Women, kids among 1,200 Afghan migrants jailed in Pakistan

December 30, 2022 Current News Articles

By ADIL JAWAD and MUNIR AHMED

Associated Press

28 Dec 2022

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police in multiple raids detained at least 1,200 Afghan nationals, including women and children, who had entered the southern port city of Karachi without valid travel documents, officials said Thursday.

The arrests brought criticism from around Afghanistan after images of locked up Afghan children were circulated online. The detentions underscored the strained relations between the two South Asian neighbors.

Police and local government officials said the detainees will be deported to Afghanistan after serving their sentences or when the paperwork for their release is completed by their attorneys.

Pakistani officials claim that most of the detainees wish to return home.

Although Pakistan routinely makes such arrests, multiple and apparently coordinated raids were launched beginning in October to detain Afghans staying in Karachi and elsewhere without valid documents.

Gul Din, an official at the Afghan Consulate in Karachi, said he was in contact with Pakistan about a “quick and dignified return” of the Afghan citizens to their homeland.

Pictures of some Afghan children crammed into a cell of the central jail in Karachi went viral on social media, drawing appeals for their release along with their parents.

At least 139 Afghan women and 165 children are among those being held at a high-security jail in Karachi, according to a report released this month by Pakistan’s National Commission on Human Rights. The report was based on interviews with scores of imprisoned Afghan detainees.

In the Afghan capital of Kabul, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for the foreign affairs ministry, said embassy officials had expressed their concerns during meetings with their Pakistani counterparts.

“The Pakistani authorities have repeatedly pledged swift release of these detainees,” he told The Associated Press, saying that so far Pakistan had failed to “fully deliver on the commitment.”

“We believe that such degrading treatment of Afghans in Pakistan is not in the interest of any party,” Balkhi said. He said Afghans were advised not to enter Pakistan “unless absolutely necessary and without proper documentation.”

In Karachi, Murtaza Wahab, a spokesman for the Sindh provincial government, said police recently arrested only those Afghans who were residing in the province without valid documents. He said such detainees will be deported. He did not say how many Afghans were arrested for illegally residing in Sindh this year.

But Moniza Kakar, a lawyer who helps such Afghan detainees, said at least 1,400 Afghans were being held in Karachi’s jails. “We are not sure exactly how many Afghans are currently being held at jails in Pakistan. So far, we have facilitated the release of hundreds of Afghans to their country,” she said.

Kakar said some pregnant Afghan women who fled Afghanistan to seek medical treatment and for other reasons, are among those detained in Karachi and elsewhere in Sindh province. She said one of the female Afghan detainees recently gave birth to a child in the Hyderabad jail.

Kakar said dozens of Afghans were deported to Afghanistan last month after they completed their sentences, which are usually up to two months. However, she suggested that such sentences should be only verbal and symbolic — so that the detainees can be sent back to their countries quickly.

Millions of Afghans fled to Pakistan during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of their country, creating one of the world’s largest refugee populations. Since then, Pakistan has been hosting Afghans, urging them to register themselves with the United Nations and local authorities to avoid any risk of deportation.

According to a recently conducted U.N.-backed survey, 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees are residing in Pakistan.

“Following the takeover of Afghanistan by the Afghan Taliban, there has been a drastic rise in Afghans seeking to enter Pakistan for a multitude of reasons ranging from fleeing persecution, seeking medical aid and looking for job opportunities,” the report released by the National Commission on Human Rights last week said.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan have a history of bitter relations.

This month, Pakistan twice briefly closed a key border crossing for trade at the southwestern town of Chaman after clashes erupted between Pakistan and Afghan Taliban forces over the fencing of a remote border village.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021, sweeping into the capital, Kabul, and taking the rest of the country as U.S. and NATO forces were in the final weeks of their pullout after 20 years of war. Since then, over 100,000 Afghans have arrived in Pakistan to avoid persecution at home, although Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers announced a pardon, urging Afghan citizens not to leave the country.

Ahmed from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Riazat Butt in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this story.

UN tries to resolve Afghanistan aid crisis after women banned from working at NGOs

December 30, 2022 Current News Articles

Patrick Wintour

Martin Griffiths, the head of UN humanitarian operations, is to fly to Kabul to try to resolve the crisis caused by the Taliban’s surprise decision to ban women working for NGO aid groups in the country.

The move came as Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, said in New York that aid programmes were already being compromised.

