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New Taliban chief not designated terrorist by US: Toner

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(Last Updated On: October 25, 2022)

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United States (US) has offered Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, newly appointed leader of extremist outfit Taliban in Afghanistan to negotiate and work to re-establish peace in the region.

During a media briefing, spokesperson for the Department of State, Mark Toner said that Haibatullah has the best opportunity till now to turn to the issues of Afghanistan and the region and decisively move towards reconciliation.

While answering a question, Toner said that Haibatullah has never been designated a terrorist by the United States.

Toner hoped that the fresh Afghanistan Taliban leader will choose talks over terror.

On the other hand, Chief Executive Officer, Abdullah Abdullah’s spokesperson warned the extremists to choose peace and end the war or prepare to face dire consequences.

He invited Taliban for talks in a message on Twitter.

However, a video tape has surfaced that shows the newly elected Taliban leader rejecting peace offers but spokesperson for the banned organization, Zabiullah Mujahid has denied the statement.

Mark Toner was apparently unaware of Haibatullah’s rejection of peace talks and he realised that after a journalist asked him for his take on that.

Taliban elected a new chief on Wednesday after confirming the killing of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in the first-ever drone strike in Balochistan on Saturday.

Sirajuddin Haqqani and son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, Mullah Yakoub were appointed his deputies.

Haibatullah is seen by different sections more of a philosopher than a military commander.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif met with the US Ambassador to Pakistan, David Hale on Wednesday and cleared that any violation of the sovereignty will be detrimental to Pakistan-United States relations.

Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif also condemned the attack and termed it a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Interior Minister Chaudhru Nisar Ali Khan in a media briefing on Tuesday termed the drone attack an attempt to sabotage efforts aimed at re-establishing peace in the region.

Chief of Army Staff’s meeting with the US Ambassador came a day after Department of State announced to continue drone attacks, if US foes are found in Pakistan.

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ISIS-K leader reportedly living in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

Sanaullah Ghaffari, also known as Shahab al-Muhajar, is reportedly the ISIS-Khorasan (Daesh) branch leader and is holed up in Pakistan, Reuters reports.

The 29-year-old took over as leader in 2020 and under his leadership the group has carried out extreme attacks as a means of recruiting, Reuters reported.

Reuters noted that little was known about Ghafari before the deadly 2021 ISIS attack on Kabul Airport, which killed 170 Afghan civilians and 13 American soldiers.

But after Friday’s deadly attack in a concert hall in Moscow, which left 139 people dead, Ghaffari’s group has come under intense scrutiny.

Reuters reports that Ghaffari is said to have been involved in several attacks in Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan.

Pakistani officials said months ago that Ghaffari had been killed in Kunar province in Afghanistan in June last year, but Reuters has reported that he did not die and instead fled to Pakistan and lives in the border province of Baluchistan.

Abdul Matin Qani, the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior of Afghanistan, says that Daesh has been suppressed in Afghanistan for more than two years and has lost its operational capacity.

The last attack carried out by Daesh in Afghanistan was the attack on the Kabul Bank office in Kandahar last week which left three dead and 12 wounded.

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IPL: Sunrisers thump MI in record breaking match

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

It was raining records at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday with the hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) clinching a 31-run victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in Match 8 of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

Sunrisers’ batting rewrote the record books on a batting belter after the posted 277 for three.

SRH now have the highest team score in the history of the IPL – beating Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) 263 for five from the 2013 season.

In reply, MI made a spirited effort, and at one stage, were contenders to do the near impossible. In the slog overs, the enormity of the target proved a bit too much, and SRH clinched victory, but not without numerous nervous moments.

To put into perspective the carnage we witnessed – Heinrich Klaasen’s 23-ball half-century was the slowest fifty of the SRH innings.

Travis Head, playing his first match for SRH, raced to the milestone in 18 balls. Abhishek Sharma got there even faster – in 16 balls – to record the quickest fifty by an SRH batter in IPL history.

While Sunrisers notched up the highest total in the 16-year history of the IPL, just as incredibly, Mumbai Indians almost paid them back with the same coin, their batters coming out with a nothing-to-lose attitude.

The sixes kept rolling off the Mumbai bats too, helping them keep up with the asking rate for most of the chase, eventually however, they ran out of steam and finished on 246 for 5, the highest IPL total in a losing cause.

As ESPNcricinfo reported, never were more runs scored in a men’s T20 match (523). Never were most sixes hit in a men’s T20 (38). At the end of the close to four-hour six-fest, only two bowlers returned with an economy rate of under ten an over.

Thursday, March 28 : Match 9

Thursday’s match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur sees Rajasthan Royals go up against Delhi Capitals.

Fans in Afghanistan can tune in to Ariana Television to watch the match live from 6.30pm. Alternatively the match can be screened live on arianatelevision.com

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Magnitude 5.2 quake jolts Afghanistan

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

An earthquake measuring a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter Scale jolted Afghanistan on Thursday afternoon, the National Center for Seismology reported.

The quake was at a depth of 70km and epicentered in the mountainous north-eastern area of Ashkāsham.

The jolt was felt across the region including in Kabul, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan

There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

In October last year, over 2,000 people were killed when four 6.3-magnitude earthquakes struck in Herat province.

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