Meanwhile, the US Department of State in a separate statement expressed concerns over human rights abuses in Afghanistan.
The US Department of State said that Washington does “not support violent opposition against the Taliban.”
“We are monitoring the recent uptick in violence closely and call on all sides to exercise restraint and to engage. This is the only way that Afghanistan can confront its many challenges,” a State Department spokesperson told The Foreign Desk as cited by the Long War Journal.
“We want to see the emergence of stable and sustainable political dispensation via peaceful means. We do not support organized violent opposition to the Taliban, and we would discourage other powers from doing so as well,” the US State Department representative said.
Analysts said the Islamic Emirate needs to form a policy through which it can alleviate the current challenges in Afghanistan.
“Diplomatic representatives are meeting the representatives of the Islamic Emirate. We call for a policy to rescue Afghanistan from the current situation,” said Ahmad Khan Andar, a political analyst.
Meanwhile, the US Department of State in a separate statement expressed concerns over human rights abuses in Afghanistan.
“We are alarmed by human rights abuses in Afghanistan, often attributed to the Taliban, and are disturbed by the extensive restrictions on the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by Afghan women and girls. The resolution will enable Afghan civil society to address the HRC directly during its September session,” the statement said.
“The concerns and resolutions have come from the international community but they have had no effect on the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan,” said Beheshta Baluch, a women’s rights activist.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate denied any violations of human rights in Afghanistan and said that the rights of all citizens are ensured based on Islamic Sharia.
“The Islamic Emirate is committed to all the rights which are given by Islam to the people, and all their rights are ensured,” said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.
Earlier, the UN Human Rights Council issued a resolution expressing concerns over restrictions imposed by the Islamic Emirate on women.
US ‘Does Not Support Organized Violent Opposition to the Taliban’
Former fighters and religious clerics are filling Afghanistan’s civil service
Under Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan’s president until the Taliban seized power last August, the country’s interior ministry oversaw much of the security apparatus involved in fighting the insurgents. It is now presided over by one of its deadliest foes, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who led a faction of fighters known for its high-profile bombings in Kabul, the capital. Corridors where American and European advisers once roamed are crowded instead with Mr Haqqani’s long-haired fighters. Civil servants who worked for Mr Ghani’s government sit alongside men who would cheerfully have murdered them a year ago.
Such shared offices are now found throughout the Afghan government. The country’s civil service, like those across South Asia, is a bloated, inefficient thing that puts much stock in the power of rubber stamps and official signatures. The Taliban has adopted this bureaucratic machinery wholesale, filling it with its own people. After all, citizens still need permits, licences and official forms.Civil servants from the previous regime have little option but to make the best of it. They and their new colleagues rub along as well as they can. Pragmatic technocrats are growing out their beards and swapping suits for the traditional clothing favoured by their new masters. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between old and new officials.
At other times the divide is clear. “Don’t worry. I am not one of them. I will help you,” whispers one manager once he is sure none of his Taliban colleagues can overhear. “These people are ignorant,” complains another. At one department, a functionary being interviewed by a journalist worries he has offended his bullying new Taliban director. “Please write that he is a great man,” he pleads.
The Taliban’s appointments fill holes left when thousands of Afghan civil servants fled the country last year. The calibre of the replacements is often questionable. The new Taliban counterpart of the medical director at one Kabul hospital at least has a degree in medicine. But at other hospitals, staff said the new Taliban appointees were fighters or village clerics with more interest in how women dressed than in public health.
Nor are things much better at the highest levels of government. The cabinet is packed with ethnic-Pushtun Taliban stalwarts. Other groups are sidelined. Appointments “have favoured loyalty and seniority over competence”, notes a un report. Decision-making is unpredictable, say foreign officials who deal with the new government.
Any hope that the demands of running a battered country might mellow the militants’ ideology was dashed last week, after the regime held a jirga, or grand council, of religious scholars. More than 3,000 clerics and notables—all men—were invited to Kabul for three days of confabulation. It was the biggest gabfest since the Taliban took power. Speculation was rife that the jirga would revisit the unpopular decision to stop girls going to secondary school. Marginalised ethnic groups as well as some inside the Taliban sought signs of compromise from a leadership they see as increasingly remote and autocratic.
The Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada, offered no such thing. Instead, he delivered an emphatic speech in which he called for total obedience and unity. He outlined a theocracy where clerics would guide everything. Mr Akhunzada made it clear that anyone associated with the former government would not be allowed to share power. The Talibanised ministries and courts, he boasted, had banished bribery and corruption, and brought justice and harmony. There was no mention of girls’ education. For the officials in charge of implementing these policies, more awkward conversations lie ahead.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Bureaucratic nightmare”
The administration of US President Joe Biden is preparing for the anniversary of Afghanistan withdrawal, NBC reported.
