[ToloNews] The Wall Street journal reported on Sunday that some security forces of the former Afghan government who feared for their personal safety had joined ISIS-K (ISIS).
The report said some of these former security forces were trained by US troops over the past two decades of the West's mission in Afghanistan.
"Some former members of Afghanistan’s US-trained intelligence service and elite military units-now abandoned by their American patrons and hunted by the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... - have enlisted in the only force currently challenging the country’s new rulers: Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... ," The Wall Street Journal said.
In reaction to the report, the Ministry of Interior said that a general amnesty was announced by the Islamic Emirate and that no one including the former security forces should have any concern regarding their security.
"The Islamic Emirate announced general amnesty and no one including the former security forces should worry about their personal security because no member of the Islamic Emirate has anything to do with them," said Sayed Khosti, a front man for the Interior Ministry.
Earlier, the two-day Moscow conference on October 20 and 21 called for incentivizing the security of Afghanistan's borders, fearing the spread of extremism or the possible threat of ISIS.
"This is a baseless report. ISIS is not as active as it is being said. The general amnesty should also be practical example to (show) that no one’s life is in danger,’ said, Aziz Maarij, a former diplomat.
Some said economic challenges and joblessness are also reasons that forced the former security forces to join the ISIS group.
"The scenario of Iraq will repeat in Afghanistan," said Asadullah Nadim, a military analyst. "In Iraq also the security forces of the previous government made up a big part of ISIS and this all is happening due to the negligence of government."
The Islamic Emirate downplayed ISIS, calling it a slight problem and accusing the US of making propaganda of the ISIS activities in Afghanistan.
The former personnel is mostly US-trained Afghan spies who have been joining the terror group in northern Afghanistan.
Ahah! A location! Or a general direction, at any rate...
After the Taliban takeover, northern resistance was the only resisting group that was co-led by Ahmad Masoud and former first VP Amrullah Saleh in the north of Afghanistan namely in Panjshri province.
The group is though defeated, some members claim that they are regrouping and are waging attacks on the Taliban fighters.
The number of people joining the militant group is small though it is growing.
The Taliban have always underestimated ISIS-K and have assured the people and regional countries that the group will not resist and will not pose threat to the Afghan people and the region.
[KhaamaPress] A chartered flight took off from Kabul International Airport on Sunday, October 31 carrying 45 tons of quality Afghan pine nuts to China.
The Kabul-based Chinese embassy in a statement said that despite the air transport limitations that are globally imposed due to COVID-19, they have overcome numerous difficulties with Afghanistan to resume chartered flights. The statement reads that the shipment will bring happiness to the Afghan people and good taste to the people in China.
Afghanistan as the biggest producer of pine nuts in the world exports most of its pine nuts to China every year.
While at the same time — at least in my grocery store — China is the primary supplier of pine nuts to the US. How much of that is just relabelled Afghan produce?
A Taliban ...Arabic for students... spokesperson Bilal Karimi has said that the air corridor between Afghanistan and China resumed on Sunday and the first consignment of pine nuts exported to that country.
In the meantime, the Chinese embassy has also expressed happiness for the resumption of the air corridor and added that this will strengthen trade relations between the two countries.
"China firmly pursues a friendly policy toward all the people of Afghanistan and supports Afghan efforts to restore stability and rebuild the country." Reads the statement.
China has been one of the key countries in the region that can play a major role in the rebuilding of Afghanistan after the US withdrawal.
The Taliban have also been friendly with the Chinese government and have invited the country to invest and work in Afghanistan.
[ToloNews] 34 members of ISIS joined the Islamic Emirate on Monday in the eastern province of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , a local official said on Monday.
These ISIS fighters were present in the Spinghar and Koot districts.
The provincial intelligence director, Dr. Basheer, said that tribal elders mediated between the Islamic Emirate and ISIS affiliates.
"34 members of ISIS who were active in the Koot and Momandara areas joined the Islamic Emirate," he said. "The tribal elders decided that if anyone violates the tribal codes, their houses will be set on fire."
With winter coming? Harsh!
