US, India urge IEA to form inclusive government in Afghanistan

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Biden

Ariana: US President Joe Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the importance of the formation of an inclusive political structure in Afghanistan and “called on the Taliban [IEA] to respect human rights of all Afghans, including women and girls, and to respect freedom of movement,” a joint statement said from the US and India released by White House on Thursday. The statement added that the leaders reiterated their strong support for a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).

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Rural School Closures Seen As Taliban Effort To Impose Full Control Over Afghan Education

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By Mohammad Sadiq Rishtinai and Abubakar Siddique
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
June 22, 2023

Eight-year-old Halima was devastated to learn that after overcoming numerous obstacles to her education under Taliban rule, her path to learning had been blocked with the closure of her private school.

“We all went home crying,” she told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi of the day she and her fellow students learned that their classes in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar Province had been terminated.

“Our schools were closed first by the coronavirus [pandemic], then there was fighting, and now they have been shut again,” she said. “We just want to study.”

The rural classroom where she studied was a lifeline for learning basic mathematics, Afghan languages, science, and Islamic studies despite the ruling Taliban’s efforts to restrict girls’ and women’s access to education.

But on April 16, classes ended when the hardline Islamist authorities announced that the school, among Afghanistan’s thousands of Community-Based Education (CBE) centers, would be closed following unspecified “complaints from locals.”

Unrest and poverty in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand Province made the two regions a focal point for the development of CBE centers over the past three decades, with funding coming primarily from Western donors via the United Nations and international nongovernmental organizations.

Countrywide, more than 500,000 Afghan children currently attend CBE centers, which were established in cooperation with the communities in which they were based and are often held in private homes, mosques, or large tents.

Aid groups pay teachers’ salaries, provide educational materials, and offer the same curriculum taught in Afghan state schools. The centers, typically made up of a single classroom catering for up to 50 students, half of them girls, also filled an education void in remote areas where there were no state schools.

But since mid-April, nearly 1,600 CBE centers in Kandahar Province have been closed, depriving 50,000 students of an education. Similar numbers have been recorded in neighboring Helmand Province in a nationwide trend.

‘It’s Heartbreaking’

The termination of classes at Halima’s school and others like it appears to show that the narrow window for learning in remote areas is being closed as the Taliban looks to impose full control over how children are educated.

Munir Ahmad, who ran a literacy class inside his mudbrick home in Dand, a rural district in Kandahar Province, said he was forced to close his doors to students in April.

“It is heartbreaking to lose these classes because they serve children in remote areas where there are no other education opportunities,” he told Radio Azadi.

The Taliban, approaching two years in power, has not commented on whether it has ordered the school closures. But aid workers, rights campaigners, and education experts suggest that the hardline group is trying to ensure that young students receive an Islamic education even though the CBE centers follow the state model.

This, in turn, has led to concerns that the Taliban either intends to permanently shut down the schools or use them as venues to spread its extremist worldview and ideology.

“It is alarming,” said Heather Barr, associate director of the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch. “The Taliban will likely change these schools in a way that is harmful to students, particularly girls.”

Education has been a main target of the Taliban’s extremist policies since it seized power in August 2021 and took steps to root out secular education.

Teenage girls were promptly banned from attending school despite the Taliban’s promises to the international community, which has listed the Taliban’s stance on girls’ and women’s education as a key obstacle to officially recognizing its government.

‘Jihadi Madrasahs’

Since taking power, the Taliban has consistently enforced strict gender segregation and replaced professional educators with clerics.

Last year, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada appointed key loyalists Mawlawi Habibullah Agha and Nida Mohmmad Nadim to lead the education and higher education ministries, respectively.

The two have diligently worked to expand the ban on women’s education and attempted to turn schools into a tool for indoctrination by tweaking the curriculum, critics say. In some cases, modern schools have been converted into madrasahs.

In December, the Taliban upped the ante by prohibiting women from receiving a university education.

And in the latest move, a Taliban official said this month that its government had established “jihadi madrasahs” in at least five provinces. Many Islamist militant groups, including the Taliban, emerged from such religious schools in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan in the 1980s.

Wazhma Tokhi, an Afghan human rights activist with a particular focus on women’s rights and education in Afghanistan, suggests that the recent school closures can be seen as another example of the group’s determination to root out secular education.

