Putin was referring to Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists who have not been taken seriously by the Taliban….reports Asian Lite News
Acknowledging that the situation is not easy in Afghanistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said that battle-hardened terrorists were entering the strife-torn country from Syria and Iraq.
He made the remarks in a virtual conference of the security service chiefs of the ex-soviet states, reported Khaama Press.
Putin was referring to Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists who have not been taken seriously by the Taliban.
The former is believed not to be a big threat to the de-facto government in Afghanistan because the group-ISIS-K- does not have international or regional support, reported Khaama Press.
Last Friday, the deadly blast ripped through Sayed Abad Mosque in northern Afghanistan’s Kunduz as local residents attended the mosque for Friday prayer.
More than 100 people were killed in the attack while several were injured.
Islamic State Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K had claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the Shia mosque. It was the group’s deadliest strike since the suicide bombing at the international airport in Kabul on August 26 that killed about 170 civilians and 13 US troops
As per Putin they might destabilise the situation in the neighbouring countries and might even seek direct expansion, reported Khaama Press.
In the meantime, the Taliban has repeatedly said that there will not be any threat posed from their soil to any country.
The statements of the Russian president come as Moscow is preparing to host an international conference and the Taliban will also be invited. The international talks are due to take place on October 20, reported Khaama Press.
Afghan Taliban members patrol at a security checkpoint in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, on Sept. 15, 2021. (Photo by Ajmal Kakar/Xinhua/IANS)
Afghan interpreter killed
An Afghan interpreter, who was selected to be evacuated to the Netherlands, has been murdered in Kabul, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported on Thursday.
The interpreter reportedly worked for the European police mission (EUPOL) in Afghanistan. The Netherlands, as a party to the mission, had agreed to fly the man out, Sputnik reported.
The victim’s family were cited as saying that a militant from the Taliban went to his house and, after confirming the man’s identity, shot him with an AK-47.
Out of fear for his life, the man had been spending each night in different places, according to the report.
As noted by the broadcaster, it is difficult to confirm if the Taliban were responsible for the murder. (ANI)
Muttaqi said that the payment of civil servants’ salaries and the resumption of unfinished economic projects were his government’s top priority….reports Asian Lite News
Following a meeting with officials from the US and the European Union (EU), a Taliban delegation has urged the two sides to lift sanctions on the Afghan Islamic Emirate and allow banks in the country to “operate normally”, the media reported.
According to a statement issued by the Taliban-led government’s Foreign Ministry, the delegation led by Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held talks with the officials in Doha on Tuesday. TOLO News reported.
Muttaqi said that the payment of civil servants’ salaries and the resumption of unfinished economic projects were his government’s top priority.
“In this regard we urge world countries to end existing sanctions and let banks operate normally, so that charity groups, organisations, and the government can pay salaries to their staff with their own reserves and international financial assistance,” TOLO News quoted the Minister as saying.
“Weakening the Afghan government is not in the interest of anyone because its negative effects will directly affect the world in the security sector and economic migration from the country.”
Some of the topics discussed during the meeting were the current situation in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule; relations with other countries; prevailing economic difficulties; humanitarian assistance; and resumption of incomplete development projects, the Ministry statement said.
Besides the meeting on Tuesday, the Taliban delegation and the US side also met during the weekend in the Qatari capital.
This was the first time that the two sides met in-person following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August after American forces withdrew from the country after 20 years.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the treatment of women, with the Taliban having effectively isolated and silenced the female population of their country and left them unprotected by the state…reports Asian Lite News
With the Taliban back at the helm in Afghanistan and the country’s humanitarian and economic crises deepening, many Afghans are living in fear, especially women and minority groups. Despite the group’s claim to be more moderate, reports of violence by Taliban forces against women, journalists and human rights activists suggest otherwise.
To discuss ‘Prospects for women’s/human rights under the Taliban’, London-based NGO The Democracy Forum assembled a virtual panel of experts on October 13, moderated by former BBC Asia Correspondent Humphrey Hawksley, and introduced by the Forum’s President Lord Bruce.
With reference to a recent report, compiled jointly by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation against Torture, Lord Bruce said the Taliban are steadily dismantling human rights gains made over the last 20 years. Nowhere is this more evident than in the treatment of women, with the Taliban having effectively isolated and silenced the female population of their country and left them unprotected by the state, according to a report by The Democracy Forum.
