8am: The Taliban are strongly opposed to the celebration of Nawroz, yet people still travel to commemorate the return of nature in the spring. As Nawroz is no longer an official holiday and has been removed from the calendar, government workers must be prepared to go to work on the first day of the new year. Imams of mosques in towns, villages, religious institutions, and schools who are ideologically linked to the Taliban oppose the Nawroz festival and forbid it, threatening to punish those who celebrate it and accusing them of blasphemy and atheism. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – March 22, 2023
Hidayatullah Badri Appointed as Afghanistan Central Bank Governor
Badri
Khaama: The former acting finance minister, Mullah Hidayatullah Badri, has been appointed as the governor of the Afghanistan Central Bank, the spokesperson of the finance ministry said on Wednesday. Finance Ministry spokesman Ahmad Wali Haqmal told Reuters that Mr. Badri has already occupied his new role as the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) governor. Prior to this, Badir served as the finance minister of the Taliban-run administration since the group’s return to power in August 2021. Since the takeover of Kabul, the Taliban has continuously dismissed former government employees and replaced them with their own members, most of whom have studied at religious schools and madrasas. Click here to read more (external link).
UK Begins Probe into Claims of Unlawful Killings by its Troops in Afghanistan
Khaama: The investigation into claims of unlawful killing by UK soldiers is about to get underway. As the investigation begins on Wednesday, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, the chair of the inquiry, is anticipated to request documentation of criminal activities in the war-torn country between 2010 and 2013. During his opening remarks, Cave is anticipated to call anyone with pertinent information to come forward. During a six-month deployment to the southern Afghan province of Helmand from November 2010 to May 2011, one SAS unit shot and killed 54 civilians in suspicious circumstances, according to the BBC’s Panorama program investigation. Click here to read more (external link).
Two people, including a Taliban fighter, were killed by unknown people in Faryab
8am: Local sources in Faryab say that unknown gunmen have killed two people, including a Taliban fighter, in this province. It is said that this Taliban fighter had gone to the Arab-Aqsa area of Pashtunkot district for fun with a teenager who was a student at a religious school. Click here to read more (external link).
Pakistan will harm if it imposes further punishment on Imran Khan, former US envoy warns
Khalilzad
Khaama: In a series of tweets, Khalilzad noted, “There are indications that Pakistan’s parliament, which is controlled by the governing coalition, might ask the Supreme Court to disqualify Imran Khan from running for election and even prohibit PTI in the next few days.” Khalilzad said, “The government appears to have decided to set up Imran Khan as enemy number one of the State. Such steps will only deepen Pakistan’s political, economic, and security crises. Already, some countries have suspended planned investments”, he said. He further warned Pakistani politicians that amid political chaos, political polarization, and violence, intends to punish PTI may worsen the current situation in the country. Click here to read more (external link).
Strong Earthquake Rattles Pakistan, Afghanistan
AP: A magnitude 6.5 earthquake rattled much of Pakistan and Afghanistan on March 21, killing at least two people and sending panicked residents fleeing from homes and offices. More than 100 people were brought to hospitals in the Swat valley region of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in a state of shock, Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s emergency services told the Associated Press. Click here to read more (external link).
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Picking Up The Pieces
Destroyed Buddha Statue
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: The recent past has not been kind to Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic heritage. Will history repeat itself under the new Taliban government? Just months before the Taliban was ousted from power in 2001, the hard-line Islamist group took a wrecking ball to Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic history. That spring, the Bamiyan Buddhas that had stood tall for more than 1,400 years were reduced to rubble over the course of a few weeks after Taliban fighters blasted them with artillery before finishing them off with dynamite. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan: the national women’s football team that isn’t
DW: Afghanistan’s former internationals continue to play football together — in Australian exile. The sport’s global goverining body, FIFA, has so far denied them recognition as the Afghan national team. The team is “like a second family in a strange country,” defender Fatima Mursal Sadat tells DW. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghan Girls Going Back to School is ‘Primary Concern’, Says Former President
Hamid Karzai
Khaama: In an interview with Canada’s CBC TV, the former president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, said on Monday that allowing girls to return to school is the Afghan people’s ‘primary concern’. He said banning women’s education is a very serious issue for Afghanistan and the children in our country. He emphasized that “education is the foundation of a country’s well-being, not only for Afghanistan but for every other society as well, and our effort has been intensely increased to bring back our girls to school, not only secondary and high school, but university and the workplace as well, said Karzai.” Click here to read more (external link).
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