Uyghurs in Afghanistan fear Taliban buying Huawei surveillance tech

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The China Project: Facial-recognition analytics that China uses to oppress the marginalized peoples of Xinjiang could soon spread through Central Asia. So far, the 3,000 Uyghurs living in Afghanistan have slipped under the radar of the government’s Islamic fundamentalist gaze. Many of them have lived there peacefully since the 1950s, when they fled religious persecution at the hands of the ascendant Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Now, an August 2023 agreement between the Taliban and Huawei, China’s giant telecommunications and surveillance technology company, could soon see the rollout of cameras equipped with facial-recognition capabilities in every province of Afghanistan, putting Uyghurs on high alert. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Says Plans to Formally Join China’s Belt and Road Initiative

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Nooruddin Azizi

Reuters: The Taliban administration wants to formally join Chinese President Xi Jinping’s huge ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure initiative and will send a technical team to China for talks, Afghanistan’s acting commerce minister [Nooruddin Azizi] said on Thursday. Click here to read more (external link).

4.1 magnitude earthquake strikes Herat, Afghanistan

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Khaama: On Thursday morning, residents of Afghanistan’s western Herat province were abruptly shaken awake as yet another earthquake, measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale, struck, further amplifying their apprehensions and highlighting the ongoing seismic challenges faced by the region. The epicentre of this recent seismic event was pinpointed in the Qara Bagh area, situated approximately 30 kilometres away from Herat City, the provincial capital. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Iran’s Interior Minister says illegal Afghan immigrants must leave Iran

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Ariana: Ahmad Vahid, the Minister of Interior of Iran, said on Wednesday that illegal Afghan immigrants should leave Iran. “We organize those who are legal and have visas,” Ahmad Vahidi added. He also said that creating differences between Iranians and Afghan immigrants is the work of hypocrites. “Iran helped these people and gave them facilities so that their students could go to schools. But some people are trying to turn the good relations between the people of the two countries into a challenge, and this is definitely the design of the enemies of the two countries,” he said, but did not actually name any country. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Leaders Conspicuously Silent on Israel-Hamas War in Gaza

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Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada

Akmal Dawi
VOA News
October 18, 2023

Amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has been notably quiet on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza — in sharp contrast to the fervent, daily anti-Israel comments from neighboring Iran.

While Akhundzada has no public-facing digital accounts, his edicts and statements often reverberate across the Taliban’s online platforms via other channels.

Akhundzada’s second in command, Mullah Mohammad Hassan, and his trio of deputies have also been reticent. The only senior Taliban official who has broken the silence so far is Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister, who remains on the United States’ most-wanted list with a $10 million reward offered for information leading to his arrest.

“We do not interfere in others’ internal affairs,” Haqqani said in terse remarks at an event last week, “but we have faith-based sympathy with Muslims.”

‘Comparable’ messaging

Last week, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesperson, issued a statement in condemnation of Israel’s besieging of Gaza while calling on the international community to address the crisis.

“Official messaging from the Taliban has been comparable to what we’ve seen from other Muslim countries, with expressions of solidarity and support for the Palestinians,” Michael Kugelman, an expert at the Wilson Center, told VOA.

According to Javid Ahmad, a former Afghan ambassador and a fellow at the Atlantic Council, the Taliban’s public comments, while sparse, are calculated to show support for the Palestinians alone, as the group has no formal diplomatic ties with Hamas.

“Senior Taliban figures evidently expect neighboring Arab countries to step up and find a solution to end the violence, rather than relying on non-Arab states to intervene,” Ahmad told VOA.

This measured approach from a regime that boasts divine support in defeating a superpower and its NATO allies may be surprising for some.

A day after Hamas attacked Israel, Michael McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he had seen “indications that the Taliban want to come to ‘liberate Jerusalem,’ in their words, to “fight the Zionists.”

The Taliban rejected the allegations.

Some Afghans have criticized the Taliban’s largely muted response. Ata Mohammad Noor, a former Afghan governor and a known anti-Taliban militia leader, posted an audio file Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter, calling on the Taliban to speak out in defense of Gaza.

Titled “Message of a sister from Palestine to the people of Afghanistan,” the audio clip runs Dari texts over the voice of a female speaking in Arabic begging for Afghans to help the Palestinians.

Mariam Solaimankhil, a former female member of the Afghan parliament, posted a statement on X calling the Taliban response “hollow.” “Where is your action?” she commented under the post of a Taliban spokesperson.