“They want to turn the schools into madrasahs,” Tokhi said.

The UN agency for children, UNICEF, which funds many CBE centers, says it is now holding discussions with the Taliban over “timelines and practicalities” for possibly handing them over to Afghan NGOs, many of which receive outside funding and have some protection from the Taliban.

Tokhi sees disastrous consequences if the Taliban assumes direct control over CBE centers.

“Our future is destroyed,” she said.

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.

Two Taliban Fighters Apprehended by Locals Before Attempted Sexual Assault on Two Girls in Ghor Province

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8am: According to the sources, on the night of Wednesday, June 21, two armed individuals affiliated with the Taliban were detained by the local residents in the Qatas area of Firozkoh city while attempting to sexually assault two girls. The sources state that these two Taliban members are residents of the Ghelmin area in Firozkoh city, the center of Ghor, and they had traveled to the Qatas area with the intention of committing sexual assault. It is worth mentioning that in May, the son of a Taliban commander was killed by gunfire after attempting to sexually assault a young girl. Click here to read more (external link).

SCO Members Lack Unity on Taliban Terrorism Concerns

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Akmal Dawi
VOA News
June 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — Frustration with the rising threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan emerged at a meeting this week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a defense and economic alliance platform consisting of China, Russia, India, Iran and five other Asian states.

Russia and Tajikistan say Afghanistan, which holds an uncertain observer status in the SCO following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, has become a breeding ground for regional terrorist groups.

“According to our information, terrorist groups such as al-Qaida, Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, TTP, Jamaat Ansarullah are currently present in Afghanistan and pose serious threats to neighboring countries,” said Amirbeg Begnazarov, a representative of Tajikistan, at an event Wednesday jointly hosted by the SCO and the United Nations.

He said his nation was “very concerned about the concentration of different terrorist groups next to our borders that we’ve never had before [and it] is increasing day by day.”

Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, recently said that the Taliban’s return to power had bolstered terrorist organizations operating in Afghanistan, a charge echoed by other highly placed Russians.

Vladimir Voronkov, a former Russian diplomat who now heads the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism, said this week that Afghanistan had become “an epicenter for the dissemination of terrorism” under the Taliban.

Unlike Russia, China has refrained from making such blistering allegations against the Taliban and has instead actively engaged the isolated Islamist regime.

“Afghanistan is at a critical phase of transitioning from chaos to order,” Zhang Jun, the Chinese permanent representative at the U.N., told a Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Zhang said the international community should engage with de facto Taliban authorities and help the country achieve stability and economic prosperity.

Domestic vs. regional concerns

Russia cautiously welcomed the Taliban’s return to power following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Shy of a formal recognition, Russia has handed over the Afghan Embassy in Moscow to the Taliban. It maintained its diplomatic mission in Kabul until September, when it was attacked.

Ten people, including two Russian Embassy staff, were killed and several others injured in the suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

The attack prompted Russia to shut its diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, warning about increased terrorism risks originating from the landlocked nation and threatening its Central Asian neighbors where Russian troops are stationed.

Within SCO members, “differing threat perceptions of particular extremist or separatist groups, political sensitivities and sovereignty concerns, as well as lack of genuine trust among member states, make concrete counterterrorism cooperation very difficult — besides some limited information sharing,” Jiayi Zhou, an expert at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told VOA.

While Russia is more vocal about terrorism threats it perceives from the Islamic State group, some SCO members see threats from other militant groups allegedly based in Afghanistan, experts say.

“The trust deficits and divergences within the SCO have resulted in most member countries using bilateral channels to establish ties with the Taliban for geostrategic, geoeconomics and individual security guarantees,” said Ayjaz Ahmad Wani, a researcher at the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian policy institute.

Pakistan has followed the Chinese lead even while officials say Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a militant group seeking to overthrow the government in Islamabad, has intensified terrorist attacks from its purported havens inside Afghanistan.

Last month, at the 5th China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue in Islamabad, the parties agreed to promote trilateral cooperation in security, development and political fronts.

“The SCO as a regional security platform has largely been ineffective,” said Zhou, adding that member states have pursued different security and political priorities since the inception of the organization more than two decades ago.

Toppled from power in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition for their alleged support for international terrorism, the Taliban, even after recapturing power in 2021, face terrorism sanctions from many countries.

