Khalilzad Claims Pakistani Establishment May Intend To Arrest Imran Khan’s Wife

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Zalmay Khalilzad

Khaama: Zalmay Khalilzad, the former envoy of the US in Afghanistan affairs, said in a statement on Monday that rumour has it that the Pakistani establishment intends to arrest Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Begum. Khalilzad claimed concerning rumours that the Pakistani authorities will arrest Bushra Begum, Imran Khan’s wife. According to Khalilzad, the government of Pakistan is attempting to exacerbate the political situation in the country rather than pulling back from the precipice. Click here to read more (external link).

Man Brutally Tortured to Death by Taliban Fighter in Jawzjan

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8am: The incident took place on Saturday, May 13, in the village of Shirmango, in the Darzab district of Jowzjan province.Sources state that the victim, named Khal Mohammad, was killed after a verbal altercation with a Taliban member named Ahmad Rayis. Reportedly, Khal Mohammad was tortured to death by Ahmad Rayis’ sons. Recently, members of the group beheaded a Quran teacher in front of his family in Faryab province. Click here to read more (external link).

Rabies on the Rise in Zabul: Over 50 People Bitten by Infected Dogs in One Week

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8am: Officials of this directorate said on Saturday, May 13, that more than 50 people, including children, have visited health centers in the province during the past week due to being bitten by rabid dogs.  Among those affected by the rabies, seven children are included, two of whom are reported to be in critical condition. Click here to read more (external link).

Huge Locust Outbreak Threatens Afghanistan’s Wheat Basket

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Lisa Schlein
VOA News
May 14, 2023

GENEVA — Growing risks of a potentially large Moroccan locust outbreak sweeping across northern Afghanistan’s eight provinces, the country’s wheat basket, will have devastating consequences for millions of Afghan people already suffering from acute hunger if not controlled, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

“It is a heartbreaking story that could be unfolding,” said Richard Trenchard, FAO representative in Afghanistan.

Speaking from the capital Kabul, Trenchard said, “Its impact could be enormous in a country facing one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.”

The Moroccan locust is ranked among the most economically damaging plant pests anywhere in the world. FAO warns it eats more than 150 species of plants, including tree crops, pastures, and food crops, all of which grow in Afghanistan.

Trenchard said a full outbreak this year could result in losses of more than a million metric tons of wheat, “up to a quarter of the total annual harvest” and economic losses of up to $500 million.

“There are heroic local efforts going on—communities, FAO, our NGO partners, and the authorities to do physical control. But it may be too little, too late to stop the outbreak.”

He said, “We will see in the next few days and weeks, as the hoppers, the adolescent locust become adults, the true scale. It will certainly lead to a spike of humanitarian needs,” noting that “up to three million people directly could be affected.”

The United Nations reports the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has become more severe since the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August 2021, adding that their discriminatory policies against women have worsened the country’s humanitarian and economic situation.

The World Food Program reports 19.9 million people face acute hunger and 6 million are on the verge of famine. It says nearly half of children under five and a quarter of pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished and need life-saving nutrition support in the next 12 months.

U.N. agencies report the Ukraine crisis, triggered by Russia’s invasion of the country, has caused the price of food, fuel, and other commodities to rise, making them unaffordable in many countries, including in Afghanistan.

Trenchard notes that the harvest forecasts this year are the best following three years of drought. This, he said makes it particularly distressing to see that “this outbreak threatens to destroy all these recent gains and dramatically worsen the food insecurity situation later this year and into next year.”

He said thousands of people have been working day and night, shoulder-to-shoulder to kill the hopper bands before they become adults and begin to swarm. Despite these herculean efforts, he said he feared the impact would be limited.

He explained that people have been forced to use traditional physical control methods to reduce the locust threat such as “sweeping locusts by hand into trenches or onto tarpaulins and destroying them.

“Chemical control is the tried-and-tested method for controlling locusts around the world, including here,” he said. “But chemical supplies were too low to mount a systematic campaign earlier this year.”

He noted that Afghanistan used to have a very strong locust control system in place, which has been heavily eroded in the last two years of Taliban rule.

The FAO representative warns the Moroccan locust population could increase its numbers by 100-fold in the next year if left untreated “creating even bigger problems for agriculture and food security for Afghanistan and that of its neighbors.”

Afghanistan Reports First Polio Case This Year

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
May 13, 2023

Afghanistan on May 13 reported its first polio case this year after a 4-year-old child was diagnosed with the crippling disease. Kamal Shah, the head of the communications department of the UNICEF Polio Eradication Program in Afghanistan, told RFE/RL the case was recorded in the Bati-Kot district of the eastern province of Nangarhar. Two cases were recorded last year. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries in the world where wild polio is still endemic. The viral disease can only be prevented by vaccination. Islamic militants often target polio-vaccination teams, falsely claiming the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

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.

