Khaama Press Editor in Chief Detained by Authorities in Kabul

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Nekmal

Khaama: Mansoor Nekmal, the Editor in Chief of Khaama Press, has been detained following a summons to the [Taliban] Ministry of Vice and Virtue, sparking urgent calls for his release and a rallying cry for press freedom in Afghanistan..The detention came after a recent report published by Khaama Press on the hijab issue, which led to Mr. Nekmal being summoned by the ministry. Mr. Nekmal attended a meeting at the ministry on Saturday, February 17, from where his whereabouts became unknown, leading to concerns over his arrest. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Refuse to Attend UN Conference on Afghanistan

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Sarah Zaman
VOA News
February 17, 2024

ISLAMABAD — The Afghan Taliban have decided not to participate in a U.N.-sponsored conference on Afghanistan in Qatar’s capital Doha.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host a two-day gathering beginning Sunday in Doha, where member states and special envoys to Afghanistan will discuss engagement with the Taliban.

In a statement issued Saturday evening on social media platform X, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a delegation would attend only if the Taliban were accepted as the single official representative of Afghanistan.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has clarified to the U.N. that if the Islamic Emirate is to participate as the sole official representative of Afghanistan … then participation would be beneficial. Else, ineffectual participation by the Emirate due to non-progress in this area was deemed unbeneficial,” the ministry said.

The Taliban use the term Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, or IEA, for their administration.

The United Nations has invited Afghan civil society members, as well as groups opposed to the Taliban, to meet with special envoys for Afghanistan.

“There will be a meeting with the Taliban, but there will also be a meeting of envoys with civil society, including women’s groups, because it’s important that the voices of Afghan women be heard very loud and clear,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general said in the daily press briefing Friday. His remarks came prior to the Taliban’s refusal to attend.

Expressing opposition to the inclusion of non-Taliban voices, the foreign ministry said it was possible to achieve progress in talks “if the U.N. takes stock of current realities, rebuffs influence and pressure of a few parties.”

The statement released just hours before the conference begins put an end to days of confusion about whether the de facto rulers of Afghanistan would attend.

Earlier, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s office had quoted him telling the Russian Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov that de facto rulers had “shared our views on the possible participation.”

“If there is an opportunity for high-level meaningful consultations between IEA and [the] U.N. regarding all issues of Afghanistan, and the IEA is able to duly fulfill its responsibility as the representative of Afghanistan, then the Doha meeting would be a good opportunity.”

Doha conference

The conference in Doha is the second U.N.-led international dialogue on Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021 after the end of a 20-year war with the U.S. and its allies.

While the Taliban were not invited to the first global assembly in May 2023, the U.N. was seeking the group’s presence this time.

“An important aspect of the event is the intention to provide the opportunity for the special envoys to meet collectively with Afghan stakeholders, including representatives of the de facto authorities and Afghan civil society participants, including women,” Dujarric told VOA earlier this week.

Along with discussing how the international community should engage with the Taliban — and addressing the plight of Afghan women and girls who are barred from studying and working — the conference is expected to discuss the appointment of a special U.N. envoy for Afghanistan.

The Taliban oppose such an appointment.

Recognition issue

Despite controlling Afghanistan for more than two years, the Taliban have failed in their bid for official recognition. The U.N. has refused to grant the group Afghanistan’s seat at the world body.

While many countries have embassies in Kabul and foreign officials engage regularly with Taliban representatives, only China has accepted an Afghan ambassador and sent its envoy to Kabul. However, Beijing insists it has not officially recognized the Taliban government.

The international community demands that to be recognized, the Taliban must form an inclusive government and lift the ban on women’s education and work.

The Taliban foreign ministry statement issued Saturday rejected efforts to push the group to soften its stance.

“If repetition of failed 20-year experimentation is discarded, and a realistic and pragmatic approach is adopted over unilateral impositions, accusations and pressurization, then progress can also be made in bilateral relations with other parties.”

VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this story.

