UN documents surge in anti-Taliban attacks in Afghanistan

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Afghan Resistance Leaders: Zia (left) and Massoud (right)

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
June 21, 2024

ISLAMABAD — A quarterly report on the situation in Afghanistan by the United Nations has documented a surge in attacks by armed groups fighting Taliban rule. It also noted “persistent” internal tensions among de facto Afghan leaders.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, released the assessment Friday, noting that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently submitted it to the Security Council.

The report stated that the armed opposition “did not pose a significant challenge” to the Taliban’s hold on territorial control since they regained power in August 2021.

“Two opposition groups conducted verified attacks during the reporting period: the Afghanistan Freedom Front [AFF] and the National Resistance Front [NRF],” the document stated.

The U.N. said both groups focused on attacking Taliban security forces in the capital, Kabul.

The report stated that the NRF carried out “29 confirmed attacks” in the past three months, with 20 in Kabul and the rest in the northern Afghan provinces of Takhar, Baghlan and Parwan. The AFF conducted 14 attacks, all of which took place in the national capital.

“Both groups used hit-and-run tactics against de facto security forces, throwing grenades in 22 attacks and using improvised explosive devices in seven others,” said the U.N. report.

It stated that an NRF-claimed attack on February 26 targeted the Taliban-run military zone of Kabul International Airport, firing three mortars on the installation but causing no confirmed damage or casualties.

The U.N. findings come as the Taliban’s crackdown on media has made it extremely difficult for reporters to access authentic information and to verify insurgent claims.

Taliban officials have not yet commented on the U.N. report.

The Afghan rebel groups, NRF and AFF, are made up of political and military officials of the internationally backed government in Kabul that was ousted from power by the then-insurgent Taliban.

Taliban authorities also have played down the armed insurgency, claiming they have restored peace through war-torn Afghanistan with public support and they have established control over all 34 of the country’s provinces.

The male-only Taliban government is internationally isolated and condemned for its sweeping curbs on Afghan women’s and girls’ access to education and employment.

No country has formally recognized the Taliban leadership, nor has any foreign government, including the United States, encouraged a war against the de facto Afghan rulers.

IS threat

The U.N. report also documented six attacks by an Afghan-based Islamic State affiliate, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, in the reporting period. The violence was mostly targeted at the Taliban, including a suicide bombing outside a bank in southern Kandahar city on March 21.

The Kandahar blast killed at least 25 Taliban security forces and wounded 45 others, along with five Afghan civilians, according to the U.N. report. Taliban officials had formally confirmed only three fatalities, saying the attack injured about a dozen people, though they did not identify the casualties.

U.S. military commanders and intelligence chiefs have described IS-Khorasan as the most potent threat to Taliban rule in Afghanistan and beyond. The Kabul government maintains that its sustained counterterrorism operations have significantly degraded IS-Khorasan’s presence in the country, along with its ability to launch attacks internally or externally.

Taliban rifts

The U.N. report released Friday also observed “some divergent views” within the Taliban over governance issues.

“The de facto authorities maintained public unity and exerted authority over the entire national territory, although some internal tensions persisted within their structure. They continued their outreach with communities to bridge gaps and elicit their support while reducing the space for men and women to conduct civil and political activities,” the quarterly assessment stated.

Taliban officials repeatedly have dismissed as Western propaganda allegations of internal rifts involving their reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.

“These are just rumors, not true,” Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Taliban’s Qatar-based political office, said in a brief statement Thursday when asked for his comments on the reported divisions

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‘A Big Betrayal’: Afghan Women Sound The Alarm Ahead Of Key International Event That Will Include Taliban

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Sima Samar

RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
Abubakar Siddique
June 20, 2024

Leading Afghan women’s rights activists have sounded the alarm ahead of a major international conference on Afghanistan hosted by the United Nations.

Rights campaigners have slammed the world body for inviting the Taliban to the June 30-July 1 event in Qatar, a move that they say provides tacit international legitimacy to the Taliban’s unrecognized and internationally sanctioned government.

