US Reviews Afghan Policy, Scolds ‘Draconian’ Taliban Edicts

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Akmal Dawi
VOA News
April 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — After nearly two years of standoff diplomacy with de facto Taliban authorities, Washington is reviewing its Afghan policy in response to what U.S. officials call “draconian” Taliban governance.

The review comes as the United Nations is reportedly mulling a suspension of operations inside Afghanistan because the Taliban have banned Afghan women from work at U.N. agencies.

“The U.S. government has been reviewing our approach and engagement with the Taliban in the context of their increasingly draconian edicts targeting and discriminating against women and girls in Afghanistan,” a spokesperson for the Department of State told VOA.

Unmoved by global condemnation of their misogynistic policies, including from Muslim-majority countries, the Taliban insist that depriving women of education, work and political participation is an internal Afghan issue.

Washington’s tougher tone comes as the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is reportedly planning to convene an international gathering in May to discuss the possibility of giving the Taliban a seat at the U.N. General Assembly in exchange for reversing the Islamist regime’s cascade of restrictions on Afghan women.

When asked about the proposed meeting’s goals on Wednesday, Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told reporters in New York that he does not believe the group will consider recognition.

“I understand the Secretary-General, as he shared it with some of the member states, me included, will be looking for the opinion of those special envoys on how they see the way out for Afghanistan.”

Despite maintaining firm control over the entire country for nearly two years, the Taliban have failed to gain recognition from any government while the Afghanistan seat at the U.N. is still occupied by Naseer Ahmad Faiq, an appointee of the former Afghan government.

Meeting the opposition

Amid growing U.S. frustration with the Taliban, American diplomats have reached out to some former Afghan politicians and warlords who have set up political bases outside Afghanistan.

This week, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West met with several Afghans in Istanbul saying he heard “deep concerns” about the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

The National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan, an anti-Taliban group, said its representatives met West on Monday at his request. The group said in a tweet that it gave West a roadmap for “saving the country from the ongoing crisis.”

No U.S. official has traveled to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in 2021, but Washington has bypassed the Taliban and maintained robust diplomatic and humanitarian engagement with Afghans.

Still, some think the U.S. should do more to engage. “Why is every other envoy traveling to or staying in [Afghanistan] but him,” tweeted Obaidullah Baheer, an Afghan analyst, about West’s meetings in Turkey. “I fail to see the logic behind meeting exiled and failed Republic warlords and politicians.”

While not extending a formal recognition, most regional countries, including Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan, have kept their embassies open in Kabul and have accredited Taliban representatives in their capitals.

Shinkai Karokhail, a former Afghan ambassador to Canada and a women’s rights activist, said even if U.S. diplomats were to travel to Afghanistan, they would not have access to unfiltered realities.

“The Taliban will not allow meetings with the representatives of the people or women’s groups and other civil and political activists,” she told VOA.

The U.S.’s continued engagement with former Afghan officials, often blamed for massive corruption and cataclysmic failures, is also seen by some as unhelpful.

“When there is a vacuum of representation or leadership, what is achieved by filling that vacuum by platforming victors of tragic failures?” said an Afghan activist who asked not to be named.

Intervention?

Under the Doha agreement signed between U.S. and Taliban officials in February 2020, the U.S. committed not to intervene in Afghanistan’s domestic affairs.

U.S. officials say they are not backing military uprisings against Taliban rule but demand they form an inclusive government.

Last month, an audio of part of a speech to a group of Afghan women by Karen Decker, the Qatar-based charge d’affaires of the U.S. mission to Afghanistan, was circulating on WhatsApp.

“We are trying to figure out how to get the best parts of the previous government and create and figure out how we can help Afghans create a new government for their country,” Decker is heard saying.

A spokesperson for the Department of State said Decker’s comments were consistent with a long-standing position by the international community.

“We have been clear in calling on the Taliban to form an inclusive and representative government that can legitimately speak for all Afghans.”

U.S. officials say the formation of an inclusive government should be exclusively an issue for Afghans to handle, not imposed by the international community.

