Baghlan provincial police said on Saturday that Taliban insurgents destroyed an electricity pylon in Baghlan province late Friday night.



According to the officials, the destruction of the pylon, which transmits electricity from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has left much of Kabul without power.



Late Friday night Taliban insurgents detonated explosives close to the pylon in Doshe district of Baghlan, police said.



With the destruction of this pylon, electricity has now been cut off in a number of provinces, including the capital Kabul.



Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) officials confirmed to TOLOnews that a pylon, which transmits electricity from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has been destroyed in Baghlan province and for now Kabul is without imported electricity.

Officials said they are trying to fix the problem but their engineers have not yet reached the area.



The Taliban said in a statement that they destroyed the pylon in response to government having cut electricity to some of the areas under their control.

This is the second time in a month that insurgents have damaged pylons in Baghlan province.



Last month Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) officials in Baghlan province said that unknown men destroyed a key power pylon in Kelagai in the province.



This pylon was blown up following the destruction of two other pylons a week earlier by the Taliban in Kunduz. This pylon also cut off electricity from Tajikistan to Kabul.



Insurgents said in a statement that they will cut off all electricity to Kabul unless government distributes electricity to areas in their control.</s>Fresh fighting in northern Afghanistan has disrupted the electric supply to Kabul and several provinces for the second time in less than three weeks.

 

 The hostilities come as the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday launched a long-delayed voters' registration process for parliamentary and district council elections scheduled for October 20.

 

 A provincial police spokesman told VOA that a team of technicians from the state-owned electricity department has arrived in the Baghlan province to assess the damage and carry out the repair work, but heavy fighting prevented them from reaching the site in Dushi district.

 

 Officials said the overnight destruction of the electricity tower plunged a vast area into darkness, including much of the Afghan capital, a city of more than 5 million people.Residents and businesses in Kabul said Saturday they were relying on private generators to run critical operations.

 

 Transmission lines passing through Baghlan are used to import about 300 megawatts of electricity from neighboring Central Asian states of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

 

 The Taliban controls or contests several districts in the Afghan province and routinely launches attacks on security forces in government-controlled areas.

 

 Last month, insurgents also had blown up a major electricity tower in the Kelagai area of Baghlan, cutting the power supply to Kabul and many Afghan provinces for several days.

 

 The Taliban had justified their action at the time, saying the government was blocking supply of electricity to insurgent-controlled areas.

 

 Separately, officials confirmed Saturday that an overnight Taliban attack in the western city of Farah killed at least seven Afghan soldiers and wounded several others.

 

 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday repeated his offer of peace talks for the Taliban and invited them to register as a political group to join the parliamentary elections for seeking resolution of their disagreements.

 

 Ghani spoke shortly after launching the voters' registration process at the presidential place in Kabul. The two-months long exercise will enable the country to create for the first time in its history formal voters' lists — a move likely to address allegations of fraud and rigging, according to Afghan officials.

 

 "We have placed before the Taliban a clear and comprehensive peace plan.If they believe in the betterment of the Afghan nation they should accept it and come to contest the elections," said the president.

 

 Ghani was referring to his offer of unconditional peace talk she announced in February at an international conference in Kabul. His initiative received widespread domestic and international backing.

 

 The Taliban so far has not publicly offered any reaction to the peace overture, however, and instead has intensified battlefield attacks across Afghanistan.</s>KABUL, Afghanistan: A massive power outage in Kabul has left many residents of the Afghan capital with no lights or running water, officials said Sunday, after militants blew up an electricity pylon in the restive north.

A pre-dawn attack Saturday on a transmission tower in Baghlan province left Kabul with 95 megawatts, less than a quarter of its normal power supply, said Wahid Tawhidi, a spokesman for power utility Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS).

Efforts to repair the pylon had so far failed as heavy fighting prevented a local DABS crew from reaching the site, Tawhidi told

“Today when our team tried to go to the area, rockets were fired at their vehicles and they had to turn back,” he said.

The provincial governor’s spokesman Mahmood Haqmal said Taliban fighters had used a mine to “bring down” the power line.

“They have escaped the area but some of them are still in the mountains, preventing engineers from fixing the pylon,” Haqmal told AFP.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that the militant group had “cut a cable in Baghlan province”.

This is the fourth outage in recent weeks caused by militant attacks on the power line transmitting electricity from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It has also affected neighbouring Nangarhar and Parwan provinces, Tawhidi said.

