Putin says gunmen who raided Moscow concert hall tried to escape to Ukraine. Kyiv denies involvement

Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities arrested the four men suspected of carrying out the attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday during an address to the nation. He claimed they were captured while fleeing to Ukraine.

Kyiv strongly denied any involvement in Friday’s attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, and the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate claimed responsibility.

Putin didn’t mention IS in his speech, and Kyiv accused him and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault in order to stoke fervor in Russia’s war in Ukraine, which recently entered its third year.

A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. agencies had confirmed that IS was responsible for the assault and that they had previously warned Moscow an attack could be imminent.

Putin said authorities have detained a total of 11 people in the attack, which also injured more than 100 concertgoers and left the venue a smoldering ruin. He called it “a bloody, barbaric terrorist act” and said Russian authorities captured the four suspected gunmen as they were trying to escape to Ukraine through a “window” prepared for them on the Ukrainian side of the border.

Russian media broadcast videos that apparently showed the detention and interrogation of the suspects, including one who told the cameras he was approached by an unidentified assistant to an Islamic preacher via a messaging app channel and paid to take part in the raid.

Russian news reports identified the gunmen as citizens of Tajikistan, a former Soviet country in Central Asia that is predominantly Muslim and borders Afghanistan. Up to 1.5 million Tajiks have worked in Russia and many received Russian citizenship.

Putin also said that additional security measures have been imposed throughout Russia, and he declared Sunday a day of mourning.

Some commentators on Russian social media questioned how authorities, who have relentlessly suppressed any opposition activities and muzzled independent media, failed to prevent the attack despite the U.S. warnings.

The attack came two weeks after the U.S. embassy in Moscow issued a notice urging Americans to avoid crowded places in view of “imminent” plans by extremists to target large Moscow gatherings, including concerts. The warning was repeated by several other Western embassies.

Investigators on Saturday were combing through the charred wreckage of the hall for more victims, and authorities said the death toll could still rise. Hundreds of people stood in line in Moscow early Saturday to donate blood and plasma, Russia’s health ministry said.

“We will identify and bring to justice all those stood behind the terrorists, all those who staged this atrocity, this assault against Russia and our people,” Putin said. “Russia has repeatedly faced hard, sometimes unbearable, trials, but it always came out even stronger.”

His claim that the attackers tried to flee to Ukraine followed comments by Russian lawmakers who pointed the finger at Ukraine immediately after the attack. But Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied any involvement.

“Ukraine has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods,” he posted on X. “Everything in this war will be decided only on the battlefield.”

Ukraine’s foreign ministry accused Moscow of using the attack to try to stoke fervor for its war efforts.

“We consider such accusations to be a planned provocation by the Kremlin to further fuel anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Russian society, create conditions for increased mobilization of Russian citizens to participate in the criminal aggression against our country and discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community,” the ministry said in a statement.

Images shared by Russian state media Saturday showed emergency vehicles still gathered outside the ruins of Crocus City Hall, which could hold more than 6,000 people and has hosted many big events, including the 2013 Miss Universe beauty pageant that featured Donald Trump and others.

On Friday, crowds had gathered for a concert by the Russian rock band Picnic.

Videos posted online showed gunmen in the venue shooting civilians at point-blank range. Russian news reports cited authorities and witnesses as saying the attackers threw explosive devices that started the fire, which eventually consumed the building and caused its roof to collapse.

Dave Primov, who survived the attack, told the AP that the gunmen were “shooting directly into the crowd of people who were in the front rows.” He described the chaos in the hall as concertgoers rushed to leave the building: “People began to panic, started to run and collided with each other. Some fell down and others trampled on them.”

After he and others crawled out of the hall into nearby utility rooms, he said he heard pops from small explosives and smelled burning as the attackers set the building ablaze. By the time they got out of the massive building 25 minutes later, it was engulfed in flames.

“Had it been just a little longer, we could simply get stuck there in the fire,” Primov said.

