Fox News: The World Health Organization (WHO) said it is “extremely concerned” over the “evolving security and humanitarian situation” in Afghanistan and called for health workers to be “respected and supported.” On Tuesday, a spokesperson told Reuters that WHO is also concerned about the spread of coronavirus in the region, and how the Taliban rise in power is thwarting efforts to send medical supplies and support to the region. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Say They Will Soon Announce ‘Inclusive’ Afghan Government
Sohail Shaheen
By Ayaz Gul, Ayesha Tanzeem
VOA News / August 17, 2021
ISLAMABAD/KABUL – The Taliban said Tuesday talks on the formation of an “inclusive Islamic” government in Afghanistan are near conclusion as the radical movement consolidates its hold over the war-torn country.
The Taliban stunned the world over the weekend when they retook power in Kabul, the national capital, conquering almost all of the 34 Afghan provinces in just over a week’s time.
Their lightening battlefield advances were primarily the outcome of the largely unexpected surrender or retreat by U.S.-trained Afghan security forces in the face of Taliban attacks.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said Taliban leaders are engaged in “hectic” discussions with other rival groups and U.S. special peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, in Doha, Qatar, which houses the Taliban’s political office.
“In a few days there will be, of course, a transfer of power,” Shaheen told VOA by phone from the Qatari capital. “The deliberations and talks are underway to form an Afghan inclusive Islamic government. It will be announced soon,” he added.
The United States and the global community in general have vowed not to recognize any government in Kabul imposed by force, fearing Taliban-led rule would prolong the Afghan civil war and threaten human rights in the country.
Women’s rights are of particular concern, with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday calling on the Taliban to protect “the hard-won rights of Afghan women and girls.”
Analysts say that international legitimacy for any future government is crucial for ensuring that the strife-torn country continues to receive much-need assistance for Afghan reconstruction.
Shaheen said the Taliban are determined to arrange an inclusive governance system to address international concerns, reiterating his group does not believe in a monopoly of power.
“We believe that monopoly of power has not worked in the past. So, that’s why we want to have some Afghan fighters, politicians in the future government in order to have a durable peace in the country and open a new chapter of peace, co-existence and tolerance and reconstruction of Afghanistan,” he said.
Shaheen declined to clearly state whether Afghan women will be part of the future government.
“About women, we have announced already that they can have access to work and education by observing hijab. Today, you may have seen on (Afghan) TV stations women wearing hijab and doing their job,” he said.
Female news anchors broadcast news on Afghan mainstream television stations without interruption but covering their heads with a cloth or hijab.
Shaheen said the Taliban announced Tuesday a “general amnesty” for all, including government officials, and urged them to return to work.
Kabul streets
Residents in Kabul said life was returning to normal in the city of more than six million as they ventured out of their homes.
A female journalist for the private Tolo News channel could be seen on the streets reporting on the latest situation but acknowledging there were a very few women seen in the markets. She said women feared the unknown. A woman anchor was seen interviewing a Taliban official.
However, there were reports of incidents elsewhere in Afghanistan where women complained of harassment by the Taliban. Shaheen dismissed those reports as baseless, saying they were the work of “spoilers” to defame the Taliban.
In Kabul, a so-called Taliban complaint commission has been swiftly set up and officials there have been urging residents to reach out the commission with any complaints of harassment or violence so they can be addressed.
Taliban officials have also been visiting government offices and hospitals to assure staff there, women, not to worry and continue performing their duties as usual.
Taliban rule
During their first stint in power – from 1996 until 2001 when they were ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in the wake of the September 11th attacks – the Taliban ruled Afghanistan with a strict interpretation of the Quran and Sharia law.
A swift whipping across the back of the legs by cadres from the ‘Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice’ was common for those tardy at prayer times.
Public floggings, amputations of limbs for thieves and even executions were scheduled for Fridays – sometimes held at the national stadium. And women were mostly barred from working or studying and forced to wear an all-covering burqa in public.
Two days after taking over the capital, the Taliban are patrolling the city in small convoys. “They don’t harass people but of course the people are scared,” a shopkeeper told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, evacuation flights resumed Tuesday at Kabul’s international airport after a chaotic day in which thousands of people gathered there as diplomats and civilians tried to leave Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
In another development, Amir Khan Muttaqi, a top Taliban leader and member of the group’s Doha-based political office, arrived in the Afghan capital, where his delegation held meetings with former president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council.
The discussions focused on security and governance-related issues; a Taliban official told VOA on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
“We are in contact with the leaders of the respected Islamic Taliban movement,” Karzai said in a post-meeting joint video statement with Abdullah posted on the official Facebook page of the former president.
Some information for this report came from AFP.
