With New Taliban Manifesto, Afghan Women Fear the Worst

The New York Times

Sept. 4, 2024Updated 12:37 p.m. ET

Three years into its rule, the movement has codified its harsh Islamic decrees into law that now includes a ban on women’s voices in public.

No education beyond the sixth grade. No employment in most workplaces and no access to public spaces like parks, gyms and salons. No long-distance travel if unaccompanied by a male relative. No leaving home if not covered from head to toe.

And now, the sound of a woman’s voice outside the home has been outlawed in Afghanistan, according to a 114-page manifesto released late last month that codifies all of the Taliban government’s decrees restricting women’s rights.

A large majority of the prohibitions have been in place for much of the Taliban’s three years in power, slowly squeezing Afghan women out of public life. But for many women across the country, the release of the document feels like a nail in the coffin for their dreams and aspirations.

Some had clung to the hope that the authorities might still reverse the most severe limitations, after Taliban officials suggested that high schools and universities would eventually reopen for women after they were shuttered. For many women, that hope is now dashed.

Since the Taliban regained power in August 2021, the authorities have systematically rolled back the rights that women — particularly those in less conservative urban centers — had won during the 20-year U.S. occupation. Today, Afghanistan is the most restrictive country in the world for women, and the only one that bans high school education for girls, experts say.

The publication of the regulations has ignited fears of a coming crackdown by emboldened officers of the so-called vice and virtue police, the government officials who don white robes and are stationed on street corners to ensure that the country’s morality laws are observed.

The manifesto defines for the first time the enforcement mechanisms that can be used by these officers. While they have frequently issued verbal warnings, those officers are now empowered to damage people’s property or detain them for up to three days if they repeatedly violate the vice and virtue laws.

Before the announcement of the laws, Freshta Nasimi, 20, who lives in Badakhshan Province in northeastern Afghanistan, had held on to any shred of hope she could find.

For a while, she was sustained by a rumor she heard from classmates that the government would broadcast girls’ schooling over the television — a concession that would allow girls to learn while keeping them in their home. But that dream was snuffed out after the authorities in Khost Province, in the country’s east, banned such programs from the airwaves earlier this year. That signaled that other parts of the country could implement similar bans.

Now, Ms. Nasimi says, she is trapped at home. The new law barring women’s voices — they are considered an intimate part of a woman that must be covered — effectively ensures that she cannot leave the house without a male relative. She worries that no taxi driver will speak with her, for fear of being reprimanded by the Taliban, she said, and no shopkeeper will entertain her requests.

She has accepted that her aspirations of becoming an engineer — with the steady income and freedom it would bring — are finished.

The publication of the vice and virtue laws, analysts say, is part of a governmentwide effort to codify the workings of every ministry to ensure they adhere to the extreme vision of Shariah law institutionalized by the Taliban’s leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada. The document is also, analysts say, intended to stamp out any Western principles of the U.S.-backed government that ran Afghanistan before the Taliban’s return to power.

The Taliban have forcefully rejected outside pressure to ease the restrictions on women, even as the policies have isolated Afghanistan from much of the West. Taliban officials defend the laws as rooted in the Islamic teachings that govern the country. “Afghanistan is an Islamic nation; Islamic laws are inherently applicable within its society,” the spokesman for the government, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a statement.

But the regulations have drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and the United Nations mission in Afghanistan. The mission’s head, Roza Otunbayeva, called them “a distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future” that extends the “already intolerable restrictions” on women’s rights.

Over the past three years, women’s faces have been torn from advertisements on billboards, painted over in murals on school walls and scratched off posters lining city streets. The heads of female mannequins, dressed in all-black, all-concealing abayas, are covered in tinfoil.

Even before the new manifesto, the threat of being reprimanded by the vice and virtue police lingered in the air as women were barred from more and more public places.

“I live at home like a prisoner,” said Ms. Faramarz, the woman from Baghlan. “I haven’t left the house in three months,” she added.

The reversal of rights has been perhaps the hardest for the girls who came of age in an era of opportunity for women during the U.S. occupation.

Mohadisa Hasani, 18, began studying again about a year after the Taliban seized power. She had talked to two former classmates who were evacuated to the United States and Canada. Hearing about what they were studying in school stoked jealousy in her at first. But then she saw opportunity, she said.

She asked those friends to spend an hour each week teaching her the lessons they were learning in physics and chemistry. She woke up for the calls at 6 a.m. and spent the days in between poring over photos of textbooks sent by the friends, Mina and Mursad.