Doha deal

The Taliban have committed to forbid any security threats to the United States and its allies from emerging in Afghanistan, according to a U.S.-Taliban agreement signed in Doha, Qatar, in February 2020.

But experts say any Taliban rhetoric supporting Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, doesn’t violate that agreement.

“The Doha agreement focuses on a very specific, narrowly defined stipulation: The Taliban cannot let its territory be used by terrorist groups that threaten the U.S. and its allies. Pro-Hamas protests, or any type of anti-Israel activism in Afghanistan, do not come close to violating that stipulation,” said Kugelman.

Nearly a dozen other terrorist groups allegedly have sanctuaries in Afghanistan that could, if not prevented, pose regional and even global security threats.

So far, the response from such groups within Afghanistan to the war in Gaza remains “curiously muted and unusually restrained,” according to Ahmad of the Atlantic Council.

Despite keeping a firm control over all Afghanistan for more than two years, the Taliban have seen the Islamic State Khorasan or IS-K, challenging their writ with terrorist attacks all over the country.

IS-K has not supported Hamas because of its ties to Iran, a majority-Shiite country the terrorist group considers to have deviated from Islam.

“There is the risk that IS-K, or any active terror group in Afghanistan, could react by trying to stage its own attacks in Afghanistan, either as a gesture of solidarity with Hamas or as a competitive tactic to one-up what Hamas did in Israel,” said Kugelman.

Taliban Have Not Paid Wages of 500 Workers of Constructing Their Bases in Panjshir Province

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8am: In the past two years, the Taliban have established hundreds of bases in Panjshir province. This group has employed over 500 workers for the construction of their security bases. Local sources now report that the wages of these workers have not been paid by the Taliban-affiliated contractor. Sources have stated that the contractor has close ties to the Taliban and has deprived these workers of their rights for over a year. These sources have accused the Taliban governor of Abshar District of financial corruption, claiming that this Taliban member has embezzled a total of 310,000 Afghanis. Click here to read more (external link).

‘I’m Afraid’: Afghan Migrants Complain Of Rising Harassment, Violence In Iran

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By Naqiba Barekzai
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 18, 2023

For decades, millions of Afghans fleeing war, persecution, and poverty have sought refuge in neighboring Iran.

Now, many of them face deportation after Tehran recently vowed to expel the 5 million Afghans it said were living “illegally” in the Islamic republic.

Afghan refugees and migrants say the September 27 announcement has triggered a surge in abuse against members of the sizeable Afghan community in Iran, including harassment and assault.

On October 6, a video posted on social media appeared to show a group of Iranian men and boys armed with sticks attacking the homes of Afghans in the northern city of Ghazvin. The authorities said 19 of the alleged attackers were arrested.

Other videos released in recent weeks, which RFE/RL was unable to verify, purportedly show groups of Iranian civilians beating up Afghans.

“We are worried that the situation in Iran has turned very hostile against Afghans,” Parwana, an Afghan refugee who lives with her family in Tehran, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “They are throwing stones at the windows of houses where Afghans live. They shout, ‘Afghans should leave our country and return to their homeland,'” added Parwana, who only gave her first name.

Sweta, another refugee who lives in the Iranian capital, says she has also observed a recent surge in the number of physical and verbal attacks against Afghans. “I witnessed Iranians beating young Afghan boys publicly even when they hadn’t done anything wrong,” Sweta, who also only gave her first name, told Radio Azadi.

History Of Abuse

For years, human rights groups have documented widespread violations against Afghan refugees and migrants in Iran, including physical abuse, detention in unsanitary and inhumane conditions, forced payment for transportation and accommodation in deportation camps, forced labor, and forced separation of families.

Mired in an economic crisis amid skyrocketing inflation and rising food prices, Iran has often expressed alarm at the number of undocumented Afghans on its soil. Officials have often blamed Afghans for insecurity and unemployment in Iran.

Tehran has also complained that it has received little financial help from the international community, despite hosting millions of Afghans since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Iran’s plans to deport undocumented Afghans also come amid its worsening ties with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. Taliban militants have engaged in deadly clashes with Iranian border guards in recent months amid a dispute over cross-border water resources.

In a statement released on October 14, some 500 Iranian activists urged the authorities “not to exploit the country’s current problems and drag us into the abyss of racism and hatred.”

“Let’s not allow people to sow seeds of hatred, violence, discrimination, and xenophobia,” it said.

An estimated 3.6 million Afghans have fled their homeland since the Taliban seized power in 2021, with many fleeing persecution and the devastating humanitarian and economic crises plaguing the war-torn country.