Given such rights erosions, violations and denials of democracy, Lord Bruce wondered if even a recent announcement by the UNHRC, that it would appoint a Special Rapporteur for one year to monitor human rights in Afghanistan, would be a sufficient response.
Examining Taliban-China relations through the prism of human rights, Dr C. Christine FairofGeorgetown University expressed scepticism for the view, held by certain US analysts, that China will exert some kind of moderating influence on the Taliban, due to its concerns over Uighur terrorism and the prospect that Afghanistan, under the Taliban, might be a haven for international terrorism, according to the report.
This, said Dr Fair, is to misunderstand the long duration of Chinese-Taliban cooperation, including the extensive Memorandum of Agreement, signed by China and the Taliban on the eve of 9/11, saying that Beijing would invest in the Taliban and its government, with the proviso that Afghanistan would not be a place from which terrorist attacks were planned against China or Chinese interests. Dr Fair reminded the audience that China had also been on the verge of signing a similar MoA with Osama bin Laden, who never called out China’s atrocities against its Uighur and Muslim populations.
As the single largest investor in Afghanistan, with Afghan rare metals aiding China’s economic growth, Beijing’s claims that it wants to see an inclusive government in Kabul are, said Dr Fair, ‘absurd’, especially when one looks at the Chinese government itself. What Beijing expects from the Taliban, in exchange for financial support, is a limited scope of security that will protect Chinese commercial interests, with the Taliban ensuring no attacks against China or its interests are planned or executed from Afghanistan.
Dr Fair compared this with what happens in Pakistan, with the Pakistan Taliban a direct blow-back effect of the Taliban in Afghanistan, so that peace in Pakistan is not compatible with Taliban rule in Afghanistan – something China will come to learn.
China and Pakistan were also touched on by Dr Nooralhaq Nasimi, Founder & Director of the Afghanistan & Central Asian Association. With the USSR, Pakistan and Iran have caused many problems for Afghanistan, he hoped China would not repeat similar mistakes. Indeed, the future was, he said, of greater concern than the past: since the Taliban took over, the people of Afghanistan were suffering homelessness and food shortages, which would be exacerbated in the coming winter months.
Dr Nasimi also lamented the lack of representation of Afghan women at the United Nations and in local politics and highlighted the need for lobbying at the international level to stop Taliban atrocities, and to provide funding for internally displaced people in Afghanistan. But he also highlighted some positive measures, such as grassroots activities by his own organisation, and others, in Kabul, including the introduction of Citizens’ Advice Centres, training and workshops.
Nargis Nehan, founder of Equality for Peace and Democracy and a former Afghan Minister of Mines and Petroleum, stressed that the many gains made over the past 20 years, and the struggle by Afghanistan’s women and youth, show that the nation is not a lost cause’ or ‘failed project’, as so many think. Afghan women’s place at the forefront of demanding human rights, despite Taliban threats, reveal they are not victims, said Nehan, and this is a fight of liberal values against extremism. The Taliban may not have changed, but Afghan women themselves have changed, and resistance will be fomented – not only from women but also other groups, due to the pressures of poverty, etc.
Regarding both the previous Afghan government and the Taliban, Nehan believed neither really engaged with ordinary people, their concerns and frustrations. For true inclusivity to happen in government, people from different ethnicities, ideologies, gender groups, and so on, must be represented. She hoped the international community, by which Afghans felt abandoned, would rally, helping to provide aid, education and support in the war against extremism.
Social scientist Sippi Azarbaijani-Moghaddam offered a historical perspective on what we see in Afghanistan today, discussing her experiences with working on women’s programmes under the Taliban between 1996 and 2001. One of the most interesting things about the Taliban from that time, she said, is that they were obsessed with controlling public spaces, and ‘cleansing’ them of ‘corruption’ and ‘disorder’.
But the public and private spheres were treated differently – ‘discreet’ girls’ schools were accepted, as long as kept out of the public sphere and did not cause public discord. On attitudes towards women, Azarbaijani-Moghaddam likened the Taliban’s to those of certain other Islamic societies – eg Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia – which see women as a discordant, corrupting influence that need to be heavily controlled in public spaces.
