8am: It is has been for six months that local Taliban authorities in Helmand province have reportedly detained Sayed Gul, known as Khaksar Alizai, a local commander in the Kajaki district of the province. Though the Taliban have announced a general amnesty, the former soldiers, government officials, and those who have worked with foreign alliances have not been safe so far for the last six months. They are either killed or imprisoned. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan Beats Bangladesh by 8 Wickets, Ties T20 Series
Tolo News: Afghanistan’s national cricket team tied the T20 series in a win against Bangladesh–by eight wickets–on Saturday in Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Afghanistan lost its first match of the T20 series last Thursday. Team Afghanistan was hosted by Bangladesh for three ODIs and two T20 matches. Click here to read more (external link).
Why cancellation of Fulbright Program in Afghanistan matters
Mohsin Amin via Al Jazeera: Many have been puzzled by the policy choices of the Biden administration vis-à-vis Afghanistan since the United States’ disastrous withdrawal from the country last August. It is not clear whether these choices are aimed at appeasing domestic audiences or collectively punishing a people for the unsuccessful ending of a long and costly war. Either way, they are causing immense suffering to Afghans who have already suffered enough. Click here to read more (external link).
‘We Are Desperate’: War In Ukraine Diverting World’s Attention From Afghan Humanitarian Crisis
Abubakar Siddique
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
March 4, 2022
Afghanistan is rapidly descending into one of the worst humanitarian crises in living memory amid rampant starvation, a health-care crisis marked by child malnutrition, and the collapse of essential services since the Taliban took over the country six months ago.
The situation initially prompted generous donor pledges from the international community in an effort to fend off large-scale death and destruction. But the escalating war in Ukraine — which has prompted the exodus of more than 1 million civilians into neighboring European countries — is now diverting international attention from the equally dire situation in Afghanistan.
A week into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, international attention is shifting away from Afghans as they bear the brunt of decades of war, drought, and an economic collapse.
Afghans who spoke to RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi have reported difficulties maintaining even a meager existence, with some resorting to sending their young children to work or beg on the street to help feed the household.
“There is no work. I wonder day and night, how can I feed my family?” Sharifa, a mother of three, told Radio Azadi. Her 11-year-old son and 13-year old daughter are pitching in by shining shoes in their home city of Kabul, but she says that even on the best of days they bring home no more than $2.
Nine-year-old Dadullah’s family, too, is depending on him to help after his father lost his job as a builder after the Taliban takeover.
“I give everything I earn to my parents,” the boy, who lives in the central province of Maidan Wardak told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. He says that Fridays are often his lucky day, when he makes more than $1, but other days he barely makes 25 cents.
Aid workers warn that the world’s attention is turning away from such grim realities in Afghanistan.
“What we see is a lot of media leaving Afghanistan. If you see the newspapers and TV, it’s all about Ukraine. That is a very strong indication of where the global attention is,” said Sam Mort, a spokeswoman for UNICEF, the UN’s children’s agency. “We also see urgent funding appeals for support to Ukraine, which absolutely needs that support, but Afghanistan’s needs are no less.”
Afghanistan, one of the most aid-dependent countries in the world, rapidly slid into a desperate humanitarian crisis after losing most international development funding and humanitarian assistance after the Taliban seized power in August. A marked decrease in trade and an enduring drought magnified the losses, even as countries have pledged renewed funding and aid and looked for ways to deliver it without propping up the Taliban.
But that aid has been slow to arrive, and U.S. and UN sanctions against senior Taliban leaders have complicated the country’s economic situation. Individuals and organizations are encountering difficulties in wiring money into Afghanistan, where banks are teetering on the brink of collapse.
Aid workers say that combined with the Taliban oppression, these sanctions have forced businesses to shutter and deprived tens of thousands of Afghans of jobs in health care and education after Western development assistance ceased six months ago. Even UN agencies and international NGOs have struggled to fund their humanitarian projects.
The UN estimates more than 23 million Afghans — more than 55 percent of the 39 million population — face starvation. UNICEF says over 1 million Afghan children under the age of 5 are at risk of dying from malnutrition, and that more than 3 million children could ultimately be affected.