The Taliban warned last month that they would continue to cut power to Kabul unless their demands for electricity in areas under their control in Baghlan and Kunduz provinces were met.

Residents in Kabul have been forced to make do with just an hour of electricity a day, sparking a firestorm of complaints on social media.

“We had one minute of electricity then no electricity the whole day. What kind of electricity this is?” Ahmad Zia Jamal wrote on Facebook.

Another Facebook user, Shabnam Khurasani, posted: “Power cuts in Kabul are intolerable.”

The bulk of Afghanistan’s electricity comes from neighbouring countries but the amount is insufficient to meet demand.

Residents in the Afghan capital are used to power shortages during the colder months when usage is higher, but supply is normally more plentiful in spring and summer.

Many people have diesel generators to provide backup power to their homes and businesses. Others go without, relying on battery-powered torches for light and drums of water to bathe and flush toilets.—AFP</s>A number of Kabul residents on Sunday criticized the Taliban insurgent group for continuously destroying electricity pylons in Baghlan province.

They urged the militant group to stop destroying the pylons because it is “only leaving poor people” in the dark and damage their small businesses.

“The governmental institutions are having power generators, only the public is suffering,” Ramin, a resident of the capital Kabul said.

“Only ordinary people and especially residents of Kabul are experiencing this problem,” Sayed Ghafoor, another resident added.

People also criticize Afghanistan’s national power utility company for lack of a contingency plan.

“If the Kajaki dam was build and fundamental projects were implemented, we had no problem and there was no need to export electricity,” Kabul resident Hekmatullah said.

In addition, the industrialists express their concerns for experiencing economic loss to their business due to the continued blackouts.

“Those goods which needs to be kept in the refrigerator are getting spoiled,” Ali Wahaj, a shopkeeper said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior Spokesman Najib Danish asked people to cooperate with police.

“We have to cooperate with each other. We must not allow vicious individuals to destroy pylons and infrastructural projects of the people of Afghanistan,” Danish said.

At the same time, Wahidullah Tawhidi Spokesman to the power utility company told Ariana News that the company is making its efforts to solve the issue permanently.

“Right now, our colleagues are discussing the issue with tribal elders in the area to find a permanent solution to the problem through holding a Jirga,” Tawhidi said.

This is the second time in a month that Taliban insurgents have damaged pylons in northern Baghlan province, leaving Kabul and some other provinces in dark.</s>Kabul—The Taliban stormed a government compound in central Afghanistan early on Thursday, triggering an hours-long gunbattle that killed 15, including three top local officials, before they drove Afghan forces out.

The attack in the Khuja Omari district was the latest insurgent assault in Ghazni province, which is now largely under Taliban control. The Taliban planted mines to prevent government reinforcements from coming to help and quickly took responsibility for the attack.

The insurgent group's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid said that after the attack in Khuja Omari - not far from the provincial capital also called Ghazni - all security posts in the district were under Taleban control. The district center, however, is still in government hands.

The province of Ghazni is located south of Kabul province, the seat of the country's capital, Kabul, and lies along a key route. Travel by road between the capital and southern Kandahar province, a traditional Taliban heartland, is considered dangerous because of large swaths that are now under insurgent control.

Mujahid gave a higher casualty figure among the Afghan forces, which the Taliban often do, exaggerating their achievements on the battlefield, and a significantly lower death toll among the insurgent attackers.

A lawmaker in the Afghan Parliament, Mohammad Arif Rahmani, said the district governor, intelligence service director and a deputy police official were among those killed in Thursday's attack.</s>Baku. 15 June. REPORT.AZ/ Uzbekistan temporarily restricted the passage of citizens and transport from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, Report informs referring to the Russian RBC.

The ban will be effective from 15 to 25 June, at which time the country will host the SCO summit, the State Border Service of Kyrgyzstan said.

But for the residents of the exclave Barak Kara-Suu district of Osh region (an area of Kyrgyzstan, located in Uzbekistan) has been made an exception. They will be able to cross the border in the former regime.

The information did not specify what has caused the decision of the authorities of Uzbekistan. Besides these four countries, Uzbekistan also borders Afghanistan.

