TOLOnews Interviews Isobel Coleman, USAID Deputy Administrator

May 9, 2023 Current News Articles

Banafsha Binesh

Tolo News

9 May 2023

Coleman outlined the ongoing American assistance to the people of Afghanistan, especially for women and girls.

In an exclusive interview with TOLOnews, USAID Deputy Administrator for Plans and Programming Isobel Coleman said that the current bans on women’s activity will harm Afghanistan’s economic future. She said the world has condemned it, not just Western countries.

“It is intense condemnation by everyone in the international community, not just Western countries, but Muslim majority countries around the world, from Saudi Arabia to Egypt, to Indonesia. Even Iran and China issued a joint condemnation a few months ago on this rollback in women’s rights in Afghanistan. So, I think you see very broad-based international criticism and condemnation of this move. I can’t speculate on what the Taliban will do, they seem to have been quite committed to this path of economic self-destruction, frankly, and pain that they are inflicting on people,” she said.

Coleman outlined the ongoing American assistance to the people of Afghanistan, especially for women and girls.

The deputy head of the USAID further said that the USAID is trying to provide more aid to women in Afghanistan in accordance with international laws.

“We continue to do work in not just the humanitarian sector but also in health care, in education, in the WASH sector, in agriculture. We are continuing to work with farmers on helping them increase their productivity and improve their agribusinesses in many different parts of the country,” she said.

In the interview, Coleman criticized the lack of transparency in how the interim government in Afghanistan is spending the tax revenue it is collecting.

“We understand that the Taliban has been collecting taxes, but we have concerns about where the money is actually going and I think more transparency in how the Taliban is distributing funds would be very helpful because we have concerns that they are not investing as much as they can or should be in health care,” she said.

“The collected revenue is spent completely transparently and in accordance with the priorities of the people. The Islamic Emirate understands the nation’s priorities better than anyone and it is obvious to them. We spend money in accordance with these priorities,” said Ahmad Wali Haqmal, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance.

Previously, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), reported that the US is still the largest donor to Afghanistan.

Students Call for Reopening of Girls’ Schools

May 9, 2023 Current News Articles

By TOLOnews

TV Network

9 May 2023

Female Afghan employees detained since Taliban ban, UN says

May 9, 2023 Current News Articles

Al Jazeera

9 May 2023

‘Discriminatory and unlawful measures’ restrict Afghan women’s and girls’ participation in public life, report says.

Some Afghan women employed by the United Nations have been detained, harassed and had restrictions placed on their movement since being banned by the Taliban from working for the world body, the UN says.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers informed the UN early last month that Afghan women employed with the UN mission could no longer report for work.

“This is the most recent in a series of discriminatory – and unlawful – measures implemented by the de facto authorities with the goal of severely restricting women and girls’ participation in most areas of public and daily life in Afghanistan,” the UN said in a report released on Tuesday.

Taliban authorities continue to crack down on dissenting voices, in particular those who speak out on issues related to the rights of women and girls, it said.

The UN report cited the March arrest of four women who participated in a Kabul protest demanding access to education and work and the arrest of Matiullah Wesa, head of PenPath, a civil society organisation campaigning for the reopening of schools for girls.

It also highlighted the arrest of a women’s rights activist and her brother in February in the northern province of Takhar.

Several other civil society activists have been released, reportedly without being charged, after extended periods of arbitrary detention by the Taliban’s intelligence service, the report said.

The measures will have disastrous effects on Afghanistan’s prospects for prosperity, stability and peace, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said.

The Taliban previously banned girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade and blocked women from most aspects of public life and work. In December, they banned Afghan women from working at local and non-governmental organizations, a measure that at the time did not yet extend to UN offices.

Public executions, lashings

The report also pointed to ongoing extrajudicial killings of individuals affiliated with the former government.

On March 5 in southern Kandahar province, Taliban forces arrested a former police officer at his home, then shot and killed him, according to the report. During the same month in northern Balkh province, a former military official was killed by unknown armed men in his house.

“Arbitrary arrests and detention of former government officials and Afghanistan National Security and Defense Force members also occurred throughout February, March and April,” the report said.

In a separate report released on Monday, the UN strongly criticised 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.

In the past six months alone, 274 men, 58 women and two boys were publicly flogged in Afghanistan, it said.

The Taliban foreign ministry said in response that Afghanistan’s laws are determined in accordance with Islamic rules and guidelines and an overwhelming majority of Afghans follow those rules.

The Taliban began carrying out such punishments shortly after coming to power almost two years ago despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during its previous stint in power in the 1990s.

