Afghan Shops Remove Heads of Mannequins in Line With Taliban Order

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
January 3, 2021

ISLAMABAD — Clothing shops in Afghanistan’s western Herat province have begun removing the heads of display mannequins, in line with new directives given by the local office of the Taliban’s ministry for Islamic guidance.

Obeidullah Yari, a local business community leader, told VOA on Monday that about 20% of the shops in the provincial capital, also named Herat, have already implemented the order to escape punishment.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention Vice, which is responsible for administering the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam, decreed last week that shop mannequins should have their heads removed for being offensive to Islam, warning that violators would be punished.

City mall owners and garment sellers initially criticized the Taliban directive, telling Afghan media that mannequins were also used to display clothes in other Islamic counties. But Yari said shopkeepers were now removing the heads of the dummies.

Aziz Rahman, the provincial head of the ministry, told local media he ordered shopkeepers to hack the heads off their mannequins because “they are idols.” He went on to explain that Islam prohibits idolatry, or the worshipping of idols.

Taliban authorities reportedly have also increased monitoring of public taxis in the capital, Kabul, to see if drivers are abiding by the ministry’s instructions related to women’s right to travel.

The decree requires drivers to carry only those female passengers who wear a headscarf or Islamic hijab and are accompanied by a male relative if they travel more than 72 kilometers. It also instructs cabdrivers to grow beards, stop their vehicles at prayer times and stop playing music while driving.

The ministry reportedly has also banned Afghan women from driving. It has also ordered local channels to stop showing dramas and soap operas featuring actresses, and female news anchors to wear hijabs while on the air.

Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in a recent interview to Afghan state television, defended the steps taken by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention Vice, saying they should not be a matter of concern for anyone because “Afghanistan is Muslim nation and no one is opposed to Islamic laws in the country.”

Mujahid said, however, that all government “religious departments” are instructed not to “mistreat people and be polite to them” while giving them guidance about Islam.

The ultraconservative Taliban regained power in August and named an all-male interim Cabinet to govern the conflict-torn country in line with the group’s strict interpretation of Islam, despite pledging not to revert to the harsh polices of their previous regime from 1996 to 2001.

The government has allowed schoolboys to return to classes but girls across many Afghan provinces are still waiting for permission to do so and most women have been prevented from returning to work.

When the Taliban were last in power, girls were not allowed to attend school and women were barred from work as well as education. The then-Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or the morals police, had been accused of serious human rights abuses, leading to Afghanistan’s isolation from the world.

Mujahid said that arrangements were being made to allow all Afghan girls to resume their educational activities, noting that schoolgirls across several provinces have already rejoined classes.

Critics, however, are skeptical of the Taliban assurances and say the group is gradually bringing back its repressive policies of the past.

“It was expected; but I would have welcomed every single employee of this ministry to be focused on poverty reduction, aid delivery and lifting the beggars from the street, feeding them & giving them a job as their 1st priority,” tweeted Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan official.

The United States and the global community at large have not recognized the new Taliban government and suspended most non-humanitarian financial assistance to the aid-dependent country.

Foreign countries continue to refuse to open direct political engagement with the Islamist group until it ensures respect for human rights, especially those of women, runs the country inclusively and cuts ties with transnational terrorists.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan is in the grip of a severe humanitarian crisis stemming from years of war, drought and poverty. The United Nations has repeatedly warned that more than half the population in the country are facing starvation, with nearly a million children at risk of dying because of a “severe acute malnutrition.”

Burial in Mass Grave; How the Taliban Killed Fahim Dashty.

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Fahim Dashty

8am: The vehicle carrying Dashty and General Wadud with their two bodyguards was stopped by the Taliban on the Dashtak-Tawakh route, and they were buried in a mass grave after being shot on the side of the road. Click here to read more (external link).

Afghan Wrestling Team to Compete in Iran

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Tolo News: The Afghan Pahlevani and Zoorkhaneh Rituals (wrestling) team will travel to Iran to participate in an international competition in Isfahan, the Afghanistan Zoorkhaneh Federation said.  The competition will include athletes from 30 countries, the federation said, saying that at least 10 Afghan athletes will attend the competition.  Click here to read more (external link).

Report Shows Massive Gain of Contractors in Afghan War

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Tolo News: The outpouring of money from the US government for the Afghan war provided billions of dollars to military contractors, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. The reports also showed major instances of embezzlement. According to the report, the Defense Department spent six million dollars on a project which was aimed to import nine Italian goats to fuel the Afghan cashmere market but the project “never reached scale.”  Political analysts said the US defeat in Afghanistan was due to the war becoming a business. Click here to read more (external link).

