Karzai: We Are Still Away from Bringing Security and Stability
Hamid Karzai
8am: “The difficult situation in Afghanistan and the recent terrorist incidents indicate that we are still a long way from establishing lasting peace and strengthening security and stability,” he said. Karzai called the recent attacks in Kunduz, Kandahar, Kabul, and Nangarhar provinces a conspiracy against Afghanistan to perpetuate instability. Click here to read more (external link).
1 US dollar Jumped to 95 afghanis
8am: This USD price against the national currency is one of the highest prices over the past two decades. The US dollar has risen against the afghani currency which 1 USD costs 95 afghanis. The dollar significantly rose against the national currency today (Sunday, November 14), according to Sarai Shahzada Exchange Market, the biggest exchange currency center in the country. Click here to read more (external link).
AFF names players for training camp in Turkey ahead of Indonesia match
Ariana: The Afghan Football Federation has announced the names of 23 players who will take part in a training camp in Turkey ahead of this week’s match against Indonesia. The national side will play Indonesia on Tuesday, November 16, at the Global Spor Arena in Antalya, Turkey. Click here to read more (external link).
The Taliban plans to buy electricity from Iran after Afghanistan’s unpaid bills to other countries left it facing blackouts
Business Insider: Afghanistan’s national power company plans to import electricity from Iran in the hope of heading off a looming electricity crisis. The country’s power network is in a precarious state since the Taliban ousted the US-backed government in August. Afghanistan imports the majority of its power, and had mounting debts to neighboring countries. Click here to read more (external link).
A surgeon who helps burned Afghan women is now in hiding, afraid for her life
NPR: At 32 years old, Dr. K is old enough to remember the first time the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1995. She was 7 when girls were banned from school. “For years, my mother ensured that we continued our studies in secret classes conducted by women teachers in their homes,” she says. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – November 13, 2021
Girls increasingly at risk of child marriage in Afghanistan
Ariana: UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said this week she is “deeply concerned by reports that child marriage in Afghanistan is on the rise”. In a statement issued Saturday, Fore said: “We have received credible reports of families offering daughters as young as 20 days old up for future marriage in return for a dowry. Click here to read more (external link).
Two Former Female Officers Found Dead in Paktia
8am: The bodies of the two women were found on Saturday in the first district of Gardez. Earlier, former soldiers expressed concern about their security, saying they have been persecuted, detained and assassinated by Taliban forces. Click here to read more (external link).
Blast Kills Afghan TV Journalist in Shi’te Neighborhood Of Kabul
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
November 13, 2021
A bomb attack on a minivan in a Shi’ite neighborhood of Kabul has killed a well-known Afghan television journalist, according to an Afghan media watchdog and the journalist’s wife.
The Afghan Journalists’ Center tweeted hours after the November 13 blast in western Kabul’s Dasht-e Barchi neighborhood that the explosion had killed Hamid Seighani, who worked for the Ariana television network.
Seighani’s wife, who is also a journalist, confirmed his death in a Facebook post, saying, “I have lost Hamid.”
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s main spokesman, said the blast caused a fire in Dasht-e Barchi. He said at least one civilian was killed. Mujahid said an investigation by the Taliban was under way.
Residents of the Dasht-e Barchi neighborhood confirmed hearing an explosion and seeing a vehicle burning after the blast.
A local man who gave his name as Ismael said he helped carry wounded people to a nearby hospital. He said at least three people were killed.
There was no confirmation of casualty numbers from hospital workers and no immediate claim of responsibility.
But the director of a nearby hospital who specializes in burn cases said at least two people suffered serious burn injuries.
Dr. Hakim Nasir Khesrow Balkhi said two wounded people were in critical condition when they were admitted to the hospital.
The bus driver, who goes by the single name Murtaza, told the AP at the hospital that a suspicious man got onto the vehicle a few minutes before an explosion went off at the back of the bus.
The driver said he saw two passengers with their clothes on fire falling out of the back of the vehicle. He said other passengers escaped out the front.
The Dasht-e Barchi area is heavily populated by Shi’ite ethnic Hazara, who have been the target of repeated attacks by Islamic State militants — including a bomb attack on May 12, 2020, at the maternity ward of the local hospital that killed 24 people.
The latest attack came a day after a bomb exploded inside a Sunni mosque in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar.
That blast, which killed at least three people, occurred during Friday Prayers at the village mosque of Tarela in the Spin Ghar district.
The office of Nangarhar’s Taliban-appointed governor issued a statement on November 13 saying that two “perpetrators” were arrested in connection with the mosque attack. It did not provide further details about the suspects.
“Further investigation into the incident is ongoing and more actions will be taken,” the statement said.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpa