Afghans with disability urge Taliban to end ban on aid agency

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Akmal Dawi
VOA News
April 18, 2024

For years, Qari Wazir Mohammad and his six siblings received assistance from the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, or SCA, enabling all seven of them to read Braille and perform daily tasks such as cooking and cleaning.

All born blind in a remote village of war-torn Ghazni province, the four brothers and three sisters faced extreme poverty and a lack of support for their disabilities.

Last year, the Taliban directed the SCA to halt humanitarian activities, including support programs for the disabled.

Taliban officials issued the order in protest of an Iraqi Christian refugee who burned a copy of the Quran in Sweden. That refugee, Salwan Momika, has since reportedly left Sweden, but the ban remains in place, depriving tens of thousands of disabled Afghans of the SCA’s critical assistance services.

“We have clarified our status as an independent NGO and our condemnation of the events in Sweden that led to our suspension,” Andreas Stefansson, secretary general of the SCA, told VOA in written comments.

The SCA

With a $40 million budget for 2023, the SCA, which remained active throughout several cycles of armed conflict in Afghanistan over the past four decades, had 7,000 local and 15 international staff servicing vulnerable communities nationwide.

“Many of our staff are the sole breadwinners of large extended families,” said Stefansson, adding that one-third of SCA employees were female.

Despite being forced to suspend its operations for nearly a year, the organization has continued paying salaries of many of its local employees.

Taliban restrictions

Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban have relentlessly restricted the work of local and international aid agencies in Afghanistan.

Last year, the Taliban’s ban on Afghan women working for aid agencies led several international NGOs to temporarily suspend operations in protest.

Other restrictions have also been reported.

Humanitarian organizations in Afghanistan reported 1,775 incidents of bureaucratic and administrative impediments and restrictions imposed on their work in 2023, according to the United Nations.

The restrictions come amid an environment of prevalent need.

“An estimated 23.7 million people — more than half of the population — will require humanitarian assistance in 2024,” the U.N. secretary-general said in a report last month.

The situation in Afghanistan is expected to deteriorate further as Pakistan sends hundreds of thousands of refugees home. More than 3 million Afghans are still in Pakistan, facing forced return to a country already grappling with poverty and the aftermath of war.

Isolated under Taliban rule, Afghanistan has suffered significant reductions in donor funding.

Last year, the U.N.-led humanitarian appeal received about half of its needed $3.2 billion. As of April, this year’s appeal has received 7% of its needed funds.

Stefansson says his organization has been in dialogue with Taliban authorities to lift the ban.

Taliban officials have not commented on when or if the SCA’s operations in Afghanistan might resume.

“We implore leaders of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to allow the Swedish committee to resume its activities,” said Qari Wazir Mohmmad of Ghazni. “Without their assistance, our lives are destroyed.”

Afghan children returning from Pakistan face grim reality, survey finds

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Afghan girls (file photo)

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
April 18, 2024

ISLAMABAD — A survey released Thursday revealed that over the past seven months, nearly 250,000 children have returned to Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan with almost nothing, and they urgently need food, shelter and access to education.

The study by Save the Children said that more than 520,000 Afghans have returned home since September 2023 after Pakistan asked all undocumented foreigners to leave the country or face deportation. Nearly half of all the returnees are children.

Despite attending school in Pakistan, 65% of the children now back in Afghanistan are not enrolled in school. The majority, 85%, told the surveyors they did not have the necessary documents to register and enroll in school.

The survey did not say how many girls were among the children questioned as they also have to deal with the Taliban government’s ban on teenage girls’ education beyond the sixth grade.

‘Crisis levels of hunger’

The study found that 99% of the families that returned and the communities hosting them in Afghanistan do not have sufficient food to last one to two months.

“About three-quarters of returnees and families in host communities reduced portion sizes or restricted the food consumption of adults so small children could eat on at least two days in the previous week,” said Save the Children in its study.

According to the findings of the survey, almost 40% of returnees and host families had to borrow food or depend on relatives and friends at least three days a week. Out of the number of respondents in total, 13% of returnees and 9% of host families had to rely on others for food every day.

It highlighted the dire conditions facing returnees in Afghanistan, where almost 8 million children “are facing crisis levels of hunger” due to years of conflict and multiple recent natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and ongoing drought.

‘Already overstretched resources’

The United Nations estimates that close to 16 million Afghans in the country face severe food insecurity at crisis and emergency levels.

“Families are returning to Afghanistan with virtually nothing,” said Arshad Malik, country director for Save the Children. “The return of so many people is creating an additional strain on already overstretched resources,” he said.

Malik said that the crisis-hit country is struggling to cope with the pressure of displacement. In addition to the returns from Pakistan, he added nearly 600,000 Afghans arrived from neighboring Iran last year. “Afghanistan is also now home to the second largest number of internally displaced people in the world – or roughly 1 in 7 people.”

He noted that many undocumented Afghan children were born in Pakistan, and Afghanistan is not the place they call home.

No basic necessities

A 15-year-old girl living with her grandfather after returning with her mother and three siblings told the surveyors that the family sold everything before leaving Pakistan. Her name was not mentioned to protect her identity.

“We need shelter, living essentials, winter clothing, shoes, blankets, food and medicine. Afghanistan is very cold for us, and it is challenging because we do not have winter clothing,” said the girl.

The survey showed that nearly one in six families lives in tents and most returnees have little or no means of supporting themselves, with nearly half of them saying there were no jobs available in Afghanistan.