Analysts: Doha Meeting to Offer Chance for ‘Constructive Dialogue’ on Afghanistan

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Roshan Noorzai
Zheela Noori
VOA News
February 16, 2024

WASHINGTON — Days before a U.N.-sponsored conference on Afghanistan, it remains unclear whether the Taliban will attend what analysts describe as an opportunity for a “constructive dialogue” between the country’s de facto rulers and the international community.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host the two-day gathering opening Sunday in Doha, where member states and special envoys to Afghanistan are expected to discuss engagement with the Taliban.

Tadamichi Yamamoto, former U.N. special representative to Afghanistan and head of its Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, called Sunday’s meeting — the U.N. chief’s second Afghan-focused summit in Doha — “a great opportunity.”

Taliban representatives, who were not invited to the first meeting in May 2023, have been invited to Sunday’s meeting. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, however, said Wednesday that the Taliban would participate only if they were received as official representatives of Afghanistan.

“If the IEA [Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan] conditions are not taken into consideration, nonparticipation would be preferred,” said Muttaqi.

Neither the U.N. nor any other country officially recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, although China has accepted the credentials of their envoy in Beijing.

Significance of invitation

Yamamoto told VOA that he hoped the Taliban would attend the meeting, as it could provide a venue for a “constructive dialogue.”

“It is important for the Taliban to realize that the invitation to attend the conference itself is an acknowledgment of the importance that the international community attaches to the dialogue with the Taliban,” he said.

The Taliban had criticized the first meeting May 2023, saying it would be “ineffective” without their participation.

Ramazan Bashardost, a former member of Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of the former Afghan parliament, told VOA he found it “interesting” that the Taliban had now put conditions on their participation.

“The Taliban may be afraid that their political and armed opposition might also participate in the conference, which will be a significant blow to the Taliban,” he said, adding that the Taliban typically stress their total control of Afghanistan with “no opposition” to their rule.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, said it would be critical to hear from Afghan women in the Doha meeting.

“There will be a meeting between the envoys and civil society groups, which will, of course, include Afghan women,” Dujarric said in the daily press briefing on Thursday.

After seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban imposed repressive measures on women, banning them from obtaining secondary and university education, traveling long distances without close male relatives, working with government and nongovernment organizations and going to gyms or parks.

Special envoy

The conference will also discuss the appointment of a U.N. envoy. The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution in December requesting that the secretary-general appoint a special envoy for Afghanistan “provided with robust expertise on human rights and gender, for coordination of the world community’s engagement with the Taliban in Afghanistan.”

The Taliban oppose the appointment of a U.N. envoy to the country.

Barnett Rubin, a former U.S. diplomat and expert on Afghanistan, told VOA that the Taliban do not see a need for a new U.N. envoy as they do not believe that “such a dialogue is necessary or desirable.”

“So, they believe that the reason for the envoy is to encourage a political dialogue that will be the formation of more inclusive government,” said Rubin.

After seizing power, the Taliban formed an all-male and Taliban-only caretaker government. Rubin said the Taliban “want to maintain a monopoly on power; that is why they rejected U.N. envoy.”

No recognition

The international community has called on the Taliban to form an inclusive government as one of the conditions for recognition.

Rubin said the Taliban have already built relations with neighboring states without formal recognition, adding that the Taliban feel no reason for “any concessions” to the international community.

In addition to forming an inclusive government, the international community has also called on the Taliban to respect human rights, particularly women’s rights, and fulfill their counterterrorism commitments.

But the Taliban have not fulfilled any of their commitments, said Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

He told VOA that the international community should “make it clear that the Taliban does not deserve recognition or any form of legitimacy because they are behaving like an illegitimate regime, which they are.”

Crocker added that there is “no justification” for any country to recognize the Taliban’s government.

“I think it’s very important that this conference in Doha reemphasizes that,” he said.

Waheed Faizi of VOA’s Afghan Service contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s Dari Service.

UN Study Warns Recognizing Taliban Will Intensify Women’s Rights Crisis

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 16, 2024

ISLAMABAD — A United Nations study revealed Friday that approximately two-thirds (67%) of women in Afghanistan fear the rights crisis would intensify if the country’s Taliban government is granted formal international recognition.

The report comes ahead of Sunday’s U.N.-convened conference in Qatar, where member states and regional organizations’ special envoys on Afghanistan will discuss the global engagement approach with the Taliban.

