Taliban rule takes toll on Afghanistan’s academics — especially women

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Nature.com: The academic week has been split so that male and female students can be taught separately, for three days each. Academics say this segregation, and the shortage of female lecturers, has reduced the quality of education, particularly for women. Some subjects have even been discontinued for female students, according to some scholars and students. Women and people belonging to minority ethnic groups, such as Hazara and Tajik people, say they have been persecuted. Click here to read more (external link).

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Baghlan Officials Order Farmers to Pay Tithes, Zakat

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Tolo News: Baghlan’s Department of Agriculture and Irrigation recently issued 20,000 collection bills to the province’s farmers in order to collect tithes and zakat. According to department officials, farmers are obligated to pay fifty percent of their tithes and zakat to this department based on the distributed documents. However, in reaction to the Department of Agriculture’s decision, farmers in Baghlan province said that the drought in recent years have caused them enormous losses, making it difficult for them to pay significant tithes and zakat. “We are the farmers who work hard. It is too difficult for us (the poor people) to pay 50 percent of our yield to the Islamic Emirate [Taliban], it is very difficult for poor people,” said Zekrullah, a farmer. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban in Ghazni: Female Students from 4th Grade to 6th Must Cover Their Faces

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8am: In a letter, the Taliban’s Education Department in Ghazni province has ordered all girls’ schools from fourth grade to sixth to wear full hijab and cover their faces while commuting to school. Sources from some girls’ schools in Ghazni have confirmed that it is added in the letter that students who do not follow this order will be expelled from school. Meanwhile, it has been more than nine months that the Taliban group has closed all the education doors to girls above sixth grade. Click here to read more (external link).

The West has a hand in Afghanistan’s bleak state

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The Washington Post: The West’s fixation on the war in Ukraine stands in contrast with its tacit disregard for the situation in Afghanistan. The world watched with horror as the Taliban swept to power in Kabul at the end of last summer, marking a brutal coda to two decades and trillions of dollars worth of American-led state-building and counterinsurgency. In Washington and various European capitals, there was fury at the Biden administration for its chaotic withdrawal and lamentations for the plight of Afghan women and girls, once more in the draconian grip of a fundamentalist militia bent on curtailing their freedoms. Click here to read more (external link).

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Taliban Removes Persian and Baluchi Languages from the Courtroom Signboard in Nimruz

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8am: In a new move, the Taliban group has removed Persian and Baluchi languages ​​from the courtroom signboard in Nimruz province. Nimruz residents have criticized this move of the Taliban, saying that the province has never been a place of ethnic disputes, but the Taliban are trying to create ethnic and linguistic divisions in the region. The group had previously removed the Dari language from the signboard of Balkh University which had provoked very serious reactions from the people, urging the Taliban to stop fueling ethnic tensions and creating more crises through the illogical ethnic oriented moves. Click here to read more (external link).

More money to Taliban: Da Afghanistan Bank receives $900 million in cash aid to date

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Ariana: Officials at Da Afghanistan Bank, the country’s central bank, announced Wednesday that nearly $900 million in humanitarian cash aid has been sent to Afghanistan since the collapse of the former government. According to Bakhtar News Agency, Mohammad Saber Momand, a spokesman for Da Afghanistan Bank, said: “Thanks to the series of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, 30 cash packages have reached the country so far, totaling 889 million and 600 thousand US dollars.” Click here to read more (external link).

Global Monitors Decry Disappearance of 2 Journalists in Afghanistan

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 31, 2022

ISLAMABAD — International media monitors demanded Tuesday that Taliban rulers in Afghanistan urgently investigate the alleged disappearance of two journalists and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The whereabouts of Ali Akbar Khairkhwa and Jamaluddin Deldar were unknown since May 24, when they both went missing from the Afghan capital, Kabul, according to relatives and co-workers.

Khairkhwa, a photojournalist and reporter with local Subh-e-Kabul newspaper, had departed for the capital’s Kote Sangi area in the morning to report and attend his university classes. Since then, his mother and brother told local media they could not find any information about him. They said they had contacted Taliban authorities, suspecting their role in the journalist’s abduction, but they denied involvement.

Deldar headed the Voice of Gardiz Radio in the southeastern Afghan province of Paktia. His family and his senior colleagues directly accused the Taliban of arresting him but did not know the reason for his arrest.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urged the Taliban to immediately investigate the disappearance of the two journalists, stressing the need for increased efforts to ensure protection journalists and media workers in Afghanistan.

“Contrary to the Taliban’s public commitment to protect freedom of the press and freedom of expression, incidents of harassment, attack, detainment and abduction of journalists have risen significantly following the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021,” the watchdog lamented.

The Islamist group seized power nine months ago from the then-Western-backed Afghan government days before the U.S.-led international forces withdrew from the conflict-torn country.

An estimated 1,000 journalists have fled Afghanistan since August, with threats, harsh restrictions and economic collapse leading to mass closures of local media outlets, according to IFJ. The monitor in its latest report has documented 75 media rights violations, including 12 killings and 30 arrests, across the country from May 2021 to April 2022.

Last week, the Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) in a statement decried the disappearance and other incidents of harassment, saying they were fueling concerns about the dangers and abuse journalists face in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

“It’s beyond time for the Taliban to take responsibility for the safety of reporters and to allow all members of the press — men and women — to report the news without interference, including abolishing the decree that women TV journalists cannot appear with uncovered faces,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue, charged with interpreting and enforcing the Taliban’s version of Islamic Sharia law, has recently bound female presenters to cover their faces while on air.

Afghan TV channels have already been barred from broadcasting dramas and soap operas featuring women.

Taliban Mobilizes 500 Residents of Urozgan to Fight Against NRF in Panjshir

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8am: A credible source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Hasht-e Subh that the Taliban have mobilized these new fighters to take part in the fight against the National Resistance Front forces. As clashes have intensified in the province over the last few weeks, it is reported that the dead bodies of the Taliban fighters are being taken out of the province daily, but the Taliban do not [allow] the media outlets cover their death toll as a result of clashes in this province. Click here to read more (external link).

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