This photograph taken on 9 November 2022, shows a poster reading in Pashto, "Dear sisters! Hijab and veil are your dignity and are in your benefit in this world and in the hereafter", at the Habibullah Zazai Park on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan.

However, he said that on the basis of his discussions with Taliban cabinet ministers the ban was not being implemented uniformly in every region, adding that constructive meetings had been held with the minister of health. Alakbarov said it was now going to be necessary for service providers to see how the promises played out on the ground.

He stressed that “aid cannot be conditioned. You cannot condition providing food or health assistance to a starving or dying person. You cannot exclude one gender or any particular category of people.

“Assistance will not be delivered in a place and space where operational independence impartiality or any other operating principles of the UN are compromised.”

Alakbarov stressed that the UN wanted a dialogue with the Taliban and he believed they did respond to pressure, adding he believed younger Taliban members did not necessarily support the ban.

He also said the UN was willing to discuss Taliban concerns about wearing the hijab, but that does not require women to not work or take part in the economic activity of the country. It would be a very last resort to prevent UN aid going to Afghanistan, Alakbarov said.

He added that with the largest footprint in the country, the UN had a responsibility to use its convening power to find a solution for NGOs, many of whom deliver UN programmes.

In a sign of the flux, Médecins Sans Frontières said it was not suspending its activities, unlike some NGOs.

It said: “For the time being, all of MSF’s activities have been maintained as our female colleagues continue to work unhindered in the health facilities managed by MSF and the Ministry of Health. This must not change: prohibiting women from working would effectively prevent women and girls from accessing health care.”

“Excluding women from the workforce is against every principle of humanity and medical ethics to which health professionals subscribe. If women are prevented from working in health facilities, and if women can only be treated by women, then it will be virtually impossible for them to access health care,” said Filipe Ribeiro, the MSF country director. “As a result, no health care provider, including MSF, will be able to deliver medical services in Afghanistan.”

UN to Hold Meeting on Intra-Afghan Dialogue: Envoy

December 30, 2022 Current News Articles

Fatima Adib

Tolo News

29 Dec 2022

Kabul Witnesses First Snowfall of the Year

December 30, 2022 Current News Articles

Asma Saayin

Tolo News

29 Dec 2022

An interview with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai

December 30, 2022 Current News Articles

Q: It’s been more than a year since the collapse of the former Ghani government. Afghanistan is in a bit of trouble now, most people would say. Western assistance has dried up. Seven billion dollars in funds frozen by the U.S. that’s not going to the central bank. The economy has collapsed. Unemployment is on the rise, hunger, everything. How concerned are you about the direction the country is heading? What are the threats ahead if this trajectory continues?

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai walks in the garden of his Kabul residence on his way to a meeting on Oct. 5. (Elise Blanchard for The Washington Post)

A: Of course, we Afghan people are tremendously concerned at the way the country is right now and the way it’s heading. But we are also hopeful that we will soon be able to manage things better and take good, reasonable stock of why we are here and how we can get out of this extremely difficult situation for us.

Q: It’s been more than a year now, and the Taliban initially had promised an inclusive government. We’re not seeing that. Most Afghans I have spoken with, especially members of the country’s ethnic minorities, say they have little faith or hope in the Taliban. They cite the fact they are not represented properly in the government today. Do you think the Taliban will ever create an inclusive government? What is needed for this to happen?

A: We saw how things didn’t work for Afghan governments when there was one element of it or the other element of our society absent from it. … For the good of the Taliban themselves and for the good of the country, it is important that they begin a process of inclusivity by launching a grand Afghan dialogue, of Afghans talking among themselves and getting agreements on things and moving forward. This country needs to have a constitution.

Q: I’m sure you’ve discussed this need for an Afghan dialogue with the Taliban. What’s their response?

A: On the principle of things, there is an agreement. They say yes. On a national dialogue being imperative to a better Afghanistan, there is an agreement. On getting it launched and done, we haven’t yet gotten where we should be. I had my last conversation on this issue just last week with a very senior Taliban leader. … I will not say that we will be there soon. It would be very premature for me to say that. But I can tell you I am having better vibes in the past two weeks than I had before that. Let’s call this cautious optimism.

Q: And if the government remains not inclusive and there isn’t this dialogue, could we see the collapse of the Taliban government without this kind of unity?

A: We don’t want the collapse of governments in Afghanistan. We want representative governments in Afghanistan.

Q: Does the United States have a certain amount of responsibility for the state of today’s Afghanistan?