“Some of my friends are painting, they are writing, they are doing underground taekwondo classes,” Ms. Hasani said. “Our depression is always there, but we have to be brave.”

“I love Afghanistan, I love my country. I just don’t love the government and people forcing their beliefs onto others,” she added.

The classes and artistic outlets, while informal, have given girls, especially in more progressive cities, a dose of hope and purpose. But the reach of those programs goes only so far.

Rahmani, 43, who preferred to go by only her surname for fear of retribution, said that she began taking sleeping pills every night to dampen the anxiety she feels over providing for her family.

A widow, Ms. Rahmani worked for nonprofit groups for nearly 20 years before the Taliban seized power, earning more than enough to provide for her four children. Now, she says, she not only cannot provide for them after women were barred from working for such groups — but she has also lost her sense of self.

“I miss the days when I used to be somebody, when I could work and earn a living and serve my country,” Ms. Rahmani explained. “They have erased our presence from society.”

Christina Goldbaum is the Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief for The Times, leading the coverage of the region. 

Najim Rahim is a reporter in the Kabul, Afghanistan, bureau. 

With New Taliban Manifesto, Afghan Women Fear the Worst
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UN Security Council divided on approach to Afghanistan issue

The recent report of the United Nations Security Council highlights internal divisions among its members regarding the approach to the situation in Afghanistan.

The September 2024 Monthly Forecast revealed a lack of consensus on how best to support the country and address its complex issues.

While there is general agreement on the desire for a prosperous and peaceful Afghanistan free from terrorism, members differ on strategies. Some, including France, the UK, and the United States, advocate for holding the Taliban to international norms to gain recognition and aid.

These members support maintaining pressure on the Taliban, especially concerning their policies on women’s rights. They believe that without adherence to international standards, the Taliban should not receive international support.

Conversely, China and Russia propose a different approach. They suggest that assistance to Afghanistan should not be tied to issues like human rights. They favor dialogue and engagement with the Taliban rather than increased pressure.

China has been actively engaging with the Taliban by sending an ambassador to  Kabul and accepting diplomatic credentials from the Taliban envoy. However, China has stopped short of officially recognizing the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government.

Russia, on the other hand, is contemplating removing the Taliban from its list of banned organizations, signaling a potential shift towards greater engagement with the Taliban.

The report also mentioned a potential press statement critical of the Taliban’s new law restricting women’s rights. Two Council members blocked this statement, arguing that it should be treated as an internal matter and that the implications are still under review by UNAMA.

The Security Council will hold a meeting later this month for a quarterly briefing on Afghanistan. Special Representative Roza Otunbayeva and UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous are expected to present their reports, with closed consultations to follow.

UN Security Council divided on approach to Afghanistan issue
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US House of Representatives summons Blinken to testify on Afghanistan withdrawal

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has summoned Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, to testify regarding the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Michael McCaul, the committee chairman, has warned Blinken that if he does not appear before the committee on September 19, he could face charges of contempt of Congress.

The U.S. State Department has stated that Blinken is unavailable on that date but has proposed “reasonable alternatives” for attending a public session.

In a letter to the State Department dated Tuesday, September 3rd, Michael McCaul wrote that both current and former U.S. officials have confirmed that Antony Blinken was the “final decision-maker” regarding the withdrawal of American forces and the evacuation process from Afghanistan.

McCaul has requested that Blinken address his role before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

In his letter, McCaul wrote: “You are in a position to inform the committee about potential legislative changes aimed at preventing catastrophic mistakes during the withdrawal, including possible reforms regarding the legal authority of the State Department.”

Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the State Department, described the summons for Blinken’s testimony as “unnecessary” in a statement released on Tuesday, September 3rd, noting that the Secretary of State has already testified about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan 14 times before Congress.

US House of Representatives summons Blinken to testify on Afghanistan withdrawal
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Georgette Gagnon Appointed Political Deputy of UNAMA

Georgette Gagnon also has prior experience working in Afghanistan. From 2010 to 2015, she was the Director of Human Rights at UNAMA in Kabul.

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Canadian Georgette Gagnon as the Deputy Special Representative (Political) for Afghanistan in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, announced in a press briefing that Georgette Gagnon, with over 28 years of experience working in peace, human rights, humanitarian assistance, and development sectors in conflict-affected countries, has replaced Markus Potzel.