In Afghanistan, ISIS first emerged in late 2014 in Nangarhar.
"I call on those who are in ISIS to come and join the Islamic Emirate and play your role in the construction of the country," said Rashid, a member of the group that crossed over.
"The Islamic Emirate showed us a lot of respect and told us that we should not violate the conditions, and should focus on improving our country," said, Gul Dad, a former member of ISIS.
According to the provincial intelligence department, at least 149 members of ISIS have so far switched allegiance to the Islamic Emirate.
Mediation efforts in #Sudan and abroad are underway to find a possible solution for the country a week after the civilian government was ousted in a military coup, the #UN envoy to Khartoum says.https://t.co/MfXU3yL3AF
[Garowe] Eleven soldiers serving under the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have concluded a training course on the mechanics of operating drones, which are important to modern military operations.
The two-week Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop conducted in Mogadishu, was facilitated by the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) and AMISOM Force Headquarters (FHQ) in collaboration with instructors from the United Nations Field Technology Services.
AMISOM Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Diomede Ndegeya, said the technology of drones was an important tactical asset in gathering intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.
"I am highly impressed by your good discipline, efforts, and commitment to learning. I want to encourage you to carry this enthusiasm for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), into your future roles in FHQ ISR Cell, AMISOM Sectors, and even back home to your respective Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs)," said the Force Commander.
The unmanned Micro Aircrafts equipped with Infrared Imaging System will also be used in convoys, foot patrol, overwatch, search and rescue operations, and battlefield assessments.
The Geospatial Information Officer for the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), Aka Alphonse Attron, praised the soldiers for their dedication during the intense training, which brought together officers drawn from all the contingents of the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
"During these two weeks, you have been very dedicated, with a lot of effort and sometimes in very difficult conditions during the practical exercise. We hope that the knowledge gained here will be used in your operations across all the sectors," said Attron.
The Chief Military Intelligence Officer (CMIO), Col. Hans Nyange, asked the participants to apply what they have learned to the best of their abilities and use the knowledge gained to train others.
"As you gain knowledge in managing and operating this tool, remember that we are most interested in the end results and how it will contribute to our future operations and plans," Col. Nyange told the soldiers.
A UPDF officer serving under AMISOM, Warrant Officer O2, Bagyenda Brighteous, said drones are important to providing vision support to patrol teams and convoys along the Main Supply Routes (MSR) and during operations.
"In the mission, we have been using human intelligence in gathering information but that is limited and has its challenges. Sometimes it’s difficult to move from FOBs to advance forward. When we apply the drone, it is going to be a game-changer," said Brighteous.
[Garowe] President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Being a self-defined foreign policy whiz kid means never having to say you're sorry... has dispatched bigwigs to Somalia in a move geared towards boosting the fight against al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... hard boys, who still control large swathes of rural central and southern Somalia.
White House said in a statement that Assistant to the President for Homeland Security Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall, USAFRICOM Commander General Stephen Townsend, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Chris Maier visited Somalia, Djibouti, and Kenya this past week.
"The trip focused on advancing the Biden Administration’s counterterrorism policy in an evolving threat landscape: prioritizing the most dangerous and ascendant threats; empowering local partners to prevent and counter-terrorist threats within their own borders; and working multilaterally with regional and international allies and partners to pursue our broader security, governance, and development goals across the region," White House said.
The US withdrew from Somalia earlier this year but it has been very keen to support local troops in the fight against al-Shabaab hard boys. In the past few months, al-Shabaab has been targeting security forces and innocent civilians within the Horn of Africa nation.
"In East Africa, Dr. Sherwood-Randall, General Townsend, and Mr. Maier met with U.S. forces in Djibouti, Somalia, and Kenya who are responsible for executing the counterterrorism campaign against al-Shabaab in conjunction with local and regional partners," the statement added.
The trip also came at the time the US vowed to review the support towards Danab Special Forces following claims that the special troops participated in the fight against Sufi militia Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama'a [ASWJ] which left over 120 people dead.
Early this year, the US pledged to resend troops back to the Horn of Africa nation but it's yet to give a clear guideline on how this will be done. Washington had close to 700 soldiers in Somalia who have since been repositioned to Kenya and Djibouti.
