India Takes Heat For Realist ‘Collusion’ With Taliban

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Michael Hughes: New Delhi’s policy towards Kabul since the Taliban takeover would probably impress the likes of one of the most famous realist practitioners in modern history – Henry Kissinger, who passed away at the age of 100 this week. Hindu nationalist India’s nuanced approach to the radical Sunni regime is in one sense somewhat impressive – exhibiting a level of tolerance, however superficial and expedient, while advancing India’s geostrategic objectives.

However, if the Modi government practices the art of realism in too naked a fashion, it risks alienating some key stakeholders and wasting the political capital it has long sought, especially vis-à-vis its rivalry with Islamabad.

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Pakistani Top Court Seeks Government Response on Afghan Expulsion Policy

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Sarah Zaman
VOA News
December 1, 2023

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Supreme Court asked the government Friday to respond to questions raised over its policy of expelling Afghans residing illegally in the country, observing that Islamabad must abide by United Nations’ resolutions protecting refugees.

Holding the first hearing on a plea challenging the ongoing eviction of Afghans, a three-member bench of the top court sought responses from the federal government, the apex committee headed by the prime minister and army chief that decided to expel Afghan nationals, as well as the foreign office.

The petition filed jointly by more than a dozen politicians, lawyers and community activists last month calls the eviction a “massive violation of fundamental rights of around 4.4 million persons of Afghan origin [present] for the time being in Pakistan.”

Reeling from a wave of deadly terror attacks, Pakistan in October ordered all people residing there illegally to leave by November 1 or face deportation.

The order primarily affected 1.7 million Afghans living without proper documents. Nearly 700,000 Afghans have arrived since the Afghan Taliban took control of their country in August 2021.

So far, close to 400,000 have left Pakistan from border crossings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan provinces.

“The haphazard manner in which all Afghans are being shunted out of the country, this is absolutely wrong. It is in violation of their human rights. It is in violation of the international covenants,” Senator Farhatullah Babar, one of the petitioners, told VOA.

Criticizing the government’s strategy, Babar said the order was affecting those with legitimate asylum claims, while many with proper documents also were being pushed out.

Rejecting the allegation, Pakistani foreign ministry’s spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch said at a weekly media briefing that “the policy [of expulsion] pertains to those individuals who are in Pakistan in violation of immigration law.” Baloch, however, refused to address the court’s order seeking details, saying the matter was sub-judice, or in court.

Aid agencies, as well as local and international rights watchdogs, have criticized Pakistan’s plan, concerned that many Afghan returnees might face extreme poverty or retribution from the Taliban, while girls and women would be deprived of education and work opportunities.

Despite hosting one of the largest refugee populations in the world, Pakistan is not a signatory to the U.N.’s convention protecting refugee rights.

Rida Hosain, a Lahore-based lawyer, told VOA the courts still may apply principles of international law that support or do not contradict domestic laws. The South Asian country is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, though, as well as the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

“This obligation extends to all residents of Pakistan, not just citizens,” Hosain said about the protections recognized in the U.N.’s resolutions that Pakistan signed.

Among those forced to leave because of a lack of documents are Afghans born in Pakistan to refugee parents. Many now have Pakistani-born children of their own who have little, if any, ties to their grandparents’ homeland.

“By all reckoning they should be treated as Pakistani nationals,” Babar said.

Although Pakistani law recognizes the right to citizenship for children born on its soil, this provision is not extended to Afghan families.

In 2018, then-Prime Minister Imran Khan announced his government would give citizenship to Afghans born in Pakistan. The hugely surprising statement was never turned into law.

Babar, a veteran politician, hinted that Pakistan’s powerful military manages the country’s foreign policy.

“The Afghan policy is not made by the civilian government,” he said. “It has never been discussed and debated in the parliament. The foreign office has little say in the formulation of the Afghan policy.”

The current caretaker government that made the decision to expel undocumented Afghans enjoys the military’s support. Petitioners argue, though, that it simply does not have the authority to formulate this policy of mass eviction. Hosain agrees.

“They are not elected, they don’t represent the people of Pakistan. So, the court would need to decide whether a caretaker government with such a restrictive mandate can take such a major policy decision, and in my view, this is beyond the power of the caretaker government,” she said.

So far, the caretaker government has claimed it is only applying the law of the land.

“The concept of the nation state is that illegal practices, illegal means, are not promoted in any country. We won’t allow that either,” Sarfaraz Bugti, the Pakistani interior minister, told VOA in October after announcing the policy.

Pakistan claims Afghan nationals were involved in several deadly terror attacks on civilians and security personnel this year. Islamabad also accuses the Afghan Taliban of taking insufficient action to curb cross-bordekakr terrorism. The de facto government in Kabul denies the charge.