Dujarric told reporters: “United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Georgette Gagnon of Canada as his new Deputy Special Representative (Political) for Afghanistan in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Ms. Gagnon succeeds Markus Potzel of Germany, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service in support of the mandate of the mission. Ms. Gagnon brings to the position more than 28 years of experience in supporting peacebuilding processes and leading strategic initiatives on human rights, humanitarian action and development in conflict and post-conflict settings. Since 2021, Ms. Gagnon has served as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya in the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya.”

Georgette Gagnon also has prior experience working in Afghanistan. From 2010 to 2015, she was the Director of Human Rights at UNAMA in Kabul. In 2021, Gagnon was appointed as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Libya.

Moeen Gul Samkanai, a political analyst, commented on Georgette Gagnon’s appointment: “She [Georgette Gagnon] has rich experience working in various sectors and experience in Afghanistan. I believe in the current circumstances, she will be effective for women’s rights.”

“The Islamic Emirate has not commented on the appointment of the political deputy of UNAMA; however, it has requested that UNAMA play its role in fostering positive interactions between Afghanistan and the world,” said Edris Mohammadi Zazai, another political analyst.

Hamdullah Fitrat, Deputy Spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, said: “We want UNAMA’s activities in Afghanistan to be effective, and for this organization to assert its role in Afghanistan’s relations with world countries.”

Markus Potzel of Germany, with over 27 years of experience in diplomacy and international cooperation, and eight years of working experience in Afghanistan, was appointed as the Political Deputy of UNAMA by the UN Secretary-General in June 2022.

Georgette Gagnon Appointed Political Deputy of UNAMA
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Afghanistan Among Top Ten Countries Most Vulnerable to Climate Change

IOM added that since 2022, climate change has been recognized as the main driver of internal displacement in Afghanistan.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in its latest report, has named Afghanistan as one of the ten countries most vulnerable to climate change.

According to this organization, despite contributing minimally to global carbon emissions, Afghanistan ranks among the top ten countries most affected by climate change.

IOM added that since 2022, climate change has been recognized as the main driver of internal displacement in Afghanistan.

The organization said: “Since 2022, climate change has replaced conflict as the primary driver of internal displacement in the country, according to the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) data.”

The report also mentioned droughts and severe floods in the past three years, which, according to the organization, have affected half of the country’s population.

The IOM report reads: “Severe droughts and floods have worsened over the last three years, now impacting more than half of Afghanistan’s population. These events have caused water shortages, land damage, desertification, food insecurity, economic difficulties and displacement.”

Earlier, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had also reported the number of internally displaced persons to be over three million.

Afghanistan Among Top Ten Countries Most Vulnerable to Climate Change
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Exclusive: Airlines fly over Afghanistan as Middle East becomes the greater risk

By  and 

LONDON/SEOUL, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Singapore Airlines, British Airways (ICAG.L), opens new tab and Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), opens new tab have increased their flights over Afghanistan after years of largely avoiding it now the Middle East conflict has made it seem a relatively safe option.
The carriers mostly stopped transiting Afghanistan, which lies on major routes between Asia and Europe, three years ago when the Taliban took over and air traffic control services stopped.
Those services have yet to resume, but airlines increasingly consider the skies between Iran and Israel are riskier than Afghan airspace. Many had started routing through Iran and the Middle East after Russian skies were closed to most western carriers when the Ukraine war began in 2022.
“As conflicts have evolved, the calculus of which airspace to use has changed. Airlines are seeking to mitigate risk as much as possible and they see overflying Afghanistan as the safer option given the current tensions between Iran and Israel,” Ian Petchenik, a spokesperson for flight tracking organisation Flightradar24, said.
There were more than seven times the number of flights over Afghanistan in the second week of August than during the same period a year ago, according to a Reuters analysis of FlightRadar24 data.
Reuters Graphics
Reuters Graphics
The shift began in mid-April during reciprocal missile and drone attacks between Iran and Israel. Flight tracking data from the time shows Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, British Airways and others began to send a few flights a day over Afghanistan.
Flight path of Singapore Airlines flight 326 from Singapore to Frankfurt
Flight path of Singapore Airlines flight 326 from Singapore to Frankfurt
But the main growth has been since the killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah in late July raised concerns of a major escalation.
Some pilots are concerned.
“You’re depending on the analysis of your airline. Every time I fly out there, I don’t like the feeling of flying over a conflict area where you don’t know, actually, what is happening,” said Otjan de Bruin, a commercial pilot and head of the European Cockpit Association.
“It’s always safe enough, until proven otherwise.”
Flight path of Singapore Airlines flight 326 from Singapore to Frankfurt Daily flights over Afghanistan for select airline groups
Flight path of Singapore Airlines flight 326 from Singapore to Frankfurt Daily flights over Afghanistan for select airline groups
Lufthansa Group told Reuters it decided to resume overflying Afghan airspace from early July.
Other carriers that have increased overflights since April include Turkish Airlines (THYAO.IS), opens new tab, Thai Airways (THAI.BK), opens new tab and the Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA), opens new tab group, data shows.
“Based on actual security information, KLM and other airlines currently safely overfly Afghanistan only on specific routes and only at high altitudes,” KLM told Reuters.
British Airways, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.
Taiwan’s EVA Air (2618.TW), opens new tab began from late July, flight tracking data shows. EVA told Reuters it chooses routes based on safety, the current international situation and flight advisories.