“If the Taliban hope for a government that enjoys international legitimacy, launching a political dialogue among Afghans is a first step. Legitimacy begins at home,” the spokesperson said.

Such calls have thus far found no listeners among Taliban leaders.

“It is not clear yet whether the Taliban leadership in Kandahar has a roadmap for a political process that would strengthen legitimacy at home and abroad,” Omar Samad, a former Afghan ambassador to France, told VOA.

While the Taliban remain internationally isolated, Samad said “conditions, circumstances, threat perceptions, balance of power and the regional and international order are very different” now compared to the 1990s.

The Taliban made a commitment in the Doha agreement to forbid international terror groups in areas under their control, a change from their position that allowed al Qaida to operate freely. And unlike the 1990s when the Taliban were battling warlords for control of the country, since the 2021 U.S. withdrawal the Taliban has been Afghanistan’s ruling power with no real challengers.

“The question now is whether there is political will in both capitals for reframing and relaunching new talks on the way forward,” Samad said.

Margaret Besheer contributed to this article from New York.

The Taliban Leader’s Hypocrisy

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Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada

8am: It has been almost two years since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, yet Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, has remained hidden and has not appeared in the media. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s interior minister, has made appearances, but Hibatullah has not agreed to do so. This is significant as Haqqani is still on the United States’ wanted list with a reward of 10 million dollars. The only evidence of Hibatullah’s physical presence is his voice, which is often broadcasted in the media as he conveys his views to the public. Click here to read more (external link).

Women’s Movement Opposes UN Official’s Call to Recognize Taliban

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8am: In response to recent remarks by Amina Jane Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, advocating for a meeting to formally recognize the Taliban, the Women’s Movement for Peace and Freedom has expressed its opposition. The Women’s Movement for Peace and Freedom accused Mohammed of making hasty and irresponsible remarks, citing the removal of women from Afghan society following the Taliban’s takeover. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Southern Afghan City Becomes De Facto Capital As Taliban Chief Tightens Grip On Power

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By Ikramullah Ikram and Abubakar Siddique
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
April 18, 2023

Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar is the historical birthplace and the political base of the Taliban. Now, the country’s second-largest city appears to be becoming the de facto capital under the militant group’s rule.

Several officials have recently been transferred from the capital, Kabul, to Kandahar. Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada lives in the city and rarely leaves the Pashtun heartland in southern Afghanistan.

Experts say Akhundzada’s decision to relocate the offices of two Taliban spokesmen to Kandahar is part of efforts to tighten his grip on power. The move comes amid growing reports of infighting between key Taliban ministers based in Kabul and a powerful group of clerics led by Akhundzada in Kandahar.

“It looks like political power is being transferred from Kabul to Kandahar,” Sami Yousafzai, a veteran Afghan journalist and commentator who has tracked the Taliban since its emergence in the 1990s, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “[Akhundzada] is creating a parallel administration to the one in Kabul.”

In recent months, senior Taliban officials have appeared to criticize Akhundzada, accusing him of monopolizing power and empowering ultraconservative clerics who share his extremist views.

Akhundzada’s repressive policies have alienated Afghans and isolated the Taliban’s unrecognized government internationally. Under his leadership, the Taliban has severely curtailed women’s rights, stamped out the free press, and committed human rights abuses.

Akhundzada, a hard-line cleric and former chief justice, has the ultimate say on all important matters under the Taliban’s clerical system.

‘Appointing Loyalists Everywhere’

After the Taliban seized power in 2021, ministers carried out the day-to-day administration of the Taliban government. But in recent months, Akhundzada has sought to micromanage the affairs of the state, said Yousufzai.

“He is now involved in appointing district commanders, administrators, and the directors of various government departments,” Yousufzai told Radio Azadi. “He is appointing loyalists everywhere.”

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesman, relocated his office from Kabul to Kandahar on April 6, according to Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the Ministry of Information and Culture.

Innamullah Samangani, another key government spokesman and head of the Taliban’s Media and Information Center, was also recently transferred to Kandahar.