A: Both the United States and Afghanistan. We both are responsible. I have had lots of disagreements and quarrels with the United States on issues. … But I am not going to lay the whole blame at the door of the United States. We Afghans are responsible as well in many, many ways.

Q: How would you describe the Biden administration’s policies right now toward Afghanistan and the Taliban?

A: I strongly disagree with the decision to strip the Afghan reserves, keeping half of it for the possibility of distribution to the 9/11 victims, with whom the Afghan people commiserate fully. … We as the greatest victims of terrorism commiserate fully with American families who lost lives and suffered in that great tragedy of Sept. 11. It is morally wrong to take money from the greatest victim and the poorest victim and give it to another victim when both are victims of the same atrocity, of the same oppression. That’s wrong. … We want the strongest of relations with the American people and the U.S. government. But, of course, we also want those relations to benefit Afghan people as well.

Q: What more should the Biden administration be doing?

A: They should help Afghanistan stabilize.

Q: In what ways?

A: By an international effort, by bringing back a coalition of powers that will support Afghanistan. … We don’t want Afghanistan to be a centerpiece in rivalry between the United States, Russia and China. That’s what happened to us in the 19th century between the British and czarist Russia. That’s what happened to us in the 20th century between the United States and the Soviet Union. We see that trend developing again today. … We don’t say that America has no interest, or America should not have interest in this region. They do. They have. What we’re saying is that you pursue your interest in a way that will not bring Afghanistan to suffering or destruction.

Q: Does the United States have a moral obligation to do this?

Q: What should the Taliban do to gain more trust of the United States and the world?

A: The first thing is creating a situation inside Afghanistan where the will of the Afghan people is expressed. And we get a government that is seen as legitimate inside the country and is supported by the Afghan people. Look at the issue of our schools. Our girls are not able to go to school. Look at the Afghans running away from the country. Look at the increasing poverty. None of that will improve unless girls go to school, unless opportunities are created and unless all the Afghan people find themselves as owners of this country, as present in decision-making for this country, as represented by the government of the country. And as a country and a government that is visibly moving towards the betterment of life here, which isn’t the case right now. When this happens, then we should go to the international community for recognition.

Q: Do you think your own government was partly responsible for paving the way to last year’s collapse?

A: No. Not at all.

Q: How do you respond to this criticism?

A: The war in Afghanistan was not our war. I was against that war. I was not a partner of the United States in that war against Afghan villages and homes. I stood against it, and I worked against it. I changed from the moment I recognized that this war that is fought in the name of defeating terrorism is actually a war against the Afghan people. I stood up to the United States. That was the fundamental issue between me and the United States. And I called the Taliban “brothers” for that reason. Because the Afghans were being killed on both sides of the divide that foreigners created in us for their own objectives.

I wanted the United States of America to be an ally of the Afghan people and not to fight a war in our villages. They knew, the Americans, that the sanctuaries were in Pakistan. They told us that repeatedly. And they would bomb Afghan villages. They would come and tell us that Pakistan was training extremists and terrorists. Then, they would go and pay them billions of dollars. When this was repeated and repeated, I had only one conclusion. The conclusion was either the Americans are doing this on purpose, or that they are extremely naive and out of touch with the realities of this region.

Q: Some of our critics and opponents say you were a little too cozy with the warlords and technocrats who were bilking billions, or millions, of dollars, from Afghanistan who helped destroy the country. Do you regret this?

A: I take full responsibility for the corruption and bribes in the delivery of services, as it is in many parts of the world. But the big contracts, big corruption, in hundreds of millions of dollars or millions of dollars, was clearly a United States of America thing. … Yes, there was corruption, but to blame Afghans or the Afghan government for it, is wrong. We do take responsibility. I would never say there was no corruption. But who was responsible for it? Afghans or our international partners? Mainly our international partners, and they know it. They will admit it.

Q: You have repeatedly called for the Taliban to allow girls above sixth grade to attend schools. This has not happened, despite promises by them. Why is this? Is there some kind of internal struggle going on?

A: This is very difficult to explain. We want them to address this issue. A great many Taliban leaders are very much for education. I can name a lot of them. The fact it is not happening has to be explained.

Q: You talk with the Taliban. Do you get any sense why? Is it one or two people who don’t want this?

A: There is support. But a decision cannot be made.

Q: Would the political situation be different today if President [Ashraf] Ghani had not fled Afghanistan?

A: Yes.

Q: In what way?

A: The state would not have collapsed. Ghani leaving was the collapse of the whole thing.

