Tag: Indian Embassy in Kabul

  • Speculations rife on India’s role in aiding US on Zawahiri’s location in Kabul

    By IANS

    ISLAMABAD: Slain Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Ladens successor Ayman Al Zawahiri was assassinated in “an over-the-horizon operation” involving a “secret weapon” by the US in downtown Kabul on July 31, more than 11 years after the terror groups founding chief was killed in a US Navy SEALs operation in Abbottabad, a media report said.

    Speculation abounds on how the US might have found and killed Zawahiri.

    According to the report in The Express Tribune, the targeted compound is just a few minutes’ drive from the Indian Embassy in Kabul where technical staff is currently based.

    Interestingly, Zawahiri’s second last video message was about Muskan Khan, a burqa-clad Indian Muslim girl who dared a group of young saffronites and shouted “Allah-O-Akbar” in front of them in Karnataka state in February 2022, The Express Tribune reported.

    Eighty-two per cent of officials of Afghanistan’s former spy agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), have been allowed by the IEA to work in various ministries due to a lack of technically qualified resources in their ranks.

    They could have been a source of information for the Indian Embassy because the NDS and RAW worked hand in hand during Ghani’s rule.

    There is a possibility that the Indians might have got the information from NDS and shared it with the Americans, The Express Tribune reported.

    There are questions around which airbase was used to launch the MQ9 drone. Pakistan has denied any role in the strike. Military spokesperson Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar categorically stated that there was “no question of Pakistani soil being used for this purpose”.

    The Foreign Office went a step further to even rule out the use of Pakistan’s airspace.

    A US media report claimed that the pilot-less aircraft was possibly launched from Ganci airbase, the US transit facility at Manas in northern Kyrgyzstan.

    ALSO READ | US drone strike on Zawahiri raises questions over Pakistan’s possible role

    There were also media reports of some US air activity in Farkhor in Tajikistan, near the border with northern Afghanistan, 15 to 20 days ago. Other than that, Ayani airbase, in Tajikistan operated by US’s Quad partner India, and the CIA-operated K-2 Base in Uzbekistan could also be potentially used to carry out such a strike, The Express Tribune reported.

    The neighbourhood where the Zawahiri lived, located just 1.5 kilometres away from the Afghan Presidential Palace, is off-limits to most people, which rules out an outside sneak peek at Zawahiri’s safehouse.

    Since the US has zero on-ground presence in Afghanistan after their pullout a year ago, rumours swirl that it might have been an inside job. America’s former point-man for the region Zalmay Khalilzad has hinted that the US may have been tipped off by the Taliban due to an internal power struggle between the Haqqani Network and the Kandahari Group, The Express Tribune reported.

    Michael Barak, a researcher at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), doesn’t rule out the possibility that the Kandahari Group might have shared intelligence with the US because they perceive the Haqqanis’ alliance with Al Qaeda as a threat to their efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.

    Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban Defence Minister who represents the Kandahari Group, is said to be trying to carve out a larger space for himself. He has also tried to become relevant to Doha, Qatar. He embarked upon an unannounced visit to Qatar in the last week of July in an unprecedented move.

    Mullah Yaqoob reportedly met with some US officials in Doha. Speculations are rife that he might have leaked information on Zawahiri as a tradeoff for the release of Afghanistan’s $3.5 billion funds seized by the US, The Express Tribune reported.

    Moreover, since he leads the Kandahari Group, he might have done so to increase his credibility with the US and also to neutralise the rival Haqqanis.

    Al Qaeda is a shadow of its former self and hence Zawahiri was virtually of no value to the Taliban; therefore he could have easily been given up in a quid pro quo.

    A pro-Taliban channel on Telegram, ‘Anfal Afghan Agency’, claimed the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), in collaboration with Iran, might have helped the CIA track down Zawahiri.

    Sharing what it called “exclusive details”, the channel claimed that IS-K’s chief Shahab al Muhajir sent a “contaminated” letter of allegiance to Zawahiri that revealed his location to the Americans, The Express Tribune reported.

    The Taliban claim to have found corroborating evidence at the site including the “letter of allegiance” and a flash drive.

    ISLAMABAD: Slain Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Ladens successor Ayman Al Zawahiri was assassinated in “an over-the-horizon operation” involving a “secret weapon” by the US in downtown Kabul on July 31, more than 11 years after the terror groups founding chief was killed in a US Navy SEALs operation in Abbottabad, a media report said.

