Afghanistan news and discussions

[caltrek]

dumber than crap

You prefer maybe another twenty years of war against the Taliban? Or perhaps just letting them all die of mass starvation...a form of genocide? Now that we have taken off with all the loot.


Holding $9 Billion Hostage, US Offers $300 Million as Afghan Starve
Jake Johnson
January 11, 2022

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... han-starve

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) The Biden administration said Tuesday that it will contribute roughly $308 million to humanitarian assistance efforts in Afghanistan, where millions are on the brink of starvation and at risk of freezing to death in the aftermath of the U.S.-led war.

But the newly announced aid falls far short of estimates of the war-torn country's immediate needs and pales in comparison to the $9.4 billion in Afghan government assets that the Biden administration is refusing to unfreeze, despite growing pressure from progressive members of Congress and human rights advocates.

"U.S. actions do not harm the Taliban. In the bitter winter, it pushes millions of ordinary Afghans to misery and death."

On Tuesday morning, the United Nations launched what was described as its "largest single country aid appeal ever," requesting just over $5 billion in assistance that officials said would go toward providing food and other relief to Afghans struggling to survive as winter sets in.

"This is a stop-gap, an absolutely essential stop-gap measure that we are putting in front of the international community today," said U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths. "Without this being funded, there won't be a future."

[caltrek]

Afghan Talks Focus on Aid, Women’s Rights as Hunger Grows
January 25, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/afghan-t ... ger-grows/

Introduction:

OSLO, Norway (AP via Courthouse News) — Three days of talks between the Taliban, Western diplomats and other delegates on humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and human rights were wrapping up Tuesday in Norway, with acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi praising the discussions, which he said “went very well."

The closed-door meetings in the snow-capped mountains above the Norwegian capital of Oslo came at a crucial time for Afghanistan, as freezing temperatures are compounding the misery from the country's downward economic spiral after the fall of the U.S.-backed government and the Taliban takeover last summer.

“It was a very good trip. Such trips will bring us closer to the world,” Muttaqi told The Associated Press.

Aid groups and international agencies estimate that about 23 million people, more than half the country, face severe hunger and nearly 9 million are on the brink of starvation. People have resorted to selling possessions to buy food, burning furniture for warmth and even selling their children.

Muttaqi said the Taliban government will do "its best to protect Afghanistan form any sorts of problems, attract more assistance, seeking solutions for the economic problems."

[caltrek]

Exclusive: Qatar Reaches Deal with Taliban to Resume Evacuation Flights
by Zachary Basu
February 1, 2022

https://www.axios.com/afghanistan-evacu ... db5ad.html

Introduction:

(Axios) Qatar has reached a deal with the Taliban to resume chartered evacuations out of Kabul's airport, ending a dispute with the Afghan government that's caused a months-long pause in flights, the Gulf nation's foreign minister told Axios.

Why it matters: The agreement for two flights per week, chartered by Qatar Airways, will allow the U.S. and other countries to evacuate thousands more of their own citizens and at-risk Afghans who face dual threats of Taliban retaliation and a humanitarian crisis.

Driving the news: Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar's deputy prime minister, spoke to Axios on Monday in a wide-ranging interview at the Qatari embassy in Washington following meetings with President Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other U.S. officials.

• Talks are also under way to allow one flight per week operated by Ariana Afghan Airlines once the Taliban agrees to certain security requirements, but the deal hasn't been finalized, Al Thani said.

• The news comes days after Qatar, Turkey and the Taliban announced they had agreed on "several key issues" regarding the management and operation of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

[caltrek]

U.S. Sanctions on Afghanistan Could Be Deadlier Than 20 Years of War
by Mark Weisbrot
February 3, 2022

https://www.sacbee.com/news/news-servic ... 02573.html

(Sacramento Bee) Economic sanctions have, in recent years, become one of the most important tools of US foreign policy. There are currently more than 20 countries subjected to various sanctions from the US government.

But if more Americans knew how many innocent civilians actually die as a result of these sanctions, would the worst of them be permitted?

