Ariana: The US government spent nearly $1 billion to fund critical mineral surveys, mineral exploration, regulatory reforms and capacity development for the former Afghan government, according to the report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR. “US efforts in Afghanistan’s extractives industry presented one of the greatest opportunities for the Afghan government to generate royalty income, grow its economy, and provide meaningful employment,” the report said. “Nonetheless, multiple factors, including corruption and illegitimate and unregulated mining, hindered Afghanistan’s ability to successfully develop its extractives industry.” For example, corruption persisted throughout US efforts to develop Afghanistan’s extractives industry and political elites, warlords, military personnel, and the police controlled many mining operations—the former Afghan government estimated that it lost $300 million in revenues annually from illegal mining, according to the report. Click here to read more (external link).
Dreams of Appearing in Hollywood Movies to Come True for Afghanistan’s Bruce Lee
Abbas Alizada
8am: Abbas Alizada says that he is going to appear in a Hollywood film this year. Alizada, known internationally as the “Afghan Bruce Lee,” is a popular martial artist, actor, impersonator and celebrity in Afghanistan. In a story on Monday, January 9, Toronto Star reflected on the ups and downs in the life of Abbas Alizada, an actor and Bruce Lee lookalike. Click here to read more (external link).
Why Isis offshoot is still a threat for China’s businesspeople in Afghanistan
South China Morning Post: Chinese nationals will remain a target in 2023 for an Islamic State offshoot operating in Afghanistan, because of China’s alleged suppression of ethnic Uygur minorities in Xinjiang, according to analysts. China’s ties with the Taliban will add to the risks for its citizens in Afghanistan as the Islamic State Khorasan (Isis-K) militant group tries to undermine the regime by raising doubts over its security guarantees for foreign investors, they say. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – January 9, 2023
Millions to Fall Into Famine As Consequence of Taliban Ban on Female Employees, Says NRC Secretary General
8am: On the second day of his visit to Afghanistan, the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) highlighted the consequences of the Taliban ban on female NGO staff in Afghanistan. In a thread on Twitter on Monday, January 9, the NRC Secretary General, Jan Egeland, pointed to the devastating consequences of the ban on women’s work. Mr. Egeland said the devastating consequences of a continued Taliban ban on female NGO staff in Afghanistan would make 6 million people vulnerable to famine, adding that 600,000 children will be deprived of access to education. Click here to read more (external link).
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524 Afghans freed from Pakistani prisons return to Afghanistan
Ariana: Five hundred and twenty-four Afghans arrived in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar at around 10 pm on Sunday night after being freed from Pakistani prisons. Officials in Kandahar met them, provided the necessary facilities for them and said they will return to their homes Monday morning. According to the governor’s media office, Afghans who have been released from Pakistani prisons have “many painful stories in their hearts” and have spoken out about the abuses committed by Pakistani officials. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News in Dari – January 8, 2023
Snow, Rain Block Highways in Some Provinces
Tolo News: The State Ministry for Disaster Management on Sunday said rain and snowfall in 20 provinces have closed a number of highways to traffic, including in Bamiyan, Farah, and Sar-e-Pul provinces. “The Kotal-e-Shato area in Bamiyan is temporarily closed to traffic. The route in Chaman district in Farah is closed to traffic as a result of snowfall,” said Hamidullah Misbah, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Environmental News
Poverty Trauma and Taliban’s Misogyny: Forced, Underage Marriages Increased in Afghanistan
8am: Hasht-e-Sobh has found that the deprivation of women has increased family violence, selling and making the girls get forcibly married while being underage in Afghan society. In the meantime, old men and some of the Taliban authorities are trying to abuse the destitution of families and get married to their virgin, underage daughters. Click here to read more (external link).
‘We Don’t Have Food To Eat’: Afghans Pay The Price As Foreign NGOs Suspend Aid After Taliban Ban
By Abubakar Siddique
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
January 7, 2023
Zahra has relied on handouts of cooking oil, rice, and flour from local and foreign aid agencies to feed her seven children.
The 35-year-old is among the millions of Afghans who have received lifesaving assistance in the face of a worsening humanitarian and economic crisis.
But many of them have been forced to fend for themselves after major international humanitarian organizations recently halted operations in Afghanistan, including emergency food distribution, health services, and education.
The decision came after the Taliban on December 24 banned all local and foreign nongovernmental organizations from employing Afghan women. NGOs have said the thousands of Afghan women they employ are crucial in distributing aid to vulnerable communities.
“After God, we depended on help from these aid groups,” Zahra, who lives in the remote province of Ghor in central Afghanistan, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “Already, we don’t have food to eat.”
Zahra said her family will be forced to take extreme measures to survive if no help arrives. “We have to sell one of our children to save the lives of the others,” she said.
The United Nations estimates that more than 28 million Afghans, or over 70 percent of the population, need humanitarian assistance. More than 6 million “are merely a step away from famine,” the UN said
In the absence of government support or a functioning economy, humanitarian aid has been a lifeline for most Afghans.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 triggered an economic collapse and worsened a major humanitarian crisis. Western donors abruptly cut off assistance and the Taliban government was hit by international sanctions. Aid groups funded by international donors, however, continued their operations.
Fears Of Famine
Orzala Ashraf Nemat, an Afghan researcher, says the Taliban’s ban on women working for NGOs will have a “very grave impact” on Afghans.
She says many malnutrition and food security programs are implemented by women. That is because only they can access and distribute aid to other women and children, the most deprived segments of society.
According to a UN survey, of the 151 local and international NGOs operating in Afghanistan only 15 percent said they can be fully operational without female staff. Many have urged the Taliban to overturn its ban.
Nemat says that given Afghans’ dependence on foreign assistance, communities are likely to press the Taliban to overturn the ban. “People know these opportunities are only available if the humanitarian aid can be delivered,” she said.
On January 5, tribal leaders in the southeastern province of Khost called on the Taliban to reverse its decision. The Taliban’s health minister has already exempted female health-care staff from the ban.
Veteran aid worker Anders Fange ran the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, one of the most significant humanitarian projects in the country, during the Taliban’s first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
He says that while many humanitarian activities remain temporarily suspended, a lasting Taliban ban on women working for NGOs could prompt Western donors to abandon Afghanistan. “Combined with the sanctions against the Taliban, it means that there is a risk that humanitarian operations will be more or less stopped,” he said.
Many Taliban leaders are under UN and Western sanctions, while no country has recognized their government. The German government is already planning to suspend financial aid to Afghanistan and there are fears that other countries could follow suit.
That is a doomsday scenario for many Afghans.
“The complete departure of all aid agencies would be extremely disastrous given the scope and the depth of this humanitarian crisis,” Afghan researcher Nemat said.
Lima, an Afghan woman living in the southern city of Kandahar, lost her job as an aid worker following the Taliban ban. The sole breadwinner for her extended family of 15, she says the Taliban order has pushed female-led households like hers toward starvation.
“For the Taliban, the only way to get rid of all Afghan women is to kill them all at once,” said Lima, who did not reveal her real name for fear of retribution.
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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