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ICRC Director-General Robert Mardini made his first field visit in his new position to Afghanistan, from 8-11 November, where the ICRC has been helping people suffering from the consequences of war for more than three decades. Mr. Mardini shared some of his thoughts at the end of his trip:

It's an important signal that Afghanistan is the first country I visited in my new post as ICRC director-general. It's a signal of both the ICRC's commitment to the country but also the continued needs of the people there, who have suffered from the effects of decades of conflict.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has added yet another deadly threat to people already worn down by other crises, and, very unfortunately, it has made it even harder to secure funding to help people in need. Many donor governments are primarily concerned by their own domestic problems as the pandemic has created a global economic crisis.

Ahead of the Afghanistan pledging conference to be held in Geneva on 23-24 November, co-hosted by the U.N. and the governments of Finland and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, this visit allows me to make a strong case to donors about the urgency of adequate and sustainable funding for humanitarian programmes.

During my trip I met with authorities, civil society and affected people on both sides of the conflict. I have raised our grave concerns to all concerned parties about the enormous impact of the ongoing conflict on civilians.

Even as peace talks are taking place, it is clear that there has been an intensification of hostilities in Afghanistan in recent weeks, with a resulting increase in the numbers of people wounded by weapons being admitted to hospitals. According to hospital staff in areas on both sides of the conflict, for example in Helmand, Kandahar or Ghazni province, hundreds of casualties were admitted last month, including significant numbers of civilians.

It also clear that more than four decades of armed conflict in Afghanistan have left the health care system in the country unable to cope with the magnitude of needs. With COVID-19 adding yet another deadly threat, access to health care is among the most pressing humanitarian needs in the country.

I saw this for myself when I visited Andar district and Ghazni provincial hospitals -- two health care facilities managed by authorities on different sides of the conflict. Yet speaking with health care workers and authorities on both sides, I was struck more by what they have in common than what divides them. Healthcare needs are acute everywhere and need to be addressed urgently, regardless of political affiliations.

In Andar district hospital, there is one emergency surgeon serving a catchment area of around 50,000 people. The emergency room currently has only five beds. When there is an attack or incident in nearby areas -- as there often is -- the hospital quickly becomes inundated with war wounded, often many of them civilians.

Likewise, in Ghazni provincial hospital there are typically hundreds of war wounded admitted per month -- along with all the other patients requiring care -- and the 100-bed capacity easily becomes overwhelmed. Both hospitals have water supply and electricity problems, meaning what little equipment they have in many cases can't be used.

Still, I was encouraged by the positive attitude of health authorities on both sides of the conflict and inspired by the courage of Afghan health workers treating the wounded and sick 24/7.

With regard to the peace talks in Doha, any sincere efforts to secure peace are of course always welcome. But in the meantime, urgent humanitarian needs cannot be overlooked. Even if a peace agreement is reached tomorrow, this does not by itself erase decades of suffering and deep-rooted needs that in some cases span generations, not least the often-invisible psychological scars of conflict.

As long as the armed conflict continues, all parties need to respect the principles of international humanitarian law to lessen the harm caused to civilians. Respect for IHL is not open to negotiation in any circumstances. It is the ultimate safety net to ensure respect for the life and dignity of people affected by armed conflict.

We encourage the parties to the conflict to reach agreements on specific issues that would help to alleviate the suffering of all those affected, enhance IHL compliance and ultimately build trust and confidence across lines, for example related to the evacuation of the wounded, the transfer of human remains, the respect for the medical mission and access to education.

The ICRC stands ready to help facilitate the reaching of such agreements, which we believe could ultimately help pave the way to a political solution that will lead to less suffering for the people of Afghanistan.

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Afghanistan visit: Hospitals on both sides of conflict show a health system in need - Afghanistan - ReliefWeb

PESHAWAR: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser said on Friday that Pakistan intends to enhance the scope of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan so as to connect Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the Central Asian countries.

Addressing a conference titled, The role of parliament in enhancing investment, trade and people-to-people exchange under CPEC, he said after the start of intra-Afghan talks, efforts were underway to revive this historical trade route, which would be in the best interest of the people of both countries.

Solid efforts will be made on parliamentary level to ensure maximum benefits of CPEC projects for KP, Asad Qaiser said. We are also playing our role to secure the due rights of the province, including its share on account of the hydel power profit.

