September 8, 2021 Afghanistan
The Taliban said on Monday they had taken control of all of Afghanistan – including the Panjshir Valley, the historic Tajik bastion that neither the Soviets in the 1980s nor the Taliban in the 1990s were able to conquer. But resistance leader Ahmad Massoud – son of legendary anti-Taliban commander …
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September 8, 2021 Afghanistan, Eurasia, South East Asia
The National Resistance Front (NRF) leader has voiced his willingness for talks with the Taliban on an end to the fighting in Panjsher province. As the Taliban stormed into his stronghold on Sunday, Ahmad Massoud positively responded to a call from religious scholars for a negotiated end to the conflict. …
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September 8, 2021 Afghanistan
The Taliban movement has rejected a proposal for cessation of fighting in the embattled central province of Panjsher. The offer was made by National (NRF) Resistance Front leader Ahmad Massoud on Sunday, hours after a call from top religious scholars. Al Jazeera quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying: “We have …
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September 8, 2021 Afghanistan, Eurasia
The Taliban proclaimed on Monday the conquest of the province of Panjshir, the only one of the 34 regions that had not fallen into the hands of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA). “Panjshir has come under the full control of the Emirate… Some rebels were defeated and the rest …
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September 8, 2021 Afghanistan
On Monday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that a new Afghan interim government will be announced in the next few days, after confirming that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has taken over Panjshir, the only province that had remained out of Taliban’s control. “The new administration might be in …
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September 8, 2021 Eurasia
An employee of a German security company contracted by the Bundestag has gone on trial on espionage charges after being accused of passing floor plans of buildings used by the German parliament to the Russian secret services. The 56-year-old suspect, identified only as “Jens F.”, did not make any statements …
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September 8, 2021 Afghanistan
President Vladimir Putin said Russia wants Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to join the international order as soon as possible to help strengthen stability in the region. Russia has no interest in Afghanistan’s disintegration because “there will be no one to talk to then,” Putin told an audience Friday at the annual Eastern …
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September 8, 2021 Afghanistan
THE PRESIDENT: Last night in Kabul, the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan — the longest war in American history. We completed one of the biggest airlifts in history, with more than 120,000 people evacuated to safety. That number is more than double what most experts thought …
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September 7, 2021 Afghanistan, South East Asia
The US and the EU should not buy Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s fake pro-Western posture (such as when he offered to run the Kabul airport, then fled) or his fake anti-radicalism (such as when he is courting the Afghan terrorists). Erdogan’s strategy, as a member of NATO, is clearly …
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September 7, 2021 Middle Orient, Special Analysis
Introduction In June 2021, southern Syria once again dominated the headlines when the regime laid siege to the Daraa al-Balad area of Daraa city. A few days after the monthlong siege, an agreement to end the escalation collapsed and the Syrian army’s Fourth Division spearheaded a major military push in …
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