Since his days as a C.I.A.-backed Afghan guerrilla leader against the Soviets in the 1980s, the former prime minister and perpetual insurgent Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has always seemed to be negotiating his next shift of alliances.

Now, with his Hezb-i-Islami militant group nearly eclipsed by the Taliban, Mr. Hekmatyar, 68, is once again working a deal — this time to formally reconcile with the Afghan government for the first time since the end of the country’s civil war.

After years of failed overtures, representatives of Mr. Hekmatyar, whose whereabouts is unknown, are now said to be finalizing a peace agreement with the struggling government of President Ashraf Ghani, according to representatives from both sides. If signed, the agreement would allow Mr. Hekmatyar to return to Kabul for the first time since 1996. That was when the Taliban pushed him out of power after he had negotiated a deal to become prime minister in return for ending his insurgency against the government.

For Mr. Hekmatyar, history seems to repeat like that.

But the timing of the efforts to make peace with Mr. Hekmatyar’s small faction of the insurgency this time has raised questions in Kabul. Mr. Ghani’s government, failing to persuade the Taliban to come to the table this winter, is hoping that a quick deal with Mr. Hekmatyar, which evaded the previous administration, would bring it much-needed good news. The government’s peace body, the High Peace Council, also needs to show some results for the hundreds of millions of dollars in donor money it has spent on the reconciliation process.

Many fear Mr. Hekmatyar, known for his habit of breaking alliances, could be a larger political headache in Kabul than he is a military one in the battlefield, at a time when Mr. Ghani’s coalition administration is already bogged down with infighting. Although forces loyal to Mr. Hekmatyar have attacked sporadically — including a 2013 car bombing that killed 16 people, including six American advisers — they have never been considered as serious a threat as the Taliban or the Haqqani network.

Still, Mr. Hekmatyar is exceptionally divisive. He is accused of causing the deaths of thousands during the civil war, including the indiscriminate shelling of Kabul — much like rival warlords who are now allied with the government or have positions within it. After receiving copious cash and weaponry from the Americans during the war against the Soviets, he threw in his lot with remnants of the Communist government, then briefly with Taliban, and then Al Qaeda. In July last year, he was even rumored to have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, though his aides later denied it.

Through it all, he has remained a prolific writer. He frequently sends letters to his commanders and has published dozens of books on political and religious matters, with titles including “Afghanistan – Another Vietnam for America,” “Dreams and Interpretations,” and “Bush, the King of Liars.” More recently, he has also taken to recorded video messages, modulating his voice like a state-TV anchor as he recites long lectures and answers recorded questions.

Abdul Qayoum Sajjadi, a member of the Afghan Parliament, said the government had resorted to dealing with Mr. Hekmatyar “for political purposes and public opinion” after failing to bring the Taliban to the table.

“It may not drastically change anything to restore peace since currently he doesn’t command any fronts against the government,” Mr. Sajjadi said. “But still, having him inside is better than having him outside.”

Perhaps sensing an opportunity in the Ghani government’s weakness, or feeling urgency of his own, he has eased his longstanding demands, which have included an unconditional and total withdrawal of all foreign forces.

According to officials on both sides of the negotiation, some of the last points of disagreement were the timing of removing Mr. Hekmatyar and the Hezb-i-Islami militant wing from American and United Nations terrorism lists, and whether Mr. Hekmatyar is willing to renounce relations with extremist groups outside Afghanistan.

Mr. Hekmatyar’s group is demanding to be taken off the terrorism lists before signing the agreement, while American officials have said the process takes time and can happen only after a formal request from the Afghan government when the agreement is signed, according to two Afghan officials close to the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were continuing.

In the meantime, the Americans have demanded Mr. Hekmatyar renounce relations to all global extremist groups. But Mr. Hekmatyar’s representatives say they can go only as far as groups threatening Afghanistan, because there is no universal definition of terrorism.