Qaiser directed the officials concerned to expedite work on cases pertaining to KPs rights in CPEC projects, and forward a summary in this regard to Islamabad at the earliest.

In his address, KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan claimed that the incumbent provincial government has brought more CPEC projects to the province than the previous government.

The Nawaz Sharif government had just provided one CPEC economic zone to the province, while we have added motorways, power projects and the construction of Chishma Right Bank Canal project to the framework.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate the Rashakai Economic Zone on November 21st.

On power supply issues, the CM said that Pakhtunkhwa Electric Company (PEDO) has initiated several power projects, the completion of which would ensure the provision of cheap electricity to local industries.

Meanwhile, the participants of the panel discussions demanded the government to include women businesses in the China-funded project. They highlighted that women-centric projects covered not even 15 per cent of the CPEC framework, which meant that the government was ignoring more than half of the countrys population.

Shamama Arbab, President of the KP Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, informed that most women were associated with home-based industries, but [they] need more support to develop their businesses.

She demanded the government to provide interest-free loans to women, facilitate small & medium enterprises, and help entrepreneurs in market research in order to enable the province compete with other parts of the world.

The participants also demanded the government to direct banks to provide lands to the SMEs in the province, noting that Pakistani banks were still reluctant to invest in the province.

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Pakistan wants to extend CPEC to Afghanistan, says NA speaker - Profit by Pakistan Today

A bomb attached to the vehicle of a former presenter on Afghanistans Tolo TV has exploded, killing the journalist and two other civilians, Kabul police have said.

The death of Yama Siawash is being investigated after the explosion on Saturday, said police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. No one has immediately claimed responsibility.

Siawash had recently begun working with Afghanistans central bank and was in a bank vehicle along with another senior employee, Ahmadullah Anas, and the driver, Mohammad Amin. All died in the explosion, said Faramarz.

Violence and chaos have increased in Afghanistan in recent months even as government negotiators and the Taliban are meeting in Qatar to find an end to decades of relentless war in the country. The two sides have made little progress.

Washingtons peace envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has been pressing for an agreement on a reduction in violence or a ceasefire, which the Taliban have refused, saying a permanent truce would be part of the negotiations.

The talks were part of a negotiated agreement between the US and the Taliban to allow US and Nato troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, ending 19 years of military engagement.

According to initial reports, Siawash was near his home when the bomb attached to his car exploded. A witness, Mohammad Rafi, said Siawashs father and brother were the first to reach the vehicle that was engulfed in flames. Rafi said all three of those killed were inside the car.

Siawash was a former presenter who anchored political programmes on Tolo TV.

Separately on Saturday, a suicide bomb attack in the southern Zabul province killed two civilians, according to police spokesman Hikmatullah Kochai. Kochai said police, acting on intelligence reports, intercepted the vehicle that was detonated by the bombers from within. More than one assailant was inside the vehicle, he said. Seven civilians were wounded in the attack.

In southern Kandahar, a flatbed carrying several farmers hit a roadside mine killing five and wounding at least two others, said Bahir Ahmadi, spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor.

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Afghanistan vehicle bomb kills former TV presenter - The Guardian

The key clause in the United States peace deal with Afghanistans Taliban is a commitment to disallow any militant group from using Afghan soil to plot against America and its allies.

But is the Taliban merely pretending that its long-time ally al-Qaeda no longer maintains bases and fighters in the areas it controls in Afghanistan just to appease the US and withdraw its troops from the country?

As part of a historic deal brokered in February, the Taliban agreed, among other things, not to shelter terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and to cut all ties with the transnational terrorist group best known for orchestrating the 9-11 attacks on US soil.

With that commitment, the US has promised a complete withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan, a departure that some speculate could pave the way for the Talibans eventual return to power. There are now around 5,000 US troops in the country, a number that will fall to 2,500 by early 2021.

The US is also helping to facilitate a political settlement between the Taliban and President Ashraf Ghanis incumbent government. While peace talks underway in Doha, Qatar, have not yet achieved any substantial breakthroughs, a deal would restore the Talibans international legitimacy as a political actor.

Yet key questions remain. Has the three-decade-long history of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan truly come to an end? Is the world safe from an al-Qaeda threat that has long emanated from Afghanistans remote and rocky reaches?

Two narratives offer different answers to these key questions.