Q: In contrast, you and [Abdullah] Abdullah did not flee the country, despite the fact that the Taliban brutally killed [former Afghan president Mohammad] Najibullah when they first took over Kabul in 1996. Did you not fear for your security?

A: I did.

Q: What made you stay?

A: This is my country. I don’t leave my country when it is in trouble.

Q: You were thinking about what happened to Dr. Najibullah. Right?

A: Absolutely. I was not sure of my own safety. That’s why I left my house that evening and went to Dr. Abdullah’s house and we stayed together. But I would have never left and I will never leave.

Q: Some say you want to become president again?

A: No. I had a formidable presidency for 14 years, where Afghanistan rose back to be present all over the world, our flag flying high around the world, where I engaged in great relationships with the rest of the world, established strategic partnerships. … I did my time. And that’s enough.

Q: What is your relationship with the Taliban? How often do you speak to its leaders?

A: Some of the leaders come and speak to me very often, and very frank conversations. But the relationship is at times tense as well because of what I say, because of what I ask of them. But I will continue to ask for what I believe is right for Afghanistan and I’ll continue to ask the Taliban leadership to adapt to a situation whereby they benefit from the will of the Afghan people, that allows all Afghans to participate in decision-making for the country,

Q: Deep in your heart, do you think the Taliban will allow [a national Afghan dialogue and a representative government]?

A: It has to happen. They have no other alternative.

Sudarsan Raghavan is a correspondent at large for the Washington Post. He has reported from more than 65 nations on four continents. He has been based in Baghdad, Kabul, Cairo, Johannesburg, Madrid and Nairobi. He has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the 2011 Arab revolutions, as well as 17 African wars.

Major Congressional Probe into Afghanistan Withdrawal Gearing Up

December 29, 2022 Current News Articles

Marine carries a child during evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport. — *A Marine carries a child to be processed during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 25, 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Isaiah Campbell)*

By Drew F. Lawrence

Military.com

December 21, 2022

The new year will see a new Congress, and one of the first orders of business for Republicans is to investigate the Biden administration for how it handled the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan — an operation that saw a suicide bombing, and with it, the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and over 100 Afghans in its final few days.

Despite horrifying images of Afghans clinging, then falling from C-17s and stories from veterans reckoning with the war’s chaotic end, the withdrawal — and the 20-year conflict — has largely receded into the background of the broader public debate.

But with plans to probe the administration for its role in the chaotic pullout, those images and stories are expected to return full-force and, for the GOP, are likely to be leveled directly at the White House.

“Why did it go so badly? Why were Americans left behind? Why were Afghan partners we promised to protect, 100,000 of them, left to the Taliban?” Texas Republican and incoming Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael McCaul told the New Republic last week. “For you to make this kind of decision, for God’s sake have a plan. And what was the plan? I haven’t seen one.”

McCaul is one of many Republicans — including Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, a Green Beret — who has publicly telegraphed that the probe is coming. As early as last month, Axios reported that before the midterm elections, Republicans sent a letter to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction requesting documents related to the conflict.

The White House message on the drawdown has been relatively consistent since the last U.S. military boots stepped off Afghan ground for the last time.

Major General Chris Donahue boards a C-17 at Kabul Airport — Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, boards a C-17 cargo plane at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 30, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Alex Burnett)

The decision to withdraw was meant to save American lives, hundreds of thousands were rescued, the administration assumed the Afghan government could “hold on” after the military drawdown, and that the Trump administration put them in an untenable situation after it made promises to the Taliban about an impending American departure.

“The previous administration’s agreement said that if we stuck to the May 1st deadline that they had signed on to leave by, the Taliban wouldn’t attack any American forces, but if we stayed, all bets were off,” Biden said on Aug. 31, 2021, in an address to the nation after the withdrawal.

“So we were left with a simple decision: Either follow through on the commitment made by the last administration and leave Afghanistan, or say we weren’t leaving and commit another tens of thousands more troops going back to war,” he said.

But according to reporting from the Washington Post, the White House is bracing for political turmoil as a result of the looming probe.

Despite the withdrawal having already been picked apart by both sides of the aisle and a parade of officials having already testified at the Capitol, an investigation rehashing the events of the calamitous withdrawal will put further pressure on the Biden White House and senior military leadership that watched the collapse unfold.

The increased talk of the investigation comes as Congress spiked an omnibus provision that would have provided a pathway for Afghan refugees looking for a more permanent home in the United States — a problem that stemmed from the withdrawal that Republicans want to probe.