Messages of outrage, shock and support for the victims and their families have streamed in from around the world.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council condemned “the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” and underlined the need for the perpetrators to be held accountable. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the terrorist attack “in the strongest possible terms,” his spokesman said.

IS, which lost much of its ground after Russia’s military action in Syria, has long targeted Russia. In a statement posted by the group’s Aamaq news agency, IS’s Afghanistan affiliate said it had attacked a large gathering of “Christians” in Krasnogorsk.

In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacation-goers returning from Egypt.

The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, also has claimed several attacks in Russia’s volatile Caucasus and other regions in the past years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

On March 7, just hours before the U.S. embassy warned about imminent attacks, Russia’s top security agency said it had thwarted an attack on a synagogue in Moscow by an IS cell, killing several of its members in the Kaluga region near the Russian capital. A few days before that, Russian authorities said six alleged IS members were killed in a shootout in Ingushetia, in Russia’s Caucasus region.

A U.S. intelligence official told the AP that American intelligence agencies had gathered information in recent weeks that the IS branch was planning an attack in Moscow, and that U.S. officials had privately shared the intelligence earlier this month with Russian officials.

Another U.S. official said the IS branch in Afghanistan had long targeted Russia and reiterated that no Ukrainians were involved in the attack.

Both officials were briefed on the matter but weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the intelligence information and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Just three days before the attack, Putin had publicly denounced the Western warnings of a potential terrorist attack as an attempt to intimidate Russians. “All that resembles open blackmail and an attempt to frighten and destabilize our society,” he said at a meeting with top security officials.

Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Washington and Colleen Long in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed to this report.

Putin says gunmen who raided Moscow concert hall tried to escape to Ukraine. Kyiv denies involvement
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Islamic State’s deadly Moscow attack highlights its fixation with Russia

The Guardian

Fri 22 Mar 2024 20.20 EDT

The ISKP regional affiliate has a haven in Afghanistan and carried out recent bombings in Iran, suggesting it has capacity for major atrocities

A claim has surfaced that the attack was carried out by Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) a regional affiliate of the IS terrorist organisation. IS has been implicated in some of Russia’s largest recent terror attacks, including the 2017 bombing in the St Petersburg metro that killed 15 and injured 45.

US intelligence told American news agencies that there’s “no reason to doubt” the IS claims of responsibility.

law enforcement holding guns outside building with sign saying crocus city hall with fire in the air behind them

The group, which is a branch of IS mainly based in Afghanistan, has increasingly focused its attention on Russia since the United States left Afghanistan in 2021. The group was formed in 2015 by members of militant groups, including those from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, and is active in central Asia and Russia. It carried out twin bombings in January in Iran that killed nearly 100 people.

“Isis-K and its allies retain a safe haven in Afghanistan, and they continue to develop their networks in and out of the country,” said Gen Michael Kurilla, the commander of US Central Command, during testimony to the House armed services committee in early March.

“Their goals do not stop there. They have called for attacks globally on anyone not aligned with their extremist ideology, and Taliban efforts to suppress the group have proven insufficient.”

The attack in Iran demonstrated the group’s “resiliency and indicates that they retain the capability and will to conduct spectacular external operations”.

Russia’s FSB security service said that on 7 March it had prevented an armed attack by the group on a synagogue in the Kaluga region near Moscow.

“It was established that the militants of an international terrorist organisation are preparing an attack on the parishioners of the synagogue using firearms,” the FSB said in a statement.

a building on fire
Fire and chaos after mass shooting at Russian concert hall

Within hours, the US embassy issued an unusual warning for American citizens to avoid large gatherings and in particular concerts, repeating calls for US citizens to leave Russia. “The embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and US citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,” the embassy said on its website.

CNN reporters said they had been told that “since November there has been ‘fairly specific’ intelligence that Isis-K wanted to carry out attacks in Russia … US intelligence warned Russia about it”.

Putin changed the course of the Syrian civil war by intervening in 2015, supporting President Bashar al-Assad against the opposition and Islamic State.

“Isis-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticising Putin in its propaganda,” said Colin Clarke of the Soufan Center, according to Reuters.

