Politico: European taxpayers finance ill-treatment and forced expulsion, an investigation found. In recent years, the Turkish government started using much of this EU-funded infrastructure to reduce the number of asylum-seekers it hosts by rounding up and forcibly deporting Syrians, Afghans, and others facing danger in their home countries, according to an investigation by POLITICO and eight other news outlets, in partnership with Lighthouse Reports. Click here to read more (external link).
Met with H.E. Abdul Ghafar Terawi, who is starting his tenure as the Head of the Diplomatic Mission of #Afghanistan in #Uzbekistan. Our countries share a common history and interests of prosperity that serve as an impetus for the development of cooperation ties in all areas. We… pic.twitter.com/mc35n86Vy4
— Bakhtiyor Saidov 🇺🇿 (@FM_Saidov) October 9, 2024
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
October 10, 2024
Islamabad, Pakistan — Afghanistan’s Taliban said Thursday that Uzbekistan had accepted their appointed ambassador, and both sides marked the action as an important advancement in strengthening diplomatic ties between the neighboring countries.
The action is seen as a rare diplomatic achievement for the internationally isolated Taliban leaders since they regained control of the country three years ago.
Until now, China and the United Arab Emirates were the only two countries that had formally accredited a Taliban-appointed ambassador since Afghan insurgents regained power in Kabul.
None of the three nations has recognized the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan, and neither has the rest of the world, citing concerns about inclusivity, terrorism, and restrictions on women’s access to education and work.
The Taliban’s foreign ministry identified its diplomat to Tashkent as Sheikh Abdul Ghafar Bahr, saying he formally presented a copy of his credentials to Uzbek Minister of Foreign Affairs Bakhtiyor Saidov on Wednesday.
“Bahr described the upgradation of bilateral relations as a pivotal phase, hoping for further progress,” the Taliban quoted their ambassador as saying at Wednesday’s ceremony to welcome him in the Uzbek capital.
The statement quoted Saidov as noting that “both countries enjoy shared interests and have achieved substantial economic growth over the past three years.” The Taliban said that Bahr “is expected to present his original letter of credence” to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan.
“Our countries share a common history and interests of prosperity that serve as an impetus for the development of cooperation ties in all areas,” Saidov said on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, after Wednesday’s ceremony. “We also discussed the acute topics on bilateral, regional, and global agendas,” the Uzbek foreign minister wrote.
The Taliban separately stated Thursday that their Ministry of Mines and Petroleum had signed a 10-year contract with an Uzbek company for the exploration and extraction of gas in Afghanistan.
The announcement said the agreement requires the Uzbek company to invest $100 million in the first year and $1 billion over the next 10 years. The investment will target the gas reserves of the Totimaidan field in the northern Afghan province of Faryab, which spans an area of about 7,000 square kilometers.
Russia reported last week that a “principal decision” had already been made to remove the Taliban from its list of transnational terrorist organizations, saying relevant Russian agencies were “putting finishing touches” on the delisting in line with federal law.
U.S.-led Western countries have been pressing the Taliban to reverse restrictions on women’s freedoms and their right to education as well as employment before they could consider engaging diplomatically with Kabul. Washington also wants the de facto Afghan rulers to address regional and international terrorism concerns.
“We have not changed our designation of the Taliban as a specially designated global terrorist organization, and we continue to make clear that any significant steps towards normalization of relations is contingent upon a profound shift in the Taliban’s human rights conduct,” Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Tuesday.
“We continue to work with our allies and partners to press the Taliban to reverse their discriminatory edicts, and we make sure that any significant steps toward normalization of relations are contingent upon profound improvements in their treatment of women and girls, including but not limited to allowing women and girls back in school and lifting the restrictions on women’s employment,” Miller explained.
Taliban leaders defend their governance, arguing that it is in line with their interpretation of the Islamic law of Sharia. They also rejected criticism of their curbs on Afghan women’s access to education, employment, and public life at large.
Abdul Kabir, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for political affairs, reportedly said Thursday that their government aims to maintain positive relations with all countries. However, he emphasized that “they will not sacrifice Islamic principles or values to please others.”
Kabir asserted in his remarks that the Taliban are currently in control of “40 diplomatic missions in different countries and engagement with the world is moving in a positive direction.”
A still taken from an undated video shows Hafiz Saeed (center), the founder of IS-K, at an undisclosed location at the Afghanistan-Pakistani border in January 2015.
By Frud Bezhan and Zhakfar Ahmadi
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 10, 2024
The FBI’s arrest of an Afghan man who allegedly planned a U.S. Election Day attack has underscored the growing threat posed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group to the West.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, an Afghan citizen living in the United States, plotted an attack on November 5 in the name of IS-K, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Based in Afghanistan, IS-K has carried out a series of devastating, high-profile attacks in Russia, Iran, and Tajikistan in recent years.
“IS-K poses a dangerous threat to both the region and the West,” said Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based researcher who tracks militancy in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
“IS-K is not confined to Afghanistan alone,” Sayed added. “It operates with a global agenda and has a network functioning both regionally and internationally.”
Resilient Force
IS-K is considered the most active and potent of all the regional affiliates of Islamic State (IS), the extremist group that overran large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014. IS was largely defeated by a U.S.-led coalition.
IS-K was founded in Afghanistan in late 2014 and captured small pockets of territory in the country as part of IS’s broader aim of expansion throughout South and Central Asia.
But it soon came under fire from Afghan and international forces as well as the Taliban, a rival militant group.
