Afghan security situation in 2023 reviewed

KABUL (TOLOnews): In 2023, as a result of anti-security events, nearly 200 people were killed and wounded across the country.

According to reports, the number of casualties was less than the casualties of the first three months of 2022.

Security in the year 2023 was one of the key issues that the caretaker government has spoken of as an important achievement after its coming into power in Afghanistan.

In this regard, MoI spokesman Abdul Matin Qani, said: “In 2022, full security was provided, and in 2023, it had a 40% reduction, but still, unfortunately, we witnessed some security incidents in Badakhshan, Baghlan and Herat provinces and even in the capital.”

TOLOnews findings show that since the beginning of this year, more than ten suicide attacks and explosions occurred in Baghlan, Badakhshan, Balkh and Kabul provinces, in which fifty-six people were killed and 140 others were injured.

One of these incidents happened on the first day of the year 2023 near the gate of the military airport in Kabul, in which at least ten people died and eight others were injured.

On January 11th and March 27th, 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate was attacked twice. In these incidents, several employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including diplomats, were killed, and these attacks were accompanied by strong international and domestic reactions.

In 2023, several officials of the Islamic Emirate were also targeted in some anti-security incidents.

Among them, we can mention the 9th of March, when a suicide bomber exploded himself near the office of the governor of Balkh, as a result of which three people were killed, including Mohammad Dawood Muzamil, the governor of Balkh, with four others being injured.

On June 6, 2023, the acting governor of Badakhshan province was also attacked, resulting in his death and his driver’s, and injuries to six others.

Two days after this incident, at the funeral of Mawlawi Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, there was another attack with fatalities, including Safiullah Samim, the former commander of Baghlan police, and 14 others, and more than 50 others were injured.

On October 13, a suicide bomber reached the Takiakhana Imam Zaman (place of worship) in Pol-e-Khomri and blew himself up among the worshipers, killing seven people and injuring seventeen others.

Two days after this incident, another blast also in Tabyan cultural center in Mazar-e-Sharif happened in which one person was killed and eight others were injured.

In this year Dasht-e-Barchi area of Kabul witnessed explosions on October 27th and November 8th, in which more than 10 people were killed and nearly 30 others were injured. ISIS has taken responsibility for most of the incidents.

The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, Zabihullah Mujahid, said: “ISIS is a bad phenomenon that used to operate and hide in cities, especially big cities. A special operation was carried out against them, and immediately they fled to remote provinces and places.”

In 2023 rather than other years, Afghanistan had two conflicts with Pakistan and one border conflict with Iran, with the Pakistan skirmishes lasting for several days.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior said that most of the conflicts that took place on the borders of the country were first started by the opposite side.

While the Islamic Emirate has always denied a ISIS presence in Afghanistan, Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov, Chief of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), claimed that the number of ISIS fighters in Afghanistan has increased to 6,500.

“The number of members of the Islamic State’s Afghan branch, Wilayat Khorasan (outlawed in Russia), has significantly increased to about 6,500, with up to 4,000 militants concentrated along Tajikistan’s southern border in the provinces of Badakhshan, Kunduz and Takhar,” TASS said, quoting Sidorov.

The head of US Central Command, Michael Kurilla, said that ISIS In Afghanistan will be able to attack American or Western interests outside the country in less than six months “with little to no warning,” as reported by Star and Stripes.

But, the Ministry of Defense said that a serious fight against terrorist groups has been carried out in Afghanistan, and currently the ISIS group has been defeated in Afghanistan.

On the last day of 2023, Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the Acting Minister of MoD, at the news conference of the Security and Clearing Affairs Commission, in the government media center, dismissed the claims and concerns of countries about the existence of terrorist groups as baseless and said that Afghanistan is in a safe state. and will not allow anyone to disrupt the security and use of Afghanistan’s soil.

The acting Defense minister said: “Those who make such claims against us should be asked why they make such claims, and they do something that does not benefit any country.”