The claim by the group will largely divert attention by Russian officials that the attack may have originated in Ukraine.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia who now is deputy head of the security council, said that if Kyiv’s involvement in the attack on the concert hall is proved, all those involved “must be tracked down and killed without mercy, including officials of the state that committed such outrage”.

Ukrainian officials had insisted that they had no link to the attack. “Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall (Moscow Region, Russia). It makes no sense whatsoever,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential administration.

“Ukraine has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods,” he said. “It is always pointless.”

Islamic State’s deadly Moscow attack highlights its fixation with Russia
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They fled Afghanistan after Biden’s withdrawal. Now in the US, they hope Trump wins

The Guardian

With the Afghan new year, or Nowruz, falling during the month of Ramadan this year, Afghans and Afghan Americans around the US who celebrated while fasting prepared with a few traditional dishes to share after sundown last week.

Zuhra, 30, had some of her relatives over to her house in Santa Ana, California. She decorated her dining table green, to celebrate spring, and made haft mewa, an Afghan dish prepared with seven different dried fruits and nuts, which her husband loves.

“Now our life is good,” she said. For years, things had been different.

Two white men wearing suits and ties
Biden administration failures drove the fall of Kabul, say top former US generals

Zuhra, who asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of reprisal for speaking to the press, arrived in southern California in November 2022, a little more than a year after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Back in her home country, Zuhra said, she held a master’s degree in business administration, had a good career working in human resources for US companies and agencies, and owned her home

“We wanted to stay and serve our people,” she said.

But having worked with foreigners, Zuhra and her husband knew they were at risk as soon as the Taliban took over in August 2021. Zuhra had applied years earlier for a special immigrant visa, or SIV, a coveted and hard-to-get visa established in 2006 for Afghans who had been employed by or on behalf of the US government. Congress is considering adding 12,000 new SIVs for Afghans in its latest funding deal negotiations. Fearful of being arrested, she stopped driving or working late, and covered her face to avoid standing out in public.

Eventually, she chose to move to California, home to the largest Afghan community in the US, to be near relatives who settled here decades ago.

But while finally in safety, the family struggled to rebuild their lives.

Zuhra and her husband had a hard time finding work and an affordable place to rent. Even now, she worries that they will be unable to save any money for their four-year-old son’s future.

Numerous Afghans who have found refuge in the US since the US withdrawal have encountered similar challenges.

The non-profit Tiyya Foundation helps newly arrived immigrants in southern California find work and housing. They also help newly arrived immigrants find work, and directly employ some of them – like Zuhra, who works for the organization as a translator.

Beatrice Kihagi, Tiyya’s family services specialist, explains that having community support makes the challenges of living in one of the most expensive parts of the US more manageable. But it remains tough, she said.

Many of these families did well in their home countries, and their kids at times struggle to adjust to their new reality, Kihagi said: “It’s so hard for them because they could see the kind of life they had back at home was much better than here”– financially, at least. Kihagi says this weighs on parents mentally.

Samir, who asked to be identified by an alias for fear of retaliation against his family in Afghanistan, obtained an SIV and moved his family of six to southern California in August 2023. He worked on agriculture and infrastructure projects for USAid, the United States Agency for International Development, across the southern province of Uruzgan.

He described a harrowing journey leaving his home country, crossing Taliban checkpoints, flying through multiple countries and juggling paperwork, an infant and enormous suitcases. “Not the small luggage,” he explained. “The big luggage, because my wife was willing to take everything.”

His children ran around happily as the family attended a recent Tiyya event called “tea and tots” that gathers families for playdates at a park. He said the biggest opportunity he has in the United States is to educate his daughters, which he couldn’t do in Afghanistan. Now, they speak English, he said proudly, and know how to talk to teachers and do their homework. “When it’s morning early, they are happy to get ready very fast to go to school,” he said. He added his wife is slowly becoming excited to learn to drive.

