Airstrikes In Afghanistan Killed 26 TTP Members, Says Pakistan

According to ABC News, US federal prosecutors said Najibullah and his associates held Rohde, his Afghan interpreter and their driver hostage for more than seven months in hideouts across Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2008.

The kidnappers sought ransom payments and the release of Taliban prisoners held by the United States in exchange for the hostages’ freedom.

Prosecutors said Najibullah forced the captives to record proof-of-life videos during their detention. In the recordings, Taliban fighters armed with automatic weapons threatened the hostages, who appealed to their families and the US government to meet the group’s demands.

“Every day of their captivity, the hostages and their families lived in fear that they would never see their loved ones again,” prosecutors said in a statement.

Najibullah served as a Taliban commander in Wardak province, bordering Kabul, from 2007 and also acted as an unofficial spokesman for the group. Prosecutors said fighters under his command carried out numerous ambushes on US military convoys, resulting in the deaths of several American service members.

In November 2008, Rohde, then a reporter for The New York Times, travelled to meet Najibullah for an interview. Prosecutors said Taliban gunmen acting on Najibullah’s orders abducted Rohde, his interpreter and their driver, confiscated their mobile phones, bound their hands and blindfolded them.

According to the prosecution, after Rohde informed his captors that he was American, one of the kidnappers shouted in Pashto that they intended to send a “blood message” to then-US President Barack Obama.

Rohde and his interpreter eventually escaped after seven months, using a rope to flee when their guards had fallen asleep. Rohde later narrated the story in his book A Rope and a Prayer.

Najibullah was arrested in Ukraine in October 2020 and later extradited to the United States to stand trial.

Russia’s state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday that Pyotr Ilyichev, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for New Challenges and Threats, made the remarks during the 19th meeting of heads of counterterrorism structures from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member countries.

He warned that the security situation in Afghanistan remains critical and poses a serious threat, particularly to neighbouring states.

According to the report, Ilyichev also expressed concern about militant groups gaining access to new technologies, including commercial satellite communications and the potential use of artificial intelligence.

He further warned about the risks of cross-border attacks and efforts by militants to radicalise vulnerable segments of society in neighbouring countries.

Ilyichev said the situation is made more concerning by the growing links between terrorist organisations and organised criminal networks. According to him, these groups finance much of their activity through drug trafficking, illicit arms trading, the smuggling of precious stones and metals, and wildlife trafficking.

Taliban officials have repeatedly maintained that they do not allow terrorist groups to operate in Afghanistan and that Afghan territory will not be used against any neighbouring country.

However, multiple reports by the United Nations and regional intelligence agencies have continued to point to the presence of groups such as ISIS-K and other militant organisations in Afghanistan.

At regional forums, including meetings of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the CIS and the Moscow Format, Russia has repeatedly stressed the need to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terrorists and has proposed measures to strengthen the southern borders of Central Asian states.

The remarks come shortly after Russia and the Taliban signed a military-technical cooperation agreement. The accord was signed on May 27 on the sidelines of an international security forum in Moscow by Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban’s defence minister.

During his visit to Moscow, Mullah Yaqoob said cooperation with Russia was highly important for the Taliban administration, adding that Afghanistan and Russia share long-standing historical ties and should deepen their cooperation further.

In a post on X early Wednesday, Mujahid shared images from the aftermath of the attacks and said the dead included 11 children, one woman and one elderly person.

Pakistani sources told Afghanistan International early Wednesday that the country had conducted air strikes against what they described as terrorist camps and infrastructure in the provinces of Khost, Paktika and Kunar.

Local sources also reported several powerful explosions overnight in the eastern and south-eastern provinces of Kunar, Khost and Paktia.

Pakistani authorities have not yet commented publicly on the reported strikes.

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai condemned the attacks.

In a post on X, Karzai said Pakistan was facing the consequences of what he described as misguided policies and hostile actions in the region, adding that continuing such policies would not achieve its objectives.

He urged Pakistan to abandon what he characterised as a policy of war and destruction towards Afghanistan and instead pursue good neighbourly relations and constructive engagement.

Efforts to curb the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan and address ISIS-K activity in Pakistan are among the key topics under discussion.

According to the sources, a delegation close to the Taliban administration, led by Jafar Mahdawi, an Afghan politician, is attending the two-day meeting. They said the Pakistani delegation is headed by Mushahid Hussain, Pakistan’s former Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

The sources added that Pakistani representatives were unwilling to travel to Kabul for talks with the Taliban, and that the negotiations are being held in Istanbul with Turkish mediation.

A month ago, another round of informal talks between Taliban and Pakistani representatives in Türkiye concluded without reaching an agreement.

The Taliban had previously rejected Pakistan’s demands regarding the TTP during several rounds of official talks involving senior officials, held in Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

In the latest diplomatic contacts, Taliban and Pakistani representatives also met and held discussions in Urumqi, China.

The organisation called on the Taliban to immediately stop using force against demonstrators and to release those detained during the protests.

In a statement posted on X, Amnesty International expressed concern over the situation in Herat and the Taliban’s response to the demonstrations, stressing that people exercising their right to peaceful protest should never be met with bullets or violence.

The rights group said the Taliban must immediately release all those arrested during the protests and respect the rights and freedoms of women and girls, including freedom of movement, freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly.