Commission Will Investigate Citizens’ Complaints About Ex-Govt Officials

October 24, 2022
TOLOnews
TV Network
Tolo News
23 Oct 2022

According to the commission’s recent figures, so far more than 370 political figures from the previous administration have returned to the nation.

The Commission for “Return and Communications with Former Afghan Officials and Political Figures” said that the commission will look into any claims made by citizens against political figures.

Ahmadullah Wasiq, the communication committee spokesperson, said that the political figures who have returned to the country have complete immunity, and that this commission will look into their cases.

“They (people) come to the commission and file a petition, registering their lawsuit … The commission then reviews their claim and takes appropriate action,” Wasiq said.

Wasiq further stated that the Islamic Emirate might have some considerations over the former president Hamid Karzai’s trips.

“The government might have its own views in this regard,” Wasiq added.

According to the commission’s recent figures, so far more than 370 political figures from the previous administration have returned to the nation.

However, reports indicate that some former government officials who have come to the country have since left Afghanistan.

“There are some of my friends and former colleagues who are keen to work with me under a specific and regular plan, therefore I came back to consult with them,” said Amanullah Ghalib, former head of Breshna company.

“More trust-building is required in Afghanistan because there are many Afghans who have significant wealth abroad. If they come and invest in the nation from the Gulf, Pakistan, Turkey, and Europe they can end the nation’s poverty,” said political expert Tariq Farhadi.

On the leader of the Islamic Emirate’s order, the Commission for “Return and Communications with Former Afghan Officials and Political Figures” was formed in the month of Sawr 1401 (solar year).

This commission is tasked with creating the conditions for the return of figures from political, military and cultural areas, and civilians who left the country following the collapse of the republican government.

Commission Will Investigate Citizens’ Complaints About Ex-Govt Officials
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Islamic Emirate’s Leader Meets With MoD Officials

October 24, 2022
Nazeer Shinwari 
Tolo News
24 October 2022

Sayed Bilal Ahmad Fatimi, a political analyst, said that the international and Islamic laws in this regard match each other.

The leader of the Islamic Emirate, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, met with the officials of the department of strategy and intelligence of the Defense Ministry, and commanders of the corps.  

In a statement released by the Islamic Emirate’s Spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada instructed that innocent people should not be detained and investigated.

The deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, Bilal Karimi, said that in the meeting the need to exclude inappropriate individuals from the command of the Islamic Emirate was stressed.

“In accordance with the Islamic regulation, they (detainees) should not be harassed and they should be treated based on Islamic rules and Sharia,” he said.

The Islamic Emirate leader ordered the officials to treat detainees based on Sharia law and to avoid illegal torture.

“The officials have been provided with recommendations to form their forces with honest and committed people to serve the country and their religion and pave the way for development of the country,” Karimi said.

Sayed Bilal Ahmad Fatimi, a political analyst, said that the international and Islamic laws in this regard match each other.

“This is similar to the Islamic sharia as well as international laws–the Islamic law in this regard matches international regulation,” he said.

The Islamic Emirate’s leader said that intelligence’s role is important for the current government and the elimination of corruption.

Islamic Emirate’s Leader Meets With MoD Officials
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New Printed Afghani Will Replace Banknotes: West

October 22, 2022
Mujeeb Rahman Awrang Stanikzai
Head of TOLOnews’ Online Department
22 Oct 2022

According to West, there will be an additional advisory body of Afghan professionals and experienced people.

The US special envoy for Afghanistan, Thomas West, said that the “new printed Afghani will replace bank notes” in Afghan markets.

He made the remarks while speaking about the Afghan frozen funds in a Zoom conference.

“So I am very pleased to say that in the past 24 hours, we finally have seen the conclusion of currency transaction… this will mean that new printed Afghani will replace banknotes that … are virtually disintegrating in the system.”

“I don’t have a great sense of exactly when those banknotes are going to show up in Afghanistan, but we are going to continue supporting the priority transaction,” West said.

However, the time when the new banknotes will enter the Afghan markets has not been determined.

In the conference West said that in August 2021 it was not the executive branch that told the banks to suspend access, it was the banks.

He said the first meeting of the board of trustees is expected to take place next month in Switzerland.

West said the board of trustees, which is comprised of representatives from the US and Switzerland, as well as Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, who formerly served as Afghan Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Shah Mohammad Mehrabi, will make major decisions about the $3.5 billion Afghan assets.

According to West, there will be an additional advisory body of Afghan professionals and experienced people.

The US envoy said al-Zawahiri’s presence in Kabul was a “flagrant” violation of the Doha deal. Referring to US cooperation with the Islamic Emirate over counter-terrorism, West said that fulfilling the commitments of the deal in this regard is “their job.” But there will be some cooperation.

New Printed Afghani Will Replace Banknotes: West
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Efforts Underway to Form New Constitution: Mujahid

October 22, 2022
Mohammad Farshad Daryosh
News ReporterTolo News
22 Oct 2022

After the fall of the former government, the fate of the constitution in Afghanistan remained tentative.

The Islamic Emirate’s Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that work on the formation of a constitution that will replace the previous constitution.

After the fall of the former government, the fate of the constitution in Afghanistan remained tentative.

“The work regarding the constitution is underway,” Mujahid said.

Politicians said the constitution was one the main needs of the country and urged the Islamic Emirate to make serious efforts in this regard.

The former head of the Independent Commission for Overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution, Gul Rahman Qazi, believes that the lack of a constitution will cause several problems.

“The constitution forms the basis of a government’s legislation, our laws are formed from the constitution,” he said.

“There is not a law that the Afghan nation can adapt itself to it. The government should be formed, the Loya Jirga (Great Assembly) should be called, the commission of constitution should begin operating to form the constitution and, eventually, the government should take some responsibility and should be accountable (to institutions), which is the parliament,” said Sayed Ishaq Gailani, leader of the National Solidarity Movement of Afghanistan.

In accordance with a statement of the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada at a meeting with the provincial governors, the previous constitution was dissolved.

Mawlawi Akhundzada said that all decisions should be made based on Islamic Sharia.

“Sheikh Sahib said that it is incorrect to implement Zahir Shah’s constitution and that there is no difference between the constitutions of the republican administration and Zahir Shah’s period. We just want the Sharia system; neither Ashraf Ghani’s constitution nor Zahir Shah’s are acceptable,” Obaidullah Ameenzada, governor of Parwan province told a gathering in the province.

Legal analysts believe that there is a need for additional laws besides Shariah.

The constitution was formed under former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Efforts Underway to Form New Constitution: Mujahid
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Japan Begins Limited Diplomatic Activities in Kabul

October 22, 2022
Imran Danish
Tolo News
22 Oct 2022

The Japanese embassy in Kabul has begun limited activity, the Japanese foreign minister said on Saturday.

Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said on Friday during a press conference in Tokyo that his country had resumed limited diplomatic relations with Afghanistan after a hiatus of more than a year.

According to Hayashi, the Japanese embassy in Kabul will limit their activities.

“At the moment, the Japanese Embassy in Kabul has begun its limited activity and is doing the minimum necessary work. For security reasons, I refrain from mentioning the details,” he continued.

Hayashi noted that other aspects will be taken into consideration before deciding to launch a complete diplomatic presence in Kabul.

Japan’s embassy in Kabul was closed after the fall of the previous administration, and its diplomats then temporarily continued activities form Qatar.

Meanwhile, experts consider the foreign diplomatic missions’ activity in Kabul as a positive development.

“Relations with the world are crucial for Afghanistan, and vice versa. Afghanistan cannot survive in isolation and given its current situation, the world should continue to have contacts with Afghanistan,” said political analyst Mohammad Hassan Haqyar.

“If we look at the United Nations Charter, it says that any time a country opens an embassy in another country and sends a diplomat, it must accept the embassy of the other country in its own country and accept its diplomats,” said Ahmad Khan Andar, a political expert.

Despite having been in power in Afghanistan for more than a year, the Islamic Emirate is still not recognized by any nation. even though a few nations, including China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Qatar, and Turkey, have opened embassies in Kabul.

Japan Begins Limited Diplomatic Activities in Kabul
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Nations Request the Lifting of Restrictions on Women in Afghanistan

October 21, 2022
Banafsha Binesh
Tolo News
21 Oct 2022

The ambassador of Norway to the UN said that efforts are being made to facilitate direct communication between Afghan women and the Islamic Emirate.

Several nations requested the lifting of restrictions on women in Afghanistan during the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace, and Security.

The ambassador of Norway to the UN said that efforts are being made to facilitate direct communication between Afghan women and the Islamic Emirate.

“Afghanistan women continue to ask the international community to create the platform for them to engage directly with the Taliban, and we will continue to look for safe spaces for them to do so,” said Mona Juul, Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations.

“Holding such meetings and expressing support for Afghan women’s rights can definitely be inspiring in the current situation that Afghan women are in, and it shows that the world has not forgotten Afghan women. But until the declared commitments of the international community to defend and support Afghan women are actually upheld, Afghan women will not progress,” said Maryam Marouf Arween, a women’s rights activist.

During the debate, the China representative to the UN expressed his hope that women’s rights and interests would be protected in Afghanistan.

“China hopes that they will have their basic rights and their interest is protected and that they will integrate organically into the country’s economic and social life and become an important force in the peace and rebuilding of their country,” said Geng Shuang Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations.

At the Security Council meeting, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the US has formed a US-Afghan consultative mechanism.

“The US established the US-Afghan consultative mechanism. This mechanism systematically engages a diverse range of Afghan voices, particularly women and civil society leaders so their perspectives are integrated into our policy discussion,” said US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Ambassador R. Ravindra, India’s deputy permanent representative, called for the rights of women and minorities in Afghanistan to be respected.

However, Kabul said that human rights in Afghanistan are more fully respected now than ever before.

“Full immunity has been attained, and there is no threat to Afghanistan. Thousands of courts have been formed throughout the provinces and districts to serve the public and protect their rights. Anyone who has a problem with their rights should go to court, where their rights will be secured,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.

Many nations and international organizations have criticized Afghanistan’s restrictions on women, especially in the field of education, but the decision to reopen girls’ schools has not yet been made.

Nations Request the Lifting of Restrictions on Women in Afghanistan
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Ahadi: Freezing of Afghan Assets Was Political Decision

October 21, 2022
Mohammad Farshad Daryosh
Tolo News
21 Oct 2022

The United States established the trust fund and said it will transfer $3.5bn in Afghan central bank assets to the fund. 

Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, a member of the Afghanistan Fund in Switzerland, said that Afghanistan’s frozen assets have been changed into a political issue.

Ahadi, in an exclusive interview with TOLOnews, said that although the Swiss-based trust fund was established more than a month ago, the $3.5 billion of Afghanistan’s frozen assets has not been transferred from the US Treasury Department.

“The freezing of these assets was a political decision, and the issue that Afghanistan’s current government has not been recognized yet is political. if the problems are solved, there is no need for this trust fund and it will be canceled. At that time, the money will be transferred to the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB),” said Anwar Ul Haq Ahadi.

Ahadi is one of the four members of the trust fund, which was formed, according to the US, to prevent the misuse of 3.5 billion dollars of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves.

“Disbursement is based on a consensus, if one member of the fund disagrees with it, the assets will not be used. I will not agree with using the assets where there is no justification,” said Anwar Ul Haq Ahadi.

“The transfer of 3.5 billion dollars from Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserves to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) can help Afghanistan in maintaining the Afghan currency against foreign currencies,” said Seyar Qurishi, economist.

Meanwhile, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, in an interview with a Turkish media outlet once again urged the United States to release the more than $9 million assets.

“More than nine billion dollars of Afghanistan that were entrusted to the US in banks, was blocked after the political changes in occurred in Afghanistan, now they (US) do not allow us to access the assets and imposed some restrictions on Afghanistan’s banks, we know that the assets are supporting money for our national currency, but the assets are the wealth of the people,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.

The United States established the trust fund and said it will transfer $3.5bn in Afghan central bank assets to the fund.

Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, former Minister of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan, Shah Mohammad Mehrabi, a member of the Supreme Council of Da Afghanistan Bank, and Scott C. Miller, the US Ambassador to Switzerland, as well as a person from the Swiss Foreign Ministry, are the trustees of this fund and will decide on the assets of Afghanistan.

Ahadi: Freezing of Afghan Assets Was Political Decision
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Mujahid Says West Preventing Islamic Emirate’s Recognition

October 21, 2022
Imran Danish
Tolo News
21 Oct 2022

Mujahid said that some Muslim and regional countries are unwilling to recognize the Islamic Emirate because of issues they have with the United States.

The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman while traveling in Turkey said that the West, particularly the United States, has prevented the recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

In an interview with the Turkish “Ilke News Agency,” Zabiullah Mujahid said that some Muslim and regional countries are unwilling to recognize the Islamic Emirate because of issues they have with the United States.

