Who Will Represent Afghanistan At The Paris Olympics And How?
AFP: A gender-balanced team of three men and three women will represent Afghanistan in Paris next month in a symbolic move for the first summer Olympics since the Taliban surged to power. The chief executive of Afghanistan’s national Olympic committee (NOC), Dad Mohammad Payenda Akhtari, told AFP all of the athletes, except the judoka, were based outside Afghanistan. The Afghan athletes will compete under the black, red and green flag and anthem of the Western-backed former republic, which was ousted by the Taliban in August 2021. “No representative of the de facto authorities, the Taliban government, will be accredited” for the Olympics, said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Afghan Sports News
Traditional Bone-Setting Remains Popular in Nimroz
Tolo News: Traditional methods of treating fractures still have many supporters in Nimroz province. Many patients who suffer from bone fractures prefer visiting a traditional bone setter rather than a doctor. Abdul Karim, one of the traditional bone setters in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz, has been treating fractures for 40 years. He said he has also trained several family members. Traditional bone setting has been practiced for many years, especially in rural and remote areas of the country, due to the lack of doctors and medicine. Even now, some people prefer visiting a traditional bone setter rather than a doctor. Click here to read more (external link).
Reclusive Taliban leader warns Afghans against earning money or gaining ‘worldly honor’
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada
AP: Pakistani journalist and author Ahmed Rashid, who has written several books about Afghanistan and the Taliban, said Akhundzada’s appeals for unity were a sign of desperation because he refused to spell out the real issues facing Afghans such as unemployment, economic development, and building a consensus for social reform. “I would not be convinced that this was a meaningful speech if I were the Taliban,” said Rashid. Click here to read more (external link).
Life under Taliban rule
Taliban Mufti: Education for Women, Even at Home, Is Prohibited
Afghanistan International: Members of the Taliban have shared an audio file of Sheikh Abdul Ali Deobandi on X, in which he declares that teaching women to read and write, even at home, is prohibited. Ziaullah Hashmi, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education, reposted the file, calling it an “important fatwa”. In the audio file, Sheikh Abdul Ali Deobandi cites narratives from the early days of Islam, asserting that women are not allowed to attend congregational prayers or learn to write. Abdul Ali Deobandi emphasises that women’s participation in congregational prayers and learning to write leads to “corruption”. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – June 17, 2024
What happens to single moms under Taliban rule?
DW: Being a single mother in Afghanistan often means fighting for survival. Under the Taliban, options to earn money are few and far between — and many of the women are simply left at the mercy of their relatives. Click here to read more (external link).
Fixtures, dates and venues confirmed for Super Eight stage of T20 World Cup
Ariana: As the initial group stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 comes to a close, the next chapter in the event unfolds, which will see eight remaining teams battle it out for four semi-final spots. India (Group A), USA (Group A), Australia (Group B), England (Group B), Afghanistan (Group C), West Indies (Group C), South Africa (Group D) and Bangladesh (Group D) are the eight teams who have qualified for the Super Eights. Click here to read more (external link).
Resistance Only Path Against Taliban, Says Anti Taliban Group
Afghanistan International: The National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan (NRCA), in a statement on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, criticised the Taliban’s actions, declaring, “There is only one way left, and that is resistance against the Taliban.” The council called on political and military groups opposing the Taliban to unite in the fight against them. On Saturday, June 15, the NRCA stated that Afghanistan under Taliban rule lacks a legitimate and legal system. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban agree to attend UN-hosted 3rd Doha meeting on Afghanistan
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
June 16, 2024
ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban government said Sunday it will send a delegation to the two-day United Nations conference on Afghanistan, set to commence in Doha, Qatar, June 30.
This will mark the first time the de facto Afghan rulers will attend a gathering of international envoys on Afghanistan since U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres started the process over a year ago, aimed at developing a coherent and unified world approach to engagement with the Taliban.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesman, told an Afghan television channel Sunday that their government had held internal discussions on the agenda for the third Doha conference and agreed to participate.
“We will announce the composition of the delegation later, God willing. We believe this will serve the interest of Afghanistan,” Mujahid said in his interview, aired by TOLO News.
He defended the decision and did not mention any conditions from their government, saying they consider any meetings facilitating humanitarian aid and investment in Afghanistan to be crucial.
The Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman later said in a formal statement that the decision to participate in the upcoming Doha meeting had stemmed from their own two months of discussions with the U.N. on the agenda and the list of the participants.
“If there are any changes to the agenda and participation, it would naturally affect our decision which we will share with all sides at that time,” Abdul Qahar Balkhi cautioned.
The U.N. has stated that the third Doha meeting aims to increase international engagement with the Taliban and Afghanistan at large “in a more coherent, coordinated and structured manner.”
Guterres did not invite the Taliban to the first Doha meeting in May 2023, and the Afghan rulers refused an invitation to the second this past February.
The fundamentalist Taliban had asked the U.N. during the lead-up to the second Doha meeting to only recognize their delegates as the country’s official representatives. This meant that Afghan civil society leaders and women’s rights activists would not be allowed to be present. The Taliban authorities also sought a meeting between their delegation and the U.N. at “a very senior level.”
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres rejected the conditions. The international community does not recognize the Taliban government, as many of its top leaders remain under terrorism-related U.N. sanctions.
Mujahid did not specify any conditions for their involvement in the forthcoming Doha conference.
Curbs on women
Sunday’s Taliban announcement comes amid persistent calls from Afghan and global rights monitors to ensure women’s representation at the table in the Doha meeting, with women’s and girls’ rights at the center of discussions.
The hardline Taliban stormed back to power in Afghanistan almost three years ago, imposing sweeping curbs on women’s right to education and public life at large in line with their harsh interpretation of Islam.
Afghan girls ages 12 and older are banned from attending secondary school, while women are prohibited from public and private workplaces, including the U.N., except for Afghan health care and a few other sectors.
Women are not allowed to travel long distances by road or air unless accompanied by a close male relative and are banned from visiting public places such as parks, gyms, and bathhouses.
The elusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has rejected international criticism of his governance, including restrictions on women, as an interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
The Taliban’s ban on educating girls reached 1,000 days last week, with UNICEF, denouncing it as a “sad and sobering milestone and demanding its immediate removal.
“For 1.5 million girls, this systematic exclusion is not only a blatant violation of their right to education but also results in dwindling opportunities and deteriorating mental health,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said.
The Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 has led to the worsening of economic and humanitarian conditions in the impoverished nation of more than 40 million people, reeling from years of war and the devastation of natural disasters.
The World Food Program estimates that more than a quarter of the population needs food assistance for survival. “More than 12 million people in Afghanistan do not know where their next meal will come from,” the U.N. agency stated.