Ariana: A powerful earthquake measuring 6.4-magnitude shook Afghanistan and neighboring countries on Thursday at 1:40pm. The quake’s epicenter was in Jurm, in Badakhshan province, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported. So far, there is no information about casualties or damage. Click here to read more (external link).
Blasts Hit Kabul, Balkh Leaving Several Killed
8am: At least two civilians were killed and 12 others were injured in a grenade blast in PD 18 of Kabul today, a spokesman for the Kabul security department, Khalid Zadran said. He said that an investigation is underway to arrest the perpetrator. Meanwhile, sources in Mazar-e-Sharif said that an explosion took place this afternoon (Thursday) in the city. No one has claimed responsibility for either of the blasts. Click here to read more (external link).
Terrorism, Mining, and Ethnicity: Why Taliban of Tajik origin ousting from power?
8am: If the Taliban group is supposed to create an identity for itself, it is nothing more than a radical nationalistic-religious group. Ethnic and religious background is a significant factor in determining the level of trust among the group’s members. The Badakhshani Taliban, who are predominantly of Tajik origin, do not share common ancestry with the Taliban leadership in Kandahar and Kabul and are, therefore, not considered trustworthy. The Taliban leadership worries that a shift in circumstances could spark internal disputes within their group. They fear that if the Tajik-origin Badakhshani Taliban, particularly those based in resource-rich areas of the same province, unite, they might present a significant challenge. The worry intensified when the Taliban leadership began relocating Pashtun families in Badakhshan and Takhar. Such movements have stirred unease among the local inhabitants, including the native Taliban, regarding possible ethnic tensions ahead and shifts in the area’s demographics. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Minister Boasts Afghan Anti-Polio Gains While Addressing Global Health Huddle
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
January 10, 2024
ISLAMABAD — A senior representative of Afghanistan’s Taliban government told a Pakistan-hosted international health conference Wednesday that his country had recorded an increase in mosquito-borne malaria and dengue fever cases, but infections caused by highly contagious poliovirus declined significantly.
Only 12 children around the world were paralyzed by wild poliovirus in 2023, all of them in Afghanistan and Pakistan — with six reported in each. The two countries, sharing a nearly 2,600-kilometer border, have not detected a polio infection this year.
“Polio is still a great challenge for both Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Qalandar Ebad, the Taliban health minister, said in his English-language speech at the first global health security summit in Islamabad.
Delegates from 70 countries worldwide, including those from the United States and the United Nations, are attending the summit in the Pakistani capital.
“We are trying our best to eradicate the polio virus from the country and fortunately we have good accomplishments in this area,” Ebad said.
The World Health Organization says the polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan has improved in quality and outreach since the Taliban regained control of the war-ravaged country in August 2021, leading to the cessation of years of nationwide hostilities.
The Taliban minister noted that there was a “slight increase in HIV/AIDS cases” in the impoverished country, but he did not elaborate.
Ebad blamed climate change for some health emergencies facing his South Asian nation of more than 40 million people. He urged the need to assist Afghanistan and other developing countries in improving their national healthcare systems to enable them to utilize locally available expertise to combat infectious diseases.
“We are witnessing that the funding in Afghanistan is decreasing, but still, in our country, instead of national capacity [building], many international [workers] with higher salaries are recruited, though the national [workers] can perform the same tasks as internationals do,” the Taliban minister asserted.
No foreign country has recognized the Taliban, citing their bans on Afghan women’s access to education and work.
Afghanistan lost billions of dollars in foreign aid after the Taliban takeover as Western countries and international donors suspended their financial support for the country, where the health sector was primarily dependent on the funding.
In his address to Wednesday’s opening session of the summit, Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar urged collective efforts to fight global infectious diseases like COVID-19 and climate change-induced emergencies.
Kakar said that “no state in the world, no matter how powerful it is, can meet such challenges” alone.
While addressing the gathering, Donald Blome, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, backed calls for a collaborative international approach to global health security.
“Coordination with partners is the most effective way to address regional and global health threats,” Blome said. He added that halting infectious disease outbreaks at their point of origin is one of the best and most economical ways to save lives. “Health is the cornerstone to the future of any thriving nation, and the United States will be a strong partner to build this future.”