“The West is behind this; they prevent the recognition of and cooperation with an Islamic government. Although the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has made–and continues to make–great attempts, unfortunately, some pressures are applied,” Mujahid said.

“There is no doubt that the US government is attempting to stop everyone from recognizing the Taliban,” said Wahidullah Faqiri, a political analyst.

Mujahid said that Kabul wants to improve its political and economic ties with all nations, including the United States and Europe. Additionally, he urged investment in Afghanistan from the US and Europe.

“All nations should work with us and not be worried about us. We want to have good political and economic interactions with other countries, such interactions that would be trusted by both parties, including America and Europe. We asked Americans to invest in Afghanistan,” Mujahid said.

Officials of the Islamic Emirate have said that security issues in the nation have been resolved and that the international community should recognize the current Afghan government.

Mujahid Says West Preventing Islamic Emirate’s Recognition
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Treasures of Afghan History, Art and Culture

October 20, 2022
By Nazanin Lankarani

The New York Times

Oct. 19, 2022

The Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris is displaying the fruits of a century of partnership between France and Afghanistan.

PARIS — Before the Taliban demolished the Great Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001, the figures were the world’s largest standing depictions of the deity. The destruction of the statues, which had stood for 1,500 years, remains one of the most tragic attacks on Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.

A relaxed Buddha, made of unbaked clay, from around the seventh century, discovered by Jean Carl in 1937 in an excavation by La Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan, or DAFA.

Credit…RMN-Grand Palais (MNAAG, Paris)/Thierry Ollivier

With the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, that heritage has become more out of reach. But a new show at the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris aims to bring attention to the endangered patrimony of Afghanistan by offering visitors a glimpse of some of its cultural riches. The exhibition marks a 100-year-old partnership with France to unearth and preserve Afghan treasures.

Much of what the rest of the world knows about Afghanistan’s cultural legacy was learned after the end of British influence in 1919. In 1922 a group, La Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan (French Archaeological Delegation to Afghanistan), or DAFA, was founded after King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan invited a French delegation to explore, excavate and help preserve the country’s ancient sites.

Over the next hundred years — except during periods of invasion or war — DAFA worked to uncover artifacts that filled the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul. With the consent of Afghan authorities, duplicates of some of those artifacts, as well as other finds, were donated to the Guimet, where Joseph Hackin, a DAFA director from 1925 until World War II, was its chief curator.

It was during this period that some of the most beautiful pieces were discovered, among them the so-called Bagram ivories, said Nicolas Engel, the museum’s current chief curator and the deputy director of DAFA from 2009 to 2013.

An excavation in Afghanistan, photographed by DAFA’s first director, Alfred Foucher, in 1924.
Credit…MNAAG, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image musée Guimet

A selection of such finds, along with paintings and photographs of the country’s heritage sites, are the subject of “Afghanistan, Shadows and Legends,” which opens at the Guimet on Oct. 26 and runs through Feb. 6.

It is part of the “Season of Afghanistan,” which also includes “Within a Thread’s Breath: Textile Creations by Afghan Women,” examining the country’s contemporary textile tradition.

“This museum is intimately connected to the history of the discovery of civilizations of Afghanistan,” Sophie Makariou, president of Guimet, wrote in an email. “Two years ago, together with the National Museum of Afghanistan, we had planned to bring pieces from their collection to Paris. With the fall of Kabul last year, we had to rethink the exhibition.”

A painted mural inside the niche of a Bamiyan Buddha, photographed in 1935. The walls of the niches were painted in the late seventh to early eighth centuries as backdrops for the Buddhas, which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.
Credit…RMN-Grand Palais (MNAAG, Paris) / Thierry Ollivier

Mr. Engel said, “Originally we wanted to create a dialogue between the two collections and then show a smaller version of this exhibition in Kabul. But things changed.”

Mohammad Fahim Rahimi, the National Museum’s director in Kabul, did not respond to emails for comment.

Without the artifacts from Kabul’s museum, the exhibition in Paris will still present 375 objects, mostly from DAFA searches and the Guimet’s own collections, with some on loan from the British Museum, the Louvre and France’s National Library.

The show covers a period from the Bronze Age to the 15th century. Bronze Age ceramics, the oldest pieces in the show, are shown alongside miniature paintings, silver plates and a large variety of sculptures in stucco and schist rock.

