LAST 24 HOURS
SALANG PASS TRAGEDY DEATH TOLL CLIMBS – Previous reporting on the fuel tanker explosion in the Salang Tunnel on Saturday night indicated that nearly 10 people had died in the disaster. New reporting indicates the death toll has risen to 19 and at least 30 were injured. Local eyewitnesses believe that more will die due to the severity of their injuries and the long distances from treatment facilities. Work crews arrived this morning to begin clearing wreckage and limited traffic has been allowed to pass through the tunnel but everything is slow due to only one lane being available.
JAWZJAN FLOGGINGS – Taliban officials flogged 22 people, 3 of which were women, in a public square in a city in Northern Jawzjan. The punishments immediately followed a court decree and the majority of the punishments were said to be related to ‘moral crimes’. 6 people were reportedly flogged in Kapisa as well.
TALIBAN MAKES ANOTHER REQUEST TO REMOVE SANCTIONS – Calling on the international community to support the people of Afghanistan, they have made another plea to remove sanctions on the regime. The plea is thought to have been made in response to the UN Security Council’s recent extension of the mandate for team monitoring sanctions against Taliban-linked entities.
JOINT PAKISTAN-TALIBAN COMMITTEE TO ADDRESS TENSIONS ALONG DURAND LINE – Another committee has been formed between the two governments to work on a solution for the continued conflict along the Southern border. While several of these commissions have been created over the past year, this committee seems to have greater authority to negotiate than previous groups have enjoyed. One of the primary issues on the table is the deteriorating security situation Afghan refugees are facing in Pakistan.
PAKISTAN NGO WITH LONG HISTORY OF SUPPORT OF AFGHAN REFUGEES TO ESTABLISH OFFICE IN KABUL – SHARP (Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid) has announced it intends to open an office in Kabul. The NGO has worked on refugee issues in Pakistan for decades and is the primary NGO the United Nations uses for refugee projects.
NEXT 24 HOURS
CLEARING OPERATION TO BEGIN IN PD 4, KABUL – A limited clearing operation that has an ISIS-K cell in its crosshairs is expected to take place today in the Fourth Police District of Kabul. Agents of the GDI are thought to have received ‘actionable intelligence’ from an unidentified source about a 4-10 person cell in Kabul that is planning a terror attack prior to 1 January 2023. At-risk Afghans in the area should avoid any concentrations of Taliban security vehicles they see and, as has been witnessed with other clearing operations, a gunfight could erupt.
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
IRAN
The Belgium government urged its citizens to leave Iran immediately. The call joins several other European governments who have already urged their citizens to get out of the violence-wracked country.
Adding to the bedlam in the country, oil workers have gone on strike in eight provinces across the country. Claiming they are unable to feed their families, they are demanding better pay.
Protests continue across the country with no signs they are slowing down. The regime continues to claim the protests do not have wide support and are being fueled by Western regimes and disinformation online.
PAKISTAN
Militants seized a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu District Sunday. Taking several hostages, the militants are demanding a meeting with the Government. Early reports suggest the prisoners disarmed the guards and took over the facility from inside. 4 people have reportedly been killed but the identities have not been confirmed.
SPOTLIGHT ANALYSIS
The 20-Year Descent to the Predictably Ugly Afghanistan Withdrawal
By Daniel Davis - 1945
As incoming Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Rep. James Comer said last week he intends on holding hearings in 2023 to examine the Administration’s “botched Afghanistan withdrawal” and vowed to provide the American people “answers, transparency, and accountability.” America’s failure in Afghanistan was a two-decades-in-the-making process, however, and any effort to provide answers and accountability must include an exposure of the core problems over that timeframe and not simply how the final exit was executed.
AFGHAN NEWS
Tanker explosion in Afghanistan tunnel leaves at least 19 dead
By TVP World
At least 19 people have been reported dead and 32 wounded in an explosion of a fuel-filled tanker truck that went off in the…
Taliban official pardons his father's murderer amid public execution reinforcement
By The New Arab
A senior Afghan official has pardoned a man sentenced to death for murdering the politician's father, a court said Sunday, days after…
Most Nangarhar factories closed due to power outages
By Yousuf Zarifi - Pajhwok Afghan News
More than half of factories in this capital city of eastern Nangarhar province have been closed down due to power shortage, rendering more…
REGIONAL NEWS
Aggression from Afghanistan is the result of Pak's support for extremism, claims Baloch lawmaker
By ANI
The cross-border aggression from Afghanistan is the result of Pakistan’s long-held policy of supporting “extremism”...
Pakistani clerics' delegation to visit Afghanistan for dialoge over cross border hostility
By The Times of India
A delegation of Pakistani clerics will travel to Afghanistan this week to hold talks with Afghan officials to end the cross-border hostility in…
INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN
By Shorena Megrelishvili - The Balitmore Banner
In August 2021, as Kabul fell to the Taliban, the U.S. evacuated many Afghans who had been U.S. allies and were at grave, life-threatening…
No Compromise in Engagement with the World: Khalid Hanafi
By TOLO News
Acting Minister of Vice and Virtue, Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, on Sunday, said the Islamic Emirate is ready to…
THE DAILY WTF
Current Situation in Afghanistan Stable, Says Iran
By Bakhtar News
For their part, Iranian media representatives called the situation in Afghanistan stable and expressed that they would represent Afghanistan in media on…
Afghani to the Dollar: $1 – 87.48 AFN (as of 19 DEC 2022)