Taliban Deploys a 400-Strong Unit to Sanjan Area, Kapisa Province

·

8am: Locals say the Taliban have recently moved a reserve battalion to Kapisa province. The unit is said to have consisted of 400 armed personnel. A reliable source told Hasht-e Subh on Friday (June 10th) that the Taliban had been moving troops into the Sanjan area of ​​the first district of Kapisa province for the past three days. The source added that Taliban fighters have forcibly evicted two civilian families from their houses to a mosque in the area, turning civilian buildings into military bases. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Can crypto help Afghans? Some think so

·

Al Jazeera: came fascinated with them and small groups of people found ways to begin trading in them, especially as at least one crypto commodity exchange had been started in Kabul by 2019. But it did not really take off until last year when the Taliban takeover of the country shut Afghanistan out of the traditional global economy, forcing more than 30 million Afghans to come up with new ways to access cash for their daily expenses. Click here to read more (external link).

More money to Taliban by Saudi Arabia

·

Ariana: Saudi Arabia on Thursday announced a $30 million grant to support the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF). Operated under the umbrella of the Islamic Development Bank in coordination with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the AHTF grant will be provided through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and the Saudi Fund for Development. Click here to read more (external link).

Watchdog Urges Harsher International Measures Against Taliban For Rights Violations

·

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
June 9, 2022

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the international community to impose tougher restrictions on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers in response to what the watchdog called a “grave human rights crisis” that has been especially affecting women and girls after the group’s return to power in August.

Since taking over, the Taliban has rolled back two decades of gains made by the country’s women, who have been squeezed out of many government jobs, barred from traveling alone, and ordered to dress according to a strict interpretation of the Koran.

HRW said in a statement on June 9 that in particular, the radical group’s decision on March 23 to prolong a ban on girls’ secondary school education has prompted international condemnation.

But the group said condemnation “is not enough” because it does not “make the Taliban hurt” and urged the international community to take more effective steps against Afghanistan’s current rulers.

“It’s time for governments to turn consensus that the Taliban’s actions are unlawful into coordinated actions that show the Taliban that the world is ready to defend the rights of Afghans, particularly women and girls, in meaningful ways,” HRW said.

HRW recommended that the United Nations revisit a travel ban imposed by the Security Council in 1999 on several Taliban leaders in response of the group’s terrorist activities at the time — a measure that still affected 41 current members of the Taliban leadership, although it was partially suspended in 2019 to allow 14 Taliban figures to participate in peace talks.

“The Security Council will be reviewing these exemptions in June and has an opportunity to refocus the ban on specific Taliban leaders who have been implicated in serious rights violations,” HRW recommended.

Among the current Taliban leaders that should be banned from traveling HRW mentioned Abdul-Haq Wassiq, the chief of the group’s intelligence agency accused of extrajudicial executions and arresting and beating journalists; Muhammad Khalid Hanafi, head of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice responsible for many of the restrictions on women and girls; and Haibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s top religious leader, who HRW says played “a decisive role in extending the ban on girls’ secondary education.”

HRW also recommended UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visit Afghanistan in order to “redirect world attention to the situation, increase pressure on the Taliban to respect human rights, and prompt global solutions to end the dire humanitarian crisis.”

It also proposed an independent review of the UN mission in Afghanistan and its human rights monitoring to establish whether “it is equipped to perform its mandate.”

“Afghan women and girls are watching their rights vanish before their eyes. They need more from the world than concern. They need action,” HRW concluded.

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.

Related

A Prisoner Affiliated With NRF Shot Dead by Taliban Fighters in Baghlan

·

8am: Sources say the Taliban have shot dead a member of the National Resistance Front (NRF) in Baghlan province. Local sources told Hasht-e Subh on Wednesday (8 June) that Taliban fighters shot dead a member of the NRF in the Tala-wa-Barfak district of Baghlan province on Tuesday. The Taliban also beheaded and mutilated four members of the NRF in the Andrab region in Baghlan province on Tuesday (June 7th). Click here to read more (external link).

Practical work of TAPI project will begin in the next six months

·

Ariana: Noor Ahmad Islamjar, the governor of Herat, met with Turkmen Ambassador to Afghanistan Hoja Ovezov and Mohammad Murad Amanov, chief executive of the project in the province. During the meeting, the CEO of the TAPI project said that the practical work of the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan will start in the next six months. In this meeting, Hoja Ovezov, Turkmen Ambassador to Kabul and Mohammad Murad Amanov, the executive director of the TAPI project was present. “We are waiting for the acquisition of the lands by Afghan government,” Mr Amanov announced the start of work on a gas transfer project from Turkmenistan to India in the next six months. Click here to read more (external link).

US engagement with Afghanistan isn’t over — and we need a new policy

·

The Hill: America still has a few tools to support its interests in Afghanistan but using them requires a focus beyond humanitarian relief and politically wishing the issue would disappear. Our interests are easily described: preventing attacks on the U.S. and its allies; supplying food and medical care to Afghans; supporting human rights, especially for women and girls; and facilitating the departure of American citizens and Afghans who worked with our government or directly supported the rights and principles we spent so much to advance. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Forces Kill a Farmer in Shotul District, Panjshir Province

·

8am: Local sources report that a man has been shot dead by Taliban fighters in Panjshir province. The incident took place on Wednesday evening (June 8th) in the Roidara area of the Shotul district of Panjshir. According to sources, the victim’s name was Ibrahim, and he was killed by the Taliban while irrigating his trees and farmland. Click here to read more (external link).

Related: Taliban war on Panjshiris