As Taliban reaches Tajikistan border, Russia says it's ready &
prepared to defend its close ally against Islamist terrorist group
9 Jul, 2021 14:07
FILE PHOTO. Russian servicemen performing during the events on the occasion of the 70th anniversary
of the 201st Russian military base deployed in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. © Sputnik
The Russian Foreign Ministry has revealed that Moscow is ready to interfere in the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border, noting that it will defend its allies against any possible incursion over the frontier by the Taliban.
Speaking at a briefing on Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova revealed that two-thirds of the border is already under the control of the group, designated by Moscow as a terrorist organization.
Russia and Tajikistan are both members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a mutual defensive pact consisting of six former republics of the Soviet Union.
According to Zakharova, Russia's 201st military base in Tajikistan is equipped with everything required to defend the country.
“If necessary, additional measures will be taken to prevent provocations and aggravation of the situation,” she said.
The situation arose in Afghanistan following the reduction of US military presence in the country. As per Washington’s plan, Kabul and the Taliban were set to agree on a transitional government before the formation of a more permanent setup. Neither side has been willing to compromise, and now the Taliban has made territorial gains in the country’s north, on the Tajik border.
Zakharova also noted that there have been multiple occasions of Afghan government forces crossing over the border with Tajikistan to escape gunfire.
“We call on the opposing sides of the inter-Afghan conflict to show restraint and avoid the spread of tensions beyond the country's borders,” she said.
Earlier on Friday, a top Russian CSTO official told RT that Tajikistan and its allies would repel any possible Taliban incursion from neighboring Afghanistan, with Moscow ready to help.
“We’ve seen the Taliban's outposts. At least for now, we see no aggression coming from [them],” General Colonel Anatoly Sidorov said. “They are not hiding at all. It appears the situation is fairly peaceful on the [Afghan] side.”
India pulls diplomats from Afghanistan’s second-largest city
as Taliban boast rapid territorial gains
11 Jul, 2021 14:01
Afghan security forces stand guard in Kandahar on July 9, 2021. © AFP / JAVED TANVEER
India has temporarily withdrawn personnel from its consulate in Kandahar as the Taliban continue to consolidate control over territory around the southern Afghan city.
A special aircraft operated by the Indian Air Force was reportedly dispatched on Saturday to retrieve around 50 diplomats and security forces from Afghanistan’s second-largest city.
India’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Indian nationals working at the consulate had been “brought back for the time being” due to “intense fighting” near Kandahar city. The ministry stressed that the consulate would continue to operate with the assistance of local staff members and that the decision to withdraw its diplomats was “a purely temporary measure until the situation stabilizes.”
On Friday, Taliban forces entered the outskirts of Kandahar city, the capital of the province of the same name, seizing houses and buildings as they battled Afghan troops. The insurgent group has captured districts surrounding the city as part of a large-scale offensive that was launched as the US military began to accelerate its withdrawal from Afghanistan in May.
The Afghan government has deployed special forces units, as well as the country’s air force, in an attempt to push back the Taliban assault.
The militants now claim to control 85% of Afghanistan’s territory, a figure that Kabul has dismissed as propaganda. However, some of the group’s territorial gains are beyond dispute. Earlier this week, Taliban fighters captured two major border crossings with neighboring Iran and Turkmenistan. It’s also believed that the insurgents control approximately two-thirds of Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan. Moscow has signaled that it is ready to help protect Tajikistan in the event of a Taliban incursion into the country.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has defended his administration’s decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, promising that the United States would not “walk away” from Kabul as it tries to keep the Taliban at bay.
The Americans have spent a decade and a half training Afghan troops to defend their country. Yet, the Taliban seem to be able to do what they want. America can't possibly abandon Afghanistan again, can they?
Australia completes full withdrawal from Afghanistan,
leaving behind trail of war crime allegations
11 Jul, 2021 09:50
An Australian soldier on board a C-130 military airplane prepares for landing during a flightfrom Kabul to Kandahar on July 31, 2010. © AFP / Yuri Cortez
Australia has confirmed the end of its military involvement in Afghanistan, as the US-led coalition accelerates its exit from the war-torn nation. Canberra’s role in the 20-year conflict has been sullied by war crime allegations.
Defense Minister Peter Dutton announced on Sunday that over the past several weeks, Australia had pulled 80 support personnel from Afghanistan, formally ending the country’s military presence there. Canberra said in April that it would follow Washington’s lead by pledging to remove its remaining troops by September.
Dutton noted Australia was ready to join the US in future military operations that are deemed to be “in our national interest or in the interest of our allies.”
“For now, though, that campaign has come to an end,” the defense minister said.
Australia mobilized some 39,000 troops over the past two decades as part of the US-led military intervention in Afghanistan. Forty-one Australian service members were killed during the war, which eventually became a dragged-out stalemate with the Taliban. Canberra withdrew the bulk of its forces from Afghanistan in 2013.
“This war is ending, not with victory, not with defeat, but with hope that Afghanistan is a better place,” then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at the time.
Good luck with that Tony.
While Australia’s involvement in the drawn-out war has officially come to an end, in recent months the country has begun to grapple with claims of alleged war crimes carried out by its troops.
In December, a four-year investigation commissioned by the government found evidence that Australian troops committed dozens of murders in Afghanistan. However, the report determined that responsibility for the alleged crimes “does not extend to higher headquarters.”
Of course not! The buck stops in the junior ranks, it appears.
Canberra later apologized to Kabul for the “misconduct” detailed in the explosive report.
Since then, other gruesome allegations have come to light as the result of a defamation case against several Australian media outlets brought by a special forces soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith. Newspaper reports allege that Roberts-Smith gruesomely murdered six Afghan men during his tour of duty, and then engaged in other illegal behavior to cover up the killings. Australian media outlets claim that, among other alleged crimes, Roberts-Smith killed an unarmed farmer whose hands had been handcuffed behind him, by kicking the civilian over a cliff and ordering another soldier to shoot him. The Aussie soldier has denied the claims.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has defended Washington’s withdrawal from the country, dismissing concerns of a Taliban takeover of Kabul. He vowed that the United States won’t “walk away” from Afghanistan, suggesting that the US could continue military aid to the country. The insurgent group has scored a string of victories over the past several weeks, reportedly seizing more than a dozen districts across the country.
The funny thing is, no one in Afghanistan wants the Taliban in control, except the Taliban. They destroy almost everything good about Afghan society with their Sharia Law.
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