Month: August 2024

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ISLAMABAD — A group of heavily armed militants launched coordinated attacks on two Pakistani military posts near the border with Afghanistan Friday, reportedly killing several security personnel and wounding many more.

Multiple area security sources confirmed the predawn raid in the volatile border district of Khyber, telling VOA that it resulted in the death of at least five security personnel and injuries to at least a dozen more. Ensuing clashes with Pakistani security forces reportedly also killed several assailants.

The military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, did not respond to VOA inquiries seeking details of the assault in time for publication.

Militants tied to an outlawed entity known as the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media post.

The group has stated publicly that its fighters are waging insurgent attacks in coordination with the globally designated terrorist organization Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

Militancy-hit Khyber and surrounding border districts often encounter deadly attacks aimed at Pakistani security forces and their facilities.

Pakistan complains that the TTP and leaders of other antistate groups have taken shelter in Afghanistan after fleeing counterinsurgency operations and orchestrated cross border attacks from sanctuaries there.

The violence has intensified and killed hundreds of Pakistanis, mostly security forces, since the Taliban reclaimed control of Afghanistan three years ago.

The de facto Taliban government denies the presence of foreign militants in the country, insisting that it does not allow anyone to threaten other countries, including Pakistan, from Afghan soil.

The United Nations has backed Pakistani assertions, noting in its latest situation report that the TTP is “the largest terrorist group” in Afghanistan and receives growing support from the ruling Taliban to launch cross-border attacks.

The report, released last month, estimates that up to 6,500 TTP militants, including Afghan fighters, are operating in Afghanistan and being trained as well as armed at al-Qaida-run camps there.

U.N. officials have repeatedly warned about the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, identifying Islamic State Khorasan, or IS-K, an Afghan offshoot of Islamic State, as the most serious regional threat.

The head of the U.N. counterterrorism office told a Security Council meeting on Thursday that IS-Khorasan has intensified its recruitment efforts in Afghanistan and that there is a risk of the group carrying out attacks abroad.

“ISIL-K has improved its financial and logistical capabilities in the past six months, including by tapping into Afghan and Central Asian diasporas for support,” Vladimir Voronkov said, referring to the terror organization by an acronym.

The Taliban have not commented on the latest U.N. assertions and previously rejected such assessments as propaganda against their government.

The fundamentalist de facto Afghan rulers claim their security forces have eliminated IS-Khorasan bases in the country and degraded the group’s ability to threaten national security and that of the region.
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DHAKA, BANGLADESH — Nearly 80 hours after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh amid violent protests that resulted in more than 300 fatalities, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in to lead the country’s interim government.

At 84, Yunus took the oath of office during a ceremony held Thursday night at the presidential palace in Dhaka. The event was attended by political leaders, civil society figures, military generals, and diplomats, and was set against the backdrop of continuing unrest in the country. Analysts say Yunus faces a challenging path ahead, as the nation may be on the brink of deeper political crisis.

The 17-member Cabinet, referred to as “advisers,” includes two key coordinators from the student-led movement, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, and prominent human rights defender Adilur Rahman Khan, previously imprisoned under Hasina’s government for documenting rights violations.

The Cabinet also includes economists, NGO activists, academics, and a retired military officer. The planned duration of the interim government has not been announced.

Earlier that day, arriving at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the microfinance pioneer delivered an emotional speech to reporters as he prepared to take up his new duties. Yunus expressed his hope to restore peace and rebuild Bangladesh following the uprising that ended Hasina’s 15-year, increasingly autocratic reign.

“Law and order have been disrupted; people are attacking each other, setting homes and property on fire, looting, and burning offices. They are attacking Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Ahmadis,” Yunus told the reporters. The Ahmadis are a messianic Islamic movement that began in the 19th century.

“We must protect them and restore order, as violence and chaos are major enemies of progress,” he added.

Political analysts, however, say a major challenge will be governing with a Cabinet that, despite emerging from a “mass revolution,” lacks a democratically obtained mandate.

Political crisis ahead?

Dhaka-based political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman expressed concerns that political parties, which have been sidelined from power for an extended period, may not provide the interim government with enough time to execute the “nation-rebuilding” envisioned by the new Cabinet.

He said that under Hasina’s leadership, her Awami League political party had “debilitated every state mechanism.”

“From the police to the media, the bureaucracy is thoroughly corrupted; even the election commission is completely ineffective. Therefore, to restore effectiveness, the interim government will need to undertake extensive efforts, which will require a significant amount of time,” Rahman told VOA.

The current crisis presents an opportunity to put Bangladesh back on the path of genuine democracy and move beyond the hyperpartisan, winner-take-all electoral dynamics that have caused so much damage over the past three decades, said Thomas Kean, International Crisis Group senior consultant.

“It needs to embark on the long task of rebuilding democracy in Bangladesh, which has been so badly eroded in recent years,” Kean said in a statement.

While political parties have welcomed the movement that ousted the Hasina regime and the appointment of Yunus as the head of the interim government, they appear reluctant to allow much time for this new administration to establish itself.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, a leading figure in Bangladesh’s major political party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, told VOA, “We fully support this government, which is endorsed by the country’s youth and students who drove this change. I am very hopeful for their success. However, we expect that they will fulfill their constitutional duty to conduct a free and fair election within 90 days.”

As the country shifted to the interim government, the BNP held a rally in Dhaka Wednesday. The rally was led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who was recently released from house arrest after receiving a presidential pardon and addressed the party activists in a prerecorded video message.

This action by BNP is perceived by many as an indication of impatience and a desperate bid for power. “The wound from this movement is still fresh, and there is no government and law and order, how can you hold a rally under such condition? This impatience from them will send the country towards a deeper crisis in this crucial time,” Rahman said.

Skepticism on military’s role

In Bangladesh, marked by a tumultuous history of military coups and countercoups, there is significant skepticism regarding the military’s current role, which it claims is merely to steward the current political turmoil and oversee the transition of power.

“I don’t trust the military to run this country,” Hasan Robayet, a 38-year-old poet and civil society member, told VOA. “We have seen the outcomes of past military rule. The military should not dictate terms to this government. This revolution was won by the students and the masses; they should hold full control of the government.”

The military declared an emergency in January 2007 after widespread political unrest and installed a military-backed caretaker government for two years, following which Hasina and her Awami League secured a decisive victory in the elections.

A general close to the army leadership told VOA that the current chief, Waker-Uz-Zaman, is not inclined to pursue a full military takeover. Instead, he aims to support the interim government from the sidelines, facilitating a smooth transition and the swift handover of power to a democratically elected government, the general said.

Bangladesh experienced military rule from 1975 to 1990, beginning with the assassination of its founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This period included multiple coups, particularly starting in 1977 under General Ziaur Rahman, who shifted the nation from a single-party socialist state to a multiparty system, though the military retained significant influence.

Following General Zia’s assassination in 1981, General Hussain Muhammad Ershad assumed the presidency in 1983. The military regime in Bangladesh ended in 1990 following a massive public uprising for democratic reforms, led by opposition parties and a strong student movement that staged strikes and protests nationwide, and compelled Ershad to resign in December 1990.

Despite all challenges, Nahid Islam, the coordinator of the movement and now an adviser in the interim government, has vowed to fulfill the promises made to the people during the mass uprising.

“We have come to government to fulfill the promises that led to this mass uprising, promises for which hundreds of our brothers and sisters were injured or killed. We are committed to fulfilling these promises as soon as possible,” he told VOA after being sworn in. 
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Washington — When the Taliban overran the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif in August 2021, Aminullah Ranjbar, a police officer, says he had “no option” but to flee with his family to Iran.

The Ranjbars have been living in Tehran as undocumented refugees for the past three years, fearing deportation to Afghanistan, where Aminullah’s life is in danger.

“We know that many [former Afghan security officials] were killed by the ruling group in Afghanistan,” Ranjbar said.

Thousands of former Afghan security forces fled to Iran after the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021 for fear of reprisals.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan says it documented “at least 60 instances of arbitrary arrest and detention, at least 10 instances of torture and ill-treatment, verbal threats and at least five killings of former government officials and former ANDSF members” between April 1 and June 30, 2024.

The U.N. has also recorded at least 800 human rights violations, including 218 extrajudicial killings, against government officials and security forces from the Taliban’s takeover in 2021 to June 2023.

UNHCR said an estimated 1 million Afghans fled to Iran after the Taliban took power in 2021.

According to the UNHCR, 4.5 million Afghan refugees are in Iran, of whom only 750,000 are registered as refugees.

Many Afghan refugees living in Iran share Ranjbar’s concerns.

“I just go to work and come back to the hostel. I am afraid of going anywhere else,” said Shah Mahmood, a daily laborer who has been living in Iran for the past five years.

Mahmood told VOA that the Iranian government’s behavior toward Afghan refugees changed after the fall of Afghanistan in 2021, which forced many more Afghans to flee to Iran.

“Harassment, detention and deportation of Afghan refugees increased in the past three years,” he said. “It is becoming difficult for Afghans to live in Iran, but we are desperate, and there is nothing if we return to Afghanistan.”

In a statement on Monday, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a Norway-based human rights nongovernmental organization reporting on human rights violations in Iran, reported an increase in “anti-Afghan racism within both governmental and social spheres in Iran.”

Videos of the mistreatment of Afghan refugees in Iran are circulating on social media. A viral video posted Tuesday shows Iranian policemen kneeling on a young Afghan refugee. VOA cannot verify the authenticity of the videos.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials said that undocumented foreigners should leave Iran by the end of this year.

In May, the Iranian government said it deported 1.3 million foreigners, primarily Afghan refugees, in one year.

Fearing deportation, Mahmood hopes the new Iranian government, headed by Masoud Pezeshkian, will adopt a more tolerant policy toward the refugees.

However, Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, former Afghan ambassador to Iran, told VOA that he does not think the Iranian policy toward Afghan refugees and Afghanistan will change.

“In general, it is the Iranian policy, in their own words, to expel undocumented Afghans from Iran. I don’t think that there would be any changes,” Liwal said, adding, “The region is not in the hands of the civilian governments in Iran.”

Iran-Taliban relations

Iran has cultivated close relations with the Taliban since the group seized power in 2021.

The country handed over the Afghan Embassy in Tehran to the Taliban in early 2023.

“Iran’s policy toward Afghanistan is security-focused,” said Liwa. “Iran does not want to open another front on its eastern border while it is involved in the Middle East,” he said.

Fatemeh Aman, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, agreed that Iran’s relations with the Taliban are driven by security concerns. “As recently as this year, there have been terrorist attacks in Iran. Terrorists could enter the border undercover,” she said.

In January, twin suicide bombings in the Iranian city of Kerman killed at least 95 people.

Iranian officials traced the attack to Islamic State-Khorasan Province based in Afghanistan.

Aman said that migrant flow from Afghanistan is another important issue that Iran’s regime is facing.

This story originated in VOA’s Afghan Service. 
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ISLAMABAD — Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan clinched his country’s first gold medal in four decades by setting a new record with his stunning throw in Thursday’s men’s javelin final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Nadeem raised his arms in celebration after breaking the Olympic record on his second throw with 92.97 meters.

The 27-year-old Pakistani javelin thrower beat defending champion Neeraj Chopra of India, who took silver with 89.45 meters. Grenada’s Anderson Peters claimed bronze with 88.54 meters.

The record had stood since the 2008 Beijing Games when Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen threw 90.57 meters while defending his Olympic title.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Nadeem for presenting “a wonderful gift to the entire Pakistani nation,” his office said in a statement in Islamabad.

“You have made the whole nation proud,” Sharif wrote separately on X, formerly Twitter.

Celebrations erupted outside Nadeem’s home in the city of Mian Channu in Punjab, the country’s most populous province, where a crowd watched him win the competition on a large-screen television, reported local media and his neighbors.

Pakistan had never won an individual Olympic gold medal until Nadeem’s javelin throw on Thursday. The South Asian nation previously secured three gold medals in field hockey, with its team winning gold in 1960, 1968 and 1984.

Until now, only two Pakistani athletes have won individual Olympic medals of any color — a bronze in wrestling in 1960 and a bronze in boxing in 1988.

Pakistan’s last medal came at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona when its field hockey team took bronze.
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New York — The head of the United Nations counterterrorism office warned Thursday that there is a risk of the Afghanistan-based Islamic State affiliate IS-Khorasan carrying out attacks abroad.

“ISIL-K has improved its financial and logistical capabilities in the past six months, including by tapping into Afghan and Central Asian diasporas for support,” Vladimir Voronkov said, referring to the terror organization by an acronym. “The group has also intensified its recruitment efforts.”

He told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the threat of terrorism that the activity of the self-styled Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan “remains a significant concern.”

“We must unite to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a hotbed of terrorism,” Voronkov said, urging Afghanistan’s neighbors to counter and prevent the threat from IS-K from spreading.

The United Nations secretary-general said in a July 31 report that the threat from IS and its affiliates “remained high, with the group and affiliates continuing to demonstrate resilience and adaptability despite sustained counter-terrorism efforts.”

The report said following IS’s claimed deadly attacks at a memorial service in Iran on January 3 and at a concert hall in Moscow on March 22, Islamic State’s core “has reportedly directed operatives from Afghanistan and neighboring countries to undertake attacks abroad.”

Afghanistan’s de facto-ruling Taliban claim their security forces have eliminated IS-Khorasan bases in the country and degraded the group’s ability to threaten national security and that of the region.

Voronkov also warned that parts of Africa remain a hotbed of Islamic State activity, which is fueling instability, especially in West Africa and the Sahel. He said two IS regional affiliates — Islamic State West Africa Province and Islamic State in the Greater Sahel — have expanded and consolidated their areas of operations.

“Should these groups extend their influence in northern littoral states, a vast territory stretching from Mali to northern Nigeria could fall under their effective control,” Voronkov warned.

He said they also present a threat in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northern Mozambique and Somalia.

“Elsewhere, the threat posed by ISIL-K resulted in heightened threat levels in Europe,” Voronkov said. “The group is considered the greatest external terrorist threat to the continent.”

Authorities in the Austrian capital, Vienna, announced Wednesday that they had foiled a plot by a 19-year-old, who had sworn loyalty to IS’s leader online, to carry out an attack at a concert this week by U.S. pop superstar Taylor Swift.

Two other Austrian youths, ages 17 and 15, were also detained. Organizers have canceled the three sold-out Vienna concerts out of caution, disappointing nearly 200,000 fans, many of whom traveled from abroad to attend the show.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
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