But the first two months in California were difficult. Samir struggled to get housing because landlords asked for proof of income or a co-signer. He said: “I told them, I’m new. I don’t have income. I don’t know anybody.” He said every step was difficult, and the stress and depression weighed on him, until they found an apartment and could begin remaking their lives.

As the US weighs who should occupy the White House come January 2025, Samir said most college-educated Afghans he knows, and those who worked in the country’s former government, don’t like Joe Biden because of how he handled the withdrawal of US troops in 2021. “They left us and our lives in danger,” he said.

Samir said he’s concerned about illegal immigration and worries that people without the proper paperwork – something he waited for – will have a more difficult journey settling in the US, and that they will compete for resources he depends on. “I hope that we will have the president to support the legal immigrants,” he said.

He thinks Afghans who hold US citizenship, and can vote in November, will look at whoever is doing the most to help refugees.

Zuhra said she’s too new to the US to be able to comment on politics, but she’s noticed the contentiousness of the 2024 election. “There’s division here like there was in Afghanistan,” she said.

She said her relatives who are US citizens are leaning towards voting for Donald Trump.

Roien Rahimi came to the U.S. from Afghanistan almost three years ago and now works for an organization that supports refugees’ mental health. He, too, is still struggling, he said. “I have to work even during the weekend, so I can afford the expenses.”

This makes it difficult to pay attention to the political climate of his new home. “Afghan new immigrants, they’re struggling with their life right now. It’s a bit far to think about the election,” he said. He said he doesn’t follow politics much, but spoke favorably of Donald Trump, and mentioned concerns over Joe Biden’s age. “If they bring good life to people of the US, we are happy. That’s what matters,” Rahimi concluded.

They fled Afghanistan after Biden’s withdrawal. Now in the US, they hope Trump wins
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79% of People Lack Access to Clean Water In Afghanistan: UN

However, the Ministry of Energy and Water said that efforts to manage groundwater in the country continue.

Coinciding with World Water Day, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) stated that 79% of the country’s population lacks access to sufficient clean water.

In its latest report, UNDP considers drought, economic instability, and past unrest as reasons that have led to the water crisis in the country.

“Severe drought conditions, economic instability, and the devastating effects of prolonged conflicts have significantly impaired the country’s water infrastructure. The situation is further aggravated by the impact of climate change and extreme weather events, which have led to the destruction of vital water sources and facilities,” the report reads.

However, the Ministry of Energy and Water said that efforts to manage groundwater in the country continue.

The ministry said that in this solar year, 300 projects aimed at water management in various provinces of the country are to be implemented.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Water, the reconstruction work of six major water projects, including the Pashtun dam, Kamal Khan dam, Turi Bakhshabad dam, and Shah and Arous dam, is underway.

“The work on the Kamal Khan dam in Nimroz is 98% complete and is expected to be operational in the current solar year. The work on the Shah and Arous dam in Kabul is 79% complete and is expected to be operational in the current solar year. The first phase of the Bakhshabad dam in Farah will be completed in the current solar year. The work on the Pashtun dam in Herat is 75% complete, and so far, 900 million afghani have been spent on this dam, and it will be operational in the current solar year. The reconstruction work on the Turi Zabol dam has progressed by 90% and will be operational in the current solar year,” the ministry said.

“In terms of water management, the Ministry of Energy and Water has currently started work on more than six dams such as Bakhshabad dam, Band-e-Pashdan dam, Turi dam, and others,” said Matyullah Abed, spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy and Water.

World Water Day arrives while Afghanistan, despite being rich in water resources, still faces unresolved problems of water scarcity, especially clean drinking water.

“Afghanistan only uses thirty percent of the water produced annually in this country; seventy percent remains unused due to lack of infrastructure, water storage facilities, and water distribution systems,” said Najibullah Sedid, a water management expert.

“A clear solution for managing underground water both within Afghanistan and across borders should be considered where all criteria are taken into account,” said Hamidullah Yalani, another water management expert.

On Thursday the acting Minister of Energy and Water also announced the construction of 11 more check dams at a cost of more than 30 million afghanis in eleven districts of Kabul.

