8am: Local sources said on Tuesday, January 10, that the Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Agents in Baghlan, in addition to shutting down women’s hairdressing salons, have warned land owners and dealers to refrain from issuing rent premises to women’s hairdressing salons. The Taliban have already closed women’s hair salons in Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces. Click here to read more (external link).
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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).
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).
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).
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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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: 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
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).