51 years old, Mawalwi Kabir was born in Tangi village of Nahrin district of Baghlan province. But his ancestors are from Paktika.
Mawlawi Abdul Kabir has been appointed acting head instead of Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund by the order of the leader of the Islamic Emirate, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada.
According to the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, PM Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund is in Kandahar for medical treatment for an extended period of time and the political deputy PM, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, is managing affairs as acting PM.
51 years old, Mawalwi Kabir was born in Tangi village of Nahrin district of Baghlan province. But his ancestors are from Paktika.
“Kafil (a responsible sponsor) is someone who takes orders from a main person and take actions on their instruction which means that their will be no change in the policies of the interim government towards women and there is no change in issue of inclusive government,” said Torek Farhadi, political analyst.
Kabir has worked in various posts with the Islamic Emirate. Most recently he worked as the political deputy PM before becoming acting PM.
In the first term of the Taliban government, Mawlawi Kabir worked as governor for Logar and Nangarhar provinces. He also worked as head of the political commission of the Islamic Emirate for two years since 2005. Mawlawi Kabir also was a member of the Taliban’s negotiating team during the peace negotiations between the Taliban and the former republican government.
“One possibility is that if Mawlawi Abdul Kabir remains as acting head of the cabinet for a while, hopefully his presence will improve the daily activities of the government,” said Fazal Hadi Wazeen, a political analyst.
“Reshuffling individuals will not bring a fundamental change in the polices of the Taliban. But based on internal polarizations of the Taliban, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir is a meaningful (Kafil) and at the same time, it paves the way for gradual improvement,” said Sayed Jawad Sijadi, university instructor.
Expectations of Kabir are high, as he is younger than Mullah Akhund and reportedly more open for engaging with the international community.
Mawlawi Kabir Appointed Acting PM As Mullah Hassan Akhund is Ill: Mujahid
On May 12, Al Thani arrived in Kandahar and met with officials of the Islamic Emirate including Prime Minister, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said that it has been trying to create a political path between Afghanistan and the international community.
Speaking to reporters, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, Majed bin Mohammad Al Ansari, said that Doha played an important role as mediator, particularly at the end of the US involvement in Afghanistan.
Referring to the recent visit of Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Al Ansari said that important economic issues were discussed during the visit.
On May 12, Al Thani arrived in Kandahar and met with officials of the Islamic Emirate including Prime Minister, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund.
“In these meetings, delivery of aid and the reduction of challenges of the country, particularly in economic and humanitarian affairs were focused. Qatar has played an important role in helping the brotherly people of Afghanistan. Qatar is currently trying in regards of humanitarian aid and as a mediator and contact path between Afghanistan and international community,” Al Ansari.
Political analysts said that Qatar could play an important role in improving the Islamic Emirate’s relations with the international community.
“No one can improve the relations from inside Afghanistan until the Islamic Emirate bring changes in its policies–its restrictions imposed on women–particularly in human rights areas,” said Wali Frozan, an international relations’ analyst.
“Qatar is one of the important countries involved in (Afghanistan) affairs. The current government of Afghanistan needs to take advantage of relations with Qatar and make contacts with the world and rescue Afghanistan from its current isolation,” said Najibullah Jami, political analyst.
Qatar Seeking to Make Political Path Between Afghanistan, World
Thousands of families lost their members in the war of the past two decades.
Dozens of older women sell clothes and other items on the street as they are faced with economic challenges from losing family members in conflicts in the past 20 years.
Many of them are selling secondhand clothes on the streets.
Taj, 60, is a breadwinner of a family of 10 members.
Taj said that her husband and son in law lost their lives in the recent war. Taj said that she makes 100 Afs on a daily basis, which is too little to provide for her family’s needs.
“We have nothing to eat. We come and sit here. No one makes purchases and we are exhausted,” she said.
The women said that they are obliged to work to make ends meet for their families.
“The fabric which cost 50 Afs, they (customers) ask to pay 10 Afs. There is no business. I earned 200 Afs within the past two weeks,” said Ziba, a vendor.
“We wake up at 06:00 am and then come here, so I can make about 100 or 150 Afs by 3:00pm,” said Ruqia, a vendor.
The business of these vendors dropped as Afghanistan faces severe economic conditions that has made more than 28 million of the population need humanitarian assistance.