India Evacuates Diplomatic Staff From Kabul, Top U.S. Diplomat Denies Fleeing
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 17, 2021
India has become the latest major country to evacuate its embassy in Kabul, leaving only a handful of embassies from global and regional powers operating in the Afghan capital as the top U.S. diplomat in Kabul dismissed reports that he had left the country.
The Russian, Chinese, and Pakistani embassies are among the diplomatic missions still operating in Kabul as foreign governments are scrambling to evacuate their nationals, Afghans who worked alongside them, and others considered vulnerable under Taliban rule following the group’s capture of Kabul two days earlier.
Military flights evacuating diplomats and civilians resumed from the city’s international airport on August 17, a day after chaotic scenes at the facility interrupted evacuation operations.
“In view of the prevailing circumstances, it has been decided that our ambassador in Kabul and his Indian staff will move to India immediately,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arimdam Bagchi tweeted on August 17.
An Indian aircraft carrying diplomatic personnel landed in India’s western state of Gujarat during the day, according to media reports.
Meanwhile, U.S. Charge d’Affaires Ross Wilson dismissed reports that he had left Afghanistan, saying on Twitter: “Contrary to false reports, @USEmbassyKabul staff & I remain in #Kabul working hard to help 1000s of U.S. citizens and vulnerable Afghans & continuing engagement here.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that the number of the Iranian Embassy staff had been drastically reduced but that routine tasks would not be disrupted.
On August 16, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL that its embassy in Afghanistan had reduced its staff but that its activities will continue.
Uzbekistan also announced it had no plans to close its Kabul embassy.
Russia has said it would only partially evacuate its embassy staff.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke separately with officials in Pakistan, Russia, Britain, the European Union, Turkey, and NATO about Afghanistan, including “the developing situation and our efforts to bring our citizens to safety and assist vulnerable Afghans,” according to the State Department.
Russia has said it would only partially evacuate its embassy staff.
Its ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov is set to hold talks with Taliban representatives on August 17 to discuss the security of Russian citizens and the embassy’s personnel.
European Union foreign ministers are also set to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels later on August 17 to discuss evacuation plans and the situation in general in Afghanistan.
With reporting by the BBC, The Indian Express, IRNA, and RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service
Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Related
Taliban Fighters Going ‘House-To-House’ For Kabul Street Executions
Kabul residents call for Ghani to be sent back to Afghanistan
Ashraf Ghani
Ariana: Kabul residents on Monday voiced their anger at former president Ashraf Ghani, who slipped out of the country unnoticed on Sunday, and accused him of “national treason”. Many residents accused Ghani of deserting his people and of leaving them with a “vague destiny”. Ghani is believed to be in Oman, after flying out of Kabul soon after the Taliban reached the gates of the capital on Saturday night. Click here to read more (external link).
Ashraf Ghani: The Deeply Polarizing President Who Oversaw The Fall Of Afghanistan
Ghani
Frud Bezhan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 16, 2021
Thousands of Taliban militants encircled Kabul as fear and panic swept through the capital, its residents bracing for a bloody takeover of the city and a return to an oppressive life under the militant Islamist group.
Amid the chaos on the clogged streets and the teeming airport in Kabul, key government and political leaders were locked in tense negotiations with the Taliban over a peaceful transfer of power.
But President Ashraf Ghani was nowhere to be seen.
His ministers were frantically trying to contact him but could not reach his office. Hours earlier, the embattled Afghan leader had secretly slipped out of the sprawling presidential palace in central Kabul with a cohort of his closest aides and boarded a plane to an unknown country and away from the turmoil in his country.
Ghani, who had pledged just days earlier that he would not leave the country, had unceremoniously fled on August 15 during the country’s hour of need.
Yet he had not even informed key members of his cabinet, including acting Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi.
“They tied our hands from behind and sold out the country,” Mohammadi wrote on Twitter as stunned officials found out their commander in chief had fled the country.
“Curse Ghani and his gang,” said Mohammadi, referring to the president’s two closest confidants — national-security adviser Hamdullah Mohib and Fazel Fazly, Ghani’s chief of staff — who had fled with him.
Abdullah Abdullah, a longtime rival and the second ranking official in the government, said “God should hold him accountable.”
Hours after his escape, Ghani wrote on Facebook that he left the country to prevent a “flood of bloodshed.” Some reports said he flew first to Tajikistan or Uzbekistan — though both countries denied it — before leaving for an unknown third country. His whereabouts are unknown as of late on August 16.
Ghani’s escape from Kabul, as the city came under Taliban rule without resistance, marked the end of his tumultuous, polarizing seven years in power.
Analysts say the 72-year-old’s abrasive and authoritarian leadership style, which alienated key power brokers, contributed to the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s security forces and the unraveling of the government.
The Taliban had cascaded through the country since launching a blistering military offensive that coincided with the start of the final withdrawal of foreign troops on May 1. The militant group captured many of the country’s cities in just over a week, with government forces surrendering or retreating by the thousands.
