Reactions to Doha Meeting on Afghanistan

Qatar’s foreign ministry said that they are willing to join the UN in cooperating with Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate said that they will participate in future meetings if the United Nations accepts their conditions.

The spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate told TOLOnews that the second Doha meeting failed because Kabul did not participate in the meeting.

“If the Islamic Emirate’s requests are accepted and are considered important, we will undoubtedly participate in meetings in the future,” Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, told TOLOnews.

Following the second Doha meeting, the foreign ministry of Russia said that any meeting without the support of Kabul and regional countries will be a “failure”.

“Any initiative, be it the establishment of a new post or format, is doomed to failure without the support of Kabul and regional states. It was noted that the accession of ‘extra-regionals’ is possible only on the condition that the US and NATO take primary responsibility for the current state of affairs in Afghanistan and the post-conflict reconstruction of this country, return blocked assets to Kabul and lift restrictions on banking transactions,” Anadolu News Agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.

“The goals that were established at the meeting do not seem to be achieved. Efforts should be made to make future meetings fruitful,” said Moeen Gul Samkanai, a political analyst.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said that they are willing to join the UN in cooperating with Afghanistan.

“We are proud to cooperate with Afghanistan alongside the United Nations. Qatar will support UN’s recommendations about Afghanistan,” said Majed Al Ansari, the spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs of Qatar.

The EU’s special representative for Afghanistan on X said that he found a strong commitment to Afghanistan and its people and a wish to engage for and support a future Afghanistan at peace with itself, the region and the international community.

Tomas Niklasson added that the achievements by the de facto authorities of Afghanistan to radically reduce poppy cultivation and their efforts to rehabilitate people with a drug addiction were welcomed in the meeting.

Reactions to Doha Meeting on Afghanistan
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U.S. Strike Killed Afghans Recruited to Fight for Iran

The New York Times

Refugees who joined the largely overlooked Fatemiyoun Brigade to battle for Shiite Islam and escape crushing poverty had become a force in Tehran’s proxy wars.

It was a memorial for the “martyrs” killed when the U.S. struck military bases in Syria, according to Iranian state television.

A small crowd sat in rows of folding chairs, men in the front and women in the back, at the main cemetery in Tehran, the Iranian capital, earlier this month. Children milled around and a young man passed a box of sweets. A man recited prayers through a microphone.

But the 12 fallen men weren’t Iranians. They were Afghans, according to other soldiers and local media reports, part of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, a largely overlooked force that dates to the height of the Syrian civil war a decade ago. To help President Bashar al-Assad of Syria beat back rebel forces and Islamic State terrorists, Iran at the time began recruiting thousands of Afghan refugees to fight, offering $500 a month, schooling for their children, and Iranian residency.

The brigade is still believed to be about 20,000 strong, drawn from Afghan refugees living mostly in Iran, and it serves under the command of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Iranian media affiliated with the Guards and social media platforms dedicated to the Fatemiyoun published the names and photographs of the slain Afghans and said they were killed in U.S. strikes in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. strikes were conducted in retaliation for a January drone attack on a military base in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. The U.S. had blamed an Iran-backed militia based in Iraq for the attack.

Publicly, Iranian officials denied that any military personnel linked to Iran were among the casualties. Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the U.N. Security Council days after the U.S. strikes that Iran had no connection to the bases attacked in Iraq and Syria. He accused the U.S. of falsely blaming Iran and said only civilians had been killed.

The Guards did not issue a statement acknowledging the deaths of the Afghans under their command as they typically do when Iranian forces are killed, nor did any official threaten to avenge the deaths.

The story of the Afghan casualties, however, emerged from at least four cities across Iran — Tehran, Shiraz, Qum and Mashhad — where the bodies of the Afghans were quietly repatriated to their families, according to photos and videos on Iranian media.

At the funeral processions, the coffins of the Afghans were draped in green cloth but bore the flag of no nation. In the cities of Mashhad, Qum and Shiraz, they were carried to religious shrines for blessings.

Some mourners carried the yellow flag of the Fatemiyoun Brigade with its emblem. Local officials, clerics and a representative from the Revolutionary Guards and members of the Afghan refugee community attended some of the funerals, according to photos and videos. Two little girls wearing matching pink jackets, their hair in ponytails, wailed at their father’s coffin at another funeral on the outskirts of Tehran.

“There is growing anxiety among Afghans that they are getting killed and Iran is not protecting them and disowning their martyrs to protect its own interests,” said Hossein Ehsani, an expert on militants and terrorism movements in the Middle East who is Afghan and grew up as a refugee in Iran. “They feel they are used as cannon fodder.”