Under the first Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001, public punishment and executions were carried out by officials against individuals convicted of crimes, often in large venues such as sports stadiums and urban intersections.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

GOP panel chair pressures Blinken on Afghan withdrawal document

May 9, 2023 Current News Articles

The House Foreign Affairs Committee chair has threatened to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress if he does not turn over a classified cable reportedly warning that Kabul could collapse soon after the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The letter escalates a monthslong standoff between the House committee and the Biden administration, which has so far been unwilling to turn over the document to Congress. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on Monday released a May 5 letter demanding the State Department provide Congress with an unredacted version of the July 13, 2021, cable and its official response.

McCaul threatened Blinken with contempt of Congress and a possible civil enforcement proceeding if he does not comply with the committee’s request by 6 p.m. Thursday or provide a legal basis for withholding the document.

“The dissent cable and official response are critical and material to the Committee’s investigation into the catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal,” McCaul wrote in his letter.

State Department employees can use the “dissent channel” to communicate dissenting foreign policy views with senior officials. A Wall Street Journal article said the cable warned that the Taliban could seize control of Kabul soon after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan.

In late March, the committee issued a subpoena to Blinken over the cable. On April 27, the State Department gave the committee a briefing on the cable’s contents and its official response. The department also provided Congress with a one-page summary of the dissent cable, as well as with a summary of the official response that came in at just under one page, according to McCaul’s letter. The letter adds that the actual cable is four pages long.

“It is inherently problematic for the Department, which is the subject of the Committee’s investigation, to be permitted to withhold key material evidence and substitute its own abbreviated characterizations of that evidence for the original documents,” McCaul wrote in his letter.

He claimed that the State Department officials who led the briefing were “unwilling or unable” to answer several of the committee’s questions on the topic.

In a statement, a State Department spokesperson said the committee’s actions were “unnecessary and unproductive,” as the panel had received a classified briefing and summary of the cable.

“We will continue to respond to appropriate oversight inquiries and provide Congress the information it needs to do its job while protecting the ability of State Department employees to do theirs,” the spokesperson said.

The administration has previously expressed concerns that releasing the cable could compromise the identity of the cable’s signatories.

The cable is one part of McCaul’s investigation into the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which saw 13 U.S. service members killed at Kabul’s airport. Last month, the Biden administration released a summary of its assessment of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, largely faulting the Trump administration for the chaos that unfolded.

In TOLOnews Interview, German MEP Criticizes Restrictions on Women

May 8, 2023 Current News Articles

Asma Saayin

Tolo News

8 May 2023

MoI: ‘4000 Hectares’ of Poppy Fields Destroyed

May 8, 2023 Current News Articles

Asma Saayin

Tolo News

8 May 2023

UN urges Afghanistan’s Taliban to end floggings, executions

May 8, 2023 Current News Articles

RAHIM FAIEZ

Associated Press

May 8, 2023

ISLAMABAD (AP) — 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.

In the past six months alone, 274 men, 58 women and two boys were publicly flogged in Afghanistan, according to a report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA.

“Corporal punishment is a violation of the Convention against Torture and must cease,” said Fiona Frazer, the agency’s human rights chief. She also called for an immediate moratorium on executions.

The Taliban foreign ministry said in response that Afghanistan’s laws are determined in accordance with Islamic rules and guidelines, and that an overwhelming majority of Afghans follow those rules.

“In the event of a conflict between international human rights law and Islamic law, the government is obliged to follow the Islamic law,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Taliban began carrying out such punishments shortly after coming to power almost two years ago, despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during their previous stint in power in the 1990s.

At the same time, they have gradually tightened restrictions on women, barring them from public spaces, such as parks and gyms, in line with their interpretation of Islamic law. The restrictions have triggered an international uproar, increasing the country’s isolation at a time when its economy has collapsed — and worsening a humanitarian crisis.

Monday’s report on corporal punishment documents Taliban practices both before and after their return to power in August 2021, when they seized the capital of Kabul as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew after two decades of war.

The first public flogging following the Taliban takeover was reported in October 2021 in the northern Kapisa province, the report said. In that case, a woman and man convicted of adultery were publicly lashed 100 times each in the presence of religious scholars and local Taliban authorities, it said.

In December 2022, Taliban authorities executed an Afghan convicted of murder, the first public execution since they took power the report said.

The execution, carried out with an assault rifle by the victim’s father, took place in the western Farah province before hundreds of spectators and top Taliban officials.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the top government spokesman, said the decision to carry out the punishment was “made very carefully,” following approval by three of the country’s highest courts and the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.

There has been a significant increase in the number and regularity of judicial corporal punishment since November when Mujahid repeated comments by the supreme leader about judges and their use of Islamic law in a tweet, the report said.

Since that tweet, UNAMA documented at least 43 instances of public lashings involving 274 men, 58 women and two boys. A majority of punishments were related to convictions of adultery and “running away from home,” the report said. Other purported offenses included theft, homosexuality, consuming alcohol, fraud and drug trafficking.