Karim Amin, a negotiator for Mr. Hekmatyar in recent talks, said: “How is it possible for Hezb-i-Islami to accept if Israel calls a group or party terrorist? It is not acceptable to us in any way. Similarly, if Burma calls a group terrorist, should we also consider that group terrorists? No way: We are not going to do that, never.”

The Afghan government is agreeing to provide Mr. Hekmatyar and his group’s leadership with facilities to resettle in Kabul.

Maulavi Atta ul Rahman Salim, the deputy head of the High Peace Council who has been negotiating with Mr. Hekmatyar’s team, said they had agreed to provide Hezb-i-Islami leadership with residences and an office. “In fact, we have seen a couple of places, which are yet to be finalized.”

In addition, the leadership would be provided with vehicles and guards. All that together would amount to at least $4 million a year, according to one senior Afghan official involved in the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity to characterize private negotiations.

Mr. Hekmatyar is also asking for townships in Afghan to accommodate thousands of residents from a large refugee camp in Pakistan that his group has used as a base since the 1980s.

If Mr. Hekmatyar does eventually make it to Kabul, he will find himself in an awkward place, lagging behind foes he fought for many years. During his 14 years on the sidelines, he missed the lucrative wave of American spending and favor — and the image rehabilitation — that his civil war rivals have enjoyed.

At the same time, some of his former affiliates have also prospered without him. The political wing of Hezb-i-Islami has distanced itself from Mr. Hekmatyar over the past decade, and several members went on to become cabinet ministers in the Kabul government after the Taliban’s ouster in 2001.

Mr. Amin, Mr. Hekmatyar’s chief negotiator who insists his leader is inside Afghanistan and not in Pakistan, where intelligence reports have placed him, would not comment on the preparations for his eventual return.

During his comeback in 1996, those involved motorcades of white-uniformed guards and Mr. Hekmatyar’s portraits mounted on tanks. It is unclear whether any faction in Kabul, friend or foe, would go that far for him again.

nytimes.com

A heavy explosion rocked Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan after a suicide bomber detonated a Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) in Nazian district.

Provincial governor’s spokesman Ataullah Khogyani confirmed the incident but did not disclose further information regarding the casualties of the incident.

Another security official said the suicide bomber detonated a VBIED near the residence of a public uprising forces commander.

The official further added that 8 people including women and children were killed in the attack and 18 others were wounded.

No group including the Taliban militants has so far claimed responsibility behind the incident.

Taliban insurgents and militants loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are actively operating in a number of remote districts of Nangarhar province.

Numerous local residents have picked up arms to fight the growing insurgency specifically the Taliban insurgents and ISIS loyalists in this province.

bakhtarnews.com.af

At least 99 militants and 8 Afghan policemen were killed amid surging violence across the country in the past 24 hours.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) in a statement said “In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police conducted 31 anti-terrorism joint operations with Afghan National Army and NDS to clear some of the areas from terrorists and enemies of peace and stability of Afghanistan.”

The operations were conducted in Kunar, Nangarhar, Parwan, Logar, Maidan Wardak, Dai Kundi, Kandahar, Zabul, Oruzgan, Helmand, Herat, Sar-e-Pul, Jowzjan, Kunduz and Takhar  provinces.

The statement by MoI further added “as a result 99 armed Taliban were killed, 55 wounded and nine others were arrested by joint forces.”

According to MoI, the armed Taliban suffered the heaviest casualty in Mardian district of northern Jowzjan province.

“Also, during these operations, joint forces discovered and confiscated two rocket launchers with 47 rocket-propelled grenades, 31 mortars, 100 kilos of IEDs, 18 different types of rifles, nine AK-47 rifles, one bomb launcher, 100 different types of IEDs and 14 motorbikes,” the statement added.

MoI also added “Unfortunately, during these operations, eight Afghan National Police officers were martyred and 16 others were wounded.”

The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.

khaama.com

A group of Indonesian “cyber warriors” sit glued to screens, as they send out messages promoting a moderate form of Islam in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

Armed with laptops and smartphones, some 500 members of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) — one of the world’s biggest Muslim organisations — are seeking to counter the Islamic State group’s extremist messages.