“The benefit of these dams is that they store water and release it into springs and canals for irrigation,” said Abdul Latif Mansoor, the acting minister of Energy and Water.

UNDP in its latest report also stated that in the past two years, 67% of families in Afghanistan have been affected by drought-related problems and another 16% by floods.

79% of People Lack Access to Clean Water In Afghanistan: UN
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Officials: Over 1,200 Drug Factories Destroyed Since Islamic Emirate Return

Some experts said that the Islamic Emirate should educate the public about the harms of drugs and provide alternative crops for farmers.

The Counter-Narcotics Directorate of the Ministry of Interior stated that since the return of the Islamic Emirate, over 1,200 large and small drug processing factories have been destroyed in the country.

Haseebullah Ahmadi, the head of the counter-narcotics office of the Ministry of Interior, said that the Islamic Emirate is committed to fighting drugs in the country and that drug trafficking, cultivation, and trade in the country have nearly reached zero.

Ahmadi said: “About 1,250 alcohol and drug processing factories in various provinces of the country have been destroyed, and the serious fight against the cultivation, trafficking, and trade of drugs in the country continues.”

The head of the counter-narcotics office of the MoI warns that individuals who still engage in the cultivation, trafficking, and the trade of drugs will be referred to judicial and legal authorities.

Haseebullah Ahmadi said: “The Islamic Emirate is committed to the fight against drugs and intends to allow no one to engage in the cultivation, trafficking, and trade of drugs. If someone continues to do so, they will be introduced to judicial and legal authorities.”

Some experts said that the Islamic Emirate should educate the public about the harms of drugs and provide alternative crops for farmers.

Gul Mohammaddin Mohammadi, a political affairs expert, said: “In the fight against drugs, public awareness is needed, and alongside it, alternative programs should be implemented for farmers so that people refrain from cultivating drugs.”

Najib Rahman Shamal, another expert, said: “I hope the interim government of Afghanistan can cooperate and support the neighboring and regional countries in the fight against cultivation, trafficking, and trade of drugs.”

According to the Counter-Narcotics Directorate of the Ministry of Interior, 15,500 hectares of crops used for illicit drugs in various provinces of the country have also been cleared.

Officials: Over 1,200 Drug Factories Destroyed Since Islamic Emirate Return
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Mujahid Urges US Envoy to Consider Afghanistan’s Progress on His Trips

Tolo News
23 March 2024

Mujahid added that the interim government has had good achievements in the areas of security, economy, and anti-corruption.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, said that the US special representative for Afghanistan Thomas West should take into account the current progress in Afghanistan during his travels to countries in the region and meetings with officials from various countries.

Mujahid added that the interim government has had good achievements in the areas of security, economy, and anti-corruption.

The spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate told TOLOnews: “Our position is that the advances in security and stability in Afghanistan should be considered and supported, as this will lead to various dimensions and also lead to regional security and the alleviation of concerns.”

This comes as the US special representative for Afghanistan Thomas West recently traveled to India and discussed the development of diplomatic relations with Afghanistan with some officials of that country.

West said on X: “Great to return to India and connect with close colleagues about the way ahead in Afghanistan. Spent valuable time with HE Foreign Secretary Kwatra and Joint Secretary JP Singh. India continues to deliver critical humanitarian aid and medicine to the Afghan people, and we discussed 2024 needs. Also exchanged views on development of a unified diplomatic approach in support of collective interests.”

Sayed Ishaq Gilani, leader of the National Solidarity Movement of Afghanistan, told TOLOnews: “The major countries are in no hurry like us; they want to investigate something, gather general opinions, and then act again. The best thing will be to facilitate discussions with Afghans.”

Bilal Fatemi, a political expert, referring to Thomas West’s trip, said: “Not only humanitarian aid to Afghanistan is being discussed in this trip, but it is above that, and they just make it appear as if the topic is aid to Afghanistan.”

Thomas West, the US special representative for Afghanistan, is expected to travel to the United Arab Emirates after his trip to India this week.

