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Afghanistan under the Taliban regime discussion

A major row broke out between leaders of the Taliban over the make-up of the group's new government in Afghanistan, senior Taliban officials told the BBC.

The argument between the group's co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and a cabinet member happened at the presidential palace, they said.

There have been unconfirmed reports of disagreements within the Taliban's leadership since Mr Baradar disappeared from public view in recent days.

These have been officially denied.

The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last month, and have since declared the country an "Islamic Emirate". Their new interim cabinet is entirely male and made up of senior Taliban figures, some of whom are notorious for attacks on US forces over the last two decades.

One Taliban source told BBC Pashto that Mr Baradar and Khalil ur-Rahman Haqqani - the minister for refugees and a prominent figure within the militant Haqqani network - had exchanged strong words, as their followers brawled with each other nearby.

A senior Taliban member based in Qatar and a person connected to those involved also confirmed that an argument had taken place late last week.

The sources said the argument had broken out because Mr Baradar, the new deputy prime minister, was unhappy about the structure of their interim government.

It has been said that the row stemmed from divisions over who in the Taliban should take credit for their victory in Afghanistan.

Mr Baradar reportedly believes that the emphasis should be placed on diplomacy carried out by people like him, while members of the Haqqani group - which is run by one of the most senior Taliban figures - and their backers say it was achieved through fighting.

Mr Baradar was the first Taliban leader to communicate directly with a US president, having a telephone conversation with Donald Trump in 2020. Before that, he signed the Doha agreement on the withdrawal of US troops on behalf of the Taliban.

Meanwhile, the powerful Haqqani network is associated with some of the most violent attacks that have occurred in Afghanistan against Afghan forces and their Western allies in recent years. The group is designated by the US as a terrorist organisation.

Its leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the interior minister in the new government.

Rumours about a fallout have been spreading since late last week, when Mr Baradar - one of the best-known faces of the Taliban - disappeared from public view. There was speculation on social media that he might have died.

The Taliban sources told the BBC that Mr Baradar had left Kabul and travelled to the city of Kandahar following the row.

In an audio recording purportedly of Mr Baradar released on Monday, the Taliban co-founder said he had been "away on trips".

"Wherever I am at the moment, we are all fine," he said.

The BBC was not able to verify the recording, which was posted on a number of official Taliban websites.

The Taliban have maintained that there was no argument and that Mr Baradar is safe but have released conflicting statements on what he is currently doing. A spokesman said Mr Baradar had gone to Kandahar to meet the Taliban's supreme leader, but later told BBC Pashto that he was "tired and wanted some rest".

Many Afghans will feel they have good reason to doubt the Taliban's word. In 2015, the group admitted covering up their founding leader Mullah Omar's death for more than two years, during which time they continued to issue statements in his name.

Sources told the BBC that Mr Baradar was expected to return to Kabul and might appear on camera to deny that any argument had happened.

Speculation remains over the Taliban's supreme commander, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who has never been seen in public. He is in charge of the Taliban's political, military and religious affairs.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's acting foreign minister on Tuesday called for international donors to restart aid, saying the international community should not politicise their assistance.

More than $1bn (£720m) in aid was pledged for the country on Monday, following warnings from the United Nations of a "looming catastrophe".
 
MenInG said:
A major row broke out between leaders of the Taliban over the make-up of the group's new government in Afghanistan, senior Taliban officials told the BBC.

The argument between the group's co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and a cabinet member happened at the presidential palace, they said.

There have been unconfirmed reports of disagreements within the Taliban's leadership since Mr Baradar disappeared from public view in recent days.

These have been officially denied.

The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last month, and have since declared the country an "Islamic Emirate". Their new interim cabinet is entirely male and made up of senior Taliban figures, some of whom are notorious for attacks on US forces over the last two decades.

One Taliban source told BBC Pashto that Mr Baradar and Khalil ur-Rahman Haqqani - the minister for refugees and a prominent figure within the militant Haqqani network - had exchanged strong words, as their followers brawled with each other nearby.

A senior Taliban member based in Qatar and a person connected to those involved also confirmed that an argument had taken place late last week.

The sources said the argument had broken out because Mr Baradar, the new deputy prime minister, was unhappy about the structure of their interim government.

It has been said that the row stemmed from divisions over who in the Taliban should take credit for their victory in Afghanistan.

Mr Baradar reportedly believes that the emphasis should be placed on diplomacy carried out by people like him, while members of the Haqqani group - which is run by one of the most senior Taliban figures - and their backers say it was achieved through fighting.

Mr Baradar was the first Taliban leader to communicate directly with a US president, having a telephone conversation with Donald Trump in 2020. Before that, he signed the Doha agreement on the withdrawal of US troops on behalf of the Taliban.

Meanwhile, the powerful Haqqani network is associated with some of the most violent attacks that have occurred in Afghanistan against Afghan forces and their Western allies in recent years. The group is designated by the US as a terrorist organisation.

Its leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the interior minister in the new government.

Rumours about a fallout have been spreading since late last week, when Mr Baradar - one of the best-known faces of the Taliban - disappeared from public view. There was speculation on social media that he might have died.

The Taliban sources told the BBC that Mr Baradar had left Kabul and travelled to the city of Kandahar following the row.

In an audio recording purportedly of Mr Baradar released on Monday, the Taliban co-founder said he had been "away on trips".

"Wherever I am at the moment, we are all fine," he said.

The BBC was not able to verify the recording, which was posted on a number of official Taliban websites.

The Taliban have maintained that there was no argument and that Mr Baradar is safe but have released conflicting statements on what he is currently doing. A spokesman said Mr Baradar had gone to Kandahar to meet the Taliban's supreme leader, but later told BBC Pashto that he was "tired and wanted some rest".

Many Afghans will feel they have good reason to doubt the Taliban's word. In 2015, the group admitted covering up their founding leader Mullah Omar's death for more than two years, during which time they continued to issue statements in his name.

Sources told the BBC that Mr Baradar was expected to return to Kabul and might appear on camera to deny that any argument had happened.

Speculation remains over the Taliban's supreme commander, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who has never been seen in public. He is in charge of the Taliban's political, military and religious affairs.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's acting foreign minister on Tuesday called for international donors to restart aid, saying the international community should not politicise their assistance.

More than $1bn (£720m) in aid was pledged for the country on Monday, following warnings from the United Nations of a "looming catastrophe".
Click to expand...

Poor reporting by BBC.

The whole structure of Afghan government is based on discussions and advice.

Like literally, they sit in a circle and discuss their respective arguments...
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/running-out-dollars-afghan-banks-ask-taliban-more-cash-2021-09-15/

Afghanistan's banks are running out of dollars, and may have to close their doors to customers unless the Taliban government releases funds soon, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The cash squeeze threatens to upend the country's already battered economy, largely dependent on hundreds of millions of dollars shipped by the United States to the central bank in Kabul that make their way to Afghans through banks.

One month since the Taliban captured the capital of Kabul, bankers fear fewer dollars could inflate the cost of food or electricity and make it harder to afford imports, spelling further misery for Afghans.

Although the cash crunch has lasted weeks, the country's banks have in recent days repeatedly underlined their concerns to the new government and central bank, two of the people said.

Banks have already pared back services and imposed weekly $200 payout limits amid a run on savings, with long queues outside branches as people try to get hold of dollars.

The hobbling of the central bank, whose foreign reserves were frozen after the Taliban took charge, could also hamper efforts of the international community to support Afghans.

Commercial banks have appealed to the central bank in recent days to free up the supply of U.S. dollars.

But they have yet to get an answer to their requests and are concerned that the government's vaults, in the presidential palace and headquarters of the central bank, are so empty that it may be in little position to help.

"We are left with liquidity of a few days' payments only," said one of the people with direct knowledge of the matter. "If the government does not react to the situation immediately, there will be demonstrations and violence."

In a statement on its website on Wednesday, the central bank's acting governor said banks were stable.

"The banks are completely secure," he said, adding that commercial banks usually kept 10% of their capital as cash and that those in Afghanistan, on average, held 50% as cash.

The central bank did, however, urge Afghans to use the local currency. It also posted a photograph of cash it said was part of a haul of millions of dollars and gold bars retrieved from former government officials.

Senior international officials who were overseeing the Afghan economy painted a bleaker picture in a confidential report written in recent days and sent to aid agencies.

"The liquidity crisis ... has disrupted supply chains and halted flow of money and goods," said the officials in the report seen by Reuters, warning that the economy could shrink by a third if the banking crisis was mishandled.

"A lot of businesses ... are unable to pay ... suppliers, and a lot of traders are unable to make international payments ... to import food. NGOs ... are unable to pay their staff salaries."

It is, however, unclear how much cash the government has to release. "The Taliban inherited a central bank with depleted USD and AFN cash reserves," the report said.

Some banks were taken aback when the central bank appeared to be short of dollars around the time of the fall of Kabul, because they had understood it had substantial dollar reserves in its vaults, three of the sources Reuters spoke to said.

The speed of the Taliban's victory, hastened by the final withdrawal of foreign troops from the country, took even them by surprise and compromised the chances of a smooth transition.

Ajmal Ahmadi, the previous central bank governor who fled the country, said earlier that almost all of central bank's roughly $10 billion were held abroad. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Russia's embassy in Kabul said ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in, the RIA news agency reported.

Ghani denies taking the money.

Donors have pledged more than $1.1 billion to help Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger have spiralled since the Taliban took power, and foreign aid has dried up.
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PM Flags "Radicalisation", Cites Afghanistan At Regional Summit SCO

New Delhi: Increasing extremism and radicalisation are the biggest threat to global peace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today at the nine-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, and drew attention to the Taliban's takeover in Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister highlighted India's concerns over regional stability and asked the SCO member states, which includes China and Pakistan, to ensure the grouping works closely together on issues like connectivity and trust.

"Today, we can see what is happening in Afghanistan. As SCO members it is a must for us all to ensure that there is no radicalisation and extremism on the rise there," PM Modi said at the SCO summit held online amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If we take a look at history, we will find that Central Asia has been a bastion of moderate and progressive cultures and values. Sufism flourished here over the centuries and spread throughout the region and the world. We can still see them in the cultural heritage of this region," the Prime Minister said. "Based on this historical heritage of Central Asia, SCO should make a common template of fighting radicalisation and extremism. In India, and in almost all the countries of the SCO, there are moderate, tolerant and inclusive institutions and traditions associated with Islam," PM Modi said.

The US pull-out from Afghanistan after a 20-year war on terror has led to new alignments, with Pakistan seen closely working with the Taliban again and China also coming into the picture by engaging with the new Taliban regime. India, which had started several infrastructure projects in Afghanistan when US forces were patrolling across the mostly barren and rocky country, had withdrawn its diplomatic mission staff from Kabul.

India is also concerned about Pakistan using Afghan soil to prep terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed to foment trouble in Jammu and Kashmir. India's spymaster Ajit Doval had said it is no secret that Pakistan has made terror "an instrument of state policy".

Welcoming Iran to the SCO as the ninth member, PM Modi said India is helping increase connectivity in Afghanistan via Iran's Chabahar Port, and such projects should be done by "respecting each nation's sovereignty" - a hint at the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC which India doesn't recognise as it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

"We believe that landlocked Central Asian countries can benefit immensely by connecting with India's vast market... All (SCO) member states must ensure that connectivity projects must not be affected by the situation on ground. Of course, all this must be done respecting each nation's sovereignty," PM Modi said.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar have joined the SCO as dialogue partners, while Iran joined as a full member.

The SCO was formed in June 2001 with Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as members. India and Pakistan became full members in June 2017. The SCO says its main goals are strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pm-narendra-modi-says-increasing-radicalisation-root-cause-of-problems-facing-region-cites-afghanistan-challenge-at-regional-summit-sco-2543936#pfrom=home-ndtv_bigstory
 
Taliban have effective banned girls from attending high school.

Pathetic decision from pathetic people. Really disappointed that this the group many Pakistanis and the Pakistan government is semi openly supporting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58607816
 
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">After mtgs in Dushanbe with leaders of Afghanistan's neighbours & especially a lengthy discussion with Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon, I have initiated a dialogue with the Taliban for an inclusive Afghan govt to include Tajiks, Hazaras & Uzbeks.</p>— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1439158625243648002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Jaishankar meets Saudi counterpart, says ‘very useful exchange of views on Afghanistan’
Prince Faisal is the first Saudi minister to visit India since the Covid-19 pandemic began last year.

The developments in Afghanistan and other regional issues figured in discussions on Sunday between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his visiting Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud.

Prince Faisal is the first Saudi minister to visit India since the Covid-19 pandemic began last year. Strategic and security cooperation between the two countries has grown in recent years and they held their first naval exercise in August.

“Very useful exchange of views on Afghanistan, the Gulf and the Indo-Pacific,” Jaishankar said in a tweet after the meeting. He added that he and Prince Faisal had discussed “cooperation in the political, security and socio-cultural pillars of our strategic partnership”.

India has urged the world community not to rush into recognising the Taliban set up in Kabul, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointing out last week that the new regime in Afghanistan is not inclusive and was formed without negotiations.

The discussions between the two ministers on Sunday will help shape the way forward in Afghanistan, including the issue of recognising the setup created by the Taliban after they took over the country on August 15.

Prince Faisal had recently said Saudi Arabia hopes the Taliban’s interim cabinet will help Afghanistan to achieve stability and overcome violence and extremism. He also said that Saudi Arabia will support “the choices the Afghan people make regarding the future of their country, away from external interference”.

The external affairs ministry said in a statement the two ministers also discussed all issues related to bilateral relations and regional and international issues of mutual interest. They reviewed the implementation of the Strategic Partnership Council Agreement signed by the two sides during PM Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia in October 2019.

“They expressed satisfaction at the meetings held under the Agreement and progress achieved. Both sides discussed further steps to strengthen their partnership in trade, investment, energy, defence, security, culture, consular issues, health care and human resources,” the statement said.

The ministers also discussed bilateral cooperation at multilateral forums such as the UN, G20 and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Jaishankar tweeted that he had urged Prince Faisal for the “early resumption of direct flights to Saudi Arabia”, and that the two sides had agreed to “work closely on all Covid-related challenges, including to travel”.

The external affairs ministry said Jaishankar had appreciated Saudi Arabia’s support for the Indian community during the pandemic and urged Saudi Arabia to further relax restrictions on travel from India.

In addition to being one of India’s largest energy suppliers, Saudi Arabia is home to 2.6 million Indians, the largest expatriate community in the kingdom and one of the biggest concentrations of expatriates in West Asia.

Last month, Saudi Arabia relaxed travel restrictions for Indians who have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in the kingdom. Under new guidelines, Indians who travel to India after receiving both doses in Saudi Arabia will be able to directly return to the kingdom without having to quarantine in a third country. The move benefited Indians who work in Saudi Arabia and were stuck in the country because of strict travel restrictions.