“We’ll never let Islam be hijacked by fools who embrace hate in their heart,” tweeted Syafi’ Ali, a prominent member of the NU’s online army, a typical message to his tens of thousands of followers.

They are trying to hit back at ISIS’s sophisticated Internet operations, which have been credited with attracting huge numbers from around the world to their cause.

Internet propaganda is believed to have played a key role in drawing some 500 Indonesians to the Middle East to join ISIS, particularly among those living in cities where it is easier to get online.

The dangers of the growing ISIS influence in Indonesia were starkly illustrated in January when militants linked to the jihadists launched a gun and suicide bombing attack in Jakarta, leaving four assailants and four civilians dead.

It was the first major attack in Indonesia for seven years, following a string of Islamic militant bombings in the early 2000s that killed hundreds.

‘Wrestling with propaganda’
As well as firing off tweets, the NU members have sought to dominate cyberspace by establishing websites promoting the group’s moderate views, an Android app and web-based TV channels, whose broadcasts include sermons by moderate preachers.

The initiative has been building momentum for a while but started to pick up pace a few months ago. A handful of cyber warriors operate from a small office in Jakarta, while the rest work remotely, and the group mostly communicate with one another over the web.

But it will be an uphill battle and the NU, which has been promoting moderate Islam for decades, conceded they have previously struggled to take on IS’s hate-filled messages.

“NU has for a while wrestled with this radical propaganda,” said Yahya Cholil Staquf, secretary-general of the NU.

asianage.com

At a time when even the US has been slammed by experts for failing in dealing with bio-terrorism, India’s efforts in creating a network of labs to fight it has taken off well with 35 labs established in the first phase having completed collection of data from more than 1,00,000 patients on various kinds of viruses, bacteria and parasites.

In about 18 months, a breakout in even a remote part of India will be known to New Delhi and other relevant centres regardless of the casualty count. The labs will detect and map all known viruses and other agents, while also doing research on unknown agents.

National and international reports, including a WikiLeaks cable made public five years ago have pointed to the threats bio-terrorism — use of infectious biological agents such as smallpox or anthrax virus as weapons of terrorism — has posed to India. India, according to reports in the public domain, has been on the bio-terrorism radar since the mid-2000s.

While the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has traditionally head India’s preparations against bio-terrorism, the network of 160 labs India is building is being funded through the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).

“As per plans, 160 labs will come up in a three-tier national network of Viral Research & Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs) for timely identification of viruses and other agents causing morbidity significant at public health level and specifically agents causing epidemics and/or potential agents for bio-terrorism,” a document from the ministry of health research reads.

The network of labs will develop infrastructure and expertise for diagnosis of viruses and bacteria with a potential to cause outbreaks and/or are responsible for disease burdens. Ten regional labs, 30 state-level labs and 120 labs in medical colleges will form the network, which also aims at creating a national database. Of this, 35 labs in the regional and state-level categories have been established in the last 18 months.

One of the first labs has been established in Manipal, a suburb of Udupi on the western coast of India. Speaking to TOI from the Manipal Centre for Virus Research, which is established within the Manipal University, Dr Arun Kumar said: “As we speak we have developed capabilities to detect more than 50 viruses in just our lab and work is on across the country.”

In fact, Arun said that the labs are now going beyond viruses and are also looking at bacteria and parasites. “We’ve developed ability to detect more than 10 bacteria and even two parasites,” he said.

Explaining how the system works, Arun said, all samples are referred through the district surveillance units, set up in each districts.

Even as no concrete links to bio-terrorism has been established to previous outbreaks in the country, investigations into the mid-1990s dengue hemorrhagic fever, which saw dengue remerge with an expanded geographic distribution and increased epidemic activity have been inconclusive of where the virus originated from. There is also the famous case of anthrax.

