United Nations: Afghanistan is one of the 7 hungry countries in the world

·

Ariana: According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s report on food crises, Afghanistan is among the seven countries whose citizens are facing acute poverty and hunger. The report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations states that for the fourth consecutive year in 2022, the number of people who were acutely food insecure and in need of urgent food, nutrition and livelihood assistance has increased. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Singsongs Thrive in Music-Less Afghanistan

·

Akmal Dawi
VOA News
May 3, 2023

The recording studios at Afghanistan national radio and television where generations of male and female musicians and singers produced songs and melodies have gone silent for nearly two years.

The country’s Islamist Taliban regime does not air music on the national broadcasting network because their extreme interpretation of Islam considers it forbidden. Instead, they run so-called singsongs, which sound like chants with no music.

Known as the Taliban songs and nasheeds, the singsongs, voiced only by men, are mostly tributes to Taliban leaders, Islamic jihad and Afghanistan as a graveyard of foreign interventionists.

Many Taliban listen to these singsongs on their phones, in their cars and elsewhere as a source of entertainment, attachment and inspiration.

“Since the Taliban are religious zealots, they use songs for entertainment as well. It’s a form of competition for young Taliban to show off their voices. Songs are also designed to add some pleasure to an otherwise puritanical way of life,” said Wahed Faqiri, an Afghan analyst.

“[The Taliban] play it on radios and so, if you are in your car at that time and it’s on the radio, you listen to it because it’s kind of a captive/trapped audience,” Ali Latifi, a Kabul-based independent journalist, told VOA by email. “When I see Taliban playing them it’s usually on their phones (even little Nokia ones) while they’re standing or walking down the street (less often).”

Since the Taliban’s ascent to power in Afghanistan, the group’s singsongs have increasingly found their way to digital platforms where they are accessible to global audiences. Social media companies often prohibit official Taliban accounts and groups, but the group’s sympathizers have maintained a presence under pseudonyms.

Given the group’s longstanding disapproval of television, pro-Taliban songs loaded to YouTube carry only still images of Taliban leaders and symbols. During their first reign in 1994-2001, the Taliban completely banned television and the group’s morality police broke down private TV sets and displayed them on poles to deter the public from watching television even in their homes.

As an insurgent group, the Taliban ran sophisticated digital propaganda campaigns including videos of violent attacks on Afghan and foreign soldiers.

‘Genocide of music’

The Taliban’s swift return to power in 2021 saw an exodus of artists, singers, musicians and journalists from Afghanistan.

Over the past 20 months, about 3,000 artists and singers have sought relocation outside Afghanistan, according to Artistic Freedom Initiative, an organization that offers free immigration and resettlement assistance for artists at risk.

The country’s National Institute of Music (ANIM) has been closed as all of its trainers, students and personnel were evacuated to Europe in 2021.

“We are witnessing a termination of the rich musical heritage of Afghanistan,” Ahmad Sarmast, ANIM director, told VOA while describing the many ways musicians and artists suffer under the Taliban rule.

While most popular Afghan musicians and singers reside abroad, those left in the country have reportedly quit music and have resorted to other jobs.

Sarmast said his ANIM staff and other artists are trying to keep the Afghan music alive in exile by organizing concerts and events in different parts of the world.

For many Afghans caught in recurring cycles of brutal wars, extreme and widespread poverty, and many social and cultural restrictions, music is a source of spiritual strength and a means to mental and psychological healing, experts say.

“The Taliban’s anti-music policies are turning Afghans into a mentally impaired nation,” warned Sarmast, who said the Taliban’s singsongs are praising and promoting violence.

A Taliban spokesperson received VOA’s request for comment on the regime’s policies about music but did not respond.

Taliban Warn Drivers in Herat: Unveiled Women Not Allowed in Cars!

·

8am: Sources on Wednesday, May 3, told Hasht-e Subh that the Taliban’s Directorate of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat has warned drivers in this province not to allow women without a veil to ride in their cars. According to sources, the Taliban’s morality police have been present at some of the city’s intersections in Herat for the past three days and are forcing women without a veil to get out of cars. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Exclude Women From ‘Supplementary Exam’ of MoPH

·

Khaama: Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health has announced that only male students are allowed to participate in the ‘Supplementary Exam’ to pursue their specialized study fields. The announcement comes following the ban of female university students from the Medical Council’s ‘Exit Exams’ prompting massive reactions, and being described as a gender-based discrimination. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Report: Taliban interfering with NGO work in Afghanistan

·

Taliban militant (file photo)

AP: Organizations face security risks and harassment at Taliban checkpoints, unannounced Taliban visits to NGO offices, repeated requests for information on work plans, budgets, operations, and personnel, and demands for increased involvement in project decision-making and implementation. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Commander Allegedly Commits Sexual Assault in Panjshir Province: Sources

·

Taliban militants (file photo)

8am: According to local sources, Mawlawi Muttaqi, the commander of the Taliban’s security command for Panjshir province, forcibly entered a residential house and sexually assaulted a woman. A credible source from the ranks of the Taliban in Panjshir told Hasht-e Subh that the incident occurred on Monday, May 1, in the village of Frubal, in the central district of this province. Mawlawi Muttaqi is the main resident of Kandahar province and lives in the house of the former government’s public health director in the Parakh area of Panjshir center. Click here to read more (external link).