We may be about to find out in Afghanistan. Sanctions currently imposed on the country are on track to take the lives of more civilians in the coming year than have been killed by 20 years of warfare. There's no hiding it any more.

Projections through the winter estimate that 22.8 million people will face "high levels of acute food insecurity." This is 55 percent of Afghanistan's population, the highest ever recorded in the country. An estimated one million children are suffering from "severe acute malnutrition" this year. Children who are malnourished are more likely to die from other diseases, even when they can get enough calories and nutrients to survive. Already, 98 percent of the population is not getting enough food, according to the UN World Food Programme.

The biggest and most destructive sanction currently facing Afghanistan is the seizure of more than $7 billion of the country's assets that are held at the US Federal Reserve. This is equivalent to about 40 percent of Afghanistan's economy, and about 14 months of the country's imports – which include food, medicine, and infrastructure needs that are vital to public health.

[caltrek]

Below is a public document, so copyright citation size restrictions do not need to apply.

Announcement of Executive Order to Preserve Certain Afghanistan Central Bank Assets for the People of Afghanistan
February 11, 2022

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo ... ghanistan/

Entire Statement:

(The Whitehouse) As part of our ongoing work to address the humanitarian and economic crisis in Afghanistan, President Biden signed an Executive Order (E.O.) to help enable certain U.S.-based assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank (“DAB”), to be used to benefit the Afghan people. The E.O. will block property of DAB held in the United States by U.S. financial institutions and require U.S. financial institutions to transfer this property into a consolidated account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Administration will seek to facilitate access to $3.5 billion of those assets for the benefit of the Afghan people and for Afghanistan’s future pending a judicial decision.

Many U.S. victims of terrorism, including relatives of victims who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, have brought claims against the Taliban and are pursuing DAB assets in federal court. Because some of these plaintiffs currently have writs of execution against the DAB assets, the court will need to issue a further decision regarding the scope of those writs. Even if funds are transferred for the benefit of the Afghan people, more than $3.5 billion in DAB assets would remain in the United States and are subject to ongoing litigation by U.S. victims of terrorism. Plaintiffs will have a full opportunity to have their claims heard in court.

This is one step forward in the United States’ effort to authorize the transfer of a significant portion of the funds to meet the needs of the Afghan people. The E.O. is designed to provide a path for the funds to reach the people of Afghanistan, while keeping them out of the hands of the Taliban and malicious actors. The United States has sanctions in place against the Taliban and the Haqqani network, including for activities that threaten the safety of Americans such as holding our citizens hostage.

While this E.O. will help preserve a substantial portion of Afghanistan’s reserves to benefit the Afghan people, we understand there are no easy solutions for Afghanistan’s economic challenges, which have been exacerbated by the Taliban’s forced takeover of the country:

• Even prior to the events of last August, Afghanistan’s economy was on the brink. Afghanistan faced poverty rates above 50 percent. International donor grants financed about 75 percent of public expenditures and 50 percent of the government’s budget. A two-year long drought had reduced many crops to 40 percent of their usual yields, and Afghanistan had one of the least developed financial systems in the world—with just 10-20% of adults holding bank accounts. Rampant corruption crippled sectors that should have been profitable.

• The Taliban’s forced takeover made the already frail economic situation worse. The IMF estimates that Afghanistan faces an economic contraction of 30%, and many of the senior officials and technical experts needed to provide sound economic management have fled the country as a result of the Taliban’s actions.

• These problems reflect longstanding, structural issues that predated the events of August 2021 and have worsened due to uncertainty and perceived risk surrounding the Taliban’s capacity to run the economy. This includes its ability to implement anti-money laundering measures and measures to counter the financing of terrorism.

Against this challenging backdrop, the United States will continue to work tirelessly with the international community to ensure that humanitarian assistance and other support flows to the people of Afghanistan. Over the past several months, we have acted urgently to support the Afghan people:

• The United States remains the single largest donor of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. Just last month, the United States announced a new contribution of more than $308 million in humanitarian assistance for the people of Afghanistan and we have provided more than $516 million since mid-August. The humanitarian assistance flows through independent humanitarian organizations and helps provide lifesaving protection and shelter, essential health care, winterization assistance, emergency food aid, water, sanitation, and hygiene services in response to the growing humanitarian needs exacerbated by COVID-19 and healthcare shortages, drought, malnutrition, and the winter season.

