Afghanistan news and discussions

[weatheriscool]

Al Qaeda could rebuild in Afghanistan in a year or two, U.S. officials say.
Source: NY Times

Al Qaeda could rebuild inside Afghanistan in one to two years, top intelligence officials said Tuesday, noting that some members of the terrorist group had already returned to the country.

Earlier in the year, top Pentagon officials said Al Qaeda could reconstitute in two years, then told lawmakers after the fall of the Afghanistan government they were revising that timeline.

The new timeline is not a drastic shift, but reflects the reality that the Taliban have a limited ability to control the borders of Afghanistan. While the Taliban have long fought the Islamic State affiliate, they are established allies of Al Qaeda. Though the Taliban pledged in the February 2020 peace agreement with the United States not to let Afghanistan be used by terrorist groups, analysts have said such promises ring hollow.

“The current assessment probably conservatively is one to two years for Al Qaeda to build some capability to at least threaten the homeland,” Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency said Tuesday at the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/p ... istan.html

[Lurking]

"rebuild"

[weatheriscool]

U.S. drone strike in Kabul mistakenly killed civilians, not terrorists, Pentagon says
Source: NBC

An Aug. 29 drone strike targeting terrorists in Afghanistan mistakenly killed innocent civilians, including children, Pentagon officials admitted Friday.

"We now assess it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K," Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command said. "It was a mistake."

He said he is "fully responsible for this strike and the tragic outcome."

"I offer my profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed," McKenzie said.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politi ... s-n1279476

[caltrek]

Taliban Effectively Bar Education for Girls in Secondary School
by Stefanie Glinski
September 18, 2021

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/a ... ry-school/

Introduction:

(The National) At Kabul’s Zarghona High School, where hundreds of students sit on wooden benches, squeezing into their small classrooms, 6,000 of the 8,000 students are missing.

While the Taliban on Friday said classes would resume for boys who are grade seven and above, the situation for girls in Afghanistan under the hardline group is unclear.

There was no mention of girls schooling in the statement, effectively leaving half of all Afghan children unable to attend secondary education and missing out on weeks of classes.

The only girls in class at Zarghona High School were those below grade six whom the Taliban have said can return.

“We miss the older students. Our wish is for them to come back,” deputy principal Rabia Rashid told The National from her office.

[caltrek]

Under Taliban, Thriving Afghan Music Scene Heads to Silence
September 22, 2021

https://indianexpress.com/article/world ... -7528132/

Introduction:

(The Indian Express) A month after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the music is starting to go quiet.

The last time that the militant group ruled the country, in the late 1990s, it outright banned music. So far this time, the government set up by the Taliban hasn’t taken that step officially. But already, musicians are afraid a ban will come, and some Taliban fighters on the ground have started enforcing rules on their own, harassing musicians and music venues.

Many wedding halls are limiting music at their gatherings. Musicians are afraid to perform. At least one reported that Taliban fighters at one of the many checkpoints around the capital smashed his instrument. Drivers silence their radios whenever they see a Taliban checkpoint.

In the alleys of Kharabat, a neighbourhood in Kabul’s Old City, families where music is a profession passed through generations are looking for ways to leave the country. The profession was already hit hard by Afghanistan’s foundering economy, along with the coronavirus pandemic, and some families now too fearful to work are selling off furniture to get by.

“The current situation is oppressive,” said Muzafar Bakhsh, a 21-year-old who played in a wedding band. His family had just sold off part of its belongings at Kabul’s new flea market, Chaman-e-Hozari. “We keep selling them … so we don’t die of starvation,” said Bakhsh, whose late grandfather was Ustad Rahim Bakhsh, a famous ustad — or maestro — of Afghan classical music.

[weatheriscool]

Witness: Taliban hang dead body in Afghan city's main square
Source: AP

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban hanged a dead body from a crane in the main square of Herat city in western Afghanistan, a witness said Saturday, in a gruesome display that signaled a return to some of the Taliban’s methods of the past.