Yet the mainstay of her discussions with the Taliban centred around pragmatism – as long as women’s activities were practical – getting water, providing medical aid, etc – they were not stopped. She cited the example of General Suhaila, an invaluable female trauma surgeon who treated injured Taliban, and who refused to wear the burqa in her hospital. So, the Taliban don’t pick battles they can’t win, although they will be draconian towards certain groups- so, concluded, Azarbaijani-Moghaddam, there is no real hope for human rights as we in the West would consider them.
Former Afghan diplomat Nazifa Haqpal examined the role of the younger generation of Afghans, their activism and the importance of supporting them. By amplifying Afghan voices, and applying other pressures on the Taliban, Haqpal believed the international community could hold the Taliban to account, at least to some degree, with regard to fundamental human rights principles, particularly women’s rights.
She felt sorrow and disappointment at the betrayal of the Afghan people by their government, leaving them to the mercy of the Taliban, which are extremist interpreters of Islam. In fact, given the Taliban’s limited education and knowledge of science, politics, Islamic law, etc, the Afghan people can challenge the group through the teachings of Islam. Haqpal added that Taliban attitudes to women are in complete contradiction of Afghan history, since women fought, had status, studied, etc. So, women’s rights are not a new phenomenon in Afghanistan, she said – it is oppression that is relatively new.
In the current circumstances, the international community must take a collective approach, and should draw protective lines around all human rights and media freedoms. With this support, Afghanistan can, Haqpal concluded, challenge the Taliban from within. (ANI)
This development comes as news reports say that Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul could dive into darkness due to non-payment of dues of Central Asian electricity suppliers by new Taliban rulers….reports Asian Lite News
Electricity supply from Uzbekistan to several Afghan provinces and capital city Kabul has been stopped due to technical problems, Afghanistan’s state power company, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), said on Wednesday.
This comes a few days after reports said that Afghanistan’s electricity body is set to sell the estates of its debtors in a bid to pay nearly USD 62 million worth of power bills to the central Asian countries.
The technical issues emerged in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan, Sputnik reported citing DABS. “The technical staff is working to resolve this issue as soon as possible,” the statement read.
This development comes as news reports say that Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul could dive into darkness due to non-payment of dues of Central Asian electricity suppliers by new Taliban rulers.
Electricity imports from neighbouring countries like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan account for 80 per cent of the country’s power consumption.
After the Taliban took over Kabul in August and the Afghan government fell. The outfit took power over the state energy utility, inheriting its debts, but have so far failed to pay off the creditors.
Earlier this month, the former head of DABS, Daud Noorzai, said that the supplies of electricity to the Afghan capital province of Kabul could be cut off by winter as the Taliban did not pay the bills to the Central Asian energy suppliers.
Meanwhile, Safiullah Ahamdzai, the acting head of DABAS, said that they will implement the plan and will pay off all the debts to prevent cutting electricity by exporting countries, The Khaama Press News Agency reported.
Afghan Taliban members patrol at a security checkpoint in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, on Sept. 15, 2021. (Photo by Ajmal Kakar/Xinhua/IANS)
Bush market renamed
Shopkeepers of the Bush Market in downtown Kabul named after the former US President changed its name to Mujahideen Bazar so that it attracts customers, especially the Mujahideen or the Taliban, Khaama Press reported.
It is still not clear whether the Taliban themselves ordered the shopkeepers to change the name but photos taken from the scene show that the shopkeepers of the market are hanging the new board.
Earlier, the Taliban changed the name of Hamid Karzai International Airport to Kabul International Airport, Burhanuddin Rabbani University to Kabul Educational University, and Masoud Square to Public Health Square in Kabul.
Bush Market was known for selling the military clothes, shoes, electronics, jumpers, protein, and drinks of the US soldiers based in Afghanistan so it was named after then President of the US. (ANI/IANS)
Afghan Taliban members patrol at a security checkpoint in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, on Sept. 15, 2021. (Photo by Ajmal Kakar/Xinhua/IANS)
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet….reports Asian Lite News
A Taliban official was killed and 11 others were injured in an explosion on Thursday in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, a sorce said.
The source told Xinhua news agency that the incident occurred near a bridge in the provincial capital Asadabad’s Karhali locality.
“Abdullah who served as the Taliban’s police chief for Shegal district in Kunar lost his life in the incident,” the source added.
Meantime, Attahullah Sapay, head of the provincial hospital, said that among those wounded were seven civilians, including a woman and two children, and four Taliban members.
Afghan Taliban members patrol at a security checkpoint in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, on Sept. 15, 2021. (Photo by Ajmal Kakar/Xinhua/IANS)
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
Militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) outfit are active in the region.