REGULATION’S ROLE

The route changes have been facilitated by aviation regulators easing guidance on Afghanistan.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in early July said planes could fly at a lower altitude over a sliver of north-eastern Afghanistan, the Wakhan Corridor, which is used to cross from Tajikistan to Pakistan – opening that path to more types of flights.
A year earlier, the FAA lifted its ban on overflights for the entire country, but said planes must stay above 32,000 feet (9,753.6 m) where surface-to-air weapons are considered less effective.
But few started using Afghanistan until April.
Although more traffic has been using the airspace without incident, there is no guarantee of crew or passenger safety if a plane has to land, flight safety group OPSGROUP said in July.
In the absence of air traffic control, pilots crossing Afghanistan talk to nearby planes over radio according to a protocol drawn up by U.N. aviation body ICAO and Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority.
European aviation safety regulator EASA said in a conflict-zone information bulletin re-issued in July that “extremist non-state actor groups remain active and might sporadically target aviation facilities in multiple ways.”
The industry is haunted by the memory of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, which was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014, as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.

COST AND LIMITED CHOICE

Airlines are under pressure to save money after the loss since 2022 of many shorter paths through Russian airspace, and as they re-build from the pandemic.
There are few international rules that dictate which areas of airspace are safe and airline safety decisions are left largely to the discretion of individual carriers.
If an airline cannot fly through Russia, Ukraine or Iran, central Afghanistan offers a more direct route into southern Asia from Europe.
“This route saved us a fair chunk of time and fuel,” OPSGROUP reported from a pilot in July who flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur across central Afghanistan.
Exclusive: Airlines fly over Afghanistan as Middle East becomes the greater risk
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Afghanistan Slides Into ‘Ever More Hellish Conditions’ After New Morality Law Enacted

The Taliban has attempted to police the public appearances and behavior of millions of Afghans, especially women, since seizing power in 2021.

But the enforcement of the extremist group’s rules governing morality, including its strict Islamic dress code and gender segregation in society, was sporadic and uneven across the country.

Now, the hard-line Islamist group has formally codified into law its long set of draconian restrictions, triggering fear among Afghans of stricter enforcement.

The Law On the Propagation Of Virtue And Prevention Of Vice, which was officially enacted and published on August 21, imposes severe restrictions on the appearances, behavior, and movement of women. The law also enforces constraints on men.

Adela, a middle-aged woman, is the sole breadwinner for her family of 10. She is concerned that the new morality law will erode the few rights that women still have.

The Taliban has allowed some women, primarily in the health and education sectors, to work outside their homes.

“I fear that Afghan women will no longer be able to go to their jobs,” Adela, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

Dilawar, a resident of the capital, Kabul, warned of a public backlash if the Taliban intensified the enforcement of its widely detested restrictions.

“The youth are suffering from extreme unemployment. Oppressing them…will provoke reactions,” the 26-year-old, whose name was also changed due to security concerns, told Radio Azadi.

Long List Of Restrictions

The new morality law consists of 35 articles, many of which target women.

Women are required to fully cover their faces and bodies when in public and are banned from wearing “transparent, tight, or short” clothing. The law also bans women from raising their voices or singing in public.

Women must also be accompanied by a male chaperone when they leave their homes and cannot use public transport without a male companion.

The law forbids unrelated adult men and women from looking at each other in public.

Men must also dress modestly, even when playing sports or exercising. They are prohibited from shaving or trimming their beards. Men are also compelled to attend prayers as well as fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.

“[Men] should not get haircuts, which violate Islamic Shari’a law,” says one of the articles in the law. “Friendship and helping [non-Muslim] infidels and mimicking their appearance” is prohibited.

