Khaama: Afghan Freedom Front claimed responsibility for an attack on Friday late evening in Kabul that killed three and wounded four members of the Taliban, the group stated. The Freedom Front, which is said to be made up of members of the security forces of the previous government of Afghanistan, on Friday claimed in a statement the responsibility of the attack in the “Spin Kelly” intersection in the fifth district of Kabul city. Click here to read more (external link).
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada
8am: This article seeks to explain the war between Khans and Mullahs for control of the Pashtun tribes’ leadership, as well as the internal and external factors that contributed to the Mullahs’ success. It is suggested that the Mullahs, who now occupy the positions of the Khans, are performing those roles with soldiers, living off the people, and lending the Shah, who is currently veiled as “Amir al-Momineen,” political legitimacy. Click here to read more (external link).
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Ariana: Bamiyan’s second round of its annual skiing contest was held on Friday in Chap Dara village and attracted over 100 athletes, including three foreign participants. The three foreigners were from France, the United States and Australia. Click here to read more (external link).
Khaama: Bakhtar News Agency has reported that 300 people in Helmand, 160 in Laghman, and 50 others in northern Sar-e-Pol province have graduated from religious schools. Following the collapse of the previous government, the Taliban-run Administration has focused on establishing Jihadist schools across Afghanistan. Since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021, the de facto authorities have imposed restrictions on the rights of women and girls to attend education and work, which prompted worldwide criticism. Instead of easing or removing the gender-based bans, the group emphasizes establishing more and more Madrasas (religious schools) across the country. Click here to read more (external link).
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Ariana: As many as 60 couples have tied the knot in a mass wedding arranged by a charity foundation at a cost of more than three million afghanis in Kabul. Organizers said they wanted to avoid extravagant spending that often happens in wedding ceremonies and to fight bad traditions. “We gave a dowry of around 55,000 [AFN] for each couple, and today the wedding ceremonies of 59 families are held here,” said Mukhtar Ahmad, an organizer of the ceremony. “In total, about 33,00000 [AFN] have been spent on these weddings.” Click here to read more (external link).
Khaama: An earthquake with a Richter scale of 4.7 occurred in the Fayzabad province of Afghanistan on Thursday, according to India’s National Center for Seismology (NCS). The earthquake’s epicentre was 140 Km northeast of Fayzabad at 22:01:47 PM. This is the fourth earthquake within a week. “Earthquake of Magnitude: 4.7, Occurred on 09-03-2023, 23:01:47 IST, Lat: 36.57 & Long: 72.30, Depth: 140 Km, Location: 166km ESE of Fayzabad, Afghanistan,” NCS tweeted on Thursday. Click here to read more (external link).
Akmal Dawi
VOA News
March 9, 2023
After weeks of dispiriting debates over whether to suspend or downgrade humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, the United Nations on Thursday launched a $4.6 billion appeal to assist more than 23 million of the most vulnerable Afghans this year.
The humanitarian appeal was developed last year for release in early January, but a December 24 announcement by de facto Taliban authorities banning Afghan women from aid work led to a partial operational pause by the U.N.-led aid community. Several international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) completely suspended operations in protest.
While it’s unclear if or when the Taliban will lift the gender-based ban on aid work, the U.N. has launched the funding appeal, saying humanitarian programs will be on “operational trial” for the next six months.
“The ban on female participation in humanitarian response will have devastating and long-lasting consequences for all people in need, but especially women and girls —already the most vulnerable members of society,” the appeal says.
Because of the “deeply gendered” nature of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the U.N. says more than 11 million Afghan women and girls will be assisted with critical food, health and shelter assistance and educational services if funding needs outlined in the appeal are met.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have enforced a series of gender-based edicts that human rights groups describe as a campaign to erase women from the public sphere.
“Afghanistan under the Taliban remains the most repressive country in the world regarding women’s rights,” the U.N. Special Representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Reduction in aid
Blacklisted, under sanctions and isolated from the rest of the world, Taliban leaders appear to be pushing foreign donors away with their misogynistic policies.
Donors have already ceased supplying Afghanistan with development aid, which accounted for about 75% of the country’s public expenditures under the U.S.-backed government.
“Funding for Afghanistan is likely to drop if women [are] not allowed to work,” warned Otunbayeva.
U.S. officials have echoed similar concerns while warning of consequences for the Taliban.
“We also see needs elsewhere in the world,” Thomas West, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan, told TOLOnews this week, explaining that emergencies in Ukraine, Syria and Turkey have created extraordinary needs.
“And, frankly, for fiscal-related reasons, we have fewer humanitarian dollars to go around and for all of these reasons, I am worried that there will be a lower contribution in the year ahead.”
Donor disengagement will be catastrophic for millions of needy Afghans, aid agencies warn.
“Afghan people are paying a high price in between de facto authorities who impose restrictions and donors who chose to disengage from the country,” Christian Jepsen, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), told VOA.
Like several other NGOs, the NRC has not fully resumed operations in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s ban on its female employees.
“We cannot reach the most vulnerable female-led households without our female colleagues, particularly in rural and conservative areas where there are many vulnerable people,” Jepsen said.
Last year, the U.N. appealed for $4.4 billion in response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, of which donors funded 59%.
The bodies of 59 Afghans who allegedly had substance-abuse problems have been found in fresh graves in Kabul after Taliban authorities cleared out the Pul-e Sokhta district. Afghans using drugs in the area have been rounded up, many have been beaten, and others locked in prison cells.