The intelligence investigation about the withdrawal of US troops has been completed, the news report said.
A large part of the report may be secret.
“This was a difficult story for the Biden administration last summer- his- the president’s polls, his ratings, really dropped because of the way that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was carried out and there is now a recognition nearly a year later that the white house is going to get questioned about it,” said Courtney Kube, a NBC correspondent.
“The National security (council) has begun planning. They have held two conference calls, chaired by John Kirby, who was of course the press secretary at the Pentagon… he is starting to plan how the White House and the Biden Administration at large is going to speak about this anniversary. So, a couple of things they are considering, are very basic things like statements from officials like Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, putting out some of the information and some of the statistics that the White House frankly sees was positive.”
The analysts said that the US is trying to justify its withdrawal of Afghanistan by marking the anniversary.
“On the anniversary of the troops withdrawal, with the forming of a report, they are trying to justify their withdrawal of Afghanistan,” said Sayed Javad Sejadi, a political analyst.
Earlier, the rapid withdrawal of the US troops that followed an agreement signed between the US and Islamic Emirate sparked strong criticism from the Biden administration.
White House Braces for Anniversary of Afghan Withdrawal: Report
According to the officials, more than 3,000 tourists visited Bamyan over the past several weeks.
The number of Afghan and foreign tourists to the central province of Bamyan has increased, local officials said.
According to the officials, more than 3,000 tourists visited Bamyan over the past several weeks.
“There is no problem for tourism. The tourists can see all areas and historic places,” said said Juma Khan, head of the tourism center in Bamyan.
The tourists said that they are happy about the security on the highways.
Bamyan has famous historic places including the Buddha sculptures which have attracted a large number of foreign tourists to Afghanistan.
“It is very enjoyable. Every time you come here, you see new things,” said Latfullah, a tourist.
“We call on the officials of the department of Information and Culture to take good care of it,” said Homayoun, a tourist.
Meanwhile, the head of the provincial department of Information and Culture said that the plans have been laid to maintain the tourism areas.
“We have worked on areas which need repair. We are ready to provide further facilities if possible,” said Saif Rahman Mohammadi, head of the department.
The OHCHR issued the resolution on July 8 following an urgent debate on the situation in Afghanistan.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in a resolution reaffirmed “its unwavering commitment to the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by all women, girls and children in Afghanistan, including the right to freedom of movement, the right to education, the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including their sexual and reproductive health, the right to work and the right of access to justice on an equal basis with others.”
The OHCHR issued the resolution on July 8 following an urgent debate on the situation in Afghanistan.
“The Council called for measures to ensure that local women’s rights organizations and local organizations led by women could continue to carry out their work all over Afghanistan and support women and girls; and requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize an enhanced interactive dialogue during its fifty-first session,” the resolution reads.
Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan said that the resolution “sends a message to the Taliban to reverse practices that abuse rights of women and girls.”
At Human Right Council’s 51 session there will again be an “opportunity for Afghan women to share their concerns and for the Council to act,” he said on Twitter.
Also, the US special envoy for Afghanistan women and human rights, Rina Amiri, in an Eid message called on the Muslim country to stand with the people of Afghanistan, particularly women.
“I ask that men and women, leaders and scholars, clerics and activists in the Muslim world stand with the Afghan people, particularly women and girls who are facing some of the most extreme restrictions in the world,” she said on Twitter.
An Afghan female rights activist, Hakima, called on the UN to use leverage to “put pressure on the Islamic Emirate.”
“We call on the UN to use an alternative way for putting pressure on the Taliban, so it can bring results,” she said.
Earlier, the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, speaking at a gathering of domestic products sellers in Kabul, said that women need to be included in the political, economic and social areas of society.
OHCHR Pledges ‘Unwavering Commitment’ to Afghan Rights
Biden’s decision means Afghanistan will no longer be eligible for certain military and financial benefits.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced his intention to rescind Afghanistan’s major non-NATO ally status, 10 months after the U.S. withdrew from the country.
Biden gave notice of his decision in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“I am providing notice of my intent to rescind the designation of Afghanistan as a Major Non-NATO Ally,” the president wrote, saying the notice was in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
Countries given major non-NATO ally status are eligible for military and financial benefits, including loans and funding for counterterrorism research, and can also serve as a location for U.S.-owned war reserve stockpiles, according to the State Department. However, the designation does not include security commitments.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced during a visit to Kabul in 2012 that Afghanistan would be given the status. It was the first country to be awarded the designation during then-President Barack Obama’s administration, according to The Guardian.