Activists are also enraged that the UN has made major concessions to the extremist group, which has severely curtailed women’s rights since seizing power in 2021. That includes preventing the participation of Afghan women and removing the issue of women’s rights from the agenda of the meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha.

Sima Samar, an award-winning rights campaigner and the former head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, is among those who have voiced their concerns ahead of the meeting.

“When we talk about the critical issues in Afghanistan, it will be meaningless without a discussion on human rights and the right of women to education and work,” Samar told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

The Doha conference will bring together members of the Taliban, the special envoys to Afghanistan of over a dozen countries, and UN officials. Afghan women are barred from the main meeting, but have been invited to an informal dinner before the two-day event kicks off.

Intended to increase international engagement with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, the meeting is expected to discuss issues that include economic development, climate change, and drug eradication.

The Taliban boycotted two previous UN-sponsored meetings held in Doha since last year. The hard-line Islamist group said it would only participate if it would be the sole representative of Afghanistan at the meetings.

The Taliban has also opposed the appointment of a UN special envoy to Afghanistan, one of the key issues discussed at previous Doha meetings. One of the envoy’s main tasks would be to promote intra-Afghan dialogue.

The militants have also refused to discuss their alleged human rights violations. The Taliban has been accused of gross abuses, including extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture, and denying Afghans — women and girls in particular — their fundamental human rights.

“I’m very concerned,” said Samar. “Human rights must top the agenda while everything else should be discussed within its framework.”

Samar said she is not against international engagement with the Taliban, which has been accused of imposing gender apartheid in Afghanistan.

“But these talks must not mean ignoring all the human rights violations,” she added. “Engagement with the Taliban should not translate to ignoring or closing your eyes to all the human rights violations.”

Shaharzad Akbar is another prominent Afghan women’s rights activist who has voiced alarm ahead of the meeting.

“This conference has been organized according to the wishes of the Taliban,” Akbar, who runs the independent advocacy organization, Rawadari, told Radio Azadi.

“I’m deeply concerned because removing issues like the rights of girls and women from the agenda is a big betrayal,” she added.

‘Women’s Rights Crisis’

International women’s rights activists have also blasted the UN and accused the world body of bowing down to the Taliban.

Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch, said on X on June 17 that it was “shocking” that the UN had made “very serious concessions” to the Taliban by shutting out Afghan women from the Doha meeting and taking women rights off its agenda.

“The situation of women in Afghanistan is the most serious women’s rights crisis in the world,” Barr said in a statement on June 11. “That crisis is getting serious every day.”

Meanwhile, Richard Bennett, the UN special human rights rapporteur in Afghanistan, said the Taliban “must not be allowed to dictate the terms of the UN-hosted meetings.”

“Sustained improvements in human rights must form an essential part of any way forward,” he told the UN Human Rights Council on June 18.

Zabiullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesman, said Bennet’s comments and his scathing recent report about human rights in Afghanistan was part of an effort to “mislead public opinion ahead of the Doha meeting.”

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry, said on June 16 that “if there are any changes to the agenda and participation, it would naturally affect our decision” to participate in the Doha meeting.

Graeme Smith, a senior Afghanistan analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said a host of Western countries complained in writing to the UN about the lack of non-Taliban Afghan voices invited to the Doha meeting.

“One of the factors that resulted in the Taliban’s failure to attend previous meetings was the Taliban’s insistence on serving as the only Afghans speaking on behalf of the country,” said Smith. “Some international officials object to this idea, demanding the inclusion of so-called civil society actors.”

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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Afghan evacuees in limbo: Humanitarian parole leaves 1,000s facing uncertainty in US

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By Munaza Shaheed
VOA News
June 20, 2024

WASHINGTON — In 2021, the United States began one of its biggest humanitarian evacuations in history as it withdrew from Afghanistan, resettling more than 80,000 Afghans fleeing Taliban rule in the initial weeks of Operation Allies Welcome. However, they were brought into the U.S. through the humanitarian parole process that gives temporary immigration status to the displaced persons. But how has this temporary status affected Afghan evacuees in the U.S.?