[PJMEDIA] Portland ...a formerly lovely city in Oregon, governed by an unholy alliance of communists, anarchists, and incompetents. In 2017 the city was named as the fifth most business-friendly in the nation. It took only three years for the city to degenerate to the point where it became a national embarrassment, with antifa and Black Lives Matter bullying taxpayers and occasionally shooting one as an example to the others... , Oregon is nearly dead last on the list of cities where tourists and conventioneers want to spend money and time. And it makes sense. Portland is circling the drain.
The leaderless city from which police are fleeing, where Antifa ...the armed wing of the Democratic Party... thugs are ascendant, and which people in nearby towns avoid, is dying before our eyes.
Elected Leftists can’t seem to prioritize problems or affect solutions beyond spending more money to study an issue or giving out more freebies via their favorite NGO’s to "fix" problems for them. Grift being what it is, problems don’t get solved.
Leftists have tried hard to mold the one-time jewel of a city into their socialist utopia.
The city’s "Travel Portland" tourism CEO, Jeff Miller, says nobody wants to visit their utopia. Miller told the commissioners, "Portland has declined to the lowest levels of being a likely destination for delegates to attend a conference." And it comes down to only a few things. "Portland-specific issues that are related to civil unrest and public safety concerns have exacerbated the negative occurrences of declining attendance and group cancellations."
Miller told Mayor Wheeler and the council, "Continued attacks and breaking glass on buildings throughout the city, but especially downtown, continued to affect this hard to overcome sentiment. Our central city occupancy in September lags every competitive city we tracked."
The only worse city was Minneapolis, which was also set on fire by Antifa and BLM, where cops are more hated, and where the Left has a firm hold on the justice system. See the Chauvin case for reference.
City Commissioner Mingus Mapps, the commission’s travel liaison, told his fellow commissioners during a Zoom meeting that things are very, very bad. "Here’s the problem. Around the world," he told them, "too many people associate Portland with homelessness and homicide. Today, a significant chunk of humanity is afraid of spending time and money in our city."
"Afraid" being the operative word.
It turns out that people just aren’t into crime-friendly places, where you could be shot at a downtown club, be clubbed on a downtown street, be called a fascist ...anybody you disagree with, damn them... by the club-wielding mob, or where, for political reasons, cops won’t be able to find your body when you go missing or arrest somebody for your murder.
It’s kind of a turnoff.
Stepping around human feces and tents is also a problem.
Leaderlessness results in an ever ending expansion of so-called "homeless" camps, which are nothing more than Fentanyl Flats, where druggies are encouraged to sleep and use for free.
Instead of telling people to drive their cars or RV’s away, the city assumes responsibility for these grown-ass, drug-addled adults and tells them to hang on because the city will use other people’s dwindling tax money to build them a damned condo because they care so much and are so "charitable."
And they wonder why the "homeless" problem grows.
Mayor and Police Commissioner Ted Wheeler ...Poindextrous lefty Dem mayor of Portland, Oregon. Allowed a year and a half of Antifa/BLM riots to destroy downtown sections of his city while playing catch and release with the perpetrators and hamstringing his police. He got reelected in the course of all that because the alternative was worse. He has yet to accomplish anything of substance, unless destroying a fairly pleasant city counts... , who defunded police upon real threats by Antifa and BLM rioters, just announced that, gee, we need more cops. He’s throwing money at retired cops to come back and also planning to spend more money to reimagine policing. Yet, another money-sucking grift as well as a paean to Antifa and BLM that will solve nothing.
#2
as far as I can determine residential property values in Portland are holding up quite well, even outpacing most of the country
I can't get reliable figures on commercial property
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/02/2021 8:38 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Just check Zillow, Realtor, discarded the MSM hype and looked at HUD.
GO figure? ....Its a interesting market
HUD/Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R)
Portland, OR (N&E)
2020 - 46,450 homes sold
2021 - 54,600 Homes sold
18% increase in # of sales since 2020
2020 - $434,700 Average price
2021 - $488,200 Average price
12% increase in selling price since 2020
1,200 to 1,500 sg/ft houses going for $500k
Up to 1,600 Properties listed in Portland, OR.
depending on search.