Iran’s mission to the U.N. did not respond to a question about whether Mr. Iravani, the U.N. ambassador, was aware of the Fatemiyoun casualties when he spoke to the Security Council.

Afghans, including fighters for the Quds Force, expressed anger and frustration at Iran’s handling of these deaths, posting near-daily messages on a social media channel dedicated to Fatemiyoun voices. Some members questioned the silence of the Quds Force, calling it discrimination.

Among the men killed were two senior commanders who were close allies of the slain former Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, according to Iranian media reports and photographs of them together in the Syrian battlefield. They were identified as Seyed Ali Hosseini and Seyed Hamzeh Alavi.

Mr. Suleimani was assassinated by the U.S. in 2020 in Iraq.

Most of the Afghans who fled to Iran over the years were Hazaras, one of the largest ethnic groups in their country who share the Shiite Muslim faith with most Iranians.

At home in Afghanistan, the Hazaras were among the natural allies of American forces because they shared common enemies in the Taliban and in Al Qaeda. But in the convoluted landscape of the Middle East today, they are now aligned with Iran and seeking to chase American forces out of the region.

In Syria, the Fatemiyoun force was often the first line of defense in the battle against ISIS and was widely credited for helping take back several Syrian cities. The government newspaper Iran said last week that at least 3,000 members of the force were killed in Syria over the years. The United States designated the Fatemiyoun as a terrorist organization in 2019.

A former member of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, an Afghan who was born and raised in Iran and was deployed to Syria three times, said he was drawn to the force because it provided an opportunity to escape crushing poverty and unemployment in Iran and gain legal status.

Asking that his that his name not be published for fear of retribution, he said many fighters also joined out of a desire to protect Shiite Islam and defeat a Sunni extremist force similar to the ones that had persecuted Hazaras in Afghanistan.

Another Afghan refugee, Mohamad, a 31-year-old Hazara Shiite and a former military officer in Afghanistan who fled to Iran when the Taliban retook the country, said in a telephone interview that he had a master’s degree but works in construction. Afghans also must worry about a growing crackdowns on undocumented migrants and threats of deportation, he said.

“One of my Afghan friends who is from my hometown told me he wants to join the Fatemiyoun out of pure financial desperation and fear of being sent back to Afghanistan,” said Mohamad, who asked that his last name not be used for fear of retaliation. “We are stuck, with no way forward and no way back.”

Analysts say that there is no evidence that Fatemiyoun forces were directly involved in attacks against American bases in Iraq and Syria, which the Pentagon says have been targeted more than 160 times by Iran-backed proxies since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October. But the Fatemiyoun Brigade plays a significant role in helping Iran coordinate logistics on the ground for the network of militias it supports, funds and arms across the region.

The Fatemiyoun forces oversee bases that serve as key stops along the supply chain of weapons, including drones, missile parts and technology, that makes its way from Iran to Iraq and then Syria and to Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to analysts and a military strategist affiliated with the Guards, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

“When the wider Syrian conflict froze several years ago, there was an expectation that Fatemiyoun would go home, disband and demobilize,” said Charles Lister the director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “But they have kind of melted into the wider regional network and have found a role to play — holding ground, coordinating logistics and wider coordination on the ground.”

American fighter jets destroyed the base where the Fatemiyoun were killed in Deir al-Zour, in eastern Syria, leaving a pile of rubble, mangled bricks and debris, according to a photograph published on the website Saberin News, affiliated with Iran’s proxy militias.

Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to comment specifically about the U.S. strikes killing Afghan fighters for Iran. But he said the strikes were conducted to hold the Guard and their proxies accountable and that “initial indications are that over 40 militants associated with Iranian proxy groups were killed or injured.”

Iranian commanders and key personnel were evacuated from the bases in anticipation of the American strikes as the Biden administration signaled for nearly a week that attacks were pending. But Afghans remained at the base, one Iranian official affiliated with the Guards said, adding that military bases couldn’t be abandoned.

At the funeral for five of the Afghans, including the two senior commanders, Hojatolislam Alireza Panahian, a prominent conservative cleric, told the mourners that the enemy was “dumb” to kill vulnerable Afghans.

“They are martyrs without borders, and jihadists for Islam and the resistance front.”

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.

Farnaz Fassihi is a reporter for The New York Times based in New York. Previously she was a senior writer and war correspondent for the Wall Street Journal for 17 years based in the Middle East.