De facto Afghan authorities have been invited to the event, but have linked their participation to being received as official representatives of the country by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will host the two-day event in the Gulf state’s capital, Doha.

“Women expressed dread and anxiety when asked to consider the possibility of international recognition of the DFA (de facto authorities),” according to the report jointly prepared by U.N. Women, the International Organization for Migration, and the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

“Under the current circumstances, it could exacerbate the women’s rights crisis and increase the risk that the DFA would reinforce and expand existing restrictions targeting women and girls,” the report said.

The findings are based on interviews the U.N. agencies conducted online and in-person with 745 women across the 34 Afghan provinces between January 27 and February 8.

The Taliban have enforced their strict interpretation of Islamic law since they retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021, banning most Afghan women from work and girls from receiving an education beyond the sixth grade. The curbs have primarily deterred foreign governments from formally recognizing the government in Kabul.

The U.N. report said that women requested the international community not to recognize the Taliban unless they reverse the restrictions, warning that the hardline rulers’ track record on women’s rights shows “they cannot be trusted to improve the current situation.”

The interviewees stated that the best way for the world to improve the rights situation in Afghanistan was to link international aid “to better conditions for women, and to facilitate opportunities for women to talk directly with the Taliban.”

The recent Taliban clampdown on women for alleged non-compliance with the Islamic dress code, or hijab, has left women feeling unsafe.

“While most have always observed the hijab, the style of enforcement involving the use or threat of force contributed to normalizing uncertainty in their daily lives and future opportunities. …These issues have compounded [their] deteriorating mental health,” according to the U.N. study.

Amnesty International demanded Friday that the Doha meeting must mark an end to impunity for human rights abuse under the Taliban.

The watchdog group noted in its statement that “discriminatory restrictions on the rights of women and girls, with the apparent aim of completely erasing them from public arenas” have intensified in recent months.

Deprose Muchena, senior director at Amnesty International, said the meeting participants should insist that the Taliban immediately reverse all restrictions curtailing the rights of women and girls and release all those arbitrarily arrested and unlawfully detained.

“The international community cannot continue to take a ‘business as usual’ approach vis-a-vis the human rights situation in Afghanistan,” Muchena said.

The Taliban rejected criticism of their governance as Western propaganda to malign their Islamic ruling system in Afghanistan. They maintain their policies are strictly in line with local culture and Islamic law, ruling out any compromise on them.

Amnesty International and nine other organizations wrote a letter to Guterres last week, urging him to ensure Afghan civil society, including women human rights defenders, are full participants in the Doha meeting and that women’s rights are central to all discussions.

Human rights groups have documented a steady increase in the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls and other human abuses, which they warn “may amount to the crimes against humanity of general persecution.”

MacCaul calls Ghani’s escape ‘Cowardly’ as Government collapses

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Ashraf Ghani (left) and Zalmay Khalilzad (right)

Khaama: The Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States House of Representatives called the escape of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as “cowardly.” Michael McCaul agreed with Zalmay Khalilzad’s assertions regarding the failure of the former leaders of the Afghan government to maintain order, stating, “I agree, Ashraf Ghani’s actions and escape were cowardly.” Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Iran Insists On Its Right To Block Borders With Afghanistan

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Iran International: The commander of the Ground Forces of Iran’s Army has affirmed Tehran’s intention to proceed with a plan to build fences to block its borders with Afghanistan. Kioumars Heydari said Friday, “We intend to block our borders, and no one can object why we erect a fence near their border. This is not unjust to neighboring countries, as it is common practice in all countries.” Click here to read more (external link).

Nabi claims top spot in ODI rankings

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Mohammad Nabi

Ariana: Shakib Al Hasan’s reign at the top is over after Afghanistan veteran Mohammad Nabi claimed the No.1 spot on the latest ICC Men’s ODI All-Rounder Rankings. Shakib held the premier position in 50-over cricket for 1,739 days – from 7 May 2019 (when he took over from Rashid Khan) until 9 February 2024 – the longest unbroken stretch anyone has had on top of the ODI all-rounder rankings. Click here to read more (external link).