Michael Hughes: The Western exit from Afghanistan left the country’s neighbors to deal with the fallout from the Taliban’s grooming of and/or inability to contain transnational terrorist activities. Beijing, likely grasping it does not have the capabilities to reach the growing threat of Afghan-based terrorists targeting China, figures it can at least get something from
Akmal Dawi VOA News February 27, 2024 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced new partnership programs designed to empower Afghan women in the face of Taliban suppression of women’s rights in Afghanistan. Speaking at a meeting of the U.S.-founded group called the Afghan Women Economic Resilience Summit (AWERS), Blinken said Microsoft and LinkedIn
Khaama: China has shown increasing interest in accessing the abundant oil, gas, and mineral resources in Afghanistan. The pursuit of dominating the supply chain, particularly in light of advancements in high-tech chips and large-capacity batteries, appears to be a significant driver for Beijing’s engagement with Afghanistan’s rich resources. Jalal Bazwan, a political science professor at
8am: Some owners of private educational centers in Ghazni province assert that these centers teeter on the brink of collapse. They stress that stringent Taliban restrictions on women and girls have plunged these centers into severe economic hardship. According to them, the centers currently struggle to meet daily expenses, warning of imminent closure if swift
8am: On Saturday, February 24th, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of the Taliban issued a written notice to all proprietors of women’s beauty salons, granting them one month to cease their activities. Click here to read more (external link).
Akmal Dawi VOA News February 21, 2024 Sixteen months after its establishment, the U.S.-backed Fund for the Afghan People has yet to release any payments for its intended purposes, a board member reveals. The fund, created using half of Afghanistan’s frozen assets in the United States, aims to help stabilize the Afghan economy without benefiting
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi February 19, 2024 An avalanche has killed at least five people and left 22 more trapped or missing amid heavy rainfall in a mountainous region of an eastern Afghan province, locals and a Taliban official said on February 19. The landslide in the Nurgram district of Nuristan Province destroyed as many as
8am: For the elite and the middle class in Afghan society, the rule of the Taliban and the loss of rights and freedoms may be the most significant issue in Afghanistan at present, but for the poorer segment of society, bread is a more pressing concern. Perhaps the hungry do not contemplate freedom. Poverty has
Akmal Dawi VOA News February 15, 2024 Afghanistan has cleared its outstanding electricity debts to three Central Asian neighbors and is negotiating for an increase in energy supplies, a move that could signal the Taliban government is moving toward economic stabilization. Landlocked Afghanistan relies heavily on energy imports, obtaining more than 70 percent of its
FP: A drug kingpin whose heroin empire helped fund the Taliban’s long war in Afghanistan—and who was released early from a U.S. prison in a trade for an American hostage—has now gone into business with China. Bashir Noorzai, a close friend of the extremists’ supreme leader, has set up murky joint-venture deals with Chinese firms