World News

Hundreds of Afghan refugees return home from Pakistan

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On Wednesday, Afghanistan’s Ministry for Refugees and Repatriation said 531 Afghan refugees returned home from Pakistan over the past two days.

Over 2.5 million registered Afghan refugees reportedly live in neighbouring Pakistan, about the same number in Iran.

A couple of weeks ago, the state-run Bakhtar news agency reported the return of more than 60,000 Afghan refugees from Iran since January.

The Afghan caretaker government has urged Afghan refugees living abroad to return home and contribute to rebuilding their war-torn country.

Politics

‘Work hard to prevent Afghanistan situation in Nigeria,’ Gombe gov charges security agents

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The Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, on Friday charged the security agents to take proactive measures and prevent the Afghanistan situation in Nigeria.

Yahaya, who made the call at a Roundtable Discussion titled: “Security Situation in Afghanistan: Implications for Nigeria and Africa,” organized by the Alumni Association of the National Defence College in Abuja, also demanded a strong synergy between the government and security agencies in order to effectively prosecute the ongoing campaign against the Boko Haram insurgents, bandits and other criminal elements in the country.

He stressed that the unfolding events in Afghanistan and other countries demand that authorities in Nigeria take proactive measures to stem any grave repercussions on the country.

Yahaya noted that Nigeria and Afghanistan share several things in common, hence what affects the South Asian nation has consequences on Nigeria and Africa in general.

World News

Taliban announces new government in Afghanistan

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The Taliban on Tuesday announced a team of hardliners into its interim government in Afghanistan with key government roles shared among veterans of the militant group and its allies in the United States-sanctioned Haqqani Network.

The composition of the interim government was announced at a press conference by one of the group’s spokesmen in Kabul, the country’s capital.

Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, a long-time Taliban member and a leader of the group’s Shura or Leadership Council for about two decades, was named the Prime Minister.

Akhund is seen as an influential member of the Taliban and highly respected on the religious side of the movement.

Mullah Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political bureau, who led the Taliban delegation in peace talks in Qatar, was named the Deputy Prime Minister.

Two senior figures in the Haqqani Network were also named in the interim government with Sirajuddin Haqqani, the network’s leader, was appointed as the acting Interior Minister.

Haqqani has been one of Taliban’s two deputy leaders since 2016 and has a $10 million US bounty on his head.

Khalil Haqqani, Sirajuddin’s uncle, was appointed the acting Minister for Refugees.

World News

Taliban takes over TV station in Afghanistan’s strategic city

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Taliban fighters have taken over a television station in Afghanistan’s strategic Helmand province.

The Helmand TV and Radio station which are located in the city of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, is operated by state-run Radio and Television Afghanistan.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by its spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, Taliban confirmed its fighters had taken over the station and chased out its staff.

The incident came a few hours after the United States ramped up airstrikes against the Taliban in a bid to turn back the militants’ advances on a number of key provincial capitals in Afghanistan, a senior Afghan security official told journalists.

“Over the past three days, the US airstrikes have targeted Taliban positions around the cities of Herat, Kandahar, and Lashkar Gah.

“They strike multiple times when the Taliban try to enter the city,” the official said, adding that the three cities were considered “endangered” by Taliban advances.

World News

American troops will leave Afghanistan. Officials have told US media.

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US President Joe Biden is set to announce that American troops will leave Afghanistan by 11 September, officials have told US media.

The US would miss a May deadline for a pull-out agreed with the Taliban by the Trump administration last year.

The new deadline would coincide with the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the US in 2001.

Mr Biden had previously said the 1 May deadline would be tough to meet.

US and Nato officials have said the Taliban, a hardline Islamist movement, have so far failed to live up to commitments to reduce violence.

The Taliban have been warned that if they attack US troops during the pull-out phase, they “will be met with a forceful response”, said a senior administration official who was briefing reporters.

Mr Biden had decided a hasty withdrawal that would put US forces at risk was not a viable option, the official added.

At the same time, a review of US choices determined that now was the time to close the book on the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan to focus on more acute threats.

Mr Biden is due to make the announcement himself on Wednesday.

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