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Pakistani Chief of Army Staff surprise visit to Kabul
Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa in an unannounced visit to Kabul met with President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday
The Presidential Palace said in a statement that Pres. Ghani and Gen. Qamar Bajwa discussed the Afghan Peace process and Pakistan’s support of the process.
It comes as Khalilzad met with Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa Sunday and discussed steps required for the start of intra-Afghan negotiations.
“The two took note of recent progress created by the Eid ceasefire and accelerated prisoner releases as well as reduced violence ahead of intra-Afghan negotiations,” US Embassy in Islamabad said in a statement.
According to the statement, the two sides agreed that peace in Afghanistan offers an unprecedented opportunity to advance security, connectivity, and development
for the region.
Meanwhile, the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in a video conference in Brussels reaffirms the organization’s support to the intra-Afghan talks.
“Lasting peace in Afghanistan, we can only have if there’s intra-Afghan negotiations, an Afghan-owned, Afghan-led process. And we support that,” Stoltenberg said.
“There are many problems, many reasons to be concerned about the situation in Afghanistan, but there is a huge achievement that we now have a strong Afghan security force which is able to fight terrorism themselves,” he noted.
The NATO chief added that the best way that NATO could do is to “continue to train and help the Afghan security forces so they can create peace and stability in their own country themselves.”
The death toll from Saturday’s suicide bombing outside the Kawsar-e-Danish educational center in Dasht-e-Barchi of Kabul city has risen to 24, and around 60 others wounded, officials confirmed on Sunday.
Eyewitnesses told Ariana News that Saturday’s suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the middle of the narrow street after he was identified as being an insurgent by the center’s security guards.
According to eyewitnesses, all the victims were teenagers who had been taking extra lessons for the university entrance exam (Kankor exam).
Akram Azizi, a student at Kawsar-e-Danish, who is from Malistan district of Ghazni province, left home two months ago to start the process of writing his Kankor exam. According to him the suicide bombing took place at the front door of a hostel where he is living.
He said: “Unfortunately, one of my classmates Rohullah Rahimi was martyred. I was at his funeral last night.”
ISIS-K, or Daesh as it is commonly known in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is not the first attack against students in the same area. In August 2018, a Daesh suicide bomber detonated his explosives at another private education center, which left at least 48 killed and close to 100 wounded.
MMA champion Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement on Saturday night after defeating his rival Justin Gaethje in a second-round submission win in Abu Dhabi.
Reuters reported that the Russian’s many fans had questioned if he would have the heart for the fight against Gaethje following the death of his father Abdulmanap in July from complications caused by COVID-19.
But, following his win, he left his gloves in the octagon, fulfilling a promise to his mother.
“I talked to my mother three days (ago). She didn’t want me to go fight without (my) father, but I promised her it’s going to be my last fight, and if I give my word, I have to follow this,” an emotional Khabib said.
His father had tutored him in combat sports from an early age and was in his corner in Abu Dhabi in September 2019 when Khabib choked out Dustin Poirier, on that occasion using a rear-naked choke in another successful title defense, Reuters reported.
“It was my last fight. I know only one thing I want from the UFC – you guys have to put me number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world because I deserve this,” Khabib said.
The 32-year-old notched up 13 wins in eight years and a professional record featuring eight knockouts and 11 submission wins.
He competed in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he was the UFC Lightweight Champion from April 2018 until his retirement.
Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) said its special forces killed a key al-Qaeda member in an operation in Ghazni province.
In a post on Twitter, the NDS said: “As a result of NDS special force unit operation in Ghazni province an al-Qaeda key member for Indian sub-continent, Abu Muhsen al-Masri was killed.”
Al-Masri, an Egyptian national was believed to be the “second-in-command” in al-Qaeda and had been on the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Most Wanted Terrorist list.
He was charged in the US with conspiring to kill US nationals and providing resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
Rahmatullah Nabil, the former director of the NDS, said Sunday that al-Masri and some other members of al-Qaeda had frequently traveled between Shawwal Valley and Ghazni over the past few weeks.
He suggested that it could be related to a possible al-Qaeda attack.
According to him, key members of al-Qaeda had also been traveling to Zabul, Logar, and Paktika provinces.
He said the al-Qaeda members had been holding “secret meetings with unknown people” in Shawwal Valley and stated if the Taliban are sincere about the peace process they should “prevent this attack”.
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