“We have eight people (in the family). Many of them are underage. I come and work here until sunset,” said Aziza, a vendor.
Thousands of families lost their members in the war of the past two decades.
Women Without Male Breadwinners Work As Street Vendors in Herat
The Taliban agreed with China and Pakistan to extend the Belt and Road Initiative to Afghanistan, potentially drawing in billions of dollars to fund infrastructure projects in the sanctions-hit country.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met in Islamabad on Saturday and pledged to work together on Afghanistan’s reconstruction process including taking the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to the Taliban-ruled nation.
“The two sides agreed to continue their humanitarian and economic assistance for the Afghan people and enhance development cooperation in Afghanistan, including through extension of CPEC to Afghanistan,” according to a joint statement issued by Pakistan’s foreign ministry following the meeting.
Chinese and Pakistani officials have previously discussed extending the project to Afghanistan built under President Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road initiative that started almost a decade ago. The cash-strapped Taliban government has expressed readiness to participate in the project and the prospect of getting much needed infrastructure investment.
The Taliban’s top diplomat, Amir Khan Muttaqi, traveled to Islamabad to meet his Chinese and Pakistani counterparts and reached an agreement, his deputy spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad said by phone.
The Taliban have also harbored hopes for China to boost investments in the country’s rich resources, estimated to be $1 trillion. The government inked its first contract in January with a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation to extract oil from the northern Amu Darya basin.
The Chinese and Pakistani ministers also stressed on the need to unfreeze Afghanistan’s overseas financial assets. The Taliban has been blocked from accessing about $9 billion of Afghanistan’s central bank reserves held overseas on concerns the funds will be used for terror activities.
Frozen Assets
Washington later agreed to release half of it to bolster the economy but put it on hold after the Taliban imposed certain school and work restrictions on Afghan women last year.
The militants-turned-administrators see investments as a way to fix a cash-strapped economy after international aid, accounting for 60% of public spending, was halted following the chaotic withdrawal of US troops in 2021.
China, Russia, and Iran are among a handful of countries that maintain warm ties with the Taliban. They have provided aid in the tens of millions of dollars to the Taliban, but have stopped short of formally recognizing the government.
The US remains the single largest donor to the humanitarian response by global agencies, having provided more than $2.1 billion since the Taliban retook power, according to a report.
A UN agency said last week it requires $4.6 billion this year to help more than two-thirds of the country’s 40 million population who’re living in extreme poverty. A 2022 Gallup poll showed that nine in ten Afghans find it “difficult” or “very difficult” to survive on their present income.
Chinese businesses have been wary of investing in Afghanistan due to attacks by the Islamic State group, which is competing with the Taliban for influence. In December, the militant group took credit for an attack at a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese diplomats and businessmen.
There’s also the presence of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, a Xinjiang-based separatist group, that’s kept Beijing rather cautious about expanding its influence.
Muttaqi’s second visit to Pakistan comes days after the United Nations stressed the need to engage with the Taliban rulers as Afghanistan is facing the “largest” humanitarian crisis in the world.
China’s Belt and Road to Enter Afghanistan in Taliban’s Victory
The northern “breadbasket” of Afghanistan is battling a potentially devastating outbreak of locusts that threaten to eat their way through up to a quarter of the country’s annual wheat harvest, the UN has warned.
But for those in eight key agricultural provinces, mostly in the north and north-east, the large-scale outbreak of Moroccan locusts will probably be “devastating”, according to Richard Trenchard, the UN’s food and agriculture organisation (FAO) country representative.
The FAO estimates that a full outbreak of the Moroccan locust, one of the most economically damaging plant pests in the world, could result in crop losses of between 700,000 and 1.2m tonnes of wheat, the country’s staple grain.
Compounding the deep economic crisis that gripped Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the locusts threatened further misery this year and next, said Trenchard.
“This year they were looking at good harvests, and it was like the first time they were seeing a bit of recovery, and just getting back almost to normal. And, in this area, it’s probably going to be – for many, many farmers – devastating,” he said.
“In other areas it will be good, but in this area, the breadbasket, it’s just … something that breaks my heart.”
Afghanistan has had two brushes with the Moroccan locust in recent history, one in 1981, when an outbreak wiped out about a quarter of the national harvest, and another in 2003, when it claimed a more modest 8% due to a strengthened locust-control programme.
