The remains of thousands of possible victims of the Stalin era have been discovered in Ukraine. According to authorities Wednesday, the bones of 5,000 to 8,000 people were found in more than two dozen graves near Odessa in the south of the country. The number could still rise as excavation work was ongoing, Sergiy Guzalyuk, regional head of Ukraine's Institute of National Remembrance, told the AFP news agency.

The expert believes the remains are those of people executed by the Soviet secret police NKVD between 1937 and 1939. It is one of the largest mass graves discovered so far in Ukraine and was discovered during preparatory work for the expansion of the airport site in Odessa, Guzalyuk added. Mass graves had already been found in the area in previous years, he added.

According to Guzalyuk, identification of the victims is impossible because the documents dating back to the time of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin were stored in Moscow. "These documents will never be handed over to us under the current government in Russia," he said. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, relations between Russia and Ukraine had deteriorated sharply.

Ukrainian historians estimate that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were imprisoned or executed in forced labor camps (gulags) during the Stalinist era. In addition, millions of Ukrainians died during the Great Famine of 1932 and 1933, which Stalin caused through the forced collectivization of agriculture. Ukraine considers this organized genocide. (afp)

"Badri 313: The special unit of the Taliban

Instead of turbans, they wear helmets with night vision devices; instead of traditional robes, they wear camouflage uniforms and bulletproof vests; instead of sandals, they wear heavy combat boots: The Taliban special unit "Badri 313" has had a special status in the Islamists' propaganda since they took power in Afghanistan. The well-equipped elite force is also facing the Bundeswehr at Kabul airport.

Even the name of the unit is linked to Islamic heroic stories: It alludes to the Battle of Badr in the 7th century, when Prophet Mohammed is said to have won against one of the ruling tribes on the Arabian Peninsula with only 313 soldiers. The battle is considered a key moment in early Islamic history.

The "Badri 313" special forces unit has "probably some of the best trained and equipped fighters" in Afghanistan, according to Matt Henman, head of terrorism and insurgency at the military trade publication Jane's. He estimates their number at a few thousand fighters. According to Henman, it is "very likely that they have received at least basic training from Pakistan."

Military observers: Taliban special forces played a central role

The members of "Badri 313" "proved their effectiveness on the battlefield," also says Bill Roggio, editor-in-chief of the Long War Journal, a U.S. magazine that covers the war on terror. "We've seen in the closing offensive since May that Taliban special forces have played a central role in the conquest of Afghanistan," he says, but doesn't rule out some exaggeration in Taliban propaganda.

As a result of the victory over the Afghan army, the fighters are now even better equipped, having captured its weapons and vehicles, as can be seen in pictures on the Web. Large parts of the equipment originally came from the U.S. - and the unit has also taken to mocking U.S. forces: One propaganda photo shows fighters raising a Taliban flag - in the style of the famous photo of U.S. forces at the Battle of Iwojima in Japan during World War II.

Beyond the military, however, the unit also plays a political role. It is closely linked to the Hakkani Network, a notorious subgroup of the Taliban. Two representatives of the network are currently involved in negotiations over the new government in Kabul.

"They have learned on the ground and are technically very good"

According to Roggio, the elite "Badri 313" force represents "the combination of years of military training by the Taliban and the Hakkani Network's efforts to professionalize" the militia.

And successfully so: "We have seen a remarkable professionalization of the Taliban since the mid-2000s," confirms Gilles Dorronsoro, professor of political science at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. "The war they are fighting is not at all the same as the one their parents fought against the Russians," he says, alluding to the fight against the Soviet invaders beginning in 1979. "They have learned on the ground and are very good technically," the expert says.

A military expert, who does not want to be in the newspaper with his real name but is active on Twitter under the pseudonym "Calibre Obscura," tells the AFP news agency that the Taliban also deployed the special unit against the Islamist terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) between 2017 and 2020. For several days, the fighters of "Badri 313" have been deployed to provide security around Kabul airport - directly confronting U.S. troops as well as Bundeswehr soldiers. (afp)