• The United States recently provided the people of Afghanistan with one million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses through COVAX, bringing our total donation to 4.3 million doses.

• In December 2021, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution championed by the United States to establish a carveout for humanitarian assistance and activities that support basic human needs in the UN 1988 sanctions regime to ensure that urgently needed aid can reach the Afghan people. The United States is also collaborating closely with the United Nations on mechanisms to ensure UN agencies and NGOs have the liquidity needed to support critical humanitarian assistance programs.

• Starting in September 2021, the Department of the Treasury has provided broad authorizations that facilitate the continued provision of aid and support to the Afghan people by NGOs, international organizations, and the U.S. government. In December, the World Food Program, with USAID support, reached 8 million people across Afghanistan with food assistance. This was facilitated by licenses that the U.S. Treasury Department has issued.

• The United States worked closely with the United Nations on the World Bank’s “transfer out” of $280 million in funds from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) to UN Organizations. We are proud to be the largest funder of UN operations in Afghanistan and the leading donor to the ARTF.

The United States is committed to supporting the Afghan people and we continue to consider all options available to us to achieve that goal.

Edit: Here is a link to the announced Executive Order:https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... fghanistan

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

The Taliban have told airlines in Afghanistan that women cannot board domestic or international flights without a male chaperone, two sources told Reuters on Sunday.

The move comes after the Taliban backtracked on their previous commitment to open high schools to girls, a u-turn that shocked many Afghans and drew condemnation from humanitarian agencies and foreign governments.

The United States on Friday cancelled planned meetings with Taliban officials on key economic issues due to its decision on Wednesday. read more

The sources, who are not being named for security reasons, said that the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice sent airlines a letter on Saturday informing of them of the new restrictions.

They added that unaccompanied women who had already booked tickets would be allowed to travel on Sunday and Monday. Some women with tickets had been turned away at Kabul's airport on Saturday, they said.

[caltrek]

Afghanistan Facing 'Total Collapse' as Biden Refuses to Release Central Bank Assets
by Jake Johnson
March 30, 2022

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... ank-assets

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) An international aid group warned Wednesday that Afghanistan is on the brink of complete collapse as the Biden administration and European governments refuse to release the war-torn nation's central bank reserves, depriving the economy of critical funds as millions face poverty and starvation.

In a statement ahead of an international donor conference for Afghanistan, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said the country "is now the world's largest-ever humanitarian appeal, requiring a staggering US$4.47 billion in humanitarian aid—quadruple the needs at the start of 2021 and more than is required for either Syria or Yemen."

Since the Taliban retook power last August following two decades of U.S.-led warfare, IRC noted, "the speed of Afghanistan's economic collapse has been unprecedented." Following the withdrawal of American troops, the Biden administration froze billions of dollars in Afghan central bank assets held in the U.S. despite warnings that the move would push the country closer to full-scale economic ruin.

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order aiming to permanently seize Afghanistan's assets and split them between the families of 9/11 victims and an ill-defined "trust fund" for Afghans. Blocked from accessing its own reserves, Kabul has struggled to afford even the import taxes on containers of badly needed food.

Moreover, the Biden administration has left in place crippling economic sanctions that could kill more civilians than 20 years of war, according to one analyst.

caltrek's comment: One wonders if the sanctions will do more harm to women than anything that will be done by the Taliban. Yes, this is a complaint on my part.

[caltrek]

Is The Taliban’s Halt of Poppy Production Too Good To Be True?
by James Durso
April 13, 2022

https://www.eurasiareview.com/13042022- ... true-oped/

Introduction:

(Eurasian Review) Earlier this month, the Taliban ordered a halt to poppy production, and the production, use, and transit of other narcotics. Given the dire state of the Afghan economy, the move will likely ruin the small farmers who grow and harvest much of the crop, and see the loss of the income from opiates, between $1.8 billion and $2.7 billion according to the United Nations, which also noted that “much larger sums are accrued along illicit drug supply chains outside Afghanistan.” The U.N. also reported, “The 2021 opium harvest, completed in July, marked the fifth year in a row with production at historic highs of more than 6,000 tons, potentially yielding up to 320 tons of pure heroin to be trafficked to markets around the world.”

