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Turkmenistan sending heavy weaponry closer to border with Afghanistan
Turkmenistan has started moving heavy weaponry, helicopters, and other aircraft closer to its border with Afghanistan, and reservists are being put on alert in the capital amid deteriorating security in Afghanistan, RFE/RL reported Monday.
A senior official at a Turkmen security agency told RFE/RL that more troops from an army garrison near the city of Mary are being sent to bolster border guard units. Mary is about 400 kilometers north of Serhetabad, a major border crossing with Afghanistan.
The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said additional forces sent to the border include officers as well as fighter jets and helicopters, RFE/RL reported.
According to the report, in the capital, Ashgabat, reservists are being summoned to military recruiting posts and being told to stay on alert for possible quick deployment, the official said.
The orders are so far not nationwide and are limited to just Ashgabat, he said.
The Turkmen government, which is tightly controlled and highly secretive, has made no announcement about increased security.
Turkmenistan shares an 800-kilometer border with Afghanistan, where the security situation has deteriorated sharply as Taliban fighters advance on provincial centers and even some border crossings.
Hundreds of Afghans, including soldiers and local police, have reportedly fled into other neighboring Central Asia countries, like Tajikistan.
Tajik officials last week announced they were sending an additional 20,000 troops to its border in response to the Taliban offensive.
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Afghanistan carries out retaliatory attack against Pakistan
The Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday it has attacked "centers and hideouts of evil elements and their supporters" across the Durand Line.
"Several points across the hypothetical line including centers and hideouts of evil elements and their supporters from where attacks were organized in Afghanistan were attacked in revenge from the southeast of the country," the ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, sources said that retaliatory attacks across the Durand Line began last night from Alisher district of Khost province and Dand Patan district of Paktia province and continued until morning.
According to sources, light and heavy weapons were used in the clashes.
Earlier, Pakistan launched airstrikes in Paktika's Barmal district on Tuesday, killing and wounding dozens of people.
The Ministry of National Defense of Afghanistan had warned that the attacks would not go unanswered.
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Syria is ‘more strategically important’ to US than Afghanistan: Khalilzad
Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US envoy for Afghanistan peace, said that he had urged senior officials in the Joe Biden administration to take a more active approach toward Syria.
According to a report by the New York Times published on Friday, Khalilzad said the Biden administration made a mistake by refraining from having more direct contact with the Islamic Emirate after it came to power in 2021.
He said the recent meeting of the US delegation with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new Syrian ruler, in Damascus was a positive step.
“Not that prematurely engaging doesn’t have risks,” Khalilzad said. “But I think there is an element of timing, of shaping things.” He added that Syria is “more strategically important” to the United States than Afghanistan, making the task more urgent.
Meanwhile, Khalilzad on Friday reiterated that the Doha Agreement states that a new government in Afghanistan would be determined by negotiations and dialogue between the IEA and other Afghan sides.
"The Doha Agreement did not define the nature of Afghan political systam, but it clearly stated that a new government would be determined by negotiations and dialogue between the Taliban and other Afghan sides," Khalilzad said on X. "The challenge for Afghans, Taliban and others, is how to deliver on this commitment, given current realities."
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Pakistan’s forced repatriation of Afghan refugees has fueled hatred: Imran Khan
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the forced deportation of Afghan refugees, which was intended to reduce terrorism, has actually created hatred that is detrimental to regional peace.
Speaking to reporters in Adiala Jail, Khan criticized Pakistan's recent airstrikes on Afghanistan and said that this is the second time Pakistan is bombing Afghanistan.
He also criticized that Bilawal Bhutto did not visit Afghanistan even once when he was the Pakistani foreign minister, while this should have been a priority.
Imran Khan recalled that he had told the then Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa not to replace the head of the intelligence agency, General Faiz Hamid, because the situation in Afghanistan would be very different after the withdrawal of American forces, but he did not accept this only to extend his term, which led to an increase in terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
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