However, since the Taliban overthrew Ashraf Ghani’s government, prompting foreign assistance to be cut off, the agriculture ministry’s locust-control programme has foundered. This has left the country vulnerable, as the Moroccan locust is ever present and only requires certain conditions for an outbreak to occur.
People in Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan, use the traditional control method of digging pits to bury adolescent locusts before they grow into adults. Photograph: Hashim Azizi/FAO
Since noticing early last month that their fields were starting to become carpeted with locusts, communities in affected areas such as Badakhshan, Sar-e Pul and Kunduz provinces have mobilised to use traditional methods to kill the pests.
Thousands of people, many supported by FAO, were now engaged in the “backbreaking” work of trying to sweep groups of adolescent locusts, known as hopper bands, into trenches or tarpaulins to be buried, said Trenchard.
The effort is thought to have averted the worst-case scenario of up to 1.7m tonnes of lost wheat. But its scope was limited, said Trenchard, warning that for many it would be “too little, too late”.
“You kill millions of locusts that way. The problem is there are billions of locusts,” he said.
Already, pistachio orchards have reportedly been devastated in north-western Badghis province. In the past week two areas have reported the emergence of the first adult locusts, which means that within the next six weeks the insects will start to swarm, with each swarm lasting for four to eight weeks. The harvest is also due to start in three weeks.
Farmers, local aid organisations, the FAO and the agriculture ministry were now in a race to kill as many hoppers as possible before they turn into adults and swarm, said Trenchard. But this is to mitigate the impact, rather than remove the threat.
“[The outbreak] will have a significant impact. There is no doubt,” said Trenchard. “How big that impact is … you won’t tell until they start swarming and [see] where they go.”
The Moroccan locust consumes about 150 different plant species, 50 of them food crops, and all of which grow in Afghanistan. Its swarms can cover up to 150 miles (250km) a day.
The adolescent locusts, or hoppers, are buried in pits. It’s a race to get rid of as many as possible before they turn into adults and swarm. Photograph: Hashim Azizi/FAO
It also laid far more eggs than most locusts, said Trenchard. “You tend to get a multiplier of about 10 from one year to the next. So 2024 is more worrying than 2023: 2023 is bad, but 2024 is when – if it’s not controlled – we will see something really awful.”
To avoid that, he said, FAO urgently needed more funding to ensure that everything was in place for chemical treatment to be deployed from September. Food assistance delivered through the World Food Programme – which has been reduced this year – must be maintained, he added.
According to the UN, its 2023 Afghanistan humanitarian response plan, which is seeking $4.6bn (£3.65bn) for urgent needs in the country, has so far only received $303m – 6.6% of the total funding required.
Locust outbreak in Afghanistan’s ‘breadbasket’ threatens wheat harvest
The OIC said that on May 12, 2023, an official ceremony was held by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jeddah
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said in a statement that a series of agreements have been signed to carry out a group of projects under the Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan.
The OIC said that on May 12, 2023, an official ceremony was held by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jeddah “where the signing took place.”
The ceremony was attended by Hissein Brahim Taha, the OIC Secretary-General, Muhammad Sulaiman Al-Jasser, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the IsDB Group, Sultan Al-Murshid, CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), and Fahad Al-Osaimi, Director of the Emergency Relief Department at KSRelief in Saudi Arabia.
Additionally, Tarig Ali Bakheit, the Special Envoy of the OIC Secretary-General for Afghanistan, and other representatives from international organizations and partners attended the meeting, according to the statement.
The OIC Secretary-General “emphasized that the OIC’s commitment to humanitarian aid in Afghanistan is demonstrated through the signing of agreements that facilitated the implementation of specific projects.
He also highlighted the need for sustained involvement, which can be achieved by securing additional financial support from both Members and non Members of the OIC, as well as regional and international financial institutions,” the statement said.
OIC: Agreements Signed for Projects for Afghanistan
Political analysts said that such pressures will cause tension in the region.
Zabiullah Mujahid, Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, reiterated that Afghan soil will not be used against anyone including regional countries.
This comes as “The Express Tribune” cited sources saying that China has leverage over the “Afghan Taliban” and that Pakistan wants China to use financial and economic leverage over the “Afghan Taliban” to address the issue of terrorist sanctuaries.