The Taliban were major players in the poppy business, and have “counted on the Afghan opium trade as one of their main sources of income,” according to the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime. So, why give up all that money (poppy accounts for an estimated 7 to 11 percent of GDP)? And why now?

The Taliban may have felt that narcotics trafficking was okay when the group was fighting foreign occupiers and what it called the puppet government in Kabul, as dictated by practical military necessity. But the Taliban may now feel narcotics trafficking should not be the business of an established Islamic government, especially one seeking international recognition.

Although the Taliban signaled in the fall of 2021 that it would take on the country’s drugs addiction problem and the trafficking networks, recent multilateral meetings hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi may have motivated the group to make the public announcement. Wang noted “diplomatic recognition of the Afghan government will come when conditions are ripe” and encouraged Kabul to “take solid steps and make concrete efforts in this right direction.”

The Taliban may hope that the announcement will serve as a goodwill “placeholder” until they reopen schools for older girls, a move many disappointed observers expected would happen in late March but which the Taliban delayed at the last minute. In a sign the Taliban are not immune to public sentiment, the Afghan interim minister of education admitted that the delay in opening schools has caused criticism of the government and that he is hoping to re-open the schools soon.

caltrek's comment: I guess the Chinese know something about opium wars.

[caltrek]

How Reporters Reconstructed a Deadly Evacuation from Kabul
by Stephen Engelberg
April 12, 2022

https://www.propublica.org/article/how- ... from-kabul

Introduction:

(ProPublica) On Aug. 26, 2021, a suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives and ball bearings in the packed crowd outside Kabul’s international airport. Shrapnel sliced through the air, killing 13 American service members and an estimated 160 Afghan civilians.

In the hours after the attack, officials reported that a second assailant had sprayed the crowd with automatic weapons fire, increasing the casualty toll in what was one of the deadliest attacks on American forces in the 20 years of war in Afghanistan.

As so often happens in such cases, the U.S. military’s initial account raised more questions than it answered. The Marines scrambling to evacuate civilians as Taliban forces swept into Kabul had been explicitly warned of a possible suicide attack that very day. Yet they seemed to have failed to take basic security precautions. Republicans seized on the bombing as evidence that the Biden administration had bungled its first foreign policy challenge, failing to forsee how quickly the Taliban would overwhelm the American-backed Afghan government.

Conclusion:

In the end, the scene at the airport was a microcosm of America’s experience in Afghanistan. The military’s hasty planning, rooted in optimistic assumptions, proved no match for the reality of a society in collapse.

As you follow the war in the Ukraine, it’s worth taking some time with this grunts’- and civilians’-eye view of how wrong a military operation can go.

Here is a detailed account from ProPublica of the events of that day. I have to admit, I myself only skimmed quickly through the article. Still, compelling reading if you are interested in that sort of thing: https://www.propublica.org/article/hell ... fghanistan

[Time_Traveller]

Taliban orders all Afghan women to wear the all-covering burka in public

Saturday 7 May 2022



The Taliban has ordered all Afghan women to wear the all-covering burka in public.

The blue burka became a global symbol of the Taliban's previous regime in Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, and the decision to make it mandatory again marks an escalation of growing restrictions on women in public.

The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice read a decree from the group's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada at a press conference in Kabul.

https://news.sky.com/story/taliban-orde ... c-12607336

[caltrek]

Taliban’s Unending Crackdown on Afghan Female Journalists
by Akanksha Khullar
June 4, 2022

Introduction:

(Observer Research Foundation) Immediately after seizing power nine months ago, the Taliban representatives promised a renewed way of ruling, one that would be devoid of any prejudices or violence against Afghan women. But instead, in a matter of a few months, the male-only interim Taliban government has been seen imposing a series of decrees that have denied even the most basic rights of women such as education and employment obstructing every facet of a woman’s public life.