This is a “powerful symbol of our commitment to Afghanistan’s future,” Clinton said at the time, according to the BBC.
“We are not even imagining abandoning Afghanistan,” Clinton added.
Since then, the Taliban has turned back the clock on women’s rights, including issuing an order for all Afghan women to be covered from head to toe in public, according to The Associated Press.
The countries that have the major non-NATO ally designation now include: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia.
Joe Biden Announces Intention To Rescind Afghanistan’s Major Non-NATO Ally Status
Shah Muhammad Rais survived decades of misrule in Afghanistan but finally fled to escape the Taliban
Shah Muhammad Rais, subject of 2002 bestseller The Bookseller of Kabul, is having his claim for asylum processed in the UK. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian
Shah Muhammad Rais, 69, arrived in the UK on 26 September and claimed asylum at the airport. He is waiting for his case to be processed and is currently living alongside other asylum seekers from various conflict zones.
“The UK was the only door open to me to be safe from the Taliban,” he told the Guardian.
Shah Mohammad Rais’s shop in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2007. Photograph: Musadeq Sadeq/AP
Members of his family, including his nine children and four grandchildren, are scattered across different parts of the world. But his Kabul bookshop is still open following the Taliban takeover, along with an online bookstore. He proudly hands over his business card – Shah M Book Co, printers, publishers, booksellers, Shah Muhammad Rais, managing director.
Independent bookselling times are hard, though and Rais is unsure if the shop, established in 1974 – and that has endured almost five turbulent decades – can withstand the current challenges from the Taliban.
“Very few are buying books now,” he says sadly. One of the consequences of the Taliban takeover has been a mass exodus of intellectuals and others who were part of the book-buying demographic when UK and US forces were in situ in Afghanistan.
“I will keep the bookshop open as long as possible, maybe the Taliban will ban it or destroy it,” he shrugs.
Rais has lived through different rules in Afghanistan and was twice imprisoned during the Soviet era, first in 1979 for a year, and then again a year and a half after his release. He says he experienced torture and mistreatment while he was in jail, including sleep deprivation and being forced to live in freezing conditions.
Åsne Seierstad, a Norwegian journalist, travelled to Afghanistan soon after 9/11 and returned the following spring to write an account of life in the country through an intimate portrait of the lives of one Afghan family – the bookseller Rais, his two wives and his family. The book was based on her account and observations after being invited to move in with the family, with whom she lived for five months.
Rais became famous following the 2002 publication of the book, which topped international sales charts and has been translated into dozens of languages. However, he and members of his family brought a legal action against the author and claimed the book was inaccurate and invasive.
Following a protracted legal battle an appeal court in Norway cleared the author of invading the privacy of the family and concluded the facts of the book were accurate.
Shah Mohammad Rais in his shop in 2007. Photograph: Musadeq Sadeq/AP
Rais’s bookshop is believed to have the largest collection of books about Afghanistan, expressing a variety of different views of historical events, all under one roof. Along with textbooks for students in areas such as medicine, engineering and languages are many rare books that Rais has found safe hiding places for in case his shop is targeted.
“I have secure places in Iran and Pakistan for some of the books,” he says.
He speaks six languages and says regretfully that he has forgotten a seventh that he was previously able to speak – Russian.
After obtaining a master’s degree in civil engineering at Kabul University, he thought it would not be possible to make a living out of engineering and decided to try to turn his love of books, which he had developed as a teenager, into a business.
Along with his enormous and diverse collection of Afghan books he loves classics including works by Tolstoy, Balzac and Hemingway, and his favourite, the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi. “I loved reading Shakespeare’s Othello in Persian,” he says.
“From 2002 to 2020 I sold over 15,000 copies of European and US literature,” Rais says. He says that his aim has always been to reflect a plurality of views about significant events in history rather than taking one side or another.
“I am on the side of sincerity,” he says. “The Soviets put me in jail for collecting decrees of Mullah Omar and other jihadist newspapers I obtained in Pakistan. I said to the judge: ‘Tomorrow we will need these papers to study Afghan jihad – to understand your enemies.’”
In better times his bookshop was a focal point for intellectuals from a variety of backgrounds to gather, sit on mattresses and listen to international news on a good-quality radio and debate political and philosophical matters of the day.
Now Rais’s future is uncertain as he anxiously awaits the outcome of his asylum claim. And particularly distressing for a lover of books, he now suffers from impaired vision. But his energy and enthusiasm is undimmed.
“If I am granted permission to work in the UK I would love to open an Afghan reading room at the British Library. I’m writing a book on Afghan land, culture and history and would like to open a multicultural, multi-language bookshop here for people from the region – from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran. That is what I’m dreaming of.”