U.S. Strike Killed Afghans Recruited to Fight for Iran
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U.N. Held a Conference on Afghanistan. Taliban Officials Boycotted It.

The New York Times

DOHA, Qatar — Taliban officials sent a defiant message to Western nations, donors and Afghan women’s groups this week, refusing to attend a conference hosted by the United Nations to discuss humanitarian crises facing Afghanistan and cooperation on human rights issues.

The two-day conference, which began on Sunday, was the second of its kind. It was held to try to chart a course forward for international engagement with the country. But the Taliban administration took issue with the inclusion of some groups at the meeting. Attended by special envoys from 25 countries and regional organizations, the conference is aimed at increasing international engagement with Afghanistan and developing a more coordinated response to the problems afflicting the war-torn nation.

The Taliban administration, the de facto rulers of Afghanistan since 2021, had been invited to the conference but at the last minute the group said it would not attend. In a statement, the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it should be the sole official representative of Afghanistan for talks with the international community and only then could engage in frank discussions. Inclusion of others would hinder progress, the statement added.

“This government of Afghanistan cannot be coerced by anyone,” it stated.

Representatives from Afghan civil society, women’s groups, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization were present at the conference. Afghan political opposition parties, including the National Resistance Front, which has a small armed wing, were not invited, although they had asked to be included.

The Taliban administration’s decision, announced on the eve of the conference, appeared to have been made to avoid awkward conversations with Afghans living outside the country who oppose the Taliban authorities’ exclusion of women, and political opponents inside Afghanistan, several delegates said.

“The Taliban’s refusal to participate in the Doha Conference and engage in a meaningful dialogue with all sides, especially the brave women of Afghanistan, shows the group’s lack of interest in seeking a durable political settlement,” Fawzia Koofi, a former member of the Afghan parliament, said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

“I was hopeful until last night,” said Mahbouba Seraj, a women’s rights advocate. “We are divided into two halves. it is impossible to have half of Afghanistan here and half over in Afghanistan.”

She criticized the Taliban for complaining that it was “unreasonable” to have Afghans who were not members of the Taliban included in the conference.

Human rights groups and political opponents of the Taliban administration, which has declared the country an Islamic Emirate, say the Afghan government should allow a pluralistic political system and include women and ethnic minorities in its government.

U.N. Held a Conference on Afghanistan. Taliban Officials Boycotted It.
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World Food Programme: Assisting over 1.5 million Afghan students in past year

Khaama Press

The World Food Programme has announced in continuation of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan that it has assisted over 1.5 million girls and boys in the past year to stay focused on their studies and learn better.

The organization wrote on its social platform X, on Tuesday, February 20th, that over 1.5 million schoolgirls and boys have received a food assistance package containing essential nutrients in the past year.

The World Food Programme is reporting assistance to Afghan students amid poverty and humanitarian crisis wreaking havoc in the country, and according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report, the level of people’s need in Afghanistan for humanitarian aid has sharply increased.

Findings from the UN’s Humanitarian Aid Coordinating Office (OCHA) indicate that nearly 30 million people (roughly two-thirds of Afghanistan’s population) are heavily reliant on humanitarian assistance.

This situation has impacted the quality of education in Afghanistan, leading to an increase in child labor or children being deprived of access to education.

Previously, on the occasion of World Education Day, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced that many children in Afghanistan go to school hungry.

The World Food Programme also stated on World Education Day that it distributes fortified biscuits every morning to 700,000 boys and girls.

While the program did not elaborate on its assistance to students, it emphasized, “It helps them (students) stay focused on their studies, learn better, and bring food back to their families.”

The level of education and the issue of children’s access – especially girls’ access – to education in Afghanistan have long been the subject of much contention, and experts believe that children bear the heaviest cost of poverty and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

World Food Programme: Assisting over 1.5 million Afghan students in past year
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UNICEF: 16% surge in acute respiratory infections in Afghanistan in January

Khaama Press

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that in January of this year, 160,000 cases of acute respiratory infections have been reported in Afghanistan.

UNICEF shared a report on its website on Monday, revealing a 16% rise compared to last year for the reported cases.

UNICEF states that severe cold and air pollution are cited as the causes of this illness, adding that children under the age of five constitute 62% of all cases of this disease.

According to the report, the winter temperature in most parts of Afghanistan drops below zero, leading to respiratory illnesses in children.

UNICEF said it has been supporting health centers in Afghanistan to cope with the increase in acute respiratory infections, with the support of the World Bank, providing health supplies and heating materials to health facilities.