On June 23-24, anniversary summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held in Tashkent. As CA-NEWS informs citing the press service of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, the security measures will be strengthened during the summit. So, in some streets of Tashkent traffic movement was restricted.</s>IN the recent past, trust deficit deepened between Pakistan and the United States when in his tweets, American President Donald Trump repeatedly revived the old blame game against Pakistan regarding safe havens of terrorist organizations. He appreciated the role of Pakistan’s regional rival India in Afghanistan. It is mentionable that the US-led NATO has relied heavily on Pakistan bound routes to sustain her forces and projects in Afghanistan. Routes through Pakistan considered shortest and cheapest and presently are safe from previously launched militant attacks. At the same time, the US-led NATO has always been searching for alternative routes to clear for history of uneven relations with Islamabad. Northern Distribution Network moving through Latvia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan had a cost of 250% more than the Pakistani routes. However, this time, the US is at odds with Russia and does not want to depend upon Russian-based supply routes.

 Hence, America is exploring new route to sustain her forces in Afghanistan through Caspian Sea. In fact, this route is not totally new and has been considered in the past as well. This route originates in the Georgian port of Poti on the Black Sea and crosses Azerbaijan before arriving in Baku. From there, goods are loaded onto ferries for their journey across the Caspian Sea. The supplies make at Kazakhstan’s west coast ports of Aktau and Kuryk, and then proceed to Uzbekistan before entering Afghanistan. Kazakhstan has agreed for allowing supply of non-military nature of the goods only which comprises toothbrushes, fuels, computers, night vision goggles, concertina wires, packaged water, food and construction material. Coast on this route is even more than the Russian route, as it involves multiple loading and transfer charges.

 The new route is not the case of simple mathematical calculations of cost, as it also involves complex inter countries politics. The US-Russian relations are tense at the moment and the later faces US sanctions. Nevertheless, the US needs to understand that Russia is a substantial regional power. Russia enjoys supremacy over the Caspian Sea and has considerable influence over regional countries, especially over the Central Asian States. History of Russia-Georgia relations is also not very bright. Moscow cannot allow Georgia to become open ally of Washington and NATO. Cost effectiveness as well as uncertainties of the regional politics will keep the proposed route under doubt which US will least like.

 Now, relations of the US with Pakistan have started moving back to their lowest point, caused by Presidents Trump’s Tweet situation. But, it is good sign that the US authorities have hinted at better understanding of Pakistan’s concerns. Both the countries are engaged in a renewed dialogue process and better signals are emanating from each. Recent military action against anti-Pakistan militants in Afghanistan is also an important step in the right direction. On its part, Islamabad has also stepped up efforts in pursuing Afghan Taliban to come on the negotiation table. A few analysts view that recently floated Afghan Taliban letter to the US public as an effort, linked with Pakistan.

 Besides, in view of the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s positive negotiation offer to the Taliban and their mutual response, one can see a ray of hope in Afghanistan. It is notable that during his visit to Kabul, the US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said on March 13, this year: “We do look toward a victory in Afghanistan…Not a military victory…the victory will be a political reconciliation with the Taliban, which has achieved a stalemate in recent years and shown little interest in conceding to the Kabul government.” Similarly, Pakistan has recently taken steps to address concerns of international community prior and after being put on the grey list of FATA. The US nod to engage in dialogue with Islamabad is seen as recognition to Pakistan’s importance in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the course of redefining mutual relations. Latest high-level exchange of warmth has been witnessed during the visit of National Security Advisor (NSA) Lt Gen (Retd) Nasser Janjua to Afghanistan on March 17, 2018. NSA had meeting with the top Afghan leadership, including President Asharaf Ghani. In his remarks, NSA reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to help with peace in Afghanistan to improve bilateral relations. After having successful dialogue with the NSA, President Ghani had invited Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for a visit to start comprehensive dialogue, who visited Kabul on April 6, this year. He had meeting with President Ghani and top officials of the Afghan government.

 These meetings have helped narrow a trust deficit not only between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also between Pakistan and the US and will prove to be a milestone in promoting regional peace. While the US and Afghan Administrations intend to pursue peace option through dialogue, all the stake holders in Afghanistan need to understand new ground realties. Instead of arm twisting, better option for Washington is engagement of the regional countries, especially with Pakistan. On the other side, Pakistan needs to put in her best efforts to help build peace in Afghanistan through its coordination with regional partners as well as with the extra regional partners. Nonetheless, instead of searching for alternative supply routes for Afghanistan, which are longer and very costly, the US-led NATO countries must better continue the short and cheapest route of supply through Pakistan. They need to explore new policy, not new routes.

