Ariana: Exports of pine nuts from Afghanistan have declined in recent months as trade routes remain closed, traders say. Traders in Khost said that the pine nuts could spoil if shipments remain in warehouses for too long. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban fighters (file photo)
8am: Local sources in Samangan report that the acting Taliban governor in this province illegally appoints his secretary as the caretaker of the province instead of the deputy governor in his absence. Sources add that this behavior of the Taliban governor shows his distrust towards the non-Pashtun Taliban-affiliated members in Samangan province. Click here to read more (external link).
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
July 2, 2022
The grand meeting in Kabul of more than 4,000 male clerics and tribal leaders ended on July 2 with a declaration of support for Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and calls on the international community to recognize the country’s as-of-yet unrecognized government.
The three-day “grand assembly of ulema,” or religious scholars, was a tightly controlled event where women were banned and delegates were hand-picked by the Taliban. Ethnic and religious minorities were excluded.
The religious scholars ended the meeting with a pledge of allegiance to the hard-line fundamentalist group’s reclusive supreme leader, Mawlawi Haibuatullah Akhundzada.
Akhundzada, who addressed the gathering on July 1 in a surprise appearance, heads the Taliban government that took control of Afghanistan after U.S.-led international troops withdrew in August 2021.
Cleric Mujib-ul Rahman Ansari said an 11-point declaration released at the end of the gathering calls on countries around the world, the United Nations, Islamic organizations, and others to recognize a Taliban-led Afghanistan.
It urged the removal of all sanctions imposed since the Taliban takeover and the freeing up of Afghan assets that have been frozen abroad.
“Interact positively, lift all sanctions on Afghanistan, unfreeze the assets of the Afghan people, and support our nation,” the declaration stated.
The United States and most of the international community have shunned the Taliban and its unrecognized government, demanding greater inclusivity and respect for minority and women’s rights.
Under the Taliban, girls have been barred from secondary schools while women have been fired from government jobs, prevented from traveling alone, and ordered to wear clothing that covers everything but their faces.
The final declaration did not address the issue of schooling for girls. However, it did call on the government to pay “special attention” to religious and modern education, as well as “the rights of minorities, children, women, and the entire nation, according to Islamic holy law.”
At the end of the gathering, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, a Taliban co-founder, insisted on the mandatory wearing of full hijabs by women in the country and said laws regarding it would be implemented throughout the country.
The international isolation of the Taliban has contributed to the collapse of the Afghan economy and a massive humanitarian crises, with food shortages being reported throughout the country.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
Ariana: The European Union announced this week that it will provide an additional $26 million for polio vaccines and another $15.6 million for child protection in Afghanistan. According to a statement issued by the EU, the funding for child protection will specifically be aimed at caring for migrant children at risk of violence, exploitation and abuse. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Local sources in Logar province have reported that a Taliban member has used military helicopter to transport his newlywed bride from Logar province to Khost. This Taliban member, whose identity has not yet been revealed, apparently has got married in Logar province and has taken his wife to Khost province, using the ANA’s leftover military helicopter. Click here to read more (external link).
Michael Hughes: The agenda item during talks between the U.S. and Taliban in Doha this week was widely expected to be about potentially unfreezing Afghan assets for earthquake recovery efforts. Although that topic was discussed, the State Department said a “central focus” of the dialogue was the Taliban’s restrictions on Afghan women. This emphasis was interesting because the U.S. diplomat in charge of this portfolio was conspicuously missing.
After the talks, Rina Amiri, the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights, took to twitter to explain her absence, which gave her an opportunity to question the Taliban government’s legitimacy with a jab at the radical movement’s top diplomat. Click here to read more.
Taliban militant (file photo)
8am: During the house-to-house search operations, the Taliban have taken away the properties of civilians, especially their vehicles, and named them as war booty, sources reported Saturday. According to the sources, the families living in Balkhab had hidden their cars and motorcycles in the village of Lalander and Sorkhak Balaq when they fled from the clashes, but the Taliban seized the vehicles by attacking these areas. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Koofi
UN: The situation for women is so desperate in Afghanistan that they are committing suicide at a rate of one or two every day, the Human Rights Council has heard. Addressing the Council, Fawzia Koofi, former deputy speaker of the Afghan Parliament, said lack of opportunity and ailing mental health, was taking a terrible toll: “Every day there is at least one or two women who commit suicide for the lack of opportunity, for the mental health, for the pressure they receive. “The fact that girls as young as nine years old are being sold, not only because of economic pressure, but because of the fact that there is no hope for them, for their family, it is not normal.” Click here to read more (external link).