Lost In Transactions: Afghans Living In Iran Left Stranded By Lack Of Access To Bank Cards

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Freshta Negah
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 13, 2023

Iran is implementing modern new payment systems to make it easier for its citizens to use public transportation and get their subsidized daily bread. But Afghans living in the country say they are being left behind due to immigration policies that restrict their access to bank cards.

Afghan migrants are complaining that not being able to have bank cards makes it difficult to use city subways, access mobile phone services, and even to get their daily bread.

Mirwais, who has lived in the southwestern city of Shiraz for over 20 years, says the limitations add to the “pressure” he and other Afghans face every day in Iran.

“All the migrants face this,” said Mirwais, who gave only his first name in a telephone interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “Whether in Shiraz, Tehran, or Isfahan, migrants suffer and are under pressure all over Iran.”

Digital Divide

The lack of access to basic services can be traced to requirements imposed years ago that effectively prevent many members of Iran’s large Afghan community from obtaining bank cards. While Iran has made the leap to Internet banking, online purchases, and digital card readers, migrants must still go in person to a bank to make withdrawals or send wire payments.

Some Afghans living in Iran say they cannot open a bank account at all, while others complain that they face limits on the amount they can withdraw. Getting mobile phone service has also been made difficult due to Iran’s crackdown on unregistered SIM cards.

The problem has been compounded by the need for bank cards to purchase transportation tickets or to apply for new smart cards introduced for purchasing subsidized goods from bakeries, meaning Afghans have to rely on workarounds just to put food on the table or travel around.

Mohammad Amiri, 26, has lived in Tehran with his wife and child for more than two years, but still faces difficulties carrying out everyday tasks.

“In the [Tehran] subway, you need to pay with a bank card. They don’t accept cash,” he told Radio Azadi. “Some [Iranians] buy tickets for us [in exchange for cash], but others don’t.”

“Unfortunately, as Afghan migrants, we don’t have the right to have a bank card or even a SIM card. This is a real problem for us,” he said.

Mirwais expressed the same frustration, saying that if fellow passengers are not willing to purchase electronic passes for them, he and other Afghans must take taxis at much greater expense.

He said the same goes for bakeries, which recently introduced a new “smartization” system that uses special cards that allow customers to automatically deduct their purchases from a state-subsidized account.

The initiative has been touted by officials as a way of more effectively distributing subsidies, easing skyrocketing prices for flour and bread, and eliminating graft.

‘They Make It Hard’

Officials have denied they are excluding anyone and have pledged to fix any difficulties stemming from the new systems, saying that there are alternatives to using bank cards and that the Tehran subway allows Afghan nationals experiencing payment issues to ride for free.

But Afghans who spoke to Radio Azadi said the reality is much different.

“My wife offered the baker money six times, but the baker would not accept it, saying she must bring a bank card,” Mirwais said this week. “There are some [Iranians] who offer their cards, one in 1,000. They give their cards and take cash to resolve the problem.”

“We go to the bank, they don’t accept our passports; we go to buy a SIM card, they don’t accept our passports,” Mirwais said. “It should be easy to use the subway, but the government makes it hard for migrants.”

Millions Of Migrants

An estimated 3 million Afghans, many of them undocumented refugees and migrants, live in Iran. Many have complained of widespread discrimination and abuse.

More than 1 million Afghans crossed into Iran in 2021, often en route to third countries, as the Taliban advanced and eventually seized power in Afghanistan that year. Iranian authorities have reportedly deported more than half of recent arrivals.

Many Afghan migrants in Iran moved to the Islamic republic decades ago amid political upheaval and war. Iran has also long been a destination country for Afghan migrant workers seeking seasonal jobs.

Migrants are officially divided into two categories in Iran: those who are documented and have passports, residency, or immigration cards, and the undocumented. The latter group includes Afghans who never held passports in their home country.

Iran provides one-year residency permits for more recent arrivals, and has said that full access to banking and social services, including health insurance, are available to all migrants who officially register their names and information with the Interior Ministry. More than 2 million foreign nationals have complied and are on the books, according to the ministry.

But mired in its own economic crisis amid skyrocketing inflation and rising food prices, Iran has often expressed alarm at the number of undocumented Afghans on its soil.

Undocumented Afghans like Amiri have little hope of gaining access to basic services, and even those who have residency permits can only hold bank accounts for the one-year period of their stay.

“We can’t open a bank account because we don’t have any [identity] documents with us,” Amiri said.

“We applied at several banks, but they’ve told us that we must wait. So, we’re just waiting to see what will happen. Having a bank card is essential for us, for our daily lives.”

Written by Michael Scollon based on reporting by Freshta Negah of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi

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.

Panjshir University Students Say They Were Told to Leave Dormitory

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Tolo News: Students at Panjshir University said that the building serving as the university’s dormitory has been changed to a Jihadi seminary recently, and they have been told to leave the building soon. Around 300 students who are living in the dormitory said the decision will force them to give up university, saying they are not financially able to pay for private lodging. Click here to read more (external link).