American Woman Killed in Kabul Neighborhood Amid 'Extremely Challenging' Security Situation
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. State Department on Monday confirmed the death of a dual U.S.-Afghan citizen, Lisa Akbari, in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Spokesman John Kirby was unable to give details of her murder at the daily briefing, but he did offer the nation's condolences to her family.
However, the UK Telegraph reported on Monday [1] that Akbari, who had an Afghan father and grew up in the United States, was shot dead by a mullah in a residential area of Kabul on Sunday night as she left a gym.
The next day, 34 miles away, six U.S. troops were killed in a suicide attack near Bagram Airbase.
Faridoon Obaidy, a Kabul district police chief, was quoted as saying that investigators have seized documents from the mullah's residence that show he has links to terrorist groups, but the chief did not specify which groups.
The Telegraph also reported that Akbari first worked in Afghanistan in 2009 with the U.S. army as a "human terrain team analyst, engaging with local women on patrols in some of Afghanistan’s most dangerous areas to help the US military better understand communities and earn their trust."
She later worked with World Vision and other NGOs in Afghanistan, including those involved with women’s shelters.
The mullah accused of killing Asbari reportedly was shot and injured while resisting arrest. “We will start the investigation as soon as he has recovered,” Obady said.
In an updated travel warning posted last month, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned that "the security situation in Afghanistan is extremely unstable, and the threat to all U.S. citizens in Afghanistan remains critical."
"The U.S. government remains highly concerned about possible attacks on U.S. citizens (whether visiting or residing in Afghanistan), U.S. facilities, businesses, and perceived U.S. and foreign interests."
The warning [2] said travel to all areas of Afghanistan remains unsafe due to ongoing military combat operations, and it also noted that "extremists associated with various Taliban networks, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP), and members of other armed opposition groups are active throughout the country."
Meanwhile, on Monday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution Monday extending sanctions against the Taliban for 18 months, the Associated Press reported.
Nicholas Haysom, the U.N. envoy for Afghanistan, told reporters that the security situation in Afghanistan is "extremely challenging" with the most significant threat coming from the Taliban insurgency.
He noted that while the Islamic State has only a limited presence at the moment, primarily in Nangahar province in the east, it should not be underestimated.
"They certainly constitute a worrying factor, when they represent an alternative flagpole around which a large variety of disaffected groups can rally," Haysom said.
Haysom told the council that Afghan security forces "may be stretched to capacity but, for the most part, they are holding their ground."
Afghanistan's U.N. Ambassador Mahmoud Saikal, said his country hopes that Monday's resolution and other U.N. resolutions targeting IS and other extremist groups "will further tighten the noose on the activities of al-Qaida, ISIS and the Taliban."
(The Associated Press contributed all of the information about the U.N. Security Council resolution passed on Monday.)
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