“The commitment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan existed previously: We don’t want Afghan soil to be used against any country, and our neighboring countries, in particular China and Pakistan, can be assured that we never allow security to be violated from Afghan soil or for anyone to pose a threat,” Mujahid said.
Political analysts said that such pressures will cause tension in the region.
“The internal problem of Pakistan belongs to itself. Before the Islamic Emirate came to power, the TTP was active. I hope their intelligence network solves their problems themselves and does not mount pressure through Afghanistan,” said Mohammad Zalmai Afghanyar, a political analyst.
Earlier, speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad ISSI, acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said that the remarks about the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan is propaganda against the Islamic Emirate.
He said that Afghanistan, China and Pakistan committed to not allow the use of their soil or airspace against each other.
Mujahid: Afghan Soil Will Not Be Used to Threaten Other Countries
Referring to the UN meeting in Doha, Niklasson said that the meeting was a welcome initiative by the UN to once more put Afghanistan in focus.
The European Union’s Delegation in Afghanistan released a press statement by Tomas Niklasson, EU Special Envoy for Afghanistan.
Referring to the UN meeting in Doha, Niklasson said that the meeting was a welcome initiative by the UN to once more put Afghanistan in focus.
“In the discussions, there was a consistent view that the conditions were not in place to allow for recognition by the international community of the de facto authorities as a legitimate government, but that engagement with the de facto authorities and other Afghans must continue to address shared concerns – including security and counter-terrorism, the need for inclusive governance, upholding human rights, preventing irregular migration and human trafficking, countering narcotics production and smuggling, and stabilising the Afghan economy,” he said.
Niklasson also referred to the ban on Afghan women working for NGOs, saying that this “challenges fundamental principles” and is having “immediate consequences,” as “critical assistance delivered by such organizations cannot reach women and children in need.”
“Afghan girls and women are still prevented from attending secondary school or university due to decisions taken by the de facto authorities, while a very large number of Afghan boys can also not access primary or other forms of education due to lack of availability or opportunity,” he said.
The EU special envoy voiced concerns about the humanitarian situation, saying that more than 28 million vulnerable Afghans are in need of humanitarian assistance.
“The UN humanitarian appeal for USD 4.6 billion, the largest in the world, has only received pledges to cover 7.2%, whereas to compare the four largest humanitarian appeals after Afghanistan have by now received pledges covering more than 20%,” he said.
Niklasson said he reiterates the “EU’s clear position not to provide support – political, material or otherwise – for Afghan armed resistance, while I also encourage the de facto authorities to offer an alternative, by engaging in dialogue with all parts of the population – men and women.”
Niklasson said that the Afghan caretaker officials have reiterated their commitment that Afghan soil would not be used to threaten the security of other countries.
“They also confirmed, once more, their firm commitment to fight Da’esh (ISIS-KP), and many other Afghans recalled that in terms of security Ramadan had been much less challenging than in many years,” he said.
Ban on Afghan Women in NGOs Affecting Aid Delivery: Niklasson
KARACHI, Pakistan, May 8 (Reuters) – China and Pakistan on Monday urged donors to bridge gaps in humanitarian funding for Afghanistan, saying aid should be delinked from “political considerations”.
Aid to Afghanistan will drop sharply this year as donor countries seek to challenge curbs on female aid workers imposed by the Taliban administration and try to cope with an increase in crises around the world, international officials say.
The United Nations said last week it would continue to keep its staff at home after the administration in Kabul began enforcing a ban on Afghan women working for the world body.
“The Ministers underlined that humanitarian support to the people of Afghanistan must remain delinked from any political considerations,” the foreign ministers of China, Pakistan and the Taliban administration said in a joint statement.
They called for the lifting of unilateral sanctions against Afghanistan to create opportunities “for economic development and prosperity in the country,” the ministers said after a trilateral meeting in Islamabad.
The statement noted the Afghan Interim Government’s repeated assurances to respect women’s rights and urged donors to support Afghanistan’s reconstruction so as to protect the rights and interests of all Afghans “including women and children”.
According to U.N. data, the United States was the largest donor to the U.N. appeal last year, giving nearly $1.2 billion. So far the United States has given the most money to the 2023 U.N. appeal: $75 million; despite that funding is drying up with a $4.6 billion U.N. appeal less than 7% funded.