In fact, for a country that enjoyed a robust free media, the militant group—often citing a fundamentalist interpretation of the Islamic law—has severely curtailed women’s rights to press, freedom of expression, and personal autonomy over a period with female journalists and newscasters paying a heavy price under the new regime. The extremist group has whipped, beaten, and arbitrarily detained journalists since it retook power and has forced many women out of the media, owing to its rising discriminatory practices.

According to a joint survey conducted by media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association in December 2021, 84 percent of women journalists and media workers had lost their jobs since August 2021. Another survey carried out by the Afghan National Journalists’ Union in March 2022, found that 79 percent of Afghan women journalists claimed to be insulted and threatened under the Taliban rule, which includes physical and verbal threats by the Taliban representatives. Afghan female broadcasters have also reported being “blacklisted” by the Taliban officials.

Read more here: https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak ... ormation/

Conclusion:

Meanwhile, the international community has refused to formally recognise the Taliban government and made it clear that respecting women’s rights and freedoms will be a key condition for granting the diplomatic legitimacy that Afghanistan’s new rulers seek. Even development funding and unlocking frozen cash depend on the better treatment of women. Thus, if the militant group continues with its repressive tactics against women; strips them of their rights to freedom of expression, as well as personal autonomy and religious belief; and, cease to stop its barbaric attacks against women journalists, it might risk cutting itself off from the rest of the world.

[caltrek]

So many write about the U.S. "defeat" in Afghanistan. In turn, this is treated by some as a sign of the collapse of the liberal order. Yet, what is it exactly that we are so supposed to wish for in terms of a succession to this liberal order?

A theocracy?

Totalitarian dictatorships?

Tyrannies in which dictators move toward totalitarian dictatorships?

Afghanistan should make us pause to consider these questions.

Helping Afghanistan after Earthquake Will be Hard: 3 Questions Answered
by Mohammad Qadam Shah
June 24, 2022

Introduction:

(The Conversation) Afghanistan’s deadliest earthquake in more than two decades took place on June 22, 2022, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring at least 1,600. The disaster struck a remote mountainous region and came at a time when millions of Afghans are experiencing severe poverty and hunger. Since the Taliban, which enforces strict Islamic laws, took over the government in 2021, other countries, humanitarian organizations and independent aid agencies have been reluctant to provide any assistance to the government because no country has officially recognized it.

But the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzadah, has called for “the international community and all humanitarian organizations to help the Afghan people affected by this great tragedy and to spare no effort to help the affected people.” Within hours of the earthquake, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that it was dispatching aid, including medical supplies, food and tents, in addition to teams of surgeons and other medical professionals. The World Food Program, which says it has provided aid to 18 million people in Afghanistan in the first half of 2022, was sending food as well.

We asked Mohammad Qadam Shah, an assistant professor of global development at Seattle Pacific University who has researched aid in Afghanistan, how he expects the world to respond.

1. Why is it hard to respond to disasters in Afghanistan?

As with the previous U.S.-backed government, Taliban leaders have a centralized, top-down aid management system. Under this system, they are the sole decision-makers who determine how aid is allocated.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/helping-af ... ed-185664

[weatheriscool]

Biden aides seek to unlock Afghan reserves without enriching Taliban
Source: Washington Post

Senior Biden administration officials are working with Taliban leadership on a mechanism to allow Afghanistan’s government to use its central bank reserves to deal with a severe hunger crisis without giving the former militant group free rein, aiming to avert a humanitarian disaster that aid groups estimate could harm millions, according to three people briefed on the matter. Afghanistan faces catastrophe partly because the Biden administration froze billions of dollars in the country’s reserves after the collapse of the U.S.-backed government last August.

Coupled with sanctions on its banking sector, the decision plunged Afghanistan into financial calamity, depriving it of the money needed to buy food and other imports on which the country is heavily dependent. The United Nations Refugee Agency said this January that Afghanistan “is descending into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world,” with 24 million people — or more than half the population — in need of emergency assistance, a 30 percent increase from last year. Facing that emergency, as well as a devastating earthquake that struck the eastern part of the country this month, Biden aides have begun talks to restore to the Afghan government at least partial use of the frozen funds that are kept in U.S. institutions.