Afghans are forbidden from “using or promoting” crossses, neckties, and other symbols deemed to be Western.

Premarital sex and homosexuality are outlawed. Drinking alcohol, the use of illicit drugs, and gambling are considered serious crimes.

Playing or listening to music in public is banned. Meanwhile, the celebration of non-Muslim holidays, including Norouz, the Persian New Year, are also prohibited.

The Taliban’s dreaded morality police are responsible for enforcing the morality law. The force, believed to number several thousand, is overseen by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Under the new law, the powers of the morality police have been expanded.

Members of the force will be deployed across the country to monitor compliance, according to the law. Members of the morality police are instructed to issue warnings to offenders. Repeat offenders can be detained, fined, and even have their property confiscated.

The morality police can detain offenders for up to three days and hand out punishments “deemed appropriate” without a trial.

The Taliban revealed last week that the force detained more than 13,000 Afghans during the past year for violating the extremist group’s morality rules.

‘Hellish Conditions’

The Taliban’s morality law has been widely condemned by Afghans, Western countries, and human rights organizations.

The Taliban has defended the law, which it claims is “firmly rooted in Islamic teachings.”

“This new law is deeply harmful,” said Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “It represents a hardening and institutionalization of these rules by giving them the status of law.”

She said the law is a “serious escalation” and “swift slide to ever more hellish conditions for Afghan women and girls.”

Roza Otunbaeva, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, on August 25 called the law a “distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future” because of the broad powers the Taliban’s morality police will have “to threaten and detain anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of infractions.”

Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer of politics at the American University of Afghanistan, said that parts of the morality law are “extremely vague.”

Yet, the morality police are given broad powers, including to “arbitrarily” punish people without due process, he said.

“[This is] making them the judge, jury, and executioner,” said Baheer.

Afghanistan Slides Into ‘Ever More Hellish Conditions’ After New Morality Law Enacted
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They fled Afghanistan. In the US, they have freedom – but fear a return

in Sacramento

Almost three years after Esmatullah Sultani rushed to Kabul’s international airport, at the time besieged by Taliban forces who were seizing control of Afghanistan, the 24-year-old man walked into a busy neighborhood market near Sacramento, California.

Sultani greeted many of the stallholders, fellow Afghans, and ordered kebabs for lunch in Dari, a language spoken by more than 35 million people in Afghanistan.

Since the United States ended its 20-year military presence there, Afghanistan has become a country where those who assisted American forces are in danger of persecution and where women are deprived of fundamental rights, including education.

“This is the closest I am to home,” Sultani said, walking through aisles packed with canned food from the Middle East and an area adorned with colorful rugs and long-sleeved dresses known as kameez.

“But here in California, we are safe. My little sister can go to school. I go on picnics with my whole family and we even play soccer.”

While the Biden administration helped to airlift, screen and resettle tens of thousands of Afghans in the US, three years after the chaotic withdrawal of the US military, many continue to live in uncertainty, with only short-term legal protections amid fear of being returned to the country they were obliged to flee.

More than 77,000 Afghans have been relocated to the US under an immigration authority known as parole, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security. Sacramento county is home to the largest Afghan community in the US, with a population of almost 17,000, according to statistics from the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan thinktank in Washington.

Sultani’s father had worked as a civil engineer for several US military construction projects in Afghanistan and, thanks to a work certificate he brought with him to Kabul’s airport, Sultani managed to get on a US aircraft and evacuate as the Taliban closed in.

His humanitarian parole status was meant to be a quick, temporary fix, valid for two years, with evacuees instructed to apply for special immigrant visas, or for asylum.

Asylum offers refuge to immigrants fleeing persecution based on certain factors such as their race, religion and political views. The visas, on the other hand, are available to Afghans who served American forces as translators, as interpreters or in other roles. Both benefits offer recipients and their immediate relatives permanent legal status.

Sultani applied for asylum and waited anxiously.

“My asylum was approved, and then I applied for a green card, but until the day it comes in the mail the idea of going back to Afghanistan won’t disappear,” said Sultani, who is getting an associate degree in computer information science at American River College in Sacramento. With his father still in Afghanistan and his mother and siblings in the US, Sultani also works to help his family in both countries stay afloat.

More than 21,000 Afghan evacuees across the US have submitted asylum applications, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is reviewing a total of 1.2m pending asylum cases.