Speaking to VOA last month, the Pakistani caretaker prime minister said the policy, which the Afghan Taliban rejected as inhumane, was meant to formalize movement between the two neighbors.

“We want to have a regulated movement interaction with Afghanistan as a state. This is the prime target,” Anwar ul Haq Kakar said.

A group of Pakistani academics has also petitioned the court against the expulsion of Afghans.

The hearing will resume next week in the Supreme Court.

Clashes Erupt in Kapisa Province: Freedom Front Claims Killing of Four Taliban Fighters

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8am: In a press release issued on Friday, December 1, the Freedom Front disclosed that the overnight confrontation took place in the Khum-Zargar area of the Hesse-Awal Kohistan district in Kapisa. According to their statement, their forces engaged in a fierce battle, resulting in the death of at least four Taliban fighters and the injury of two more. Independent local sources confirmed the intensity of the clash to Hasht-e Subh Daily, although specific details regarding casualties on both sides were not provided. It is important to highlight that, beyond this recent overnight confrontation, the Freedom Front of Afghanistan has taken responsibility for 14 attacks on Taliban positions across various provinces, including Kabul, over the past week. Click here to read more (external link).

 

Afghan Taliban Says China Becomes First Nation to Accept Its Ambassador

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
December 1, 2023

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced Friday that China had formally accepted its ambassador to Beijing, hailing the move as an “important chapter” in growing ties between the two neighboring countries.

The announcement, yet to be confirmed by China, would make it the first nation to host a Taliban ambassador since the Islamist group regained power from an American-backed government in Kabul two years ago.

Neither China nor any other country has formally given recognition to the de facto Afghan administration.

An official Taliban foreign ministry statement said that Hong Lei, the director-general of the protocol department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, accepted the copy of credentials from the newly appointed ambassador, Asadullah Bilal Karimi.

Hong called Karimi’s arrival an “important step in further strengthening and expanding the positive relations” between Beijing and Kabul.

“China respects the national sovereignty and the decisions of the people of Afghanistan. It does not interfere in the internal Afghan affairs, nor has it done so in the past,” Hong said in Friday’s meeting, according to the Taliban.

Karimi assured the Chinese side that “there is no threat to anyone from the territory of Afghanistan, and regional stability and security is in the interest of all.”

The new ambassador, in his early 30s, served as the deputy spokesman at the Taliban-led information ministry until recently.

Beijing has sought to sustain its close engagement with the Taliban to help prevent the conflict-torn South Asian nation from plunging into chaos again, which could encourage anti-China militants to use Afghan soil to threaten Chinese security.

The Chinese government invited Taliban delegates to its global Belt and Road Forum in October this year, marking the first high-profile multilateral gathering de facto Afghan rulers have attended since returning to power.

Last September, China became the first nation to appoint an ambassador to Kabul under Taliban rule. Other countries either retained their previous ambassadors or appointed the heads of their embassies in a charge d’affaires capacity, which does not require presenting credentials to the host government.

State and private Chinese companies have shown interest in investing in Afghanistan, with some signing contracts with the Taliban in recent months. However, international banking sector sanctions have deterred foreign investors from undertaking major initiatives.

Around 20 neighboring and regional countries have kept their embassies operational or reopened diplomatic missions since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, when all U.S.-led Western troops withdrew from the country and ended their two-decade-long involvement in the Afghan war.

Washington and other Western countries have since moved their Afghan diplomatic missions to Qatar to ensure they can sustain humanitarian aid for millions of Afghans.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s neighbors and regional countries, including Russia, India and Turkey, have allowed the Taliban to take control of Afghan diplomatic missions on their respective soils, which are being run at charge d’affairs level.

The Taliban’s global isolation mainly stems from their sweeping curbs on Afghan women’s rights. They have forbidden teenage girls from receiving an education beyond the sixth grade and barred most women from public and private workplaces across the impoverished country, where half of the population needs humanitarian aid.

The de facto authorities are under sustained international pressure to remove restrictions on women, govern the country through an inclusive political setup, and prevent terrorists from operating out of Afghan soil.

The male-only Taliban government has rejected criticism of its policies, saying they are aligned with local culture and Islamic law. They also have claimed no terrorist groups operate in the country.

The United Nations has ruled out granting Afghanistan’s seat to the Taliban until they address international concerns and end their harsh treatment of women.

