Afghanistan news and discussions

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Time_Traveller
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Taliban orders all Afghan women to wear the all-covering burka in public
Saturday 7 May 2022

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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
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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.
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caltrek
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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
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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/
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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/
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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/
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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
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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


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Re: Afghanistan news and discussions

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wjfox wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 1:36 pm 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


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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
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Appalling. :(

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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
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