In a video message, Abdul Malik Haqqani, the Taliban’s appointed deputy chief justice, said last week that the Taliban’s Supreme Court has issued 175 so-called retribution verdicts since taking power, including 79 floggings and 37 stonings.

Such verdicts establish the right of a purported victim, or relative of a victim of a crime to punish or forgive the perpetrator. Haqqani said the Taliban leadership is committed to carrying out such sentences.

After their initial overthrow in the U.S. invasion of 2001, the Taliban continued to carry out corporal punishment and executions in areas under their control while waging an insurgency against the U.S.-backed former Afghan government, the report said.

UNAMA documented at least 182 instances when the Taliban carried out their own sentences during the height of their insurgency between 2010 and August 2021, resulting in 213 deaths and 64 injuries.

Many Muslim-majority countries draw on Islamic law, but the Taliban interpretation is an outlier.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called a Taliban ban on women working an unacceptable violation of Afghan human rights.

On April 5, Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers informed the United Nations that Afghan women employed with the U.N. mission could no longer report for work. Aid agencies have warned that the ban on women working will impact their ability to deliver urgent humanitarian help in Afghanistan.

The Taliban previously banned girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade and women from most public life and work. In December, they banned Afghan women from working at local and non-governmental groups — a measure that at the time did not extend to U.N. offices.

Under the first Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001, public corporal punishment and executions were carried out by officials against individuals convicted of crimes, often in large venues such as sports stadiums and at urban intersections.

Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to boost trade, lower border tensions

May 8, 2023 Current News Articles

Al Jazeera

The two neighbours ‘reaffirm their desire to pursue continuous and practical engagement’ in bilateral talks in Islamabad.

Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban government have agreed to boost trade and lower tensions along their border amid a surge in attacks on Pakistani security forces, officials said.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Afghanistan’s Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, struck the deal on Sunday in Islamabad, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

The agreement is designed to improve bilateral trade, combat “terrorism” and boost bilateral ties.

According to a Pakistani foreign ministry statement, Bhutto Zardari and Muttaqi on Sunday “held a candid and in-depth exchange on key issues of mutual concern, including peace and security, as well as trade and connectivity”.

The two sides “reaffirmed their desire to pursue continuous and practical engagement”, it said.

According to the Afghan embassy, Muttaqi and his delegation met Bhutto Zardari and other officials. “During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, Afghan-Pak political, economic, and transit relations as well as challenges of Afghan Refugees in Pakistan have been discussed,” it said on Twitter early on Monday.

Pakistan’s military said Muttaqi also met General Asim Munir, the army chief, to discuss “issues of mutual interest including aspects related to regional security, border management, and formalisation of bilateral security mechanisms for improvement in the current security environment”.

Munir sought enhanced cooperation to “effectively tackle the common challenges of terrorism and extremism”, the statement added.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have featured ups and down in the past year.

In February, the two sides shut the main Afghan-Pakistan border crossing at Torkham, stranding people and trucks carrying food and essential items. After a Pakistani delegation travelled to Kabul for talks on the crisis, the border was reopened after a week and Muttaqi’s visit to Islamabad was planned.

The Taliban government of Afghanistan has been shunned by most of the international community for the harsh and restrictive measures they have imposed since seizing power in August 2021, when the United States and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

The Taliban has banned girls from education beyond the sixth grade and barred women from most jobs and public life.

Pakistan has lately expressed concern over a surge of deadly attacks across the country by the Pakistan Taliban – an independent armed group that is allied with and allegedly sheltered by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Islamabad has demanded from the Taliban in Kabul that they do more to rein in anti-Pakistani groups such as the Pakistan Taliban – also known as TTP – which has stepped up attacks on Pakistani security forces in recent months.

Saad Muhammad, former Pakistani military attaché to Kabul and defence analyst, told Al Jazeera he was hopeful of a “positive outcome” and that the Pakistani concerns will be taken on board by the Taliban government.

“When Pakistan sent a high-level delegation in February, we saw that the number of violent attacks emanating from the Afghan soil dropped down, which showed that the Afghan government took action,” he said.

“If Afghanistan wants other countries to invest and help improve its socioeconomic conditions, it has to take onboard these suggestions and bring some reform in their governance.”

Earlier on Sunday, Bhutto Zardari and Muttaqi also held talks with China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang, a departure from recent years when such dialogue had been on hold, according to analysts, who say Beijing is expanding its influence in the region.

China has also played a role in the resumption of Saudi Arabia-Iran diplomatic ties.

In Pakistan, Beijing is bankrolling the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – a sprawling package that includes such projects as road and power plant construction and boosting agriculture production.

The package is considered a lifeline for the Muslim-majority nation, which is currently facing one of its worst economic crisis amid stalled talks on a bailout with the International Monetary Fund.

CPEC, also known as the One Road Project, is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global endeavour aimed at reconstituting the ancient Silk Road and linking China to all corners of Asia.

