US Imposes New Visa Restrictions on Certain Taliban Elements

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Blinken

8am: US imposes new visa restrictions on some Taliban members who are believed to be involved in repressing the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. The restrictions come more than a month after the Taliban announced bans on women attending universities and working with non-governmental organizations, CNN reported. US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, announced on Wednesday the United States is imposing new visa restrictions on certain current and former Taliban members, non-state security group members and others who are believed to be involved in repressing the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).

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Taliban Tell Pakistan Not to Blame Afghanistan for Mosque Bombing

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Muttaqi

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 1, 2023

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers Wednesday rejected allegations their territory was used in this week’s mosque bombing in Pakistan, urging the neighboring country to thoroughly investigate such terror acts before blaming others.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told a gathering in the capital, Kabul, that Pakistani officials should find a solution to their security challenges locally and desist from “sowing the seeds of enmity” between the two Muslim countries.

No group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s bombing of a crowded mosque in the highly guarded provincial police headquarters in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. The ensuing blast killed more than 100 people, mostly police personnel, injured many more and demolished the upper story of the building.

Pakistani authorities were quick to blame the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, also called Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), for what they said was a suicide bomb attack and suggested the violence emanated from Afghanistan.

“We advise them to conduct a thorough investigation into the Peshawar bombing,” Muttaqi said Wednesday. “Our region is used to wars and bomb blasts. But we have not seen in the past 20 years a lone suicide bomber blowing up roofs of mosques and killing hundreds of people.”

Muttaqi echoed suspicions and questions being raised by critics in Pakistan in the wake of the large scale destruction caused by the blast.

The TTP, designated a global terrorist group by the United States, has long been conducting deadly terrorist attacks in Pakistan and its leadership allegedly directs the violence from Afghan sanctuaries. But the Pakistani Taliban has formally denied involvement in the Peshawar mosque bombing.

Moazzam Jah Ansari, the provincial police chief, told reporters Tuesday that a suicide bomber had entered the mosque as a guest, using up to 12 kilograms of explosive material earlier brought to the site in bits and pieces.

Investigators said Wednesday they had arrested several suspects in connection with the deadly bombing. Provincial police officials said they had recovered the remains of the attacker but shared no other details. They did not rule out the possibility that the bomber had internal assistance evading security checks.

Pakistan’s military was frequently accused of sheltering Afghan Taliban leaders and fighters while they were waging insurgent attacks, including suicide bombings, against U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan for almost two decades.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021 as the U.S. and allied nations withdrew troops from the country.

Since then, Islamabad has deepened economic and trade cooperation with the cash-strapped Islamist Taliban leadership in Kabul to help it deal with financial troubles stemming from sanctions and international isolation of the Afghan banking sector.

However, a spate of recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan, mostly claimed by the TTP, has strained relations between the two countries.

Islamabad and the global community at large have not yet recognized the Taliban as legitimate rulers, mainly over human rights issues and their restrictions on women’s access to public life and education.

U.S. officials are also skeptical of the Taliban’s pledges against terrorism and continue to press them to prevent the use of Afghan soil for cross-border attacks. Taliban authorities reject the skepticism and so did Muttaqi while responding to the Pakistani allegations Wednesday.

“Don’t point fingers at Afghanistan. If Afghanistan were a center of terrorism then it would also have hit China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. Today, all these countries are safe and so is Afghanistan,” asserted the Taliban foreign minister.

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Central Bank Immunity, Afghanistan, and Judgments Against the Taliban

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Lawfare: Afghan central bank assets in the United States were frozen by President Biden following the Taliban’s takeover of the government in August 2021. As discussed on Lawfare and the Transnational Litigation Blog, half of those assets have been transferred to the “Afghan Fund” in Switzerland to be used for the benefit of the Afghan people as well as to keep them out of the control of the Taliban (which the United States does not recognize as the government of Afghanistan).  This article focuses on the other half—the approximately $3.5 billion in Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) assets that U.S. victims of terrorist attacks seek to satisfy judgments that they hold, not against Afghanistan, but against the Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban to Continue Launching Clearing Operations in Kabul Despite Criticism

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8am: Residents of this neighborhood in Kabul city told Hasht-e Subh on Wednesday, February 1, the Taliban even stop pedestrians on the sidewalks to search their mobile phones during these operations. No female officers reportedly accompany the Taliban’s searching teams and male Taliban members enter people’s houses and search their belongings. Criticizing this Taliban practices, they said that they are fed up with the continuation of door-to-door searches. Click here to read more (external link).