“There are two broad things we can attribute any such breakout to. One, it naturally spread and two, a virus or bacteria was deliberated put into our system/society. Either way, the procedure of how we deal with it shouldn’t change. The goal is to detect, diagnose and eradicate such things” a senior researchers who didn’t want to be named said.

A Haqqani network terrorists have been arrested by the Afghan intelligence operatives before the suspects manage to target the parliament building.

The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said the terrorist was looking to attack the parliament building with BM12 rockets.

No further details regarding the exact location where the terrorist was arrested by the intelligence operatives.

This comes as the Afghan intelligence operatives foiled attack plots by the notorious Haqqani terrorist network in Kabul city by arresting 3 suspects in connection to the attack plots on Wednesday.

The intelligence operatives foiled at least four large attack plots by Haqqani terrorist network in capital Kabul last month.

Haqqani network was formed in the late 1970s by Jalaluddin Haqqani. The group is allied with al-Qaida and the Afghan Taliban and cooperates with other terrorist organizations in the region.

The network is accused of staging numerous cross-border attacks from their base in North Waziristan, including the 19-hour siege at the US Embassy in Kabul in September 2011.

khaama.com

A 65-year-old Muslim Sufi preacher was hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding assailants in northwest Bangladesh, two weeks after a liberal university professor was killed in a similar attack claimed by the dreaded Islamic State.

Shahidullah was found dead with gashes on the right shoulder and a slit throat in a mango orchard in Rajshahi city’s Tanor upazila, in an attack that bears the hallmark of previous murders of intellectuals, bloggers and minorities by Islamists in the country.

His body was recovered after locals called the police around 10 pm on Friday night, said Abdur Razzak, officer-in-charge of Tanor Police Station.

“Shahidullah was a local grocer but was regarded as a Sufi saint with a number of followers in the area,” Razzak said.

He said autopsy of the body was carried out at a local hospital and then returned to the relatives for burial.

Razzak said their initial investigations found that Shahidullah was involved in a property dispute with neighbours ‘which could be a reason of the murder’.

“It seems he was hacked first and then slaughtered,” he was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.

But Rajshahi’s police chief Nisharul Arif told reporters that Islamists could also be behind the killing which was similar to the murder of liberal Rajshahi University professor Rezaul Karim two weeks ago for which the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed the responsibility.

An investigation has been launched into his Shahidullah’s murder, Arif said.

Meanwhile, the deceased’s son has sued anonymous people in a case filed with Tanor Police Station. He said his father was a follower of ‘Torika Ponthi’ (a spiritual path) and might have had enmity with followers of other paths.

There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent weeks especially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.

In the recent attacks, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death last month by machete-wielding IS terrorists who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city.

Two days later, Bangladesh’s first gay magazine editor was brutally murdered along with a friend in his flat in Dhaka by Islamists.

Last week, a Hindu tailor was hacked to death by machete-wielding IS terrorists in his shop in central Bangladesh.

rediff.com

Two Romanian soldiers with the Nato-led force in Afghanistan have been killed in an attack by suspected local police, officials say. Two members of a local police unit, who were being trained by Nato near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, opened fire on the soldiers on the morning of 7 May in an apparent insider attack.

The Romanian defence ministry said in a statement that two soldiers were rushed to a nearby military hospital following the incident but did not survive, while a third was injured but is now stable.

The two assailants were killed in a fire fight with Nato forces, who have launched an investigation into the incident.

So-called “green-on-blue” insider killings in Afghanistan have gone down in recent years amid more stringent vetting of recruits for Afghan security forces.

Romania has some 650 troops involved with Nato’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, which focuses on training and assisting local security forces.

The slain soldiers were identified as First Sgt Iulian Dumitrescu and Sgt Adrian Vizireanu by Romanian officials.

‘Deep sorrow’

“I learned with deep sorrow about the death of soldiers who died on duty today while on a mission in Afghanistan,” Romanian Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc said.

“Both personally and on behalf of the Romanian military, I convey condolences to their families, friends and comrades in arms.”