Qin arrived in Islamabad on Friday and met President Arif Alvi, Bhutto Zardari and powerful army chief General Munir.

During these meetings, he was assured that Pakistan will boost security for all Chinese nationals working on multibillion-dollar projects in cash-strapped Pakistan.

China has been demanding more security from Pakistan for its nationals residing and working in the Islamic country since 2021, when a suicide bomber killed nine Chinese and four Pakistanis in an attack in the volatile northwest.

Defence analyst Muhammad told Al Jazeera that China also stressed in the meeting that the concerns of regional countries are valid and that the Taliban must act to safeguard its neighbours’ interests.

“However, the world too must realise that abandoning Afghanistan is not a solution. It is imperative to keep them engaged and nudge them towards required reforms,” he said.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Russia Expects ‘Taliban’ to Form Inclusive Govt: Lavrov

May 7, 2023 Current News Articles

Mohammad Farshad Daryosh

Tolo News

6 May 2023

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that they expect “Taliban leaders” to fulfill their promises on forming an inclusive government, “not only in terms of ethnic groups but also by ensuring the presence of the entire spectrum of Afghanistan’s political forces.”

These promises, Lavrov said have “yet to be done.”

“We are monitoring the implementation of their assurances that they will respect human rights, ensure security in the territory of Afghanistan, and eradicate the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking. All of our SCO colleagues have taken a united position on this,” he said.

Speaking to reporters after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, Lavrov claimed that there is convincing evidence to the “effect that the United States supports the terrorist groups entrenched in the territory of Afghanistan.”

These terrorist groups, according to Lavrov, “are opposed to the Taliban, including the Islamic State, the Islamic Movement of East Turkestan, and Al-Qaeda.”

“The Americans have not abandoned their attempts to reintroduce US military infrastructure in the region surrounding Afghanistan, in Central Asia. Everyone is well aware of the serious threat inherent in these attempts. We will resolutely oppose them,” he said.

The political analysts gave various opinions in this regard:

“Everyone knows that the main condition for getting out of the crisis is to consider the realities in Afghanistan, form an inclusive government and recognize the fundamental rights of the people of Afghanistan,” said Sayed Jawad Sijadi, political analyst.

The Islamic Emirate has not commented on Lavrov’s claim regarding the US’s support to terrorists in Afghanistan.

However, the deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, Bilal Karimi, in response to Moscow’s call to form an inclusive government, said that the interim government is “inclusive.”

“The formation of the government is inclusive … No has been dismissed, and also, on the political level there are figures from all ethnic groups and provinces,” he said.

Earlier, the foreign ministers of India, Russia and Pakistan on Friday called for a representative government in Afghanistan and the protection of women’s rights.

Zardari: China-Pakistan Meeting Stressed Need for Afghan Stability

May 7, 2023 Current News Articles

Fatema Adeeb

Tolo News

6 May 2023

Muttaqi attended the 5th China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral foreign ministers’ dialogue on Saturday.

The Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that in the meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Qin Gang the two sides stressed the need for peace and stability in Afghanistan.

This comes as the acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, is also on a visit to Pakistan.

Muttaqi attended the 5th China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral foreign ministers’ dialogue on Saturday.

Bhutto said that they “held productive discussions on political engagement, counter terrorism, trade & connectivity.”

Meanwhile, a statement from the Pakistan-China Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue said that the meeting stressed the need for peace and stability in Afghanistan, saying it is vital for socio-economic development, connectivity and prosperity in the region.

The participants underscored the need for the international community to provide continued assistance and support to Afghanistan including through the freeing of Afghanistan’s overseas financial assets, the statement said, adding that they also “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.”

Meanwhile, the CGTN reported that Qin in a meeting with Muttaqi called for “advancing China-Pakistan-Afghanistan cooperation dialogue on the principles of mutual benefit and win-win results.”

China will, as always, respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and deepen bilateral cooperation in various fields to help Afghanistan realize self-reliance, peace, stability, development and prosperity at an early date, Qin said as quoted by CGTN.

Muttaqi was accompanied by the acting Minister of Industry and Mines, Nooruddin Azizi, who met with the Commerce Minister of Pakistan, Syed Naveed Qamar, in Islamabad.

In the meeting they discussed bilateral commerce and solving trade challenges between the two countries, the Afghanistan Embassy in Islamabad said on Twitter.

“The issues related to transit, economic, trade and Afghan refugees based in Pakistan were discussed and they will have other meetings on other issues. The details will be shared later,” said deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, Bilal Karimi.

“China is interested in Afghanistan now more than ever, either economically or politically,” said Tahir Khan, a Pakistani journalist.

Muttaqi’s visit to abroad is the second in less than one month.

Public executions, lashings

RAHIM FAIEZ

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