“His divisive and unpopular leadership affected the management and planning of the war,” said Ali Adili, a researcher at the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent think tank in Kabul.
Ghani fired and replaced the country’s security leadership on several occasions. He had also sidelined crucial power brokers, including influential former warlords who held sway in the provinces, particularly in northern Afghanistan.
“The failure of resistance in the northern provinces against the Taliban in recent weeks was partly a result of Ghani alienating key figureheads and weakening local structures of power,” said Hameed Hakimi, a research associate at the London-based Chatham House think tank.
Rise And Fall From Power
Ghani, a former finance minister, rose to power in 2014 when he won a presidential election marred by widespread allegations of fraud and vote rigging.
Ghani, an ethnic Pashtun from the eastern province of Logar, has always had the qualifications for the highest political office in Afghanistan. He had worked for the World Bank and the United Nations, and even wrote a book on how to fix failed states.
But he lacked the grassroots support of many of his rivals and Ghani’s lengthy exile in the United States also earned him a reputation for being out of touch with ordinary Afghans.
He surrounded himself with a cohort of Western-educated aides and advisers and isolated himself from key domestic stakeholders.
Ghani was also accused of ethnic favoritism and of stoking tensions among the country’s many ethnic groups.
Hakimi described Ghani as a “classic Afghan populist” who appealed to what he believed his audience wanted to hear.
“His shallow populism was in part his hubris as someone who believed he had the academic and anthropological understanding of the society he wanted to rule,” he said.
“He was also an irascible president who was unable to control his temper or his tongue when given facts he disagreed with, or worse: when challenged,” Hakim added.
Torek Farhadi, a former government adviser who worked with Ghani, described the president as an “insecure” leader who was unwilling to compromise or cede power.
“His political moves were calculated to retain power,” said Farhadi. “In this process he alienated many stakeholders, be it traditional leaders or technocrats.”
‘Stole The Opportunity For Peace’
Ghani refused to stick to the terms of a power-sharing agreement he signed with his electoral rival, Abdullah, in 2014 that led to the creation of an unwieldly national unity government that was characterized by bitter divisions and bickering.
Ghani won the 2019 presidential election that was plagued by record-low turnout and allegations of fraud. Foreign powers and domestic power brokers had pleaded for him to postpone the vote in favor of peace talks with the Taliban. But he refused.
In 2018, the United States had opened direct negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar without the presence of the Afghan government. Eighteen months later, the sides signed a bilateral deal that paved the way for foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan.
The deal undermined Ghani’s government, which was not a party to the accord. It also committed his administration to free 5,000 Taliban fighters. Ghani initially balked at the mass release but grudgingly accepted it, staggering the freeing of the inmates in a way that delayed the peace talks by months.
Once intra-Afghan peace talks began in September 2020, Ghani was accused by critics of repeatedly stalling and undermining the peace process to retain power.
Almost one year later, Ghani did not oversee peace in Afghanistan but rather the end of 20 years of democratic rule as the Taliban seized power in Kabul.
“Ghani will be remembered as the president who stole the opportunity for peace from the people of Afghanistan,” said Farhadi.
Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Desperate Afghans Cling To U.S. Military Plane To Flee Taliban
Afghans poured onto the tarmac at Hamid Karzai airport in Kabul on August 16 in a desperate bid to flee the Taliban. Video posted on social media showed chaotic scenes of people clinging to a U.S. military jet as it took off to evacuate diplomatic staff.
Journalist Sees ‘Dark Future’ As Taliban Fighters Go ‘House-To-House’ For Kabul Street Executions
Many Afghan journalists and activists have gone into “hiding” the day after Taliban fighters took control of the capital, Kabul. One RFE/RL Radio Azadi reporter, whose identity could not be revealed for security reasons, sees “a dark future” ahead. He said there were reports of Taliban militants going “house-to-house” and shooting people in the street.
Reports: Same old Taliban
Taliban going door to door looking for government employees, taking down names/addresses, disarming people, taking them away, beating musicians, destroying instruments, etc.
Taliban fighters beating musicians and destroying their instruments as they go door-to-door searching peoples’ homes in #Kabul, several residents told me.
History repeating itself.
Taliban banned music during its brutal former regime.
— Frud Bezhan فرود بيژن (@FrudBezhan) August 16, 2021
Taliban fighters going door-to-door in #Kabul, looking for government employees, soldiers and police, and Afghans who worked with foreign govts and NGOs, several residents tell me.
— Frud Bezhan فرود بيژن (@FrudBezhan) August 16, 2021
Some have been taken away, family members say. In other cases, houses have been searched and documents/weapons confiscated. Taliban also recording names/addresses.