The adherents of one line claim plain and simple that al-Qaeda no longer exists in Afghanistan. Opponents of this narrative, however, believe that al-Qaedas recent silence is an agreed strategy to conceal its presence to facilitate the Talibans peace deal with the US.

This could mean Afghanistan is still a willing, clandestine hub for Islamist militant groups, posing as ever severe threats to regional and global security.

All of those who want the quickest withdrawal possible of US forces from Afghanistan and those who want the Taliban back into power are fully supporting the success of the US-Taliban peace deal, signed in Doha on February 29, 2020.

They sense and fear that if any new evidence emerges about al-Qaedas continued threat in Afghanistan, it will potentially scupper a final US-Taliban peace deal. They therefore insist that al-Qaeda no longer exists in the country.

Those most strongly perpetuating this narrative line are the Taliban, their Afghan sympathizers and certain external powers.

This list also includes many Afghan critics of the Taliban who do not support the Islamist group but believe that Afghanistans conflict is rooted in the presence of foreign troops and thus want them to leave their country as soon as possible.

Those who oppose the notion that al-Qaeda has left the premises are against any political deal with the Taliban. Many of them believe that a US withdrawal will restore the Taliban to power and revert the country into a hub of Islamist militancy.

This narratives adherents include the current Afghan government, anti-Taliban political forces and certain political and security analysts who closely monitor al-Qaeda and global terror trends. They believe that both al-Qaeda and the Taliban are concealing the formers presence.

The Taliban and its supporters have resorted to labeling anyone who considers al-Qaedas current existence in Afghanistan a possibility as anti-peace.

Yet the most credible claims about al-Qaedas continued existence in Afghanistan come from reports of the United Nations Security Councils sanction committee team monitoring al-Qaeda, Islamic State (ISIS) and the Taliban.

These reports have repeatedly and consistently claimed that the Taliban maintains close ties with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, even after the US-Taliban deal announced on February 29, 2020.

The latest such claim came from the coordinator of the UNs monitoring team, Edmund Fitton-Brown, who stated in a recent online seminar about Afghanistans future that the Taliban keeps close contact with al-Qaedas leadership in Afghanistan, including Ayman al-Zawahiri, the terror groups Egyptian leader.

Fitton-Brown has claimed that the Taliban regularly consulted al-Qaeda during their negotiations with the US. He even claimed that the Taliban offered informal guarantees to al-Qaeda to honor their close historical ties. The Taliban and its sympathizers have gainsaid such claims, saying they are a conspiracy to sabotage the US-Taliban deal.

Al-Qaeda has openly acknowledged its cordial relations with the Taliban in the past. Its past and present leadership, including deceased founder Osama Bin Laden and Zawahiri, has frequently made tributes to the Taliban, even naming one of its special brigades after Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Al-Qaeda-Taliban ties were open and evident in Zawahiris public statement after al-Qaedas early 2015 withdrawal from Waziristan, Pakistan, which remained its stronghold for more than a decade since 2004. The group was driven out of the region by a massive US drone strike campaign followed by a large-scale Pakistani army operation.

Zawahiri acknowledged in the statement that it was a difficult period in al-Qaedas history, similar to when the US first invaded Afghanistan in 2001. He credited the Taliban for rescuing al-Qaeda from Waziristan during those tough times, moving their members into strongholds inside Afghanistan.

The Talibans protection, however, was limited. Credible evidence shows that al-Qaedas senior central leaders, including Hamza Bin Laden and Shaikh Abu Khalil al-Madni, were killed by US drone strikes in Taliban strongholds after al-Qaedas withdrawal from Waziristan.

For years, al-Qaeda was grooming Hamza as a future leader. Al-Madni was the senior-most leader of al-Qaeda in the region after Zawahiri, who he appointed as his deputy. The recent killing of Hussam Abdul Rauf, al-Qaedas media head, also showed how senior al-Qaeda members are cosseted by the Afghan Taliban.

Moreover, the senior leadership of al-Qaedas regional branch for South Asia, known as al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, have also recently been killed in US counterterrorism operations in Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan.

They include AQIS chief Maulana Asim Umar, its military head, commander Khattab Mansur, As-Sahab, AQISs media head, and Engr Osama Ibrahim Ghouri. All their killings show that they were hosted by the Talibans local leadership, who were killed with them in most cases.

Although Afghan and US sources claim these killings, al-Qaeda and the Taliban have been surprisingly reticent about them. Many Afghan and Western analysts consider the silence as a part of a strategy to conceal the two sides enduring ties.