Mujahid Urges US Envoy to Consider Afghanistan’s Progress on His Trips
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UNSC on Kandahar Attack: Terrorism Is Unjustifiable Anywhere

The United Nations Security Council condemned the “heinous terrorist attack” in Kandahar on Thursday, March 21.

The Security Council in a statement drafted by Japan said that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is one of the most serious threats to peace and security in Afghanistan and the world.

“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to peace and security in Afghanistan as well as in the world. The members of the Security Council underline the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers, and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice,” the statement reads.

Concurrently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and the embassies of Japan and Turkey for Afghanistan have also condemned this attack.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan in its statement has called terrorism a common concern of both countries and has called for a bilateral attention to this matter.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry in a statement strongly condemned the terrorist attack that took place in Kandahar on Thursday.

The statement said that Pakistan reiterates its strong condemnation of terrorism in “all its forms and manifestations.” Terrorism is a “shared concern that both countries need to address through collective efforts,” the statement said.

“The Government and the people of Pakistan extend their sincere condolences to the bereaved families and pray for the early recovery of the injured. Pakistan reiterates its strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Terrorism is a shared concern that both countries need to address through collective efforts,” the statement said.

“Unfortunately, 40 years of war in the region have created extremist groups, and there is no doubt that some countries use these groups for their strategic interests,” said Tariq Farhadi, international relations analyst.

Meanwhile, The United Nations Assistance mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and The US Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights, Rina Amiri have also called for accountability for the perpetrators of such attacks in Afghanistan.

“UNAMA unequivocally condemns yesterday’s Islamic State (KP)-claimed attack in Kandahar that left dozens killed or wounded. Such abhorrent acts, during Ramadan or any other time, should have no place in Afghanistan,” said UNAMA on X.

“Daesh is an oppressive phenomenon that does not see the right path and targets civilians; however, their hideouts have been destroyed, and they themselves are on the verge of extinction. Insha Allah, the Islamic Emirate has ordered its forces to be active against all Daesh actions in all areas,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate.

Although the Islamic Emirate has not yet shared the casualty figures of this event, the spokesperson for the Kandahar Security Command had previously stated that three people were killed and twelve were injured in this incident. However, some sources have told TOLOnews that the number of fatalities is higher than that reported.

UNSC on Kandahar Attack: Terrorism Is Unjustifiable Anywhere
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Republicans continue to hammer Biden for Afghan exit

The Washington Post
March 20, 2024
A House hearing on Afghanistan put Democrats on the defensive about an issue the White House had hoped to leave behind

The top two generals who oversaw the deadly evacuation of Afghanistan faced renewed scrutiny Tuesday as House Republicans escalated their campaign to hold President Biden accountable for the fiasco and Democrats accused Donald Trump of setting the conditions for the Kabul government’s collapse.

Retired Gens. Mark A. Milley and Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, career military officers who served in senior roles under both presidents, testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee as part of its oversight investigation of the United States’ calamitous exit, in August 2021, from a 20-year war.

McKenzie said that although the Pentagon had developed a plan to withdraw all U.S. troops, diplomats, citizens and at-risk Afghan partners months before the Taliban’s return to power, Biden instead decided to leave open the U.S. Embassy and withdraw all but a few hundred military personnel — ultimately leaving tens of thousands in harm’s way.

“I think the fundamental mistake — the fundamental flaw — was the timing of the State Department call” for evacuation, Milley said. “I think that was too slow and too late, and that then caused the series of events that result in the very last couple of days.”

The recurring political spotlight on the conflict’s closing days, marked by scenes of gruesome violence and desperation, has forced Democrats to confront a dark moment during Biden’s tenure as president while he campaigns against his predecessor for a second term as commander in chief.

Many Democratic lawmakers have joined their Republican colleagues in criticizing the administration’s handling of the withdrawal. But with the anticipated election rematch between Trump and Biden months away, they face pressure to defend his position that it was Trump in 2020 who boxed in Biden by accepting a deal with the Taliban that put few conditions on a U.S. departure the following year.

