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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Tolo News in Dari – April 9, 2023
Herat’s Teacher Training Center Transformed into Taliban’s Jihadist School
8am: Based on images published on social media, Taliban removed the teacher training center sign and replaced it with a sign for the jihadist school. Statistics show that over 4,000 male and female students were previously engaged in education at the Herat teacher training center. The activity of this institution stopped after Taliban took control. Click here to read more (external link).
Female Afghan UN Worker Demands Employer Press Taliban to Reverse Ban
Waheed Faizi
Roshan Noorzai
VOA News
April 9, 2023
WASHINGTON — Shaima, a local employee of the United Nations in Afghanistan, was shocked when she heard that she could not go to work because the Taliban had banned Afghan women from working with the U.N. agencies in the country.
“We were not expecting that such a thing would happen,” said Shaima, who did not want her real name to be used for safety reasons.
“We thought that if women are barred from working in all other places, they will continue to work in the U.N. as it is leading the humanitarian efforts in the country … where most of the people depend on international assistance,” she said.
U.N. officials said Tuesday that the Taliban informed the organization that its female Afghan employees would not be allowed to work in the country.
Shaima said the U.N. should press the Taliban to adhere to its promises of upholding women’s basic rights.
She added that the international community “should not recognize” the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan until women are given their rights.
“Words are not enough. Practical measures are needed to force the Taliban to let women work,” she said.
Taliban crackdown
Among the 4,000 employees of the U.N. in Afghanistan, 3,300 are Afghan nationals. Among them are about 400 Afghan women and 200 international female staffers.
In December 2022, the Taliban banned Afghan women from working with local and international nongovernmental organizations, but the U.N. was exempted from the ban.
At that time, the Taliban said the ban was imposed because female NGO employees were not wearing “proper hijab.”
But Shaima said that she and all her female colleagues were following the dress code. “I was wearing [the] hijab,” she said. “All my colleagues were wearing [the] hijab. We were wearing [the] hijab before the Taliban’s takeover and after that.”
She added that the “hijab is an excuse to stop women from working outside their houses.”
After seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban imposed repressive restrictions on women, including banning them from working, attending secondary school or university, traveling unaccompanied for long distances, and going to public parks and gyms.
In a report released February 9, Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, considered the Taliban’s restrictions an attempt to “erase women from all public spaces.”
In an interview with the VOA Afghan Service in March, Bennett said the Taliban’s “gender persecution is a crime against humanity.”
Financial implications
A U.N. report released in January said that the Taliban’s ban on Afghan women working with the local and international NGOs would worsen “the multiple overlapping humanitarian and economic crises” in Afghanistan.
The report also stated that the ban would complicate the outreach to 11.6 million women and girls who will need humanitarian assistance in 2023, and that 97% of the population is at risk of falling below the poverty line.
For Shaima, the only breadwinner in her family of seven, the ban was “disappointing” because she will no longer be able to support her family financially.
She worries all her efforts were in vain because she will not be able to work under the Taliban.
“We went through a lot to get an education in Afghanistan,” Shaima said.
She added that Taliban measures barring Afghan women from work “would have [a] negative impact on me, all the women and the people of Afghanistan.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a tweet, “If this measure is not reversed, it will inevitably undermine our ability to deliver lifesaving aid to the people who need it.”
Call for reversal
The U.N. said Wednesday that it would not comply with the Taliban’s decision and called on the Taliban to reverse their decree.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Thursday that the organization would continue engaging with the Taliban.
“Afghan women and men are essential to all aspects of the U.N.’s work in Afghanistan. Afghan women’s meaningful participation is essential to reach safely and effectively populations in need with principled and quality assistance. Afghan women will not be replaced by men,” Dujarric said.
Afghanistan Remains a Leading Opium Producer
8am: The number of drug users inside Afghanistan also increased, leading to addiction among many young people and families. In general, the Afghan government and its international allies failed to control drugs. Additionally, despite the propaganda of banning opium cultivation, the Taliban are taking advantage of the drug trade. Therefore, it appears that Afghanistan will not give up on drugs easily. Click here to read more (external link).
Selling Music Cassettes and Foreign Drama Series Banned in Herat
Tolo News: The selling of music cassettes and foreign drama series have been banned by the department of Vice and Virtue in the western province of Herat. The officials said that the cassettes and drama series were non-Islamic materials and thus they prevented them from being sold. “We completely removed whatever they indicated. We have suffered heavy financial losses,” said Fakhruddin Jami, a shopkeeper. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban’s Targeted Detention Continues: School Principal Arrested in Parwan Province
Taliban militant (file photo)
8am: Sources told Hasht-e Subh on Saturday, that Taliban detained the individual two nights ago outside his home in the village of Aghil-Khan in Salang district. The detained person’s name is Baba-gul and he is the principal of the Salang district boys’ school. The motive for his arrest is not yet known. In recent days, Taliban have increased the detention of civilians and former military personnel in Parwan province. Click here to read more (external link).
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