Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 15, 2022 Cash-strapped and cut off from international aid, the Taliban-led government is tapping into Afghanistan’s natural resources to boost revenue. Since the Taliban toppled the Western-backed government in Kabul and seized power in August 2021, the export of and custom duties from coal have become a key
The Guardian (UK): Musicians had hoped to keep their art alive after fleeing Taliban but now face crackdown on refugees. Ajmal Haikalzada, 44, first became a refugee when his artist father left Afghanistan for Pakistan during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. In 2001, then a musician, he returned, singing and performing across the country
Tolo News: Owners of coal factories in Afghanistan said the Afghan coal is being sold to three Pakistani companies: Fauji Fertilizer Power Station, Cherat Cement Factory and Lucky Cement and Coal. Economists said these companies are connected with the Pakistan Army. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: Hundreds of tonnes of coal from mines across the country are being exported on a daily basis to Pakistan. The industrial companies working in the coal business said that the majority of coal is from Dara-e-Soof of Samangan and Balkhab district of Sar-e-Pul province. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved the import of coal from Afghanistan in rupees instead of US dollars, saying the move will help the country save precious foreign exchange. Sharif on Monday chaired a meeting on improving the transportation system of coal imported from Afghanistan in the country, the Express Tribune reported. “The
Ariana: More than 250,000 Afghans seeking asylum have arrived in Pakistan since January 2021, according to the UN refugee agency. Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Pakistan, has said that Pakistan is facing new inflows of asylum seekers from Afghanistan after the Islamic Emirate’s [Taliban] takeover of Kabul.
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi, RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal June 14, 2022 Farhad Salehi, a resident of the western Herat Province, has been chasing a Pakistani visa for weeks. Like hundreds of thousands of his compatriots, he wants to escape the uncertainty brought on by the economic collapse that followed the Taliban’s seizure of power last year. He
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 8, 2022 Lawyer Fazal Khan says he feels furious following Pakistan’s ongoing peace negotiations with the hard-line militant group Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). His eldest son, eighth-grader Sahibzada Omar Khan, was killed in the TTP’s most horrific attack. On December 16, 2014, a group of TTP militants stormed
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 7, 2022 Germany urged the global community Tuesday to collectively tell Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban rulers that they “are heading in the wrong direction” and called for strictly linking any economic aid for the war-torn country to the human rights of Afghans. “The situation is dire and the Taliban are leading
Michael Hughes: Islamabad had waited patiently for more than two decades for the Taliban to recapture Kabul and ensure Afghanistan would serve as “strategic depth” if Pakistan needed territory and resources in a war against India. The Pakistanis assumed the Taliban regime would take a hostile posture toward New Delhi, especially given India’s past support