Khaama: The US Embassy for Afghanistan in Doha has denied reports about the reopening of its consulate in Afghanistan. The US mission to Afghanistan in Doha, also known as the Afghanistan affairs unit told Khaama Press that the United States’ position towards Afghanistan remains unchanged, and there are no immediate plans to resume diplomatic mission in Kabul. “To be clear, the State Department’s position has not changed and we have no near-term plans to return any diplomatic functions to Kabul,” said a State Department spokesperson. Click here to read more (external link).
US Exploring Consular Return to Afghanistan Without Recognizing Taliban Rule
Akmal Dawi
VOA News
February 1, 2024
The United States is cautiously exploring the possibility of reopening a consulate in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, according to a newly released strategy document from the State Department.
The move signals a potential shift in U.S. policy toward limited engagement with the isolated Islamist regime, while aiming to achieve multiple security, political and economic objectives.
“With the Taliban, we advocate for consular access, transparency and accountability for Americans; we also support the work of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to obtain the release of Americans unjustly detained,” reads the recently approved Integrated Country Strategy Afghanistan, which was approved in October 2023.
With the fall of the Afghan government in August 2021, the U.S. shut down its embassy in Kabul, marking a symbolic end to two decades of military and political engagement with Afghanistan.
Since then, U.S.-Taliban interactions have been limited to sporadic meetings outside of Afghanistan, mainly in Doha, Qatar, where the U.S. has stationed a charge d’affaires to Afghanistan.
“Even as — and for as long as — the United States does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, we must build functional relationships that advance our objectives and further our understanding of the Taliban’s readiness and ability to fulfill their commitments to us,” the strategy paper states.
The new U.S. strategy outlines four strategic mission areas, namely counterterrorism, economic assistance, local engagement, and consular services for U.S. citizens inside Afghanistan and assisting Afghans who want to migrate to the United States.
The strategy maintains that Washington will “continue to speak out for basic rights of the Afghan people, especially women and girls.”
U.S. officials have repeatedly said that any normalization with the Taliban, including ending decades-long sanctions on their leaders, depends on the reversal of Taliban’s repressive policies and the formation of an inclusive Afghan government.
Security, political risks
While not recognizing the Taliban’s interim government, some countries, including U.S. allies like India, Japan and Turkey, have maintained diplomatic missions in Kabul.
The United Nations, including its political mission, has also remained operational in the country.
Last year, an independent assessment sponsored by the United Nations called for increased and direct engagement by the international community with de facto Taliban authorities.
“From a logistical standpoint, it would be easier for the U.S. to help Afghans seeking paths to the U.S. if it had consular staff and facilities open on the ground,” Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at the Wilson Center, told VOA.
However, Kugelman cautioned about the political and security risks of a return to Afghanistan, especially during a U.S. election year.
“The Biden administration would likely feel the security risks are prohibitive,” he said.
Terrorism-related violence in Afghanistan has plummeted by 75% over the past two years, according to a 2023 Global Terrorism Index from the Institute for Economics & Peace.
The drop appears to have resulted from an end of the Taliban’s war against the former U.S.-backed Afghan government.
Despite the Taliban’s claim of restoring peace, terrorist groups like the Islamic State’s Khorasan branch have perpetrated attacks in Afghanistan killing hundreds of people mostly religious minorities.
“Security does not appear to be the issue, but how to decide the relationship with the Taliban is,” Kathy Gannon, former Associated Press bureau chief in Afghanistan and Pakistan, told VOA.
Gannon argued that the United States, like other countries, needs to engage with 40 million Afghans inside the country in order to charter an effective policy.
UN: Al-Qaida, Afghan Taliban Assist TTP With Attacks in Pakistan
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 1, 2024
ISLAMABAD — A new United Nations report warns that al-Qaida has established eight new training camps in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and is increasingly assisting anti-Pakistan militants to launch cross-border attacks.