Prince Faisal is scheduled to meet the prime minister on Monday before he departs for New York to participate in the UN General Assembly session.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/jaishankar-meets-saudi-counterpart-says-very-useful-exchange-of-views-on-afghanistan-101632051960824.html
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
At least they didn't flee with the assets in four cars and a helicopter full of cash like the previous administration whom you have yet to criticise.
Click to expand...

See now the mask has come off. It's rather obvious why you were reluctant to answer the question I had last week.
 
Disgraceful to ban the education of women and young girls; they need to revoke this decision and understand that everyone in their country is equally as important to help rebuild everlasting peace and prosperity.

Forcing women to stay at home won't solve their crippling economy; it defies the basics of economics, no wonder their country has practically no economy.

This mindset cannot continue, Pakistan should use as much leverage as possible to help this militant group leading the country to understand the importance of the education of women.

You cannot expect handouts from the west if you continue to disobey them and not even acknowledge your own poor decision-making.

I hope that Afghanistan finds peace, but if the Taliban believe that they can provide this peace, they need to do so in the right ways. Ironic actually, the Taliban doing things the "right" way. Not like the other government was some great example to follow, but they did a lot of good humanitarian work amidst their own incompetence.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
It's only out of humanitarian concern, they are getting aid. They are facing an economic crisis and medieval illiterates cannot resolve that
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The economic crisis was their before the Taliban took over. The country was being run on foreign funding.

About 80 percent of Afghanistan’s budget is funded by the United States and other international donors, John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, told Reuters in the spring.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/08/17/treasury-taliban-money-afghanistan/


So not like the modern literates were able to resolve the economic crisis either.
 
UzmanBeast said:
Disgraceful to ban the education of women and young girls; they need to revoke this decision and understand that everyone in their country is equally as important to help rebuild everlasting peace and prosperity.

Forcing women to stay at home won't solve their crippling economy; it defies the basics of economics, no wonder their country has practically no economy.

This mindset cannot continue, Pakistan should use as much leverage as possible to help this militant group leading the country to understand the importance of the education of women.

You cannot expect handouts from the west if you continue to disobey them and not even acknowledge your own poor decision-making.

I hope that Afghanistan finds peace, but if the Taliban believe that they can provide this peace, they need to do so in the right ways. Ironic actually, the Taliban doing things the "right" way. Not like the other government was some great example to follow, but they did a lot of good humanitarian work amidst their own incompetence.
Click to expand...

Why should Pakistan use its limited leverage over the Taliban on women's education in Afghanistan?

The leverage needs to be used to ensure that Afghanistan's territory is not used to harm Pakistan, or any other country.

Its not Pakistan business or concern over what happens to women's rights in Afghanistan, especially when Pakistani women have plenty of problems in Pakistan. we should mind our own business and let Afghanistan solve their own problems.
 
topspin said:
See now the mask has come off. It's rather obvious why you were reluctant to answer the question I had last week.
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What are you talking about? Do you applaud the plundering of Afghan assets from an already impoverished country?
 
Gharib Aadmi said:
Why should Pakistan use its limited leverage over the Taliban on women's education in Afghanistan?

The leverage needs to be used to ensure that Afghanistan's territory is not used to harm Pakistan, or any other country.

Its not Pakistan business or concern over what happens to women's rights in Afghanistan, especially when Pakistani women have plenty of problems in Pakistan. we should mind our own business and let Afghanistan solve their own problems.
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Safety is a priority, yes, but the Taliban need to start understanding that the international community has requirements.
 
Mamoon said:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...message-to-west-come-back-with-money-not-guns

The proud Taliban begging for money from the infidels who invaded them.
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It's the worst kind of victor ever in history. Victors begging for aid from the people they apparently defeated.

They also rely heavily on heroin trade and India started putting a squeeze on it as predicted. In the last 1 week, heroin was caught at Indian borders. One of it was the highest ever with a market value of 3 to 5 bil USD. The begging will only intensify if they can't sell their drugs
 
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, which sometimes took place in front of crowds at a stadium, and he warned the world against interfering with Afghanistan’s new rulers.

“Everyone criticized us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi told The Associated Press, speaking in Kabul. “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Quran.”

Since the Taliban overran Kabul on Aug. 15 and seized control of the country, Afghans and the world have been watching to see whether they will re-create their harsh rule of the late 1990s. Turabi’s comments pointed to how the group’s leaders remain entrenched in a deeply conservative, hard-line worldview, even if they are embracing technological changes, like video and mobile phones.

Turabi, now in his early 60s, was justice minister and head of the so-called Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice — effectively, the religious police — during the Taliban’s previous rule.

At that time, the world denounced the Taliban’s punishments, which took place in Kabul’s sports stadium or on the grounds of the sprawling Eid Gah mosque, often attended by hundreds of Afghan men.

Executions of convicted murderers were usually by a single shot to the head, carried out by the victim’s family, who had the option of accepting “blood money” and allowing the culprit to live. For convicted thieves, the punishment was amputation of a hand. For those convicted of highway robbery, a hand and a foot were amputated.

Trials and convictions were rarely public and the judiciary was weighted in favor of Islamic clerics, whose knowledge of the law was limited to religious injunctions.

Turabi said that this time, judges — including women — would adjudicate cases, but the foundation of Afghanistan’s laws will be the Quran. He said the same punishments would be revived.

“Cutting off of hands is very necessary for security,” he said, saying it had a deterrent effect. He said the Cabinet was studying whether to do punishments in public and will “develop a policy.”

In recent days in Kabul, Taliban fighters have revived a punishment they commonly used in the past — public shaming of men accused of small-time theft.

On at least two occasions in the last week, Kabul men have been packed into the back of a pickup truck, their hands tied, and were paraded around to humiliate them. In one case, their faces were painted to identify them as thieves. In the other, stale bread was hung from their necks or stuffed in their mouth. It wasn’t immediately clear what their crimes were.

Wearing a white turban and a bushy, unkempt white beard, the stocky Turabi limped slightly on his artificial leg. He lost a leg and one eye during fighting with Soviet troops in the 1980s.

Under the new Taliban government, he is in charge of prisons. He is among a number of Taliban leaders, including members of the all-male interim Cabinet, who are on a United Nations sanctions list.

During the previous Taliban rule, he was one of the group’s most ferocious and uncompromising enforcers. When the Taliban took power in 1996, one of his first acts was to scream at a woman journalist, demanding she leave a room of men, and to then deal a powerful slap in the face of a man who objected.

Turabi was notorious for ripping music tapes from cars, stringing up hundreds of meters of destroyed cassettes in trees and signposts. He demanded men wear turbans in all government offices and his minions routinely beat men whose beards had been trimmed. Sports were banned, and Turabi’s legion of enforcers forced men to the mosque for prayers five times daily.

In this week’s interview with the AP, Turabi spoke to a woman journalist.

“We are changed from the past,” he said.

He said now the Taliban would allow television, mobile phones, photos and video “because this is the necessity of the people, and we are serious about it.” He suggested that the Taliban saw the media as a way to spread their message. “Now we know instead of reaching just hundreds, we can reach millions,” he said. He added that if punishments are made public, then people may be allowed to video or take photos to spread the deterrent effect.

The U.S. and its allies have been trying to use the threat of isolation — and the economic damage that would result from it — to pressure the Taliban to moderate their rule and give other factions, minorities and women a place in power.

But Turabi dismissed criticism over the previous Taliban rule, arguing that it had succeeded in bringing stability. “We had complete safety in every part of the country,” he said of the late 1990s.

Even as Kabul residents express fear over their new Taliban rulers, some acknowledge grudgingly that the capital has already become safer in just the past month. Before the Taliban takeover, bands of thieves roamed the streets, and relentless crime had driven most people off the streets after dark.

“It’s not a good thing to see these people being shamed in public, but it stops the criminals because when people see it, they think ‘I don’t want that to be me,’” said Amaan, a storeowner in the center of Kabul. He asked to be identified by just one name.

Another shopkeeper said it was a violation of human rights but that he was also happy he can open his store after dark.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/us/t...ecutions-will-return/ar-AAOKjLk?ocid=msedgntp
 
rhony said:
It's the worst kind of victor ever in history. Victors begging for aid from the people they apparently defeated.

They also rely heavily on heroin trade and India started putting a squeeze on it as predicted. In the last 1 week, heroin was caught at Indian borders. One of it was the highest ever with a market value of 3 to 5 bil USD. The begging will only intensify if they can't sell their drugs
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Quite a disturbing view of events from a humanitarian viewpoint. Victors begging from the people they defeated? Did they defeat world banks or international financial institutions?

Now you are saying that the illegal heroin trade with India will also be a blowback due to India putting a squeeze suddenly? That is so wrong on every level I don't even know where to begin.
 
The Taliban hung the bodies of four kidnappers from cranes after killing them during a shootout in Afghanistan's western city of Herat on Saturday, a senior official said.

Herat province's deputy governor Mawlawi Shir Ahmad Muhajir said the men's corpses were displayed in various public areas on the same day as the killings to teach a "lesson" that kidnapping will not be tolerated.

Graphic images posted to social media showed bloody bodies on the back of a pick-up truck while a crane hoisted one man up.

A crowd of people looked on as armed Taliban fighters gathered around the vehicle.

Another video showed a man suspended from a crane at a major roundabout in Herat with a sign on his chest reading: "Abductors will be punished like this".

The display across several squares in the city is the most high-profile public punishment since the

Taliban swept to power last month, and is a sign the Islamist hardliners will adopt fearsome measures similar to their previous rule from 1996 to 2001.

Muhajir said security forces were informed a businessman and his son had been abducted in the city on Saturday morning.

Police shut down the roads out of the city and the Taliban stopped the men at a checkpoint, where "an exchange of fire happened", he said.

"As a result of a few minutes of fighting, one of our Mujahideen was wounded and all four kidnappers were killed," Muhajir said in a recorded statement sent to AFP.

"We are the Islamic Emirate. No one should harm our nation. No one should kidnap," he said in the video clip.

Muhajir added that that before Saturday's incident there had been other kidnappings in the city, and the Taliban rescued a boy.

One kidnapper was killed and three others were arrested, he said, although in another case the Taliban "failed and the abductors were able to make money".

"It saddened us a lot because while we are in Herat, our people are being abducted," Muhajir said.

"In order to be a lesson for other kidnappers not to kidnap or harass anyone, we hung them in the squares of the city and made this clear to everyone that anyone who steals or abducts or does any action against our people will be punished."

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2322006/taliban-hang-bodies-of-four-men-in-herat-city
 
MenInG said:
The Taliban hung the bodies of four kidnappers from cranes after killing them during a shootout in Afghanistan's western city of Herat on Saturday, a senior official said.

Herat province's deputy governor Mawlawi Shir Ahmad Muhajir said the men's corpses were displayed in various public areas on the same day as the killings to teach a "lesson" that kidnapping will not be tolerated.

Graphic images posted to social media showed bloody bodies on the back of a pick-up truck while a crane hoisted one man up.

A crowd of people looked on as armed Taliban fighters gathered around the vehicle.

Another video showed a man suspended from a crane at a major roundabout in Herat with a sign on his chest reading: "Abductors will be punished like this".

The display across several squares in the city is the most high-profile public punishment since the

Taliban swept to power last month, and is a sign the Islamist hardliners will adopt fearsome measures similar to their previous rule from 1996 to 2001.

Muhajir said security forces were informed a businessman and his son had been abducted in the city on Saturday morning.

Police shut down the roads out of the city and the Taliban stopped the men at a checkpoint, where "an exchange of fire happened", he said.

"As a result of a few minutes of fighting, one of our Mujahideen was wounded and all four kidnappers were killed," Muhajir said in a recorded statement sent to AFP.

"We are the Islamic Emirate. No one should harm our nation. No one should kidnap," he said in the video clip.

Muhajir added that that before Saturday's incident there had been other kidnappings in the city, and the Taliban rescued a boy.

One kidnapper was killed and three others were arrested, he said, although in another case the Taliban "failed and the abductors were able to make money".

"It saddened us a lot because while we are in Herat, our people are being abducted," Muhajir said.

"In order to be a lesson for other kidnappers not to kidnap or harass anyone, we hung them in the squares of the city and made this clear to everyone that anyone who steals or abducts or does any action against our people will be punished."

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2322006/taliban-hang-bodies-of-four-men-in-herat-city
Click to expand...


Very much expected. Hope it was not a kangaroo court judgement.

Essential question - Who watches the watchman?
 
‘Necessary for security’: veteran Taliban enforcer says amputations will resume

Nooruddin Turabi, in charge of Afghan prisons, says executions and removal of hands will restart, but possibly not in public

Taliban leader Mullah Nooruddin Turabi. ‘No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam’


The Taliban will resume executions and the amputation of hands for criminals they convict, in a return to their harsh version of Islamic justice.

According to a senior official – a veteran leader of the hardline Islamist group who was in charge of justice during its previous period in power – executions would not necessarily take place in public as they did before.

The Taliban’s first period ruling Afghanistan during the 1990s, before they were toppled by a US-led invasion in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, was marked by the grisly excesses of its perfunctory justice system, which included public executions in the football stadium in Kabul.

In an interview with Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi – who was justice minister and head of the so-called ministry of propagation of virtue and prevention of vice during the Taliban’s previous rule – dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, and warned the world against interfering with Afghanistan’s new rulers.

Under the new Taliban government, Turabi is in charge of prisons. He is among a number of Taliban leaders, including members of the all-male interim cabinet, who are on a United Nations sanctions list.

“Everyone criticised us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi said in Kabul. “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Qur’an.”

“Cutting off of hands is very necessary for security,” Turabi added, saying it had a deterrent effect. He said the cabinet was studying whether to carry out punishments in public and would “develop a policy”.

A Taliban police officer slaps a boy for loitering. Force is now supposed to be a last resort, according to Kandahar’s new vice and virtue chief.
‘We don’t want people to be in a panic,’ says chief of Taliban morality police

Turabi’s comments follow warnings from Afghans who fled the country following the US withdrawal that the Taliban’s system of justice was more likely to follow the model of the way its “shadow courts” meted out punishments in areas it controlled, rather than the system that operated under the western-backed former government.

The shadow court system, headed by Mawlavi Abdul Hakim Sharie, who is the Taliban’s new justice minister, was used to undermine the authority of the previous regime, resolving disputes in a country where many felt they had little access to legal remedy.

A report by Human Rights Watch in 2020 suggested, however, abuses by the Taliban justice system including “prolonged arbitrary detention and summary punishments, including executions”.

“While public punishment for infractions is infrequent compared to the 1990s for offences deemed more serious,” the report continued, “Taliban officials have imprisoned residents and inflicted corporal punishments such as beatings.”

Since the Taliban overran Kabul on 15 August and seized control of the country, Afghans and the world have been watching to see whether they will recreate their harsh rule of the late 1990s.

At that time, the world denounced the Taliban’s punishments, which took place in Kabul’s sports stadium or on the grounds of the sprawling Eid Gah mosque, often attended by hundreds of Afghan men.

Executions of convicted murderers were usually by a single shot to the head, carried out by the victim’s family, who had the option of accepting “blood money” and allowing the culprit to live.

For convicted thieves, the punishment was amputation of a hand. For those convicted of highway robbery, a hand and a foot were amputated.