According to the UNDP, 97 percent of Afghans will see their incomes drop below the poverty line this year. Since the Taliban takeover, more than 1.5 million Afghans have fled to other countries, while another 3.5 million are displaced inside Afghanistan.
“Nothing has improved, and the predictions are really grim,” Mort said of the current state of the crisis. “We are desperate for more funds to help those most in need.”
Veteran aid worker Anders Fange ran the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, one of the most significant humanitarian projects in the country, for decades. He says that given his experience during recent crises, the unfolding crisis in Ukraine will impact the willingness of Western donors to fund other humanitarian emergencies.
“Media is already influencing how the politicians see this,” he said. “Available funds and money will be focused on Ukraine.”
Looking For A Silver Lining
Two recent developments offer a possible silver lining for Afghanistan. First, the U.S. Treasury issued a waiver on February 25 that will “expand authorizations for commercial and financial transactions in Afghanistan, including with its governing institutions.” The General License, as the waiver is officially called, will allow commercial activities previously forbidden under sanctions against the Taliban.
And on March 1, the World Bank announced the release of some $1 billion from the previously frozen Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund. The money will be channeled to aid agencies “to support the delivery of essential basic services, protect vulnerable Afghans, help preserve human capital and key economic and social services, and reduce the need for humanitarian assistance in the future,” the World Bank said in a statement.
But Deborah Lyons, UN special envoy for Afghanistan, warned that the country was moving toward “a point of irreversibility” because the international community has failed to revive the Afghan economy. “We are nearing a tipping point that will see more businesses close, more people unemployed and falling into poverty,” she told the UN Security Council on March 2.
Fange agrees. “Even if these steps work, they will not solve all of Afghanistan’s problems,” he said, emphasizing the need to revive the economy, which remains in a downward spiral as the country’s agricultural sector struggles due to drought.
He says that even during years with an average harvest, Afghanistan was forced to import up to 3 million tons of wheat, the staple food in the country, to meet demand. “Now there is no money for this kind of import, and together with a 40 percent drop in last year’s harvest, it will get worse, much worse,” he predicted.
While Afghanistan has received more than 100,000 tons of donated wheat from Kazakhstan, India, Pakistan, and other countries, it is not enough to plug the gap.
Hameed Hakimi, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, is not optimistic about the situation. He says there is little hope for increased international attention to Afghanistan’s growing humanitarian woes and that Western economies, reeling from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic, are tightening spending abroad.
“This puts the Afghan context in direct competition for Western resources against the Ukrainian conflict, with the latter highly likely to be prioritized by donors,” he said.
Hakimi argues the Taliban’s hard-line rule in Afghanistan, which has made it an international pariah, doesn’t help, either. “The Taliban’s regime remains unrecognized internationally and therefore there is an absence of official Afghan lobbying for aid to the Afghan people,” he noted.
Mort maintains hope that the international community has learned that it is more humane and cost-effective to prevent a crisis than to treat it. However, she warns: “Time is running out for that in Afghanistan because people are really suffering.”
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
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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1TV Afghanistan Dari News – March 4, 2022
Poppy Cultivation Surges in Kandahar, Helmand
Tolo News: The cultivation of poppy for opium production has surged in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar this year compared to previous years, farmers said. “There is nothing else to cultivate. We were growing wheat before. This year—we want to cultivate poppy. Previously they were asking for bribes every day but we don’t have that problem this year,” a farmer said. Click here to read more (external link).
Blast hits mosque in Paktia, causes casualties
Ariana: An explosion went off in a mosque in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktia on Friday, an official said. The incident happened in Dand Aw Patan district shortly after the Friday congregation prayers at the mosque, said Khaliq Yar Ahmadzai, the provincial director of information and culture. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. Click here to read more (external link).
US Seeks Muslim Nations’ Help to Counter Taliban Views on Afghan Women
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
March 3, 2022
ISLAMABAD — The United States has initiated talks with Muslim-majority countries to encourage them to take the lead in pressing Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers not to exclude the country’s women from public life in the name of religion.
Rina Amiri, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights, told a seminar in Washington Wednesday that she is leading the diplomatic initiative to have an “alignment of position” among all international stakeholders on the issue.