Although al-Qaeda violated Taliban leader Mullah Omars strict orders in launching the 9/11 attacks, including planning from Afghan soil, the Taliban never blamed or criticized al-Qaeda for the massive costs they paid for the attacks.

On the contrary, the Taliban has termed the collapse of their regime and the losses and problems they faced due to al-Qaeda as a tremendous religious sacrifice they would repeat if necessary.

Mullah Dad Ullah, Mullah Hassan Rohani, Ustad Yasir, Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mullah Sangeen Zadran are a few of the senior Taliban leaders who have repeated this admiration for al-Qaeda on different occasions.

Declassified documents seized from Osama bin Ladens hideout a window into the secret world of al-Qaeda confirm that al-Qaeda and Taliban ties were not limited to public statements. The leaderships of both groups had intimate close working relations, regularly consulting on important matters, according to the documents.

These documents reveal that al-Qaeda continued to provide economic support to the Taliban, much as the group did before 9/11. There is also reams of video evidence released by al-Qaedas official media outlets showing its men fighting under the Talibans command in many Afghanistan provinces.

The Taliban apparently kept al-Qaeda informed from the beginning about its secret negotiations with the US. Tayyab Agha, the Talibans political office head who had established communications with the US government, was previously in direct contact with Osama bin Laden. Agha even sent letters to Bin Laden two weeks before his killing.

A Bin Laden letter addressed to his deputy in Waziristan at the time also reveals he was afraid that some Taliban leaders would not stand up against US demands on al-Qaeda. Bin Laden had even suggested a Plan B to help the Taliban in case of any such pressures whereby al-Qaeda leaders would hide outside of Afghanistan, including in Pakistan, and later covertly re-enter and scatter inside the country.

But Zawahiris statement about Taliban support for al-Qaedas withdrawal from Waziristan and later the killings of its leadership in Afghanistan indicates the group never needed to exercise Bin Ladens plan B.

The establishment of AQIS, the regional South Asian branch of al-Qaida, can also be seen as part of al-Qaedas wider strategy for driving Americas withdrawal from Afghanistan. Analysis of AQISs media outlets shows that the group is mainly involved in fighting against the US and Afghan state forces in Afghanistan and not globally.

AQIS has never attempted or showed any transnational terrorism ambitions against US allies outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan, as al-Qaedas core based in Waziristan did during 2004-2011. AQISs leadership has, however, shown militant interest in Pakistans Kashmir conflict with India.

Tellingly, the group formally announced directly after the signing of the US-Taliban accord on February 29, 2020, that it would disengage from Afghanistan and focus instead on the decades-long India-Kashmir conflict.

As al-Qaedas history shows, the terror group was never seriously involved in the Kashmir conflict, although it did have pre-9/11 close ties with certain Kashmir-based jihadist groups.

Instead, it absorbed Kashmiri jihadists into its ranks, utilizing them for its global goals.

Al-Qaedas attempt to establish an indirect symbolic presence in Kashmir likely really aims to divert attention away from its enduring presence in Afghanistan, contrary to the terms of the Talibans deal with the US.

It also suggests that one of the primary purposes of al-Qaedas establishment of AQIS was to show it was not a threat to the USs global interests and was focused only on local issues, similar to the state-sponsored Pakistani Kashmiri jihadist groups.

As al-Qaeda has fully supported the Taliban in its two-decade-long insurgency against US and Afghan government forces, it likely also supports the Talibans tentative peace deal with the US and its underly aim of drive American troops out of the country.

The Taliban is still clearly al-Qaedas most vital strategic partner in the region. And its still unclear if al-Qaeda will seek to use Afghanistan to secretly shelter its leaders and monitor its global franchises, or will again plan terror operations against the US and its allies from Afghan territory, including if the Taliban is restored to power.

Either way, al-Qaedas silence in Afghanistan is deafening and as always potentially deadly.

Abdul Sayed has a masters degree in political science from Lund University, Sweden, and is now an independent researcher focused on jihadism and the Af-Pak region. Hes on Twitter at:@abdsayedd

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The truth behind Al-Qaedas silence in Afghanistan - Asia Times

A four-year-long investigation into "extremely serious" and "deeply troubling" actions by Australian troops during the Afghanistan war has ended, with the formal findings handed to Defence Chief General Angus Campbell and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds.