Akmal Dawi
VOA News
July 2, 2022
With the collapse of the former Afghan republic in August 2021, Azizullah Jahish suffered two losses.
The new Taliban leadership fired him from his job as a civil engineer at the Ministry of Urban Development. Around the same time, he was informed that a U.S. Fulbright scholarship he was expecting to start in 2022 had been canceled.
Because of “significant barriers,” an email sent to Jahish from Fulbright administrators said, the “selection process for 2022-2023 academic year will not go forward.”
Jahish was among the 140 semifinalists, some of them females, who were expecting to start their graduate programs at U.S. universities in 2022.
Now, the U.S. State Department says it is considering resuming the flagship educational scholarship program for Afghanistan for the next academic year.
“We continue to work toward the safe resumption of the Fulbright program for Afghan students. While conditions on the ground have not changed, we are making plans for the 2023-2024 academic year of the Afghanistan Fulbright program,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA.
“For that cohort, we are considering the 2022-2023 semifinalist applicants.”
The semifinalists have already gone through most of the eligibility and testing procedures, including an English language requirement, which all applicants must pass to be considered for the scholarship.
“This is the best news,” Jahish told VOA, adding that he had selected Texas A&M University for his master’s degree in water resource management.
Some applicants evacuated
The U.S. evacuated more than 124,000 individuals from Afghanistan last year.
Fearing Taliban retaliation or loss of jobs and rights under new leaders, many Afghans have also migrated from their country in the past 10 months.
One Fulbright semifinalist who did not want to be named because of security concerns said many of her cohorts had already left Afghanistan.
To remain in touch and exchange information, the semifinalists have created a WhatsApp group.
“Some contacts in the WhatsApp group have changed their numbers and the country codes,” said Jahish, adding that most were still inside Afghanistan.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which used to manage the Fulbright program, remains closed and Afghans who seek to travel to the U.S. must submit visa applications in a third country.
Unlike students who receive scholarships from U.S. academic institutions and have to pay visa fees, Fulbright applicants do not pay for visa or flight tickets.
No new applications
About 4,000 foreign students from dozens of countries receive Fulbright scholarships annually. Since its inception in 1946, more than 400,000 students and academics from 160 countries have participated in the program.
The State Department said it does not accept new applications from Afghans for the 2023-2024 cycle. It is also uncertain whether Afghans will be able to apply for the 2024-2025 academic year.
From 2003 to 2021, more than 950 Afghans received Fulbright scholarships, mostly for two-year master’s degree programs.
The U.S. also spent more than $145 billion on other reconstruction and humanitarian and development projects in Afghanistan during the same period.
When the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed last year, the U.S. government ceased all development assistance, including the Fulbright program, to Afghanistan. The U.S., however, has remained the largest humanitarian donor to the country and has pledged more than $750 million in humanitarian aid over the last year.
“The United States has an enduring commitment to the people of Afghanistan,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Tuesday while announcing $55 million in funding for an earthquake response in Afghanistan.
“It’s imperative to build a people-to-people relationship, especially after the U.S.’s exit from Afghanistan. Such cultural, academic and human connections are more important than ever before,” Mohsin Amin, a former Fulbright scholar from Afghanistan, told VOA.
Despite profound disagreements between the Taliban and the U.S. government and the widespread accusations that the Taliban target Afghans who have had affiliations with U.S. programs in Afghanistan, Mohsin said Afghan Fulbright scholars would still be able to work in the country.
“I believe some of the Fulbright scholars are in the nonprofit and the private sector in Afghanistan, and some are retained by the Taliban in their government positions,” Mohsin said, adding that the Taliban must also respect the technical expertise U.S.-educated Afghans bring to Afghanistan.