Kandahar, a historically important political center, briefly served as the capital of Afghanistan, which was founded in 1747. Many of the kings that ruled the country until the monarchy was overthrown in 1973 hailed from the broader Kandahar region.

The Taliban first emerged in Kandahar during the civil war in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. Its founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, kept Kandahar as the de facto capital even after the Taliban seized control of Kabul in 1996. The hard-line Islamist group was ousted from power by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Andrew Watkins, a senior Afghanistan expert at the United States Institute of Peace think tank in Washington, says Mujahid’s transfer is one of the most public signs of a trend in which Akhundzada appears to be strengthening his influence.

Watkins said Akhundzada wants control over “public messaging,” which he says has “long been a priority for the Taliban.”

The Taliban has denied that the decision to relocate senior officials to Kandahar is part of a power struggle.

Mujahid said part of his office has moved to Kandahar in order to report more closely on the meetings and other activities of the Taliban chief. “The recent move doesn’t amount to transferring the capital to Kandahar,” Mujahid told Radio Azadi.

But observers are not convinced.

“There are factions within the Taliban that want more power,” Tariq Farhadi, an Afghan political analyst based in Europe, told Radio Azadi. “It paints an overall worrying picture for the future of the Taliban.”

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.

Taliban Continues Killing Spree: Three Former Soldiers Brutally Murdered in Badakhshan Province

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8am: According to local sources, on Tuesday, April 18, the three former soldiers were killed by the Taliban while on their way to the mosque in Gholam-Darah, Huran-Shahr, and the center of Arghanjkhwa district. The sources identify the killed soldiers as Qari Sami, Haji Aidi, and Emadudin. Reportedly, Haji Aidi was a member of the former People’s Uprising Forces in Badakhshan, while Qari Sami and Emad al-Din were members of the previous government’s army. Click here to read more (external link).

Top UN Official Proposes Meeting to Discuss Recognition of Taliban

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Amina Mohammed

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
April 18, 2023

ISLAMABAD — The United Nations deputy secretary-general said Monday that the organization plans to arrange a conference in the coming days to discuss granting recognition to Afghanistan’s Taliban, stressing the need for engagement with the fundamentalist authorities.

Amina Mohammed’s remarks come as the reclusive Taliban chief, Hibatullah Akhundzada, renewed his resolve Tuesday to achieve his goal of “the religious and moral reform of the [Afghan] society” through the vigorous implementation of Islamic law, or Shariah.

Mohammed told an audience at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs that the international meeting would bring envoys for Afghanistan from around the world to the table, among others.

“What we are hoping is that we’ll gather them now in another two weeks in the region, and they will have that first meeting of envoys across the board — the region and internationally — with the secretary-general for the first time,” she said.

“And out of that, we hope that we’ll find those baby steps to put us back on the pathway to recognition [of the Taliban], a principled recognition,” Mohammed said. “Is it possible? I don’t know. [But] that discussion has to happen. The Taliban clearly want recognition, and that’s the leverage we have.”

The top U.N. official visited Afghanistan in January and discussed with Taliban leaders the sweeping curbs the fundamentalist authorities have imposed on women’s freedom of work and movement since taking control of the strife-torn nation.

The restrictions have effectively blocked women and girls’ access to work and education beyond 6th grade across the country. Afghan female staff have been banned from working for the U.N. and nongovernmental aid groups.

Mohammed said the Taliban maintain they have enacted several laws to deter gender-based violence and to give more inheritance rights to women, among others, besides eliminating corruption in Afghanistan.

“But I don’t have any engagement that the international community will allow me to have to know whether they are implementing it or not,” she said.

Mohammed said engagement with the Taliban would help to hold them accountable for their actions. “We cannot allow that they continue to get worse, which is what happens when you don’t engage,” she said.

She noted that the Taliban are becoming stronger because neighboring countries are engaging with them economically to ensure Afghanistan does not plunge into chaos and implode from within.

