With Afghanistan's historic presidential elections just weeks away, a battle that has broken out for control of the country's western provinces highlights how difficult it will be to provide security for the vote, analysts say.
The fighting Saturday erupted between forces loyal to military strongman Ismael Khan, the ethnic Tajik governor of the nation's most prosperous city, and militias commanded by a rival warlord.
Over 20 people have been killed so far in the conflict which pits the governor's men in Shindand and Chisti districts in Herat province against militias loyal to commander Amanullah Khan, a Pashtun.
It is unclear which side started the battle but forces from three surrounding provinces launched a combined attack on Shindand airport and its surroundings.
"We've got coalitions of forces from [the provinces of] Ghor, Badgdis, Farah, and an almost encirclement of Herat. It appears to be a co-ordinated consortium of forces," said Nick Downie, security coordinator for the Afghanistan NGO Security Office.
Sporadic fighting between local factional commanders in western Afghanistan has intensified in recent months forcing foreign aid organisations to roll back their presence in the country's west which had been considered safe.
Last month Medecins Sans Frontieres quit Afghanistan following the murder of five of their staff in Badghis province in June.
There were a number of skirmishes between militias in Ghor province last month, with an attack on a disarmament convoy aiming to demobilize local fighters in which three US soldiers were injured.
Downie said that for militias hostile to Ismael Khan to be showing their hand so close to the election, they must believe they have a chance of success.
"I think this is a point of no return for those forces. They must believe they have good chances, because they are exposing themselves," he said.
Late Saturday, President Hamid Karzai's office issued an unusually strong statement condemning the fighting and saying it was the "government's duty to prevent any kind of threats" to the country's first presidential elections on Oct. 9.
"The government will respond to the situation in Shindand and Herat Province in a firm manner and serious measures will be taken against the latest military operations," the statement said.
A senior defense ministry official told reporters that government forces would back Ismael Khan if the fighting intensified.
Around 900 people took to the streets of Herat on Saturday carrying banners reading "Death to the Central Government" and "Why Does the Central Government Not Chop Off the Hands of those Who Attack Our Peaceful City?"
Factional fighting adds to the many security problems facing Afghanistan, which is also plagued by attacks from members of the ousted Taliban regime, who have vowed to disrupt the presidential elections.
Shamans in Peru on Monday gathered for an annual New Year’s ritual where they made predictions for the year to come, including illness for US President Donald Trump and the downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The United States should prepare itself because Donald Trump will fall seriously ill,” Juan de Dios Garcia proclaimed as he gathered with other shamans on a beach in southern Lima, dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, and sprinkling flowers on the sand. The shamans carried large posters of world leaders, over which they crossed swords and burned incense, some of which they stomped on. In this
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
Near the entrance to the Panama Canal, a monument to China’s contributions to the interoceanic waterway was torn down on Saturday night by order of local authorities. The move comes as US President Donald Trump has made threats in the past few months to retake control of the canal, claiming Beijing has too much influence in its operations. In a surprising move that has been criticized by leaders in Panama and China, the mayor’s office of the locality of Arraijan ordered the demolition of the monument built in 2004 to symbolize friendship between the countries. The mayor’s office said in
‘TRUMP’S LONG GAME’: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said that while fraud was a serious issue, the US president was politicizing it to defund programs for Minnesotans US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday said it was auditing immigration cases involving US citizens of Somalian origin to detect fraud that could lead to denaturalization, or revocation of citizenship, while also announcing a freeze of childcare funds to Minnesota and demanding an audit of some daycare centers. “Under US law, if an individual procures citizenship on a fraudulent basis, that is grounds for denaturalization,” US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. Denaturalization cases are rare and can take years. About 11 cases were pursued per year between 1990 and 2017, the Immigrant Legal Resource
RSS