The Afghan Adjustment Act, which would give residency to tens of thousands of stateside Afghans facing an uncertain future, was dropped from the $1.7 trillion spending bill — and despite bipartisan support and a worldwide effort from American veterans advocating for the allies that helped them during the war.

Many of those veteran advocates leveled criticism for the spike at Congressional Republicans, some of whom have voiced concerns about the vetting process for refugees.

On the eve of the withdrawal, an NBC News poll reported that only a quarter of Americans approved of Biden’s handling of the drawdown. Since then, interest in the subject has decreased; Google searches for the word “Afghan” dropped over 20% just over a month after the withdrawal. That number has continued to decline since.

It is unclear how the potential probe into the drawdown will be conducted in the new Congress, or if the Afghan Adjustment Act has a path forward in its halls. But as the new year looms, the potential for images of the withdrawal and its aftermath to permeate the American consciousness once again are nearing a fierce resurgence.

UN suspends some Afghanistan programs after ban on female aid workers

December 29, 2022 Current News Articles

The Guardian

28 Dec 2022

Many humanitarian activities ‘paused’ as Taliban decision to bar women NGO workers prevents vital services across the country

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, the heads of UN agencies and several aid groups said in a joint statement on Wednesday that women’s “participation in aid delivery is not negotiable and must continue”, calling on authorities to reverse the decision.

“Banning women from humanitarian work has immediate life-threatening consequences for all Afghans. Already, some time-critical programmes have had to stop temporarily due to lack of female staff,” read the statement.

“We cannot ignore the operational constraints now facing us as a humanitarian community,” it said. “We will endeavour to continue lifesaving, time-critical activities … But we foresee that many activities will need to be paused as we cannot deliver principled humanitarian assistance without female aid workers.”

The move came as foreign ministers of 12 countries and the EU, including the United States and Britain, urged Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government to reverse its decision barring female employees of aid groups.

The ministers from countries including the US, France, Germany, the UK and Australia, said the Taliban’s “reckless and dangerous order” has put at risk millions of Afghans who rely humanitarian assistance for their survival.

Almost all the large NGO aid agencies operating in Afghanistan have suspended almost all their work while talks continue to persuade the Taliban to rescind or clarify their decision. Tens of thousands of aid workers – many of them the chief breadwinners for the household – have been told to stay at home during the suspension, as the UN seeks to persuade the Taliban of the consequences for ordinary people in Afghanistan.

The aid agencies say under Afghanistan’s customs they cannot provide vital services to women such as health advice without female staff or doctors.

Not all Taliban ministries support the ban on women working for NGOs and are looking at a plan that could allow women to continue working in a way that satisfies the conservative-minded leadership in Kandahar. Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN’s top humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, claimed the Taliban health ministry had accepted it should continue its health-related work and women could “report to work and discharge their services”.

Samira Sayed Rahman, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, told the Guardian from Kabul that many of the past issues between aid agencies and the Taliban had been at checkpoints about the lack of a mahran, a male guardian, rather than whether our women workers were wearing the hijab, but that was the issue raised by the Taliban in announcing the ban on women workers at NGOs.

“It puts us in an incredibly difficult situation. Aid prevented a famine last winter. We have 28 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, but the de facto authorities made the decision that women cannot work in national and international NGOs.

“It is practically impossible to continue our work without female staff. This is a conservative society and we need female workers to access women. This is a country where men and women do not interact in the public space. We would be cut off from half of Afghanistan.

“The impact is not just in terms of aid, but lost jobs. We have to be hopeful that the de facto authorities understand the implications of this.”

In a rare show of unanimity the 15-strong UN security council agreed on Tuesday and called for the full participation of women and girls in Afghanistan. “These restrictions contradict the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people as well as the expectations of the international community,” the UN said.

It added it was also “deeply alarmed” by the increasing restrictions on women’s education, calling for “the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan”.

The Taliban have already suspended university education for women and secondary schooling for girls.

Shahabuddin Delawar, the Taliban’s acting minister of mining and oil, said that by April a decision would be made regarding the opening of schools and universities for girls, which was in line with both sharia and “Afghan customs”.

He told TOLOnews TV that the decree of Haibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, regarding the closure of schools and universities might be temporary.

Reuters contributed to this report

UNSC Seeks ‘Equal, Meaningful’ Participation of Women in Afghanistan

December 29, 2022 Current News Articles

By Mohammad Farshad Daryosh

News Reporter

Tolo News

28 Dec 2022

The UNSC said that the suspension of women’s work in Afghanistan would have a significant and immediate impact on humanitarian operations in the country.

