8am: Local sources in Faryab province report that as a result of the Taliban shooting at a checkpoint in the city of Maimana, the center of this province, one person was killed and another was injured. Taliban checkpoints have victimized many people throughout the country. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Release 2 Afghan Activists Amid Growing Concern Over ‘Arbitrary Arrests’
VOA Afghan Service
April 10, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Taliban have released two Afghan activists at a time when the United Nations and human rights watchdogs have raised alarms over the increase in arbitrary detentions in Afghanistan in recent months.
Nargis Sadat, a women’s rights defender, and Zakaria Osuli, a university lecturer and author, were released on Monday after being detained separately for more than two months by the Taliban.
The Taliban have not commented on why the two were detained or released.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, in a tweet on Monday welcomed their release but voiced concern over the Taliban’s use of arbitrary detentions against Afghan activists.
“We continue to engage with de facto authorities on cases but are dismayed by lack of information provided, despite ongoing requests. We call for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained. No Afghan should be detained for exercising their freedom of expression,” wrote UNAMA.
Last month, Amnesty International reported that the Taliban have been targeting critics for “unlawful detention.” The rights group said in most cases detainees have “no legal remedy or access to their families.”
“Amnesty International is calling on the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism in Afghanistan at the earliest opportunity, with a focus on evidence preservation to pursue international justice,” stated Amnesty International’s press release.
On March 27, the Taliban arrested Matiullah Wesa, an advocate of girls’ education and the founder of PenPath, a community network campaigning for education in Afghanistan.
The Taliban said Wesa was arrested in Kabul for what they called “suspicious” activities.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA that Wesa “had secret and open meetings without informing the [Taliban] government. He also had connections abroad and was getting instructions from abroad. Therefore, he must have been brought for questioning and interrogation.”
Wesa’s brother, Attaullah Wesa, who went into hiding after his brother was arrested, rejects the Taliban’s claims.
“Our activities — pictures and videos of the activities of PenPath and our team are public. Our meeting with the international community, our people and authorities are not secret,” Attaullah Wesa told VOA.
Human Rights Watch has called on the Taliban to release Matiullah Wesa and other activists in detention.
Sahar Fetrat of Human Rights Watch told VOA that “Human Rights Watch demands the immediate and unconditional release of Matiullah Wesa and all those arrested.”
Human Rights Watch reported that in recent months the Taliban have increased their crackdown on dissent.
“In recent months they have increasingly targeted their critics for arrest, including civil society activists, human rights defenders, and women protesters,” Human Rights Watch stated in a press release on March 29.
$800 Million Urgently Needed To Avoid Famine In Afghanistan, UN Says
AP: The UN food agency said on April 10 that it urgently needs $800 million for the next six months to help Afghanistan, which is at the highest risk of famine in a quarter of a century. Aid agencies have been providing food, education, and health care to Afghans in the wake of the Taliban takeover and the economic collapse that followed. But distribution has been severely impacted by a Taliban edict last December banning women from working at national and international nongovernmental groups. Click here to read more (external link).
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Former Military Member Commits Suicide After Taliban Prison Release in Khost Province
8am: According to local sources in Khost, a former government military member named Mohammad Anwar committed suicide after being released from Taliban prison in the province. Sources say that Anwar, who was an employee of the National Directorat of Security in the previous government, ended his life by drinking poison in Matun, center of the Khost province, on Sunday, April 9. Information from sources suggests that Anwar’s limbs were broken due to Taliban torture during his imprisonment in Khost province. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – April 10, 2023
Turkey Deports 365 Undocumented Afghan Migrants
Khaama: Turkish media reported on Monday that 365 illegal migrants who were recently deported from Turkey, 138 of them on Saturday and 277 of them on Sunday, arrived at Kabul from Aghra City by an Afghan plane. Earlier in January, over 68290 Afghan nationals were deported from Turkey, out of 124,441 illegal immigrants during the past year, said the General Directorate of Migration in Turkey. Since the return of the Taliban to power, most Afghan refugees have immigrated to neighbouring countries, including Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, due to economic purposed or to flee from prosecution by the de facto regime. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Allows Internet Cafes to Reopen in Herat but Banned Women from Entering
8am: Sources on Sunday, April 9, told Hast-e Subh that the Taliban gave permission for the operation of internet cafes in Herat on the condition that women are not allowed to enter. The Taliban’s morality police have warned internet cafe owners in Herat to “start their businesses, but not allow girls and boys under the age of 15 to enter.” The Taliban has also warned that if women and boys under the age of 15 are present, these internet cafes will be closed again. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban War on Afghan Women
Earthquake of 4.1 magnitude jolts Afghanistan’s Fayzabad
Ariana: An earthquake of magnitude 4.1 struck 86 kilometers southeast of Badakhshan’s capital Fayzabad in Afghanistan on Monday morning, India’s National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said in a tweet. According to the NCS, the earthquake occurred at 9:23 am local time. No further details were available and so for there have been no reports of casualties. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Environmental News
Two Islamic State Militants Killed By Forces Of Taliban-Led Afghan Government
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
April 9, 2023
An operation on April 9 carried out by forces of the Taliban-led Afghan government killed two Islamic State (IS) fighters and took a third militant into custody during an operation in the country’s southwest, a regional official said.
The raid on a hideout in Zaranj, capital of Nimroz Province, sparked a clash lasting 30 minutes between Taliban and IS militants, Habibullah Ilham, the province’s information and culture director, told RFE/RL.
Two insurgents were killed in the operation and one was captured, Ilham said, adding that there were no casualties among the security forces and no civilians were harmed.
A video sent to Radio Azadi shows that Taliban forces first targeted a house and the clash then begins. A resident of the area, who did not want his name and voice used due to security problems, told Radio Azadi that the clash lasted for almost an hour and that heavy weapons were used.
The regional affiliate of the IS group — known as the Islamic State-Khorasan — has been the key rival of the Taliban-led government since the group seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. The group recently increased its attacks, targeting both Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shi’ite minority.
Taliban forces have responded by carrying out military operations this month against the IS group in several provinces of Afghanistan. The Intelligence Department of the Taliban-led government previously claimed to have carried out operations similar to the one on April 9 in Mazar-e Sharif, Baghlan, and Nimroz.
The department announced on April 2 that in one of the operations it arrested an important member of the IS group in northern Afghanistan who was involved in the planning of several attacks.
Afghan security forces last week killed six members of the extremist group in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh Province, a Taliban spokesman said on April 4.
But Atta Mohammad Noor, a member of the leadership of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, said that Taliban forces are hitting others in their efforts against IS.
One family, for example, claimed that eight civilians killed by the Taliban in the 7th district of Mazar-e Sharif on charges of rebellion and kidnapping were innocent.
Authorities are serious about ridding Afghanistan of Islamic State militants, deputy Afghan government spokesman Bilal Karimi told the AP.
“The Islamic State has no place in the country or among the people, nor does the Islamic emirate allow it,” he said. “The number of [IS] fighters killed or arrested so far is in the hundreds, but there is no exact number.”
The Taliban announces military operations against IS almost every day, although many officials, including Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahidand and the country’s acting minister of foreign affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi, say they do not consider IS to be a threat to Afghanistan.
The UN Security Council warned in March about the increase in the number of militants and the threat of IS in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Central Command has estimated that 2,250 IS militants are in Afghanistan and also has said that it is possible they would target American assets and those of their allies.
With reporting by AP
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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