Bookseller of Kabul becomes asylum seeker in London
It is yet to be clear whether the individuals who return to the country will be provided with any official position.
The Islamic Emirate has reiterated its pledge to provide security to the individuals who want to return to the country.
The commission of “Return and Communications with Former Afghan Officials and Political Figures” said that the Islamic Emirate doesn’t seek revenge and that the individuals who left the country can return.
“Every time when one side wins they try to impose their ideology on the opponent side and this has become normal in Afghanistan. When one side came to power, it sought to pressure the other side. This will be a good opportunity for us to not pass on such experiences to the next generation,” said Anas Haqqani, a senior member of the Islamic Emirate.
“We have a 40 million population. Everyone cannot take a seat and have power but it doesn’t mean they should be distant from their home and country,” said Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Meanwhile, the individuals who returned to the country called on the government to take advantage of their experience in government institutions.
Amanullah Ghlib, former head of the Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS); Ghulam Farooq Wardak, former Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs; and Hassan Mubarak Azizi, former deputy Minister of Transpiration and Civil Aviation, have recently returned to the country based on invitations of the commission of “Return and Communications With Former Afghan Officials and Political Figures.”
“When the foreigners don’t find job, they go to a developing country to find a job. The Afghans are better to (work here) rather than the foreigners,” said Amanullah Ghlib, former head of the Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS).
“The issues which are being discussed in Tashkent, Dushanbe, Ankara and Islamabad are better discussed in Afghanistan,” said Hassan Mubarak Azizi, former deputy Minister of Transpiration and Civil Aviation.
According to the commission “Return and Communications With Former Afghan Officials and Political Figures,” more than 16 officials of the former government and academic figures have returned to the country.
“The work of the commission is going well. We have contacted some people and they filled out the forms of the commission to return to Afghanistan. We will see the return of some figures in the near future,” said Ahmadullah Waseeq, a spokesman for the commission.
It is yet to be clear whether the individuals who return to the country will be provided with any official position.
Islamic Emirate Reiterates Pledge of Safety for Returning Afghans
KABUL — Tens of millions of dollars disappeared from Afghan government bank accounts during the Taliban takeover in August, according to a U.S. government watchdog report released Monday, the latest in a series detailing the collapse of the Afghan government and its military.
The assessment by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, examined allegations that Afghan government officials took tens of millions of dollars with them as they fled the country. Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani was accused of loading millions of dollars onto the helicopters that he and his close aides used to flee Kabul as Taliban fighters entered the city.
After the Taliban’s sudden military takeover of Afghanistan, media reports emerged alleging Ghani stole over $150 million in government funds when he fled, feeding public anger with the former leader for leaving Afghanistan. Ghani’s departure is seen by many as the decisive event that allowed Taliban forces to walk into Kabul and take complete control of the country.
SIGAR found the theft of millions by Ghani “unlikely” but said the former president did leave with some cash, adding that “evidence indicates that this number did not exceed $1 million and may have been closer in value to $500,000.”
The report quotes one former senior official who fled with Ghani on the helicopters stating, “everyone had $5,000 to $10,000 in their pockets. … No one had millions.” The official was not named in the public version of the assessment. Ghani has repeatedly denied the allegations of theft.
Among the reasons SIGAR found it unlikely Ghani stole millions as he fled the country are details of his final hours in the palace. SIGAR determined Ghani’s departure was sudden, not leaving the leader or his aides time to collect the cash.
The report also assessed that over $150 million in hundred-dollar bills “would have been difficult to conceal” and if “stacked end to end … would be somewhat larger than a standard American three-seater couch.”
Ghani and many of those who fled with him live in the United Arab Emirates, which welcomed him and his family on humanitarian grounds.
But tens of millions of dollars remain unaccounted for. SIGAR found evidence of “$5 million taken from the presidential palace and tens of millions taken from the vault at the National Directorate of Security,” the former Afghan government’s main intelligence agency. The investigation has not determined whether the money was removed from the country by government officials.
“With Afghan government records and surveillance videos from those final days likely in Taliban hands, SIGAR is currently unable to determine how much money was ultimately stolen, and by whom,” the report said.
One of the largest budgets SIGAR is investigating is the estimated $70 million in cash in the hands of Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency for discretionary use, like the funding of “anti-Taliban militias and to maintain the support of local power brokers and communities.” When the Taliban reached the vault on Aug. 15, only a few bills of Afghan currency remained, a former senior official told SIGAR. The official was also not named in the public version of the report.
The report stated that its investigation into stolen Afghan assets is ongoing.