The organization added that, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, it covers the costs of operating 2,400 health centers and the salaries of about 27,000 health workers.

UNICEF claims that its support for health workers and facilities in Afghanistan last year provided health and nutrition services to approximately 20 million children and their families.

UNICEF, citing health experts, said that besides poor weather conditions, other factors contributing to the increase in respiratory infections include poverty, air pollution, inadequate respiratory hygiene, and crowded living conditions.

UNICEF: 16% surge in acute respiratory infections in Afghanistan in January
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Lack of consensus among countries on appointment of special envoy for Afghanistan

The two-day Doha conference hosted by the United Nations at Qatar “Four Seasons” hotel concluded yesterday. The conference was held to negotiate the global community’s engagement with the de facto authorities, assess the human rights situation in Afghanistan, and garner consensus among nations on appointing a new representative for Afghan conflict resolution.

However, due to opposition from Iran, Russia, and China, there are significant doubts and uncertainties regarding consensus on appointing a new representative.

Similar to its predecessor, the second Doha conference was conducted behind closed doors, with delegates from approximately 25 countries and international organizations participating. Afghanistan was represented by at least four individuals, including Lutfullah Najafizada, Mitra Mehran, Shahgul Rezai, Mahbouba Seraj, and Faiz Mohammad Zaland, representing civil society and women in the conference.

Experts dubbed this conference a “significant opportunity.” The expectations surrounding it underscored its importance. However, the tangible and definitive outcome of this conference remains unclear. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, in a post-conference briefing, mentioned that countries agree to prevent further crisis escalation in Afghanistan, but added that a long road lies ahead.

During the Doha conference, it was reported that representatives of Iran, Russia, and China opposed the consensus for appointing a special representative. Following this, Russia’s representative abstained from participating in the joint session between country representatives and Afghan civil society and women. Moscow explained that participants in the Doha conference were invited in a “non-transparent” manner without the confirmation of the Taliban administration.

Iran’s representative also followed suit, echoing what is perceived as “Taliban’s demand,” and did not attend the joint session. The dissent and lack of consensus regarding the appointment of a new representative indicate that the most contentious agenda item of the conference, negotiating and agreeing on a special representative for Afghanistan, concluded fruitlessly.

The objective of selecting a special representative for Afghanistan is to fulfill one of the resolutions of the UN Security Council concerning Afghanistan. According to this resolution, the UN Secretary-General is tasked with nominating a qualified individual for the political resolution of the Afghan issue.

Based on reports, this representative will be tasked with engaging with all stakeholders in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, civil society, women, and regional countries, to facilitate practical decisions for increased interaction with Afghanistan’s current authorities.

It is worth noting that the appointment of this representative has been delegated to the next session of the UN Security Council.

Lack of consensus among countries on appointment of special envoy for Afghanistan
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MoIC: Japan Envoy Says Time for Interaction With Kabul Has Come

According to Haqmal Zia, the deputy minister, the cooperation between Kabul and Tokyo in the field of historical monuments was also emphasized.

Japan’s ambassador to Kabul, Takayushi Kormaya, in a meeting with the acting minister of Information and Culture, said that the time for the world’s interaction with Afghanistan has been reached and steps must be taken forward in this area, according to the ministry.

According to officials in the MoIC, Takayushi Kormaya also said that Japan wants good relations with Afghanistan.

“In the meeting the ambassador of Japan said that as the time has been reached, the world must interact with the Islamic Emirate. He also highlighted the achievements of the Islamic Emirate and said that the Islamic Emirate has good achievements in various sectors,” said Haqmal Zia, the deputy minister of Information and Culture.

“The Islamic Emirate should also adopt correct and logical policies. Interaction with the world is inevitable and we cannot live on an island and not have any kind of relations with the world,” said Salim Paigir, a political analyst.

According to Haqmal Zia, the deputy minister, the cooperation between Kabul and Tokyo in the field of historical monuments was also emphasized.

“There has been a war in Afghanistan for decades, and historical places and monuments have been damaged, and there is a need to have a big process in this area. Japan ensured their willingness to cooperate in this area,” he added.

Japan has maintained good relations with the Islamic Emirate after it came to power, but so far, no country has recognized the Islamic Emirate.

MoIC: Japan Envoy Says Time for Interaction With Kabul Has Come
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Religious Directorate Official: Journalists Taking Pictures, ‘Major Sin’

Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror said that growing beards is obligatory in Islam and that media workers should stop shaving their beards.

