Afghan Minister In Islamabad For Talks With Pakistan, China

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Muttaqi

By RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal
May 6, 2023

Pakistan is hosting talks on May 6 with China and Taliban-led Afghanistan. The Taliban administration’s interim foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, who has long been subjected to a UN travel ban, asset freeze, and arms embargo, was granted an exemption to travel to Pakistan by a UN Security Council committee on May 1. The talks in Islamabad with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari are expected to focus on regional security and economic issues.

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.

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Biden administration extends temporary fix for Afghan refugees in US

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The Hill: The Biden administration has extended a temporary fix to allow Afghan refugees to continue to live and work in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a release on Friday that Afghan nationals who arrived in the U.S. under humanitarian grounds through Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), which allowed vulnerable Afghans to resettle in the U.S. as the Taliban took over Afghanistan, to request re-parole starting next month. Click here to read more (external link).

TOLO news Findings: 347 People Attempted Suicide in Past Year in Afghanistan

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Tolo News: Badakhshan is at the top of the list, with records of 251 suicide attempts. The psychologists believe that many suicide attempts in Afghanistan are due to economic hardships and family violence. Click here to read more (external link).

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Taliban Arrest and Beat Dozens of Protesting Farmers in Farah Province

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8am: Sources told Hasht-e Subh that some farmers went to the province’s agriculture department on Wednesday, May 3, and protested. These farmers asked the Taliban’s agriculture department to collaborate with them in controlling the prices of their crops in the markets and to manage the price fluctuations throughout the day, which often drop from 100 to 20 Afghanis. However, the Taliban not only did not pay attention to their protests and requests but also transferred these farmers by military vehicles to the security observatory in Farah. Sources say that during the four-hour detention by the Taliban, these farmers were also beaten. Click here to read more (external link).

India-Pakistan Fireworks Steal Spotlight at SCO Foreign Ministerial

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Michael Hughes
AOPNEWS
May 5, 2023

Foreign ministers from several states during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) ministerial firmly expressed concerns over the Taliban’s inability to stem the terrorist tide in Afghanistan, although barbs, some quite vicious, exchanged between India’s top diplomat and his Pakistani counterpart seized the headlines, potentially diluting the impact of the message meant for the radical group.

The key story of the gathering held in India’s Goa at first appeared to be the fact that a group of leading regional actors in a unified manner called out the Taliban for essentially allowing Afghanistan to become a welcome mat for terror groups.

Not to mention, the meeting comes as IS-K steps up attacks inside Afghanistan, while states in the region grow increasingly alarmed by the terrorist threat expanding under the Taliban’s watch. The Taliban, meanwhile, instead of focusing on security, have spent most of their time expanding draconian restrictions on women.

Pakistan, ironically, has been the most impacted by the Taliban government’s embrace of extremist groups since the radicals retook Kabul. In fact, Islamabad has grown frustrated with the Afghan Taliban for providing sanctuary to TTP militants in particular, who have repeatedly launched cross-border attacks.

On Thursday, 13 people – including six Pakistani troops – were reportedly killed in clashes with militants near Afghanistan’s border in North Waziristan. TTP claimed responsibility for the attacks, accusing Pakistani forces of trying to raid the area.

“It is alarming that terrorist groups within Afghanistan are cooperating amongst themselves more than we are as the international community,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto said during a prepared speech at the forum on Friday. “As the country that will be the first but not the last to suffer the consequences, Pakistan calls on the Interim Afghan Authorities to uphold their commitments on not allowing the use of Afghan soil for terrorism.”

In addition, he curiously warned against “weaponizing terrorism for diplomatic point scoring,” and then invoked the 2007 assassination of his mother, ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who is often referred to as the “mother of the Taliban” given her key role as architect and sponsor of the movement’s rise in the 1990s. Pakistan’s top diplomat then hinted at tensions between Islamabad, Kabul and New Delhi over addressing the terrorist threat.

“We must stop conflating non-state actors with state actors. Condemn all forms of terrorism including state-sponsored terrorism,” Bhutto added.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was quite irritated by the comments about cooperation against terrorism, especially given that five Indian troops were killed during a clash in Kashmir earlier in the day. Jaishankar targeted Bhutto with vitriol at a post-meeting presser.

“As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Mr. Bhutto Zardari was treated accordingly. As a promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and countered including at the SCO meeting itself,” Jaishankar said as quoted by The Hindu.

The foreign minister also reaffirmed New Delhi’s conviction that Article 370 of India’s constitution, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, “is history,” according to the report, which described the minister as “visibly upset.”

In an exclusive interview published on Friday, Bhutto told The Hindu that he did not request a bilateral meeting with Jaishankar during the SCO summit and said the “only thing” holding up talks was India’s decision to reorganize Jammu and Kashmir.

India alleges that Islamabad has fueled terrorist groups in the disputed territory of Kashmir – accusations Pakistan has long-rejected, claiming they are supporting groups seeking self-determination.

Pakistan’s military has for years used Afghan territory to groom terrorist assets for the war in Kashmir and in the name of “strategic depth,” the notorious doctrine that was part of the rationale for forming the Afghan Taliban and backing their seizure of Kabul (twice).