The report said an al-Qaida camp in the Afghan border province of Kunar is “conducting suicide bomber training” to support operations of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a globally designated terrorist group leading attacks against Pakistani security forces.
The U.N. Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team released its findings this week, providing a fresh assessment of the threat militant groups, particularly TTP, pose to the region from their sanctuaries in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Thursday, the de facto Afghan authorities rejected the U.N. findings as “false allegations.”
The report noted that the Taliban’s relationship “remains strong” with senior al-Qaida leaders, particularly with the terror group’s regional affiliate, al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent or AQIS.
It found that the Taliban “are generally sympathetic to TTP aims” and have not responded to Pakistan’s repeated requests to prevent cross-border militant violence, which last year alone killed nearly 1,000 Pakistani security forces and civilians.
“The short-term detention of 70 to 200 TTP members and the relocation of personnel northward away from the border areas by the Taliban were assessed as deflecting pressure from Pakistan to contain TTP,” the report noted.
“Besides supplying weapons and equipment, Taliban rank and file, Al-Qaida core and AQIS fighters assisted TTP forces in cross-border attacks … Some Taliban members also joined TTP, perceiving a religious obligation to provide support.”
TTP members and their families receive regular aid packages from the Taliban, the U.N. report said, adding that the de facto Afghan authorities reportedly provided a monthly $50,500 to TTP leader Noor Wali Mehsud.
“A notable development is the increase of Afghan nationals in the TTP ranks. Al-Qaida core and AQIS continue to provide training, ideological guidance, and support to TTP,” the report said. It added that al-Qaida recently ordered all its vehicles to be “gifted” to TTP due to fear of being targeted by the United States.
The support has “strengthened and emboldened” TTP to increase attacks “with a broader degree of autonomy to maneuver.” The U.N. report noted that AQIS reportedly supplied armed fighters to support a major TTP assault on security outposts in the Pakistani border district of Chitral, increasing the group’s morale.
The report said a newly emerged group, Tehrik-e-Jihad Pakistan, or TJP, is operating from Afghan territory, possibly with support from al-Qaida and providing TTP with “plausible deniability to alleviate the pressure from Pakistan on the Taliban government.”
TJP has claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks against the Pakistani military in recent months. Officials in Islamabad said some of the assailants killed by security forces involved in these attacks were Afghan nationals.
Last December, TJP militants, including suicide bombers, assaulted an army base in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing 23 soldiers and making it the deadliest raid against the Pakistan military in recent years.
The U.N. study said that several member states reported “continued proliferation of weapons from stockpiles” left by U.S.-led coalition troops after they withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, when the then-insurgent Taliban seized power.
“In one case Taliban commanders were reported to have provided TTP with significant quantities of weaponry, including M24 sniper rifles, M4 carbines with Trijicon ACOG scopes, and M16A4 rifles with thermal scopes,” the report said.
It added that weapons and equipment, particularly night vision capability, have reportedly added “lethality to TTP attacks on Pakistani security forces.”
The chief Taliban government spokesperson Thursday rejected as propaganda the U.N. report about the presence of al-Qaida camps or allegations that Kabul is providing support to militant groups.
“There is no one related to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, nor does the Islamic Emirate allow anyone to use the territory of Afghanistan against others,” Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
Mujahid previously also refuted Pakistani allegations that his government is allowing TTP to conduct cross-border attacks.
“We will not allow anyone to use the soil of Afghanistan against Pakistan. However, it is not our responsibility to prevent and control attacks inside the territory of Pakistan,” the Taliban spokesperson said in a recent statement.
TTP is known to have provided recruits and sheltered Taliban leaders on Pakistani soil while they directed insurgent attacks against U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan for years.
The group moved its command-and-control operations to Afghan border areas after the Taliban takeover and is conducting attacks with greater operational freedom from there, according to Pakistani officials.
VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
Kabul residents express concern over rise in crime across the city
Ariana: A number of Kabul residents have voiced concern over the increase in crime, especially theft, in the city and say if crime is not stopped, the situation will revert to what it was prior to the Islamic Emirate’s takeover. “Recently, there have been many criminal robberies in the city of Kabul and we are not safe,” said a Kabul resident. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – February 1, 2024
The Taliban’s Detention of Girls Continues, and its Severe Consequences: From Family Pressures to Tragic Suicides
Taliban militant (file photo)
8am: Following the Taliban’s Detainment of Girls and Women, citing dress code violations, in various Hazara and Tajik-populated areas of Kabul and other provinces, the Taliban’s arbitrary actions persist. In the recent incident, they detained numerous young girls and teenagers from Dasht-e Barchi, Khairkhana, and Kart-e Char regions of Kabul for not conforming to their dress code, wearing white scarves and colorful trousers, and subjected them to violence, torture, and beatings. Some of the girls, held in Taliban prisons for days, were released upon payment and guarantees from their families, pressured by both family and community. These girls face stringent restrictions from their families and social isolation. According to reports from relatives and friends, some of the detained girls have attempted suicide. Meanwhile, residents of the Dasht-e Barchi region in Kabul report that the Taliban’s moral police not only patrol public roads but also roam the streets and alleys, detaining women and girls from their homes and transferring them to unknown locations. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Malaria remains a public health concern in Afghanistan
Ariana: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has reported that malaria remains a public health concern as 27% of Afghans live in areas where there is a high risk of the disease. According to UNDP, 50% of the people in Afghanistan live in areas where the probability of contracting malaria is moderate, and only 23% of them live in areas where the risk of contracting malaria is low or does not exist. This organization said the transmission of this disease, which is more prevalent in summer, varies from one region to another for several reasons. Click here to read more (external link).
While Small in Number, Tajik Fighters an Asset for Islamic State-Khorasan
ISIS Militants
Roshan Noorzai
Mohammad Ahmadi
VOA News
January 31, 2024
WASHINGTON — The Iranian government has traced this month’s twin suicide bombings in Kerman city to ethnic-Tajik fighters of the Islamic State Khorasan Province who, experts say, are “fairly small” in number but play “an important part” in the group’s military activities.
The Afghanistan-based branch of the Islamic State (IS-K) claimed responsibility for the January 3 blasts that killed at least 95 people attending the commemoration of the death of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, who was killed in a January 2020 U.S. drone attack in Iraq.
A day after the Kerman city attack, top Iranian officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi and IRGC Commander Hossein Salami, claimed that Israel and the U.S. were behind the attack, without offering any evidence.
But a week later, the Iranian intelligence ministry said in a statement that one of the two bombers was a citizen of Tajikistan who received training at an IS-K camp in Afghanistan and crossed to Iran illegally via its southeastern border.
The statement did not name the second suicide bomber but said the mastermind of the attack was also a citizen of Tajikistan who left Iran after planning it.
The number of Tajik citizens in IS-K is “fairly small,” said David Sedney, former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, adding, “but they are, I understand, a fairly large portion of the more aggressive and successful fighters.”
Sedney told VOA that Tajik fighters are well-trained and important to IS-K’s military operations.
Tajik fighters are “a very important part of the Daesh military wing, capable of carrying out suicide attacks and other military activities,” said Sedney, using another name for the Islamic State, which is also known as IS or ISIS.
Formed in 2015, IS-K is an offshoot of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria which, according to a June 2023 U.N. report, is “the most serious current terrorist threat in Afghanistan, neighboring countries and Central Asia.”
The report estimated IS-K’s fighters and their families number between 4,000 to 6,000, including citizens of Central Asian countries.
Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told VOA that though the exact number of Central Asians, including Tajiks, in IS-K is not known, they could be in the hundreds.
Roggio, however, said that the Islamic State has “always been effective in poaching … disaffected” members of the other militant groups based in Afghanistan.
The U.N. report said there are around 20 militant groups in Afghanistan, including Jamaat Ansarullah, a Tajikistani extremist group, also known as Tajik Taliban.