Throughout the hearing, both sides took turns trying to demonstrate their respect for the generals while prodding them to acknowledge the other party’s president as the person ultimately responsible for the evacuation fiasco.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), the committee chairman, said the White House “refused” to listen to warnings about what was happening in Afghanistan as the Taliban made recaptured cities and districts on their march to Kabul. The State Department, he said, never called for a full evacuation until Aug. 14, 2021, one day before the Afghan government fled the country and thousands of civilians overran the city’s airport in a frantic bid to do so themselves.

“As the saying goes, ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,’” McCaul said of the Biden administration. “And fail they did.”

He produced an interim report around the second anniversary of the evacuation last August and is expected to release a final version this summer.

A State Department investigation released last June found that the agency gave “insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios” and how quickly those could occur after Biden decided to follow through with Trump’s decision to withdraw. The agency also did not have anyone clearly in the lead on preparation for a full evacuation, that investigation found.

A State Department official, asked about Tuesday’s hearing, said the agency is “immensely proud of the work done, under incredibly difficult circumstances, to ensure the relocation of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and Afghans throughout the withdrawal and the period that followed.”

Both retired generals said their remarks were consistent with hours of testimony they provided while still on active duty — a point that Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (N.Y.), the committee’s top Democrat, sought to emphasize.

“There’s nothing groundbreaking here!” Meeks said, urging lawmakers to look instead at the war’s totality, not just how it ended. The bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission that was convened last year to scrutinize the entire 20-year war is expected to issue findings within four years.

Among those present at the hearing were the families of several U.S. troops killed in a bombing on the outskirts of the Kabul airport as the 17-day evacuation raced to a close. The explosion followed days of public warnings from the Biden administration that the Islamic State, which operates a branch in Afghanistan, was poised to attack. An estimated 170 Afghans died in the suicide strike alongside 13 American service members. Dozens more were wounded.

Reps. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.) assailed McKenzie and Milley for not seeking out the testimony of a Marine sniper, Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who has said that shortly before the attack, he spotted a man in the crowd who met the description of the suicide bomber but was denied permission to shoot him. Vargas-Andrews, who was severely wounded in the explosion and was present at the hearing Tuesday, provided lawmakers last year with an emotional account of the bombing and its aftermath, compelling the Pentagon to review the findings of its investigation of the incident. The results of that review are expected to be made public soon.

McKenzie and Pentagon leaders told the public in 2022 that the airport bombing was “not preventable.

Rep. Michael Waltz (R.-Fla.), a retired Special Forces officer, said he was infuriated recalling how Biden, in the weeks before the crisis, downplayed the prospect of Afghanistan falling to the Taliban. In one instance, Waltz noted, Biden said in July 2021 that it was “highly unlikely” the Taliban would overrun the country — even though the generals had privately warned that such an outcome could happen swiftly.

“My assessment at the time was if we went to zero on U.S. military forces, then there was a high likelihood of a collapse of the government of Afghanistan, and the [Afghan forces], with the Taliban taking over,” Milley told lawmakers Tuesday. “But I personally thought it was going to be in the fall, somewhere around Thanksgiving. Assessments varied widely.”

The White House, asked about Milley’s testimony, cited a document the White House released last spring saying that when Biden assumed office, he undertook a “deliberate, intensive, rigorous, and inclusive decision-making process” about how to handle the war. “Ultimately, President Biden refused to send another generation of Americans to fight a war that should have ended for the United States long ago,” it states.

Several Democrats on the panel sought to highlight what they said were Republican inconsistencies on Afghanistan policy. They noted that GOP outrage over the abandonment of U.S. allies stranded amid the military airlift that carried 124,000 people to safety should translate into meaningful help for Afghans left behind and those who were resettled in the United States.

Afghan advocates, included leading U.S. military veterans groups, have warned that thousands of Afghans who served the U.S. mission remain in Afghanistan and that the State Department will soon run out of Special Immigrant Visas for them unless Congress acts.

