[AfghanDigest] LAST 24 HOURS
- TALIBAN RELEASES DETAILS ABOUT MAN ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF INVOLVEMENT IN THE PAKISTAN EMBASSY ATTACK – A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, made a statement regarding the recent assassination attempt on Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires in Kabul. He said the attack was a joint operation between ISIS-K and an unidentified insurgency group. He gave little information about the man under arrest other than to say he was a foreign national. AIDS INFECTION RATES ON THE RISE – The Ministry of Public Health announced that AIDS cases are starting to rise and that blood transfusions are the cause of the spike. They also claimed they do not have the capacity to diagnose and treat the disease.
- LARGE FIRE DESTROYS VEHICLES AND PROPERTY ON AFGHAN/IRAN BORDER – A fire ignited on Sunday night in the Makki area which destroyed nearly 40 vehicles. Several people were injured as a result of the fire. It is believed that an engine in an idling container truck ignited and the fire spread to fuel cells. Eyewitnesses said that not enough fire suppression equipment was on hand to put the fire out and it spread to other commercial trucks as well as civilian passenger vehicles.
- TORKHAM VEHICLE ACCIDENT UPDATE – Reports received yesterday indicated a vehicle accident at Torkham Gate had caused non-combatant casualties but an accurate count was unavailable. Confirmation arrived that 2 Afghans were killed and 7 had been injured when a container truck flipped over near a congregation of pedestrians. The accident occurred when the driver of the truck exited the vehicle to talk to border officials and the truck rolled to the Afghan side and into a fence. Several people were crushed by the trailer after it separated from the vehicle and turned over.
- TALIBAN OFFICIALS IN BADAKHSHAN CLAIM TO HAVE FOILED A BOMB PLOT – Taliban officials released photos of a man crouching next to an explosive device and said they had interdicted a possible bomb attack. Officials say the man was arrested while attempting to emplace the mine in an undisclosed neighborhood. There was no mention of the intended target or the man’s affiliation.
NEXT 24 HOURS
- A MEETING WILL BEGIN BETWEEN THE CENTRAL BANK AND A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SWISS-BASED TRUST FUND IN KABUL – Shah Mohammad Mehrabi is on the board of the Swiss-based trust established to administer the Afghan reserves placed on deposit by the United States and will be meeting with the Supreme Council of the Da Afghanistan Bank in Kabul to discuss workarounds for some of the banking issues Afghanistan faces. The Taliban see Mehrabi’s visit as a portend of recognition but few analysts seem to agree the meeting is anything more than a finance discussion. Security is expected to be tight for the duration of the meetings.
- REGIONAL MEETING OF CENTRAL ASIAN SECURITY CHIEFS IN NEW DELHI – The regional follow-up to a Spring security meeting sponsored by India will begin in New Delhi. Security officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan will meet with their Indian colleagues to discuss regional security threats. The Afghanistan terror threat is expected to be the main subject of discussion and India plans to release intelligence that confirms the locations of several terrorist training camps in the country. Neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan was invited to attend the summit.
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