Taliban leaders maintain that they host no terrorist group and do not threaten the security of any nation.

Taliban Fighters Suffocate and Kill Elderly Tribal Leader in Sar-e Pul

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8am: According to the sources, Gholam Hussain, a highly respected figure from the village of Paroshan in the Balkhab district, fell victim to the Taliban members’ brutal act on the night of Wednesday night, June 21. Confirming the incident, local Taliban officials in Sar-e Pul have announced the arrest of one of their fighters, who stands accused of the murder of Gholam Hussain. The merciless killing of innocent civilians by Taliban fighters has regrettably become an all-too-familiar occurrence. Such acts of violence have been previously perpetrated under various pretexts by the Taliban, posing a grave threat to the lives and security of the country’s citizens. Click here to read more (external link).

Afghanistan Again Becomes Breeding Ground For Terrorism: Vladimir Voronkov

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Khaama: According to the UN under Secretary General Vladimir Voronkov, Afghanistan has again become a haven for terrorists. On Wednesday, Voronkov was addressing a conference on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization counter-terrorism convention organized by Russian and Chinese missions. “The document is rather profound and informative;’ effectively shows that Afghanistan is once again slowly becoming one of the most important, or maybe even the most crucial epicentre of the spread of terrorism. Despite all promises, all loud statements, the facts prove otherwise,” he added. He also emphasized that the current regime of Kabul is “unable or unwilling to reduce the terrorist threat.” Click here to read more (external link).

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Nawzad District in Helmand Faces Lack of Water: Residents

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Tolo News: Residents of Nawzad district in Helmand province said that the continuation of life in some villages of the district has become difficult due to recent wars and drought, which has forced them to leave their areas.  Residents of this district added that they face many challenges and that the current government should address their problems.  Hedaytullah, a Nawzad district resident, said that due to the lack of water in the district, they have to leave their district. Click here to read more (external link).

UN: Taliban Give No Assurances on Lifting Restrictions on Afghan Women

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Margaret Besheer
VOA News
June 21, 2023

The United Nation’s top official in Afghanistan said Wednesday there have been no assurances from the Taliban that they will lift their “punishing restrictions” on the country’s female population, placing a “question mark” over U.N. activities in the country.

“We have been given no explanations by the de facto authorities for this ban, and no assurance that it will be lifted,” Roza Otunbayeva, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

On April 5, the Taliban verbally informed the United Nations that an existing ban on women working for humanitarian organizations had been extended to include the United Nations. About 400 Afghan women work for the U.N. in the country.

Since then, the U.N. has ordered its female staff to work from home and for non-essential male staffers to also work remotely.

“We are steadfast — female national staff will not be replaced by male national staff as some de facto authorities have suggested,” Otunbayeva said.

The Security Council condemned the Taliban’s edict and called for its reversal in a resolution adopted unanimously on April 27.

The Taliban has been unmoved. Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada directed government spokespersons this month to emphasize the enforcement of Islamic law in their statements.

“The United States and the United Nations have held the entire world hostage, and nothing moves without their dictation,” he told a meeting in the southern city of Kandahar, which is known as the birthplace of the Taliban. “The Islamic Emirate [Taliban] effectively controls all parts of Afghanistan, but non-Muslim and even Islamic countries refuse to recognize it.”

Otunbayeva said the Taliban wants international recognition, but that means fulfilling responsibilities under the U.N. Charter, not working against its values.

“In my regular discussions with the de facto authorities, 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,” she said. “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 said the bans, which include earlier ones preventing girls attending secondary schools and universities, visiting parks and gyms, and restricting their movements outside their homes, have taken a toll on women’s mental and physical health.

Otunbayeva urged the Taliban to lift the restrictions so the U.N. can continue its full support to the Afghan people, more than 28 million of whom require some form of humanitarian assistance.

Ayaz Gul in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Forcefully Displacing, Relocating Ethnic Groups Should be Stopped in Afghanistan: CSTO

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Khaama: The foreign ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) demanded that the forced displacement and relocation of ethnic and religious groups in Afghanistan should be stopped. After the return of the Taliban to power, reports emerged that forced displacement of Tajiks, Hazaras, Turkmen and Uzbeks took place in different parts of Afghanistan. In the recent past, several families from Pakistan’s tribal areas were transferred to northern Takhar province according to sources. Click here to read more (external link).