Taliban Militants
8am: After the dissolution of the Independent Commission for Overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution, the Taliban expelled dozens of the respective commission’s employees without payment. Hundreds of government employees are fired after the Taliban came to power without receiving their outstanding salaries, and are replaced by Taliban affiliates. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) selection committee has named the ODI and T20I squads for the Zimbabwe series which will be played in Zimbabwe from 4 to 14 June. The three T20Is will count towards the ICC T20I rankings, whereas three ODI matches will be part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Sports News
Foreign Affairs: For the last two decades, conventional wisdom in Pakistan held that an Afghanistan ruled by the Taliban would be a boon to Pakistan’s security. Islamabad has long supported the Taliban with the understanding that the militants could help deny India—which many Pakistani officials see as an existential threat—any influence in Afghanistan. But since sweeping back to power last August, the Taliban have confirmed how misguided the conventional wisdom truly was. Pakistan has become less safe, not safer, after the Taliban’s victorious march into Kabul. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: Save the Children said Monday, in its latest report on Afghanistan, that 24.4 million people, including 13 million children, need humanitarian assistance and that over five million children are close to famine. In its April report, the organization said 19.7 million people, including 9.6 million children, are facing critical levels of hunger; “5.3 million children are one step away from famine” and 1.1 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: The Taliban have forcibly added a new subject “Tajweed” to the Herat University curriculum. The Taliban have announced at Herat University that all students, no matter in what field they are should study and learn Tajweed Subject. Many Herat University students say the Taliban are changing the university’s atmosphere into a mosque. The majority of Herat University professors have left the country or resigned since the Taliban returned to power. There is no professor to attend classes during class hours; therefore, the Taliban have added religious subjects to fill these empty hours. Unfortunately, the Taliban have hired their members as teachers. Click here to read more (external link).
The Dispatch: Experts and ex-Afghan government officials agree. “The moment the United States opened talks with the Taliban, it telegraphed to the average Afghan villager that we are about to leave your country and abandon it, and the guys who are going to be in charge are the ones we are talking to,” Husain Haqqani, former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. and current director for South & Central Asia at the Hudson Institute, told The Dispatch. “That had a psychological effect that nobody had anticipated.” “The very act of negotiating with the Taliban signaled to the people of Afghanistan, as well as people within the Afghan government, that the United States was reconciled to a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in the future,” Haqqani added. “People could not understand why the withdrawal had to be negotiated with the Taliban. After all, the U.S. government also withdrew from Iraq, and that withdrawal was negotiated with the Iraqi government, not with ISIS.” Click here to read more (external link).
8am: The Department of Virtue Promotions in Kandahar province has launched a hijab campaign with the main concentration on imposing “Burqa” as the desired hijab. “The campaign has been launched by women for the purpose of observing the Islamic hijab in the province,” said Abdul Rahman Taybi, head of Virtue Promotion for Kandahar. “First, the advantages of wearing hijab will be preached through mosques; then, criminal laws will be passed against the violators of this decree in the future.” Click here to read more (external link).
Related
8am: The clashes have again escalated between the National Resistance Front forces and the Taliban fighters in Panjshir’s Rukha district, sources confirm. The Taliban rebels have attacked from several positions on the Resistance Front’s bases in the Hesarak area of Rukha district since Sunday morning, sources say. Sources report that casualties have been inflicted on both sides, but the exact number is not yet reported. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
8am: In a new decree, the Taliban have banned displaying living beings posters in Herat province. The Taliban have told all printing shops and advertising companies in the province to refrain from publishing living beings’ posters and images. Click here to read more (external link).