Anger Rises As Females Find Local Park In Kabul Closed To Them

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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

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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).

Surge in Afghan women’s suicide rates amid adversity

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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

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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).

Related

Internal Taliban Clash Erupts in Takhar Province; Two Fighters Killed

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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).

Taliban Sign Multibillion-Dollar Afghan Mining Deals

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Shahabuddin Dilawar

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
August 31, 2023

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban announced Thursday they have signed more than $6.5 billion worth of mining contracts with local and foreign companies from China, Iran, Turkey and Britain.

Shahabuddin Dilawar, the Taliban minister of mines and petroleum, said the seven contracts cover the extraction and processing of gold, copper, iron, lead and zinc in four Afghan provinces — Takhar, Ghor, Herat and Logar.

The nationally televised signing ceremony occurred as the de facto Afghan authorities marked the second anniversary of the withdrawal of all U.S.-led NATO troops from the country after nearly 20 years of war with the then-insurgent Taliban.

Dilawar said the seven contracts signed Thursday “will collectively bring a $6.557 billion investment” and create thousands of jobs in Afghanistan.

The minister said that an agreement awarded to a Chinese company for gold extraction in Takhar would bring the Taliban government a 65% share of the earnings over five years.

Dilawar said other contracts involving Turkish, Iranian and British investments for mining and processing iron ore in Herat would earn the government a 13% share over 30 years. “It will eventually turn Afghanistan into an exporter of iron,” he said.

Skeptics question the viability of the contracts, citing international economic sanctions imposed on the country after the Taliban reclaimed power in August 2021.

“The Afghan financial and banking sector is almost paralyzed and dysfunctional. Hence, no financial transactions or valuations,” Tamim Asey, a former official with the Afghan ministry of mines and petroleum, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He argued that the Afghan ministry “lacks technical-legal-police capacity” to manage and oversee such mining contracts.

“The legal-policy framework for the mining sector is not only vague but almost nonexistent. The regime doesn’t even have a constitution, let alone mining legal framework,” Asey said.

Earlier this year, a Chinese firm signed an oil extraction contract with the Taliban administration. Beijing lately has also shown interest in investing in lithium mining in Afghanistan.

The landlocked South Asian country reportedly has more than $1 trillion worth of precious minerals, including deposits of highly sought-after lithium used in rechargeable batteries.

The Taliban have stabilized Afghanistan’s economy and increased trade with neighboring and other countries, according to regional officials and independent monitors.

The World Bank said in its report last month that “the year-on-year inflation has been negative” for the past two months in Afghanistan.

“The supply of goods has been sufficient, but demand is low. Over 50% of Afghan households struggle to maintain their livelihoods and consumption,” the report said. It added that the local currency, the Afghani, appreciated against major trading currencies in the first seven months of 2023.

But the Taliban’s men-only government in Kabul remains under fire from the world because of its restrictions on women’s access to work and education.

Since seizing power from a U.S.-backed Afghan government on Aug. 15, 2021, the Taliban have imposed their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, in the conflict-torn nation.

Edicts from reclusive Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada primarily set the policy guidelines for his government.

Akhundzada has banned girls from attending schools past the sixth grade and most women from working for the government and nongovernmental aid groups in a country where two-thirds of the population needs humanitarian assistance. The Taliban have closed thousands of women-run salons nationwide. Women are barred from visiting public parks and gyms and undertaking road trips without a male guardian.

The treatment of Afghan women has deterred foreign governments from recognizing the Taliban administration in Kabul, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The last American soldier departed Afghanistan on Aug. 30, 2021, ending the longest war in U.S. history.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden defended his troop exit decision in a statement marking the second anniversary of ending the Afghan war.

“We have demonstrated that we do not need a permanent troop presence on the ground in harm’s way to take action against terrorists and those who wish to do us harm,” Biden said.

The president referred to the July 30, 2022, drone strike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in his home in downtown Kabul.

Over 62,000 security cameras installed in Kabul

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Khaama: Abdul Matin Qani, the Ministry of Interior spokesperson, said in a video clip to the media that in collaboration with the public, more than 62,000 security cameras have been installed in different parts of Kabul city. Meanwhile, citizens of the country report that the Ministry of Interior has distributed information forms to households and warned homeowners and shopkeepers that failure to install cameras will result in penalties. Furthermore, the Taliban administration has stressed to homeowners and shopkeepers that the mandatory installation of security cameras is a requirement. Click here to read more (external link).

‘Illogical And Inhumane’: Taliban’s Ban On Women Entering National Park Sparks Widespread Anger

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Khujasta Kabiri
Mursalin Arsala
August 31, 2023

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Thousands of families flock every year to the crystal-blue lakes and soaring cliffs in Band-e Amir, one of the most popular national parks in Afghanistan.

Among them was the family of Zahra Qumbri, a young woman who lives in the central province of Bamiyan, where the park is located.

But Qumbri can no longer visit after the Taliban on August 26 banned all women from entering Band-e Amir, in a move that has triggered widespread condemnation.

“This is a cruel act that is both illogical and inhumane,” Qumbri told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “In the past two years, women have been removed from all cultural, economic, and political activities.”

The ban is seen as the latest attempt to erase Afghan women from public life. Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban has banned women from education and most forms of employment and imposed strict limitations on their freedom of movement and appearances.

“We are virtually under house arrest,” Qumbri said. “They are gradually increasing and tightening restrictions against Afghan women. They are burying us alive.”

‘Hijab Just An Excuse’

The ban came into effect shortly after Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s minister for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice, claimed that women visiting Band-e Amir were not wearing the mandatory hijab, or Islamic head scarf, properly.

“Going sightseeing is not a must for women,” said Hanafi, who ordered Taliban fighters to prevent any women from entering the park.

Gul Bakht Nejati, a woman who lives in Bamiyan, said Taliban fighters were preventing some women from entering Band-e Amir even before the ban was announced.

“Everyone going there was being questioned,” she said, adding that women were ordered to prove their relationship with the men accompanying them. “If you are accompanying your husband, you must carry your marriage certificate because the Taliban will always question you.”

Taranum Saeedi, an Afghan women’s rights activist, says the Taliban is using women’s alleged violations of the hijab requirement as an excuse to further diminish their access to public places. In the past year, the Taliban has also banned women from using gyms and visiting public bathhouses and city parks.

“Afghan women have always worn the Islamic hijab,” Saeedi told Radio Azadi. “But the Taliban is a misogynistic and oppressive group.”

More Suffering

The Taliban ban is likely to see a significant drop in the number of people visiting Band-e Amir, a top tourist destination in Afghanistan. Local business owners who depend on tourism fear their livelihoods will suffer.

“Our shops will now have to be closed,” a woman who owns a shop near one of the six lakes in the national park told Radio Azadi. She spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

In 2009, Band-e Amir became Afghanistan’s first official national park. Four years later, several female rangers were employed in the park, in a first for the country. The number of local tourists visiting the park was steadily growing until the Taliban takeover.

“This is just cruel,” Hogai Amil, an Afghan writer and women’s rights activist, told Radio Azadi. “This is a betrayal of our culture and human values.”

Written by Abubakar Siddique based on reporting by Khujasta Kabiri and Mursalin Arsala 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.