Upon arrival in the United States, more than 70,000 evacuees were granted humanitarian parole for two years, a temporary immigration status with no path to permanent residency. Uncertainty around the humanitarian parole status has had several concrete effects on aspects of the evacuees’ lives, including financial, employment, housing, and mental health.

This process has come with many challenges for the resettled men, women and children from Afghanistan.

Masi Siddiqi, who came to the United States after the Taliban took control over Kabul, was granted admission to the prestigious Columbia University in New York. However, his status hindered his ability to secure funding through loans to continue his studies.

“I was admitted to Columbia University for the fall of 2023, and I did attend one semester. I thought that I may be able to afford it at first because I had my family’s support. But after doing one semester I found out that I was financially not able to do it because I did not qualify for Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), for federal loans, for federal aid, grants, funds and for none of the benefits that a U.S. citizen or non-citizen would qualify for,” Masi said.

Safiullah Rauf, founder of Human First Coalition, an organization providing aid primarily to Afghanistan and Afghans, leads a team of hundreds to provide food, medical care and resettlement services to more than 15,000 Afghans in need. The organization has helped evacuate more than 7,000 people, including 1,400 U.S. nationals, since the Taliban seized control of the country.

Rauf is visiting communities in the United States to gather support for Congress to do more to support Afghans in the U.S., including in the form of draft legislation known as the Afghan Adjustment Act.

“[The] Afghan Adjustment Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation that was introduced in 2022 to help those allies we brought to the U.S. in 2021,’’ Rauf told VOA. ‘’There are over 80,000 allies that were brought to the U.S., and many came with the humanitarian parole. They had a two-year visa to stay in the U.S. and their future was uncertain though the parole was extended for another year; but they still face an uncertain future. The Afghan Adjustment Act makes sure that all who came in 2021 go through a vetting process and after that they will become a productive member of the society.

“In the United States, passing of any kind of legislation is a huge hurdle and you have to move mountains to approve any law, especially right now where [the] Senate and the House is most divided,’’ Rauf said. ‘’Because this bill is somewhat related to immigration, the Republicans are very much against any immigration bills right now. However, this bill is different than a normal immigration bill. This bill is for those allies who supported the U.S. for over 20 years in Afghanistan and their life will be in danger and it is a certain death if they go back to Afghanistan. So they must be given a permanent residency here.’’

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, legal assistance resources and immigration processing are experiencing extreme delays that could span years.

Laila Mangal, who is working for LLS resettlement agency as a case manager and cultural liaison in the state of Virginia, told VOA Deewa about the challenges faced by the Afghans who came to the U.S. on short notice and in chaotic circumstances. She expressed that the unclear nature of evacuees’ immigration status for the near future, has posed a critical structural barrier to their well-being and, ultimately, their success in the U.S.

“When their legal case is in the process and it takes longer, the refugees go through stress and pressure,’’ Mangal said. ‘’Sometimes this legal battle drains their mental health.”

Masi, the student, calls on the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act so the displaced Afghans can be categorized as U.S. permanent residents.

“As the U.S. officials say ‘we stand by our Afghan allies,’ we do expect them to stand by their allies because I personally believe that they have not yet stood by their Afghan allies,’’ Masi said. ‘’Not only with the ones that are left behind but also the ones that are currently facing the immigration limbo here in the U.S.; just like my family and myself. I really appreciate that the senators and the representatives from my state and from the other states should support the Afghan Adjustment Act. I think the social media slogans are not enough by themselves. They must push the majority leaders to bring the act to the floor because with bipartisan support, we can have the act pass.”

Like other resettled immigrants, Afghans were encouraged to find jobs quickly and felt the pressure to do so given the high costs of living, limited aid available, and, for some, the large families they’re supporting. Many found low-wage jobs in manufacturing, hospitality, retail, food processing, trucking, or ride sharing to support themselves and their families.

But with the pending expiration of employment authorization documents this fall, employment stability is at risk for some. Stakeholders shared that because of the expiration date, some employers have begun notifying people they will lose their jobs later this year or that they are now no longer needed.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa service.

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