 —The writer is freelance columnist based in Lahore.</s>GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban militants over-ran a district in Afghanistan's Ghazni province on Thursday, killing more than a dozen people including the district's governor before retreating, a police official said.

 Ghazni's Khawaja Omari district was considered one of the province's safest areas. 

 The militants killed district governor Ali Dost Shams, his bodyguards, seven police and five government intelligence agents, said Ramazan Ali Mohseni, deputy police chief in Ghazni. At least 45 to 50 militants were killed, he said.

 The Taliban then torched the district headquarters, he said. Later, the Taliban left the headquarters and government security forces returned.

 Bodies wrapped in blankets were laid on the ground of the district compound by late Thursday morning.

 Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement 20 police officers were killed in the attack. 

 Khawaja Omari is near the provincial capital, also called Ghazni, a city of 150,000 people 150 km (95 miles) southwest of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

 Fighting in Afghanistan traditionally increases in the spring when warmer weather melts snow blocking mountain passes, increasing the mobility of the insurgents.

 The Taliban usually announce the launch of a spring offensive in April.

 

 (Reporting by Mustafa Andalib in Ghazni, Afghanistan; Writing by Rod Nickel; Editing by Nick Macfie)</s>KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Taliban stormed a government compound in central Afghanistan early Thursday, triggering an hourslong gunbattle that killed 15 people, including three top local officials, police and government officials said.

The attack in the Khuja Omari district was the latest by insurgents in Ghazni province, which is now largely under Taliban control. The Taliban planted mines to prevent government reinforcements from arriving to help and quickly took responsibility for the attack, said Mohammad Arif Rahmani, a lawmaker in the Afghan parliament.

The insurgent group's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said by telephone that after the attack in Khuja Omari -- not far from the provincial capital also called Ghazni -- all security posts in the district were under Taliban control.

The district center, however, was still in government hands.

The province of Ghazni is south of Kabul province, the seat of the country's capital, Kabul, and lies along a key route. Travel by road between the capital and southern Kandahar province, a traditional Taliban heartland, is considered dangerous because of large swaths that are now under insurgent control.

Mujahid gave a higher casualty figure among the Afghan forces, which the Taliban often do, exaggerating their achievements on the battlefield, and a significantly lower death toll among the insurgent attackers.

Rahmani said the district governor, intelligence service director and a deputy police official were among those killed in Thursday's attack. He said the fighting began about 2 a.m. with the Taliban storming the highly secure compound in Khuja Omari district.

President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack and the killing of Ali Dost Shams, the district governor, and the others in the attack, which he said was carried out by "Afghanistan's enemy" -- a reference to the Taliban.

Ramazan Ali Moseni, deputy chief police in Ghazni province, said seven of the dead were police officers and five were members of the country's intelligence agency known by the initials NDS. Moseni also said 45 Taliban were killed and eight members of the Afghan security forces were wounded.

The casualty figures are impossible to independently verify because of the remoteness of the area.

In a separate incident north of Kabul, a "sticky" bomb destroyed an oil tanker outside the Bagram military base, where U.S. forces are stationed.

Bagram District Gov. Abdul Shukoor Qudusi said the driver was wounded in the Wednesday night explosion, which set several shops in the area on fire.

There were no injuries at the base, which is heavily fortified. No one immediately took responsibility for the bombing.

Also Thursday, the United Nations' Afghanistan assistance mission urged warring factions in the country to protect civilians, saying the civilian death toll in the first three months of this year was 763 people.

Most of the civilians were killed by insurgents, and fewer people were killed by pro-government security forces than previously, said the U.N. quarterly report, noting that suicide bombings accounted for most of the fatalities as well as injuries, which numbered 1,495.

"Afghan civilians continue to suffer, caught in the conflict, in ways that are preventable; this must stop now," said Ingrid Hayden, the secretary-general's deputy special representative for Afghanistan.</s>Business Insider (AU): The Wakhan Corridor is notoriously hard to reach. To get there, you have to drive, ride on donkeys, and hike the 250-mile journey from Kabul or fly into Tajikistan and cross the border from the North. Both ways are difficult, but travelling by land requires going through Taliban-held lands. Click here for more (external link).
The Taliban destroy an electricity pylon in Doshe, Baghlan, Afghanistan, overnight. The pylon carries imported power from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and its destruction causes widespread blackouts across several provinces and in capital Kabul.