August) over their failure to stop the shelling. Ordinary Afghans expect their government to […]

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On Kunar’s Salafi Insurgents

Thomas Ruttig •

Usually one needs two sources at least, but this one I find too interesting: A few days ago, on 9 January, the Taleban website Shahamat (which means ‘bravery’) reported that one of the smaller insurgent groups – the Salafi from Kunar – has pledged allegiance to Mulla Muhammad Omar. The Taleban gave its name as Jama’at […]

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