Members of the Taliban opened fire on people rallying in support of the Afghan national flag in the eastern Nangarhar province…reports Asian Lite News
Several people have been shot dead in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan by the Taliban during rallies supporting the Afghan national flag, as per reports.
Members of the Taliban opened fire on people rallying in support of the Afghan national flag in the eastern Nangarhar province, Sputnik reported. At least two people were killed and 12 others were injured after the Taliban opened fire on the protesters.
Al Jazeera reported that at least two people were killed and 12 were injured in the Jalalabad clashes. The report said that clashes erupted after hundreds of Afghan people took to the streets to show support for the national flag.
There is a big campaign underway in Afghanistan seeking retention of the Afghan national flag.
Earlier, a number of youngsters had gathered in Kunar province of Afghanistan demanding the Taliban to let the Afghan government flag fly over the country.
Afghan media reported that there is a vast campaign on social media demanding the Afghanistan Islamic Emirate to maintain the Afghan flag while others suggest a joint flag of both.
Meanwhile, a number of women gathered in Kabul demanding a share in the upcoming government. The women asked the power holders not to forget them in the upcoming regime.
The women though did not name the Taliban directly; this is apparently a rare move in Afghanistan where the Taliban have grappled control of nearly the entire country, reports said.
Meanwhile, Taliban have captured the US military’s biometric devices compromising crucial data of the US army and the local Afghans who played crucial roles during the war, a media report said on Wednesday.
The devices, known as HIIDE, for Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment, were seized last week during the Taliban’s offensive, according to a Joint Special Operations Command official and three former US military personnel, all of whom worried that sensitive data they contain could be used by the Taliban, America’s The Intercept reported.
These devices contain iris scans, fingerprints, and biological information. These data are used to access larger databases. However, it remains unclear that how much data has been compromised.
These devices also contain biometric data of those Afghans who helped the US during the war. Now, the Taliban might use these data to identify and target innocent Afghans.
“We processed thousands of locals a day, had to ID, sweep for suicide vests, weapons, intel gathering, etc.” a U.S. military contractor explained. “(HIIDE) was used as a biometric ID tool to help ID locals working for the coalition,” The Intercept quoted an unnamed US official as saying.
White House believes that the Taliban won’t return US weapons that it captured from Afghan forces, National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.
Sullivan added that the Biden administration believes that a “fair amount” of the weapons that the US gave to Afghanistan are in the possession of the Taliban, and they don’t expect they will be returned to the US.
“We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defence materials has gone but certainly, a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban, and obviously, we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport,” he added.
The terror group took control over Afghanistan on Sunday after entering the presidential palace in Kabul. The Taliban leaders are discussing future government plans in Doha and are in touch with the international community and intra-Afghan parties to make government in Afghanistan.
The world is closely watching the unfolding situation in Afghanistan as the countries have scrambled to evacuate its citizen from Afghanistan in an attempt to secure their people. (IANS/ANI)
