8am: Residents in the Dasht-e-Qala and Khwaja Bahauddin districts of Takhar province have expressed complaints regarding the relocation of numerous families associated with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to their districts. He [Professor Shaharani] views the relocation of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members as a deliberate strategy to promote the dominance of the Pashtun ethnic group and grant them extensive privileges in the long run. He emphasizes that this process, aided by the British, has been ongoing in various forms since the time of Abdul Rahman Khan, and the Taliban is now seeking to alter the demographic composition of northern Afghanistan. Mr. Shaharani highlights that the current circumstances make it challenging for the people to resist the Taliban, and there is a possibility of regional countries supporting the fight against the Taliban’s agenda. Nevertheless, regardless of the outcome, the local inhabitants of these regions bear the brunt of the consequences. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – June 26, 2023
Taliban ‘values its ties’ with Pakistan and hope to expand relations
Zabihullah Mujahid
Ariana: The Islamic Emirate’s [Taliban] spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says the IEA values its ties with Pakistan and hopes that relations and cooperation between the two countries will expand. In response to recent statements by Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mujahid emphasized Islamabad’s support for peace and stability in Afghanistan and said that both countries have many commercial, cultural and religious commonalities that need to be strengthened and relations between the two countries should be expanded. However, experts believe that Pakistan is playing a two-face policy towards Afghanistan. “Pakistan’s policies in Afghanistan always have two sides, one is its very soft talk, the other is behind its destruction,” said Rahmatullah Hassan, a political analyst. “Pakistan is a country that always wants Afghanistan to have no government, no system, no economy, and no foreign policy,” he stressed. Click here to read more (external link).
Earthquake of Magnitude 4.2 Jolts Afghanistan’s Badakhshan
Khaama: On Monday, an earthquake of 4.2 magnitudes jolted the 35 Km Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. The Earthquake of magnitude 4.2 occurred around 11:16 am local time, 35 Km south of Ishkashim, Tajikistan, with a depth of 31 km, according to the Indian National Center for Seismology reported on Monday. No causalities have been reported from the province as of now. Click here to read more (external link).
Doctors report rise in cancer patients seeking treatment in western Afghanistan
Ariana: Doctors from a cancer treatment facility in Herat province say they have seen a 30% increase in the number of patients seeking treatment for cancer in the western region of Afghanistan. They said in the past 12 months, 4,000 people with cancer sought help – of which 50% were women. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Chief Says ‘Reforms’ End Afghan Poppy Cultivation
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
June 25, 2023
ISLAMABAD — The supreme leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban declared Sunday that their campaign against illicit drug production in the country had eradicated the cultivation of opium poppies, which are used to make morphine or heroin.
Hibatullah Akhundzada’s declaration follows recent media reports and satellite images backed by the United Nations and the United States, concluding that annual poppy cultivation has “significantly” decreased in the world’s biggest opium producer.
The reduction is credited to a decree issued by the reclusive Taliban chief in April 2022, which strictly prohibited the cultivation, production, usage, transportation, trade, export, and import of all illicit drugs in Afghanistan. The ban allowed anti-narcotics Taliban units to eradicate poppy farming across the impoverished war-ravaged country, which accounted for 85% of global opium production until last year, according to United Nations estimates.
“As a result of continued efforts of the Islamic Emirate, the cultivation of poppy has been eradicated in the country,” the Taliban chief said in his statement in connection with the annual Islamic Eid al-Adha festival later this week. He used the official name of the Taliban government.
“Farmers are looking for alternatives as legal cultivation continues to grow. Many citizens, especially the [Afghan] youth, are now saved from being exposed to harm,” Akhundzada stated.
Last week, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan told a U.N. Security Council meeting that there was “growing evidence” the Taliban’s opium poppy ban had been “effectively enforced,” decreasing the cultivation “significantly” in many parts of the country.
“At the same time, the opium economy has helped sustain parts of the rural economy in Afghanistan. Donors should consider allocating funding to alternative livelihood programs that address the specific needs of farmers affected by the ban,” Roza Otunbayeva told Wednesday’s meeting in New York.
Thomas West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, in a June 7 tweet, also hailed the reduction in poppy cultivation.
“Reports that the Taliban have implemented policies to significantly decrease opium poppy production this year are credible and important. Every country in the region and beyond has a shared interest in an Afghanistan free of drugs,” West wrote.
The international recognition of counter-drug efforts by the Taliban stemmed from new research and analysis published earlier this month by a geospatial analytics firm Alcis.
The studies noted that recent satellite images show an “unprecedented” decrease in the cultivation of opium poppy in the country, with cultivation in the largest-producing southern provinces down by at least 80% compared with last year.
“The Taliban have successfully reduced poppy cultivation by more than 99% in Helmand province, which previously produced more than 50% of the country’s opium,” the report said.
Women’s rights
Otunbayeva, briefing the U.N. Security Council members on Wednesday, said, however, that the Taliban’s sweeping restrictions on women’s access to work, education, and public life at large “obscure” their “positive achievements” such as countering narcotics and “the welcome reduction of high-level corruption” in Afghanistan.
She renewed the U.N. call for the fundamentalist authorities to rescind the curbs immediately.
Akhundzada has rejected calls for removing restrictions on women as interference in internal Afghan matters, saying their policies are aligned with local culture and Islamic law, or Sharia.
The Taliban chief reiterated his defiance in Sunday’s Eid message, asserting that his decrees have restored “the status of women as free and dignified human beings.” Akhundzada added that he had instructed all government institutions to help women secure marriage, inheritance, and other rights.
“Under the rule of the Islamic Emirate, concrete measures have been taken to save women from many traditional oppressions, including forced marriages and their Sharia rights have been protected. … The negative aspects of the past 20-year occupation related to women’s Hijab and misguidance will end soon,” Akhundzada said without elaborating.
The Taliban regained power in August 2021 after waging a deadly insurgency for almost 20 years against the U.S.-led NATO troops protecting the internationally backed former Afghan government in Kabul.
No foreign government or global organization has recognized the Taliban as a legitimate government over restrictions on women and girls, among other human rights concerns.
“I am blunt about the obstacles they have created for themselves by the decrees and restrictions they have enacted, in particular against women and girls,” said Otunbayeva on Wednesday. “We have conveyed to them that as long as these decrees are in place, it is nearly impossible that their government will be recognized by members of the international community,” she added.
Related
Tolo News in Dari – June 25, 2023
Widespread fire rages through Nuristan and Kunar forests
Ariana: More than 180 hectares of forest in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar and Nuristan provinces is on fire, officials said on Sunday. The fires come as Afghanistan is experiencing rising temperatures. Currently temperatures in many parts of the country are in the high 30s and are expected to move into the 40s in the next few days. Click here to read more (external link).
Private Companies Start Extracting Marble Mine in Afghanistan’s Baghlan
Khaama: The [Taliban] Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has signed a five-year contract to extract marble from a mine in the Khwaja Zaid Valley of the Doshi district of Baghlan province with two companies. According to company representatives, the marble the two companies export will be marketed locally and internationally. Click here to read more (external link).