The threat posed by IS-K has increased since the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government in 2021, analysts say.
The Taliban, which then seized power, has waged a brutal war against IS-K, killing or capturing its key commanders and hundreds of its fighters. But IS-K has embarked on a strategy of urban warfare and remains a resilient force.
The group’s ranks have been boosted by foreign fighters, particularly those from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.
That has allowed IS-K — which seeks to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, in Khorasan, a historical region that includes parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Central Asia — to continue its attacks in Afghanistan and conduct complex assaults in the region.
In March, IS-K militants stormed the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow, killing around 140 people, underlining the threat it poses in the region.
Exploiting Grievances
Experts say extremist groups like IS-K have tried to exploit the grievances among Muslims since Israel launched its devastating war in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave.
That came after Hamas, a U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist group, carried out an attack on Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people.
Israel has recently expanded its war by launching a deadly aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, the armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
Lucas Webber, co-founder of Militant Wire and research fellow at the Soufan Center, says IS-K has been vocal in calling for attacks against the West in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East.
“[IS-K] has a robust, multilingual propaganda apparatus,” Webber told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “They can reach a diverse range of diaspora communities to build support and mobilize supporters to violence.”
Webber says IS-K and its recruiters have targeted Europe. Now, he said, “we’re starting to see an increase of activity in North America and the United States, specifically.”
Rumi
Khaama: The Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture has announced that the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) will soon begin the restoration of the monastery of Mawlana Jalaluddin Balkhi-Rumi’s father. Some historians consider the Bahauddin Monastery to be Rumi’s birthplace. Due to its historical significance, the monastery annually attracts hundreds of domestic and international tourists. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Over the past three years, the Taliban have consistently claimed to have achieved nationwide security and eliminated criminal gangs and networks, often emphasizing these assertions to the global community and the people of Afghanistan. However, these claims occur amidst a significant rise in insecurity and armed robberies in Takhar province, causing serious concerns among its residents. Many residents of Takhar accuse the Taliban of failing to reduce armed robberies and ensure safety. They note that even after more than three years, a considerable number of the group’s members, particularly those referred to as Taliban police, do not wear military uniforms. This lack of uniformity complicates the distinction between their fighters and actual criminals. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan International: The US State Department spokesperson has said that the US position on the Taliban has not changed and that Washington continues to recognise the group as a “global terrorist organisation”. Matthew Miller said that normalisation of relations with the Taliban is contingent on fundamental changes in the Taliban’s behaviour towards human rights. Recently, Russia announced that it was “completing the review” of removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups. Click here to read more (externa link).
Related
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
October 9, 2024
ISLAMABAD — Hardline Taliban authorities in Afghanistan reported Wednesday that nine people, including at least two women, were publicly flogged after being convicted of various crimes, such as adultery.
Five of the punishments took place at a sports stadium in Kandahar, capital of the eponymous southern province. Local Taliban officials, judicial officers, and ordinary Afghans were among the onlookers.
The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced the details, saying the five individuals were found guilty of adultery, sodomy, and robbery, with each of them receiving 39 lashes and prison sentences ranging from two to seven years. It did not say whether females were among the convicts.
The court separately announced that two men and two women were publicly flogged Wednesday for adultery in the northern Afghan provinces of Takhar and Samangan.
Hundreds of men and women have been lashed in sports stadiums across Afghanistan since the Taliban regained power in 2021.
In June this year, the Islamist leaders carried out a mass lashing of 63 convicts, including 14 women, in a packed northern sports stadium for committing “immoral crimes,” such as adultery and homosexuality.
The Taliban have also executed at least five Afghan murder convicts in crowded sports stadiums, citing the Islamic concept of retributive justice known as qisas.
Global outcry
The executions and corporeal punishments have drawn an outcry and calls from the United Nations to immediately end them for being in breach of human rights and international law.
Taliban leaders defend their criminal justice system, arguing that it is in line with their interpretation of the Islamic law of Sharia. They also rejected criticism of their curbs on Afghan women’s access to education, employment, and public life at large.
The United States and the world at large have refused to recognize Taliban authorities as the official government of Afghanistan, citing their treatment of women, among other human rights concerns.
“We continue to make clear that any significant steps towards normalization of relations is contingent upon a profound shift in the Taliban’s human rights conduct,” said Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesperson, speaking to reporters Tuesday. “And there has been remarkable unity among the international community on that question.”
Girls ages 12 and older are not allowed to attend secondary school, making Afghanistan the only country in the world with this restriction, while female students have been barred from universities. Most Afghan women are prohibited from working in both public and private sectors, including the U.N.
The Taliban last month enacted so-called “vice and virtue” laws that, according to critics, have dealt another blow to women’s rights in Afghanistan. The contentious decree deems the sound of a woman’s voice in public a moral violation and requires them to cover their entire bodies and faces when outdoors. It also forbids women from looking at men to whom they are not related and vice versa.
Azra Jafari via Newsweek: We mourn our inability to help our fellow women and girls who are suffering under the Taliban, but most of all we feel anger at the United States and the international community for their betrayal of Afghan women. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, when the war on terror was waged, the liberation of women in Afghanistan was part of the pretext. Almost 20 years later, on Aug. 15, 2021, that pretext proved false. In order to find a quick exit, Western forces dealt with the same people they had overthrown 20 years before, completely forgetting Afghan women. The betrayal was unforgiveable. The women of Afghanistan will never forget. Click here to read more (external link).