The General Directorate of the Invitation and Guidance (an independent body that determines religious policies within the interim government) said that cameramen are committing a major sin by shooting videos.

Speaking at a gathering of clerics of the directorate inside the Ministry of Education, Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror said that media workers have also been committed a sin by not growing their beards.

“You, media workers, grow your beards, stop shaving. Do not waste your time by taking pictures because it is a major sin. In the other world, Allah will order you to provide soul to your pictures, then you will be unable to,” said Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror, General Director of the Invitation and Guidance Directorate.

Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror said that growing beards is obligatory in Islam and that media workers should stop shaving their beards.

“Our Afghan friends from the media are continuously committing the sin. They [journalists] are also concentrated on vice. They are only making public those remarks of scholars which they think are bad before people and the world, they cut out the context and background of the remarks,” added Saheed Wror.

Earlier, local authorities in Kandahar province in a letter asked the local officials in the province to stop video recording of all formal and informal meetings.

Religious Directorate Official: Journalists Taking Pictures, ‘Major Sin’
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Faiq: UNSC to Hold Private Meeting on Afghanistan on Feb. 26

The UN Security Council in resolution 2127 asked the Secretary-General to appoint a special representative of the UN to Afghanistan.

On February 26, the United Nations Security Council will hold a private meeting on Afghanistan, the chargé d’affaires of the Afghanistan Permanent Mission to the UN, Naseer Ahmad Faiq, told TOLOnews.  

He said that the meeting will be held on resolution 2127 of the UNSC.

“The UN security council will hold a private meeting on Afghanistan on 26 of February. In this meeting the members of the Security Council and the Secretary-General will participate and the Secretary-General will provide a report to the Security Council regarding the appointment of a special representative and the Doha Conference based on Resolution 2127,” said Naseer Ahmad Faiq.

“The envoy that the UN wants to appoint in fact will be like a government leading foreign institutions in Afghanistan and will be evaluating the politics of Afghanistan and reporting to the UN Security Council and then the Security Council will discuss its threats and incentives, and the Islamic Emirate will think it is interfering in their issues,” said Ahmad Munib Rasa, a political analyst.

The UN Security Council in resolution 2127 asked the Secretary-General to appoint a special representative of the UN to Afghanistan.

“One or two candidates are from Turkey, from Indonesia, Norway and there is also supposed to be some from Jordan. The properties of the envoy as stated in the resolution should be someone who has political knowledge of Afghanistan from a historical perspective, knows the region, has no close relations with any political sides or engaged countries and at the same time should have the necessary ability in the field of human rights and gender issues — these are the characteristics that the envoy should meet,” said the permanent representative of Afghanistan to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Nasir Ahmad Andisha.

Meanwhile, the head of the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based political office, Suhail Shaheen, in an interview with a Japanese media outlet said that the Islamic Emirate will not accept another UN special envoy for Afghanistan.

“The question is why there is a need for a special envoy, second, there is suspicion that the special envoy may try to impose some decisions on Afghanistan,” Suhail Shaheen said.

This comes as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has also in a statement said that the country will be among the priorities of the agenda of the upcoming Islamic Summit in Gambia and the Council of Foreign Ministers in Cameroon.

Faiq: UNSC to Hold Private Meeting on Afghanistan on Feb. 26
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Nadim Criticizes Meetings Held Abroad on Afghanistan

Speaking during the seminar, Nadim said that now more than ever, women’s rights are protected in the country.

The Acting Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadim, on Tuesday in a seminar in Kabul criticized the holding of meetings on Afghanistan abroad, saying that what is raised about women’s rights in these meetings is not correct.

Speaking during the seminar, Nadim said that now more than ever, women’s rights are protected in the country.

“Shamelessly, meetings are held abroad in which concerns are expressed about the situation in Afghanistan. Their participants also talk about the violation of women’s rights in Afghanistan. The Islamic Emirate has paid much attention to the rights and dignity of women in the country that no one in the world has paid attention to at this level,” he said.

According to Nadim, the current government is facing many problems and efforts are being made to eliminate challenges.

The Acting Minister of Education, Sayed Habibullah Agha, who was a participant in the seminar, said that if Islamic laws are properly followed by the citizens, the current government will be strengthened.

“We who are in charge of inviting people, must do so based on ethics and the Prophet’s (PBUH) method; Because through this, our Islamic system can become strong and stable in the country,” the acting minister of education added.

In meetings about Afghanistan, concerns are expressed about the violation of women’s rights in Afghanistan, especially their right to work and education.

Nadim Criticizes Meetings Held Abroad on Afghanistan
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