Tag: taliban

Fifteen people were arrested in connection with the case and their dossiers were referred to the judiciary for further investigation…reports Asian Lite News

 The Afghan security forces have seized a large amount of weapons and military equipment during a series of operations in the past three months in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, the provincial police office said in a statement.

The contraband, which included nine Kalashnikovs, 41 pistols, two AK-47 rifles, six US-made M16 machine guns, five grenades, 15 various types of mines, and a quantity of war equipment, such as cartridges and bullets, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the statement.

Fifteen people were arrested in connection with the case and their dossiers were referred to the judiciary for further investigation, it said.

The Afghan caretaker government, which vowed to collect arms and ammunition from anyone outside the security forces, has discovered and seized thousands of light and heavy weapons including tanks since it took over power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

Taliban suspends polio vaccination

The United Nations (UN) announced on Monday that the Taliban has suspended all polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan.

UN agencies said that they were notified about the suspension just days before the scheduled September immunisation campaign, though no official reason was provided.

Representatives from the Taliban-led government did not comment on the situation immediately.

Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the only two countries in the world where the spread of the paralysing and potentially fatal disease has not been eradicated.

Despite the polio eradication programme’s continuous efforts in Afghanistan, the last phase of the campaign to achieve polio-free status has faced significant challenges.

Over the past three years, the number of polio cases have risen in the country, with the virus spreading to provinces that had remained free of the disease for an extended period.

UNICEF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the World Health Organization (WHO), and various non-governmental organisations, has been working through the Emergency Operating Centre (EOC) to explore innovative methods to ensure every child is reached with vaccines.

The focus was also on building trust and demand for vaccination campaigns among the population.

So far, 16 Afghan provinces have been affected, with a total of 56 cases of Wild Poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) reported.

The southern region of Afghanistan remains the most severely impacted, accounting for 66 per cent of the country’s total polio cases in 2020.

Despite the ongoing challenges, the polio programme has ensured 100% adequacy of vaccine supplies for all polio-related activities, including immunisation campaigns, case responses, and the deployment of Permanent and Temporary Teams (PTT).

The successful introduction of vaccines such as mOPV2, mOPV1, and tOPV for case response campaigns has been made possible through capacity building in vaccine management and accountability.

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, the polio programme managed to conduct three National Immunisation Days, two Sub-National Immunisation Days, and three Case Response Campaigns across Afghanistan.

However, the current suspension by the Taliban adds uncertainty to future vaccination efforts, raising concerns about the ongoing fight to eliminate polio in the country.

ALSO READ: Afghan embassy to close as Taliban sacks all staff

Amnesty International stressed that the Taliban’s policies violate international laws. …reports Asian Lite News

Amnesty International has urged the Taliban to reopen secondary schools for girls. It said that Afghan girls have lost their right to education due to the Taliban’s “discriminatory and unjust policies,” Afghanistan-based Khaama Press reported.

Amnesty International stressed that the Taliban’s policies violate international laws. A month after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the group reopened schools that were shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they banned the girls from pursuing studies in schools above sixth class.

In a post on X, Amnesty International on June 14 stated, “For 1000 days, Afghan girls have been deprived of their right to education, locked out of their schools due to the discriminatory and unjust Taliban policies violating international law. The Taliban must immediately re-open all secondary schools to girls.”

More than two and a half years have passed, however, the Taliban has yet to make any new statements regarding the reopening of schools for girls above sixth grade.

Amnesty International’s statement comes amid a dire humanitarian crisis and severe human rights issues in Afghanistan. Taliban’s policies have suppressed women’s rights, including education and employment.

In 2022, the Taliban issued a decree banning women from working in aid agencies and domestic organizations. In addition, the Taliban has also imposed restrictions on their free movement, further limiting their opportunities.

Media restrictions have deteriorated the situation, making it difficult for people to stay informed regarding the developments and for the international community to understand the full extent of the crisis, as reported by Khaama Press.

Earlier in May, United Nations officials have once again raised concerns about the situation of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

During a meeting titled “Women, Youth Must Have Greater Participation in Peacebuilding Efforts” that took place in New York, the UN officials the rights of Afghan women, especially the prohibition of girls from attending universities and secondary schools, TOLO News reported.

UN’s Undersecretary-general for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo characterised the state of women in Afghanistan as a lost cause.

“Ultimately, it comes down to a simple vision — of overcoming obstacles that deny the full contribution of women,” DiCarlo said at the meeting, TOLO News reported.

Moreover, Sima Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), while stating the figures said, “1.1 million girls are without schooling since the 2021 ban in Afghanistan.” (ANI)

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The statement emphasised the far-reaching consequences of the ban, extending beyond the immediate loss of education….reports Asian Lite News

Marking 1,000 days since girls in Afghanistan were banned from secondary school, a top official at the United Nations children’s agency, Unicef, on Thursday used this milestone to urge the Taliban to allow girls to go back to school.

“For 1.5 million girls, this systematic exclusion is not only a blatant violation of their right to education but also results in dwindling opportunities and deteriorating mental health,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

The statement emphasised the far-reaching consequences of the ban, extending beyond the immediate loss of education.

“It exacerbates the ongoing humanitarian crisis and has serious ramifications for Afghanistan’s economy and development trajectory,” the statement added.

Russell appealed for the return of girls to schools, pointing to the fact that no country can move forward when half its population is left behind.

“I urge the de-facto authorities to allow all children to resume learning immediately. And I urge the international community to remain engaged and support these girls, who need us more than ever.”

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has banned girls and women from studying beyond primary school. However, in some parts of the country, women and girls still attend religious schools, as well as midwifery and nursing schools.

The Taliban government is not recognised internationally.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government has declined to participate in a regional meeting on Afghanistan held in Tehran, a senior Taliban diplomat said last week.

Zakir Jalaly, the third political director of the foreign ministry, wrote on X that the Afghan government expects that established mechanisms should be used for discussions on Afghanistan, not new ones.

Special representatives of Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and China met in Tehran last week to discuss Afghanistan.

The United Nations is set to hold an international meeting of various countries’ special representatives for Afghanistan later this month in Doha, with the aim of increasing international cooperation on the country.

The Taliban did not participate in the previous round of the Doha meeting in February. Jalaly added that the Taliban is engaged in talks about the upcoming Doha meeting.

In December, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for the appointment of a special envoy for Afghanistan. The Taliban have consistently been against this.

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have rejected calls for the formation of an inclusive government and to ensure women’s rights to education and work.

As a result, no country has recognized their government. The country’s banking reserves are frozen in the West, and senior Taliban leaders are on US sanctions lists.

Last week, the UN Security Council lifted travel restrictions on four senior Taliban government leaders. The bans were removed for their visit to Mecca, Saudi Arabia where they will perform the annual Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj.

‘19% kids engaged in child labour in Afghanistan’

Nineteen per cent of children are engaged in child labour in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

“The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is trying to prevent child labour and support their families. The Ministry has activated training centres for orphaned children and has provided vocational training along with other assistance to the children,” local media outlet TOLOnews quoted the Ministry’s Spokesperson Samiullah Rahimi as saying on Wednesday.

Folad, an Afghan child working at a brick factory in the Dehsabz district of Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, told Xinhua, “I am interested in going to school, but I can’t. We (our family) are in debt, and I’m not able to continue my studies because of poverty. If the government supports my family, I can go to school and continue my lessons.”

Four decades of war and extreme poverty in Afghanistan have forced numerous children to work as child labourers or struggle to make a living on the street from car washing to shoe shining as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

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