Khaama: Mohsen Rezaee, an Afghan Taekwondo athlete, defeated his Japanese opponent in the qualification rounds at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It’s worth noting that Ali Reza Abbas, another Afghan Taekwondo athlete competing under the banner of the Refugee Team of the World Taekwondo Federation, secured his spot in the Olympics by defeating opponents from Nepal, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. Click here to read more (external link).
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
March 16, 2024
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani authorities said Saturday a suicide truck bomb and gun attack on a regional army base near the Afghan border killed at least seven soldiers, including two officers, and wounded many more.
The early morning raid occurred in the volatile North Waziristan border district, where militants linked to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, routinely target security forces.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the raid as a “cowardly action of terrorists,” his office said.
A military statement said that a group of six militants, including suicide bombers, assaulted the base in the town of Mir Ali.
“The terrorists rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the post, followed by multiple suicide bombing attacks, which led to the collapse of a portion of a building,” the statement added. It said that Pakistani troops had quickly engaged and killed all the assailants in the ensuing “intense exchange of fire.”
According to area security and hospital sources, the violence injured more than 17 soldiers. The army said its forces had launched a “sanitization operation to eliminate any other terrorist present in the area.”
A militant group allied with TTP reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan’s military and government officials say TTP and its allies use Afghan sanctuaries to stage cross-border attacks on security forces and civilians.
Pakistan has experienced a dramatic increase in TTP-led militant attacks since the Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021. The violence has killed about 2,000 Pakistanis, including police and military personnel.
Taliban authorities deny they allow Afghan soil to be used by militant groups, including TTP, a globally designated terrorist organization. Pakistani officials and recent United Nations reports dispute the Taliban claims.
“In the region and beyond, there are well-founded concerns over the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan,” Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told a March 6 U.N. Security Council meeting.
“These concerns have been reflected in the reports of the sanctions monitoring teams. It is not only Daesh that constitutes a threat but also TTP, a major concern for Pakistan, which has seen an increase in terrorist activity,” Otunbayeva said.
Daesh is an acronym for the Islamic State, and this militant group is an Afghanistan-based regional IS affiliate that conducts terrorist attacks on both sides of the long border between the two countries.
Ariana: A Spanish newspaper has reported that the drastic drop in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has opened a gap for fentanyl in Europe. A report from the European Drug Monitoring Center warns of the risk that a possible lack of global supply will be replaced with “more harmful synthetic opiates, such as fentanyl derivatives or nitazenes,” El Pais reported. Click here to read more (external link).
HRW: “The situation is getting worse every day,” Ahmad, a former journalist in Herat, Afghanistan, told me. “I don’t think anyone can afford to buy enough food anymore.” According to the United Nations, in 2024, 23.7 million people – more than half of the country’s population – will need humanitarian assistance. The statistics are startling: 69 percent of people do not have enough food; 67 percent have trouble accessing water, worsened by a prolonged drought linked to climate change; the economy has contracted by 27 percent; and only 40 percent of the population has access to electricity. On top of this, the healthcare system is on the verge of collapse. Click here to read more (external link).
A ship at Chabahar Port (file photo, Press TV)
RFE/RL: The Taliban’s decision to turn to Iran to access international markets is a strategic move with regional implications. Access to the Chabahar Port reduces Afghanistan’s reliance on Pakistan and gives it access to India, Islamabad’s archenemy and Kabul’s traditional ally. Islamabad has historically been Kabul’s biggest trading partner, but Iran has taken its place in recent years. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
8am: Reports from local sources indicate that the Taliban have detained the brother of General Najibullah Najib, the former National Security Chief of Takhar Province, within the province’s boundaries. According to accounts received on Thursday, March 14th, the Taliban apprehended the individual in question from Taliqan, the capital city of Takhar Province, and subsequently relocated him to an undisclosed destination. It’s noteworthy that despite the Taliban leadership’s declaration of a broad amnesty, after their resurgence in Afghanistan, there have been instances where the group has detained and subjected former government officials and their affiliates to mistreatment, including fatal outcomes. Click here to read more (external link).