Trials and convictions were rarely public and the judiciary was weighted in favour of Islamic clerics, whose knowledge of the law was limited to religious injunctions.

Turabi said that this time, judges – including women – would adjudicate on cases, but the foundation of Afghanistan’s laws would be the Qur’an. He said the same punishments would be revived.

Taliban fighters have already revived a punishment they commonly used in the past: public shaming of men accused of small-time theft.

On at least two occasions in Kabul in the past week, men accused of petty theft have been packed into the back of a pickup truck, their hands tied, and paraded around for their humiliation.

In one case, their faces were painted to identify them as thieves. In the other, stale bread was hung from their necks or stuffed in their mouth. It was not immediately clear what their crimes were.

During the previous Taliban rule, Turabi was one of the group’s most ferocious and uncompromising enforcers. When the Taliban took power in 1996, one of his first acts was to scream at a female journalist, demanding she leave a room of men, and to then deal a powerful slap in the face of a man who objected.

Despite the comments on justice, Turabi tried to insist that the current iteration of the Taliban was different, saying that the group would allow television, mobile phones, photos and video “because this is the necessity of the people, and we are serious about it”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/24/afghanistan-taliban-enforcer-says-amputations-will-resume
 
@ above post

How is Imran Khan advocating support for Taliban from the west when they still want to be Eh Taliban.
 
'We Share India's Worries On Terror After Taliban's Takeover': Germany

Recently during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States, India discussed Pakistan's role in Afghanistan and the need for careful monitoring.

Germany has said that it shares India's fears that Afghanistan may be used for spreading international terror and it has told the Taliban that its land should not be used even by neighbouring country Pakistan.
German envoy to India Walter J Lindner, in an exclusive interview to ANI said, "We are holding talks with Taliban, which we do at low level as we did in Doha. One of our conditions is that Taliban or Afghanistan that matter, there should be no more fostering of international terrorism by anyone whatsoever, be it by neighbour countries like Pakistan or by Afghanistan itself and to all the neighbouring countries we have the same message."

"We share the fear of India that international terrorism might get a boost through this Taliban victory and this should not be the case that is why it is one of the biggest worries that this should not be the case in future, our condition to talk to Taliban is also no to fostering this terrorism," Walter J Linder added.

Recently during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States, India discussed Pakistan's role in Afghanistan and the need for careful monitoring.

During a meeting between Vice President Kamala Harris and PM Modi, Ms Harris suo motu referred to Pakistan's role in that regard. She said that there were terror groups working there. She asked Pakistan to take action so that these groups do not impact security of US and India.

India in its several multilateral and bilateral engagements have been saying that Afghanistan should not be used for terrorism against India. India is also consistently saying that UN resolution 2593 should be the driving policy.

Asked whether Germany will recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan, Ambassador Walter J. Lindner said, "Well you don't recognize governments you recognize countries and we are talking to them to get those out of the country who want to and also want to provide humanitarian assistance, so the main reasons why we are talking to them and that's it for the moment."

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/we-share-indias-worries-on-terror-after-talibans-takeover-germany-2555286
 
Barbers in Afghanistan's Helmand province have been banned by the Taliban from shaving or trimming beards.

The order was issued on Monday and marks the latest in a series of restrictions placed on the country's residents based on the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Sharia law is Islam's legal system - which is based on the Koran and the rulings of Islamic scholars - and acts as a code of conduct for modern Muslims to adhere to, ensuring they abide by God's wishes in all areas of life from daily routines to personal beliefs.

"If anyone violates the rule (they) will be punished and no one has a right to complain," said the new regulation, issued by the provincial Taliban government's vice and virtue department to barbers in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.

It was not immediately clear what penalties the barbers could face if they breached the order.

During their previous rule of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, the Taliban demanded men grow beards.

After the group were ousted from power following the US-led invasion in 2001, shaved or cleanly trimmed beards became popular in the country.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace at the steel cutting ceremony for the first of the class Type 31 frigate, at Babcock Rosyth, Fife. Picture date: Thursday September 23, 2021.
Afghanistan: Defence Secretary Ben Wallace 'pretty angry' over MoD's data breaches

"I request our Taliban brothers to give freedom to people to live the way they want, if they want to trim their beard or hair," one barber told the AP news agency.

"Now we have few clients coming to us, they are scared, they don't want to trim their hair or beards, so I request them let people free, so we have our business and people can freely come to us."

Another, Sher Afzal, added: "If someone comes for a haircut, they will come back to us after 40 to 45 days, so it is affecting our business like any other businesses."

The latest regulation is one of several moves which signal the Taliban have not been swayed by international criticism and that they are sticking to their current hardline path despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, inclusivity and upholding women's rights since regaining control of the country.
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-say-forces-destroy-islamic-state-cell-hours-after-kabul-blast-2021-10-04/

Taliban government forces destroyed an Islamic State cell in the north of Kabul late on Sunday in a prolonged assault that broke the calm of a normally quiet area of the capital with hours of explosions and gunfire, officials and local residents said.

With Afghanistan's economy close to collapse and large areas of the country in danger of famine, the presence of an apparently well-armed militant cell in Kabul underlined the daunting scale of the challenge facing the new government.

The Taliban operation came after a bomb attack near a mosque in Kabul earlier on Sunday that was later claimed by Islamic State. That blast killed and wounded a number of civilians in what appeared to be the worst attack in the Afghan capital since the withdrawal of U.S. forces at the end of August.

The local affiliate of Islamic State, known as ISIS-Khorasan after an ancient name for the region, has already claimed to have carried out attacks on Taliban targets and remains unreconciled to the Afghan Islamist movement.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said a special Taliban unit carried out an operation against ISIS elements in Kabul's 17th district, in the city's north, destroying their base and killing all those in it.

Local residents said the Taliban forces cordoned off the area before beginning their assault at around 7.30 p.m., before a firefight that lasted several hours, interrupted by at least two blasts as the suspected ISIS fighters detonated explosives.

"For about three hours the clashes were very intense and several powerful explosions also took place," said Hashmatullah, a local shopkeeper.

One local resident, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said a final blast occurred at around 11.30 p.m. when an explosives-packed car blew up, apparently killing all the ISIS fighters in the building where they were holed up.

He said sporadic gunfire could be heard late into the night and early morning near the compound.

As pickup trucks carried furniture and other items out of the partially destroyed compound on Monday, Taliban soldiers sealed off the area, ushering away bystanders.

The Taliban, who are also fighting the remnants of forces loyal to Ahmad Massoud, an opposition leader from the Panjshir region north of Kabul, have said they have almost complete control of the country.

But Sunday's violence, and a string of smaller incidents in recent days in areas including Nangarhar on the border with Pakistan and Parwan north of Kabul, have shown that security threats have not disappeared.

Islamic State's Amaq news agency said on Telegram the group carried out the mosque bombing.

IS has also claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in the eastern city of Jalalabad as well as a suicide attack in late August that killed 13 U.S. soldiers and scores of Afghan civilians who were crowded outside the Kabul airport gates, desperate to secure seats on evacuation flights.

Samiullah, a resident of Kabul who runs a street vendor cart near the mosque, said that, initially, even if the economic situation had worsened since the Taliban takeover, the improved security situation was a consolation.

"We regret that the situation has gone from bad to worse," he told Reuters close to the mosque premises after being ordered to move away from his usual spot. "The situation is not normal yet. No one is allowed in this area except for the Taliban."
Click to expand...
 
Whole of Kabul may lose power because taliban are not paying the central
Asian countries which supply the electricity

They have removed the head of the authority and put another jaahil mullah in his place who has no understanding c
 
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58807734

The Taliban murdered 13 ethnic Hazara people including a teenage girl, according to a prominent rights group.

Amnesty International said it found evidence the victims were massacred in Daykundi province in August.

Nine were former government soldiers who had surrendered to the Taliban, Amnesty said, adding that the killings appeared to be a war crime.

The Taliban denied the allegation, telling the BBC that the Amnesty report only showed "one side" of the story.

The Hazara community is Afghanistan's third largest ethnic group. They mainly practise Shia Islam and have faced long-term discrimination and persecution in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the second time the Taliban have been accused of killing Hazaras since the group swept to power in August.

Two other victims of the alleged killings in Daykundi province were civilians, Amnesty said, including a 17-year-old girl reportedly shot when the Taliban opened fire on a crowd of soldiers' families.

The civilians were killed as they attempted to flee, Amnesty said in the report published on Tuesday.

"These cold-blooded executions are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule of Afghanistan," said Agnès Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International.

"The Taliban say they are not targeting former employees of the previous government, but these killings contradict such claims," she said.

A previous Amnesty report, released in August, said the Taliban had "massacred" nine members of the Hazara minority in Ghazni province in July.

The Taliban's interior ministry spokesman, Qari Saeed Khosti told the BBC: "This report is one sided and we call on all international organisations to come and conduct a proper investigation in the field.

"This is not an acceptable conclusion and is free of transparency."

According to the Amnesty report, about 300 Taliban fighters travelled on 30 August to an area near Dahani Qul village, where members of the former government forces were staying with their families.

The former Afghan security forces members and their families attempted to flee, but the Taliban caught up with them and opened fire, the report said.

One former soldier fired back, killing a Taliban fighter and wounding another, Amnesty said, and two other former government soldiers were killed in the ensuing crossfire.

Nine other former soldiers then surrendered, according to the report, but the Taliban "promptly took them to a nearby river basin and executed them".
Click to expand...
 
A suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shia mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 55 people on Friday, in the bloodiest assault since US forces left the country.

Scores more victims from the minority community were wounded in the blast, which has not been claimed but appears designed to further destabilise Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover.

A medical source at the Kunduz Provincial Hospital said that 35 dead and more than 55 wounded had been taken there, while Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital said 20 were dead and scores more wounded.

Matiullah Rohani, director of culture and information in Kunduz for Afghanistan's new Taliban government, confirmed to AFP that the deadly incident was a suicide attack and that at least 46 people had died and 143 were wounded.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had earlier said “an explosion took place in a mosque of our Shia compatriots” in Kunduz.

Bilal Karimi, a Taliban security official, added that targeting civilians was the "ultimate low". He said that the Islamic Emirate would not allow the criminals to go unpunished.

Residents of Kunduz, the capital of a province of the same name, told AFP the blast hit a Shia mosque during Friday prayers.

Zalmai Alokzai, a local businessman who rushed to Kunduz Provincial Hospital to check whether doctors needed blood donations, described horrific scenes.

“Ambulances were going back to the incident scene to carry the dead,” he said.

An international aid worker at the MSF hospital in the city told AFP there were fears the death toll could rise even further.

“Hundreds of people are gathered at the main gate of the hospital and crying for their relatives but armed Taliban guys are trying to prevent gatherings in case another explosion is planned,” he said.

Islamic State group claims attack
Meanwhile, the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide bomb attack.

In a statement released on its Telegram channels, the group said that an IS suicide bomber “detonated an explosive vest amid a crowd” of Shia worshippers who had gathered inside the mosque.

In a second statement, IS said the “perpetrator of the attack was an Uighur Muslim”, a minority that the “Taliban had vowed to expel” from Afghanistan.

The militant group, bitter rivals of the Taliban, has repeatedly targeted Shias in a bid to stir up sectarian violence in Afghanistan.

Frightened crowds

Graphic images shared on social media, which could not immediately be verified, showed several bloodied bodies lying on the floor. Pictures showed plumes of smoke rising into the air over Kunduz. Another video showed men shepherding people, including women and children, away from the scene. Frightened crowds thronged the streets.

Aminullah, an eyewitness whose brother was at the mosque, told AFP: “After I heard the explosion, I called my brother but he did not pick up.

“I walked towards the mosque and found my brother wounded and faint. We immediately took him to the MSF hospital.”

A female teacher in Kunduz told AFP the blast happened near her house, and several of her neighbours were killed.

“It was a very terrifying incident,” she said. “Many of our neighbours have been killed and wounded. A 16-year-old neighbour was killed. They couldn't find half of his body. Another neighbour who was 24 was killed as well.”

Kunduz's location makes it a key transit point for economic and trade exchanges with Tajikistan.

It was the scene of fierce battles as the Taliban fought their way back into power this year.

Persecuted community
Shias make up roughly 20 per cent of the Afghan population. Many of them are Hazara, an ethnic group that has been heavily persecuted in Afghanistan for decades.

In October 2017, a lone IS suicide attacker struck a Shia mosque as worshippers gathered for evening prayers in the west of Kabul, killing 56 people and wounding 55 including women and children.

And in May this year, a series of bombings outside a school in the capital killed at least 85 people — mostly young girls. More than 300 were wounded in this attack on the Hazara community.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1650836/a...icide-attack-at-mosque-in-afghanistans-kunduz
 
The militant Islamic State group on Saturday claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a Shia mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar that killed at least 41 people and injured scores more.

The Friday assault came just a week after another IS-claimed attack on Shia worshippers at a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz that killed more than 60 people.

In a statement released on its Telegram channels, the group said two Islamic State suicide bombers carried out separate attacks on different parts of the mosque in Kandahar — the spiritual heartland of the Taliban — while worshippers prayed inside.

The group, a bitter rival of the Taliban, which swept back to power in Afghanistan in August as the United States and its allies withdrew, regards Shia Muslims as heretics.

UK-based conflict analysis firm ExTrac said Friday's assault was the first by IS in Kandahar, and the fourth mass casualty massacre since the Taliban took Kabul.

ExTrac researcher Abdul Sayed told AFP the attack was “challenging the Taliban claims of holding control on the country. If the Taliban can't protect Kandahar from an IS attack, how could it protect the rest of the country?”

Inside the mosque, after the blast, the walls were pockmarked with shrapnel and volunteers swept up debris in the ornately painted prayer hall. Rubble lay in an entrance corridor.

In the wake of the explosions, Kandahar police chief Maulvi Mehmood said “a brutal attack has been witnessed on a Shia mosque as a result of which a huge number of our countrymen have lost their lives”.

In a video statement, Mehmood said security for the mosque had been provided by guards from the Shia community but that henceforth the Taliban would take charge of its protection.

Hafiz Abdulhai Abbas, director of health for Kandahar, told AFP 41 people had been killed about 70 wounded, according to hospital information.

At least 15 ambulances were seen rushing to and from the scene, as Taliban security cordoned off the area.

“We are overwhelmed,” a doctor at the city's central Mirwais hospital told AFP.

“There are too many dead bodies and wounded people brought to our hospital. We are expecting more to come. We are in urgent need of blood. We have asked all the local media in Kandahar to ask people to come and donate blood.”

Many worshippers
Eyewitnesses spoke of gunfire alongside the explosions, and a security guard assigned to protect the mosque said three of his comrades had been shot as the bombers fought their way in.

Sayed Rohullah told AFP: “It was the Friday prayer time, and when we were preparing I heard shots. Two people had entered the mosque.

“They had opened fire on the guards and in response the guards had also opened fire on them. One of them committed a suicide blast inside the mosque.”