Susannah George is The Washington Post’s Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief. She previously headed the Associated Press’s Baghdad bureau and covered national security and intelligence from the AP’s Washington bureau.
Millions of dollars went missing as Afghanistan fell, watchdog says
Afghan analysts suggest that commitments made by the Islamic Emirate in Doha during their talks with the United States need to be fulfilled.
US-based research organization, RAND Corporation, has offered three options for Washington’s policy on Afghanistan, suggesting the United States should either come up with engagement, isolation, or opposition.
Explaining its suggested options, RAND says in a 28-page research paper that a “policy of engagement with the Taliban regime offers the prospect of advancing US interests to the degree that the Taliban show some willingness to engage constructively in return.”
It suggests that cutting ties with the al-Qaeda network, and observing human rights, particularly girls’ access to education, are the main conditions that need to be considered by Kabul.
About its second option, isolation, it says that such a policy “would seek to punish and weaken the Taliban regime and change its behavior while signaling the US and broader international disapproval of that regime.”
As a third option, the research organization suggests a policy of opposition to remove the Islamic Emirate from power, but it adds that “there are two fundamental problems with a regime change strategy: First, it is not feasible under current conditions… and second, even if it were feasible and would succeed, the US would find itself once again supporting a dependent government in Kabul against local resistance with no better prospects of ultimate success than its last such effort.”
However, the research organization says that although engagement offers the only possibility of actually advancing American interests in Afghanistan even marginally, isolation remains the default choice.
“It is the proverbial alternative B nestled between alternative A, surrender, and alternative C, nuclear war, in the classic caricature of a Washington options memo,” the research organization concludes.
This comes as concerns are growing by the international community about the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan along with other matters, including the future of girls’ education and women’s role in society.
An Islamic Emirate spokesman, Inamullah Samangani, said that relations between Afghanistan and the US “will benefit other countries too.”
“There is no other option but engagement for any side and there should be an official engagement between the Islamic Emirate and the international community,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Russian special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, in an interview with ET said that respecting human rights, women’s access to work and girls’ access to education are the main preconditions for recognition of the Islamic Emirate.
“While Russia has allowed a Taliban representative at the Afghan diplomatic mission in Moscow, we have not officially recognized the Taliban government. The Taliban flag is not flying atop the Afghan Embassy in Moscow. The ball is in the Taliban’s court. They have to create a politically inclusive government in Kabul. Russia is also not happy in the way the Taliban is treating the women and girls,” Kabulov said in the ET interview.
Afghan analysts suggest that commitments made by the Islamic Emirate in Doha during their talks with the United States need to be fulfilled.
“They (Islamic Emirate) should fulfill the decision and pledges they made in Doha. This can be the only option to prevent the US from criticism; otherwise, there will be no engagement” said Sayed Ishaq Gailani, head of the National Solidarity Movement of Afghanistan.
Download full RAND report: https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA1540-1.html
RAND Offers Three Options for US Policy on Afghanistan
The United Nations says aid workers are still in a “race against time” to remove rubble and rebuild after the devastating earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan last month, killing at least 2,200 people and cutting off remote areas.
The 6.0-magnitude quake on Aug. 31 was shallow, destroying or causing extensive damage to low-rise buildings in the mountainous region. It hit late at night, and homes — mostly made of mud, wood, or rocks — collapsed instantly, becoming death traps.
Satellite data shows that about 40,500 truckloads of debris still needs to be cleared from affected areas in several provinces, the United Nations Development Program said Wednesday. Entire communities have been upended and families are sleeping in the open, it added.
The quake’s epicenter was in remote and rugged Kunar province, challenging rescue and relief efforts by the Taliban government and humanitarian groups. Authorities deployed helicopters or airdropped army commandos to evacuate survivors. Aid workers walked for hours on foot to reach isolated communities.
“This is a race against time,” said Devanand Ramiah, from the UNDP’s Crisis Bureau. “Debris removal and reconstruction operations must start safely and swiftly.”
People’s main demands were the reconstruction of houses and water supplies, according to a spokesman for a Taliban government committee tasked with helping survivors, Zia ur Rahman Speenghar.
People were getting assistance in cash, food, tents, beds, and other necessities, Speenghar said Thursday. Three new roads were under construction in the Dewagal Valley, and roads would be built to areas where there previously were none.
“Various countries and organizations have offered assistance in the construction of houses but that takes time. After the second round of assistance, work will begin on the third round, which is considering what kind of houses can be built here,” the spokesman said.
Afghanistan is facing a “perfect storm” of crises, including natural disasters like the recent earthquake, said Roza Otunbayeva, who leads the U.N. mission to the country.
Afghanistan Peace Campaign