Samim Khpalwak, a spokesman for the Kandahar governor’s office, told Reuters that one Afghan policeman had been arrested in relation to the attack and was being questioned.

The Nato-led coalition in Afghanistan said in a statement that the incident would not derail its training of local security forces.

“We continue to train, advice and assist [Afghan forces], and do not view this incident as representative of the positive relationship between our forces,” it was reported as saying.

Nato formally ended its combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but maintains a residual force of about 13,000 in the country to carry out training and counter-terrorism operations.

ibtimes.co.uk

A roadside bomb has killed at least four young children from the same family, officials in Afghanistan have said

Wazir Mohammad Jawadi, a district administrator in southern Zabul province, said on Saturday that another child from the same family was wounded in the blast on Friday.

Afghanistan is covered with mines and other explosives left over from decades of war.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, an official said security forces repelled an insurgent attack in the eastern Kunar province, killing 26 militants.

Abdul Habib Sayedkhaili, the provincial police chief, said a police officer was killed in the fighting, which erupted when hundreds of insurgents tried to overrun a district headquarters near the border with Pakistan. He said forces had prior intelligence about the attack and were prepared to repel it.

belfasttelegraph.co.uk/

The US suspects that Bangladesh terrorist groups are gradually linking up with global Islamic militant organizations.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs Nisha Desai Biswal made the assertion on Thursday after meeting with Bangladeshi Home Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. Biswal is currently visiting Bangladesh following the murder of USAID worker and gay rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and another man on April 25.

A major breakthrough into the murder of Mannan and his friend is yet to be made, according to police sources. Law enforcement officials have also made no headway in the machete attacks on five people that took place in the eight days following Mannan’s killing on April 25.

Soon after meeting the Home Affairs Minister, Biswal told journalists, “Various organizations like IS and al-Qaeda have been laying claims to the murders and we take into consideration these claims.”

The US official was alluding to recent murders, including that of Nikhil Chandra Joarder in Tangail on April 30. Responsibility for the killing was allegedly claimed by Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

Ansar Al Islam, an alleged offshoot of al-Qaeda in Bangladesh, had also claimed responsibility for the murder of Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Samir Mahbub Tonoy for “working day and night to promote homosexuality among the people of” Bangladesh.

Biswal stated that Washington wants to work with Dhaka to prevent these groups from building a base in Bangladesh.

During the discussion with the Home Affairs Minister and other officials including Bangladesh’s Inspector General of Police Shahidul Hoque, Biswal had reportedly raised the possibility that the recent killing of Xulhaz, following the murders of Italian Cesare Tavella and Japanese Hoshi Kunio last year, may be an attempt to threaten US interests in Bangladesh.

Asked how Dhaka had responded to this possibility, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told Bdnews24.com, “We told them our detectives were able to identify suspects every time we sensed an attempt to make such a connection.”

Oppose gay activists

While the home minister said that there is a right to free speech in Bangladesh, he also pointed out, “There is an attempt to create a movement out of it [gay rights activism]. It is unnatural and is prohibited by our Constitution and our religion. It is also a criminal offense.”

Kamal told local media on the Saturday following Xulhaz’s murder that three suspects have been identified in connection with the incident. Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson Maruf Hossain Sarder told Asia Times that no new information has surfaced since then.

In addition to Xulhaz and Joarder, four other individuals have been killed in similar machete deaths across Bangladesh. However, the authorities have waived these off as petty crimes. Prior to Xulhaz, Professor AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique was hacked to death in Rajshahi on April 23.

AFP has reported that at least 30 members of religious minorities, secular bloggers, other liberal activists, foreigners and intellectuals have been murdered by suspected militants in Bangladesh in the last three years.

Biswal also met with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday. Later, during her speech at the National Parliament, Hasina said, “There’ll be no place for terrorism and militancy on the soil of Bangladesh. Many will try to play with the country’s fate in the name of militancy. But, I won’t allow such game to happen as long as I remain alive.”

atimes.com