In negotiations with Taliban officials, they have tried to set up a system through which career central bankers and bureaucrats could manage the assets to stabilize the Afghan economy — while simultaneously erecting safeguards that would ensure the funds are not siphoned off for misuse by the Taliban, the people familiar with the matter said. One option discussed by those close to the talks involves having a third party trust fund administer the money, two people familiar with the matter said, although the exact structure of such an arrangement was not clear. Senior administration officials have expressed optimism about the progress on talks, but cautioned that several obstacles to a deal remain. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private diplomatic negotiations.

“It would be accurate to say negotiations are underway,” said Shah Mehrabi, an economics professor at Montgomery College in Maryland and a senior member Afghanistan’s central bank board since 2002. “We are in the process of trying to come up with a mechanism that will allow the transfer of reserves to the central bank of Afghanistan.”Mehrabi declined to comment on the details of the negotiations. He said talks are ongoing between the U.S. and the Taliban, but stressed that the “mechanism has not been finalized by all parties involved.” Mehrabi said food costs have skyrocketed by 18 percent in the past several months. Basic household goods rose in cost by 35 percent during the first few months of the year; in May, inflation for household goods hit 42 percent, Mehrabi said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-polic ... use-money/

[caltrek]

Customary Barbarity: Britain’s SAS In Afghanistan
by Binoy Kampmark
July 18, 2022

Introduction:

(Eurasia Review) The insistence that there is a noble way of fighting war, one less bloody and brutal, has always been the hallmark of forces self-described as civilised. Restraint characterises their behaviour; codes of laws follow in their wake, rather than genocidal impulses. Killing, in short, is a highly regulated, disciplined affair.

The failed wars and efforts of foreign powers in Afghanistan have destroyed this conceit. Lengthy engagements, often using special forces operating in hostile terrain, have been marked by vicious encounters and hostile retribution. Australia’s Special Air Services supplied a very conspicuous example. The 2020 report by New South Wales Court of Appeal Justice Paul Brereton on the alleged murders of Afghan non-combatants was an ice bath for moralists claiming they were fighting the good fight.

Known rather dully as the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry Report, Brereton claimed that 39 alleged non-combatant murders were perpetrated by Australian special service units during their tours of duty. The report was inspired, in no small way, by the work of consultant Samantha Crompvoets, a sociologist commissioned by the Special Operations Commander of Australia (SOCAUST) to conduct a “cultural review” of the Special Operations Command in mid-2015.

Her January 2016 report makes grim reading, noting such endemic practices as body count competitions and the use of the Joint Priority Effects List (JPEL). The JPEL effectively constituted a “sanctioned kill list” characterised by tinkered numbers.

Units of the British SAS are now accused of almost identical practices, a point that will come as little surprise to some in the Royal Military Police. Titled Operation Northmoor, the RMP initiated a number of investigations in 2014 that covered 675 criminal allegations, some of which were said to have been committed by the special forces. In 2019, the Ministry of Defence closed the investigation claiming that there was no evidence of criminality.

Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/1807202 ... an-oped/

[caltrek]

Is the World Becoming Too Naive in its Approach to the Taliban?
by Fawzia Koofi

Introduction:

(The National) Almost a year has passed since the fall of my homeland to the Taliban. While the militant group and its allies celebrate a year of triumph, and the US and Nato pause for a moment of reflection, the people of Afghanistan, especially brave Afghan women, mark a year of toil, tears and horror that does not seem to have an ending any time soon.

This time last year I thought we could still reach peace. As a member of the peace talks delegation of the former Afghan Republic, my colleagues and I were hopeful for a settlement. After all, we naively believed in the narrative that was created for us. We were told that the “Taliban 2.0” is a changed group. Our international colleagues, who had met Taliban leaders in Doha reassured us that the militant group’s ideology on women’s rights had evolved.