"I intend to speak about the key findings once I have read and reflected on the report," General Campbell said in a statement.

"Welfare and other support services are available to those affected by the Afghanistan Inquiry."

Sources have told the ABC the final report recommends further action, such as criminal prosecutions or military sanctions, for around 10 incidents involving between 15 and 20 people.

In 2016 the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) began examining allegations of unlawful killings and other possible breaches of the law of armed conflict committed mainly by elite soldiers during their lengthy military engagement.

The ABC's Afghan Files stories in 2017 gave an unprecedented insight into the operations of Australia's elite special forces, detailing incidents of troops killing unarmed men and children and concerns about a "warrior culture" among soldiers.

Since that time, New South Wales Justice Paul Brereton, a Major General in the Army Reserve, has interviewed hundreds of witnesses behind closed doors and his secretive inquiry has even gathered evidence overseas.

Earlier this year the IGADF revealed 55 separate potential breaches of the laws of armed conflict by Australia's Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) had been identified between 2005 and 2016.

The IGADF noted its inquiry was not focused on decisions made during the "heat of battle" but rather the treatment of individuals who were clearly non-combatants or who were no longer combatants.

Senior Army figures estimate that during the 12-year Afghanistan deployment, Australian personnel are believed to have killed over 5,000 individuals who were mainly suspected Taliban fighters, but also numerous innocent civilians.

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Last month, Chief of Army Lieutenant General Rick Burr wrote to members of the force warning that allegations contained in the IGADF report were "extremely serious and deeply troubling".

"They do not reflect who we aspire to be. We will act on the findings when they are presented to the Chief of the Defence Force," he wrote.

Sweeping changes to Australia's Special Forces, particularly the SASR, are now being considered by Army and the Government, following the completion of the Brereton inquiry.

Defence insiders believe the changes are aimed at breaking down systemic cultural issues within the special forces teams.

At the same time as the IGADF has conducted its closed-door inquiry, a series of explosive reports about the conduct of troops have made very public the extent of the allegations against Australian soldiers.

Earlier this year the ABC's Four Corners program broadcast video showing a Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) soldier shooting an unarmed Afghan man three times in the chest and head while he cowered on the ground in 2012.

Just days after the "serious and disturbing" revelations the SAS member known as "Soldier C" was suspended from duty, and the Defence Minister referred the matter to the AFP Commissioner.

In 2016, Commando Kevin Frost became the first Special Forces soldier to go public with allegations of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan, including his own involvement in the unlawful execution of a prisoner of war.

Sergeant Frost, who had encouraged other members of the ADF to come forward to the IGADF inquiry, was found dead in Western Australia last year.

In September this year the Federal Court was told of a separate war crime investigation involving Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith, who was decorated for his service with the SAS in Afghanistan.

For years, the secrets about what the SAS did in the valleys, fields and mud villages of Afghanistan have remained hidden. Until now.

Central to the allegations against the former soldier is a claim that while in Uruzgan Province in September 2012, he was involved in the murder of a handcuffed Afghan civilian named Ali Jan, who he kicked off a cliff.

Mr Roberts-Smith strenuously denies the allegations and is pursuing a defamation claim against various news outlets who published the claims in 2018.

Hundreds of secret ADF documents leaked to the ABC in 2017 detailed the clandestine operations of Australia's elite special forces in Afghanistan, including incidents of troops killing unarmed men and children.

Two years later AFP officers raided the ABC's Sydney headquarters over the stories known as the Afghan Files, but eventually decided that journalists Dan Oakes and Sam Clarke would not be prosecuted for their reporting.

In 2015, then special operations commander Major General Jeff Sengleman had become concerned about rumours and persistent allegations within the notoriously secretive Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) and 2nd Commando Regiment.

He commissioned Canberra-based sociologist Dr Samantha Crompvoets to write a report on Special Operations Command Culture Interactions, which then uncovered allegations of "unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations" by elite soldiers.

Major General Sengleman reported the findings to then-chief of army Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, who agreed in 2016 to approach the IGADF to conduct a scoping inquiry.

Speaking at a Defence conference that year, Major General Sengleman gave an indication of the high level of operational tempo for Australia's Special Forces during their 12 years in Afghanistan.

"Thousands of combat missions, almost half of the combat deaths, 13 per cent of my deployed force sustained physical combat injuries".

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'Deeply troubling' Afghanistan war crimes report handed to Defence Chief as Government prepares response - ABC News