Around 70 percent of them have moved to Iran, according to the United Nations, although hundreds of thousands have been deported.

The United Nations has said that more than 3 million Afghans live in Iran. Out of them, around 1.3 million have visas or refugee status. Tehran has claimed that a significantly higher number of Afghans live in the country.

Last week, Tehran said more than 1 million Afghan refugees registered for new biometric cards, giving them access to banking services and SIM cards.

Deportations

Iran has intensified the deportations of Afghans since announcing its plan to expel all undocumented migrants.

Local Taliban officials in Afghanistan’s southwestern province of Nimroz say that Tehran has deported over 150,000 Afghans in the past three months.

Afghans who were recently deported told Radio Azadi that they were mistreated and harassed by Iranian border guards. “They did not give us bread or water during the two days that they imprisoned us,” said Abdul Salam, who illegally entered Iran two months ago and found a job as a laborer in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

“They held us in a room and then took us outside,” he added. “They left us in the scorching sun from morning to evening. We couldn’t get up. When we stood up, they kicked us in the back.”

Afghans who still reside in Iran say they live in constant fear of deportation or violence.

“I’m afraid to leave my home because many Afghans have been subjected to beatings in the markets and on the streets,” an Afghan refugee who requested anonymity due to fears of retribution told Radio Azadi.

Written by Abubakar Siddique based on reporting by Naqiba Barekzai of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi

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.

Time Running Out for Afghan Quake Survivors as Winter Looms

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Lisa Schlein
VOA News
October 18, 2023

GENEVA — U.N. aid officials said Tuesday that they are racing against time to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance to tens of thousands of earthquake survivors in western Afghanistan, north of the city of Herat, before winter sets in and people whose houses have been destroyed are exposed to freezing temperatures.

“Most of the people, even inhabitants of Herat, that has almost a million population — most of these people stay outside their homes, especially at night,” said Daniel Endres, humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, speaking in Kabul.

“This is a region that is not at all used to earthquakes. Therefore, the type of construction was done in a way that was very fragile.” He noted that most of the dwellings were made of mud, which collapsed easily.

“So, you see the roads of Herat are lined with tents and that, of course, requires a huge amount of support of all kinds of shelter materials,” he said.

The first of three magnitude 6.3 earthquakes struck Herat province October 7, followed by earthquakes on October 11 and 15.

According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, more than 66,000 people have been affected, with numbers continuing to rise. It says about 1,500 people have died, around 2,000 others are injured and at least 3,700 homes are destroyed, with thousands more severely or moderately damaged.

“So this means, of course, a lot of requirements on the reconstruction,” said Endres.

“Another serious issue is, of course, the damage to infrastructure.” He said many people now do not have access to clean water and are at risk of “diseases because the water is going to be contaminated.”

OCHA launched a Herat Response Plan for $93.6 million Monday to support 114,000 earthquake-affected people over the coming six months.

“There are about 500 villages in Herat province and around 289 villages that have been severely or moderately affected,” said Kate Carey, deputy head of the OCHA office, speaking in Kabul.

“Temperatures are beginning to fall … it will get cold very, very quickly and we already have thousands of people who are living in makeshift shelters and also residing in open areas and they remain obviously our priority,” she said.

The U.N. children’s fund, UNICEF, says women and children comprise 90 percent of the people reportedly killed by the earthquakes. Last week, the agency appealed for $20 million to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance over the coming three months for more than 200,000 people, including 96,000 children, living in the most devastated, vulnerable areas of Herat province.

“Even before the earthquake, these communities were already suffering the effects of conflict and insecurity, migration, drought, displacement, and poverty,” said Rushnan Murtaza, acting UNICEF representative in Afghanistan.

He said, “These deprivations have now collided, creating an unprecedented humanitarian emergency for children,” which required additional support so children can receive “the health care, protection, and clean water they desperately need.”

In hopes of reassuring donors that the money they provide for Afghan relief will be well spent, humanitarian coordinator Endres told journalists in Geneva that the U.N. collaboration with the Taliban, the de-facto authority in Afghanistan, has been positive.

“They have virtually not restricted us in the outreach to the people and doing the assessments. That includes access to women by women,” he said. “As you know, especially in the medical field, the work of women is permitted. And so the women are, of course, treated by female medical personnel. And that is happening.”

Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, said that the WHO has sent a team of 11 midwives and 10 medical doctors, including one who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology.

“We did this specifically so that there would be women doctors on the ground able to work with women and children specifically because of the restrictive issues,” she said.

“A dedicated team of women doctors and midwives have been sent for that very reason.”