Wazir Ahmad Seddiqi, who runs a pharmacy on the side of the square, told The Associated Press that four bodies were brought to the main square and three bodies were moved to other parts of the city for public display.

Seddiqi said the Taliban announced in the square that the four were caught taking part in a kidnapping and were killed by police.

Ziaulhaq Jalali, a Taliban appointed district police chief in Herat, said later that Taliban members rescued a father and son who had been abducted by four kidnappers after an exchange of gunfire. He said a Taliban fighter and a civilian were wounded by the kidnappers but “the four (kidnappers) were killed in crossfire.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan- ... 48b7dce10a

[caltrek]

Another example of shoddy news reporting and borderline unethical conduct by Fox News:

Afghanistan Withdrawal: Hawley, Blackburn Call on Top U.S. Military Officials to Resign
by: Jessica Chasmar and Edmund DeMarche
September 28, 2021

https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/afgha ... ley-austin

Introduction:

(Fox News) Hawley, Blackburn call on top U.S. military officials to resign.

Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee called on top U.S. military officials to resign over their handling of the Afghanistan troop withdrawal during Tuesday’s Senate hearing.

“In my view, that mission can't be called a success in any way, shape or form, logistical or otherwise,” Hawley said. “Secretary Austin, I think you should resign. I think this mission was a catastrophe. I think there's no other way to say it, and there has to be accountability. I respectfully submit it should begin with you.”

Blackburn scolded Austin, as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, for not having already submitted a letter of resignation over the Afghanistan debacle.

“Nobody has resigned,” she said. “Nobody has submitted their resignation. And we've got thousands of people watching this hearing today that are looking at you all and saying, ‘I can't believe they're sitting there and not answering the questions and are trying to punt.’”

caltrek's comment: Left out of the story is that General Mark Milley was accused of treason by Trump. The reason?

Milley had the good sense to take precautions so that Trump did not start a war with China in the last days of his presidency. Wag the Dog movie fans will be familiar with the theme, as will students of the last days of the Nixon presidency. So, for saving us from a potential themonuclear war, Milley is asked to resign for carrying out orders in regards to Afghanistan. Proving, once again, that in Washington D.C. no good deed goes unpunished, especially if you are not a Republican.

[caltrek]

Afghanistan’s Impoverished People Live Amid Enormous Riches
by Vijay Prishad
October 1, 2021

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/01 ... us-riches/

Extract:

(Counterpunch) With opium production contributing a large chunk of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product, it is often a focus of global media coverage on the country’s economy and has partly financed the terrible wars that have wracked the country for the past several years. The gems of Badakhshan, meanwhile, provided the financing for Ahmad Shah Massoud’s Jamiat-e Islami faction in the 1980s; after 1992, when Massoud became the defense minister in Kabul, he made an alliance with a Polish company—Intercommerce—to sell the gems for an estimated $200 million per year. When the Taliban ejected Massoud from power, he returned to the Panjshir Valley and used the Badakhshan, Takhar, and Panjshir gems to finance his anti-Taliban resistance.

When the Northern Alliance—which included Massoud’s faction—came to power under U.S. bombardment in 2001, these mines became the property of the Northern Alliance commanders. Men such as Haji Abdul Malek, Zekria Sawda and Zulmai Mujadidi—all Northern Alliance politicians—controlled the mines. Mujadidi’s brother Asadullah Mujadidi was the militia commander of the Mining Protection Force, which protected the mines for these new elites.

In 2012, Afghanistan’s then Mining Minister Wahidullah Shahrani revealed the extent of corruption in the deals, which he had made clear to the U.S. Embassy in 2009. Shahrani’s attempt at transparency, however, was understood inside Afghanistan as a mechanism to delegitimize Afghan mining concerns and push through a new law that would allow international mining companies more freedom of access to the country’s resources. Various international entities—including Centar (United Kingdom) and the Polish billionaire Jan Kulczyk—attempted to access the gold, copper and gemstone mines of the province; Centar formed an alliance with the Afghanistan Gold and Minerals Company, headed by former Urban Development Minister Sadat Naderi. The consortium’s mining equipment has now been seized by the Taliban. Earlier this year, Shahrani was sentenced to 13 months’ jail time by the Afghan Supreme Court for misuse of authority.