The security situation remained generally calm but uncertain across Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover in mid-August.
However, a spate of bomb attacks were launched by IS-affiliated militants in Kabul, northern Kunduz and eastern Nangarhar provinces in recent weeks.
The creation of the new commission was officially announced on Wednesday….reports Asian Lite News
The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has created a new commission to expel members “who misuse the name of the Taliban, do not treat people well, and have nasty backgrounds”, a media report said.
The Khaama Press report said that the commission which has been named “filtration commission of forces” is composed of representatives from the Ministries of Defence, Interior Affairs, as well as the High Directorate of Intelligence.
The creation of the new commission was officially announced on Wednesday.
In a statement, Interior Affairs Ministry spokesman Saeed Khostai said the commission will be functional is all the provinces of the country.
He, however did not disclose details of the unfavourable members but said that these people were against the Taliban government and the Islamic system, Khaama Press reported.
According to Khostai, the commission was created after there were reports of gunmen posing as Taliban fighters entered people’s homes.
The US said that it would provide donation through aid organisations to the people of Afghanistan….reports Asian Lite News
Members of the G-20 meeting in a virtual summit pledged to provide aid to the people of Afghanistan in a bid to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the war-torn country, Tolo News reported.
The summit was hosted by Italy on Tuesday. Some members of the summit cited that provision of aids didn’t indicate recognition of the “Taliban” government.
Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, said that her country is not ready to recognise the “Taliban”. According to her, the Taliban have not met the international measures and expectations of the world, the report said.
The US said that it would provide donation through aid organisations to the people of Afghanistan.
Addressing the summit, US President Joe Biden also expressed concerns over the presence of armed groups such as ISIS-K or so-called Daesh group in Afghanistan.
The European Union pledged to provide one million Euro in support of humanitarian donation to the country.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the international community emphasised on preservation of the human rights, particularly the rights of girls and women.
The summit was not attended by the Presidents of China and Russia.
This comes as earlier, the UN and humanitarian organisations had warned of triggering a severe humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
An Afghan security force member inspects the weapons handed over by Taliban militants in Herat, Afghanistan, . (Photo by Elaha SahelXinhuaIANS)
“This also refers to illegal arms trade that may take on quite unprecedented dimensions in the context of the latest developments,” said Venediktov…reports Asian Lite News
The turmoil in Afghanistan has exacerbated an entire slew of problems and it may lead to skyrocketing of the illegal arms trade.
Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Alexander Venediktov said on Tuesday said that illegal arms trade may soar to unprecedented proportions, reported TASS.
“We have to state that the situation in that country poses a whole number of very serious threats not only to regional security but primarily to the national security of our country,” the official said at a Russian Academy of Sciences’ session focusing on Afghanistan.
He specified that these threats include terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, mass migration and “the export of radicalism”, reported TASS.
“This also refers to illegal arms trade that may take on quite unprecedented dimensions in the context of the latest developments,” said Venediktov.
He also pointed out, “the United States has never provided such massive military and technical assistance to any of its allies in NATO and other organizations as it did to Afghanistan.”
Given all these threats, the Afghan problems remain the focus of both Russia’s Security Council as a whole and its scientific council, Venediktov said, reported TASS. (ANI)
Ashoqullah, who is a schoolteacher, said that girls have the right to education and schools must be reopened immediately….reports Asian Lite News
Girls and teachers have urged the Taliban to reopen schools for girls and young women.
Schools for girls have been closed for about two months after the Taliban takeover. Only three provinces in Afghanistan– Balkh, Kunduz and Sar-i- Pul– have reopened schools for girls, TOLOnews reported.
Madina, a 12th-grade student of a school in Kabul wished for schools to reopen in the capital city and other provinces too.
“I am optimistic about reopening schools in some provinces. We wish that schools will be opened in Kabul and other provinces. As the winter is coming and the weather is getting cold and facilities are very limited in public schools, so then we can’t study,” she said.
Ashoqullah, who is a schoolteacher, said that girls have the right to education and schools must be reopened immediately.
“Girls also have the right to education and the schools must be immediately opened. A big section of society, which is women, should not be affected,” Ashoqullah said, TOLOnews reported.
Earlier on Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the Taliban has broken all the promises made to Afghan women and girls.