The United Nations Security Council in a statement on Wednesday called for full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan.

The UNSC said that the suspension of women’s work in Afghanistan would have a significant and immediate impact on humanitarian operations in the country.

“These restrictions contradict the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people as well as the expectations of the international community,” the Security Council said.

Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked the Islamic Emirate to reverse its decision to suspend women’s work.

“The latest restrictions by the Taliban on employment and education of women and girls are unjustifiable human rights violations and must be revoked. Actions to exclude and silence women and girls continue to cause immense suffering and major setbacks to the potential of the Afghan people,” Guterres tweeted.

“This act would have profound effects on the activities and humanitarian aid of the mentioned organizations, including the United Nations,” said the Chargé d’Affaires of the Afghanistan Permanent Mission to the UN, Naseer Ahmad Faiq.

“The decree barring women from working in non-governmental NGOs is yet another stark violation of women’s rights. We strongly condemn this without reservation and stand in full solidarity with the women and girls of Afghanistan,” UN Women tweeted.

“UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk calls on de facto authorities to revoke policies that target the rights of women and girls – such policies have a “terrible, cascading effect” on their lives + risks destabilizing Afghan society,” the UN human rights office quoted Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Analysts said that the decision will further isolate Afghanistan politically and economically.

“This will lead the Islamic Emirate to further economic and political isolation,” said Janat Fahim Chakary, a political affairs analyst.

“Sadly, we do not know what the government of the Islamic Emirate wants from us, from the people of Afghanistan, especially from us women, and how long they will continue to restrict us,” said Tafshir Seyaposh, a women’s rights activist.

The Islamic Emirate has sent letters to NGOs in the last two weeks, demanding them to suspend women employees. It has also asked universities to stop enrolling female students.

Ban on Female Employees Major Blow to Afghanistan: NRC Chief

December 29, 2022 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

TV Network

28 Dec 2022

Karzai: Intra-Afghan Dialogue Important for Islamic Emirate, Afghanistan

December 29, 2022 Current News Articles

Fatema Adee

Tolo News

28 Dec 2022

The former president, who remained in power from 2001 to 2014, made the remarks in an interview with The Washington Post.

Former President Hamid Karzai urged the Islamic Emirate to begin a process of inclusivity by launching a grand Afghan dialogue, saying that it is for the good of the “Taliban themselves and for the good of the country.”

The former president, who remained in power from 2001 to 2014, made the remarks in an interview with The Washington Post.

When asked about the Islamic Emirate’s stance regarding the intra-Afghan dialogue, Karzai said: “On the principle of things, there is an agreement. They say yes. On a national dialogue being imperative to a better Afghanistan, there is an agreement. On getting it launched and done, we haven’t yet gotten where we should be.”

He blamed former president Ashraf Ghani’s fleeing as the reason for the collapse of the republican government.

“If Ashraf Ghani didn’t escape from the country and believed in peace and intra-Afghan negotiations, the government would still remain in place,” said Shahzada Masoud, a close figure to Karzai.

Analysts also said that intra-Afghan dialogue can address the country’s challenges.

“We should conduct a national dialogue, either a Loga Jirga (grand assembly) or a grand council. People from across Afghanistan, from each village and district, should be invited to the capital to make a decision in this regard,” said Kamran Aman, a political analyst.

“Negotiations and dialogues in a nation like Afghanistan that has witnessed long wars are necessary for its stability,” said Najibullah Jami, a political analyst.

Head of the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar based political office, Suhail Shaheen, said the caretaker government has established a commission to facilitate the return of Afghan political leaders.

“Afghans abroad are in contact with the commission. They share their opinions and questions with them. Second, Afghans abroad can contact the commission,” Shaheen said.

“The war in Afghanistan was not our war,” Karzai said. “I was against that war. I was not a partner of the United States in that war against Afghan villages and homes,” Karzai said. “I stood against it, and I worked against it. I changed from the moment I recognized that this war that is fought in the name of defeating terrorism is actually a war against the Afghan people.”

The former president also expressed disagreement with the US decision to split Afghan assets of $7 billion.

“I strongly disagree with the decision to strip the Afghan reserves, keeping half of it for the possibility of distribution to the 9/11 victims, with whom the Afghan people commiserate fully. … We as the greatest victims of terrorism commiserate fully with American families who lost lives and suffered in that great tragedy of Sept. 11,” Karzai said in the interview with The Washington Post.

By ADIL JAWAD and MUNIR AHMED

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