Iran-Afghanistan Tensions Now Rising Over Water

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Fair Observer: The dispute over the Helmand River between Iran and Afghanistan is an old one. In the 1870s, when Afghanistan was still under British control, the border between the neighbors was drawn along the main branch of the river. Helmand is a lifeline for both countries. It is Afghanistan’s longest river and it runs into Hamoun Lake.  In March 2021, the Kamal Khan Dam finally opened after years of setback on the lower Helmand. Naturally, it was met with animus in Iran. In 1973, the two signed the Helmand River Treaty. The agreement guaranteed Iran with a monthly allocation of water from the river. But Tehran insists that its neighbor has consistently failed to hold its end of the deal. Click here to read more (external link).

‘Our Situation Is Terrible’: Ex-Afghan Military Officers Stuck In Limbo In India

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By Sana Kakar
Fayeza Ibrahimi
Abubakar Siddique

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 31, 2023

Just weeks before its collapse, the Western-backed Afghan government sent dozens of army officers for training to India, a close ally. Among them was Captain Obaidullah Zahir, a rising star in the Afghan National Army, which was battling the Taliban insurgency.

After the militant group seized power in August 2021, the Afghan officers were stuck in India, unable to return to their homeland out of fear for their lives and left to fend for themselves by the Indian authorities.

That neglect led to Zahir’s death, according to his former comrades. The military officer died of cancer in New Delhi earlier this month.

“He died because of the long delay in getting treatment,” Behzad, another ex-Afghan army officer who did not reveal his real name due to security concerns, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

Behzad said he and other Afghan military officers initially funded Zahir’s treatment. Despite repeated requests to Indian officials, no help arrived. By the time the authorities sent Zahir to an Indian military hospital, it was too late. He died just a week later, Behzad said.

“We all contributed to arranging his funeral and sending him back to be buried in our homeland,” said Behzad, who also resides in New Delhi.

Zahir’s death has put a spotlight on the plight of the scores of former Afghan military personnel who remain stranded in India, some 16 months after the internationally recognized Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan.

The former combatants fear returning to Afghanistan, where human rights groups have documented the killings, torture, and disappearances of hundreds of former members of Afghanistan’s security forces by the Taliban.

“I fear returning to my country will cost me my life,” said Behzad, who along with Zahir was among the 120 military officers sent to India in July 2021.

Several dozen Afghan officers have returned to Kabul after completing their one-year training courses in India. The Taliban had guaranteed them safety and jobs. But it is unclear if they are now working for the Taliban.

Radio Azadi reached out to some of them for comment, but they refused to answer questions about their safety or employment.

Legal Limbo

New Delhi is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the related 1967 protocol intended to eliminate restrictions on who can be considered a refugee. But, in the past, India has granted asylum to refugees from Afghanistan, mostly members of that country’s tiny Sikh and Hindu minorities.

Many former Afghan military personnel are on temporary visas and ineligible to work or receive government help. Some have been offered one-year military courses.

Behzad said India should follow the example of Western countries that have granted asylum or agreed to resettle former Afghan military personnel to third countries.

“As a longtime friend of the Afghan people, India should provide us with material support until the situation in Afghanistan changes,” he said, referring to Kabul’s close historic relations with New Delhi.

India has not commented on the fate of ex-Afghan military personnel residing in the South Asian nation. But the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi, which still represents the previous government, said it is in contact with the authorities.

“Together with the Indian authorities, we want to find a lasting solution to their problems,” the Afghan Embassy said in a statement sent to Radio Azadi.

That is little comfort for many of the Afghan officers.

“We don’t have a clear future,” said Javed, a former Afghan army officer who did not want to reveal his real name for security reasons. “My only wish was to return to my country and to serve it, but that is not possible now.”

Javed said many of the officers have family members and relatives in Afghanistan, a reality that fills them with dread. The Taliban has targeted the family members of former security personnel in Afghanistan.

“Our situation is terrible,” he told Radio Azadi, adding that they are also “worried about what our families are going through back in Afghanistan.”

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 Vandalize a Painted Image of Abdul Ali Mazari in Kabul

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Mazari

8am: The Taliban vandalized a painted image of the former Hazara leader, Abdul Ali Mazari, in west Kabul. Sources in west Kabul shared photos of a gate decorated with Abdul Ali Mazari’s image on Tuesday, January 31, confirming to Hasht-e Subh that the Taliban had ruined his image. In the photos shared, it can be seen that the Taliban have pierced the image of Abdul Ali Mazari on top of the Pul-e-Sukhta area in Kota-e-Sangi. Click here to read more (external link).

Time for Elon Musk’s Starlink to Save Afghanistan’s Women

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Khaama: Mark R. Whittington, a renowned space exploration author, has discussed Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite that how best can help Afghan women who are banned from education by the Taliban, the Hill reported. The Starlink system can offer access to high-speed Internet in remote areas without installing cables or constructing a significant amount of new infrastructure. Mark stated that Afghanistan is now in a situation that needs Starlin[k] the most. He further argues that this has been the consequence of the abrupt military withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, which led to the brutal suppression of women in the country.  Click here to read more (external link).