Daily Evacuation Brief | May 20, 2022
Discover more from The Afghan Digest
LAST 24 HOURS:
The ongoing meetings of Afghan resistance leaders and exiled former political leaders in Ankara, Turkey are deeply significant. The formation of the Supreme Council of National Resistance for the Salvation of Afghanistan is a clear and powerful consolidation of Resistance efforts. Furthermore, Turkey, Iran, and Russia continue to host different factions of the various resistance groups in “official” capacities, in a clear role-reversal in the wake of the NATO withdrawal.
Sources state that Tajikistan has closed Sher Khan Bandar, the main commercial route that facilitates trade between the two countries, to Afghan commercial shipping over the last several days. The official reason announced for the closing was a lack of facilities for traders, but sources in Tajikistan claim it has to do with weapons shipments. No further information was available.
Intense fighting was reported across Panjshir province between the Taliban and NRF with the Kheng district experiencing the heaviest fighting. Over 500 Taliban reinforcements have been rushed to Pawat.
A new opposition group, Tehreek-e-Afghan Freedom, has claimed they planned and executed the recent bomb attack on the Taliban bus in Mazar-i-Sharif. Little is known about the group at this point, and their claims have not been verified.
NEXT 24 HOURS:
The fighting in Panjshir is expected to spread to other provinces in the North as a planned offensive by several Resistance groups was being discussed. The early fighting in Panjshir may be the signal to open other fronts.
Pakistani security forces are upgrading their alert levels in North Waziristan. Sources claim that some factions of the TTP feel betrayed by some of the provisions being discussed in Kabul between the mainstream TTP and Pakistani officials. They have threatened to break the ceasefire and form their own “provisional” arm of the TTP. We do not know what concessions, if any, have been made that have angered these factions.
ANALYSIS SPOTLIGHT:
Afghanistan Rising: It’s Time to Let the Taliban Fall
By Michael Rubin – The National Interest
What’s the difference between Afghanistan and Ukraine? Not as much as you might expect. Ukraine and its resistance have captured the Western imagination in a way Afghanistan never did. European leaders and Congressional delegations head to Kyiv to have their photographs taken with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy with an urgency few did with former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani: Western politicians know they gain more from being seen with Zelenskyy than vice versa.
Afghani to the Dollar: $1 – 90.85 AFN (as of 20 MAY)
AFGHAN NEWS
Taliban Order Afghan Female TV Presenters to Cover Faces
By Ayaz Gul – VOA
The ruling Taliban ordered local television channels in Afghanistan Thursday to ensure that female program presenters cover their faces while on screen, increasing curbs on…
Explosion on a Taliban Corps Bus Injures Three People in Mazar-e-Sharif
By Saqalain Eqbal – Khaama Press
According to provincial police spokesperson Mohammad Asif Waziri, the explosion targeted a minibus, belonging to the Taliban’s 209 AlFath corps, carrying…
Afghanistan in hock to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan for electricity
By Joanna Lillis – Eurasianet
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are unable to recover debts worth $100 million for electricity supplied to Afghanistan, because Kabul cannot transfer…
REGIONAL NEWS
Afghan Politicians Meet in Turkey to Discuss Political Resolution
By Saqalain Eqbal – Khaama Press
The declaration called armed resistance against the Taliban in Panjshir, Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan, Parwan, Kapisa, Samangan, and other parts of the country “legitimate,” and…
Tajik Military launches “anti-terrorism” operations on Afghan Border
By Saqalain Eqbal – Khaama Press
Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry has alleged that the protests in Badakhshan region are being organized by “international terrorist groups” that…
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
UN slams Taliban's 'deeply retrograde' closure of Afghan human rights body
By The New Arab
The United Nations on Thursday slammed the Taliban's closure of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), calling it a "deeply retrograde…
Blinken: US looking to expand ties with Pakistan
By Ariana News
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday told Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari that US President Joe Biden’s administration was looking forward to…
THE DAILY WTF
“We keep naughty women at home” says Taliban while promising good news soon
By OneIndia
When Haqqani was asked about women who are afraid to go out of their homes under the Taliban rule, he said, ' we keep naughty women at home.'