Other bombs were detonated in crowded areas outside the main building, he and other witnesses said.

“We are saddened to learn that an explosion took place in a mosque of the Shia brotherhood in the first district of Kandahar city in which a number of our compatriots were martyred and wounded,” tweeted Taliban interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti.

The US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington condemned the attack and reiterated a call for the “Taliban to live up to the commitment it has made to counterterrorism, and specifically to taking on the shared threat we face from ISIS-K”.

“We are determined to see to it that no group [...] can ever again use Afghan soil as a launching pad for attacks on the United States or other countries.”

The UN mission in Afghanistan in a tweet also condemned the “latest atrocity targeting a religious institution and worshippers”.

“Those responsible need to be held to account.”

The Taliban, which seized control of Afghanistan after overthrowing the US-backed government, has its own history of persecuting Shia.

But the new Taliban-led administration has vowed to stabilise the country, and in the wake of the Kunduz attack promised to protect the Shia minority now living under its rule.

Shia are estimated to make up roughly 10 per cent of the Afghan population. Many of them are Hazara, an ethnic group that has been persecuted in Afghanistan for decades.

In October 2017, an IS suicide attacker struck a Shia mosque in the west of Kabul, killing 56 people and wounding 55.

DAWN
 
India looks to host NSA-level meet on Afghanistan next month; China, Pakistan invited: Report

If Pakistan agrees to attend the NSA-level conference, it would mark the first visit by incumbent NSA Yusuf to India, the report said.

India is likely to host a national security advisor-level meeting on Afghanistan in New Delhi next month, which will be the first-of-its-kind dialogue to be hosted by New Delhi, ANI reported. The tentative dates of the proposed in-person dialogue are November 10-11 and the format will be similar to the regional security conference held in Iran in 2019, the reports said. Pakistan and China are likely to be invited to take part in the meeting, apart from Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The ANI report said that the invitation has been extended to Pakistan's NSA Moeed Yusuf, though there is no official confirmation.

Reports said that the conference was on the cards even before the Taliban takeover of the country. New Delhi was planning to hold a conference on Afghanistan before, but the move was derailed during the pandemic and then the Afghanistan government was toppled by the Taliban.

If Pakistan agrees to attend the NSA-level conference, it would mark the first visit by incumbent NSA Yusuf to India, the report said. It is, however, contrary to Pakistan's policy to attend a conference on Afghanistan where there will be no representation from the Taliban.

The conference will take place after New Delhi and Taliban representatives meet face-to-face in Russia on the Moscow Format, to be held on October 20. There will be no Taliban representative attending New Delhi's conference as reports said that India is wary of hosting the Taliban as the group is yet to address international concerns of inclusivity on the government and human rights by the government.

On the question of recognising the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, India has clarified its stance that it will stand by the Afghan people. PM Modi has urged the international community to ensure that Afghan territory does not become a source of radicalisation and terrorism.

The first official contact between New Delhi and the Taliban was on August 31 when the ambassador of India to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the head of Taliban's political office in Doha. That meeting took place at the Embassy of India in Doha at the request of the Taliban side.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-looks-to-host-nsa-level-meet-on-afghanistan-next-month-china-pakistan-invited-report-101634461651823.html
 
Top Taliban minister praises suicide bombers, promises $125 and plot of land

Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is the home minister in the Taliban government, was seen praying and embracing men in a glitzy ballroom at the hotel in Kabul.

A top Taliban minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, has praised the sacrifices of suicide bombers as” heroes of Islam and the country" as he met their relatives in an upscale hotel in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, according to a report on Tuesday.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is the home minister in the Taliban government, was seen praying and embracing men in a glitzy ballroom at the hotel in images posted by pro-Taliban social media accounts and local media on Tuesday. "Haqqani praised the jihad and sacrifice of the martyrs and mujahideen,” Afghan state broadcaster RTA reported.

The broadcaster said that Sirajuddin, who is listed as a terrorist by the United States with a $10 million bounty on his head, "stressed that we must refrain from any betrayal of the aspirations of the martyrs" and promised $125 and a plot of land for each family.

The Intercontinental Hotel was stormed by Taliban gunmen in January 2018, who opened fire on guests and staff and took dozens hostage.

The Haqqani network was formed by Sirajuddin's father Jalaluddin Haqqani and is the most feared faction of the Taliban, blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan during the last two decades.

Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that his country will not officially recognise the Taliban for now and wants the Islamist group to make good on promises it made when it came to power in Afghanistan. Lavrov said the Taliban’s promises included, in particular, those on political and ethnic inclusivity in the make-up of the government.

Taliban recaptured Afghanistan overtaking the western-backed government on August 15 this year and has since then formed an all-male government and rolled back all rights gained by women and girls in the country.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/top-taliban-minister-praises-suicide-bombers-promises-125-and-plot-of-land-101634651684769.html
 
Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada addressed supporters in the southern city of Kandahar, officials announced Sunday, his first public appearance since taking control of the group in 2016.

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Akhundzada has been the spiritual chief of the Islamist movement since 2016 but has remained a reclusive figure, even after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan.

His low profile has fed speculation about his role in the new Taliban government, formed after the group took control of Kabul in mid-August -- and even rumours of his death.

On Saturday, he visited the Darul Uloom Hakimah madrassa to "speak to his brave soldiers and disciples", according to the introduction to an audio recording circulated by Taliban social media accounts.

"May God reward the oppressed people of Afghanistan who fought the infidels and the oppressors for 20 years," Akhundzada said, in the recording. "My intention here is to pray for you and you pray for me".

In the 10-minute recording, he prays for the Taliban martyrs, wounded fighters and the success of officials involved in the "big test" of rebuilding what they call the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

"Let's pray that we come out of this big test successfully. May Allah help us stay strong," he said.

There was tight security at the event and no photographs or video have emerged.

Akhundzada is referred to as "Amirul Momineen", commander of the faithful, the rank conferred on the late Taliban founder Mullah Omar by his supporters.

Akhundzada is thought to have been selected to serve more as a spiritual figurehead than a military commander, but his unusually public statements will fuel speculation that he now plans to take a more central role in leading the new government.

Unifying figure
Akhundzada rose from low-profile religious figure to leader of the Taliban in a swift transition of power after a 2016 US drone strike killed his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour.

After being appointed leader, he secured the backing of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who showered the cleric with praise -- calling him "the emir of the faithful".

This endorsement by Osama bin Laden's heir helped seal his jihadist credentials with the Taliban's long-time allies.

Akhundzada was tasked with unifying a Taliban movement that briefly fractured during the bitter power struggle after Akhtar's assassination, and the revelation that the leadership had hidden the death of their founder Mullah Omar for years.

His public profile has largely been limited to the release of messages during Islamic holidays, and Akhundzada is believed to spend most of his time in Kandahar, the main city in the Taliban's southern Afghan heartland.

His last message was on September 7, when he told the newly appointed Taliban government in Kabul to uphold sharia law as they govern Afghanistan.

Last week, Mullah Yussef Wafa, the Taliban governor of Kandahar and a close ally of Akhundzada, told AFP he was in regular contact with his mysterious chief.

"We have regular meetings with him about the control of the situation in Afghanistan and how to make a good government," he said in an interview.

"As he is our teacher, and everyone's teacher, we are trying to learn something from him," he added.

"He gives advice to every leader of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and we are following his rules, advice, and if we have a progressive government in the future it's because of his advice."

(AFP)
 
https://www.dawn.com/news/1655135/cop26-taliban-urge-international-donors-to-support-green-projects-in-afghanistan

Afghanistan's new Taliban regime urged international donors to resume full support for green projects in the country on Sunday, marking the start of the COP26 summit.

The movement seized power in Afghanistan in August after overthrowing the former US-backed regime, but has not yet been recognised by the international community.

As such, the new Islamic Emirate will not be represented in Glasgow when world leaders gather on Sunday to renew plans to tackle the global climate crisis.

But senior Taliban leader Suhail Shaheen said that climate programmes in Afghanistan that had already been approved for UN support should continue.

“Afghanistan has a fragile climate. There is a need for tremendous work,” he said on Twitter.

“Some climate change projects which have already been approved and were funded by Green Climate Fund, UNDP, Afghan Aid, should fully resume work.”

Relief agencies have warned that a drought in Afghanistan, which UN scientists say has been worsened by climate change, could force 22 million into “acute food insecurity”.

But the work of international agencies has been disrupted by the change in regime, and international donors are reluctant to work with the group.

Shaheen stressed, however, that the Taliban would be able to ensure the security of teams working in the projects.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is committed to providing security and a safe environment for the work of NGOs and charity organisations,” he tweeted.
Click to expand...
 
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2328175/55-daish-fighters-surrender-in-eastern-afghanistan-taliban

The Taliban on Saturday claimed that over 50 Islamic State (IS), also known as Dai’sh militants "surrendered" in the restive eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

An official statement from the Taliban's intelligence headquarters in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, said that 55 fighters associated with the Dai’sh terrorist group had laid down their guns there.

It said the head of the intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security in Nangarhar, Doctor Bashir, granted "conditional pardon" through mediation by tribal elders to these former fighters who had been carrying out destructive activities in the Kot, Spin Ghar, and Achin districts of the province.

"If anyone (among the fighters) violates (the accord) there will be strict legal actions (against them)," the statement quoted the Taliban intelligence chief as saying.

The statement further said that the surrendering militants regretted their past actions and vowed to live peacefully under the Islamic Emirate.

Last week, another batch of 65 militants had surrendered in the same province that has been witnessing a spike in targeted assassinations and bomb blasts in connection with rifts between the Taliban and Dai’sh.

Earlier this month, the Taliban claimed dismantling a Dai’sh hideout in the capital Kabul that had been blamed for many attacks.

Days later, that the terror group claimed a massive suicide bombing in Kandahar, besides orchestrating targeted killings in Nangarhar and Parwan provinces and another major suicide bombing in a Shia community mosque in the northern Kunduz province, killing more than 100 people.
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https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-start-paying-overdue-salaries-afghan-government-workers-2021-11-20/

Afghanistan's Taliban administration will begin paying the overdue salaries of government workers from Saturday, officials said.

Thousands of Afghan government workers are owed at least three months of salary, one of the many crises faced by the Taliban since the Islamist movement took over the country in August.

"The finance ministry says that, starting today, the past three months salaries of all government workers and staff will be paid totally," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.

It was not immediately clear where the funds to pay the salaries would come from.

Even before the Taliban seized control last in August, many public sector workers said they had not been paid for weeks. After the movement took power, billions of dollars of Afghan government funds parked abroad in the United States and Europe were frozen.

Foreign governments have been unwilling to fund the Taliban-led administration directly to help with financial commitments such as payment of workers. Global financial institutions have also halted funding.

After a meeting on Thursday between the special envoys of Germany and the Netherlands and Taliban officials in Kabul, the envoys expressed willingness to explore paying health and education sector workers directly through international organisations.

It is unclear if the Taliban's announcement on Saturday is related to this.

Another Taliban spokesman, Inamullah Samangani, said on Twitter on Saturday that the daily revenue collections of the Taliban administration had been increasing daily.

"The finance ministry says that in the last 78 working days of the last three months, we have generated income of about 26.915 billion Afghanis ($288 million)," he said.

"We collected 557 million Afghanis ($5.9 million) in revenue on Wednesday alone," Samangani said, quoting the finance ministry, adding the payment of pensions of retired workers would also resume soon.
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https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-uae-holds-talks-with-taliban-run-kabul-airport-foreign-diplomats-2021-11-24/

The United Arab Emirates has held talks with the Taliban to run Kabul airport, going up against Gulf rival Qatar in a diplomatic tussle for influence with Afghanistan's new rulers, according to four sources with knowledge of the matter.

UAE officials have held a series of discussions with the group in recent weeks to discuss operating the airport that serves as landlocked Afghanistan's main air link to the world, the foreign diplomats based in the Gulf region told Reuters.

The talks demonstrate how countries are seeking to assert their influence in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan even as the hardline Islamist group largely remains an international pariah and its government not formally recognised by any country.

The Emiratis are keen to counter diplomatic clout enjoyed there by Qatar, according to the sources who declined to be name due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The Qataris have been helping run the Hamid Karzai International Airport along with Turkey after playing a major role in evacuation efforts following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal in August, and have said they are willing to take over the operations.

Yet the Taliban has not yet formalised an arrangement with Qatar, the four diplomats said.

A senior Emirati foreign ministry official said the UAE, which previously ran Kabul airport during the U.S.-backed Afghan republic, "remains committed to continuing to assist in operating" it to ensure humanitarian access and safe passage.

Abu Dhabi also aided recent evacuation efforts.

The Taliban and Qatari authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

Two of the diplomats said the Taliban has also sought financial assistance from the UAE, though they added it was not clear if this was related to the airport discussions.

The Emirati foreign ministry official, Salem Al Zaabi, director of international security cooperation, did not respond to a question on whether the UAE was considering providing financial help to the Taliban.

One key issue that's still to be resolved between the Taliban and potential airport operators is who would provide security at the site, the four diplomats said. The Taliban say they do not want foreign forces in the country following their return to power after two decades of war.

Still, Qatari special forces are presently providing security within the airport's perimeter, the diplomats added, while Taliban special forces were patrolling areas outside.

So far countries have been reluctant to formally recognise the Taliban's government, accusing the group of backtracking on pledges to uphold the rights of women and minorities.

Yet Qatari officials have urged greater international engagement with the Taliban to prevent impoverished Afghanistan from falling into a humanitarian crisis. Gulf states have also voiced concern that the U.S. withdrawal would allow al Qaeda to regain a foothold in Afghanistan.

While there is little commercial benefit for any operator, the airport would provide a much-needed source of intelligence on movements in and out of the country, according to the four diplomats, who said that since the withdrawal many countries have lacked real-time information.

Qatar and the UAE have had strained relations for years as they competed for regional influence.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and their allies boycotted Qatar for over three years, cutting off political, trade and transport ties, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism - a charge that it denies. The dispute was resolved in January this year.

Qatar has long been the gateway to the Taliban, with Doha hosting the group's political office since 2013 and negotiations with the U.S. in early 2020 that led to the withdrawal.

Last week, Qatari officials strengthened their position by signing an accord to represent American diplomatic interests in Afghanistan.

The UAE has maintained ties with the Taliban too, according to two of the diplomats. They said the country had been home to some members of the group in recent years, including Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who they added lived in the Sharjah emirate with his family from at least 2013. Stanikzai is now deputy foreign minister in the Taliban administration.

Al Zaabi did not respond to questions on the UAE's relationship with Stanikzai. The Taliban did not immediately respond to queries on Stanikzai living in the UAE.

The Taliban said this month that the UAE had reopened its embassy in Kabul. The UAE has not commented.
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https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-authorizes-certain-transactions-with-taliban-ease-flow-aid-afghanistan-2021-12-22/

The United States on Wednesday formally exempted U.S. and U.N. officials doing official business with the Taliban from U.S. sanctions to try to maintain the flow of aid to Afghanistan as it sinks deeper into a humanitarian crisis.