Economic and humanitarian conditions have deteriorated in the country since the fundamentalist Taliban returned to power nearly three years ago. They have imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s access to education, employment, and public life.

The curbs on women’s rights and other controversial policies have deterred the international community from formally recognizing the Taliban government and resuming much-needed development assistance to Afghanistan. Humanitarian aid is still being provided to the country through the U.N. and other foreign non-governmental organizations.

Afghanistan Green Trend Exposes Senior Intelligence Officials of Taliban

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Amrullah Saleh

Afghanistan International: The Afghanistan Green Trend (AGT), led by Amrullah Saleh, former Vice/President of Afghanistan, has publicly revealed the names, positions, and contact numbers of 49 senior officials from the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence. On Thursday, AGT labeled these officials as “masked terrorists”. The disclosed list includes notable figures such as Mawlawi Abdullah Ghaznavi, the Chief of Staff of the Taliban’s intelligence chief; Dr Bashir, Director of Counterintelligence; Hafizullah Gohar, Head of Border and Foreign Intelligence; Mawlawi Mustaqim Rahib, Head of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence; and Mufti Abdul Hadi, Head of Taliban’s Intelligence in Panjshir Province. Click here to read more (external link).

Rising Natural Disasters and Taliban’s Failures: Lack of Necessary Expertise and Management

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Taliban militants (file photo)

8am: Some of the victims of natural disasters accuse the Taliban of incompetence and mismanagement. According to them, this group has been unsuccessful in combating natural disasters and lacks the necessary expertise in this regard. These victims emphasize that Afghanistan is naturally exposed to numerous threats and fundamental steps need to be taken in raising awareness and information production in this regard. These concerns arise as the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, under Taliban control, has announced that in the recent floods over the past few days, 33 people have lost their lives and 27 others have been injured. More than 20 provinces have experienced severe rains and devastating floods over the past four days, destroying people’s livestock and farmlands. Click here to read more (external link).

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Afghanistan loses 3-1 to Iran in Futsal Asian Cup match

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Ariana: Afghanistan’s national futsal team lost 3-1 against Iran in their first match in AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2024 Thailand. This match between the national futsal teams of Afghanistan and Iran was held in the “D” group of this competition in Bangkok, Thailand. The national futsal players will face Kuwait in their second game next week. Click here to read more (external link).

3 Taliban Members Killed In Kabul, Claims NRF

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Afghanistan International: The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) announced that during an attack by their forces on a Taliban security forces’ vehicle, three Taliban members were killed, and two others were wounded. NRF posted on X social media platform that the incident occurred on Tuesday evening in Kabul city’s fourth police district. Releasing a video of the attack, the front said that the target was a vehicle transporting Taliban members. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban crack down on Afghan TV channels for alleged rule breaches

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
April 17, 2024

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — The Taliban government in Afghanistan has suspended the broadcast of two privately run local TV channels over alleged violations of official regulations and “Islamic values.”

Free media advocates Wednesday criticized the overnight suspension, calling it a violation of Afghanistan’s media-governing laws.

The Taliban-run information ministry’s Media Violations Commission said in a statement late Tuesday that a court will examine the activities of the two channels, Noor TV and Barya TV, and decide on their fate.

Hafizullah Barakzai, the commission spokesman, said that the broadcasters are barred from conducting operations until then.

Barakzai criticized the channels for not following “journalistic principles” and “not considering “national and Islamic values” during their coverage despite repeated government warnings and recommendations.

He reported that Noor TV was broadcasting music and that its female hosts and guests were not following the official dress code, which requires women to cover their faces, leaving only their eyes visible. Barakzai cited a controversial speech for suspending Barya TV but did not elaborate.

The Afghanistan Journalists Center or AFJC, an independent media watchdog, said in a statement that the suspensions were “against the country’s public media law” and marked another step toward stifling free media in the Taliban-ruled country.

The watchdog demanded that Afghan authorities immediately withdraw the order and reopen the two media outlets unconditionally.

The two channels did not immediately comment on the allegations and suspension of their operations.

Noor TV has been operating in Afghanistan since 2007 and is backed by the country’s Jamiat-e-Islami party of former Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, who fled the country after the hardline Taliban returned to power nearly three years ago.

Barya TV, which launched its operations in 2019, is owned by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former Afghan prime minister and the leader of his Hizb-e-Islami party.

Critics noted that Afghan media professionals have dealt with work conditions requiring them to strictly follow a set of media guidelines the Taliban introduced after reclaiming power in 2021.

Some directives prevent women from working in national radio and television stations, enforce “gender-based segregation” in workplaces, and prohibit broadcasting female voices and phone calls in certain provinces.

The Taliban have banned television dramas that include female performers, and female news presenters must wear an officially prescribed “Islamic hijab” on air.

Last month, Taliban officials warned media representatives to bar females from media platforms unless the women comply with the official dress code.

“The Afghan repression continues to intensify and specifically targets women’s access to the media, whether as journalists or as listeners and spectators,” said France-based Reporters Without Borders in a statement last month.

The Taliban have prohibited teenage Afghan girls from receiving an education beyond the sixth grade and banned women aid workers from working for nongovernmental humanitarian groups, including the United Nations, except in the health sector. They have placed travel restrictions on women without a male guardian, and access to public parks and gyms is also restricted for women.

Related

‘Invisible, Disappeared, Erased’: The Systematic Oppression of Afghan Women and Girls Since the Taliban Takeover

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Ms. Magazine: In the Taliban’s Afghanistan, “bit by bit, all public spaces get closed off to women,” said Dr. Lauryn Oates of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).

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