Stop Detaining, Imprisoning Journalists: UN Chief

·

Khaama: On Wednesday, World Press Freedom Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that “the world must stand with journalists as they stand for the truth.” On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, the Afghanistan Journalists Centre (AFJC) released a report on the deteriorating situation of the media in Afghanistan, noting that violence cases against journalists have increased by 64% in the past year. The report shows that at least 213 incidents of violence, threats and detention of journalists have been recorded in the country from May 2022 to May 2023. The report revealed that one person was killed, 21 were injured, six people were physically harassed, 115 people were threatened, and 70 journalists were detained, of which at least two journalists, Murtaza Behbudi and Khairullah Parhar, are still in Taliban custody. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

UN Chief Lambasts Taliban for ‘Systemic Attacks’ on Afghan Women’s Rights

·

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 2, 2023

ISLAMABAD — Participants at a United Nations-convened international meeting on Afghanistan in Qatar agreed Tuesday to work together to find a way to engage with the country’s fundamentalist Taliban authorities on issues such as human rights, governance, counterterrorism and anti-drug efforts.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and special envoys on Afghanistan from nearly two dozen countries, including the United States, China and Russia as well as international organizations, attended the talks that began on Monday. The Taliban criticized the session for excluding them.

At the outset, Guterres told a post-meeting conference in the Qatari capital of Doha that it was about developing a “common international approach” and not about recognition of the Taliban government.

The clarification stemmed from a senior U.N. official’s suggestion in the run-up to the Doha meeting that attendees would also discuss recognizing the Taliban’s men-only government.

Taliban takeover

The Taliban seized power in August 2021 when U.S. and NATO troops departed the country after nearly two decades of involvement in the war with the then-insurgent Taliban.

No foreign government has recognized the new administration in Kabul, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, in part because of its bans on women’s access to work, education and public life.

“The current ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations and national and international NGOs is unacceptable and puts lives in jeopardy,” Guterres said Tuesday. “Let me be crystal clear, we will never be silent in the face of unprecedented, systemic attacks on women and girls’ rights.”

The Taliban government has banned girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and barred most women from workplaces, including those working with the U.N. and nongovernmental organizations.

“When it is the right moment to do so, I will obviously not refuse that possibility. Today is not the right moment to do so,” Guterres said when asked if he would be willing to hold a direct meeting with the Taliban.

The U.N. chief noted that delegates at the meeting were worried about the stability of Afghanistan and expressed serious concerns over “the persistent presence of terrorist organizations” and “the spread of drug trafficking that posed a risk for the region and beyond.

“Participants agreed on the need for a strategy of engagement that allows for the stabilization of Afghanistan but also allows for addressing important concerns,” he said.

“To achieve our objectives, we cannot disengage. Many called for engagement to be more effective and based on lessons which we have learned from the past,” the secretary-general said without elaborating.

The United Nations is due to conclude by Friday its ongoing review of Afghan operations in the aftermath of the Taliban ban on its female staff, prompting fears the global body could be preparing to withdraw from the country.

Guterres stopped short of ruling out the withdrawal possibility, while noting that Afghanistan is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with 97% of Afghans living in poverty.

“Two-thirds of the population — 28 million — will need humanitarian assistance this year to survive. Six million Afghan children, women, and men are one step away from famine-like conditions. Meanwhile, funding is evaporating,” he said.

The U.N. chief noted the world body has received only $294 million, or 6.4%, of its $4.6 billion Afghan humanitarian response plan for 2023.

Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban permanent representative-designate to the U.N., hailed Guterres’ announcement that the meeting participants had agreed to maintain engagement with Afghanistan.

“I believe a major flaw of the meeting was the exclusion of the IEA, the main party to the issue. Any meeting without their participation can neither be productive nor help in solving issues,” Shahen, who currently heads the Doha-based Taliban political office, told VOA by phone.

He said that Afghanistan faces many challenges, and the Taliban would want to resolve them in line with “our own principles.” Shaheen pointed out that the Afghan nation had also been demanding the removal of international financial sanctions that were imposed on the country after the Taliban takeover.

“But there was no discussion on the issue at the just concluded meeting. These sanctions are inflicting collective punishment on the poverty-stricken Afghan people. We welcome any gathering that aims to resolve issues, but if the purpose is to put pressure on us, it won’t work. The IEA is a reality, and no one should ignore it.”

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive Taliban chief, has repeatedly rejected international calls for removing bans on women and girls, saying he will not allow any foreign interference in his Islamic governance.

The Taliban previously controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Only three countries recognized their government then, including neighboring Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The hardline group had at the time wholly banned girls from receiving an education and women from working outdoors.

They had also hosted al-Qaida leaders blamed for plotting the deadly September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

Related