Monitoring Desk: Unlike previous years, the Taliban did not declare a ceasefire during the Eid holiday this year and reports coming from districts suggest that fighting continued even on Eid day in areas where Afghan National Army (ANA) is contesting the Taliban.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in his Eid speech said that refusing ceasefire on Eid holidays confirmed that the Taliban did not want peace while the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said he “strenuously favours” a political settlement – even as the group continues its offensives.
The Afghan war is entering into a multidimensional gambit after Indian sponsored ISIS enters into Afghan War stage and reports coming from Kabul suggest that rocket attack during Eid prayer near the presidential palace was staged by the Kabul government with the help of Indian backed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL also known as ISIS and Daesh) group. This is a serious development in the Afghan war as India has reportedly pitched ISIS as a spoiler into war. It may be mentioned that ISIS in South Asia has its training camps in the South Indian state of Kerala. India and the Afghan government want the United States to stay in Afghanistan. Imagine if an attack on the US Embassy (which is actually a territory of the United States) is executed by ISIS or any other spoiler group, then the US will have every right to strike back inside Afghanistan because the US categorically says that it would not hesitate to redeploy forces and attack Afghan soil if Afghanistan is used to attack or harm US interests and US soil. US Embassy is officially a US soil so an attack on US Embassy will be considered an attack on US soil.
Zalmay Khalilzad who is the Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation at the State Department during his interview with Al Jazeera News explained that any attack on US Embassy in Kabul shall be considered an attack on US soil.
The visit of Afghan Army Chief Gen Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai to Delhi is also an important development at a time when Afghanistan has suspended Diplomatic relations with Islamabad. Gen Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai is visiting India on July 27 for three days and will have meetings with the top Indian military and intelligence leadership. Sources in Kabul claim that the Afghan Army Chief will request the physical presence of the Indian army in Afghanistan as a part of military cooperation because Indian Army personnel left Afghanistan after Kandhar province was fallen to the Taliban. Besides holding talks with his Indian counterpart, Gen MM Naravane, Ahmadzai is also expected to meet National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and other top security officials. Afghan Army Chief is expected to visit National Defence Academy in Pune and at several other military training facilities.
General Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai was appointed as the new chief of army staff, replacing General Yasin Zia last month as part of a shake-up of the higher echelons of Afghanistan’s security set-up, during which President Ashraf Ghani also replaced his defence and interior ministers as part of efforts to sharpen the fight against the Taliban.
