Amu: Afghanistan’s national beach soccer team departed for Thailand on Monday to compete in the 2025 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, the country’s football federation announced. The tournament is set to begin on March 20 in Thailand. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Sports News
Amu: Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has appointed five new provincial police chiefs in recent weeks, bypassing Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has been absent from public view for over a month, sources said. Mohammad Asif Siddiqui, a former deputy chairman of the Afghan Senate, said that police appointments now come directly from Akhundzada without the involvement of the Taliban’s Interior Ministry. “Haqqani’s faction is increasingly sidelined, and they are now looking to strengthen their ties in the Arab world and build trust with the United States,” Siddiqui said. Click here to read more (external link).
Business Insider: Nolan Saumure, a 28-year-old Canadian YouTuber, walked into Afghanistan from Pakistan last summer. He spent a week traveling through the Taliban-controlled country with a local guide and a camera in an attempt to show what he called “the other side of Afghanistan” — the natural beauty, warm hospitality, and rip-roaring good times he says aren’t depicted in Western media. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: Germany will halt its voluntary admission programs for Afghan refugees and implement strict new migration policies, Friedrich Merz, the country’s likely next chancellor, announced on Saturday. “We will reject asylum requests at the borders in coordination with our European neighbors,” Merz said. “We intend to take all constitutional measures necessary to reduce uncontrolled migration.” Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: Afghanistan’s national futsal team claimed third place in the Intercontinental Selecao Cup in Brazil after defeating Greenland in a penalty shootout on Sunday. Earlier in the tournament, Afghanistan defeated Greenland 5-4 but suffered losses to Brazil (4-1) and Iran (4-3) in group-stage matches. Click here to read more (external link).
VOA News
March 8, 2025
WASHINGTON — Four years ago, Yalda never imagined that she would not be able to continue her education or achieve her dream of graduating from school.
“My parents would often talk about the Taliban’s first rule [in the 1990s],” recalled Yalda, who requested that her full name not be used for security reasons. “I used to think it was fortunate I wasn’t born during those days. Sadly, we ended up experiencing the same fate.”
Yalda, who was in 10th grade when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, is one of the 1.5 million girls deprived of an education in Afghanistan.
Like most school-age girls, she is now confined to her home.
“I think I live in a prison. I am so hopeless, and wish I had not been born a girl,” Yalda said.
In addition to banning girls from secondary and university education, the Taliban have barred them from working with government and nongovernment organizations, traveling long distances without a close male relative, and going to parks, public baths and salons.
The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, in a statement issued on March 8, condemned the “progressive erasure of women and girls from public life” and called on the Taliban to lift restrictions on Afghan women.
“These restrictions are not only violations of human rights but also barriers to Afghanistan’s progress, deepening poverty and isolation for millions,” said UNAMA’s statement.
The Taliban rejected the U.N. call, saying that women in Afghanistan are given their due rights “in accordance with Islamic Sharia law.”
“At present, Afghan women reside in a state of complete physical and psychological security,” they said.
An Afghan teacher, who did not want her identity to be disclosed for fear of reprisal, told VOA that Afghan women do not feel safe in the country.
“We don’t have safety. I can’t teach anymore. We don’t have any future,” said the teacher. “We are not considered as equal human beings in this country.”
Afghanistan is listed last — 177th out of 177 countries — on Georgetown University’s global Women Peace and Security Index of inclusion, justice and security for women.
The teacher said that women in Afghanistan are filled with despair, saying that “any change by the group is unlikely.”
Hoda Jaberian, the UNESCO program coordinator for education emergencies in Paris, called the Taliban’s restriction “a war against women.”
She told VOA that women’s rights in Afghanistan should remain a top priority for the international community.
“This is the responsibility of the international community to ensure that the rights of Afghan women and girls are restored without any delay,” Jaberian said.
No country has yet formally recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
Adela Raz, a former Afghan ambassador to the United States, told VOA that one of the main reasons for not recognizing the Taliban’s government is the group’s failure to grant women their rights.
She added that, alongside the United Nations, Muslim-majority nations and neighboring countries should pressure the Taliban to respect women’s rights in Afghanistan.
“The neighboring countries, to an extent, have ties with the Taliban and their position is important” to apply pressure on the Taliban to uphold women’s rights.
Yalda says that she and other girls in Afghanistan, however, are losing hope.
“They [the Taliban] haven’t changed in the past 3½ years. I don’t think they will,” said Yalda.
Related
Donald Trump
BBC News: More than 80 Afghan women who fled the Taliban to pursue higher education in Oman now face imminent return back to Afghanistan, following the Trump administration’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid programmes. Funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), their scholarships were abruptly terminated after a funding freeze ordered by President Donald Trump when he returned to office in January. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: Afghanistan’s national futsal team suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat against Iran in their third match of the Quadrilateral Tournament in Brazil on Saturday. Afghanistan has so far recorded one victory and two losses in the Seleção Intercontinental Futsal Cup. It defeated Greenland 5-4 in the opening match, lost to Brazil 4-1 in the second match and narrowly lost to Iran 4-3 in the third match. Click here to read more (external link).