There are approximately 20,000 Afghans — not counting their family members — who have received preliminary approval and “will soon require visas,” a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) wrote last week in a letter to Senate leaders. As of March 1, “there were approximately 7,000 visas remaining,” they said.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Col0.), an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, urged his colleagues to sign on to the Afghan Allies Protection Act, a bipartisan bill consistently thwarted by Republicans. Congress can still “save lives by passing this bill and providing a pathway for our friends to get out,” Crow said.

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), wondered what it will take for Americans to be able to visit Afghanistan in a similar fashion to how he visited Vietnam to see where his father was killed.

“It will take years upon years upon years,” Milley responded. “ … I believe the Taliban are still a terrorist organization. I still believe that they conduct incredible, horrific retribution inside their own country, and I would not recommend to any family member at this time to return.”

Milley added that he will have a difficult time ever reconciling with the Taliban. “I’ll probably go to the grave with it,” he said.

Republicans continue to hammer Biden for Afghan exit
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Afghanistan: IS claims responsibility for suicide bomb at Kandahar bank

BBC News

22 March 2024

Empics Relatives attend the funeral of an Afghan man who was killed in a suicide attack at Kabul bank, in Kandahar, Afghanistan
Relatives attend the funeral of a man killed in a suicide attack in Kandahar

At least 21 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a hospital doctor has told the BBC.

The Taliban government says a suicide attack took place at a city centre bank at about 08:00 (03:30 GMT).

It puts the death toll at three. Police said a number of others were wounded.

The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility, and says it was targeting the Taliban.

According to a report issued by IS’s “news agency” Amaq, the group claimed the attacker detonated his suicide belt among the crowd of “around 150” Taliban members.

The blast, believed to be the biggest in Afghanistan this year, took place at a branch where Afghan government employees were queueing to collect their salaries.

A doctor from Mirwais hospital, the region’s largest, spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity. “So far 21 dead and at least 50 people injured from the explosion have been brought in,” he said.

Kandahar is the seat of power of the Taliban, the base of their supreme commander.

While the overall security situation in Afghanistan has improved since the Taliban gained complete control with the full withdrawal of foreign troops in 2021, there continue to be dozens of bombings and suicide attacks in the country each year.

Many of them have targeted Afghanistan’s Hazara ethnic minority and have been claimed by Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISKP, the regional affiliate of the so-called Islamic State group, a major rival of the Taliban.

Afghanistan: IS claims responsibility for suicide bomb at Kandahar bank
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At the beginning academic year, girls in Afghanistan await school reopening

Written By: Hakim Bigzaad

As the 1403 academic year starts in the country, female students beyond the sixth grade are asking the Taliban administration to let them attend their classes.

The Ministry of Education of the de facto administration rang the school bell on Wednesday, the first of the month, during a meeting. However, this bell was only rung for boys, and the fate of female students above the sixth grade is still shrouded in ambiguity.

Mahdeya, a girl who graduated from the sixth grade last year and is now unable to continue her studies, is urging the Taliban to open the doors of schools for girls above the sixth grade as well.

Speaking to a reporter from Khaama Press, she said, “I completed the sixth-grade last year, but I am prepared for the new year as well. I hope I can return to my class again.”

Meanwhile, Abdul Salam Hanafi, the administrative deputy of the Prime Minister’s Office of the Taliban, stated during a school bell-ringing ceremony that they have no opposition to modern sciences. However, none of the officials of the Taliban spoke about the reopening of girls’ schools in this gathering.

Hanafi added, “Whether in science or modern technology, we must either move forward with others or at least keep pace with the world.”

The Ministry of Education has asked girls attending school to observe Islamic hijab and dress according to the guidelines of the Taliban administration.

Sara, another female student in the twelfth grade, says they are ready to observe the Islamic hijab. She adds, “If there is an issue with the hijab, we consider it, but they should allow us to pursue our aspirations.”

Meanwhile, the US State Department called the exclusion of girls from schools “heartbreaking.” The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan also said in a statement that Afghan girls have been deprived of education for over 900 days.

At the beginning academic year, girls in Afghanistan await school reopening
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