Khaama: The new programme will admit 1,000 Afghans per month and their family members, targeting particularly exposed Afghans who are active in women’s and human rights advocacy or those at risk for working in the fields of justice, politics, media, education, culture, sport or science. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Receives Fifth Aid Package Worth $40 Million in Cash
8am: In a newsletter, the Central Bank of Afghanistan under Taliban control in a series of Tweets said on Tuesday, October 18 that the group received the fifth aid package of 40 million dollars from the international community in Kabul. The international community has been injecting aid packages while there is no reliable monitoring mechanism on the ways these funds are being spent. Meanwhile, there are no accurate figures for the cash aid that has been given to Afghanistan after the Taliban swept into power in late August. Click here to read more (external link).
US will not fund non-state actors in Afghanistan: Taliban sources
Al Jazeera: The United States has assured Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers that Washington will not fund any armed groups or non-state actors in the country, Taliban sources have told Al Jazeera. The assurances were welcomed by the Taliban as Tajik armed groups, which have been backed by the West in the past, continue to challenge the group’s leadership – even as it has managed to contain the Tajik-dominated National Resistance Front and other groups aligned with the former Western-backed government since it returned to power in August last year. Click here to read more (external link).
97% of Afghanistan’s Population Plunges Into Poverty, Says OCHA
8am: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that in the last three years, the poverty graph in Afghanistan has increased from 47% to 97%. OCHA tweeted on Monday that unemployment, decrease in income and increase in prices are among the reasons for the increase in poverty in Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).
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Woman in Afghanistan commits suicide before Taliban could stone her: Report
Woman being stoned (file photo)
WION: In a shocking incident, a woman in Afghanistan killed herself before the Taliban forces could kill her for running away from home, local media reported citing a resident. According to a report by Khaama Press published on October 15, the woman who ran away from home with a married man was going to be stoned on Friday. To avoid such brutal punishment, she committed suicide, it said. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – October 17, 2022
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Pledge $1.2 Billion to Eradicate Polio
Bill Gates
Reuters: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said on Sunday that it will commit $1.2 billion to support efforts to end all forms of polio globally. Governments and foundations aim to end polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the last two countries where the virus continues to circulate. Click here to read more (external link).
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Afghan Passport Ranked the World’s Least Powerful
8am: The new ranking of the Henley Passport Index shows that the Afghan passport is still the world’s least powerful passport. The Henley Passport Index, which measures the world’s most travel-friendly passports from time to time based on data received from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA), has released its report for 2022. Japan has the world’s most powerful passport as its citizens can travel to 191 countries around the world visa-free or visa on arrival. Click here to read more (external link).
UN Envoy Otunbaeva Meets With Taliban Officials To Discuss Aid, Girls’ Education
Roza Otunbaeva
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 16, 2022
The United Nations’ new special representative for Afghanistan Roza Otunbaeva has met with high-ranked officials of the Taliban-led government to discuss a “broad range of issues, including international assistance, drug abuse, and the importance of girls’ education,” the UN said on October 16.
According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), during her visit to Kabul, Otunbaeva held separate meetings with Taliban acting Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi and acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, among others.
The two sides “agreed close cooperation to address pressing issues faced” by the people of Afghanistan, the UNAMA said in a series of tweets.
Afghan media quoted a Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying the ministry told the envoy “that now is the time for Afghanistan and the world to come closer together and understand each other’s priorities, conditions, and requests, and the UNAMA can achieve this well.”
Since returning to power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the hard-line Taliban has barred girls from attending secondary school and prohibited women from many government jobs.
No country has yet officially recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government. Much of the international community has made the reopening of secondary schools for girls one of the key conditions for formally recognizing the Taliban-led government.
Formerly a president of Kyrgyzstan, Otunbaeva was named the head of UNAMA last month, replacing Deborah Lyons, who stepped down in mid-June.
With reporting by Tolo News
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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Taliban Establishes Commission to Investigate Cases of Those Arrested in Panjshir Clashes
8am: The Taliban regime has announced the establishment of a commission to investigate the cases of civilians who were arrested during the clashes in Panjshir province. The National Resistance Front (NRF) had earlier declared that the Taliban group has arrested and imprisoned at least 5,400 residents of Panjshir province since it returned to power in late August. Click here to read more (external link).