It was unclear, however, whether the move would clear the way for proposed U.N. payments of some $6 million to the Islamists for security.

Reuters on Tuesday exclusively reported a U.N. plan to subsidize next year the monthly wages of Taliban-run Interior Ministry personnel who guard U.N. facilities and to pay them monthly food allowances, a proposal that raised questions about whether the payments would violate U.S. sanctions.

The Treasury Department declined to say whether the new license would exempt the proposed U.N. payments from U.S. sanctions on the Taliban.

Having designated the Taliban as a terrorist group for years, Washington has ordered its U.S. assets frozen and barred Americans from dealing with them.

The Treasury on Wednesday issued three general licenses aimed at easing humanitarian aid flows into Afghanistan.

Two of the licenses allow U.S. officials and those of certain international organizations, such as the United Nations, to engage in transactions involving the Taliban or Haqqani network for official business.

A third license gives nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) protection from U.S. sanctions on the Taliban and the Haqqani Network for work on certain activities, including humanitarian projects.

A senior U.S. administration official said the Taliban would have to take action to prevent Afghanistan's economy from contracting further.

"What we can attempt to do, what we're going to work to do, is to mitigate the humanitarian crisis by getting resources to the Afghan people, and these general licenses will allow us to allow organizations that are doing this work to do exactly that," the official told reporters.

Afghanistan's economic crisis accelerated after the Taliban seized power in August, as the former Western-backed government collapsed and the last U.S. troops withdrew.

The United States and other donors cut financial assistance, and more than $9 billion in Afghanistan's hard currency assets were frozen.

The United Nations says nearly 23 million people – about 55% of the population – are facing extreme levels of hunger, with nearly 9 million at risk of famine as winter takes hold.

"We will continue to support efforts by our partners to scale up assistance and deliver necessary relief during this moment of particular need," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

In a separate bid to address the crisis, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution exempting donors, aid groups and financial institutions involved in humanitarian assistance from U.N. asset freezes on leaders of the Taliban and associated entities.

The exemption is “solely for the provision of humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic human needs in Afghanistan which the council will review in one year,” Jeffrey DeLaurentis, a senior adviser to the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said in urging approval of the measure.
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https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-increase-payment-wheat-economic-crisis-deepens-2022-01-11/

The Taliban administration said on Tuesday it was expanding its 'food for work' program, in which it uses donated wheat to pay thousands of public sector employees instead of cash as a financial crisis intensifies.

Wheat, largely donated by India to the previous U.S.-backed Kabul government, is being used to pay 40,000 workers 10kg of wheat per day for working five hours a day, agriculture officials told a news conference.

The scheme, which has largely paid labourers on public works programs in Kabul, will be expanded around the country, they said.

"We are ready to help our people as much as we can," said Fazel Bari Fazli, deputy minister of administration and finance at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Taliban administration has already received an additional 18 tonnes of wheat from Pakistan with a promise of 37 tonnes more and is in negotiation with India for 55 tonnes, according to Fazli.

"We have lots of plans for food for work program," he said.

It was not clear how much of the donated wheat would be used as direct humanitarian aid and how much to pay workers.

The expanding program underlines the growing conundrum faced by the Taliban administration as cash in the country dries up and could raise questions among donors over the use of humanitarian aid for government purposes while strict restrictions remain on financial flows into the country.

International sanctions on Taliban members, frozen central bank assets and the sudden drop off in international assistance that once formed the backbone of the economy has left the Taliban government with limited government finances and a growing economic crisis.

Humanitarian aid has continued as foreign governments attempt to prevent millions from starving, but is designed to bypass Afghan government channels and is mostly distributed by international multilateral institutions.

U.N. agencies on Tuesday asked donors for $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan in 2022, calling the funds an "essential stop gap" to ensure the country's future.
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Five Britons released after arrest by Taliban

Five Britons who had been detained in Afghanistan by the Taliban have been released, the Foreign Office has said.

Friends and family said former BBC cameraman Peter Jouvenal was among them, although the UK did not confirm any names.

Mr Jouvenal was among a number of men arrested by the Taliban last year and held on unspecified charges.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the five people released would "soon be reunited with their families".

In a statement, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the British nationals detained by the Taliban had no role in the UK government's work in Afghanistan.

A spokesman said the five had travelled to Afghanistan against the UK government's travel advice, adding: "This was a mistake."

He said: "On behalf of the families of the British nationals, we express their apologies for any breach of Afghan culture, customs or laws, and offer their assurance of future good conduct.

"The UK government regrets this episode."

Mr Jouvenal - who also ran a hostel in Kabul for a time as well as working for the BBC in Afghanistan - was held for more than six months, his friends and family said in a statement.

"We are grateful to the thousands of people who have supported the campaign to release him," they said.

They also thanked the FCDO staff who "worked tirelessly" for his release and requested privacy for Mr Jouvenal to reconnect with his wife and family and recover from his "long ordeal".

On Sunday, a diplomat at the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha issued a statement seeking to reassure the Afghan authorities that the UK "does not support anyone, including Afghan nationals, seeking to achieve political change through violence", and promising that it would "not allow UK soil to be used to plan or prepare" violence.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61869012
 
Afghan supreme leader orders full enforcement of Sharia

KABUL: Afghanistan’s supreme leader has ordered judges to fully enforce aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stoning and floggings, and the amputation of limbs for thieves, the Taliban’s chief spokesman said.

Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that the “obligatory” command by Hibatullah Akhundzada came after the secretive leader met with a group of judges.

Akhundzada, who has not been filmed or photographed in public since the Taliban returned to power in August last year, rules by decree from Kandahar, the movement’s birthplace and spiritual heartland.

The Taliban promised a softer version of the harsh rule that characterised their first stint in power, from 1996-2001, but have gradually clamped down on rights and freedoms.

“Carefully examine the files of thieves, kidnappers and seditionists,” Mujahid quoted Akhundzada as saying.

“Those files in which all the sharia (Islamic law) conditions of hudud and qisas have been fulfilled, you are obliged to implement. This is the ruling of sharia, and my command, which is obligatory.”

Hudud refers to offences which, under Islamic law, certain types of punishment are mandated, while qisas translates as “retaliation in kind” — effectively an eye for an eye.

Hudud crimes include adultery — and falsely accusing someone of it — drinking alcohol, theft, kidnapping and highway robbery, apostasy and rebellion. Qisas covers murder and deliberate injury, among other things, but also allows for the families of victims to accept compensation in lieu of punishment.

Islamic scholars say crimes leading to hudud punishment require a very high degree of proof, including — in the case of adultery — confession, or being witnessed by four adult male Muslims.

Summary floggings

Social media has been awash for over a year — and even recently — with videos and pictures of Taliban fighters meting out summary floggings to people accused of various offences.

The Taliban have also several times displayed in public the bodies of kidnappers they said were killed in shootouts. There have also been reports of adulterers being flogged in rural areas after Friday prayers, but independent verification is difficult to obtain.

Rahima Popalzai, a legal and political analyst, said the edict could be an attempt by the Taliban to harden a reputation they may feel has softened since they returned to power.

“If they really start to implement hudud and qisas, they will be aiming to create the fear society has gradually lost,” she said, adding that the Taliban also wanted to burnish their Islamic credentials.

“As a theocratic setup, the Taliban want to strengthen their religious identity among Muslim countries.”

Women in particular have seen hard-won rights evaporate in the past 15 months, and they are increasingly being squeezed out of public life.

Most female government workers have lost their jobs — or are being paid a pittance to stay at home — while women are also barred from travelling without a male relative and must cover up with a burqa or hijab when out of the home.

In the past week, the Taliban also banned women from entering parks, funfairs, gyms and public baths.

During their first rule, the Taliban regularly carried out punishments in public — including floggings and executions at the national stadium.

DAWN
 
Taliban flog three women, 11 men days after supreme leader’s edict

KABUL: Three women and 11 men were flogged on Wednesday on the orders of an Afghan court after they were found guilty of theft and “moral crimes”, a provincial official said.

The lashings are the first to be confirmed since the Taliban’s supreme leader ordered judges this month to fully enforce Islamic law, or sharia, saying corporal punishment was obligatory for certain crimes.

Qazi Rafiullah Samim, head of information and culture for Logar province, said the lashings were not administered publicly.

“Fourteen people were given discretionary punishment, of which 11 were men and three were women,” he said, “The maximum number of lashes for anyone was 39.” Supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges this month to fully enforce aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stonings and floggings, and the amputation of limbs for thieves.

“Carefully examine the files of thieves, kidnappers and seditionists,” he said, according to the Taliban’s chief spokesman.

“Those files in which all the sharia conditions of hudud and qisas have been fulfilled, you are obliged to implement.” Hudud refers to offences for which corporal punishment is mandated, while qisas translates as “retaliation in kind” — effectively an eye for an eye.

Social media has been awash for months with videos and pictures of Taliban fighters meting out summary floggings to people accused of various offences. However, this is the first time that officials have confirmed such punishment ordered by a court.Other countries have been scrutinising the Taliban’s track record on human rights and women’s rights since they took over in August 2021 after a two-decade insurgency.

No foreign government has formally recognised the Taliban’s administration and many have already heavily criticised its reversal on signals they would open secondary schools nationwide for girls in March.

400 loudspeakers

Hundreds of loudspeakers have been installed in the Afghan capital to encourage worshippers to attend prayers, the Taliban’s religious enforcers said on Wednesday.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice also said that hundreds of empty shops and other disused buildings had been recently converted into mosques to give everyone the opportunity to pray communally.

“During the previous government, some of the loudspeakers were removed and people were not able to listen to the Azan (call to prayer),” the ministry tweeted.

It said 400 loudspeakers had been installed in different parts of Kabul “so the people could listen to the Azan at the same time”.

Since returning to power in August last year, the Taliban have gradually introduced strict rules and regulations they say are in accordance with Islamic sharia law.

DAWN
 
Afghanistan repairs 70 military planes, helicopters damaged by US
Defense Ministry thanks Afghan Air Force's 40 pilots, technicians for returning to homeland and getting back to work

KABUL:
The Taliban interim administration repaired 70 damaged military planes and helicopters that were damaged by US soldiers before they left Afghanistan after 20 years in August last year.

The Afghan Air Force has repaired 70 damaged military planes and helicopters given to the previous government of President Ashraf Ghani by the US and its allied forces, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Inayatullah Khawarizmi told Anadolu Agency in Kabul.

He added that all of them are now in service and being used by the Afghan Air Force.

US soldiers had damaged military aircraft, helicopters, and a wide range of other military vehicles before leaving the country on Aug. 31, 2021.

"We didn't have a single operational aircraft when we came to power," he said.

The Taliban interim administration then began to rebuild the Afghan Air Force, Khawarizmi said, adding that "over 70 destroyed planes and helicopters have been repaired and put into service so far with our own means and the support of our technicians."

Other damaged and unusable military aircraft and helicopters are still being repaired, he added.

Approximately 600 pilots and technicians worked for the Afghan Air Force during the previous Ghani government, and a significant number of them left the country in August of last year.

On the Taliban's request, approximately 40 pilots and technicians returned to Afghanistan and began their work, he said, thanking them for repairing the damaged planes and reintroducing them into the air force.

"We supply the parts we require in the repair of airplanes and helicopters from planes or helicopters that are severely damaged or beyond repair because we cannot purchase spare parts for them. We completed these works entirely on our own," he said, adding that they are also not in a financial position to purchase new military planes or helicopters.

Military jets, helicopters in neighboring states

During the Ghani government, the Afghan Air Force had 183 planes and helicopters, nearly 70 of which were taken to neighboring countries, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, by Afghan soldiers at a time when the Taliban were seizing provinces one by one and finally the capital Kabul in the first half of August last year.

Since forming the interim Taliban administration, Kabul has asked both countries to return its military aircraft and helicopters, but its requests have gone unanswered.

However, Khawarizmi said negotiations on the issue are still ongoing, "because these aircraft belong to the Afghan people, they must be returned. Good neighborly relations necessitate this as well," he added.

Meanwhile, a Taliban official said the Kabul administration has succeeded in re-establishing the Afghan army and has raised it to over 100,000 personnel, with plans to increase the number of personnel in the coming years.

"We recruited soldiers from the previous administration and inducted them into the new army," he said, urging all former soldiers to return to their positions.

"We accepted everyone who came," he said, adding that "We are all working together for Afghanistan's future. The newly formed army includes people from all ethnic groups. It is important for us to be Afghan and Muslim, regardless of race," the spokesperson said, using his Uzbek-Turk ethnicity as an example.

"With the establishment of the interim government, our training activities for the new army are continuing," he said of the training of soldiers in the new army.

“Initially, we used to provide a 40-day short-term training program. However, we have now increased the training period to three and six months," he added.

ISIS/Daesh presence

Khawarizmi claimed that security has been ensured throughout Afghanistan and that the criticism of security negligence is mere "propaganda."

He claimed that "no region in the country is controlled by ISIS/Daesh."

They did not consider the terrorist organization to be a potential threat to the country in this situation, he said, adding that "sometimes they carry out attacks. However, this does not imply that Daesh is powerful in Afghanistan."

The spokesman denied that the ISIS/Daesh terrorist group has any camps in Afghanistan, saying that the militants carried out terrorism not only in Afghanistan but also in other countries.

In response to a question about armed conflicts with Pakistani and Iranian border troops, he said there are occasional clashes, but these are due to "some misunderstandings."

Express Tribune
 
Taliban condemn UN official's 'disrespectful' statement about Islamic penal code
IEA spokesman says individuals should not make 'irresponsible and provocative statements' on behalf of organisations

The Spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid took to Twitter on Saturday to condemn a statement by a UN official as "disrespectful" to Islam.

A day ealier, the spokesperson of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and representatives of Western Countries had called the punishment of flogging an "inhumane and cruel act".

Mujahid said that this remark on the implementation of the penal code of Islam was "disrespect to the Holy Religion of Islam and against the international standards".

Further, he stated that countries and organisations should not allow individuals to make "irresponsible and provocative statements" on their behalf regarding the "blessed religion of Islam".

This response came following the UN Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani's statement on Friday against corporal punishment in Afghanistan.

Shamdasani said that the UN Human Rights Office was appalled by the mass floggings in public by the de facto authorities, calling an end to this "abhorrent form of punishment".

The statement termed corporal punishment to be cruel and inhuman, adding that it is prohibited under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which Afghanistan is party to.

Shamdasani noted that since the Taliban rule began in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the UN Human Rights Office has documented numerous cases of such punishment given in public, often for alleged violations of religious codes.

The statement concluded that corporal punishment is a human rights violation under international law.

Express Tribune
 
Afghan Taliban carry out first public execution since takeover

An Afghan man convicted of murder was executed in public Wednesday, the Taliban said, the first confirmation of such a sentence since the hardline Islamists returned to power.

Last month Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges to fully enforce aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stonings and floggings, and the amputation of limbs from thieves.
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They have carried out several public floggings since then, but Wednesday's execution in Farah -- capital of the western province of the same name -- is the first the Taliban have acknowledged.