“The Islamic State is a natural place for individuals who want to get their jihad on now, and aren’t, you know, afraid to be bold and attack China or attack various places,” Roggio said.
He added that the Persian-speaking militants are an asset for the IS-K.
“They certainly would leverage individuals who could speak Farsi, who could operate a little bit more easily in Iran for certain,” Roggio said.
Islamic State is a Sunni extremist group that considers majority-Shiite Iran as its enemy.
Roggio said that he does not think the Islamic State could pose a significant threat to Iran, but the group can carry out terrorist attacks.
The Islamic State also claimed an attack on a religious shrine in the Iranian city of Shiraz in October 2022, killing 15 people. IS-K is a major rival to the Taliban and carried out several high-profile attacks after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan.
Addressing a press conference in Kabul last month, Taliban defense chief Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid claimed that most of the attacks in Afghanistan were carried out by Tajik and Pakistani nationals.
He also claimed that the Taliban’s security forces killed dozens of Tajiks and more than 20 Pakistanis, and asserted the number of IS-K attacks has decreased by 90%.
Tajik writer and political analyst Sherali Rizoyon told VOA that the Kerman suicide bombers were trained in Afghanistan, and it “either refutes the Taliban’s claim that they are in full control of Afghanistan or shows that the Taliban have relations with such groups.”
A U.N. report released in June said members of the Tajik militant group Jamaat Ansarullah helped Taliban fighters battle anti-Taliban resistance forces in the northern provinces of Afghanistan.
Ghaws Janbaz, former Afghan ambassador to Moscow, told VOA that the Taliban’s return to power has inspired militant groups throughout the region.
“The Taliban’s takeover has encouraged and motivated them,” said Janbaz, adding that “the Taliban claim that they defeated the superpower in Afghanistan so these [militant groups] think that they can easily defeat the governments in the region.”
This story originated in VOA’s Afghan Service.
‘All Doors Are Closed’ For Single And Unaccompanied Afghan Women Under The Taliban
Naqiba Barekzai,
Abida Spozhmai and
Khujasta Kabiri
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 31, 2024
Women have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s repressive laws in Afghanistan, where the extremist group has imposed constraints on their appearances, freedom of movement, and right to work and study.
But women who are unmarried or do not have a “mahram,” or male guardian, face even tougher restrictions and have been cut off from access to health care, banned from traveling long distances, and pressured to quit their jobs.
The Taliban’s mahram rules prohibit women from leaving their home without a male chaperone, often a husband or a close relative such as a father, brother, or uncle.
Single and unaccompanied women, including an estimated 2 million widows, say they are essentially prisoners in their homes and unable to carry out the even the most basic of tasks.
Among them is Nadia, a divorced woman from the northern province of Kunduz. The mother of four has no surviving male relatives.
“These restrictions are stifling for women who now cannot do the simple things independently,” Nadia told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
The 35-year-old said women also need to have a male escort to visit a doctor, go to government offices, or even rent a house.
She said she had to pay a man to be her chaperone in order to meet a realtor and sign a rental agreement.
Nadia also paid a man in her neighborhood around 1,000 afghanis, or $15, to accompany her to the local passport office. But the Taliban refused her passport application and ordered her to return with her father, who died years ago.
“Even visiting the doctor is becoming impossible,” she said. “We can only plead [with the Taliban] or pray. All doors are closed to us.”
Mahram Crackdown
Women who violate the Taliban’s mahram requirements have been detained or arrested and are often released only after signing a pledge that they will not break the rules again in the future.
In its latest report, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the Taliban’s notorious religious police was enforcing the rules by carrying out inspections in public spaces, offices, and education facilities as well as setting up checkpoints in cities.
Released on January 22, the report said three female health-care workers were detained in October because they were traveling to work without a mahram.
In December, women without male chaperones were stopped from accessing health-care facilities in the southeastern province of Paktia, the report said.
And in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban visited a bus terminal and checked if women were traveling with a male relative, the report said.
In late 2021, the Taliban said women seeking to travel more than 72 kilometers should not be offered transport unless they were accompanied by a close male relative.
In another incident, the Taliban advised a woman to get married if she wanted to keep her job at a health-care facility, saying it was inappropriate for a single woman to work, the report said.
In a report issued on January 18, the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) said the Taliban’s restrictions on single and unaccompanied women has ensured that female-led households receive less income and food.
“Their share of employment has nearly halved, decreasing from 11 percent in 2022 to 6 percent” in 2023, the report said.
The report noted that female-headed households typically care for more children and get paid less for their work and consume lower quantities of food.
“Female-headed households have greater needs for humanitarian assistance and yet report more restrictions to accessing such assistance,” the report said.
“Unaccompanied access by women to public places such as health facilities, water points, and markets has declined in the past two years,” the report added.
‘Deeply Insulting’
Parisa, an unmarried woman, takes care of her elderly parents in the northeastern province of Takhar.
With her father bedridden and her two brothers working in neighboring Iran, she has been forced to take care of the family’s needs.
But she said she has been repeatedly harassed by the Taliban while trying to buy groceries in the local market, located some 10 kilometers away from her house.
“What can women do when men in their families are forced to leave the country for work?” she told Radio Azadi, giving only her first name for security reasons.
“I have no choice but to look after my family’s basic needs. The Taliban’s attitude is deeply insulting and extremely aggressive.”
Parisa said she has pleaded with local Taliban leaders to relax the mahram requirements. But she said her efforts have been in vain.
“They start abusing and threatening us whenever we try to tell them that we have to leave our houses to meet our basic needs,” she said.
Parasto, a resident of Kabul, said the Taliban’s restrictions are preventing single women from seeking the limited health care that is available.
“The doctors in the hospitals and clinics are reluctant to see unaccompanied women,” she told Radio Azadi.
Parasto said the Taliban’s mounting restrictions on women, especially those who are unmarried or do not have a male guardian, have made life unbearable.
“Single women are trying to survive without rights and opportunities,” she said.
Written by Abubakar Siddique in Prague based on reporting by Naqiba Barakzai, Abida Spozhmai, and Khujasta Kabiri of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
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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Wet Winter Weather Brings New Miseries To Vulnerable Afghans
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
January 31, 2024
Ongoing snowfall and rain that ended a long dry spell in Afghanistan are now bringing new problems to impoverished Afghans across the country as heating needs jump while humanitarian aid deliveries are impeded.
Since January 28, most of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces have experienced snowfall or rain.
While the precipitation has been widely welcomed because it will help avoid a much-feared drought, some of the most vulnerable Afghans are struggling in its aftermath.
Many citizens don’t have the means to buy gas, coal, wood, or fuel to cook and heat their households. Those who live in remote regions also face humanitarian aid delays as the heavy snow makes roads impassable.
“People face serious problems after all the rain and snow,” Ali, a resident of the northern Balkh Province, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
“We don’t have any money and remain hungry,” he added.
Khatira, a resident of the capital, Kabul, says her family is miserable because of a lack of heating in the cold winter.
“We cannot keep our children warm by giving them proper clothes or food this winter,” she told Radio Azadi.
Some Afghans are unable to do their jobs because of the weather conditions, curtailing their already meager income.
“We don’t even have a little food to survive because there is no work, and we are losing hope,” Noor Agha, another Kabul resident, said.
Meanwhile, the UN World Food Program says the weather has cut 10 million people off from food aid in Afghanistan.
“Most of whom have to choose between feeding their children or keeping them warm,” the organization said on X, formerly called Twitter.
According to the UN, Afghanistan is expecting a further deterioration in food security by March. Some 15.8 million Afghans, or 36 percent of the total population of over 40 million, will require food aid by the spring.
According to the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), some 29.2 million Afghans out of a population of more than 40 million need humanitarian assistance.
The UN plans to reach 22.3 million of them with more than $3.2 billion in humanitarian funding.