The Biden administration has created various temporary avenues for those Afghans in limbo, including extending temporary work permits and protections from deportation. Also, a temporary protected status program for Afghans in the US allows them to work here legally under a different law designed to protect immigrants from countries beset by armed conflict or other crises.

So far, 3,100 Afghans have successfully extended their temporary protected status through May 2025, according to the DHS.

But much uncertainty remains. The US military withdrawal should not end America’s commitment to vulnerable Afghans, said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, who served as a policy director for Michelle Obama and is now the president of Global Refuge, an immigrant rights group.

“The bottom line is that our current system has proven insufficient for extending Afghans permanent protection in a timely manner,” she added, saying: “Three years later, thousands of Afghan allies have yet to secure a long-term status through asylum or special immigrant visas. And that’s because Congress failed to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act last year.”

Global Refuge has helped resettle more than 23,500 Afghans in the US, said Timothy Young, the director for public relations at the organization.

The Afghan Adjustment Act would have created a path to permanent status for evacuees such as Sultani, but the initiative, which received bipartisan support, has been stalled in Congress for more than two years.

Advocates say Afghans have been treated differently from similar refugee groups who have been offered permanent status under adjustment acts passed by Congress, such as Cubans escaping communism, Hungarians fleeing Soviet repression and Vietnamese refugees following the fall of Saigon.

The day that Kabul fell, Jaber, 24 – who asked for his last name to be withheld out of concerns for the safety of his family, who remain in Afghanistan – planned to go to the international airport with his siblings, hoping to get evacuated by US military aircraft. Instead, he had to stay home because two suicide bombers and gunmen killed 60 Afghans and 13 US marines.

Jaber is part of the long-persecuted Hazara ethnic minority group and said he had been an intern for a journalistic association in Afghanistan.

One month before the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, the United Nations discovered mass graves of Hazaras in Bamiyan, part of an ethnic-cleansing campaign. After the Taliban swept back into power more than 20 years later, Jaber and his family lived in fear.

Having failed to get evacuated, Jaber fled to Iran, where he stayed for seven months with a visa. He then traveled to Brazil and, after two weeks of sleeping in churches and parks, he decided to head for the US.

Like hundreds of thousands of desperate refugees, he embarked on a perilous land journey, traversing Peru, Ecuador, the deadly jungle between Colombia and Panama known as the Darién Gap and the entirety of Central America before reaching the US-Mexico border in August 2022.

“I slept under benches with dogs. I remember my shoes had holes in the soles, and I had no money,” said Jaber, who now lives in northern California and works as a dispatcher for a security company.

“After I left Afghanistan, Taliban members came to our house and searched for any documents that would lead to the arrest of any of my family members.”

One of Jaber’s siblings escaped to Germany, but others remain in Afghanistan.

With the help of the International Rescue Committee, a resettlement organization that has assisted 11,621 Afghan evacuees, Jaber was granted US asylum this summer. His dream, he said, was to pursue a career in journalism, a job that might have gotten him killed in Afghanistan.

“For those coming up over the southern border, there are even fewer resources for them. They don’t have the same access to benefits as those that are paroled in,” said Tara Winter, executive director of the IRC’s chapter in northern California.

“They don’t qualify for the same family reunification benefits as other refugees do, and they experience so much anguish as they read about the worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. It’s just a sort of unending legal limbo that makes it really hard for people to focus on rebuilding their lives here.”

They fled Afghanistan. In the US, they have freedom – but fear a return
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Afghanistan 3 years later: Many remain in limbo, feeling let down

BY REBECCA BEITSCH 

Politico

09/01/24 06:00 AM ET

Three years after the deadly and chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, many evacuees and allies remain in limbo.

Thousands airlifted out of the country are stuck in an immigration backlog that leaves them without a permanent way to remain in the U.S.

Those who worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, which is now under the rule of the Taliban, face significant obstacles and a crushing timeline for securing a visa to the U.S.

“It’s Groundhog Day. The things that mattered three years ago still matter. People are still not getting evacuated. People don’t have permanent status here. … There’s no money. All the little nonprofits that popped up, they’re out of money,” Joseph Azam, board chair of the Afghan-American Foundation, told The Hill.

The withdrawal succeeded in evacuating roughly 80,000 people who worked with the U.S. in Afghanistan, the largest such operation since the U.S. exited Vietnam.

But when the last flight went wheels up on Aug. 30, 2021, an estimated 100,000 more were left behind. It’s a group that includes former military interpreters, those who worked on U.S. democracy and civil rights efforts and others vulnerable under Taliban rule.