================================= HOWEVER
The Portland Commercial World
"Portland suffered unprecedented increase in vacant office space last year" 01-2021
"Portland's downtown commercial vacancy rate has reached a staggering 17.5% and is projected to keep climbing." 05-2021
A quick spot check shows 4,117+ Commercial Real Estate Listings and 676+ Retail listings.
The increases vacant space is around 17+/-% over Trump years.☺
#4
You can't have a seller without a buyer. That's not to say that some of the buyers weren't "We pay cash for your house!" operations and the sellers were people willing to take a haircut to get gone.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/02/2021 12:07 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The selling number need more data. CA is selling homes like wildfire too. Businesses are buying them for rentals and the owners are fleeing the state or going to a rental to avoid the taxes until they can leave. I would be interested to see migration data on Portland.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/02/2021 12:12 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Look for Chinese money behind straw buyers and companies, since rental income from safe US properties seems far safer, especially when leveraged through US banks. The new multi family permissions for previously zoned single family dwellings in Blue cities will create opportunities for lovely communities to devolve into Boyle Heights style squalor and densely packed houses.
3rd world conditions for all the new "immigrants" who will live on the dole and vote blue forever. When America has 40-50 massive concentrations like this....
[ToloNews] Afghanistan’s all-girl robotics team has won the Judges Award in First Global’s 2021 competition.
According to the (FGC), this award is given annually to the team that performs well and works hard.
The girls displayed three of their new robots in a virtual competition in the First Global challenge.
Teams from 177 countries participated in the competition.
"We were the girls who struggled with many obstacles. We were given the opportunities and we gained a great honor," said Sumaia Faroqi, the leader of the robotics team.
"Among 177 countries of the world that participated in the competition, we were able to successfully win the Judges Award. This was an award given to a team that had the best performance during the competition and had worked hard," said Haida Haidari, a member of the team.
In the meantime, the girls said that this achievement belongs to girls in Afghanistan and they urged Afghan girls to continue their education without any fear.
"This achievement is not only the achievement of our team, but the achievement of all Afghan girls. We proved once again that if Afghan girls are given opportunities to study and make progress, they can raise our country’s flag everywhere in the world," said Elham Mansouri, a member of the team.
"I am glad that we were able to bring victory once again to our beloved country. I hope that our achievements carry on in the future," said Florance Poya, a member of the team.
Following the August 15 political changes, the robotics team left Afghanistan. They are now living and working in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
#4
"Our dutiful daughters who putter
And weep by the waters of Qatar
Will someday return!
Now they study, and learn
To be clockmaking Ahmed, but hotter."
Posted by: Boss Creper1819 ||
11/02/2021 19:14 Comments ||
Top||
#5
^ Impressive
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/02/2021 21:14 Comments ||
Top||
[Rudaw] The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group (ISIS) on Monday grabbed credit for a deadly attack on Peshmerga forces on the Erbil-Kirkuk border late Saturday.
The attack happened in the Zorgazraw region of Kirkuk’s Pirde (Altun Kupri) district, about 40 kilometers northwest of Kirkuk. Two Peshmerga were killed, identified as Khalid Hameed and Ako Karim.
ISIS, in a post on its Telegram propaganda channel, claimed it killed three Peshmerga and injured others.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/02/2021 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati says he urged information minister George #Kordahi to prioritize national interest amid the crisis with #Gulf but he did not heed his call.https://t.co/DJuNOlBWy9
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...Arabic for 
...46th president of the U.S. Being a self-defined foreign policy whiz kid means never having to say you're sorry...
...a formerly lovely city in Oregon, governed by an unholy alliance of communists, anarchists, and incompetents. In 2017 the city was named as the fifth most business-friendly in the nation. It took only three years for the city to degenerate to the point where it became a national embarrassment, with antifa and Black Lives Matter bullying taxpayers and occasionally shooting one as an example to the others...
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
