AFP: Allrounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto smashed centuries before Bangladesh’s pace bowlers shared eight wickets to beat Afghanistan by 89 runs in the Asia Cup in Lahore on Sunday. Click here to read more (external link).
Citizens Concerned: The Taliban Have Installed Thousands of Hidden Cameras, Sparking Privacy and Espionage Worries
8am: A former military official, who wishes to remain anonymous, has stated that the Taliban are intent on espionage and inspecting people’s beliefs. According to him, the Taliban are taking this action to exert greater control over the population and to prevent gatherings and citizen assemblies. This former military official further asserts that the Taliban are wary of small gatherings and house-to-house visits by their opponents. Therefore, in addition to deploying spies, they are also using technology for their political purposes and monitoring individuals who travel to their targeted areas. In the meantime, certain Kabul residents firmly argue that the security cameras have failed to curb criminal activities and theft. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – September 2, 2023
Iran building Qasem Soleimani hospital in Afghanistan’s Kandahar
Soleimani
Khaama: The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced its intention to establish a medical facility named after Qasem Soleimani in Kandahar, Afghanistan. According to Iran’s Fars News Agency, quoting Javad Karimi Ghodoosi, a representative of the Iranian Parliament, the country plans to set up a medical facility in the province of Kandahar, named after the former commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Click here to read more (external link).
Anger Rises As Females Find Local Park In Kabul Closed To Them
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
September 1, 2023
Women in the Afghan capital, Kabul, are furious after being turned away at a women-only section of a park that Taliban militants now say is closed as part of a nationwide ban keeping them out of one of the few remaining spaces where they say they could feel free.
The Taliban announced on August 26 that women were no longer allowed to visit national parks in what is seen as the latest attempt to erase Afghan women from public life.
But the ban has hit especially hard in the confines of the capital, where there is little chance to escape the dust and concrete of the city.
“It was a happy place for women, but it is now closed to them,” Hogai Amil, one of the park-goers, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “It is beautiful and has everything.”
The park is located in the Makroyan Kohna apartment complex in central Kabul. Built in the 1960s for the pro-Soviet Afghan elite, the apartments are now inhabited mainly by the educated middle class.
The park provided the only space for women outside their tiny apartments and in a Taliban-dominated country that is allowing women fewer freedoms each month.
The hard-line Islamist group, which seized power in August 2021 when international peacekeeping troops exited the country, has already banned women from education and work and it has imposed strict restrictions on their movement and how they can appear in public.
“I am devastated,” said Maryam, another Makroyan resident.
She said that seeing friends in the park allowed her to cope with mental issues she suffers from.
“It was the place of our dreams,” she added. “I am desperate to go there, but no one will let me in.”
Aside from the social impact, the ban is also going to have a devastating economic impact on many of Kabul’s female residents.
The park, and others like it, was one of the few places Afghan women could still earn money by selling food or providing cosmetic and other services to female visitors.
One beautician, who requested that her name not be used, said the closure has cut off a vital lifeline for her to provide for her family.
“How will I pay my rent and the rent for the shop,” she asked. “How will I now buy my groceries.”
Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Taliban Assassinate Unarmed Civilian in Baghlan Province
8am: Local sources in Baghlan province have reported a tragic incident in which the Taliban assassinated an unarmed civilian. The victim, identified as Mohammad Amin, met his untimely demise on the night of Thursday, August 31st, in the village of Khawosh, Khost district, Baghlan province when he was fatally shot. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – September 1, 2023
Surge in Afghan women’s suicide rates amid adversity
Khaama: In 2011, the Thomson Reuters Foundation declared Afghanistan the “most dangerous place in the world to be a woman,” the head of Afghanistan’s UN mission said that the Taliban had turned Afghanistan into the worst place for women. Research by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the United Nations reveals that Afghanistan has not been a favourable place for women, particularly in the past four decades, and the situation has worsened significantly under the interim Taliban government. Rising levels of despair among women and girls, as reported by Gallup, and an increase in women’s suicide rates, as reported by The Guardian, highlight the severe conditions imposed on women and girls in Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).
Pakistan should seek its enemy on its own soil, says Fitrat
Qari Fasihuddin
Ariana: The [Taliban] Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Chief of Army Staff Qari Fasihudin Fitrat says Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) does not exist in Afghanistan and that Islamabad should seek its enemy on its own territory. n the meantime, Fitrat emphasized that outsiders exaggerate the presence of Daesh in Afghanistan, while this phenomenon does not have a front in the country and is always suppressed. Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff has also pointed out that the defense ministry plans to increase the number of the Islamic Army from 150,000 to more than 180,000 in this solar year. Click here to read more (external link).
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Internal Taliban Clash Erupts in Takhar Province; Two Fighters Killed
8am: Local sources in Takhar Province have reported a fatal clash resulting in the deaths of two Taliban fighters, with another wounded. This incident sheds light on simmering internal tensions within the group. The clash occurred on Thursday night, August 31st, within the confines of Qarildi village, situated in the Khaja Bahauddin district. It was rooted in disputes between two separate factions within the Taliban. This violent episode comes in the wake of a recent attack by Taliban fighters of Pashtun ethnicity on the residence of Nasrullah, a member of the Tajik ethnic group. In a separate but related development, just a few days earlier, an internal clash between two Taliban factions in the Farkhar district of Takhar Province claimed the life of one Taliban member, leaving five others wounded, all hailing from Kandahar. Click here to read more (external link).