8am: Women have staged a protest against the violation of their rights. They have called on the United Nations not to support the Taliban until they recognize women’s rights. The protests lasted for a limited time on Tuesday, (October 26). The women were chanting “We are hungry”, “The silence of the United Nations is embarrassing”, “Woman is also human”. Click here to read more (external link).
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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 26, 2021
The leaders of Pakistan and China on October 26 launched a joint appeal to the international community calling for urgent humanitarian and economic aid to Afghanistan, where people are facing food and medicine shortages in the coming winter.
A statement said Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the situation in Afghanistan in a telephone conversation, saying afterward that people there are in need of international help “to alleviate their suffering, prevent instability,” and rebuild following the withdrawal of the U.S.-led forces and the Taliban’s takeover in August.
The joint appeal came as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has been holding two days of talks with Taliban representatives in Qatar to discuss a range of issues.
China has urged the Taliban to keep border crossings open, while offering $31 million in humanitarian assistance along with 3 million doses of Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines.
Beijing long opposed operations by U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban seized power in August, it has kept its embassy open in Kabul but has not recognized the Taliban-led government.
Chinese officials have called for an inclusive government in Afghanistan but said virtually nothing about the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s access to work and education and other human rights issues.
Pakistan wants the world community to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets to enable Kabul use its own money to avert the deepening crisis.
Currently, the Taliban rulers do not have access to the Afghan central bank’s $9 billion in reserves, most of which is held by the New York Federal Reserve.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
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Afghan Cricket Team (file photo)
Al Jazeera: Afghans, those abroad and the ones in the country, including hundreds of people who have been displaced in the two months since the Taliban takeover, celebrated the win in Sharjah, the national team’s first outing since the fall of the Afghan government. For Afghan athletes, the victory was a mix of emotions. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News: Afghanistan’s national cricket team beat Scotland in its first official match of the T20 World Cup on Monday. Afghanistan’s team beat Scotland by 130 runs. Afghanistan will play against Pakistan on Friday, October 29. Click here to read more (external link).
Ismail Khan
ME Reports: Political de-legitimization was the intent behind the use of “warlord.” It is a smart missile that only strikes Tajik, Turk, and Hazara political leaders, but cleverly avoids striking Pashtun warlords. How does one judge if a person is a warlord and engaging in vile conduct? Is he, like the Taliban, killing and bombing innocents? Herat’s Ismail Khan is the case study. Khan’s delivery of indispensable public goods—security; education for boys and girls; and public works—made him an effective and popular “amir of Herat.” Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 25, 2021
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the attacks against Afghanistan’s Shi’ite minority perpetrated by an affiliate of the Islamic State group amount to crimes against humanity.
Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-K) has claimed responsibility for some of the worst recent attacks in Afghanistan, including suicide bombings among Shi’ite worshippers from the Hazara minority group at mosques in Kunduz and Kandahar provinces that killed almost 150 people earlier this month.
The group also carried out the August 29 suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 170 Afghans, mostly civilians.
“The IS-K armed group has repeatedly carried out devastating attacks that appear designed to spread terror and inflict maximum suffering particularly on Afghanistan’s Hazara community,” said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at the New York-based HRW.
“The numerous attacks targeting Hazaras amount to crimes against humanity, and those responsible should be brought to justice,” HRW said in a statement on October 25.
The mainly Shi’ite Hazara community is Afghanistan’s third-largest ethnic group. Its members have faced long-term discrimination and persecution in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan.
IS-K considers Shi’ite Muslims to be apostates. The group also opposes Afghanistan’s Sunni Taliban rulers, who took over most of the war-wracked country in August amid the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces after two decades of conflict.
“IS-K’s horrific attacks on civilians have not abated since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and appear to be increasing,” Gossman said. “The Taliban authorities need to urgently adopt measures to protect religious minority communities from attack.”
The Taliban has played down the threat from the Islamic State’s affiliate, but repeated attacks have tarnished the group’s claim to have brought peace to Afghanistan after decades of war.
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8am: Ghor local sources say an armed group has targeted three members of former uprising members in an ambush that killed two of them and injured another one. The three ex-uprising members have been ambushed in the Maidan Barakhana area in the center of Ghor on Saturday, (October 23), according to the information. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 25, 2021
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet with Taliban representatives during a visit to Qatar, in their latest high-level talks since the withdrawal of U.S.-led international forces in August.
The visit to Doha, where the Taliban has its political office, is scheduled for October 25-26 to discuss “issues of joint concern,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a daily briefing.
“Since August this year, the situation in Afghanistan has undergone fundamental changes and the Afghan people have a historic opportunity to independently decide the country’s destiny. Meanwhile, however, they still face many difficulties and challenges and are in urgent need of external support,” Wang said.
“As Afghanistan’s traditional friendly neighbor and partner, China has always advocated dialogue and contact to guide the positive development of the situation in Afghanistan,” he added.
China has not recognized the new rulers in Kabul but has kept its embassy open as it seeks to expand its economic and political footprint in the war-torn country with which it shares a 76-kilometer border.
In July, Wang met with a delegation led by a top Taliban figure, Abdul Ghani Baradar, in China, shortly before the group seized power from Afghanistan’s Western-backed government.
The two sides have continued contact, including China’s participation last week in Russian-hosted talks with the Taliban attended by officials from nine other countries.
Taliban officials have repeatedly said they intend to expand ties with China, which has promised humanitarian aid and economic cooperation.
Unlike the West, China is unlikely to make ties contingent on human rights issues, preferring instead hard economic, political, and security interests.
In particular, China is asking the Taliban to control the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an ethnic Uyghur group Beijing considers a terrorist organization seeking independence in the western region of Xinjiang.
During the Taliban’s visit to China in July, the delegation pledged that the group would “not allow anyone to use the Afghan soil against China.”
Earlier this month, two sources in Tajikistan and Afghanistan told RFE/RL that the Taliban had “removed” ethnic Uyghur fighters from border regions with China to other parts of Afghanistan.
With reporting by AP and Reuters
8am: The trip of the Omid National Team to Bahrain has been canceled. Afghanistan’s Football Federation has said that the team has been deprived of preliminary competition for the Asian championship. Click here to read more (external link).
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