Taliban leaders were also quick to seize newfound fame, repeating the narrative that they had changed their position on all issues, especially women’s rights. They even approached the four female members of our delegation to convince us. A senior Taliban negotiator reiterated to me in person that a “Taliban 2.0” regime would allow women to hold high political offices, including the office of prime minister.

To convince the world, other senior Taliban figures, including the leader of the Haqqani Network, a particularly conservative element within the organisation, even went as far as publishing an op-ed in The New York Times, spewing words of hope for the formation of “an inclusive political system in which the voice of every Afghan is reflected and where no Afghan feels excluded”.

Additional extract:

Some argue for more aid to prevent the ongoing humanitarian disaster. This is a short-term solution but a long-term problem. More aid, while critical to saving lives, could also help sustain the Taliban’s new repressive regime.

Read more here: https://www.thenationalnews.com/weeken ... -taliban/

[weatheriscool]

Taliban Free Last American Hostage in Afghanistan in Prisoner Swap
Source: Voice of America

ISLAMABAD —

The Taliban Monday freed Mark Frerichs, the only American hostage remaining in Afghanistan, in exchange for a Taliban drug lord, Bashir Noorzai, who was serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told reporters in Kabul the prisoner swap between his government and a U.S. delegation took place at the Afghan capital’s airport.

Frerichs, the nearly 60-year-old American engineer and Navy veteran, was abducted in Kabul in early 2020 when the U.S. and NATO troops were battling the then-Taliban insurgency in support of the Western-backed Afghan government.

Noorzai, known as Haji Bashir, was arrested in New York in 2005 and subsequently charged with trafficking millions of dollars’ worth of heroin into the United States. The top Taliban associate reportedly helped fund and arm the insurgents with proceeds from heroin trafficking.

-snip-

September 19, 2022 5:53 AM
Ayaz Gul


Read more: https://www.voanews.com/a/taliban-free- ... 53168.html

[wjfox]

Afghanistan: Taliban leader orders Sharia law punishments

1 hour ago

Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has ordered Afghan judges to impose punishments for certain crimes that may include public amputations and stoning.

His spokesman said offences such as robbery, kidnapping and sedition must be punished in line with the group's interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

When in power in the 1990s, the Taliban were condemned for such punishments, which included public executions.

They promised to rule more moderately when they retook power last year.

But since then the militant Islamist group has steadily cracked down on freedoms. Women's rights in particular have been severely restricted.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-63624400

[Time_Traveller]

Afghanistan: Taliban leader orders Sharia law punishments

1 hour ago

Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has ordered Afghan judges to impose punishments for certain crimes that may include public amputations and stoning.

His spokesman said offences such as robbery, kidnapping and sedition must be punished in line with the group's interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

When in power in the 1990s, the Taliban were condemned for such punishments, which included public executions.

They promised to rule more moderately when they retook power last year.

But since then the militant Islamist group has steadily cracked down on freedoms. Women's rights in particular have been severely restricted.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-63624400

More on this subject

Taliban Holds First Public Execution Since Afghanistan Take Over In 2021

12/07/22 at 5:25 PM EST

A man in Afghanistan was executed Wednesday in southwestern Afghan Provence Farah in a sports stadium, according to a Taliban spokesperson.

According to BBC News, the man was executed after being accused of committing a murder five years ago, marking the first public execution by the Taliban since the group retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021.

The Taliban said the executed man was named Tajmir, and he was accused of stabbing a man named Mustafa to death five years ago, as well as stealing his victim's motor bike and cellphone. He was convicted in three Taliban courts before sentencing and was executed via assault rifle and shot by the victim's father.

https://www.ibtimes.com/taliban-holds-f ... 21-3644648

[wjfox]

Appalling.

-----

Afghanistan: Taliban closes universities to women

4 minutes ago

The Taliban have announced the closure of universities for women in Afghanistan, according to a letter by the higher education minister.

The minister says the move is until further notice. It is expected to take effect immediately.

It further restricts women's access to formal education, as they were already excluded from most secondary schools.

One Kabul University student told the BBC she had been crying since she heard the news.

Three months ago thousands of girls and women sat university entrance exams across Afghanistan.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64045497