Ashraf Ghani found to have lied countless times during his tenure

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Ashraf Ghani

Ariana: The following is a short list of commitments made by Ghani that were not kept.

1- Ghani promised to create one millions jobs, but instead five million lost their jobs.

2- During a trip to Badghis province, Ghani promised to establish an academic college and a technical school in every district. This never happened.

3- He also pledged to allocate and give land to all teachers. Again this never happened.

4- He made promises to supply all districts in the country with electricity. Less than 9% of the rural population have electricity, while 75% of Afghans live in rural areas.

5-Ghani promised to end the bloodshed in the country countless times. This never happened under his rule.

6-He also vowed to build 6,000 schools. Nothing came of this.

7- Ghani also made numerous promises to make sure that every family had food on their tables – yet most soldiers went without pay for months.

Click here to read more (external link).

Talivan Downplays Claims that Daesh is Emboldened

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Muttaqi

Tolo News: Acting [Taliban] foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said Sunday that Daesh was not emboldened but there is rhetoric in favor of the group.  He made the remarks in an interview with the Turkish news agency Anatolia.  “It fortunately doesn’t have the military capacity and it doesn’t have a sanctuary in Afghanistan,” he said. “Of course, there is rhetoric in favor of the group to show the current government of Afghanistan as weak. The pressure is building on the current government from abroad, and the Daesh is taking advantage of this pressure. Click here to read more (external link).

MoPH: Mortality Rate of Children Under 5 Has Increased

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Tolo News: On Sunday, the [Taliban] acting Minister of Public Health said that the under-five mortality rate of children has increased due to microbial disease across the country.  Observing the global handwashing day on October 15 in Kabul, the acting minister of MoPH, Qalandar Ebad, expressed concerns over the child mortality rate, declaring that 55 out of the 1000 children are dying before reaching 5 years old due to microbial disease. Click here to read more (external link).

UN Says First of Three Emergency Airlifts for Afghanistan Arrive in Uzbekistan

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Lisa Schlein
VOA News
October 17, 2021

GENEVA — The United Nations refugee agency says the first of three emergency airlifts of relief supplies for Afghanistan that landed in Termez, Uzbekistan, Friday will be followed by two more flights this week.

With Afghan airports closed to commercial traffic, the U.N. refugee agency has diverted flights to the Uzbekistan border town of Termez, which will act as the epicenter of a massive Afghan relief operation.

UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said the three planes together are delivering more than 100 metric tons of shelter materials, blankets, plastic sheeting, and other supplies to help Afghans withstand the rigors of winter.

He said the supplies will be trucked from Termez to Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and distributed to 126,000 people in the country. He said more supplies will be needed, as his agency hopes to aid some half a million Afghans.

“We need Kabul to resume activities as soon as possible. I mean so many things depend on it. And, also, we hope to fly in special flights into Kabul as well with our relief items and bringing in more aid. … So, if supplies are available anywhere, we will be moving them to Afghanistan,” said Baloch.

The United Nations estimates 18 million people, half of Afghanistan’s population, needs humanitarian aid. More than 3.5 million Afghans are internally displaced, including more than half a million newly displaced this year.

Baloch said people are living on a knife’s edge. A few days ago, he said he visited a distribution center 15 to 20 kilometers outside Kabul, where he witnessed the desperation of people lining up for aid.

“When I was standing there, we saw an old mother collapsing in front of our eyes. So, when colleagues attended to her, the reason was she has not eaten for days. And she is the one who is heading the household because of what has happened to her. You have grandfathers, you have children, you have little girls who should be in school, and they are queueing up or they are being in the aid distribution queue,” he said.

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in mid-August, girls have not been allowed to go to school and women have been prohibited from working.

Baloch said it is a race against time to provide aid to millions of Afghans before winter sets in and access to many will be cut off. He warns the blistering cold weather can kill anyone caught out in the cold without any help.

Related

Great Ways to Work on Your Education in 2021

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The future of education is full of opportunities, but they are not all equal. Some require a significant investment in both time and money to get the most out of them. Here are some ways that you can work on your education without breaking the bank in 2021!

Enroll in an Online University

If you’re the kind of person who thrives on structure and deadlines, then there is no better way to improve your education than by enrolling in a reputable online university. For example, Liberty University offers students all-inclusive tuition rates so that they don’t have to pay anything extra for classes or textbooks! Also, the University of Maryland offers an evening degree completion program that can be completed entirely through distance learning with occasional visits during the semester so you get out what you put in! The great thing about this option is that if you want to take one class at a time over several years until you finally finish your bachelor’s degree, it won’t cost any more money than just paying for what you need now. This is perfect for those people who know exactly what career path they want to pursue but would prefer learning without having monthly bills hanging over their heads.

Take MOOCs

MOOC stands for Massively Open Online Course. When you take a MOOC, it is typically offered through an online course management system such as Blackboard or Desire to Learn (DTL). You can find courses on just about any topic imaginable. There are even some classes that have no prerequisites and award college credit! If you want to fill up your schedule with interesting topics but don’t want to commit yourself full-time, this might be the route for you.

