ANI: China is currently engaged in pampering the Taliban, which finds itself in a state of diplomatic isolation. Its focus is on business with hopes of a better deal. China’s recent efforts to promote and support the Taliban 2.0 regime indicate that it is getting ready to recognize the government currently in place in Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).
Women’s Rights: A Year After The Taliban Takeover
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Despite claims by the Taliban that women would not be discriminated against by its new government, the rights and freedoms of women and girls have been dramatically curtailed in Afghanistan, raising alarm among international human rights organizations. Click here to read more (external link).
Health minister says two hospitals built with Iran’s help to open soon
Ariana: Afghanistan’s minister of health Qalandar Ebad said Tuesday that two new hospitals funded by Iran will open soon – one in Kabul and one in Bamiyan. According to Ebad, he discussed a number of issues with Iranian officials and reached agreements during a recent trip to Tehran. Among the issues were improving the capacity of Afghan health workers, modernizing blood banks, improving capacity to handle organ transplants and facilitating medical visas. Click here to read more (external link).
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UN Expert: Afghanistan Descending ‘Towards Authoritarianism’ Under Taliban Rule
Taliban Militants in Kabul (file photo)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 12, 2022
A UN human rights expert says conditions in Afghanistan under Taliban rule indicate a “descent towards authoritarianism” and called for radical changes to stop the trend.
“The severe rollback of the rights of women and girls, reprisals targeting opponents and critics, and a clampdown on freedom of expression by the Taliban amount to a descent towards authoritarianism,” Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, told a UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on September 12.
The mandate to monitor human rights violations in Afghanistan was established by the council almost a year ago after the Taliban takeover last August and is now up for renewal.
A year after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, teenage girls are still barred from school and women are required to cover themselves from head to toe in public, with only their eyes showing. Hard-liners appear to hold sway in the Taliban-led government, which imposed severe restrictions on access to education and jobs for girls and women, despite initial promises to the contrary.
On September 10, Taliban authorities shut down girls’ schools above the sixth grade in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia Province, according to witnesses and social media posts. The schools had briefly opened after a recommendation by tribal elders and school principals.
Earlier this month, four girls schools above grade 6 in Gardez, the provincial capital, and one in the Samkani district began operating without formal permission from the Taliban Education Ministry.
On September 10, all five schools were once again closed by the Taliban, sparking protests.
A resident of Paktia Province, who declined to be identified for security reasons, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi that the girls protested in Gardiz, the capital of Paktia Province, the same day the Taliban closed the schools.
Several videos of the demonstration circulated on social media. In one of them a student asks: “Why did you play with our feelings and why did you send us back to our homes disappointed?” She described herself and other girls as “oppressed people.”
Maulvi Monib, the head of education in Paktia Province, declined to answer Radio Azadi’s questions about the demonstration and the closing of the schools. He said that he was traveling and would provide information about it later.
The chief spokesman for the Taliban-led government, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a press conference that authorities are investigating the issue of who ordered the opening of schools in Paktia Province.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
Copyright (c) 2022. 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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Tolo News in Dari – September 12, 2022
Online shopping services shut down in Afghanistan due to economic crunch
ANI: Almost all major online shopping services in Afghanistan have shut down, with the two major online shopping services recently announcing to shut down their services due to the financial crisis in the country. Online shopping services in Afghanistan had facilitated and improved communications between customers and shopkeepers but this come as some other major online businesses including an online Taxi service called ‘Bubar’, Finest superstores online shopping portal and Hindukosh online shopping website were closed months after the collapse of the Afghanistan republic administration. Click here to read more (external link).
Doctor Brutally Beaten by Taliban for Examining a Woman in Logar
8am: The Taliban rebels have severely beaten a doctor who is an “ultrasound specialist” for examining a woman in Logar province and taken him to an unknown location, local sources reported. The incident took place in the city of Pol-e Alam, the capital of Logar province, on Saturday night this week. Click here to read more (external link).
Related – Life under Taliban rule
Afghanistan remains a cauldron of terrorists
Taliban fighters (file photo)
The Washington Examiner: The Taliban continue to embrace rule by terror. In addition to carrying out ruthless reprisal killings against former government personnel, the group is said to employ child soldiers and may have trained a brigade of suicide bombers. Numerous sources also suggest that the Taliban are creating a system of madrassas throughout Afghanistan. For panelist Crystal Bayat, a human rights activist from Afghanistan, these madrassas demonstrate the Taliban’s plan “to indoctrinate and brainwash” Afghan youth. Click here to read more (external link).
Assisting the Taliban Is Equivalent to Supporting Terrorism, Says the Council of Resistance to Save Afghanistan
National Supreme Council
8am: The Supreme Council of Resistance to Save Afghanistan, in an open letter addressed to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Sunday (September 11th), said that the Taliban took over Afghanistan in an internal and external conspiracy and committed gross violations of human rights during their rule. Highlighting the performance of the Taliban in Daikundi, Panjshir, Takhar, Baghlan and a number of other northern and northeastern provinces, this council emphasized that, in addition, the Taliban have also provided shelter to extremist terrorist groups. Click here to read more (external link).
Turkey deported 1,000 Afghan refugees in last week
Ariana: The Turkish Immigration Department said Monday in a statement published on Monday that from September 2 to 8 this month, three thousand illegal refugees have been returned to their countries, of which more than 1,000 are Afghan refugees. “1,492 of these asylum seekers are citizens of Afghanistan. Also, 448 people are citizens of Pakistan and another 198,000 people are citizens of other countries; the number of illegal asylum seekers who have been deported from Turkey since the beginning of this year has reached 78,716,” the statement said. “Since this year, we have prevented 209,318 illegal immigrants from entering Turkey.” Click here to read more (external link).