— Frud Bezhan فرود بيژن (@FrudBezhan) August 16, 2021
Evacuations Stall Amid Death And Chaos At Kabul Airport, Biden To Speak
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
August 16, 2021
Seven people have been reported killed as thousands of Afghans flooded the runways and terminals of the Kabul airport amid chaos, attempting to leave after Taliban militants seized control of the country ahead of the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces after a presence of nearly two decades.
The Pentagon said on August 16 that U.S. troops killed two people after they were seen “menacingly” brandishing weapons. Officials were not able to say how the five others died, but video from the airport showed hundreds of people trying to force their way onto a moving aircraft, some clinging to landing gear as it attempted to take off. U.S. officials said troops fired warning shots into the air to try and disperse the crowds around the flight, which was taking U.S. diplomats and embassy staff out of the country.
U.S. authorities said they were forced to close down the airport temporarily to restore order and clear the airfield of people so that flights could resume.
In sharp contrast to the situation at the airport, streets in the capital itself were mainly calm as Taliban soldiers patrolled the capital. The heavily fortified diplomatic Green Zone in Kabul appeared to be a ghost town, with countries rushing to evacuate their embassies.
Dozens of governments called for calm to allow for the departure of hundreds of foreign nationals and Afghans seeking to leave the country after the militants toppled the Western-backed government over the weekend.
“Afghanistan stands at a crossroad. Security and well-being of its citizens, as well as international security, are at play,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told journalists as he prepared to convene a meeting of EU foreign ministers for August 17.
EU officials are pleading with the bloc’s 27 capitals to give visas to Afghan workers at the bloc’s mission in Kabul and their families, estimated to number between 500 and 600, European diplomats said.
The government collapsed, with President Ashraf Ghani fleeing abroad on August 15 as the Taliban captured Kabul — the last major city in Afghanistan to hold out against an offensive that accelerated in the space of days as the militants rapidly gained control of territories across the country.
U.S. troops were in control of Kabul’s international airport, where commercial flights were suspended on August 16, stranding many Afghans who sought to flee.
The Hamid Karzai Airport authority said it was forced to cancel all remaining commercial flights “to prevent looting and plundering.” The Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority announced that Kabul airspace had been released to the military and that it advised transit aircraft to reroute.
A number of major airlines said they had stopped using Afghanistan airspace in response to the directive.
The White House said U.S. President Joe Biden was returning to Washington from the nearby Camp David presidential retreat to make a statement at 3:45 Washington time on the latest developments.
For months Biden had downplayed the prospect of the Taliban taking control following an announcement in April that the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops would be withdrawn by August 31. On August 14 he defended his decision, saying an “endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me.”
He now faces rising criticism, especially from Republicans in Congress, after the insurgents’ rapid offensive captured most of Afghanistan’s major cities in less than a week.
“It is certainly the case that the speed with which cities fell was much greater than anyone anticipated,” national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview on NBC’s Today show on August 16.
“At the end of the day, despite the fact that we spent 20 years and tens of billions of dollars to give the best equipment, the best training and the best capacity to the Afghan security forces, we could not give them the will and they ultimately decided that they would not fight for Kabul and they would not fight for the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Taliban and all other parties to exercise “utmost restraint” in order to protect the lives of Afghans and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Guterres said the rights of women and girls must be protected, in a reference to the Taliban, which imposed a strict interpretation of Sharia law during their 1996-2001 rule. The UN chief will address the body’s Security Council later on August 16 over the situation in Afghanistan.
“The world is following events in Afghanistan with a heavy heart and deep disquiet about what lies ahead,” Guterres said, noting that the Taliban had so far respected the safety of UN personnel in the country.
The UN humanitarian office said members of the humanitarian community remain committed to helping the millions of Afghans needing assistance and are staying in the country despite the “highly complex” security environment.
More than 18.4 million people were already in need of assistance before more than 550,000 were displaced by conflict this year, according to the office, known as OCHA.
Many fear reprisals from the Taliban for their cooperation with government authorities or for working with foreign governments during the two decades the international coalition was present in Afghanistan. Those fears sparked desperate scenes at the airport as they sought a way out of the country.
Ireland’s Ambassador to the UN chided the Security Council for failing to heed warnings over the situation in Afghanistan, saying “now we will have to address the consequences.”
A member of the Taliban administration told Reuters that the group had started collecting weapons from civilians because people no longer need them for personal protection, as the Taliban sought to reassure the international community that Afghans should not fear them.
In a message posted to social media, Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar called on the militants to remain disciplined, saying: “Now it’s time to test and prove, now we have to show that we can serve our nation and ensure security and comfort of life.”
Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesman in Qatar, where the group has a political office, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi that the militants were discussing the future of Afghanistan with a number of Afghan politicians.
Deputy national-security adviser Jon Finer said in an interview on MSNBC that the United States remained engaged in diplomatic conversations with the Taliban in the Qatari capital, Doha.
This story includes reporting by Radio Azadi correspondents on the ground in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their protection.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP