According to the Pakistan newspaper Dawn, As-Sahab recently relocated its real ground game from Pakistan (where it has been operating since 2002) back to Afghanistan in Helmand province.
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Iran’s foreign minister also expressed support for the peace talks.
Online audio message could bolster Mullah Mansoor’s accession after his appointment caused friction within Taliban.
The message comes two weeks after Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency said Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar died more than two years ago of an unspecific illness. His death in 2013 had been kept secret for two years, and it is unclear how many senior Taliban commanders were aware of it. It promised to keep backing the peace process between Kabul and the Taliban. Experts say that pledges of allegiance are of utmost importance to a Taliban leader’s legitimacy, as breaking an oath is viewed as a sin.
“The last few days have shown that suicide-bomber training camps and bomb-producing factories that are killing our people are as active as before in Pakistan”, Ghani said. “If our people continue to be killed, relations lose meaning….”
A secure Afghanistan would be good for Pakistan, and vice versa. Zakir is tirelessly pushing for Mullah Omar’s son Yaqoob and he has a sizable faction of the Taliban behind him.
Ghani, unlike his predecessor, reached out to Pakistan.
They were scheduled to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other Pakistani officials. Scandal, infighting and explosive allegations have erupted, threatening to scuttle reconciliation and possibly ending any hopes of further talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
The attacks prompted an outburst of rage in Afghanistan and led President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Dr Abdullah Abdullah to point fingers at elements in Pakistan while accusing Islamabad of doing little to stop such incidents. There is therefore little incentive for Pakistan to change its ways, talks or no talks.
Pakistan on Thursday promised to extend full cooperation to Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism as it redoubles efforts to defuse tensions triggered by a barrage of deadly attacks in Kabul.
Then Ghani’s trip to Washington happened, where US President Barack Obama announced the decision to slow troop withdrawal. The video, apparently shot in Afghanistan’s restive east against the backdrop of hilly grasslands enveloped with fog, describes the prisoners as “apostates” aligned with the Taliban or the Afghan government.
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Afghan forces, Shoffner said, have “definitely been tested this fighting season, but they’re holding their own and they have demonstrated their courage and resilience. There is no question of us moving apart now after going through this war together”.
