LAST 24 HOURS
PAKISTAN ROUNDS UP AFGHANS AT TORKHAM – As many as 22 Afghanistan nationals were reportedly arrested in a security sweep by Pakistani police on Saturday in and around Torkham pass. A Police spokesman cautioned the raids were conducted to break up a reputed criminal network that had been stealing goods from the many transport trucks for many months. The raids were not intended to target legitimate refugees. All 22 of the people arrested reportedly lacked any official documents justifying their presence in Pakistan and will be arraigned today in court on charges of criminality.
AFGHANISTAN DIPLOMATIC WOES IN INDIA – A diplomatic drama is playing out in New Delhi as the Afghan Embassy is dealing with simultaneous charges of corruption and a mutiny among the Embassy staff who refuse to recognize the Taliban’s appointed envoy to the country. The Embassy has been administered by personnel who were appointed prior to the fall of the previous regime. Charges of corruption stem from rumors that the Ambassador and select other senior officers of the diplomatic post have rented facilities to Indian companies in order to line their own pockets. The Taliban have appointed their own envoy (chosen from among the existing staff) and have issued a letter to the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs informing them of their decision. The staff have expressed reservations about the Taliban’s choice to lead the Embassy and have refused to recognize him as the Charge d’Affaires. The government of India has yet to make an announcement about the situation but is likely to follow the examples of other nations and will recognize the Taliban’s choice. The drama is playing out as the serving Afghan Ambassador is in London.
KHAN STIRS UP TROUBLE WITH SERIES OF TWEETS – The former Prime Minister took to Twitter to claim that a Pakistani Army plot to arrest his wife was in the works and that both he and his wife may soon be arrested again on charges of sedition. He went on to say that he had reliable information suggesting the Pakistani Army intended to ban the PTI soon.
PAKISTAN’S PASHTUNS CONSIDERING OPTION TO PROTEST ARMY OCCUPATION OF THEIR LANDS IN SOUTH WAZIRISTAN – The head of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, Manzoor Pashteen, has stated that a meeting with heads of Pashtun communities across Western Pakistan has resulted in a plan to launch demonstrations to protest the occupation of their ancestral land. According to a news outlet that reportedly attended the meetings, the Pashtun organization intended to block roads in and around the towns and cities in the Province until their demands for the Pakistani Army to leave the areas are met.
NEXT 24 HOURS
PRIME MINISTER KHAN DUE BACK IN COURT – The former PM is due in court in Lahore today and a consortium of political parties led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement announced they would protest outside of the Supreme Court over favoritism shown by the court to the ousted leader. The group represents the largest bloc of coalition partners for the government and many are critical that they will receive similar treatment from the Army and Police as the PTI protestors did last week. The current regime has asked the organizers to choose another venue and is loathe to show support for the protests for fear of being labeled hypocrites. If the former PM and/or his spouse are arrested today, PTI followers may take to the streets again. Based on a discussion with several sources in Islamabad, we do not assess a significant threat of violence from the planned Red Zone protests downtown exists. Regardless, at-risk Afghans should continue to conduct their affairs with the knowledge that the situation could rapidly change.
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
IRAN
The regime has arrested 8 striking oil workers in Southern Iran. Oil workers have been on strike in several areas of the country over wage disputes. The arrests on Saturday were said to be a warning to other striking workers.
8 people were executed on Saturday and Sunday in two of the country’s prisons. The regime has claimed all 8 were criminals, protest groups say that 6 were arrested and sentenced for participating in demonstrations.
Several Iranian political leaders have said that a diplomatic rapprochement with Egypt is nearly complete and that both countries were planning to reopen embassies in each other’s capitals soon.
PAKISTAN
Iran’s budget deficit widened significantly as interest on the debt rose significantly over the past fiscal year. Adding to the fiscal woes, the IMF has dug its heels in on the bailout plan and says the external financing requirement remains in place.
PTI leaders and MPs who were implicated in the attacks on government installations during last week's unrest will be placed on the Exit Control List and banned from travel outside of the country.
The latest estimate of damages from the rioting in the capital has been reported at 250 million Rs. The estimates do not include losses in other cities around the country.
SPOTLIGHT ECONOMY
By Kate Clark - Afghanistan Analysts Network
When the Taleban captured power on 15 August 2021, the Afghan economy suffered sudden and catastrophic damage from all sides. Foreign aid fell away, United Nations and United States sanctions applied suddenly not to an armed movement but to the country’s government, Afghanistan’s foreign reserves were frozen, the banking sector paralysed, and the web of relationships and financing that had supported Afghanistan were broken. Since then, AAN has tried to make sense of what has happened to the economy and public finances, to the delivery of international aid and to individual families. This new dossier brings those reports together.
AFGHAN NEWS
220,000 disaster-related IDPs in Afghanistan in 2022: report
By Ariana News
More than 6.6 million people were reported as internally displaced in Afghanistan as of December 2022, two-thirds of them as a…
Mujahid: Afghan Soil Will Not Be Used to Threaten Other Countries
By Mitra Majeedy - TOLO News
This comes as “The Express Tribune” cited sources saying that China has leverage over the "Afghan Taliban" and that Pakistan wants China to use financial and…
Man Brutally Tortured to Death by Taliban Fighter in Jawzjan
By 8 AM Media
The incident took place on Saturday, May 13, in the village of Shirmango, in the Darzab district of…
REGIONAL NEWS
Pakistani Police Arrest 22 Afghans in Torkham Raids
By Fidel Rahmati - Khaama Press
Pakistani Police said that during raids on several parts, including the Bacha Mena border area in Torkham on Saturday, they…
Afghan refugees living in India accuse embassy officials of corruption
By Ariana News
In a letter seen by Ariana News on Sunday, the representatives of the refugees accused the ambassador, Farid Mamundzay; the financial and administrative officer…
Employees refuse to welcome Taliban pick to lead Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi
By AMU TV
Mohammad Qadir Shah, an employee of the embassy who has worked at the diplomatic office under the republic government, has been picked by the Taliban-run Ministry of…
INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN
By Alayna Treene - CNN
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul announced Sunday that he had formally requested a series of transcribed interviews from current and former…
By Henry Storey - The Interpreter
In another sign of its increasingly prolific international diplomacy, China last month released an 11-point position paper on the “Afghan…
THE DAILY WTF
Local staff at Afghan embassy who fled to Japan say pushed to return
By The Mainichi
Two former local staff at the Japanese Embassy in Kabul and their families who are currently seeking refugee status in Japan have recounted how Foreign Ministry officials sought to…
‘おお。すごいですね。’ TAD Staff
Afghani to the Dollar: $1 – 88.04 AFN (as of 15 MAY 2023)