Other regional state leaders were focused on boosting efforts for the SCO to better deal with the Taliban and the security situation on the ground in Afghanistan.

During his remarks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reiterating concerns about terrorist activities on Afghan soil, said Moscow is “keeping an eye” on how the Taliban addresses the security crisis.

After the meeting, Lavrov accused the United States of continuing to foment unrest in Afghanistan and even claimed there is clear proof that Washington is aiding terrorists. Moreover, Russia, he added, firmly opposes US attempts to reintroduce its military infrastructure across Central Asia.

“The US is again trying to interfere in Afghanistan’s affairs,” Lavrov told reporters as quoted by Sputnik. “There is convincing evidence that the US is supporting terrorist groups, including the Turkistan Islamic Party and al-Qaeda terrorist group, which all remain on the territory of Afghanistan.”

Lavrov said the ministers were in agreement on revitalizing the SCO-Afghanistan contact group in light of the need to eradicate terrorism and counter drug trafficking.


UN Experts Call Perpetration of Gender Persecution in Afghanistan Alarming

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 5, 2023

ISLAMABAD — A weeklong special U.N. mission on human rights in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has found an unprecedented level of “systemic gender-based” discrimination that severely threatens the impoverished country’s future.

The United Nations released preliminary findings of the two-member mission Friday, saying the study concluded Thursday and took place amid a long-standing humanitarian crisis and profound turmoil caused by the latest Taliban edict banning Afghan women from working for the U.N. and local NGOs.

The Taliban have banned girls from receiving an education beyond the sixth grade and women from most government jobs and public places since seizing power in Afghanistan nearly two years ago.

“During our mission, we have documented how women and girls’ lives in Afghanistan are being devastated by the crackdown on their human rights,” the U.N. quoted its investigating team. “They have imposed extreme modesty rules and detained women and girls for alleged ‘moral crimes.'”

The mission comprised Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on Afghan human rights, and Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, the chair of its working group on discrimination against women and girls. They met with Taliban representatives, civil society, women groups, entrepreneurs, religious leaders, teachers, journalists and victims of human rights violations, among others, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and northern Balkh province.

‘Unparalleled’ situation

“This extreme situation of institutionalized gender-based discrimination in Afghanistan is unparalleled anywhere in the world,” the statement warned.

While talking to the U.N. experts, numerous women shared “their feelings of fear and extreme anxiety, describing their situation as a life under house arrest.”

Taliban authorities were quoted as telling the mission that women were working in the health, education, and business sectors and that efforts were underway to ensure that “women could work according to Sharia, separated from men.”

The de facto authorities reiterated that they were working on the reopening of schools but did not provide a clear timeline. However, they indicated that the international community should not interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, the U.N. experts said.

“We are deeply concerned about the apparent perpetration in Afghanistan of gender persecution – a systematic and grave human rights violation and a crime against humanity,” they added.

The findings were released on the same day that the U.N. office in Kabul concluded a nearly monthlong review of Afghan operations in the aftermath of the Taliban ban on its female staff.

The review renewed the global organization’s condemnation of the ban and demanded its urgent removal, saying it is unlawful and “seriously undermines” the U.N. work in Afghanistan.

The U.N. office reiterated its commitment to stay and deliver on behalf of the people of Afghanistan, saying it “cannot disengage despite the challenges.”

The Taliban reclaimed control of the country in August 2021 when the United States and NATO troops withdrew after almost 20 years of involvement in the war with the former insurgent group. The hard-line Afghan authorities have imposed their own interpretation of Sharia, effectively barring most women from public life.

‘Internal matters’

The international community has refused to recognize the Taliban government, in part because of its bans on women’s access to work and education and its refusal to govern the country through a politically inclusive system.

However, the reclusive Taliban chief, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has ruled out any compromise on what he says is his “Sharia-based governance” and vowed not to allow foreign interference in “internal matters” of Afghanistan.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hosted a two-day international dialogue in Qatar earlier this week on how to engage with the Taliban and develop “a common international approach” to multiple challenges facing Afghanistan.

The conference brought together the envoys of about two dozen countries, including the United States, China and Russia, and major international donors and representatives of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. But the U.N. did not invite the Taliban.

Guterres told a post-meeting news conference in Doha, Qatar, that the participants had agreed on the “need for a strategy of engagement that allows for the stabilization of Afghanistan but also allows for addressing important concerns.”

Is Dutch Disease Coming to Afghanistan?

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The National Interest: Left with a weak economy, the Taliban have become dependent on coal mining to sustain their coffers. This bodes ill for the country’s long-term economic future. In an exclusive interview on a state-owned TV in 2022, Shahabuddin Dilawar, the acting minister of mines and petroleum, explained that Afghanistan has millions of tons of coal reserves in different provinces and that around 130–144 million Afs are generated every week as domestic revenue. For the cash-strapped Taliban, coal mining thus presents an essential economic lifeline. However, given the chronic dearth of capital and labor in other sectors of the Afghan economy—such as manufacturing, education, agriculture, and the public sectors—over-reliance on natural resources, particularly coal mining, could lead Afghanistan to suffer from the infamous Dutch Disease. Click here to read more (external link).