“There are trade surpluses with Afghanistan today. There’s the banking system that’s put in place for Afghanistan today, and we still say there are sanctions. So, we either engage and pull them to the right side, or we don’t and see where it drifts. We must dine with the devil with [a] long spoon,” she said.

Mohammed said the U.N. told its Afghan female staff to work from home while it negotiates with the Taliban for the removal of the ban on women. She added that female employees could work from home and earn a salary.

“Please treat the Taliban like COVID. We don’t know what they’re going to do or how they’re going to react. … But I know three or four [women] are picked up, and maybe I wouldn’t see them again. I am not going to risk any one Afghan woman to people we know are unpredictable,” she said.

Mohammed did not share further details about the date or venue of the proposed envoys’ conference.

Former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted Tuesday that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host the meeting in Doha, Qatar, on May 1.

Khalilzad wrote that Guterres and the envoys “should have a session with the Taliban during their deliberations” to develop a “roadmap” that must address the issue of Afghan women’s education and employment.

The Taliban waged a deadly insurgency for almost two decades. They reclaimed power in August 2021 from the then-internationally backed Afghan government as the United States and NATO troops withdrew.

The international community has refused to give the Taliban legitimacy, citing human rights concerns, particularly the restrictions on women.

In his statement Tuesday in connection with the three-day Eid al-Fitr festival later this week, Akhundzada lauded “reforms” in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.

“Significant reform measures have been taken in culture, education, economy, media and other fields, and the bad intellectual and moral effects of the 20-year occupation are about to finish,” he said.

The Taliban chief referred to the U.S.-led Western military intervention in Afghanistan and its former Afghan allied government in Kabul. Akhundzada has rejected calls for lifting bans on women, saying it is an internal Afghan matter and should be respected by all sides.

The Taliban takeover prompted Washington and other Western nations to suspend economic aid to Afghanistan, impose financial and banking sector sanctions, and strictly enforce long-running curbs on the Taliban to press them to ease restrictions on women and combat terrorism.

Billions of dollars in Afghan central bank foreign reserves have also been blocked. However international humanitarian aid has continued to flow into the country.

The international restrictions have pushed the Afghan economy to the brink and exacerbated humanitarian conditions in a country where the U.N. estimates that more than 28 million people — two-thirds of the population — require urgent aid.

A study released Tuesday by the U.N. Development Program warned that the Taliban edicts restricting the rights of women and girls would worsen Afghanistan’s economy and may also affect the level of aid inflows.

“The development of Afghanistan is the responsibility of Afghans. We should not rely on others. Rather, with courage and enthusiasm, we should build this country and provide all possible conveniences to the people,” Akhundzada said in his Eid message.

UN to Leave Afghanistan in May Following Stricter Taliban Rules

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Khaama: The U.N. says that if it cannot convince the Taliban to permit local women to work for the organization, it is ready to make the “heartbreaking” decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. Earlier this month, the U.N. local female aid workers were banned while the Taliban authorities reacted to the organization’s decision, referring to it as an “internal issue.” Since the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021, the group has issued a more suppressive policy regarding women and girls, depriving women of all their fundamental rights, said the organization on Women’s Day. Click here to read more (external link).

Other UN related News

Ban on Narcotics Sales Was Never Implemented

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8am: The inhabitants of Nimroz asserted that, under the vigilant observation of the Taliban, thousands of kilograms of drugs are smuggled out of the province daily to neighboring countries, particularly Iran. They alleged that Toyota vehicles and catapults are utilized to transport tens of kilograms of opium across the Iranian border. The Taliban do not impede the transfer of these materials to neighboring countries if they are remunerated. Click here to read more (external link).

Center Offers Hope And Healing For Female Afghan Refugees In Tajikistan

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For Afghan women struggling with the pressures of living in Tajikistan as refugees, the Ariana Learning Center is a source of hope and healing. Located in the city of Vahdat, some 20 kilometers east of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, the center offers computer, language, and art training while providing psychological counseling. The UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, says most of the 7,000 refugees in Tajikistan are Afghans who fled their country after the Taliban took power in 2021.