The envoy, speaking virtually to a seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said she visited Saudi Arabia and Qatar last week and intends to travel other Muslim-majority nations to engage them on “the regressive practices” the Taliban are enacting to curtail women’s freedom.
“What I noted to them is what the Taliban are saying about women’s rights and making the argument that it’s on the basis of Sharia, is not just bad for Afghanistan and for Afghan women — it’s bad for Islam,” Amiri said of her talks with Saudi and Qatari officials.
“The actors that need to be leading and countering that narrative [are] the Muslim majority countries,” she added.
Amiri noted that many regional and Islamic countries maintain a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan and, in their engagement with the Taliban, they advocate for political as well as ethnic inclusion in the government, but “very little” is being said about women’s inclusion.
“When they engage the Taliban, what I’ve asked them to do is include women in their delegation show that women are playing prominent and strong roles in their own countries,” Amiri said.
The Islamist group took over Afghanistan in August and installed a male-only interim government including mostly Pashtuns, the country’s largest ethnic group, like the Taliban themselves.
Critics say the insurgency-turned-government has rolled back women’s rights in almost every area, including crushing women’s freedom of movement, over the past six months, despite Taliban pledges they would not bring back harsh policies of their previous rule from 1996 to 2001, when women were banned from education and work.
Women are not allowed to share transportation with men or take long trips without a close male relative, and taxi drivers are told not to offer a ride to female passengers who are not wearing hijabs.
“The vast majority of girls’ secondary schools are closed. Universities recently reopened, with new gender segregation rules. But many women are unable to return, in part because the career they studied for is off limits now, as the Taliban banned women from most jobs,” said Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch in a statement Wednesday.
The Taliban dismiss criticism of their government, saying it meets all requirements to be recognized as the legitimate entity and it is not allowing terrorist groups to operate on Afghan soil. They also strongly defend restrictions on women, saying they are in line with Islamic principles. The radical group has promised to open secondary schools for all girls in Afghanistan this month.
Taliban leaders have traveled abroad, including to Qatar, in recent weeks for talks with representatives of Western and Islamic governments. But they have failed to win diplomatic legitimacy for their government because of concerns about human rights, political inclusivity and terrorism.
Amiri said she recently also held talks in Qatar with Taliban delegates who reiterated that Kabul wants to improve its relationship with the West.
“My response has been, ‘Don’t just focus on improving your relationship with the West, improve your relationship with Afghans inside the country, build confidence not just by having inclusivity of a few actors from different ethnic groups but an inclusive process that is transparent, that engenders confidence among the population,” Amiri said.
Amiri said she also warned the Taliban that their return to power has only paused the Afghan conflict and it will not come to an end in the absence of inclusivity.
Critics are skeptical whether conversations with the Taliban to challenge their extremely restrictive view of Islam would produce the desired outcomes.
“I don’t think there are a lot of people who can influence the Taliban from the outside,” Anne Richard, a former U.S. diplomat, told the viral seminar. “But I think who can, U.N. officials, special envoys, potentially certain governments, I think we really have to ensure that their efforts are taken seriously and are pursued and we get as much information to them then from the people who are inside Afghanistan as we can.”
Afghanistan’s immediate neighbors, including Pakistan and Iran, as well as regional countries, have all cautioned the Taliban that the country’s economic and humanitarian troubles may intensify unless they live up to international expectations.
Last month, diplomats from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council met in Doha with representatives from Afghanistan’s de facto authorities and underscored the need for a national reconciliation plan that “respects basic freedoms and rights, including women’s right to work and education.”
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UN Envoy Says Failing Afghan Economy Heading To ‘Irreversibility’
AP: The UN special envoy for Afghanistan said on March 2 that the international community has not done enough to revive the country’s economy as it heads toward “a point of irreversibility,” while the United States said it is the responsibility of the ruling Taliban to create the conditions for economic stability. Click here to read more (external link).
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Former Soldier Abducted and Severely Tortured in Helmand
8am: A soldier affiliated with the now-former security directorate in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province claims that local government forces have severely tortured him. He was reportedly abducted and severely tortured by Taliban government forces in Lashkar Gah on Wednesday night. Click here to read more (external link).