Other Diplomatic News

Targeted Massacre of Hazaras in Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan Sparks Protests in Jebraiel Area of Herat City

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8am: Unidentified gunmen struck around 3:00 PM on Friday, December 1, opening fire on the occupants of a rickshaw in the “Korra Milli” area in Jebraiel township, located in District 13 of Herat. As a result of this brutal attack, two Shiite religious scholars and four women lost their lives, with three others sustaining injuries. In response to this heinous act, protesters called for an immediate end to the targeted killings of Hazaras and demanded the swift apprehension of those responsible for this tragic event. During their demonstration, they solemnly carried the bodies of the victims as a poignant expression of their grief and outrage. Click here to read more (externa link).

Afghanistan bagged a historic medal in Yerevan

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asbcnews: The last part of the quarter-finals featured at the IBA Junior World Boxing Championships in Yerevan, Armenia on Day7 and all of the winners are now guaranteed medallists. India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are the strongest countries but Afghanistan bagged a historic medal in the session. Boxers who were born in 2007 and in 2008 are eligible to participate in the Junior World Boxing Championships. Afghanistan, Chinese Taipei, India, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan sent their boxers from the Asian continent. Click here to read more (external link).

‘The cracks are getting bigger and there are still aftershocks – we fear our house may collapse’

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The Telegraph (UK): Between October 7 and October 15, Herat province in western Afghanistan was hit by four back-to-back earthquakes, each registering a magnitude of 6.3. This seismic cascade was interspersed with frequent and ongoing tremors, which have left people in “a persistent state of anxiety and fear”, the World Health Organization has said.  Seven weeks later people are still struggling to recover, with shelter a central issue. Remote villages in the province remain flattened and much of Herat city, a centuries-old citadel, is structurally unsound.  Click here to read more (external link).

Afghans Face Abuses in Pakistan, US Announces Hotline

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Akmal Dawi
VOA News
November 29, 2023

Pakistani police are facing accusations of unlawfully detaining, beating, extorting and sexually harassing Afghan refugees as part of a coercive campaign aimed at compelling them to return to their home country.

“Police and other officials have carried out mass detentions, seized property and livestock, and destroyed identity documents to expel thousands of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers,” U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Afghan women told Human Rights Watch that Pakistani police had sometimes sexually harassed some Afghan women and girls and threatened them with sexual assault.”

Amnesty International has also reported on the trauma experienced by refugee women during police night raids.

“Many women are sleeping fully covered [in veils] because they are afraid of nighttime police raids by male police officers,” the U.K.-based rights organization said, quoting a female human rights lawyer.

Afghans in need of visa extensions in Pakistan are reportedly required to pay fines exceeding $800, while others have reported extortion.

“Afghan traders in Akbari Mandi in Lahore were searched for documentation by individuals in plain clothes claiming to be police officials who confiscated Rs. 500,000 [$1,750] in cash,” Amnesty International said.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk has expressed alarm at these reports and urged Islamabad to cease the deportation campaign.

“The local police conducted a night raid on our home,” a refugee told the U.N. human rights body. “They confiscated cash, jewelry, goats, sheep and other items from our home and took them.”

Cause for deportation

In October, Pakistani authorities announced that all foreign nationals in the country without valid visas and permits would be expelled within a short period.

While Pakistani officials cite Afghan nationals’ alleged involvement in crimes and security incidents, experts suggest that Islamabad is leveraging mass deportations to press the Afghan Taliban to meet its security demands.

Islamabad claims Pakistani Taliban insurgents have havens in Afghanistan from where they orchestrate terrorist attacks in Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban deny the charge.

“The mass deportation is primarily driven by considerations — in particular Pakistan’s loss of patience with the Taliban — that have little to do with any purported danger posed by migrants and refugees themselves,” U.S.-based International Crisis Group reported this month.

Aid agencies have warned that a mass deportation, particularly during the cold season, would exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

Nearly half of the 3 million Afghans living in Pakistan are registered by the United Nations as refugees. The U.N. has reported that more than 370,000 Afghans have repatriated from Pakistan over the past two months.

US hotline

About 25,000 Afghans who worked for U.S. and international programs in Afghanistan prior to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 are in Pakistan with applications for resettlement in the United States pending.

Afghans seeking U.S. consular services must travel to a third country, primarily Pakistan, because the U.S. Embassy in Kabul remains closed, and Washington has refused to diplomatically recognize the Taliban regime.

This week, the U.S. Department of State announced an emergency hotline for Afghans who are on a pathway to U.S. immigration and resettlement but face deportation or detainment in Pakistan.

The Department of State did not respond to questions about the kind of services the hotline provides, but messages sent via WhatsApp to the hotline returned autoreplies asking for personal identification, date and place of detention for individuals concerned.

“Chats are answered in the order they are received,” a reply from the hotline said.
Human rights groups have called on the U.S. and other Western governments to expedite the resettlement process of Afghans from Pakistan to prevent their possible expulsion to Afghanistan, where they could face persecution.

Other Afghan Refugee News