Clashes Between Taliban and Resistance Front Leave Two Dead and Another Wounded

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8am: Local sources confirmed that two people were killed and one was wounded in clashes between Taliban fighters and members of the National Resistance Front in the Ashkamash district of Takhar province. According to sources, the clash took place on Sunday afternoon (January 2nd) in the village of Elitch. Click here to read more (external link).

Anti-Taliban Resistance Expands Beyond Panjshir Amid Human Rights Backslide

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Michael Hughes
AOPNEWS
January 1, 2022

Afghan resistance leaders and their supporters appear confident that both military and political efforts to counter the Taliban will eventually spread nationwide amid growing human rights abuses against women and minorities.

Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself the “Acting President” of Afghanistan amid the fall of Kabul, has been resolute, vowing to continue pushing back against the Taliban as well as the movement’s primary sponsor.

“I fought them [Taliban] with pride… and will continue to fight them until Afgh is home to all Afghans,” Saleh said in a tweet on December 30. “Afg is too big to be swallowed by Pak.”

The former Afghan vice president appeared to dismiss options other than confrontation, warning that the solution “is not nostalgic interviews or publishing diaries.”

Saleh’s tone, however, was not entirely combative as he expressed some hope that the Taliban would join an inclusive government.

“It is a new beginning,” Saleh added. “Talibs don’t own Afg… [but] they can be part of it.”

The Taliban have even confirmed that the resistance has been active in the region including with respect to responding to injustices with force.

Abdul Hamid Khorasani, security chief of the Taliban Police Command for Panjshir province, told Hasht-e Subh earlier in the week that an armed clashed began after Taliban forces “shot and killed an innocent young man in the Anaba district.”

The residents of Anaba district in the wake of the young man’s death started protesting, the report added.

Head of Foreign Relations for the National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan, Ali Maisam Nazary, posted a clip of protesters he said were resisting the Taliban “oppressors.”

“They are chanting long live @AhmadMassoud01 & NRF,” he said in a tweet on December 26. “They are starting a peaceful uprising while their brothers in arms are resisting from the side valleys.”

In an interview the following day, Nazary said the resistance aims to free Afghanistan from the “terrorism and oppression” under the Taliban.

“We are growing and spreading throughout the country, especially in the northern parts,” Nazary told Sputnik.

In September, Nazary accused the Pashtun-majority Taliban of ethnic cleansing and called on the international community to stop the movement’s alleged war crimes.

In an interview published on December 28, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Tajikistan Muhammad Zahir Agbar told Sputnik that resistance forces exist not just in the Panjshir province, but also in Kandahar and in the Andarab region of the Baghlan province.

The envoy also said Saleh and the resistance forces have enough weaponry to continue the fighting. He said they are in constant communication with Saleh and resistance leader Ahmad Massoud.

“The Panjshir is waging hostilities – it does not surrender,” Agbar said. “As for military assistance, I want to say that we still have enough strength, military equipment and weapons for our resistance in Panjshir.”

The people in the region, he noted, recently were seen protesting and shouting: “Down with the Taliban!”

“I am sure that very soon the whole country will stand up against the Taliban, and it will be not only political and military resistance, but the all-people resistance from all parts of the society,” Agbar said.

Agbar, in addition, indicated that the resistance is seeking political support from neighboring states such as Tajikistan, among others.

He noted that Saleh even met with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon recently in Dushanbe. The diplomat acknowledged, however, that he lacked “accurate information” about said meeting.

The government of Tajikistan has been concerned about the instability in Afghanistan spilling across borders, and has even welcomed defensive arms from Russia.

Agbar, in underscoring the threat, claimed the Taliban are granting Afghan passports to members of al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Fahim Fetrat, a former Afghan parliament adviser, in September said the resistance forces in Panjshir within their arsenal have heavy weaponry – including a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher and the T62 tank. When the US forces tried to confiscate those heavy weapons in 2005, local forces refused to comply, he added.

In terms of trying to garner external support, the NRF has registered as an official foreign lobbying group in the United States, with Nazary listed as the foreign principal, Massoud as leader, and Yusif Nazir as treasurer. 

The group – based in Torrance, California – plans on launching a campaign to drum up support via ads, social media, lectures, and press releases, according to the document. In addition, they plan to meet with U.S. government officials, legislators, civic groups, and news organizations.

The Biden administration, however, has so far refused to entertain demands by some U.S. lawmakers to recognize the NRF as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

The Taliban, for their part, have said any U.S. support for the NRF would constitute a breach of the 2020 Doha agreement.