"The supreme court was instructed to implement this order of qisas in a public gathering of compatriots," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, referring to the "eye for an eye" justice in Islamic law.

The statement named the executed man as Tajmir, son of Ghulam Sarwar, and said he was a resident of Anjil district in Herat province.

It said Tajmir had murdered a man, and stolen his motorcycle and cell phone.

"Later, this person was recognised by the heirs of the deceased," it said, adding he had admitted his guilt.

It was not made clear how the execution was carried out.

The Taliban regularly carried out punishments in public during their first rule that ended in late 2001, including floggings and executions at the national stadium in Kabul which local Afghans were encouraged to attend.

The hardline Islamists had promised a softer rule this time round, but have introduced increasingly severe restrictions on the lives of Afghans.

Women in particular have been incrementally squeezed out of public life since the Taliban's return.

Those in government roles have lost their jobs -- or are being paid a pittance to stay at home -- while women are also barred from travelling without a male relative, and must cover up with a burqa or hijab when out of the home.

Schools for teenage girls have also been shuttered across most of the country for over a year.

Mujahid said the case for Wednesday's execution had been thoroughly examined by a series of courts before the supreme leader gave the order.

"This matter was examined very precisely," he said in the statement. "In the end, they gave an order to apply the Shariah law of retribution to the murderer."

Akhundzada, who has not been filmed or photographed in public since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, rules by decree from Kandahar, the movement's birthplace and spiritual heartland.

The statement included the names of dozens of court officials as well as other Taliban representatives as being present for the execution.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2389915/afghan-taliban-carry-out-first-public-execution-since-takeover
 
Taliban Publicly Flogs 27 Afghans, Including Women, After First Execution

The Taliban flogged 27 Afghans, including women, in front of a large crowd on Thursday, a day after publicly executing a convicted murderer for the first time since they returned to power last year.

Their chief spokesman also pushed back at international criticism of the public punishments, calling it a lack of respect for Islam.

Despite promising a softer version of the harsh rule that characterised their first stint in power, the Taliban have gradually reintroduced an extreme interpretation of Islamic law -- or Sharia.

Chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the criticism showed outsiders "don't have respect for the beliefs, laws, and internal issues of the Muslims".

In a statement, the supreme court said 27 "criminals" were flogged Thursday in Charikar, capital of Parwan province, around 50 kilometres (32 miles) north of the capital Kabul.

It said nine women were among those punished for crimes including "sodomy, deception, fake witness, forgery, selling and buying tablet K (drugs), debauchery, escaping from home, highway robbery and illegal relationships".

"Each of these criminals confessed their crimes before the court without any force and was satisfied with the punishment," it said.

A witness told AFP more than 1,000 people watched as the floggings were administered at a stadium in the city.

"The public was chanting 'Allahu akbar' and 'we want the law of God to be implemented on our soil'," he said.

They taunted those being flogged with cries of "will you do that again", the witness added.

Those flogged writhed in pain as they received between 20 to 39 blows from a cane "about a metre long and four fingers wide" from a team of Taliban who took turns as they tired.

Eye for an eye

On Wednesday, a crowd of hundreds watched a convicted murderer shot to death by his victim's father in Farah, capital of the province of the same name.

The Taliban said it was a just example of "qisas", an element of Sharia that allows for an eye-for-an-eye punishment.

The Taliban have stepped up public punishments since Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada last month ordered judges to fully enforce Islamic law.

Akhundzada, who has not been filmed or photographed in public since the Taliban returned to power, rules by decree from Kandahar, the movement's birthplace and spiritual heartland.

Officials insist capital punishment is only carried out after a thorough examination by three courts, and Akhundzada reviews the final decision in each case.

News of Wednesday's public execution was met with condemnation abroad, with the United States calling it "an affront to the dignity and the human rights of all Afghans".

"This indicates to us that the Taliban seek a return to their regressive and abusive practices of the 1990s," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed "deep concern" at the report.

NDTV
 
Taliban Defends Public Execution, Says It's Afghanistan's "Internal Matters"

Following criticism over the public execution of a man, the Taliban on Thursday defended its actions. The Taliban on Thursday termed the international criticism over its public execution "reprehensible" and "interference" in Afghanistan's internal matters, Voice of America (VOA) News reported.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement said that their action was criticised due to a lack of information about Islam and Afghanistan. He stressed that 99 per cent of the people in Afghanistan are Muslim. Mujahid's statement comes after US and United Nations criticised the Taliban for the public execution of a man.

Zabihullah Mujahid said that they have made many sacrifices for enforcing Islamic laws in Afghanistan. Defending the public execution, Zabihullah Mujahid said that death penalties are "given all around the world," including America and Europe, as per the VOA News report.

"The fact that Afghanistan is being criticized for applying Islamic sentences shows that some countries and organizations have either insufficient knowledge or have problems with Islam, respecting Muslims' beliefs and laws," VOA News quoted Zabihullah Mujahid as saying.

"This action is an interference in the internal affairs of countries and is reprehensible," he added.

On Thursday, the Taliban Supreme Court announced the public flogging of 27 convicts, including nine women, in Parwan province. The decision of the Taliban Supreme Court comes a day after publicly executing a man charged with murder for the first time since they took over Afghanistan last year.

Taliban's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had confirmed the public execution of a man. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that the execution took place in a sports stadium in western Farah province on Wednesday, according to VOA News report. He said that hundreds of people witnessed the execution, including the top officials of the group, as per the VOA News report.

Zabihullah Mujahid said that the executed person was tried in the Taliban courts and subsequent appellate tribunals. He claimed that the executed person in the court had "confessed to stabbing to death" a resident of Farah and stealing his belongings, including a motorcycle. According to the spokesperson, the execution was carried out by the victim's father.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson Jeremy Laurence in a statement said, "The death penalty is incompatible with fundamental tenets of human rights, and its use cannot be reconciled with full respect for the right to life." Lawrence called on the Taliban to create an immediate moratorium on any further executions, and act swiftly to ban the use of the death penalty.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) echoed the message on social media. It tweeted, "Afghanistan's de facto authorities announced the public execution of a man in Farah province today. The UN strongly opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, and calls on de facto authorities to establish immediate moratorium with a view to abolishing the death penalty."

Meanwhile, the United States also criticised the Taliban after reports regarding public execution emerged. US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said, "We've seen the reports that the Taliban has ordered judges to impose their interpretation of Sharia law. That includes public executions; it includes amputations; it includes floggings."

While addressing a press briefing, Ned Price said, "We've seen despicable videos that have circulated online in recent days regarding some of these tactics. This indicates to us that the Taliban seek to return to their regressive and abusive practices of the 1990s. It was an affront to the dignity and the human rights of all Afghans then; it would be an affront to the dignity and the human rights of all Afghans now."

NDTV
 
Afghan religious scholar urges Taliban to support women's rights

Renowned religious scholar and a senior in Afghanistan's religious circles Sheikh Abdul Hameed on Sunday urged the Taliban regime to support women's rights, according to reports from the Afghan capital.

While addressing a public gathering in Kabul, the religious scholar told his followers that Islam has given women the "highest degree of respect" as well as portions in inheritance and that their roles have been mentioned in Quranic verses.

He maintained that men and women in every society have the capacity to work on the same level and in all departments, adding that in Islam, women have been ranked as capable as their male counterparts.

He cited the roles of the wives of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Hazrat Aisha and Hazrat Khadija, highlighting that Hazart Aisha has narrated multiple hadith from the prophet.

"In Islamic society, we cannot ignore women's roles and participation in sustainable development," he said and directed all concerned authorities to allow women to play their roles in the development of Afghan society.

Abdul Hameed stressed that the current government should pave the way and offer women the means for education and remove all hurdles.

He said that barring women from obtaining a university-level education and setting such a standard will not have a positive effect on Afghan society.

He urged the current regime to give women from all walks of life their rights, including the right to earn, educate and work.

The religious scholar also urged the government not to be "narrow-minded" about girls' education but to pave the way under Islamic rules rather than adopting aggressive measures against the female population.

He said that Afghan women have the capacity to exceed in all walks of life and they should be included in the government formation. He suggested appointing women as ambassadors to foreign countries as Afghan representatives.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2390605/afghan-religious-scholar-urges-taliban-to-support-womens-rights
 
3 Killed In Attack On China Hotel In Afghanistan's Kabul

At least three people were killed when gunmen attacked a hotel popular with Chinese business people in the Afghan capital Monday, with witnesses reporting multiple blasts and several bursts of gunfire.

Smoke could be seen pouring from the multi-storey Kabul Longan Hotel as Taliban security forces rushed to the site and sealed off the neighbourhood.

The Taliban claim to have improved security since storming back to power in August last year but there have been scores of bomb blasts and attacks, many claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State group.

Italian non-governmental organisation Emergency NGO, which operates a hospital just one kilometre from the blast site, said it had received 21 casualties, including three people dead on arrival.

It did not say if those dead were civilians or involved in the attack.

A Kabul police spokesman said three attackers were killed and one suspect arrested, blaming the assault on "mischievous elements".

"All the guests of the hotel have been rescued and no foreigner was killed. Only two foreign guests were injured when they threw themselves from an upper storey," chief Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid added on Twitter.

Video circulating on social media showed people clamouring out of windows on the lower floors of the building, with the hotel sign -- in English and Chinese -- clearly visible.

Other video showed huge flames licking out of another section, with thick plumes of smoke.

A helicopter also made several passes of the area.

The hotel is popular with Chinese business visitors, who have flocked to Afghanistan since the Taliban's return in pursuit of high-risk but potentially lucrative business deals.

China, which shares a rugged 76-kilometre (47-mile) border with Afghanistan, has not officially recognised the Taliban government but is one of the few countries to maintain a full diplomatic presence there.

- Sensitive border -

Beijing has long feared Afghanistan could become a staging point for minority Uyghur separatists in China's sensitive border region of Xinjiang.

The Taliban have promised that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militants and, in exchange, China has offered economic support and investment for Afghanistan's reconstruction.

Maintaining stability after decades of war in Afghanistan is Beijing's main consideration as it seeks to secure its borders and strategic infrastructure investments in neighbouring Pakistan, home to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The Taliban are at pains to portray Afghanistan as safe for diplomats and business people but two Russian embassy staff members were killed in a suicide bombing outside the mission in September in an attack claimed by IS.

The group also claimed responsibility for an attack on Pakistan's embassy in Kabul this month that Islamabad decried as an "assassination attempt" against the ambassador.

A security guard was wounded in that attack.

Despite owning the rights to major projects in Afghanistan, notably the Mes Aynak copper mine, China has not pushed any of these projects forward.

The Taliban are reliant on China to turn one of the world's largest copper deposits into a working mine that would help the cash-strapped and sanctions-hit nation recover.

NDTV
 
"Firmly Opposes All Forms Of Terrorism": China On Kabul Hotel Attack

China today said it was "shocked" by a deadly attack on a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese business people, adding that five of its nationals were wounded.

"This terror attack is abominable and China is deeply shocked. We firmly oppose all forms of terrorism... We express our grief for the Afghan military police who died, and express sympathies for the injured," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

At least three people were killed when gunmen attacked the hotel in the Afghan capital Monday, with witnesses reporting multiple blasts and several bursts of gunfire.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.

"As far as we know, five Chinese citizens were injured in the terrorist attack, and several Afghan military and police were also killed," Wang said.

He added the Chinese embassy in Afghanistan had "made serious representations to the Afghan interim government, asking the Afghan side to spare no effort to rescue the injured, thoroughly investigate the incident, bring the terrorists to justice, and take further measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens in Afghanistan".

The Taliban claim to have improved security since storming back to power in August last year but there have been scores of bomb blasts and attacks, many claimed by the local chapter of IS.

Embassy personnel had gone to the scene of the attack on Monday to help with rescue and treatment efforts, Wang said.

Wang added that Beijing appreciated that Afghan security forces "actively took part in handling and rescuing Chinese citizens".

But he reminded Chinese nationals that foreign ministry advice was to evacuate from Afghanistan as soon as possible.

NDTV
 
ISIS Claims Responsibility For Attack On Kabul Hotel

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a deadly attack Monday on a hotel in Afghanistan's capital used by Chinese businessmen.

The group said two of its personnel "attacked a big hotel frequented by Chinese diplomats and businessmen in Kabul, where they detonated two explosive devices hidden inside two bags," one of them targeting a party for Chinese guests and the other targeting the reception hall.

One of the two fighters threw hand grenades at Taliban officers who were trying to stop them, while the other began detonating explosive devices he had stuck on the hotel room doors and firing at hotel guests, IS said in a statement.

NDTV
 
Hope Afghanistan Will Not Again Serve As Base For Terrorism: S Jaishankar

Sharing the concern of the international community over the threat of terrorism, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday expressed hope that Taliban-ruled Afghanistan will not again sever as a base for terrorism against other countries.

His remark came in response to a question on threats of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, during a media stakeout at the UN Security Council (UNSC).

"After the Taliban takeover of Kabul, this council had met and expressed the concern of the international community in regard to Afghanistan as a whole through a council resolution. And I think that remains very much the sentiment and outlook of the international community," Mr Jaishankar said.

Speaking on the key priorities of India during its current tenure at the UNSC, he added, "One of the key expectations there is that Afghanistan will not again sever as a base for terrorism against other countries. We expect whoever has authorities in Afghanistan to respect and honour that commitment."

Since the Taliban's take in August last year, the international community has concerns raised over the resurgence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan. India and other countries have so far exercised caution in engaging with the Taliban regime and continue to monitor the situation in the region.

Meanwhile, members of the Security Council continue to reaffirm that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. They have also underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.

Earlier on Thursday, during the UNSC briefing on counter-terrorism, Mr Jaishankar said this Council is well aware that terrorism is an existential threat to international peace and security.

He highlighted how India faced the horrors of cross-border terrorism long before the world took serious note of it.

"Over the decades, we lost thousands of innocent civilian lives. But we fought terrorism resolutely, bravely and with a zero-tolerance approach. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared: We consider that even a single attack is one too many and even a single life lost is one too many," he said during a high-level briefing on "Global Approach to Counter Terrorism - Challenges and Way Forward".

Mr Jaishankar said India has striven to bring these principles into the counter-terrorism architecture of the UN and into the debate on terrorism at this Council as the Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the Security Council this year.

"Combating terrorism is a battle in which there is no respite. The world cannot afford attention deficit or tactical compromises. It is most of all for the Security Council to lead the global response in this regard. Today's briefing is another step in that direction," he added.

NDTV
 
For*eign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday warned the perpetrators of terrorism that Pakistan will not tolerate cross-border terrorism by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and other militant groups, adding that Islamabad reserved the right to take direct action against them.

In an earlier statement, the minister also said Pakistan could reconsider its strategy for dealing with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, but it could not afford to disengage with Kabul.

“Pakistan will not tolerate cross-border terrorism by the TTP or other terrorist groups, like the BLA,” FM Bhutto-Zardari said at a UN event. In an indirect reference to India, the foreign minister said Pakistan had evidence to prove that such groups were “receiving financial and other support from hostile quarters”.

