KABUL // After running for their lives from ISIL and the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan, a group of elders were gathered together for a rare moment of celebration when the violence caught up with them again.
It was early on the morning of January 17 and they were meeting at a house in the city of Jalalabad to mark the release of a relative held hostage by insurgents for the previous nine months.
As they chatted among themselves, a young man arrived at the front gate and was briefly stopped by the guards on duty. But he quickly broke free and darted into the crowded yard. The explosion that immediately followed shattered any talk of peace.
One image posted on social media after the suicide attack showed some of the elders slumped in their seats against a shrapnel-scarred wall, faces ripped apart by the blast. At least 13 prominent members of the hugely influential Shinwari tribe were killed that day. Many more were injured.
It was just the latest carnage in a brutal turf war between a mixture of the Afghan Taliban, ISIL, fighters from Pakistan and pro-government militias that has been raging in Nangarhar province since last year, sucking the US back into a conflict that was meant to be winding down.
The place worst hit by the violence has been the elders’ home district of Achin, a remote area of mountains, woodland and villages to the south of the provincial capital, Jalalabad.
Malik Osman, a powerful tribal leader, appears to have been the main target of the January 17 attack. The meeting at his family’s guesthouse was celebrating the release of one of his sons, Samiullah, who was killed in the explosion.
Insurgents detained Samiullah in the Spinghar region of Achin. He was then held for two months in Nangarhar’s Lal Pur district before being transferred north to Kunar province where he was kept for around seven months. He was held as a prisoner by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a militant faction linked to the Pakistani Taliban, and freed after mediation by elders.
Within an hour of the suicide bombing, Mr Osman was rushed by helicopter to Kabul for treatment to injuries he sustained to his stomach and head. He survived but remains there today in a critical condition. Exactly who carried out the attack is unclear but the Taliban have denied responsibility.
Obaidullah Shinwari is another of Malik Osman’s sons and serves as a provincial councillor for Nangarhar.
He said only “15 or 20 per cent” of Achin is controlled by the government and warned that if his father dies from his injuries, it will “strengthen Daesh”.
The trouble in Achin began to escalate last year after the Taliban tried to prevent a spate of kidnappings by militants allied to ISIL in the neighbouring district of Bati Kot. Heavy clashes ensued, causing some Taliban in Achin to switch sides. The district eventually fell to ISIL after Ramadan.
Since then, the group has destroyed local shrines in accordance with its extremist interpretation of Islam. Villagers have also been issued with ISIL ID cards that effectively act as residency permits.
People who have escaped Achin describe the ISIL fighters as highly organised and well equipped. Their ranks include ethnic Pashtuns and Tajiks from Afghanistan, as well as men of central Asian or oriental appearance.
Nur Mohammed Shinwari’s family fled to Jalalabad because of the growing violence in Achin. His father, Baz Mohammed, attended the January 17 gathering and was killed as a result, dying from his injuries a day later. He was buried in the cemetery of a Jalalabad refugee camp.
“According to our traditions and culture we should bury the bodies of our dead in our own graveyard. But because Daesh is in control we couldn’t take my father’s body there,” he said.
Whoever decided to target the meeting in Jalalabad may have struck a significant blow to on-going efforts to retake the territory lost to ISIL. The injured included Haji Nurajan Shinwari, who was once a commander of a state backed-militia in Achin known as the Local Police.
Prior to the attack, he told The National that the Taliban had joined up with villagers in an attempt to stop ISIL capturing Achin. When their attempt failed and the district collapsed, he fled to Jalalabad.
The violence in Achin continues to escalate as the government, aided by US air strikes, tries to dislodge ISIL. According to a local official, one recent air strike killed an ISIL commander named Sheikh Khalid, who was from Waziristan in Pakistan.
In December, fighters allied to the deputy speaker of Afghanistan’s lower house of parliament beheaded four ISIL militants in Achin in revenge for ISIL beheading four of their colleagues. This was followed on January 13 by a suicide attack on the Pakistan consulate in Jalalabad, for which ISIL claimed responsibility.
The true extent of ISIL’s strength in Afghanistan is the subject of heated debate and many people here accuse the government of playing up the threat in an attempt to keep the international community engaged in the country’s future.
Earlier this month the US state department officially designated the Afghanistan/Pakistan branch of ISIL as a “Foreign Terrorist Organisation”. US president Barack Obama has also given American forces greater leeway to target ISIL in Afghanistan.
In response to the January 17 attack, Afghan president Ashraf Ghani attended a funeral ceremony held by the Shinwari tribe in Kabul this week and has vowed to destroy ISIL. But not everyone is quite so confident.
Haji Ghalib Mujahid, the district governor of Achin, told The National ISIL “have much stronger weapons than us”. He condemned the December beheadings of ISIL fighters and said pro-government forces needed to be more disciplined and better organised.
Plans to put together and possibly train a well coordinated tribal force against the group were on-going, he said.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Takestep%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%202018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohamed%20Khashaba%2C%20Mohamed%20Abdallah%2C%20Mohamed%20Adel%20Wafiq%20and%20Ayman%20Taha%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cairo%2C%20Egypt%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20health%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEmployees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2011%20full%20time%20and%2022%20part%20time%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20pre-Series%20A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE BIO
Favourite book: ‘Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren
Favourite travel destination: Switzerland
Hobbies: Travelling and following motivational speeches and speakers
Favourite place in UAE: Dubai Museum
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now
Alan Rushbridger, Canongate
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
MATCH INFO
Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)
Where: Wanda Metropolitano
When: Thursday, May 3
Live: On BeIN Sports HD
Origin
Dan Brown
Doubleday
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
TICKETS
Tickets start at Dh100 for adults, while children can enter free on the opening day. For more information, visit www.mubadalawtc.com.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The Orwell Prize for Political Writing
Twelve books were longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing. The non-fiction works cover various themes from education, gender bias, and the environment to surveillance and political power. Some of the books that made it to the non-fiction longlist include:
- Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War by Tim Bouverie
- Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
- Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
- Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims by Hussein Kesvani
- Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS by Azadeh Moaveni
Scores in brief:
- New Medical Centre 129-5 in 17 overs bt Zayed Cricket Academy 125-6 in 20 overs.
- William Hare Abu Dhabi Gymkhana 188-8 in 20 overs bt One Stop Tourism 184-8 in 20 overs
- Alubond Tigers 138-7 in 20 overs bt United Bank Limited 132-7 in 20 overs
- Multiplex 142-6 in 17 overs bt Xconcepts Automobili 140 all out in 20 overs
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
