INDO-PACIFIC Increased Attacks in Post US-Taliban Peace Deal OE Watch Commentary: On 2 June, the Wazir Akbar Khan Mosque in Kabul was the target of a terrorist attack, and as the accompanying excerpted articles report, the incident was the latest in a series of attacks in Afghanistan following the agreement with the US. The article from Tolo News, a privately-owned daily publication headquartered in Kabul, reports on the mosque attack, which resulted in the death of two people, including Dr. Mohammad Ayaz Niazi, “a national and regional figure” in the country’s education system. The mosque, which sits in a high-security area near the offices of several international organizations and embassies, is one of the city’s most famous places of worship. Niazi, who repeatedly took a stand against terrorist attacks, spoke out against the severity of recent terrorist attacks just a week before his death. He pointed out that within the last three months, the country’s coronavirus casualty count had reached approximately 227 deaths, yet the nation continues to suffer the same number of casualties to war on daily basis. While the Islamic State has since taken responsibility for the 2 June attack, the violence in the Afghan capital came after a recent road side bomb explosion which took the lives of seven civilians in the district of province, an area which has reportedly been under control of the Taliban. This attack was later blamed on the Taliban despite the Taliban denying any involvement in this attack. The Kabul mosque attack also follows the gruesome attack on one of Kabul’s busiest hospitals, which targeted a maternity ward run by Doctors Without Borders, killing 24 people, including newborns, their mothers, and health care workers. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News, a government-owned news agency based out of Canada, reported that the Taliban vehemently denied involvement, calling the maternity attack a “vile, inhumane and an un-Islamic act.” Al Jazeera, a government-owned news agency headquartered in Qatar, reported that Afghanistan saw an increase in violent attacks after the Taliban signed the peace agreement with the US in February. Afghanistan caught a break in the violence when the Taliban unexpectedly announced a three-day ceasefire to mark the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Since then, numerous violent attacks have resumed once again. Under the US-Taliban agreement, the Taliban pledged to stop al-Qaeda from using Afghanistan’s land to threaten the security of the US and its allies. Nevertheless, critics of the US-Taliban Agreement remain skeptical on whether the Taliban has the military capability to act as a counter- terrorism force against ISIS or al-Qaeda in the war-torn country without US assistance. While the Afghan government has made it clear they were ready to begin negotiations with the Taliban at any moment, the Taliban have yet to announce when the talks might begin. Meanwhile, Taliban’s ties to al-Qaeda remain close. According to a report made by independent UN sanction monitors, the Taliban regularly consulted with al-Qaeda during negotiations with the US and offered assurances that it would honor their historical ties. The Al Jazeera article continues, stating that the success of the agreement may be contingent on the Taliban’s willingness to encourage al-Qaeda to end its current activities in Afghanistan. (See also: “An Afghan Perspective: A New Phase in Afghanistan-Iran Relations” in this issue.) End OE Watch Commentary (Plude)

“The success of the [US-Taliban] agreement may be contingent on the Taliban’s willingness to encourage al-Qaeda to end its current activities in Afghanistan.”

Source: “Ta’keed e Ra’is Jamhoori Bar Kayfardehi ‘Amelan e Enfejar Dar Masjed e Wazir Akbar Khan (The President Emphasized Punishment for the Attackers of the Perpetrators in the Wazir Akbar Khan Mosque),” Tolonews.com, 3 June 2020. https://tolonews.com/fa/ سییر-دیکات-ناخربکاریزو-دجسم-رد-راجفنا-نالماع-یهدرفیک-رب-روهمج /Afghanistan

“Dr. Mohammad Ayaz Niazi was a national and regional figure. His martyrdom is a great loss to the peace process and to the country’s education system,” said Atiq Ramin, chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee. Dr. Niazi has repeatedly taken a stand against terrorist attacks. In a speech last week at the Wazir Akbar Khan mosque he said, “Look, in a span of three months, Coronavirus casualties in Afghanistan – I think- are 227, yet we lose perhaps 230 casualties to war every day! Coronavirus is devastating, [but] when a plane bombards, there is no difference. When it comes to explosions and suicide [attacks], there is no difference.” Attacks on religious scholars in Afghanistan are not unprecedented; But the nature of these attacks has always been hidden.

OE Watch | July 2020 48 INDO-PACIFIC Continued: Increased Violence in Afghanistan Post US- Taliban Peace Deal

Source: “Doctors Without Borders Says Attackers Directly Targeted Maternity Ward,” Cbc.ca, 15 May 2020. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ afghanistan-maternity-hospital-attack-united-states-islamic-state-1.5571026

A U.S. official said Friday the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan carried out this week’s horrific attack on a maternity hospital in a majority Shia Muslim neighborhood in Kabul, killing 24 people, including newborn babies and mothers. Zalmay Khalilzad said the U.S. government believes the Islamic State affiliate carried out Tuesday’s attack on the hospital and an assault earlier the same day in a different province targeting the funeral of a pro-government warlord, killing 34 people. ISIS “has demonstrated a pattern for favoring these types of heinous attacks against civilians and is a threat to the Afghan people and to the world,” Khalilzad tweeted. “They went through the rooms in the maternity, shooting women in their beds. It was methodical. Walls sprayed with bullets, blood on the floors in the rooms, vehicles burned out and windows shot through,” said Frédéric Bonnot, Doctors Without Borders head of programs in Afghanistan. “They came to kill the mothers.” …The Taliban denied involvement in either attack, calling the maternity hospital assault a “vile, inhumane and an un-Islamic act.”

Source: “Roadside Bomb in Taliban-Controlled Area Kills Afghan Civilians,” Al Jazeera, 2 June 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/ news/2020/06/roadside-bomb-taliban-controlled-area-kills-afghan-civilians-200602083746155.html

According to local officials, the area is under the control of the Taliban armed group, which has staged a number of deadly attacks on Afghan security forces there in recent weeks. Six people were wounded in Monday’s blast, two of whom are in critical condition, according to the district chief, Hayatullah Amiri. Earlier this year, a United Nations report said more than 10,000 people were killed or wounded in the Afghanistan war in 2019 alone. Violence had surged after the Taliban signed a landmark agreement with the United States in February, which paves the way for the withdrawal of all foreign forces by May next year. However, violence across much of the country has dropped since May 24 when the Taliban announced a surprise three-day ceasefire to mark the Eid al-Fitr holiday. ….The Taliban have not yet said when the talks might begin. “The Taliban regularly consulted with al-Qaeda during negotiations with the United States and offered guarantees that it would honor their historical ties,” they said in a report to the UN Security Council, saying the ties stemmed from friendship, intermarriage, shared struggle and ideological sympathy. Under the February 29 US-Taliban deal, the Taliban promised to prevent al-Qaeda from using Afghan soil to threaten the security of the US and its allies.

China’s cyber policy appears to have three vectors —peace activist, espionage activist, and attack planner— that dominate China’s cyber policy. Some are always hidden from view while others are demonstrated daily. Three Faces of the Cyber Dragon is divided into sections that coincide with these vectors. https://community.apan.org/wg/tradoc-g2/fmso/m/fmso-books/195610/download

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