Kirby
Khaama: On Thursday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby stated that the United States is not extending any form of direct support to the Taliban, whether diplomatically, economically, or otherwise. This includes diplomatic assistance, economic aid, or any other means of backing. Kirby’s declaration underscores the administration’s stance amid ongoing concerns and scrutiny regarding the U.S.’s engagement with the Taliban in the wake of recent geopolitical shifts. Kirby’s statement came as a response to reporters’ inquiries regarding a U.S. senator’s proposal to delay U.S. contributions to the UN for aid to Afghanistan. The senator raised concerns over allegations that such aid may inadvertently benefit the Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).
Akmal Dawi
VOA News
March 14, 2024
An Afghan education official says Taliban authorities may permanently close girls’ secondary schools, promoting religious schools known as madrasas as an alternative.
The Taliban shut down girls’ secondary schools in 2022, citing “religious and cultural” concerns.
Taliban officials defend the ban, insisting they are working to create a suitable educational environment for older female students.
“Schools may never be reopened the way they were under the occupation,” an official at Afghanistan’s Education Ministry told VOA on Tuesday, referring to the 2001-2021 U.S. military presence in the country.
“Principally, there is no difference between a school and a madrasa,” the official said, asking for anonymity because the Taliban have banned their members from speaking to VOA.
“If the purpose is education, it can be attained as much in madrasas as in schools, so there should be no insistence only on schools.”
Religious studies rather than diverse subjects
However, the U.N. and human rights activists worry that madrasas, focused on religious studies, cannot fully replace traditional schools that deal with diverse subjects.
“I am concerned that the quality of education in these institutions does not adequately prepare girls or boys for higher-level education and professional training to join an effective workforce in the future,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report to the Security Council this month.
While girls’ secondary schools have remained closed for about two years, the United Nations has reported a surge in newly registered madrasas across the country.
The U.N. reported over 7,000 registered madrasas in Afghanistan, with roughly 380 designated for girls.
There are no age restrictions for girls attending the seminaries, Taliban officials have confirmed.
“Recruitment of madrasa teachers continued following the promulgation in July 2023 of the Taliban leader’s decree mandating the recruitment of 100,000 new madrasa teachers by the end of 2023,” Guterres said in his report.
‘Gender apartheid’
Pashtana Dorani, a U.S.-based Afghan women’s education activist, said the Taliban have already replaced schools with religious seminaries.
“They have created their own system,” Dorani told VOA, expressing concerns about potentially extremist teachings in madrasas.
The Taliban are widely accused of enforcing a “gender-apartheid” aimed at erasing women from most public spheres.
In addition to educational restrictions, Afghan women are banned from most jobs and even entry to some public places like parks and sport centers.
Last year, the all-male Taliban cabinet barred women’s beauty parlors.
Male Taliban officials say their policies are aligned with the aspirations of all Afghans.
“Far-reaching consequences”
Last year, education ended for more than 330,000 Afghan girls as they passed grade six exams. They joined more than 3.7 million girls who are banned from secondary schooling, according to aid agencies.
“This short-sighted decision has far-reaching consequences,” Salam Al-Janabi, a spokesperson for the U.N. Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, said to VOA.
Already plagued by some of the worst maternal health indicators, Afghanistan is heading toward far worse public health crises because of the Taliban’s educational restrictions, experts warn.
Keeping girls out of schools causes $500 million in economic losses for Afghanistan annually, UNICEF calculates.
“For the sake of the children and for the sake of the country’s economy, health system and security for years to come,” said Al-Janabi, “we urge the de facto authority to allow all children, at all levels of schooling, to resume learning immediately.”
Destroyed Buddha Statue
8am: Twenty-three years ago, the Taliban destroyed two large Buddha statues in Bamyan province. The taller statue, named Salsaal, standing at 53 meters, and the smaller one, Shahmama, at 35 meters, were carved into the mountains between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD with a distinctive style. Mullah Omar, the former Taliban supreme leader, ordered the destruction of these statues on February 26, 2001, and the group blew them up from March 9 to 11 of the same year. Simultaneously, under Mullah Omar’s orders, sculptures and artifacts from the Buddhist era in various parts of Afghanistan, including hundreds of ancient artifacts in the National Museum of Afghanistan, were also destroyed. In the past two years, during which the Taliban has once again gained control over Afghanistan, some cultural activists and residents of Bamyan have criticized vandalism, destruction, and unauthorized excavations in the historical sites of Bamyan by the Taliban. According to them, these acts of vandalism are carried out by Taliban fighters. Click here to read more (external link).