    Speculation abounds on how the US might have found and killed Zawahiri.

    According to the report in The Express Tribune, the targeted compound is just a few minutes’ drive from the Indian Embassy in Kabul where technical staff is currently based.

    Interestingly, Zawahiri’s second last video message was about Muskan Khan, a burqa-clad Indian Muslim girl who dared a group of young saffronites and shouted “Allah-O-Akbar” in front of them in Karnataka state in February 2022, The Express Tribune reported.

    Eighty-two per cent of officials of Afghanistan’s former spy agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), have been allowed by the IEA to work in various ministries due to a lack of technically qualified resources in their ranks.

    They could have been a source of information for the Indian Embassy because the NDS and RAW worked hand in hand during Ghani’s rule.

    There is a possibility that the Indians might have got the information from NDS and shared it with the Americans, The Express Tribune reported.

    There are questions around which airbase was used to launch the MQ9 drone. Pakistan has denied any role in the strike. Military spokesperson Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar categorically stated that there was “no question of Pakistani soil being used for this purpose”.

    The Foreign Office went a step further to even rule out the use of Pakistan’s airspace.

    A US media report claimed that the pilot-less aircraft was possibly launched from Ganci airbase, the US transit facility at Manas in northern Kyrgyzstan.

    ALSO READ | US drone strike on Zawahiri raises questions over Pakistan’s possible role

    There were also media reports of some US air activity in Farkhor in Tajikistan, near the border with northern Afghanistan, 15 to 20 days ago. Other than that, Ayani airbase, in Tajikistan operated by US’s Quad partner India, and the CIA-operated K-2 Base in Uzbekistan could also be potentially used to carry out such a strike, The Express Tribune reported.

    The neighbourhood where the Zawahiri lived, located just 1.5 kilometres away from the Afghan Presidential Palace, is off-limits to most people, which rules out an outside sneak peek at Zawahiri’s safehouse.

    Since the US has zero on-ground presence in Afghanistan after their pullout a year ago, rumours swirl that it might have been an inside job. America’s former point-man for the region Zalmay Khalilzad has hinted that the US may have been tipped off by the Taliban due to an internal power struggle between the Haqqani Network and the Kandahari Group, The Express Tribune reported.

    Michael Barak, a researcher at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), doesn’t rule out the possibility that the Kandahari Group might have shared intelligence with the US because they perceive the Haqqanis’ alliance with Al Qaeda as a threat to their efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.

    Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban Defence Minister who represents the Kandahari Group, is said to be trying to carve out a larger space for himself. He has also tried to become relevant to Doha, Qatar. He embarked upon an unannounced visit to Qatar in the last week of July in an unprecedented move.

    Mullah Yaqoob reportedly met with some US officials in Doha. Speculations are rife that he might have leaked information on Zawahiri as a tradeoff for the release of Afghanistan’s $3.5 billion funds seized by the US, The Express Tribune reported.

    Moreover, since he leads the Kandahari Group, he might have done so to increase his credibility with the US and also to neutralise the rival Haqqanis.

    Al Qaeda is a shadow of its former self and hence Zawahiri was virtually of no value to the Taliban; therefore he could have easily been given up in a quid pro quo.

    A pro-Taliban channel on Telegram, ‘Anfal Afghan Agency’, claimed the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), in collaboration with Iran, might have helped the CIA track down Zawahiri.

    Sharing what it called “exclusive details”, the channel claimed that IS-K’s chief Shahab al Muhajir sent a “contaminated” letter of allegiance to Zawahiri that revealed his location to the Americans, The Express Tribune reported.

    The Taliban claim to have found corroborating evidence at the site including the “letter of allegiance” and a flash drive.

  • India closely monitoring situation in Afghanistan; gearing up to evacuate staff from Kabul

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India is gearing up to evacuate hundreds of its officials and citizens from Kabul after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan, setting the stage for the Taliban to recapture power in the country two decades after a US-led military invasion ousted it in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

    Afghan media reported that Ghani and his close aides have left the country with the Taliban on the brink of seizing control of Kabul after taking over almost all leading cities and provincial capitals.

    As Afghanistan stares at an uncertain future with the imminent fall of Kabul into the hands of the Taliban, several countries including the US and the UK scrambled to evacuate their staff from the city that has been gripped by fear and panic.