Work to Improve Your Skills

If you already have a college degree, there are plenty of ways that you can work toward improving your skills and earning certificates. No rule says everyone has to go back full-time for four years to improve their education. You may want to take an online course or two so as not to lose the knowledge already gained but now apply it with even more useful tools than before such as Microsoft Excel certification training courses. This way, if someone asks what kinds of classes you’ve been taking lately, they will be impressed by all you’re doing along with whatever job duties they require!

Take On a Mentorship

If you have the opportunity to work with someone who is more experienced in your career field, take it! Even if that means working for free. If they are willing to pay you some small allowance while teaching and mentoring you so much about their job duties, this can be one of the most beneficial aspects of going back to school after many years out of college or high school. You will gain invaluable experience while not having any extra expenses on top of whatever courses might already cost. 

Plus, when people ask why you don’t seem quite as busy anymore because there aren’t as many hours booked into your schedule compared to before then tell them how valuable this time spent learning from an expert truly was!

The options are endless when it comes to ways that you can use your time more effectively. Your employer may be willing to offer additional benefits for continuing education, but only if the courses benefit them as well. There is something out there for everyone of all ages and backgrounds so don’t give up! Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, which means neither will your new career path or degree.

US Dismisses Taliban Claims About Chinese Investment in Afghanistan

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Patsy Widakuswara
VOA News
October 16, 2021

WHITE HOUSE — U.S. officials and independent analysts reacted skeptically Friday to a Taliban claim that China is ready to invest billions of dollars in Afghanistan.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated the United States is more concerned with helping the Afghan people as the nation’s economy collapses than with countering any future spread of Chinese influence in the country.

“Our focus is on working with the vast majority of the international community on delivering humanitarian assistance and getting it to the right people in Afghanistan to make sure they have what they need,” she said in response to a question from VOA.

In an interview in Kabul earlier this week, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghanistan’s new rulers have pledged to ensure the safety of Chinese workers and assets in return for billions of dollars of Chinese investment.

“They are interested in investment in some sectors in Afghanistan and want to negotiate the details,” Mujahid told VOA.

“One of the projects is Mes Aynak (the site of one of Afghanistan’s largest copper mines and ancient Buddhist ruins), which is one of the important areas where they want to invest billions of dollars, and Afghanistan also needs this,” Mujahid said.

‘Wishful thinking’

China has invested in neighboring countries including Pakistan and Iran and has invited Kabul to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship project of Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative.

But the idea that China is ready to invest in Afghanistan now is “wishful thinking,” said Husain Haqqani, director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank focused on U.S. policy. An investment of billions of dollars means an expectation of hundreds of millions of dollars in return annually, and right now the Afghan economy simply does not present that opportunity.

Haqqani notes that the Chinese have so far given the Taliban only $31 million in humanitarian assistance.

“That is certainly not an indication of somebody who’s ready to invest billions,” he said.

Large-scale investment in Afghanistan is also unlikely before the Taliban gain international recognition. No country has recognized the Islamic Emirate — the name proclaimed by the group — as the official government of Afghanistan, including China and Russia, another U.S. rival.

“We are aware that they should be cooperated with, but there is no place for haste,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said to leaders of a group of former Soviet republics at the Commonwealth of Independent States Summit on Friday.

Unstable and dangerous

While the Taliban have pledged to restore peace, Beijing and other potential investors will need to see more political stability and a safer security environment.

“China will be certainly the first country knocking at the door, but there’s no countries knocking at the door right now,” said Erol Yayboke, director of the Project on Fragility and Mobility at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “They require a certain level of stability.”

Certainly, the security situation remains unstable, and many fear that other militant groups are getting stronger under Taliban rule.

On Friday, suicide bombers attacked a Shiite mosque in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, killing dozens of people during crowded Friday prayers. Responsibility was claimed by the Islamic State Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K, the same group that killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens more in last week’s suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in northern Kunduz province.

Moving on

Beyond providing humanitarian assistance and evacuating Americans and Afghan allies, the Biden administration has signaled it is moving on. Officials have repeatedly said that the military component of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan is over.

“The U.S. is no longer in the game in Afghanistan,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program and senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center.

He said the U.S. is much more focused on great power rivalries elsewhere in the world, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, including the South China Sea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. And so far, America’s rivals have not rushed in to fill the vacuum the U.S. left in Afghanistan.

“China and Russia are going to want to be very cautious, at least for the near term, and watch and see what happens in Afghanistan,” Kugelman said.

Beyond security considerations, neither the Chinese Communist Party nor the Kremlin is a natural partner for the Taliban, particularly as the group does not appear willing to become more moderate or inclusive to gain greater international legitimacy.

However, Haqqani warned, the political and security calculus would change should Afghanistan become a haven for international jihadis once again.

“At that point, everybody will recalculate, including the United States,” he predicted.

85% of Factories Shut Down in Afghanistan’s Balkh Province

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8am: Officials in Mazar-e-Sharif say that 85% of manufacturing plants in the province are closed due to restrictions on monetary services and banks. They call on the Taliban to take action immediately to address their challenges while supporting domestic production. Click here to read more (external link).

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