Amu: As winter descends, a surge in seasonal illnesses is sweeping through the Afghan capital, Kabul, and other major cities. Residents are battling a trifecta of cold weather, air pollution, and a worsening humanitarian crisis that has crippled the country’s health care system. Many Afghans are finding themselves unable to afford even basic medical treatment. Click here to read more (external link).
Canada sent 19 failed asylum seekers back to Afghanistan last year
Ariana: Canada’s border guards sent 19 rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to the country last year despite Otawa’s Temporary Suspension of Removals (TSR) that has been in place for Afghan nationals since 1994. CBC reported that none of the 19 Afghans had their cases rejected on the basis of safety or security risks. The border service did not however reveal further details. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Imposes Ban on Broadcasting Images of Living Beings in Herat
Afghanistan International: The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat has instructed journalists in the province to refrain from photographing the group’s officials during both official and unofficial meetings. This latest directive follows similar restrictions previously enforced in other provinces across Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan, One Of The World’s Most Vulnerable Countries To Climate Change
By Abubakar Siddique
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
November 16, 2024
One of the world’s poorest countries, Afghanistan is also among the leading nations affected by climate change.
Decades of war and environmental degradation have made Afghanistan the fourth most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate change.
Rising temperatures have exacerbated the frequency and severity of natural disasters, including droughts, floods, and landslides, experts say.
Deadly natural disasters in recent years have, in turn, aggravated the devastating humanitarian and economic crises in Afghanistan, where millions are at risk of starvation.
Climate change presents unique challenges to Afghanistan’s population of some 40 million, experts say, with around 80 percent of its people dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods.
The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban’s seizure of power in 2021 has complicated Afghanistan’s ability to deal with the climate change crisis.
In the wake of the Taliban takeover, international donors immediately halted billions in development aid. International humanitarian assistance, meanwhile, has sharply receded in recent years, partly due to the extremist group’s dismal human rights record.
A Taliban delegation is participating as an observer at the UN Climate Conference in Baku. But the Taliban’s cash-strapped and unrecognized government is unlikely to attract the international assistance needed for Afghanistan to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Afghanistan contributes little to global emissions but has experienced rapid temperature rises. Since 1950, its mean temperature has risen 1.8 degrees Celsius, higher than the global average of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Rising temperatures have “wreaked havoc on agriculture and the agricultural value chain — the country’s economic backbone,” according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Floods in the spring and summer killed more than 300 Afghans, displaced more than 20,000, and destroyed thousands of homes and hectares of farmland. The UNDP estimates that the floods caused more than $400 million in annual economic losses.
Afghanistan is a major source of fresh water for its neighbors. But climate change has rapidly increased water scarcity by decimating the country’s hydrological infrastructure.
UNICEF, the UN’s children’s agency, estimates that eight out of every 10 Afghans no longer have access to safe drinking water.
More than 64 percent of Afghanistan’s population is dealing with drought, pushing an increasing number of Afghans into food insecurity, according to the UN.
Data by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also shows that “climate change is increasingly a trigger for internal displacement as well as migration out of Afghanistan.”
Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Opponents of the Taliban: Deadlock in Dialogue and Intensified Attacks
Afghan Resistance Leaders: Zia (left) and Massoud (right)
8am: Given that anti-Taliban movements are also gaining momentum, the group faces two main options: either submit to negotiation or continue fighting against the people of Afghanistan. The situation is far from resolved, contrary to what the Taliban would have people believe. A large portion of Afghan citizens and politicians, both inside and outside the country, object to and oppose the Taliban’s policies. Consequently, platforms such as the Vienna Process and other scattered efforts, like those in Turkey, initiated by Afghan political elites, are underway. On the other side, there are anti-Taliban military fronts that have been engaged in armed conflict against the Taliban for more than three years. The activities of these fronts have recently increased. If we follow daily reports and news, we see that these attacks inflict significant casualties on the Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Tolo News in Dari – November 16, 2024
Afghanistan falls to Nepal 2-0 in trilateral football tournament
Amu: The Afghanistan national football team lost 2-0 to Nepal in their opening match of a trilateral tournament held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Saturday. The game marked Afghanistan’s debut in the tournament, which also includes host Tajikistan. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Afghan Sports News
Trump Unlikely to Get Played by Taliban Again
Donald Trump
Michael Hughes: The Taliban stroked President Donald Trump’s ego with a love letter that directly led to the administration’s decision to accelerate negotiations, strike the Doha deal, and withdraw forces from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year conflict. However, the Trump 2.0 administration is dangerous because the man does not need to get re-elected. Trump does not even need to satiate his base. All Trump cares about now is his legacy – which includes not being made to look the fool.