“A bust from Hadda draped in a Greek-style garment is a good example of the ‘Greco-Buddhist’ style of sculpture found in Afghanistan,” Mr. Engel said. “Paintings from 1935 depicting the niches of the Bamiyan Buddhas reveal their once colorful, painted murals.”

An intricately carved ivory plaque, part of the so-called Bagram ivories discovered by excavators under Joseph Hackin, a DAFA director and Guimet chief curator.
Credit…MNAAG, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Thierry Ollivier

The show also features the Bagram ivories, a rare collection of carved ivory plaques, owned by the Guimet, that were found in Bagram, about 40 miles north of Kabul. The ivories are estimated to date from the 1st or 2nd century.

They were found by DAFA in 1937 and 1939. Mr. Engel said that Mr. Hackin had been searching for a royal city in Bagram when his wife Marie, also known as Ria, stumbled upon two walled-off chambers.

“It is unknown whether the treasure was part of a royal stash or property of a merchant,” Mr. Engel said. “The ivories have Indian iconography; the bronzes and plasters are Roman style; the painted glass are similar to those found in Lebanon.”

The finding, Mr. Engel said, led them to conclude that Bagram had been at the crossroads of long-distance trade routes.

The ivories, as well as some belonging to the National Museum, were presented in a 2007 show at the Guimet titled “Recovered Treasures from Afghanistan” inaugurated by President Jacques Chirac of France and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.

About 175 photographs in the upcoming show track a century of exploration in an unfamiliar and challenging land. Some, by the American photographer Steve McCurry, capture the vulnerability of Afghanistan’s heritage sites.

One image from 1992 shows Afghan youths playing at the foot of one of the Bamiyan Buddhas; another from 2003 shows children playing in an abandoned van next to the empty niche where a Buddha, by then destroyed, had stood.

A 1995 photograph shows armed soldiers sheltering inside the National Museum, shortly before the site was looted.

Until the 1950s, France was the only country allowed to excavate in Afghanistan. In 1950, the Afghan government allowed an American delegation to conduct archaeological activity, followed later by Italian, German and Japanese researchers.

Since 1925, the Guimet has regularly exhibited its collection of Afghan artifacts, which Mr. Engel described as some of the “most beautiful archaeological treasures outside of Afghanistan.” But, he added, the more exceptional pieces have remained inside the country, and preservation has been hindered by a lack of funds and international access, as well as poor conservation, as well as deficient conservation, particularly at the Minaret of Jam or the remains of the ancient Buddhist city of Mes Aynak.

“These are real and worrisome emergencies,” Ms. Makariou wrote in the catalog.

Still, Ms. Makariou wrote in an email, “Even if from a distance, we try to advance our understanding of the depths of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.

“We must keep the flame of research burning.”

Treasures of Afghan History, Art and Culture
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Iran and Pakistan Officials Pledge to Act for Peace in Afghanistan

October 20, 2022
Mohammad Farshad Daryosh
News Reporter
Tolo News
19 October 2022
Islamic Emirate said that Kabul urged that good relations be established with regional countries

Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan on a trip to Iran talked about the current situation in Afghanistan with Iranian officials.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry tweeted that Islamabad and Tehran will use all their capacity to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will work with all its capacities to establish peace and prosperity in Afghanistan and for the people of Afghanistan,” said Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s Foreign Minister.

“Pakistan and Iran have an played an important role in the past 43 years in Afghanistan, I hope they change their role to a constructive role for peace,” said Salim Paigir, political analyst.

Iran’s special envoy for Afghanistan also tweeted that in a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart there was a discussion about the current situation of Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan, the stabilization process, and the fight against terrorism.

“We and our neighbors and other countries will continue efforts to fight against terrorism, improve people’s living conditions, and establish peace in Afghanistan,” said Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.

“In the current situation, these countries have no choice but to cooperate because … Western countries try to create political, economic and security instability in this area,”said Javid Sandel, an international relations analyst.

The deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate said that Kabul urged that good relations be established with regional countries, and he said there is no security concern in Afghanistan.

“From our side, we do not have any concerns and our policy and position is that we do not want tension with any faction and we assure the regional countries that Afghanistan is not a threat to any other country,” said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman of Islamic Emirate.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry in a statement said that the cooperation of Iran and Pakistan could help the people of Afghanistan and reduce the devastating effects of Afghanistan’s situation in the region.

Iran and Pakistan Officials Pledge to Act for Peace in Afghanistan
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