The different constituencies are united by the same feeling: the U.S. hasn’t fulfilled its promise to Afghan allies.

For evacuees

Most Afghans who managed to navigate the dangerous conditions to get to Hamid Karzai International Airport and secure limited flights to the United States believed that they would be able to permanently stay.

But sweeping legislation from Congress to ensure that has yet to be passed, leaving many Afghans feeling burned compared to other groups the U.S. had helped, such as people who fled Vietnam and Cuba.

“I think our situation was treated very exceptionally, and not favorably exceptionally. That was a little bit of a disappointment,” said Naheed Sarabi, an evacuee who previously served as the deputy minister for policy in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance.

Sarabi, who was only granted asylum to remain in the U.S. in April, 2 1/2 years after her arrival, noted that many Afghans held off on applying for asylum because they could not afford the legal fees associated with the process.

The U.S. has had some success with those who could afford it, processing 19,000 out of 21,000 applications for asylum among those who left during the evacuation.

And of the 35,000 who aided the U.S during the war effort and arrived in the U.S. on a so-called special immigrant visa (SIV), 21,000 have been awarded permanent residency.

But that leaves about 20,000 Afghans who were evacuated but remain on some kind of temporary program.

A shaky immigration status is just one roadblock facing those seeking to adjust to a new country.

Sarabi is U.S.-educated and has established her own development consultancy in addition to working as a fellow at Brookings Institution. But she said those without such strong English skills or whose professional credentials aren’t accepted in the U.S. have struggled to earn enough to pay their bills.

“I knew I was going to a new country just a week before, and the next week I’m on a plane going to the U.S. I had no plan. I came with a backpack. It’s really difficult to build a life based on a backpack,” she said.

She said many are still in mourning over their past lives.

“For some of us who have come who had leadership roles, it’s not about having a comfortable life here, although we are very thankful about it, but it’s also the burden of what we have lost in our country. For me, that’s heavier than my challenges in the U.S. to be honest,” Sarabi said of her long career in development work.

“Every day I think about Afghanistan, where I had an impact. I think, what impact do I have here? … It’s not about having power or having positions. It’s just about the impact that you make in your everyday life.”

Many are also struggling with the weight of hearing about the dire situation faced by friends and relatives.

“Every day, [you’re] hearing about your country, about your relatives being in distressed situations, the poverty level. Every day, I get calls and text messages from my former coworkers that they need help, they need money. And there’s a limit that you can help personally, to be honest,” she said.

“So there’s a lot of trauma and burden on you to function as you’re already trying to be settled in a country that you don’t know.”

For those left behind

In Afghanistan, quality of life under Taliban rule has plummeted across the board, but most acutely for women.

United Nations report from last year concluded that Taliban rule has “ushered in a new era characterized by rapid economic rapid economic decline, hunger and risk of malnutrition, inflation driven by global commodity shocks, drastic rises in both urban and rural poverty, a near-collapse of the national public health system, a stifling of the media and civil society sectors, and almost-total exclusion of half the population – women and girls – from public life.”

People who helped the U.S. when it was in Afghanistan, including former interpreters or military contractors or those who worked on democracy and civil rights efforts, face hurdles to reaching the United States even if they are eligible.

While there are procedures in place to process visas for allies, the more than 135,000 who may be eligible face what could be a decades-long backlog.

Some are getting out. About 14,600 Afghans have arrived in the U.S. and applied for temporary protected status, which bars deportation from the United States, when the process opened anew in September of last year.

But the U.S. has processed just under 2,000 SIVs so far this year of allies still in Afghanistan, according to the latest data available through the end of March, a pace advocates see as too slow given the demand. The report notes the average processing time for the visa is 569 days.

Much of that is done under the auspices of the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE), which contends with the complications of arranging relocation from a country where the U.S. no longer has an embassy.

“CARE team gets a slap on the shoulder. They’re really trying. They’ve done a good job. They put something in place that is working. Yet overall, no one has a right for any victory laps in this. And there’s a lot of people that are trying to put a little victory lap out there right now. And it’s not earned. It’s absolutely not earned,” said Kim Staffieri, director of the Association of Wartime Allies.

By her own estimates, Staffieri said current processing rates mean the government will take at least 15 years to offer an SIV to those who aided the U.S. during the war.

Getting an SIV is a complex process that involves securing proof of employment from supervisors as well as getting through a series of government hoops and stages of approvals. Staffieri said the slow processing is leaving the vast majority of applicants unsure of whether they will ultimately qualify. Meanwhile, she’s seen unusually high denial rates lately — leaving her wondering if the government is taking the time to validate each applicant’s employment credentials.