“I am alarmed to see promises made to Afghan women and girls by the Taliban being broken,” Guterres said.
He further appealed to the Taliban to keep their promises under the international human rights law.
“I strongly appeal to the Taliban to keep their promises to women and girls and their obligations under international human rights law.”
Meanwhile, referring to matters such as women’s rights, the Taliban said that the world should not make demands by putting pressure, but should seek cooperation.
The Taliban appointed Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi made these remarks at an event organised by the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Tolo News reported.
“You should not seek your demands through putting pressure on us, ask us through cooperation,” Muttaqi said adding that the previous government had strong international support but was unable to bring reforms in 20 years.
“Now you are asking for all the reforms in two months,” he added.
During the event, Muttaqi also said that “the full implementation of the Doha agreement signed between the US and Afghanistan can address any problem between the two countries.”
He also added that when the Taliban took over Kabul, schools were already closed due to COVID-19 but now they are reopening the schools across the country.
“Schools for boys and girls were closed before us because of COVID. When Kabul fell to our hands, all schools were closed already. Schools in provinces were closed already. We have started reopening the schools,” Tolo News quoted Muttaqi as saying.
The Taliban after the siege of Afghanistan have been trying to deliver a moderate image to the world in an attempt to gain international confidence but experts say that the scenes at the Kabul airport were proof that the terrorist group has returned with the same radical and violence mindset.
Earlier, Sajjan Gohel, a security and terrorism analyst said that women are scared out of their minds, according to Four Nine, a prominent women’s magazine in the West.
“From the Afghan women I’ve spoken to, it’s incredibly traumatic. You’re looking at an entire generation who only read about the Taliban in books. Now, they’re having to live side-by-side with what is effectively a misogynistic cult,” Gohel said.
He also said that he believes we are going to see a return “to some degree of what we saw in the 1990s”.
According to the international security director at the Asia-Pacific Foundation: “Women’s lives [from 1996 to 2001] were very bleak and severely repressed by the Taliban. You’re looking at an era where every aspect of a woman’s life was controlled, contained, and confined,” reported Four Nine.
The Taliban has proposed a ban on coeducation. Their officials in Herat province had last week ordered that girls will no longer be allowed to sit in the same classes as boys in universities, Khaama Press report. (ANI)
The UNHCR spokesperson said that the agency planned to conduct three airlifts to scale up supplies to Afghanistan in the coming period….reports Asian Lite News
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is worsening, and funding for emergency aid is urgently needed to help 20 million people there.
This comes a month since the UN had led an appeal for solidarity for the people of Afghanistan, seeking USD 606 million for the troubled country. Only 35 per cent of the funds it needed to fund operations for the next two months had been received, the UN refugee agency said.
On Monday, UN chief Antonio Guterres had urged the international community to inject cash into Afghanistan’s crumbling economy to prevent its collapse, for which “not only they but all the world will pay a heavy price”.
UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch on Tuesday said that the agency was trying to establish a logistics hub just outside Afghanistan’s border to distribute aid to the country’s many hundreds of thousands of internally displaced, UN News reported.
Baloch stated that Afghanistan’s economy was at “a breaking point”, and that this collapse had to be avoided at all costs. “So, resources are really needed to reach more and more Afghans, I mean, when you talk about half of the population relying on humanitarian assistance; 20 million, that number is rising day by day,” he said. “We need those resources as immediately as possible.”
The UNHCR spokesperson said that the agency planned to conduct three airlifts to scale up supplies to Afghanistan in the coming period.
“Consignments will be airlifted to Termez, Uzbekistan, and subsequently trucked through the Hairatan border point into Mazar-i-Sharif. The airlifts will deliver urgently needed humanitarian relief items. The first flight is expected to arrive mid-October.”
At the beginning of 2021, 18 million people in Afghanistan needed humanitarian assistance, half of the country’s population.
UN aid officials insist that “the window to assist is narrow”, as only five per cent of households have enough to eat every day, and more than half of all children under-five are expected to become acutely malnourished in the next year, UN News reported.
Severe drought and disruptions to farming have increased the risk of food insecurity as the winter approaches, said the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
At the G20 Extraordinary Meeting on Afghanistan, the UN chief Antonio Guterres, stressed there are three areas for essential action: ensuring a lifeline of help to the Afghan people, avoiding a total meltdown of the country’s economy and a “constant commitment” to move things in the right direction, for the Afghan people. (ANI)