This could go one of two ways: Trump chills and enjoys the ride or, now unhindered, acts out even more aggressively in knee-jerk reaction to any and all perceived slights. And this version of Trump the Taliban should fear.
Taliban relocation plan could worsen humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, analysts say
Roshan Noorzai
Noshaba Ashna
VOA News
November 15, 2024
The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation announced plans this week to return millions of internally displaced people (IDP) to their home villages and provinces in Afghanistan, a move analysts warn could worsen the country’s humanitarian crisis.
“In the first phase, 5,000 displaced families in Kabul would be moved to different places to their places of origin. Most of these families are from [the northeastern province of] Kunduz,” said the ministry’s statement, issued Wednesday.
The Taliban called on national and international organizations to support their relocation plan. “This is a priority for the ministry,” the statement said.
“It is a good decision to relocate displaced families to their communities of origin,” said Sayed Ahmad Selab, the founder of the Selab Charity Foundation and former Afghan parliamentarian, adding, “but it could bring about a humanitarian crisis under the current circumstances.”
Most of these families would not have shelter, Selab said, if they were returned to their provinces.
“They were displaced because of the yearslong conflict and drought. Most of them lost their houses and would have no prospects of jobs and places to live if they were returned,” he said.
The United Nations refugee agency, or UNHCR, says there are 3.2 million IDPs in Afghanistan.
More than 7.6 million Afghans are living as refugees in Pakistan and Iran, including 1.6 million Afghans who left after the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.
About a year ago, both Iran and Pakistan started forcible repatriation of Afghan refugees from their countries. The Taliban government said in June that around 2,000 Afghans were arriving daily from these countries.
Hafiz Ahmad Miakhil, a former adviser to the Ministry of Refugee and Repatriation, told VOA that he does not think the Taliban “have any policy in place for the relocation plan.”
He told VOA that the Taliban’s ministry is not in a position to undertake the repatriation of millions of internally displaced people.
“For the repatriation of internally displaced people, there is the need to construct schools and provide shelters and health services. The Taliban don’t have the resources to do so,” Miakhil said.
He added that the Taliban would need the support of the international community and for that, the Taliban “have to get recognized nationally and internationally.”
The Taliban, who seized power in August 2021 after the former Afghan government collapsed, are not yet recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan by any country.
Under the Taliban, Afghanistan is facing multiple crises. Sanctions against the Taliban, no banking transfers, frozen assets, no access to global institutions and the dwindling of foreign aid have moved millions into poverty and hunger.
There are 11.6 million people who are food insecure in Afghanistan.
In September, the U.N. said that it received only 30% of the $3 billion needed this year for the humanitarian response in the country.
Since returning to power, the Taliban have imposed repressive measures on women and imposed their strict interpretation of Islam in the country.
“The de facto authorities are exacerbating this crisis by policies that focus insufficiently on the real needs of its people and undermine its economic potential,” said Roza Otunbayeva, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan.
Abdul Hamid Jalili, the former Afghan attache in the Peshawar Consulate, told VOA that the Taliban’s decision to return IDPs to their villages “would bring yet another humanitarian crisis.”
This story originated in VOA’s Afghan Service.
Pakistan warns Taliban: Don’t test our patience
Khaama: The spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry urged the Taliban on Thursday to take immediate and effective action against Pakistani militants based in Afghanistan, deeming any support for them unacceptable. Mumtaz Zahra Baloch warned the Afghan Taliban not to “test the patience of the Pakistani people.” In a weekly press briefing reported by The Express Tribune, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated, “Afghanistan must not allow its territory to be used for terrorism against Pakistan or any neighboring country.” Click here to read more (external link).