Child getting polio drops (file photo)
Ariana: The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) says a polio vaccination case response campaign will be implemented in the eastern region of Afghanistan, which includes Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Nuristan provinces, and the plan is to inoculate 1.2 million children. Click here to read more (external link).
The Art Newspaper: Art degrees in Afghanistan are gradually disappearing from government-run institutions as Taliban’s restrictions deter students and scholars from entering higher education. Before the fundamentalist group’s takeover in August 2021, the fine arts faculty at Kabul University offered eight degrees and had more than 1,000 students. Today, however, only two degrees are on offer, with around 250 students attending—all of whom are men. The departments of music, sculpting, dramatic literature and photography were abruptly dissolved, and students were transferred to the remaining four departments: cinema, theatre, graphics and painting. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: The House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul in a statement reacted to US President Biden’s recent remarks on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, saying that “it is completely divorced from reality for President Biden to claim that al Qaeda is no longer operating in Afghanistan or that the Taliban has somehow become our national security partner in the region.” Earlier, Biden in response to a question about “mistakes in Afghanistan withdrawal”, said: “Remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said al-Qaida would not be there. I said it wouldn’t be there. I said we’d get help from the Taliban. What’s happening now? What’s going on? Read your press. I was right.” Click here to read more (external link).
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South China Morning Post: State media heralded the departure of a cargo from Lanzhou, a key transport hub, but analysts said its main importance is the symbolism. Freight will pass through Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, two countries where China is hoping to build a rail link. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: Doctors at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Kabul said that Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) cases have increased in recent days. Doctors said that after Eid al-Adha, they admitted nearly fifteen suspected patients to the hospital each day. “Our cases are increasing day by day, approximately 10 to 15 people have suspicious symptoms of hemorrhagic fever, they come to us and after diagnosis they are admitted to beds intended for these patients,” said Faridullah Omari, a doctor at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Kabul. Click here to read more (external link).
Khaama: Over 60,000 women will lose their jobs due to the closing of all women’s beauty parlours and hairdressing salons across Afghanistan. Sources in the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry have told the BBC that closing all women’s beauty parlours/hairdressing salons will leave around 60,000 women unemployed nationwide. The source said on the condition of anonymity that there are 3,100 women’s beauty salons in Kabul and over 12,000 women’s hair salons across the country, each having an average of five women employment. These women are only the breadwinners of their families. On Tuesday, 4 July, the Taliban announced they would ban women’s beauty salons in Afghanistan. The Taliban-ruled government in the country has ordered to shut down the beauty salons within a month, according to the moral ministry of the Taliban. This is the latest restriction on Afghanistan’s access to public spaces. Click here to read more (external link).
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VOA: The deputy executive director and chief operating officer for the U.N. World Food Program, Carl Skau, says that Afghanistan is facing a dire humanitarian situation with nine out of 10 Afghan families lacking adequate food and “children and pregnant women are the hardest hit.” In an interview Wednesday with VOA via Skype, Skau said that the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is “dire,” adding that WFP, the world’s largest humanitarian organization, would need $1 billion “to get through” the winter. “We have so far only managed to mobilize some 10% of that,” Skau told Waheed Faizi of VOA’s Afghan Service. Skau, who visited Afghanistan last month, said that one of the main challenges for his organization is to reach the most vulnerable groups, especially women and children, in Afghanistan, adding that the Taliban’s “bans on women working for us are complicating that.” Click here to read more (external link).
Al Jazeera: British special forces are at the heart of an inquiry into allegations of unlawful activity in Afghanistan, the United Kingdom’s defence ministry has confirmed. Defence Minister Ben Wallace commissioned the independent probe in December 2022; it will also consider accusations that the Royal Military Police’s (RMP) investigation of unlawful killings by special forces was inadequate. Click here to read more (external link).
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