“We reserve the right to take direct action against them,” the foreign minister told the participants who had gathered to honour the victims of the Dec 16, 2014, terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.

The TTP militants, who had come from Afghanistan, killed 149 people — including 132 schoolchildren — in one of the worst terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

While raising the issue of resumption of attacks by TTP and other militant groups inside Pakistan, a journalist asked the foreign minister at a Thursday afternoon news briefing here if Islamabad would consider disengaging with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers because they were allowing them to carry out the attacks.

“I can’t wish the Taliban away or Afghanistan away. They are a reality, and they are on my border,” he replied, but “the modes and ways in which we are engaging, particularly within the Pakistani context, and as far as the TTP is concerned, perhaps that can be reconsidered, as far as the strategy is concerned”.

However, in his address to the APS commemoration event, the foreign minister said that Kabul’s Taliban rulers had failed Pakistan’s “hope and expectation” that Kabul’s new authorities “would be able to convince or constrain the TTP from conducting cross-border terrorist attacks.”

He recalled that the Afghan Taliban pledged to do so in Doha, where they signed a peace agreement with the United States and also in subsequent declarations. “But endeavors towards this end appear to have failed. The TTP seems to have been emboldened to declare a war against Pakistan. Its attacks have intensified,” he noted.

The foreign minister then directly blamed India for encouraging TTP terrorists for attacking Pakistan.

“Our intelligence agencies have solid proof of financial and organizational support and direction provided to the TTP by the agents of our eastern neighbor and by elements of the previous government in Kabul,” he said.

He said Pakistan had shared a comprehensive dossier with the secretary-general and the UN Security Council “containing concrete evidence of such external support to the TTP and other terrorist groups operating against Pakistan”.

The chief Pakistani diplomat hoped that the UN’s counter-terrorism machinery will address the threat of terrorism that presently emanates from Afghanistan and adjacent regions in a comprehensive and effective manner.

“We need to eliminate the safe havens of these terrorists; to cut-off the sources of their financing and sponsorship; and to target and hold accountable individuals and entities responsible for the terrorist attacks or for sponsoring and financing such attacks,” he said.

DAWN
 
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on the Afghan Taliban to prevent terrorist organizations from attacking Pakistan or any other neighbouring country from Afghan territory, saying the UN was in discussions with the de facto authorities in this regard.

“We consider that it is absolutely essential for the Taliban not to allow any form of terrorist activity that might have an impact in relation to Pakistan, as in relation to any other country of the region,” the UN chief said in response to a question from a reporter about the stepped-up cross-border terrorist attacks from the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) against Pakistan that have resulted in many casualties.

“There are several clear things that we believe the Taliban must deliver from the point of view of the interests of the international community and from the point of view of the interest of Afghanistan itself,” he said at his year-end press conference.

Also read: Gen Bajwa 'solely responsible' for prevailing political, economic crises: Imran

“One thing is that they must deliver in relation to inclusion in the power structures in Afghanistan,” the secretary-general said, emphasizing that all ethnic groups in Afghanistan should be represented.

“A second aspect is in relation to human rights and particularly women and girls’ rights, the right of women to work, the rights of girls to attend school at all levels without discrimination,” he said.

“And there is another clear ask from the international community, which is for Afghanistan to stop all forms of activity of terrorist organizations from Afghanistan that represent the threat to neighboring countries, including Pakistan, and so we are actively engaged in our discussions with the Taliban de facto authorities in relation to this,” the UN chief added.
 
<b>Taliban says women banned from universities in Afghanistan</b>

<I>The US and Britain criticised the ban, which the Taliban says preserves “national interest” and women’s “honour”</I>

Afghanistan’s Taliban-run higher education ministry has said that female students would not be allowed access to the country’s universities until further notice.

A letter, confirmed by a spokesperson for the higher education ministry on Tuesday, instructed Afghan public and private universities to suspend access to female students immediately, in accordance with a Cabinet decision.

“You all are informed to immediately implement the mentioned order of suspending the education of females until further notice,” said a letter issued to all government and private universities, signed by the Minister for Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem.

The spokesman for the ministry, Ziaullah Hashimi, who tweeted the letter, confirmed the order to several news agencies including AFP and the Associated Press.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric described the move as “troubling”.

“It’s clearly another broken promise from the Taliban,” Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have seen since their takeover … a lessening of space for women, not only in education, but access to public areas,” he said.

“It’s another very troubling move and it’s difficult to imagine how a country can develop, can deal with all of the challenges that it has without the active participation of women and their education.”

The announcement came as the United Nations Security Council met in New York on Afghanistan. The United States and British UN envoys both condemned the move during the council meeting.

“The Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans, especially the human rights and fundamental freedom of women and girls,” US Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood said.

The Taliban has defended its decision, saying such restrictions have been done to preserve “national interest” and women’s “honour”.

Several Taliban officials said the secondary education ban is only temporary, but they have also wheeled out a litany of excuses for the closure – from a lack of funds to the time needed to remodel the syllabus along Islamic lines.

It has also restricted women from most fields of employment, ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public, and banned them from parks and gyms.

Confirmation of the university restrictions came the same evening as a UN Security Council session on Afghanistan, at which the UN secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said the closure of schools had “undermined” the Taliban administration’s relationship with the international community.

“As long as girls remain excluded from school and the de facto authorities continue to disregard other stated concerns of the international community, we remain at something of an impasse,” she said.

Meanwhile, Obaidullah Baheer, founder of the Let Afghan Girls Learn campaign, said the move is like “a recurring nightmare stretching over generations”.

“The Taliban chose the day and the time in which the UN security council was discussing Afghanistan to announce something like that,” Baheer told Al Jazeera.

“There is tension within the Taliban … even people who oppose this decision have been very passive,” he said.

“We kept relying on the Taliban to reform internally – that hasn’t worked,” Baheer said, adding that the international community’s reactions towards the Taliban has only “appeased” and “emboldened them”.

The decision came as many university students are sitting for end-of-term exams.

One mother of a university student, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said her daughter called her in tears when she heard of the letter, fearing she could no longer continue her medical studies in Kabul.

“The pain that not only I … and [other] mothers have in our hearts, could not be described. We are all feeling this pain. They are worried for the future of their children,” she said.

The country has been reeling from a humanitarian crisis with more than half of the population facing hunger amid Western-imposed sanctions, as well as the freezing of humanitarian aid and nearly $10bn in Afghan central bank assets.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/20/taliban-says-women-banned-from-universities-in-afghanistan
 
James said:
<b>Taliban says women banned from universities in Afghanistan</b>

<I>The US and Britain criticised the ban, which the Taliban says preserves “national interest” and women’s “honour”</I>

Afghanistan’s Taliban-run higher education ministry has said that female students would not be allowed access to the country’s universities until further notice.

A letter, confirmed by a spokesperson for the higher education ministry on Tuesday, instructed Afghan public and private universities to suspend access to female students immediately, in accordance with a Cabinet decision.

“You all are informed to immediately implement the mentioned order of suspending the education of females until further notice,” said a letter issued to all government and private universities, signed by the Minister for Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem.

The spokesman for the ministry, Ziaullah Hashimi, who tweeted the letter, confirmed the order to several news agencies including AFP and the Associated Press.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric described the move as “troubling”.

“It’s clearly another broken promise from the Taliban,” Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have seen since their takeover … a lessening of space for women, not only in education, but access to public areas,” he said.

“It’s another very troubling move and it’s difficult to imagine how a country can develop, can deal with all of the challenges that it has without the active participation of women and their education.”

The announcement came as the United Nations Security Council met in New York on Afghanistan. The United States and British UN envoys both condemned the move during the council meeting.

“The Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans, especially the human rights and fundamental freedom of women and girls,” US Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood said.

The Taliban has defended its decision, saying such restrictions have been done to preserve “national interest” and women’s “honour”.

Several Taliban officials said the secondary education ban is only temporary, but they have also wheeled out a litany of excuses for the closure – from a lack of funds to the time needed to remodel the syllabus along Islamic lines.

It has also restricted women from most fields of employment, ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public, and banned them from parks and gyms.

Confirmation of the university restrictions came the same evening as a UN Security Council session on Afghanistan, at which the UN secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said the closure of schools had “undermined” the Taliban administration’s relationship with the international community.

“As long as girls remain excluded from school and the de facto authorities continue to disregard other stated concerns of the international community, we remain at something of an impasse,” she said.

Meanwhile, Obaidullah Baheer, founder of the Let Afghan Girls Learn campaign, said the move is like “a recurring nightmare stretching over generations”.

“The Taliban chose the day and the time in which the UN security council was discussing Afghanistan to announce something like that,” Baheer told Al Jazeera.

“There is tension within the Taliban … even people who oppose this decision have been very passive,” he said.

“We kept relying on the Taliban to reform internally – that hasn’t worked,” Baheer said, adding that the international community’s reactions towards the Taliban has only “appeased” and “emboldened them”.

The decision came as many university students are sitting for end-of-term exams.

One mother of a university student, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said her daughter called her in tears when she heard of the letter, fearing she could no longer continue her medical studies in Kabul.

“The pain that not only I … and [other] mothers have in our hearts, could not be described. We are all feeling this pain. They are worried for the future of their children,” she said.

The country has been reeling from a humanitarian crisis with more than half of the population facing hunger amid Western-imposed sanctions, as well as the freezing of humanitarian aid and nearly $10bn in Afghan central bank assets.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/20/taliban-says-women-banned-from-universities-in-afghanistan
Click to expand...

Not sure why they are banning ladies from getting university educations. They can implement online courses if in-class courses cause logistical or other challenges.
 
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Taliban obviously believes western education is bad for women. Most of the education past high school gets deeper into science. Women who get educated past that can rebel against Taliban in the future like they are doing in Iran. Better to nip them in the bud rather than suffering the consequences later.

Also, men are in charge of women in Islam and they are superior to them. So Men get to decide what is best for their families.

Even among Indian Muslims, this trend can be seen. We can find many Muslim female students in primary school. Past high school, they become a rare species and in university, they are almost an extinct species. Clearly they are discouraged from pursuing higher education by their families. They do get married very early though.
 
Champ_Pal said:
Taliban obviously believes western education is bad for women. Most of the education past high school gets deeper into science. Women who get educated past that can rebel against Taliban in the future like they are doing in Iran. Better to nip them in the bud rather than suffering the consequences later.

Also, men are in charge of women in Islam and they are superior to them. So Men get to decide what is best for their families.

Even among Indian Muslims, this trend can be seen. We can find many Muslim female students in primary school. Past high school, they become a rare species and in university, they are almost an extinct species. Clearly they are discouraged from pursuing higher education by their families. They do get married very early though.
Click to expand...

You are making it sound like Islam opposes science. Islam and science complement each other.

Now, if you are talking about "woke" science (which is really not science) or stupidity like evolution theory, that's different.

I personally think Taliban are banning (again, my own theory) this because of modesty issue. But, I think this can be resolved with online courses.
 
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday voiced disappointment over the Taliban’s ban on university education for women but said the best approach remained engagement with Afghanistan’s rulers.

“I’m disappointed by the decision that was taken today,” Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on a visit to Washington.

But he said: “I still think the easiest path to our goal — despite having a lot of setbacks when it comes to women’s education and other things — is through Kabul and through the interim government.”

Bilawal said there were no alternatives to the Taliban, warning of further instability in Afghanistan or the rise of the Islamic State group.

“Is the alternative for us to imagine that we can somehow artificially stitch together an alternate opposition that can command the same sort of legitimacy?”

The Taliban, who had initially promised a softer approach than during their 1996-2001 regime, on Tuesday banned university education for women after already closing down secondary schooling for girls.

The United States, whose troop withdrawal from Afghanistan last year precipitated the collapse of the Western-backed government, warned that the Taliban decision could permanently end any hopes by the militants for a positive relationship.

But Bilawal said it was even more crucial to ensure economic support “to create the political space necessary for those within the Afghan regime who actually believe that they should deliver” on rights issues.

Separately, the Foreign Office also urged Afghan authorities to revisit its decision to suspend university education for women.

“Pakistan is disappointed to learn about the suspension of university and higher education for female students in Afghanistan,” FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said.

“Pakistan’s position on this issue has been clear and consistent. We strongly believe that every man and woman has the inherent right to education in accordance with the injunctions of Islam.

“We strongly urge the Afghan authorities to revisit this decision,” she added.

Meanwhile, hundreds of young women were stopped by armed guards from entering Afghan university campuses.

A team of AFP journalists saw groups of students gathered outside universities in the capital, Kabul, barred from entering by armed guards and shuttered gates.

Many, dressed in hijabs, were also seen standing in groups on roads leading to the campuses.

“We are doomed. We have lost everything,” said one Kabul student, who asked not to be identified.

The Taliban authorities wanted to “suppress” women, said Setara Farahmand, 21, who was studying German literature at Kabul University.

“They only want women to stay at home and give birth to children. That’s it, they don’t want anything more for them.”

Male students also expressed shock at the latest edict, with some in the eastern city of Jalalabad boycotting their exams in protest.

An Afghan female student stands in front of the entrance gate of Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec 21. — Reuters
“It really expresses their illiteracy and low knowledge of Islam and human rights,” said one male university student, asking not to be named.

Most private and government universities are closed for a few weeks over winter, although campuses generally remain open to students and staff.

AFP
 
Days When Afghanistan Used By Others As "Strategic Depth" Are Over: India At UN

The days when Afghanistan was used by others as so-called "strategic depth" are over, India said, asserting that such skewed approaches have only brought misery to the people of Afghanistan and mayhem in the region.

Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Sanjay Verma addressed a UN Security Council briefing on Afghanistan on Tuesday and said peace and stability in Afghanistan are critical imperatives that the international community needs to collectively strive for.

He also said that India will continue to play its role in pursuit of this objective and that the interests of the Afghan people will continue to be at the core of New Delhi's efforts.

"The days when Afghanistan was used by others as so-called 'strategic depth' are over. Such skewed approaches have only brought misery to the people of Afghanistan and mayhem in the region," he said.

Mr Verma said India is closely monitoring the security situation in Afghanistan and is actively engaged with the international community on issues related to that country.

"Terrorist attacks have targeted public spaces like places of worship and educational institutes, especially of minorities, as well as diplomatic premises. This is a concerning trend," he said.

He noted that the collective approach of the international community has been articulated in the Security Council Resolution 2593, which unequivocally demands that the territory of Afghanistan should not be used for sheltering, training, planning, or financing terrorist acts, specifically terrorist individuals and entities proscribed by the UN Security Council, including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The senior official also noted that closely linked to the issue of terrorism is the menace of drug trafficking. "It is important for us to strengthen international cooperation to disrupt and dismantle the trafficking networks," he said.

On the political front, Mr Verma said India continues to call for an inclusive dispensation in Afghanistan which represents all sections of the Afghan society. A broad-based, inclusive, and representative formation is necessary for long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan, and in turn, for economic recovery and development, he added.