What Will the Taliban Do?

(Afghanistan’s Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammad) Haniff has an impossible agenda. The IMF has suspended funds for Afghanistan, and the U.S. government continues to block access to the nearly $10 billion of Afghan external reserves held in the United States. Some humanitarian aid has now entered the country, but it will not be sufficient.

[caltrek]

While there is a possibility of a distorting bias in the following article, it still poses an interesting argument.

‘Afghans Know Who Were Better Friends'
by Shankhyaneel Sarkar
October 8, 2021

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-ne ... 73853.html

Introduction:

(Hindustan Times) Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar has said Afghanistan people know how to draw a contrast between India and Pakistan based on the amount of help India has extended to the war-torn nation over the past decade.

“Afghan people know what India has done for them, what kind of friends we have been, I'm sure they're contrasted with what Pakistan did for them in the same period,” Jaishankar said at the DD News Conclave Finale on Thursday.

India and Afghanistan had deep trade, cultural and commercial relations before the Taliban took over the reins of the government. The total bilateral trade between India and Afghanistan for 2019-20 was at $ 1.5 billion.

India also helped operationalise the Chabahar Port in 2017 and also established the India- Afghanistan Foundation (IAF) in the same year which enhances economic, scientific, educational, technical as well as cultural cooperation between the two countries.

Jaishankar said that based on what India has done for the people of Afghanistan they are in a better position to understand who has been a better friend. “The differences are obvious,” Jaishankar said.

[caltrek]

Taliban Official: At Least 100 Dead, Wounded in Afghan Blast
October 8, 2021

https://indianexpress.com/article/world ... n-7560645/

Introduction:

(AP via The Indian Express) A blast went off Friday at a mosque packed with Shiite Muslim worshippers in northern Afghanistan, killing or wounding at least 100 people, a Taliban police official said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which took place in Kunduz, the capital of Kunduz province, but militants from the Islamic State group have a long history of attacking Afghanistan’s Shiite minority.

Dost Mohammad Obaida, the deputy police chief for Kunduz province, said that the “majority of them have been killed,” in reference to the victims. He said the attack may have been carried out by a suicide bomber who had mingled among the worshipers inside the mosque.

“I assure our Shiite brothers that the Taliban are prepared to ensure their safety,” Obaida said, adding that an investigation was underway.

If confirmed, a death toll of dozens would be the highest since US and NATO forces left Afghanistan at the end of August and the Taliban took control of the country. The Taliban have been targeted in a series of deadly attacks by rival IS militants, including shooting ambushes and an explosion at a mosque in the capital of Kabul.

The blast occurred in a Shiite mosque in Kunduz province during the weekly Friday prayer service.
AP

[caltrek]

Afghanistan's Economic and Food Crises
by John Sifton
October 9, 2021

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021 ... ood-crises

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) The Taliban's cruelties are horrendous, but withholding international support and maintaining blanket sanctions will only hurt the long-suffering Afghan people.

Afghanistan's humanitarian situation is spiraling into catastrophe.

Millions of Afghans are now facing severe economic stress and food insecurity in the wake of the Taliban's August takeover, set off by widespread lost income, cash shortages, and rising food costs. Officials with the UN and several foreign governments are warning of an economic collapse and risks of worsening acute malnutrition and outright famine.

Surveys by the World Food Program (WFP) reveal over nine in ten Afghan families have insufficient food for daily consumption, half stating they have run out of food at least once in the last two weeks. One in three Afghans is already acutely hungry. Other United Nations reports warn that over 1 million more children could face acute malnutrition in the coming year.

