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Taliban Attack on Kandahar Airport: What We Know ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Catherine Putz)

Kandahar Airport ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / United States Ministry of Defense) Source-  The Diplomat Author- Catherine Putz Tuesday evening Taliban assaulted the Kandahar airport, an attack that coincided with the opening of the Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is in Pakistan attending the conference, which seeks to further regional cooperation and is seen as an opportunity for Afghanistan and Pakistan to move toward re-starting (re-re-re-starting?) the peace process aborted earlier this year. Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, is a well-know place within the wider war. Positioned in the south, in the heart of Pashtun territory and the Taliban’s traditional stomping grounds, the city continues to host thousands of coalition forces. While reports are still coming out and many details are unconfirmed, the fighting has died down after nearly 24 hours. The latest AP report cites the Afghan Defense Ministry as s

Islamic State Defections Fracture Pakistan Taliban ( Source- The Diplomat, Author- Arif Rafiq)

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ Author- Menendj Source- The Diplomat Author- Arif Rafiq In an audio statement released last week, the former Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid announced that he and five other commanders from the terror group have given the bay’ah (oath of allegiance) to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled “caliph” of the group that describes itself as the Islamic State (IS), and is also known as ISIS and ISIL. This is the first public defection of commanders from the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban groups to IS. Their defection portends further divisions within Pakistan’s jihadist community, which has rapidly splintered since the killing of the TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud last fall in a U.S. drone strike. These divisions could result in heightened violence between anti-state jihadist groups in Pakistan. But Pakistan is also likely to see a rise in both sectarian and overall violence. Down the road, there is a risk that Pak