“All these people that should be coming here, we’re not going to get them here. We’re not going to fulfill our promise in time for them. That’s what keeps me up at night. We’re not going to fulfill this promise in time. It’s getting so bad over there that we’re going to lose folks. And that’s — it’s wrong,” Staffieri said. “It’s just so wrong.”

Staffieri said it’s clear the government needs to invest more in the program — something that’s been evident well before the evacuation when government watchdogs expressed alarm over slow processing.

“They know what they need to do. They need to surge staffing, they need to put the budget in place, and they need to get the f‑‑‑king job done,” she said.

“And that’s all there is to it.”

For advocates

Perhaps the biggest setback to security for Afghans is inaction from Congress.

Advocates have organized around the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would allow evacuees to remain in the U.S.

The bill is modeled after past legislation that helped groups in large-scale evacuations to start their journey to U.S. citizenship.

“We were told at the beginning that this act would be approved and everybody would have a path towards residency. But the bill was never passed,” Sarabi said.

At various turns, Congress has failed to advance the bill or attach it to a must-pass legislative vehicle.

There are a few lawmakers who have opposed the legislation over concerns about vetting — even though allowing Afghans to seek citizenship would kick off additional security reviews for a group of people already in the U.S. as it is.

But much of the GOP’s interest in Afghanistan has been focused on investigating the withdrawal itself. Congressional Republicans have long used the issue to attack President Biden, while more recently the Trump campaign has been hitting Vice President Harris over the issue. While the attacks focus on Democratic leadership, it was the Trump administration that first agreed to leave the country.

This has left advocates for some of the Afghan refugees and allies frustrated.

“Congress loves to blame Biden for all of these problems. And yeah, fine, yes, a lot of the issues that we’re facing now are because of the withdrawal and blame deserves to go around,” said Chris Purdy, founder of the veterans organization Chamberlain Network, who previously lobbied to improve processing of Afghan evacuees.

“But the policy can’t be just to blame the administration. Like you gotta fix it, right? And sometimes you gotta fix problems that you didn’t create. That’s what being a grown-up is. And hopefully we have grown-ups in Congress,” Purdy said. “They have real pieces of legislation that could make things so much better, and they just don’t — they just don’t do it for a variety of reasons.”

This result is that Afghans’ future is very much in the hands of the next presidential administration.

“We’d love to see Congress act statutorily, so that the next administration, whoever they may be, can’t just come in and say, ‘All these good things that we’ve done over the past three years, we’re just gonna kick it to the curb,’” Purdy said.

But he added that he’s concerned a Trump administration would not take action to help those in asylum limbo.

“What we do know is that the people who he intends to stack his administration with on immigration are not friendly to immigration … it’s highly unlikely that Stephen Miller will want to continue these efficiencies.”

Afghanistan 3 years later: Many remain in limbo, feeling let down
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ISIL claims responsibility for deadly Kabul attack

Al Jazeera

The ISIS (ISIL) group has claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing in Kabul that killed at least six people.

In a Telegram post on Tuesday, ISIL said one of its members detonated an explosive vest in the Afghan capital the previous day, targeting the Taliban government’s prosecution service.

The bomber waited until government employees finished their shifts and then detonated the explosive in the middle of a crowd, the post said.

Thirteen people were wounded in the attack in Kabul’s southern Qala-e-Bakhtiar area, according to Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran.

ISIL, which put the casualties at “more than 45”, said the attack was revenge for “Muslims held in Taliban prisons”.

Afghanistan’s biggest security threat

While overall violence has waned in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, ISIL’s affiliate in the Khorasan region – Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) – remains active, regularly targeting civilians, foreigners and Taliban officials with gun and bomb attacks.

The last suicide attack in Afghanistan claimed by the regional chapter of ISIL was in the southern city of Kandahar – the Taliban’s historic stronghold – in March. That bombing, striking a group of people waiting outside a bank branch, killed more than 20 bystanders.

In 2022, an ISIL-linked suicide bombing killed 53 people, including 46 girls and young women, at an education centre in a Shia neighbourhood of Kabul.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the AFP news agency last month that ISIL “existed” in the country before but the Taliban “suppressed them very hard”.

“No such groups exist here that can pose a threat to anyone,” Mujahid said.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
ISIL claims responsibility for deadly Kabul attack
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