Thread by @franzjmarty

This @NYTimes article by @AndrewKramerNYT is distorting the situation in the #LittlePamir in #Afghanistan.
No, “war has [not] found” the Kyrgyz in the Afghan Pamir. (1/5)

https://twitter.com/nytimesworld/status/1420786223161950208

The article itself states that “[t]he #Taliban have not yet entered the area with force” and only mentions some Taliban “envoys”. Both statements are true, as a man in the Little Pamir to whom I spoke directly today confirmed. HOWEVER (…) (2/5)

(…) the man in the Little Pamir also said that these envoys only stayed briefly and have left again and that, as of today, everything is calm and fine in the Little Pamir. (3/5)

In addition, other sources in the lower Wakhan confirmed to me by telephone today that there are only a handful— one source said just 10—Taliban remaining in the Wakhan in areas far away from the Little Pamir. (4/5)

The article also states that “China just this year pushed ahead with construction of a road through the Wakhan Corridor as part of its ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure and investment project.” This is factually wrong, as I have set out here: 9dashline.com/article/high-r…. (5/5)

ADDENDUM: For more details as well as additional questionable or outright wrong statements in the mentioned article, see this thread from @wherestedat, who has lived with the Kyrgyz in the Little Pamir and wrote his dissertation on the Afghan Kyrgyz.

https://twitter.com/wherestedat/status/1421014913003233280

Some remarks to @wherestedat's thread:
I also wonder why @AndrewKramerNYT didn't contact Kyrgyz in the Little Pamir. Telephone connexion has, while still limited (sometimes to Tajik numbers), become better and it is, given the circumstances, easy to call.

https://twitter.com/wherestedat/status/1421015961411407879

While I was not able to determine the original source of the money that the Afghan government used to finance the road to the Little Pamir / Wakhjir, several well-placed sources stated that it did NOT come from China.

https://twitter.com/wherestedat/status/1421020457344634880

The new road means that the Taliban (as anyone else) can more easily reach the Little Pamir. However, there are as of now no indications that the Taliban intend to regularly go to the Little Pamir, not to speak of establishing a presence there. (1/2)

https://twitter.com/wherestedat/status/1421022214682562561

As an aside: a source from the Wakhan told me today that recent floods have destroyed the road in Sargaz, meaning that currently it would be even difficult to reach Sarhad-i Broghil, from which the road to the Little Pamir starts. (2/2)