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Showing posts from November 7, 2021

THE HAQQANI NETWORK: THE NEW KINGMAKERS IN KABUL

  In some ways, the Taliban that is now in power in Kabul looks a great deal like the Taliban that ruled Afghanistan in the run-up to 9/11. In their first weeks in office, the Taliban   whipped women in public ,   tortured journalists ,   targeted minorities ,   executed former collaborators   with the United States, and   canceled female sports   and   secondary education . In other ways, the Taliban, and its new leadership, looks very different. The recent focus on the Taliban’s human rights violations and the group’s  escalating battle  with the Islamic State in Afghanistan risks overshadowing a potentially bigger story: the bloodstained rise of Sirajuddin Haqqani and the Haqqani Network. A loyal  proxy of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence , the network has been active in Afghanistan since the 1970s. Through brutal tactics and battlefield successes, the Haqqani Network — a terrorist group allied with, and increasingly embedded in, the Taliban leadership structure — has now esta

Another Friday blast at Afghanistan's Nangarhar province; 3 killed, mullah injured

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Another blast has been reported in a mosque in Afghanistan. A bomb went off in Nangarhar province during Friday prayers, three dead and 20 people have been reported as injured, the Mullah of the mosque has also been injured. WION's Anas Mallick   Source:  Another Friday blast at Afghanistan's Nangarhar province; 3 killed, priest injured (msn.com)

U.S. Joins China, Russia in Urging Taliban to Cut Terrorist Ties

Bloomberg) -- The U.S. joined rivals China and Russia to call on the Taliban to cut ties with terrorist groups and stop them from operating in Afghanistan after a recent spate of  attacks  that have been linked mostly to the Islamic State.  The concerted push from these world powers and Pakistan, known as the “extended troika,” to ensure the Taliban fulfilled their commitments followed a meeting in Islamabad on Thursday and signals the growing concern of a spillover of terror activities in the region. The group also met with senior Taliban representatives on the sidelines of the meeting The extended troika called on the Taliban to eliminate terror groups in Afghanistan in a “decisive manner,” while also showing concern for the severe humanitarian and economic situation in the country, the U.S. State Department said.  The group of the countries “agreed to continue practical engagement with the Taliban to encourage the implementation of moderate and prudent policies that can help achieve

Gravitas: Will 2,000 migrants trigger a war in Europe?

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  The European Union says it is being destabilised. The bloc claims Russia & Belarus have weaponised 2,000 migrants. Poland has stationed 15,000 troops to protect its borders. Will 2,000 migrants fleeing war trigger the next war? Palki Sharma Source:  Gravitas: Will 2,000 migrants trigger a war in Europe? (msn.com)

Opinion | Normalising Islamist terror, the Salman Khurshid way

  A scholar, a former diplomat and a senior member of erstwhile Congress governments, Salman Khurshid lets his mask slip once in a while and makes some incomprehensible statements. It seems like Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. If I am not wrong, he told us that his “mother-like leader Sonia Gandhi” cried for the terrorists killed during the Batla House encounter. An encounter that saw an unsung senior police officer too killed under his own government. I do not recall him condemning Boko Haram killing young children, specifically girls and women, for getting educated. I also do not recall him condemning ISIS and its offshoots for a wanton spree of terror across the globe. He might have, like many enlightened Muslims, claimed that they were not true Muslims, which is neither here nor there. Because, none of the Islamic ‘scholars’ or seculars parroting these lines, that “they are not true Muslims”, have proven that terror groups like Boko Haram and ISIS and scores of such Stone Age Islamist gr

A woman murdered every month: is this Greece’s moment of reckoning on femicide?

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W hen a woman reported domestic violence in her building in the Athens suburb of Dafni in July, it took 25 minutes for the police to arrive. All the neighbours could hear Anisa’s husband abusing her but the police officers did not bother to get out of the patrol car. “They just rolled down their car windows and left,” Anisa’s neighbour angrily wrote on Facebook that evening. “No stress, guys. Television only cares about the bodies. So when he kills her, I’ll tell a television channel to call you.” Less than three weeks later, Anisa was dead, murdered by her husband. Neither can be named in full as the case has yet to reach trial. In a statement to police, the perpetrator described how he was overcome with jealousy after Anisa allegedly cheated on him. “I took the knife with my right hand and entered her room. She was sleeping, and I rushed to her and lay on her, stabbing her with the knife in her neck,” he said. He later retracted his claim that Anisa was asleep when he killed her. “He