Daily Evacuation Brief | August 12, 2022
Discover more from The Afghan Digest
LAST 24 HOURS
The government of Spain announced it had successfully resettled an additional 294 Afghans who had been sheltering in Pakistan. This contingent brings the total number of Afghans resettled in Spain since August 2022 to approximately 3,900 people.
Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, a noted religious scholar affiliated with the Taliban, was killed near Kabul’s Khana Noor University in a suicide attack claimed by ISIS-K. The bomber, who has not yet been identified, hid explosives in a prosthetic leg in order to avoid notice and get close to Haqqani. About 10 additional Taliban affiliates may have been killed in the blast. The Taliban have launched a large-scale police action in Kabul to track down other terrorists who may have been involved in the attack. At-risk Afghans should be prepared for potential house-to-house searches.
Public punishments under Sharia law are beginning to be implemented more widely across the country. Supreme Leader Akhundzada reportedly called for Taliban leaders to proactively reinstate public punishment nearly two weeks ago, and local leaders have begun to enforce the punishments for infractions of the law. The punishments have been widely criticized by the international community.
NEXT 24 HOURS
The Taliban are expected to counterattack NRF forces in Panjshir who inflicted significant losses during their multiple offensive actions over the last two days. Historically, the Taliban have responded to such attacks with daytime assaults on NRF positions. Non-combatants near Taliban units may see some reprisals carried out against them as well.
Powerful storms are in the forecast for the south and east of the country with heavy flooding expected in areas straddling the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Travel is strongly discouraged in these areas.
SPOTLIGHT OPINION
Afghanistan: ‘38 million people are suffering because a few hundred are in power’
By Ali M Latifi – The New Humanitarian
When the Taliban returned to power last August, it presented a conundrum to the rest of the world. Though Washington had signed a peace agreement with the group in February 2020, the Islamic Emirate — as the Taliban calls its government — was being led by several men on international terrorist lists, including some with multi-million-dollar bounties on their head.
AFGHAN NEWS
Suicide Attack Kills Taliban Prominent Cleric in Afghan Capital
By Saqalain Eqbal – Khaama Press
Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, a prominent Taliban figure, was killed in a suicide attack on a seminary in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Thursday when the…
Kunduz Officials: 1000s Treated By Mobile Health Teams Daily
By TOLO News
More than 5,000 residents of Kunduz receive help from mobile health services daily, said…
The Taliban wants women in Afghanistan to wear a Niqab. That isn't really happening
By Clarissa Ward – CNN
CNN's Clarissa Ward returns to Kabul, Afghanistan, one year after the city fell to Taliban rule, to report on how Afghan people, and Afghan women specifically…
REGIONAL NEWS
Pakistan needs to focus on economic and political stabilisation now
By The Hindustan Times
As reports indicate that Pakistani army Chief General Bajwa called a senior US official for help in speeding up disbursal of some $1.2. billion from the…
Security Concerns Bring China Closer to Taliban
By Zia ur Rehman – VOA
The severe isolation of Afghanistan since the Taliban captured the country's capital a year ago has provided China an opportunity to become a…
INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN
Spain welcomes 300 Afghans but thousands more are still waiting to escape Taliban rule
By Layla Maghribi – The National News
Three hundred Afghan refugees began the first day of their new lives in Spain on Thursday after flying in from…
THE DAILY WTF
‘I am still president of Afghanistan’, Ghani says in TV interview
By Ariana News
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, the former president of Afghanistan, said in the first television interview since he fled the country on August 15 last year that…
Afghani to the Dollar: $1 – 90.11 AFN (as of 12 AUG 2022)