Tolo News: As a result of clashes between the forces of the Islamic Emirate and the Pakistani military, two people, including a woman, have been killed, and eleven others injured. Local residents reported that since Wednesday evening of last week, intermittent clashes between the Islamic Emirate forces and the Pakistani military have been ongoing in the Zazai Maidan district of Khost province. According to them, a large number of families along the Durand Line have migrated to nearby areas. Click here to read more (external link).
Wahed Nazhand secures first-round victory over Czech opponent
Khaama: Wahed Nazhand, an Afghan mixed martial artist based in Germany, defeated his opponent, Max Hendanagic from the Czech Republic, within the first round of their match. The fight occurred on Saturday night, September 7, under Germany’s “Octagon MMA” organization. Nizhand won by overcoming Hendanagic with a submission move early in the first round. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Afghan Sports News
Tolo News in Dari – September 8, 2024
23rd Anniversary of Ahmad Shah Massoud’s Death Marked
Tolo News: The 18th of Sunbula marks the 23rd anniversary of the death of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a prominent figure in the fight against the Soviet Red Army invasion. Ahmad Shah Massoud, the son of Colonel Dost Mohammad Khan, was born on the 11th of Sunbula, 1332 of solar calendar (1953), in the Jangalak area of Panjshir province. After starting his education in Panjshir, he continued his studies in Herat and Kabul due to his father’s job relocation and eventually completed high school at Lycée Esteqlal in Kabul. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan Embassy in London set to close
Khaama: According to the report, the Afghanistan embassy in London will close. The British Foreign Office officially informed Zalmay Rasul, the former ambassador to London, of this decision. Reports indicate that Mr. Rasul was summoned to the British Foreign Office on Friday, September 6, and was asked to close the Afghanistan embassy within 20 days. Click here to read more (external link).
Kyrgyzstan follows regional trend, takes Taliban off terrorist list
By Masood Farivar
VOA News
September 7, 2024
Washington — Shunned by the West for over three years, Afghanistan’s Taliban scored a diplomatic victory of sorts this week when the small Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan quietly removed the group from its list of banned terrorist organizations.
The move underscores warming ties between the Taliban, in power since August 2021, and the countries of Central Asia. While the United States has led an international campaign to deny the Taliban government legitimacy, over a dozen regional countries, led by China and Russia, have embraced the self-styled “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”
“It fits with the broader trend of governments in the region and internationally warming up to the idea of having to work with the Taliban,” said Lucas Webber, a senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism and a research fellow at the Soufan Center. “Generally, there is a recognition that the Taliban is not going anywhere, so you have to work with whoever is ruling Afghanistan for economic and security reasons.”
Taliban reaction
The government of Kyrgyzstan, once considered a close U.S. ally in the region, did not publicize its decision to delist the Taliban, but the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry quickly seized on it as the latest breakthrough in its regional diplomacy.
“Aligning with actions of other countries, the step taken by Kyrgyzstan signifies a growing political recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on both regional and international levels, and removes a barrier to strengthening bilateral relations between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan & other countries,” it said Thursday in a statement.
The Taliban, which first ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 before waging a 20-year insurgency, has appeared on various international terrorist lists over the years. While the U.S. has not officially labeled them a “foreign terrorist organization,” it considers members “specially designated global terrorists.”
Kyrgyzstan is the second Central Asian country to delist the Taliban in recent months. In December, Kazakhstan took the group off its own terrorist list as part of its growing economic engagement with the Taliban. In May, Russia said it, too, was considering such a move as it decides whether to recognize the Taliban’s government.
Although no country has extended official recognition to the Taliban, more than a dozen, including all six of Afghanistan’s neighbors, have allowed Taliban diplomats to take charge of Afghan embassies or consulates. Among them, three have accepted accredited Taliban envoys: China in January, followed by Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates last month.
In pursuing ties with the Taliban, Central Asian countries are taking their cues from Russia and China, both of which have deepened their engagement with Afghanistan’s de facto government in recent years.
“They’re pursuing practical policies, and they’re also given a kind of umbrella by two of the major great powers — Russia and China — who are working with the Taliban quite closely,” Webber said.
A ‘necessary evil’
In a report on the Taliban’s regional diplomacy, analysts at the International Crisis Group noted how various countries pursue disparate agendas.
Afghanistan neighbors such as Iran, Pakistan and Uzbekistan view dealing with the Taliban as a “necessary evil if they are to address core concerns,” the analysts wrote. Those concerns include extremist threats as well as trade. For Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, a planned project designed to carry surplus power to Afghanistan and Pakistan is a priority.
Regional powers China, India and Russia use engagement to contain “any spillover” from Afghanistan, the analysts said. Russia regards the Taliban as a bulwark against the Islamic State’s local branch. And while China has signed lucrative investment deals with Afghanistan, it, too, is motivated by fear of terrorism.
Countries farther afield, such as the UAE and Qatar, aim “to challenge the Taliban’s Islamic exceptionalism but [are] also spurred by the need to balance their own regional rivalries,” they wrote.
Strategic interests vs. human rights
Significantly, none of the countries that have established diplomatic ties with the Taliban were classified as “free” by Freedom House, the freedom and democracy advocacy group. All but two are labeled “not free,” according to a VOA review. Only Pakistan and Turkey are designated as “partly free.”
This suggests that the Taliban can ward off international isolation if enough countries prioritize strategic interests over human rights and democracy, according to experts.
While human rights haven’t always been a U.S. foreign policy priority, the Biden administration, along with its Western allies, have made Taliban recognition contingent on respect for human rights, women’s rights and an inclusive government.
