LAST 24 HOURS
COUNTER ISIS-K OPERATION IN KABUL – Several blasts and the sound of light and heavy weapons could be heard in Kabul last night as GDI agents and Taliban security forces launched a raid on a suspected ISIS-K safe house. A spokesman said that 5 ISIS-K militants had been killed in the operation. The Taliban seized weapons, ammunition, explosives, and some communications devices during the raid.
PANJSHIR HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCHES RESTARTED – Local eyewitnesses say that home searches began again in the Annaba and Rakheh Districts of the Province. Some arrests have been reported and they are reputedly non-combatants. According to a source in the Ministry of Defense, the searches began as part of a strategy to ensnare Resistance fighters who are thought to be returning home to shelter for the Winter months.
NEW KABUL POLICY ANNOUNCED TO TRACK MOVEMENTS OF PEOPLE – The Taliban Police have confirmed that a new policy is in place that requires people to obtain a certificate from the Police to move from one house to another. The Police claim the move is being used to identify criminals. Bundles of the certificates have also been distributed to real estate offices and rental agencies throughout the city.
ICC SAYS AFGHANISTAN CLOSE TO ALLOWING WOMEN’S CRICKETERS TO PLAY – A committee of the Afghanistan Cricket working group reiterated its commitment to allowing Afghanistan to field a women’s team. No date has been set but the ICC said in a statement that it remains hopeful that an agreement will be reached.
NEXT 24 HOURS
TALIBAN SECURITY FORCES TO CONTINUE SEARCH FOR ISIS-K CELL – Several vehicles that reportedly contained the planning and finance members for ISIS-K in Afghanistan were seen fleeing the scene of yesterday’s raid. A source with the Ministry of the Interior said they have photos of two of the vehicles and a description of the third. He went on to say the ISIS-K militants are thought to have moved to unknown alternate safe houses in Kabul. He thought they may gain useful intelligence from the electronic devices collected from the scene of the raid but that it would take time to recover any information. At-risk Afghans in Kabul are likely to see continued search operations in the city and may experience elevated security screening at checkpoints across the city.
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
IRAN
The first death sentence linked to the Mahsa Amini protests was handed down. The condemned was a man who reportedly set fire to a government building and was accused of being an enemy of God.
Protests continued and there are sporadic reports of some government forces being killed at a University campus in southeast Iran.
The Supreme Leader has dispatched a delegation from Tehran to southeastern Iran in an attempt to calm the situation.
PAKISTAN
Former Prime Minister Khan addressed those participating in the Long March at Kharian and clarified that the goal of his protest is only to call snap elections and not focus on the appointments of government officials.
Khan said that he wanted to restore cordial relations with the United States but he still believes that his ouster was a conspiracy driven by the US and other Western countries.
The convoys are reportedly progressing at a much slower pace than anticipated and their timed arrival in Islamabad looks as though it will have to be adjusted.
TURKMENISTAN
A government official announced that a deal had been struck to export electricity to Afghanistan.
SPOTLIGHT ANALYSIS
Islamic State-Khorasan’s Transition Into a Transregional Threat
By Atal Ahmadzai - The Diplomat
The rise of the Taliban to power did not bring peace to Afghanistan. Quite the reverse, different forms of political violence have either continued or emerged, including the Taliban regime’s extrajudicial executions, the anti-Taliban armed resistance, and the indiscriminate and targeted violence of the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP). The latter is a cross-regional subsidiary of the previously Iraq and Syria-based Islamic State in the broader historical Khorasan region, which encompasses parts of modern Western, South, and Central Asia. Despite expanding the scope of its operations in these regions since the fall of Kabul in 2021, much information about ISKP is contradictory.
AFGHAN NEWS
5 ISIS Members Killed in Kabul Operation
By Bakhtar News
The General Directorate of Intelligence said on its Twitter handle that an operation was conducted by the special forces of the department, in Kabul on an…
Crime and terrorism thriving again in Afghanistan amid economic ruin
By Modern Diplomacy
Two-thirds of Afghans are going hungry, with girls’ education subject to “random edicts” of the Taliban, while crime and terrorism are…
By Nazir Shinwari - TOLO News
The Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) opened a mission in Kabul with a ceremony attended by senior officials of the…
REGIONAL NEWS
Reports: Gunfire at Afghan-Pakistan Border Leaves 1 Dead
By News 18
Gunfire and a deadly shooting have led to the closing of a main border crossing between Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan…
Explosion in busy Istanbul street leaves at least 4 dead
By Ariana News
An explosion on Istanbul’s popular pedestrian Istiklal Avenue on Sunday afternoon has left at least four people dead and a number of people…
INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN
Recent UN Resolution Important for Intl Relations: Faiq
By Mohammad Farshad Daryosh - TOLO News
The Chargé d'Affaires of Afghanistan's Permanent Mission to the UN, Naseer Ahmad Faiq, said that that improvement of relations between…
What should be the Afghan government’s foreign diplomacy look like?
By Muhammad Tarakul Islam - Pakistan Today
The first three years after the establishment of the Bolshevik government in Russia were complicated by domestic and international…
THE DAILY WTF
Taliban rejects claims of terrorists presence in Afghanistan
By MEHR News Agency
The Taliban once again considers the countries' concerns about the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan to be baseless and says that there is no evidence…
Afghani to the Dollar: $1 – 88.47 AFN (as of 14 NOV 2022)