The United Nations Development Programme has said the Afghan economy is at risk if aid continues to dry up.
Since toppling the Western-backed government in 2021, the Taliban administration has also tightened controls on women’s access to public life, including barring women from university and closing girls’ high schools.
The Taliban says it respects women’s rights in accordance with its strict interpretation of Islamic law. Taliban officials said decisions on female aid workers are an “internal issue.”
China, Pakistan urge Afghan aid be delinked from ‘political considerations’
BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday called on Afghanistan to reform its radical policies excluding women from education and public life and “adopt a more resolute attitude in combating terrorism.”
Wang said China hopes the Taliban-appointed Afghan interim government will “take solid steps in the right direction, make practical efforts to gain the understanding and trust of the international community, and create favorable conditions for Afghanistan to further develop good neighborliness with its neighbors and integrate into the international community.”
China generally refrains from commenting on the internal policies of nations with which it wishes to curry favor, or can use as leverage in its campaign to combat the dominance of global affairs by the U.S. and other liberal democracies.
China has also made halting efforts to extend its Belt and Road Initiative to Afghanistan that could see construction of railways and bridges, but is chiefly concerned with Afghanistan harboring separatists opposed to Chinese control in its northwestern region of Xinjiang.
“The international community still has a lot of concerns and expectations for the Afghan interim government, including hoping the Afghan side will make more progress in implementing moderate and prudent internal and external policies and safeguarding the rights and interests of women and children, and adopt a more resolute attitude in combating terrorism so as to produce more visible results,” Wang said at a daily briefing.
Wang praised a joint statement issued Monday at the end of the trilateral meeting as the first time the Taliban had put in writing a commitment to disallow terrorist groups to use Afghanistan as a base of operations.
That document is “of great significance to the future development of China-Afghanistan relations and the promotion of regional counter-terrorism and security cooperation,” Wang said.
“As a traditional friendly neighbor of Afghanistan, China believes that Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community,” he said. “The well-being and interests of the Afghan people deserve attention, the peace and reconstruction process of Afghanistan should be encouraged, and its sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected.”
The joint statement said the three sides stressed the need to prevent any individual, group or party “to use their territories to harm and threaten regional security and interests or conduct terrorist actions and activities.”
These include the Pakistani Taliban and a nebulous militant group claiming to represent the Uyghur ethnic group in China’s Xinjiang region, called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Several hundred, possibly thousands, of Chinese Muslims are believed to live in Pakistan’s largely ungoverned northern territories, but terrorism experts question whether the ETIM exists in any form other than on paper.
The Taliban have been shunned by most of the international community for sweeping restrictions on political opposition and civic life imposed after they seized power in August 2021. Those measures have rolled back educational and cultural gains made during the 20-year presence of NATO and U.S. forces, despite earlier pledges by the group that it would moderate its hard-line interpretation of Islam that have left if an outlier in the Muslim world.
Most notably, girls have been banned from education beyond the sixth grade and women banned from most jobs outside the home and kept away
A U.N. report on Monday strongly criticized the Taliban for carrying out public executions, lashings and stonings since seizing power in Afghanistan, and called on the country’s rulers to halt such practices.
At the mini-summit, the diplomats from the three nations agreed “to further deepen and expand their cooperation in the security, development and political domains based on the principles of mutual respect, equal-footed consultation and mutual benefit.”
The involvement of China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang in the talks represented a further expansion of Chinese diplomacy into the Muslim communities following Beijing’s hosting of talks resulting in the resumption of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In Pakistan, Beijing is bankrolling the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC — a sprawling package that includes road works, crop production and power plant construction.
The package is considered a lifeline for impoverished Pakistan, which is currently facing one of its worst economic crises amid stalled talks on a bailout with the International Monetary Fund.
During his visit, Qin met with President Arif Alvi, Foreign Minister Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Gen. Asim Munir. Qin was assured that Pakistan will boost security for Chinese nationals working in the country, a major concern since a suicide bomber killed nine Chinese and four Pakistanis in an attack in Pakistan’s volatile northwest in 2021.
Reluctant critic China urges Afghan changes on women’s roles
Afghanistan Peace Campaign
