LAST 24 HOURS
HERAT COUNTER-ISIS OPERATION CALLED INTO QUESTION – Many are now questioning whether the Herat security operation that purportedly targeted an ISIS-K cell was faked. There are rumors that suspected ISIS-K detainees had been transported to the house and then executed. ISIS-K has released both documents and an audio file claiming the raid had been staged. Apparently, a video file has been received that shows Taliban security personnel unloading four men and herding them into a house (presumably in Herat). ISIS-K then threatened the Taliban and said that a ‘countdown’ had started.
DEADLY BALOCHISTAN BOMBING KILLS AT LEAST 9 PAKISTANI POLICE – Reports suggest that a suicide bomber on a motorcycle rammed a Pakistani bus that was transporting police and detonated his device. At least 9 are dead and 13 are said to be wounded. The attack occurred at approximately 1000hrs local on Monday in Bolan (on the Kambri Bridge crossing). No group has yet claimed credit for the attack but there are fears that the Balochistan Liberation Army has established an agreement with the TTP and is coordinating attacks such as these. UPDATE: ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attack according to SITE Intel Group.
STRANGELY, FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES HAVE BEEN ISSUED REGISTRATION FORMS FOR THE UNIVERSITY EXAMS – In recent proclamations, the Kankoor (university acceptance test) had been restricted to only male students. However, female students who have recently graduated high school report receiving the registration forms for the next testing phase. It is not clear if there was a technical oversight and the forms were distributed by mistake or, if there has been a change of policy.
RUSSIA, IRAN, AND PAKISTAN SIGN $1 BILLION DEVELOPMENT DEAL WITH TALIBAN – Russian media began reporting the deal had been struck between private businesses and investors from all three countries and the Taliban on Monday. The majority of the projects are reputedly focused on infrastructure improvements.
SOME MALE STUDENTS IN BALKH PROVINCE BOYCOTT UNIVERSIT CLASSES IN SOLIDARITY WITH BANNED FEMALE STUDENTS – Male students in the Languages and Literature department at Balkh University announced they were boycotting classes in protest to the ban on female students.
TALKS AT IRANIAN AND AFGHANISTAN BORDER CLASH SITE ONGOING – Taliban and Iranian border officials discussed the recent clash at the border and were seeking ways to lower tensions. It is still not clear what transpired to provoke the crisis.
NEXT 24 HOURS
FORMER PRIME MINISTER KHAN TO BE ARRESTED – After a Pakistani court upheld the arrest warrant for former PM Khan, it is believed that police will take him into custody soon. While some of his supporters could use the event to protest, we do not believe it will be widespread and feel that the danger posed to at-risk Afghans in Pakistan is low.
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
IRAN
North Macedonia claimed a spate of recent bomb threats were made by Iran and Russia.
Some in the Iranian regime have been ridiculed for saying the reported poisoning of female students was actually a stress-induced reaction to the protests.
A pending sale of Iranian missiles to Russia has been put on hold after the West warned Russia of potential penalties.
PAKISTAN
Several TV stations have been shut down for violating the ban on broadcasting former Prime Minister Khan’s speeches.
Former PM Khan eluded police with a warrant for his arrest on Sunday and spoke with supporters shortly after the officers had departed his residence. A court upheld the warrants against him on Monday and he is expected to be taken into custody soon.
The IMF announced that Pakistan had satisfied recent requirements and the loan program could now go ahead.
SPOTLIGHT ANALYSIS
Confronting Climate Change — and the Taliban — in Afghanistan
By Ruchi Kumar - Undark
This past December, a fleet of colorful swan-shaped boats lined the muddy banks of Qargha Lake, a reservoir on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. The boats’ owner, 50-year-old Shah Maqsoud Habibi, said his business has vanished, along with much of the lake, a once popular weekend destination for war weary Afghans. Over the past few years, a series of droughts have gripped the country, causing reservoirs and other water bodies to dry up. “If there is no water, there is no business for me, and without work, I cannot feed my family,” said Habibi.
AFGHAN NEWS
Niklasson: Islamic Emirate Should Prove Public's Support With Forum
By TOLO News
The European Union’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Tomas Niklasson, said that the “de facto” officials in Afghanistan need to prove they have the people’s support through…
Female Afghan Students Call on Male Classmates to Boycott Academic Year
By Nizamuddin Rezahi - Khaama Press
On Monday morning, a group of female students in a letter asked their lecturers and male classmates to boycott the new…
Khalilzad slams ‘brutal’ but ‘failed’ regime in Iran
By Ariana News
Former US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad on Sunday called the Iranian regime a “political and economic failure at home and a growing threat to…
REGIONAL NEWS
Bomb Attack in Pakistan’s Balochistan Kills 9 Policemen, Injures 13 Others
By Nizamuddin Rezahi - Khaama Press
Mahmood Notezai, Kachhi Senior Superintendent of police confirmed the incident and the casualties left behind from the terror attack in the Bolan area…
Iran to Hand Over 1,700 Afghan Prisoners to Islamic Emirate
By Naseer Ahmadi Salehi - TOLO News
The government of Iran is due to hand over 1,700 Afghan inmates who are imprisoned in Iranian jails—and the first batch of more than…
INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN
House Republicans face thorny challenges in Afghanistan withdrawal investigations
By Mike Brest - Washington Examiner
People long thought of the 2001-2021 Afghanistan conflict as "the good war." U.S. military action in the landlocked central Asian conservative Muslim nation was a…
Taliban's persecution of women could be 'crime against humanity' - UN report
By Reuters
The Taliban's treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan could amount to a crime against humanity, according to a U.N. report presented on…
THE DAILY WTF
School poisonings, if deliberate, deserve death: Iran leader
By Ariana News
Iran’s supreme leader said on Monday that if a series of suspected poisonings at girls’ schools are proven to be deliberate the…
Afghani to the Dollar: $1 – 88.92 AFN (as of 7 MAR 2023)