    People tracking developments in Afghanistan said India has prepared all contingencies and eventualities including evacuating its staff in its embassy in Kabul as well as Indian citizens stranded in the country.

    It is learnt that a fleet of C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force is kept on standby to undertake evacuation missions.

    ALSO READ | Scrambling Afghan forces, Taliban enter Kabul, await ‘peaceful transfer of power’

    The people cited above said India will not put the lives of its staffers at the embassy and its citizens in Kabul at any risk and plans have already been finalised in case they require emergency evacuation.

    “The government is closely monitoring fast-paced developments in Afghanistan. We will not put the lives of our staff at the Indian Embassy in Kabul at any risk,” said a source.

    However, there is no official comment from India on the fast-paced developments in Afghanistan.

    In the last few days, the Taliban fighters have swept through most parts of the country, seizing control of around 25 of 34 provincial capitals including cities such as Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad.

    Afghan media quoted acting defence minister Bismillah Mohammadi as saying that President Ghani handed the authority of solving the “crisis” in the country to political leaders.

    Mohammadi said that a delegation will travel to Doha on Monday for talks on the country’s situation.

    Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, appeared to criticise Ghani for leaving the country and said “God will hold him accountable and the nation will also judge.”

    Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said on Twitter that a coordinating council comprising himself, Abdullah Abdullah and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has been formed for transfer of power following President Ghani’s departure.

    Earlier in the day, the Afghan Presidential Palace said on Twitter that the situation was under control in Kabul and it has not been attacked, though there were instances of sporadic gunshots.

    It said Afghan security forces were working with international partners to ensure the security of Kabul.

    “Kabul has not been attacked. The country’s security and defence forces are working together with international partners to ensure the security of the city and the situation is under control,” the statement in Pashto said.

    ALSO READ | President Biden deploys additional 1,000 US troops to aid Afghanistan departures

    Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the Taliban’s onslaught and the imminent fall of Kabul as “heart-wrenching stuff”.

    “We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission, and that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11. And we have succeeded in that mission,” Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union” programme.

    “The objective that we set, bringing those who attacked us to justice, making sure that they couldn’t attack us again from Afghanistan – we’ve succeeded in that mission, and in fact, we succeeded a while ago,” he said.

    “And at the same time, remaining in Afghanistan for another one, five, ten years is not in the national interest,” he added.

    The Taliban made rapid advances across Afghanistan by resorting to widespread violence since the United States began withdrawing its troops from the country on May 1.

  • India has contingency plans: Govt sources on evacuation of staff from Kabul embassy amid Taliban fear

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India has put in place contingency plans to evacuate hundreds of its officials and citizens from Kabul that has been gripped by fear and panic following reports of Taliban fighters entering the outskirts of the Afghan capital city on Sunday.

    People familiar with the development said the government will not put the lives of its staffers at the Indian embassy and Indian citizens in Kabul at any risk and plans have already been finalised in case they require emergency evacuation.

    “The government is closely monitoring the fast-paced developments in Afghanistan. We will not put the lives of our staff at the Indian embassy in Kabul at any risk,” said one of the persons cited above.

    Specifically asked when the Indian staffers and citizens in Kabul will be evacuated, they said decisions will depend on the ground situation.

    ALSO READ | Scrambling Afghan forces, Taliban enter Kabul, await ‘peaceful transfer of power’

    It is learnt that a fleet of the C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force is kept on standby to undertake evacuation missions.

    According to reports from Kabul, Taliban fighters have entered the outskirts of the city, triggering panic and fear among the residents.

    In the last few days, the Taliban fighters have swept through most parts of Afghanistan, seizing control of around 25 of the 34 provincial capitals, including cities such as Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad.

    The Afghan Presidential Palace said on Twitter that the situation is under control in Kabul and it has not been attacked, though there were instances of sporadic gunshots.

    It said the Afghan security forces are working with their international partners to ensure the security of Kabul.

    ALSO READ | President Biden deploys additional 1,000 US troops to aid Afghanistan departures

    “Kabul has not been attacked. The country’s security and defence forces are working together with international partners to ensure the security of the city and the situation is under control,” the statement in Pashto said.

    Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had a telephone conversation with security officials regarding the security of the citizens in Kabul, it said.

    The BBC reported from Kabul, quoting the country’s acting interior minister, that a peaceful transfer of power to the transitional government is being prepared.

    As the situation deteriorated in Kabul, the United States and the embassies of several other countries began evacuating their staff from the Afghan city.