One main cause of the crisis is that governments in August stopped payments from the World Bank-administered Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, previously used to pay salaries to millions of civil servants, doctors, nurses, teachers, and other essential workers. Afghanistan's health and education systems, among other sectors, are collapsing. Millions of Afghan families have lost their incomes.

[weatheriscool]

Taliban says US will provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan
Source: AP

By KATHY GANNON

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to a desperately poor Afghanistan on the brink of an economic disaster, while refusing to give political recognition to the country’s new Taliban rulers, the Taliban said Sunday.

The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of August.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. on the weekend meeting.

The Taliban said the talks held in Doha, Qatar, “went well,” with Washington freeing up humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after agreeing not to link such assistance to formal recognition of the Taliban.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan- ... 6251b02bc6

[caltrek]

U.S. Spokesperson Comments on Meeting with Senior Taliban Representatives in Doha


https://www.state.gov/u-s-delegation-me ... s-in-doha/

(U.S. Department of Stare) The below is attributable to Spokesperson Ned Price:

On October 9 and 10, an interagency delegation traveled to Doha, Qatar to meet with senior Taliban representatives. The U.S. delegation focused on security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for U.S. citizens, other foreign nationals and our Afghan partners, as well as on human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society. The two sides also discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people. The discussions were candid and professional with the U.S. delegation reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/ ... bul-hotels:

(Al Jazeera) The Taliban said the US had agreed to send aid to Afghanistan, though the US said the issue had only been discussed, and that any assistance would go to the Afghan people and not the Taliban government.

[caltrek]

Afghanistan has often been referred to as the grave yard of empires. The British, the Soviets, and the U.S. have all failed to impose their respective forms of imperialism upon that country. A back to basics kind of approach to understanding that country is very much in order. Not to enable further imperialist adventures through exploitation of divisions with that society, but to simply let Afghanistan be Afghanistan. After that goal is reached, then perhaps progress can be made on such issues as women's rights and protection of the rights of ethnic minorities.

How Ethnic and Religious Divides in Afghanistan are Contributing to Violence Against Minorities
by Abdulkader Sinno
October 25, 2021

https://theconversation.com/how-ethnic- ... ies-168059

Extract:

(The Conversation) Ethnicity and religion are key to understanding the politics and conflicts of today’s Afghanistan. My research on Afghan affairs can explain how they have created fault lines that have influenced Afghanistan’s politics since 1978.

Afghanistan’s four largest ethnic groups

The largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, estimated at around 45% of the population and mostly concentrated in the south and east of the country, are the Sunni Muslim Pashtun.
….
The second-largest ethnic group in Afghanistan are the Tajiks, a term that refers to ethnic Tajiks as well as to other Sunni Muslim Persian speakers. The Tajiks, who constitute some 30% of the Afghan population and are mostly concentrated in the northeast and west, have generally been accepted by Pashtuns as part of the fabric of life in Afghanistan, perhaps because of their common adherence to Sunni Islam.

The third-largest Sunni Muslim group are the Uzbeks and the closely related Turkmen in the north of the country, who form around 10% of the population.

The Hazara – around 15% of the Afghan population – traditionally lived in the rough mountainous terrain in the center of Afghanistan, an area in which they historically sought shelter from Pashtun tribesmen who disapproved of their adherence to the Shiite sect of Islam. The Hazara have historically been some of the poorest and most marginalized people in Afghanistan.

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

Women have been banned from appearing in television dramas in Afghanistan under new rules imposed by the Taliban government.

Female journalists and presenters have also been ordered to wear headscarves on screen, although the guidelines do not say which type of covering to use.

Reporters say some of the rules are vague and subject to interpretation.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August and many fear they are gradually imposing harsh restrictions.

The militant Islamist group, which took control following the departure of US and allied forces, almost immediately instructed girls and young women to stay home from school.

During their previous rule in the 1990s, women were barred from education and the workplace.