The Afghanistan National Cricket Team will face the Indian Team tomorrow
Khaama: The Afghanistan Cricket Board has announced that tomorrow, the national cricket teams of Afghanistan and India will face each other in their first T20 match. The national cricket teams of Afghanistan and India will hold their inaugural T20 match on Thursday, January 11th at 6:00 PM Afghan time in Malerkotla, Punjab. According to the schedule, Afghanistan and India will play three T20 matches on January 11th, the second game on Sunday, January 14th, and the third match on Wednesday, January 17th. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – January 10, 2024
Air Arabia begins flights to Kabul International Airport
Khaama: The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation has officially announced that Air Arabia Airlines successfully conducted its inaugural flight to Kabul International Airport on Wednesday. Air Arabia Airlines is scheduled to operate a daily flight connecting Sharjah and Kabul, enhancing connectivity between the two cities. Click here to read more (external link).
Tajik Militant Commander Under Taliban Wanted In Dushanbe Vanishes In Afghanistan
Mohammad Sharipov (aka Mahdi Arsalon)
By RFE/RL’s Tajik Service
January 9, 2024
Tajik militant Muhammad Sharifov (aka Mahdi Arsalon), who is wanted in Dushanbe on terrorism charges, disappeared in Afghanistan months ago, his relatives and friends said on January 8. After taking over Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban rulers appointed Sharifov, 30, to oversee districts along the Tajik-Afghan border. Fighters of the Ansarullah group were placed under his command. Tajikistan then expressed concerns over the presence of Ansarullah, which consists mostly of Tajiks who are not loyal to the Tajik government, close to the mutual border. The Taliban later moved Ansarullah fighters to other sites, apparently to ease tensions with Dushanbe. Click here to read more (external link).
U.S. Watchdog Tells Congress No ‘Specific’ Controls In Place For Afghan Assistance
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 9, 2024
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says there are no specific controls in place to ensure funds headed to the war-torn country are not diverted to or misused by the Taliban militants who seized control amid the departure of international troops in August 2021.
In a response to a Congressional request for a report on the Switzerland-based Afghan Fund, SIGAR said in a letter late on January 8 that many questions remain about the situation and its $3.5 billion in funds.
SIGAR said the purpose of the Afghan Fund was to “receive, protect, preserve, and disburse” the assets it holds through Afghanistan’s central bank “for the benefit of the Afghan people.”
Decisions regarding the disbursement of funds require a unanimous vote of the board of trustees, it added, noting that more than a year after being created, the fund had made no disbursements “for activities intended to benefit the Afghan people.”
“Although the fund’s unanimous vote requirement could help prevent the fund from engaging in risky activity, there are currently no controls in place that specifically address the issue of Taliban diversion,” SIGAR said.
The de facto Taliban government remains largely unrecognized by the international community and has been accused of widespread human rights abuses, particularly against women and girls. It has barred women from working for assistance organizations and has restricted the ability of such organizations to work in the education sector.
A SIGAR quarterly report in October 2023 warned the “the Taliban have effectively infiltrated and influenced most UN-managed assistance programming,” raising fears among U.S. lawmakers that the Afghan Fund could suffer a similar fate.
SIGAR said in its letter to Congress that the U.S. Treasury and the State Department will not support transferring the funds back to the central bank, the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), in Kabul until it “implements adequate anti-money laundering and countering-terrorist-financing controls.”
“The DAB must also demonstrate its independence from political influence and interference, submit to monitoring by a ‘reputable’ third party, and undergo a third-party needs assessment,” it added.
Amid its international isolation because of the Taliban rulers and a severe drought, Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report on January 8.
“An estimated 23.7 million people — more than half of Afghanistan’s population — will require humanitarian assistance to survive in 2024 as the country continues to reel from decades of war and grapple with climate-induced crises, recurrent natural disasters, entrenched poverty, and barriers to women’s participation in public life,” the report said.
It added that more than $3 billion in “life-saving assistance” will be required in 2024 to avert the crisis.
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.
Pakistan Finds a New Scapegoat
Foreign Affairs: How Islamabad’s Expulsions of Afghans Could Backfire—and Help the Taliban… Although Pakistan has reason to be angry with its Afghan Taliban allies, the country’s terror problem is the direct result of its military’s decision to differentiate between the “good” Afghan Taliban and the “bad” Pakistani Taliban, overlooking their inextricable connections. The policy aimed to secure strategic depth in Pakistan’s western neighbor, but it has demonstrably failed. The TTP ’s access to safe havens in Afghanistan ties the military’s hands, as does Pakistan’s acute economic crisis, the lack of the same public backing that helped legitimize the 2014 offensive against the TTP, and the absence of American political and financial support that Pakistan enjoyed in the years following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).