Mr Verma said India has direct stakes in ensuring the return of peace and stability to Afghanistan, "given our position as a contiguous neighbour and long-standing partner of Afghanistan, as well as our strong historical and civilizational linkages to the Afghan people. Our approach to Afghanistan, as always, will be guided by our historical friendship and our special relationship with the people of Afghanistan." Voicing deep concern at the unfolding humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, he said India has dispatched several shipments of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and is committed to continue helping Afghans going forward as well.

India's main priorities in Afghanistan include providing immediate humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people, formation of a truly inclusive and representative government, combating terrorism and drug trafficking and preserving the rights of women, children, and minorities, Mr Verma said, adding that these benchmarks were also set forth by the UNSC Resolution 2593 which guides the international community's approach towards Afghanistan.

Acknowledging that the statement will probably be India's last on Afghanistan in its current tenure as Security Council member, Mr Verma said as a close neighbour, "Afghanistan will continue to remain in our hearts and we will continue to speak out in support of the Afghan people." India's 2021-22 term on the Council as elected member ends this month. The country has declared its candidature for the 2028-29 term on the Security Council.

NDTV
 
Afghans Use Social Media To Protest Taliban's University Ban For Women

Afghans voiced outrage on social media Wednesday over the Taliban's ban on women attending university, using the hashtag #LetHerLearn -- one of the only ways people can still protest in the country.

Affected students poured their hearts out on Twitter and Facebook, lamenting how their dreams had been shattered by the announcement late Tuesday that tertiary education was now off-limits to women.

"The eighth semester is over and I have just four exams left," Kabul University student Zamzama Ghazal posted on her Facebook account with the trending hashtag.

"God! Don't take this last hope from me."

The ban comes less than three months after thousands of girls and young women sat university entrance exams across the country, aspiring to continue their education.

"We came to the university at 6:30 in the morning, the boys were allowed to enter and they pointed guns at us and told us to go home," Tamana Aref tweeted.

It was the latest encroachment of women's rights that have gradually been eroded since the hardline Islamist group returned to power in August last year.

"I knew this would happen one day," wrote Hadia Rahmani on Facebook.

"One day even going out on the streets and roads would be forbidden for women until further notice."

Social media was filled with video clips of university students crying in despair outside campus gates after being denied entry by armed Taliban guards.

Devastation

Samim Arif, once a deputy spokesman for former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, tweeted about his family's distress at the news his sister won't be allowed to pursue her engineering degree.

"My 18 yo sister Wurranga worked extremely hard to make it to engineering school," he wrote.

"Now Taliban banned her from attending school. Her dreams are shattered, our family is devastated."

Many users employed the hashtags #LetHerLearn and #LetAfghanGirlsLearn to express their support for the right of Afghan girls and women to education.

"Acquiring knowledge is a must. There is no doubt that women make up half of society," tweeted Rashid Khan, the former captain of the national cricket team and one of the country's few truly international sports stars.

Some users shared images of male students from the faculty of medicine at Nangarhar University walking out of their exams in sympathy with their female classmates who were not allowed in.

A mathematics professor in Kabul also took a stand.

Obaidullah Wardak announced his resignation on Facebook, stating he didn't want to continue teaching "where girls are not allowed to study".

Others tried to remember happier times.

Tweeting a photo from a previous graduation ceremony of women, Arifa Iran wrote:

"Talibs tears flow at such scenes when they see Afghans being educated."

NDTV
 
Eye-For-An-Eye Sharia Law Returns To Afghanistan Courts

Kneeling in front of a turbanned judge in a tiny room at the Ghazni Court of Appeal in eastern Afghanistan, an old man sentenced to death for murder pleads for his life.

The 75-year-old admits to having shot dead a relative -- out of revenge, he says, because of rumours he had sexual relations with his daughter-in-law.

Under eye-for-eye sharia punishments, officially ordered by the Taliban's supreme leader for the first time last month, he faces public execution -- with the sentence to be carried out by a relative of his victim.

"We have made peace between the families," the old man pleads.

"I have witnesses who can prove that we have agreed on compensation."

AFP had rare access to a court in Ghazni to see how sharia justice is being administered since the Taliban returned to power in August last year.

Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent building a new judicial system after the Taliban were overthrown in 2001 -- a combination of Islamic and secular law, with qualified prosecutors, defence lawyers and judges.

Many women were recruited into the system, overseeing cases involving hardcore Taliban militants as well as bringing more gender balance to family courts.

All that has been scrapped by the Taliban, with trials, sentences and punishments now overseen by all-male clerics.

Islamic law, or sharia, acts as a code of living for Muslims worldwide, offering guidance on issues such as modesty, finance and crime. However, interpretations vary according to local custom, culture and religious school of thought.

Taliban scholars in Afghanistan have employed one of the most extreme interpretations of the code, including capital and corporal punishments little used by most modern Muslim states.

The difference between the system of the former government and today "is as big as the earth and the sky", says Mohiuddin Umari, head of the Ghazni court, between sips of tea.

- 'God guides us' -

Officials in Ghazni have shunned the use of its formal Western-style courtroom, and proceedings instead take place in a small side room, with participants sitting on a carpeted floor.

The cramped room, heated by an old wood stove, has a bunk bed in a corner, on which religious books and a Kalashnikov rifle are placed.

The young judge, Mohammad Mobin, listens impassively before asking a few questions.

He then orders another hearing in a few days -- giving the old man time to gather witnesses who can testify that the families have agreed to what he says.

"If he proves his claim, then the judgement can be revised," Mobin says.

If not, "it is certain that the qisas (an eye-for-an-eye) enshrined in the sharia will apply".

Mobin, surrounded by thin, hand-written files held together by string, has been at the appeals court since the Taliban's return in August 2021.

He says around a dozen death sentences have been handed down in Ghazni province since then, but none has been carried out -- partly because of the appeals process.

"It is very difficult to make such a decision and we are very careful," the 34-year-old tells AFP.

"But if we have certain evidence, then God guides us and tells us not to have sympathy for these people."

If the old man's appeal fails, the case goes to the Supreme Court in Kabul, and finally to supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who validates all capital sentences.

That was the case earlier this month in the western city of Farah when the Taliban carried out their first public execution since returning to power -- an act widely condemned by rights groups and foreign governments and organisations.

- 'Showing transparency' -

Ghazni court head Umari insists the sharia system is much better than the one it replaced, even while conceding that officials need more experience.

Afghanistan was ranked 177th out of 180 of the most corrupt states in 2021 by the NGO Transparency International and its courts were notorious for graft, with cases held up for years.

"The Islamic Emirate is showing transparency," says Umari, using the Taliban's designation for Afghanistan.

Many Afghans say they prefer their chances in sharia courts with civil cases, arguing they are less prone to the corruption that bedevilled the system under the previous Western-backed government.

However, jurists argue that criminal cases are more prone to a miscarriage under the new system.

"Some cases, if decided quickly, are better," says a now-unemployed prosecutor, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.

"But in most cases, speed leads to hasty decisions."

Umari insists all verdicts are thoroughly reviewed, adding "if a judge has made a mistake we investigate".

But the old man in Ghazni who was sentenced to death says he had no lawyer, and his appeal lasted less than 15 minutes.

"The court should not have sentenced me to death," he says.

"I have been in prison for more than eight months. They (the family) have agreed to spare me," he adds, clasping a string of prayer beads in his handcuffed hands.

NDTV
 
szrana007 said:
Educate yourself before quoting me.

https://muslimcentral.com/zakir-naik-in-islam-men-and-women-are-equal-but-not-identical/
Click to expand...

You need to educate yourself. Women are subordinate to men in holy Quran.

Sahih International: Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.
 
Champ_Pal said:
You need to educate yourself. Women are subordinate to men in holy Quran.

Sahih International: Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.
Click to expand...

You don't need to educate me, I know about this verse.

Yes in Islam, men are protectors and maintainers of women, but that doesn't mean they are not equal.


Dr Zakir Naik explains this well.
 
szrana007 said:
You don't need to educate me, I know about this verse.

Yes in Islam, men are protectors and maintainers of women, but that doesn't mean they are not equal.


Dr Zakir Naik explains this well.
Click to expand...

Zakir Naik is a joke. God is clearly speaking that men are in charge of women. They get to decide what a woman wears, where she goes and what she does as man is the protector of women.

Men and women may be equal spiritually. Even in that, there is a Hadith which says that even in religious obligation, they are deficient.
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:304
 
Champ_Pal said:
Zakir Naik is a joke. God is clearly speaking that men are in charge of women. They get to decide what a woman wears, where she goes and what she does as man is the protector of women.

Men and women may be equal spiritually. Even in that, there is a Hadith which says that even in religious obligation, they are deficient.
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:304
Click to expand...

I would rather take my understanding of Islam from a world renowned scholar like Dr Zakir Naik than a random nobody on internet, thanks.
 
szrana007 said:
I would rather take my understanding of Islam from a world renowned scholar like Dr Zakir Naik than a random nobody on internet, thanks.
Click to expand...

Taliban knows what they are doing. They have their own scholars who are not fake doctors like Zakir.
 
Champ_Pal said:
Taliban knows what they are doing. They have their own scholars who are not fake doctors like Zakir.
Click to expand...

The hadeeth you quoted has been answered multiple times by scholars , if you want I can post.

Also , how is Zakir Naik a fake doctor, did you study with him and found out that he was fake and your qualifications are real ?
 
szrana007 said:
I would rather take my understanding of Islam from a world renowned scholar like Dr Zakir Naik than a random nobody on internet, thanks.
Click to expand...

Correct.

Some of these Indian posters continue to amuse me. They probably visit some hateful Islamophobic websites and learn their misinformation from there. Also, hundreds of years of Mughal ownage probably made them genetically salty.

This Champ_Pal guy tends to hijack Islamic threads frequently.
 
India Concerned Over Taliban's Decision To Ban Women From Universities

India on Thursday said it is concerned over reports that the Taliban have banned women from universities in Afghanistan, and renewed its call for setting up of an inclusive government in Kabul that ensures the equal rights of women and girls in all aspects of the Afghan society.

Several countries, including the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, have strongly condemned the Taliban's decisions to ban women from universities.

In March, the Taliban barred girls from going to secondary schools.

"We have noted with concern the reports in this regard. India has consistently supported the cause of female education in Afghanistan," Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

He was replying to queries on the issue during a media briefing.

"We have emphasised the importance of the establishment of an inclusive and representative government that respects the rights of all Afghans and ensures the equal rights of women and girls to participate in all aspects of Afghan society, including access to higher education," Bagchi said.

The MEA spokesperson also referred to the UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2593 on Afghanistan.

"I would also recall UN Security Council Resolution 2593, which reaffirms the importance of upholding human rights, including those of women, and also calls for full, equal and meaningful participation of women," he said.

The UNSC resolution, adopted on August 30 last year under India's presidency of the global body, talked about the need for upholding human rights in Afghanistan, and demanded that Afghan territory should not be used for terrorism and that a negotiated political settlement should be found to the crisis.

NDTV
 
Taliban Explains Why Afghan Women Have Been Banned From Universities

Afghan universities were declared off limits to women because female students were not following instructions including a proper dress code, the Taliban's minister for higher education said Thursday.

"Those female students who were coming to universities from home were also not following instructions on hijab.... They were dressing like they were going to a wedding," Neda Mohammad Nadeem said in an interview on state television.

NDTV
 
Afghan Women Stage Street Protest Against Taliban's University Ban

A small group of Afghan women staged a defiant protest in Kabul on Thursday against a Taliban order banning them from universities, an activist said, adding that some were arrested.

In the latest move to restrict human rights in Afghanistan, the Taliban's minister for higher education on Tuesday ordered all public and private universities to bar women from attending.

"They expelled women from universities. Oh, the respected people, support, support. Rights for everyone or no one!" chanted the protesters as they rallied in a Kabul neighbourhood, footage obtained by AFP showed.

A protester at the rally told AFP "some of the girls" had been arrested by women police officers. Two were released, but several remained in custody, she added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Around two dozen women dressed in hijabs, some wearing masks, could be seen raising their hands and chanting slogans as they marched through the streets.

Women-led protests have become increasingly rare in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over the country last August, after the detention of core activists at the start of the year.

Participants risk arrest, violence and social stigma for taking part.

The women had initially planned to gather in front of Kabul University, the country's biggest and most prestigious educational institution, but changed locations after the authorities deployed a large number of security personnel there.

Tuesday's late-night announcement triggered international outrage, with the United States, the United Nations and several Muslim nations denouncing it.

The ban caused disbelief, coming less than three months after thousands were allowed to sit for university entrance exams.

"Afghan girls are a dead people... they are crying blood," said Wahida Wahid Durani, a journalism student at the University of Herat, who was not at the protest.

"They are using all their force against us. I'm afraid that soon they will announce that women are not allowed to breathe."

Since seizing power, the Taliban have imposed many restrictions on women.

Most teenage girls are barred from secondary school, women have been pushed out of many government jobs, prevented from travelling without a male relative and ordered to cover up outside of the home, ideally with a burqa.

They are also not allowed to enter parks or gardens.

The Taliban have returned to public floggings of men and women in recent weeks, widening their implementation of an extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

The Supreme Court said that 44 people -- including six women -- were flogged in Badakshan and Uruzgan provinces on Thursday after being found guilty of various offences.

NDTV
 
"Grave Step Backwards": Rishi Sunak On Taliban's University Ban For Women

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday criticized the Taliban's decision to ban University education for girls, saying "denying them access to university is a grave step backwards."

"As a father to daughters, I cannot imagine a world in which they're denied an education. The women of Afghanistan have so much to offer. Denying them access to university is a grave step backwards. The world is watching. We will judge the Taliban by their actions," Prime Minister Sunak tweeted.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Higher Education of Afghanistan, which is ruled by the Taliban, prohibited girls from attending universities and other higher education institutions. This comes as secondary education for girls has been prohibited in Afghanistan since September 2021.

After the Islamic outfit announced the ban, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about the news reports. He said that the denial of education violates the equal rights of women and girls and will have a devastating impact on the country's future.

UN Secretary-General also urged the de facto authorities to ensure equal access to education at all levels for women and girls.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock today said the Taliban decided to destroy their own country's future by destroying the future of girls and women in Afghanistan. She added that Germany will put the issue on the agenda of the G7.

"I will put the issue on the agenda of the G7 tomorrow. The Taliban may try to make women invisible, but won't succeed - the world is watching," Ms Baerbock tweeted.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021 and imposed policies severely restricting basic rights--particularly those of women and girls, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).'

The Islamic group dismissed all women from leadership posts in the civil service and prohibited girls in most provinces from attending secondary school. Taliban decrees prohibit women from traveling unless accompanied by a male relative and require women's faces be covered in public--including women TV newscasters.

According to a UNICEF report released in August, the fact that girls in Afghanistan are deprived of secondary education has cost the country's economy at least USD 500 million over the past 12 months, which amounts to 2.5 per cent of GDP.

The report added that if three million girls had been able to finish their education and enter the workforce, they would have added at least USD 5.4 billion to Afghanistan's economy.

NDTV
 
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