“Given the issues related to the treatment of women and other human rights issues, it’s more difficult for liberal democratic governments to recognize and work with the Taliban than it is for less democratic governments or nondemocratic governments, where they can be more practical in terms of pursuing their national interests solely and then working with the Taliban on this basis,” Webber said.
The implications for Afghanistan’s future and U.S. diplomacy are immense. Increased political and economic engagement could embolden the Taliban to keep their harsh policies, such as their ban on girls’ education after sixth grade, experts say.
It could also force Washington to reassess its dual policy of engaging and isolating the Taliban. Since the Taliban takeover, U.S. and European diplomats have held ongoing talks with Taliban officials in Qatar, where they maintain their Afghanistan embassy operations.
Biden administration officials have also reportedly weighed working with the Taliban to combat the Afghan-based Islamic State Khorasan terror group, even while refusing to establish diplomatic ties.
“There is going to be pressure as more governments recognize that this kind of resistance to working more closely with the Taliban doesn’t hold up,” Webber said. “But it will be hard to do so publicly and officially, given the humanitarian violations and problems that we see with the Taliban government.”
The Biden administration defends its Afghanistan policy. Asked about the Taliban’s growing diplomatic footprint, a State Department spokesperson noted that no country has said that it recognizes the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.
“The Taliban seek recognition as Afghanistan’s government,” the spokesperson said in a statement to VOA. “The United States and the international community have been clear with the Taliban that our ability to take meaningful steps toward normalization will be based on the Taliban’s own actions.”
These include respecting the rights of women and minorities, fulfilling anti-terror obligations and starting a political process for inclusive governance, the spokesperson said.
Tolo News in Dari – September 7, 2024
Afghanistan’s national futsal team arrives in Tashkent
Ariana: Afghanistan’s national futsal team has arrived in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, to participate in the Futsal World Cup 2024. The Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024 with the participation of 24 teams is scheduled to kick off on September 14 in Tashkent. Click here to read more (external link).
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At UN, growing calls for reversal of latest Taliban edict against women
By Margaret Besheer
VOA News
September 6, 2024
New York — A dozen U.N. Security Council ambassadors strongly condemned on Friday the Afghan Taliban’s recent “morality law” which further erodes the rights of women and girls in that country and called for its reversal.
“On top of the existing edicts, this new directive confirms and extends wide-ranging and far-reaching restrictions on personal conduct and provides inspectors with broad powers of enforcement, thus deepening the already unacceptable restrictions on the enjoyment by all Afghans of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” said Japan’s U.N. ambassador, Yamazaki Kazuyuki.
“Day by day, Afghan women and girls lose their opportunities and hope for their future,” he added. “This is unacceptable.”
Envoys from Ecuador, France, Guyana, Malta, Mozambique, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States joined him as he read the statement before reporters.
The only Security Council members not to lend their support to the statement were Algeria, China and Russia.
On August 21, the Taliban announced the ratification of a detailed “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,” which includes among its restrictions a prohibition on Afghan women using their voices in public and orders them to completely cover their bodies and faces outdoors. Women are also forbidden from interacting with non-Muslims, using public transport alone, and looking at men who are not their husband or blood relative.
The Taliban government, which is officially not recognized by any country, has dismissed U.N.-led foreign criticism of the law as offensive.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, asserted this week that “non-Muslims should first educate themselves about Islamic laws and respect Islamic values” before expressing concerns or rejecting the law. “We find it blasphemous to our Islamic Sharia when objections are raised without understanding it,” he said.
The United States, European Union, United Nations and others have condemned the edict, the latest in a series that have eroded the rights of Afghan women and girls.
“Today, we once again urge the Taliban to swiftly reverse all the policies and practices that restrict the enjoyment by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Ambassador Kazuyuki said.
“The Taliban need to listen and respond to the voices of Afghan women and girls by respecting their rights to education and for women to work, as well as the freedoms of expression and movement. It is a prerequisite for a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.”
The Japanese envoy noted that the 15-nation Security Council has repeatedly discussed the worsening human rights situation in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over in August 2021 and have “raised a united voice on multiple occasions.”
Last year, the council unanimously adopted Resolution 2681 which calls for the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and girls in Afghanistan.
The 12 Security Council members also called on those countries with influence over the Taliban to promote the “urgent reversal” of the policy, which violates Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights treaties to which it is a signatory.
They also urged the Taliban to allow the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan to visit the country. The Taliban have publicly said they will not allow Richard Bennett entry.
The U.N.’s agency for gender equality and women’s empowerment, U.N. Women, warned in a statement on August 28 that the new law is “effectively erasing women from public life and granting broad enforcement powers to the morality police.”
U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo warned last month that the law would only impede Afghanistan’s return to the international fold.
The Security Council plans to next discuss Afghanistan in a meeting on September 18.
Ayaz Gul in Islamabad contributed to this report.
Everything To Know About Taliban’s New “Vice And Virtue” Law In Afghanistan
AFP: The text contains 35 articles. The most criticised dictates that a woman’s voice should not be raised outside the home and that they should not sing or read poetry aloud. Unrelated men and women are forbidden from looking at each other, and women are commanded to cover themselves entirely in front of non-Muslim women. Men are ordered to grow beards longer than a fist, wear loose-fitting clothes and not reveal their bodies between the navel and the knee. Sodomy is banned “even with one’s own wife”. The media has been banned from mocking or humiliating Islam, transport companies told to alter schedules to fit prayer times and Muslims told they should not befriend or help non-Muslims. Some traditional games have also been banned, as well as taking or viewing photos of living things on computers or smartphones. Disobedience of parents has also been outlawed. Click here to read more (external link).