US, Saudi Arabia Stress on Need to Address Terrorism Threats from Afghanistan

Hekmatyar said that “the dream of federalism will never come true in Afghanistan”.

Dobbins had said that a federal system could support the development of Afghanistan. According to Dobbins if Afghans reached a conclusion based on their need to have a federal state, it will benefit Afghanistan and help in the development of the country.

He stressed that a republic order with elected governors would be useful for sharing power in Afghanistan.

However, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, during the Friday prayers, opposed the federal system in Afghanistan and attacked those who welcomed Dobbins' views.

He accused supporters of the federal system of paving the way towards partition of the country.

According to Hekmatyar, Dobbins proposes a federal state to justify America's failures in Afghanistan and not as a humanitarian solution to overcome Afghanistan’s crisis.

The leader of Hizb-e-Islami accused the US of having killed about a million people in Afghanistan. He said that the US didn’t invade Afghanistan for democracy, human rights, or establishment of a government capable of running the country, but they attacked Afghanistan to take "revenge" for 9/11.

To justify his opposition to the federal system, Hekmatyar said, "The conditions in Afghanistan are not favourable for a federal system. Afghanistan is not like the United States, which is made up of fifty states, each one is bigger than Afghanistan, and Afghanistan cannot be divided into different states based on ethnicity, such as Pakistan."

Hekmatyar also made sensitive statements about different ethnic groups in Afghanistan. For example, he said that Panjshir was a district in the past, but "because of twenty years of occupation, it became a province”.

He said that Pakistan has been divided into four different states based on ethnic Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis and Baloch, but the social structure of Afghanistan is such that different ethnic groups live together.

The leader of Hizb-e-Islami claimed that "except for Panjshir, there is no province in which only Tajiks are present”.

According to him, "Pashtuns are present in all northern provinces except Badakhshan. Pashtuns are the majority in Baghlan and Kunduz, and there is no province from north to the west where Pashtuns are not present."

"With this ethnic composition, how can a federal system be shaped based on ethnicity?” Hekmatyar questioned.

AFF claimed that 28 Taliban fighters had been killed and 18 others had been injured in the clashes.

Taliban officials have not commented on the launch of any operations in Baghlan and the casualties inflicted to its forces.

On Thursday, Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban's Defense Minister, visited Andrab district and Qari Fasihuddin, the group's Chief of Staff of army, went to Khost district of Baghlan province.

According to local sources, the two senior military officials of the Taliban had asked NRF and AFF forces in the two districts of Khost and Andrab to "surrender" to the group, which was rejected by the resistance forces.

There are also reports of massive deployment of Taliban forces in Baghlan province. Sources have also reported clashes between Taliban fighters and the NRF forces in Dara-e Qasan of Andrab district.

AFF statement read, "The Taliban are going to attack again after collecting the bodies of its killed fighters.”

The exact location of the cave, which the Taliban calls “Zhora”, is not known and the group hasn’t shared more information regarding it.

Mohammad Jalal added that this cave had been cleaned after "the end of American occupation".

In 2017, the Taliban had confirmed the death of Jalaluddin Haqqani. He was one of the famous anti-Soviet jihadi commanders and was the founder of the Haqqani network.

The Taliban, especially the Haqqani network, has taken responsibility for many deadly suicide attacks in various provinces, especially in the capital city Kabul, over the last two decades. During these attacks, thousands of civilians had been killed, and injured in Afghanistan.

Currently, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, is the leader of the Haqqani network. He is also the acting Interior Minister of the Taliban government.

Over the past few months, he has often met with the relatives and families of Haqqani and Taliban suicide bombers and has also given them rewards.

Earlier, the Taliban had published pictures of a car being pulled out of the ground, which they say belonged to Mullah Omar, the former leader of the group.

It is said that Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban Defense Minister returned to Kabul, but Qari Fasihuddin, the group’s Chief of Staff of Army, continues to be present in Doabi Bazar of Khost district and is leading the operation to suppress the National Resistance Front forces.

The sources added that two senior military officials of the Taliban asked NRF forces in the two districts of Khost and Andrab to "surrender" to the group, which was rejected by the resistance forces.

There are also reports of massive deployment of Taliban forces in Baghlan province. Sources have also reported clashes between Taliban fighters and the NRF forces in Dara-e Qasan of Andrab district.

Local sources added that Taliban fighters arrested civilians in two districts of Baghlan on Thursday. Amanullah, who had worked in the Ministry of Interior of Afghanistan during the Republic era, had too been arrested from his house in Bano-Andarab district.

The Taliban and the National Resistance Front have not yet officially expressed their views on the developments unfolding in Baghlan province.

A local shopkeeper told Afghanistan International that the dead included three brothers and another relative.

The shopkeeper added that the killed people were residents of Khushi district and were members of the Shiite community. It is said that these people had no personal enmity.

So far, no group or individual has taken responsibility for this killing, and Taliban officials have not commented on the murder.

Earlier, Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) had taken responsibility for attacks against Afghanistan’s Shia community members in various provinces, including the capital Kabul.