The latest set of Taliban guidelines, which have been issued to Afghan television channels, features eight new rules.

They include the banning of films considered against the principles of Sharia - or Islamic - law and Afghan values, while footage of men exposing intimate parts of the body is prohibited.

Comedy and entertainment shows that insult religion or may be considered offensive to Afghans are also forbidden.

The Taliban have insisted that foreign films promoting foreign cultural values should not be broadcast.

Afghan television channels show mostly foreign dramas with lead female characters.

A member of an organisation that represents journalists in Afghanistan, Hujjatullah Mujaddedi, said the announcement of new restrictions was unexpected.

He told the BBC that some of the rules were not practical and that if implemented, broadcasters may be forced to close.

The Taliban's earlier decision to order girls and young women to stay home from school made Afghanistan the only country in the world to bar half its population from getting an education.

The mayor of the capital, Kabul, also told female municipal employees to stay home unless their jobs could not be filled by a man.

The Taliban claim that their restrictions on women working and girls studying are "temporary" and only in place to ensure all workplaces and learning environments are "safe" for them.

[weatheriscool]

The Taliban executed scores of Afghan security forces members after surrender, HRW report alleges
Source: CNN

(CNN)The Taliban executed dozens of members of the Afghan security forces after they surrendered following the militants' seizure of Afghanistan in late summer, new research released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday alleges.

The HRW report detailed "the summary execution or enforced disappearance" of 47 former members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), including military personnel, police, intelligence service members and paramilitary militia, who had surrendered to or were apprehended by Taliban forces between August 15 and October 31.

HRW says the report is based on a total of 67 interviews, including 40 in-person interviews with witnesses, relatives and friends of victims, and Taliban fighters. Some people were granted anonymity by HRW for their report. In some cases, families report stories of people who simply disappeared.

The findings of the investigation would make a mockery of the Taliban's previous claims to the international community that it would lead a more inclusive government than it did two decades ago. Its leaders had promised a reprieve for those who collaborated with US forces during the American presence in the country.


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/30/asia/afg ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

Taliban-run government dissolves Afghan election commissions
Source: AP

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban dissolved Afghanistan’s two election commissions as well as the state ministries for peace and parliamentarian affairs, an official said Sunday.

Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban-run government, said the country’s Independent Election Commission and Electoral Complaint Commission have been dissolved.

He called them “unnecessary institutes for the current situation in Afghanistan.” He said if there is a need for the commissions in the future, the Taliban government can revive them.

The international community is waiting before extending formal recognition to Afghanistan’s new rulers. They are wary the Taliban could impose a similarly harsh regime as when they were in power 20 years ago — despite their assurances to the contrary.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan- ... 156b631b0a

[Yuli Ban]

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan on Sunday gave new guidance to taxi drivers, advising them against taking fares from women who do not follow a strict Islamic dress code by wearing the hijab, or Islamic headscarf.

The Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice also told drivers they should not take women who wish to travel more than 72 kilometers (45 miles) without a male relative as a chaperone.

Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq Akif confirmed the authenticity of the advisory, which was issued in a pamphlet.

The ministry's advisory also urges drivers, presumably male, to grow long beards and break for prayer. In addition, the pamphlet says they should refrain from playing music, which the Taliban deem to be un-Islamic, in their vehicles.

[weatheriscool]

White House announces $308M in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan
Source: The Hill

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced plans to send an additional $308 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan as the country nears economic collapse five months after the Taliban takeover.

The White House also noted that the administration is sending 4.3 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses to the country.

Last month, the Treasury Department moved to ease restrictions on some humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan that allows the U.S. government as well as international and humanitarian organizations to distribute more aid to the country without running afoul of sanctions on the Taliban and the Haqqani network, both of which are designated terrorist organizations.

The action was intended to help pay Afghan teacher salaries and support other development projects directly benefiting the Afghan people.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... fghanistan

dumber than crap