White House Urges Taliban To Release Captive American Frerichs

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Mark Randall Frerichs is seen on an FBI kidnapping poster obtained Aug. 26, 2020.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 31, 2022

U.S. President Joe Biden on January 30 called on the Taliban to release American civil engineer and contractor Mark Frerichs as he reaches the two-year mark since his abduction in Kabul.

Frerichs, a U.S. Navy veteran, is thought to be in the captivity of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.

“Threatening the safety of Americans or any innocent civilians is always unacceptable, and hostage-taking is an act of particular cruelty and cowardice,” the White House said in a January 30 statement.

“The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable.”

A Taliban-led government has ruled most of Afghanistan since early September following the withdrawal of U.S.-led international military forces and as Afghan security forces and its UN-backed government crumbled.

The United Nations and others have urgently warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in the wake of the two-decade war and with the Taliban and its allies carrying out revenge killings against perceived enemies among civilians.

Frerichs’ sister, Charlene Cakora, issued a statement thanking Biden for his statement, adding, “But what we really want is to have Mark home.”

“We know the president has options in front of him to make that happen and hope Mark’s safe return will become a priority for him personally,” she said.

The U.S. State Department has offered up to $5 million in rewards for information that helps locate and free Frerichs and Paul Overby, a 78-year-old author from the United States who disappeared in 2014 in Khost Province near the border with Pakistan.

Based on reporting by AP

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.

Taliban: Afghan Public Universities to Begin Reopening Wednesday

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Abdul Baqi Haqqani

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
January 30, 2022

ISLAMABAD — The Taliban announced Sunday they would start reopening all public universities in Afghanistan from this week, more than five months after the Islamist group retook control of the war-torn country.

Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the minister for higher education, said by video that students in Afghan provinces with a warm climate would return to classes on Wednesday, while universities in the colder areas, including Kabul, will reopen February 26.

Haqqani did not elaborate, but in his earlier statements the minister had announced that gender segregation would be enforced in public universities in line with Sharia or Islamic law before reopening them. He also said at the time that hijabs would be mandatory for female students.

Sunday’s announcement comes as the Taliban face pressure from the international community to respect the human rights of all Afghans, especially those of women, and allow all girls to receive an education.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his call for the Taliban earlier on Sunday to uphold pledges to respect human rights.

“In Afghanistan, women & girls are once again being denied their rights to education, employment & equal justice,” Guterres tweeted on Sunday. “To demonstrate a real commitment to be a part of the global community, the Taliban must recognize & uphold the basic human rights that belong to every girl & woman.”

In mid-September, the Taliban allowed female students to resume classes in some 150 private universities under a strictly gender-segregated classroom system.

Afghan public and private universities were co-educational before the Taliban takeover, with males and females studying side by side, and women didn’t have to abide by a dress code. In elementary and high schools, however, girls and boys were taught separately until the Islamist group regained power last August.

“Co-education is in conflict with the principles of Islam and with national values and it is against the traditions of Afghans as well,” Haqqani said in a September news conference in Kabul.

While the Taliban’s male-only caretaker government opened secondary schools for boys in early September, most girls across Afghanistan are still waiting for official permission to continue their education.

The Taliban have pledged that all girls will be allowed to go back to the classroom in March when the new school year begins in the country.

Leaders of the ruling Islamist group have repeatedly rejected as false propaganda that they oppose education for women, saying financial constraints and a lack of an “Islamic environment” in educational institutions were preventing them from letting women resume their studies.

No country has yet recognized the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

The global community has been watching closely to see whether the Islamist group might rule the country differently from its first time in power in the late 1990s, when girls were banned from attending schools and women from leaving home unless accompanied by a close male relative.

Report: UN Chief Accuses Taliban Of Scores Of Revenge Killings Since Seizing Control In Afghanistan

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 30, 2022

A report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the UN Security Council reportedly accuses the fundamentalist Taliban of dozens of revenge killings since the Taliban swept into control of much of Afghanistan in August.

Reuters news agency on January 30 cited a copy it obtained of the report, which cites declining conditions since a Taliban-led government arose in September.

In it, Guterres also urges the Security Council to back a restructuring of the UN’s effort to alleviate the situation and the establishment of a new human rights monitoring unit for Afghanistan.

It is the latest dire warning from the international community about humanitarian and other mounting crises for Afghanistan’s 39 million people

“An entire complex social and economic system is shutting down,” Guterres reportedly warned.

Taliban fighters were accused of widespread evictions and revenge killings when they captured most of Afghanistan as local security troops and police collapsed and international backers fled the country.

Since then, the report alleges, the UN mission “continues to receive credible allegations of killings, enforced disappearances, and other violations” against former Afghan officials, security troops, and individuals who cooperated with the departed U.S.-led military contingent.

Such revenge attacks have taken place despite a Taliban declaration of a general amnesty, it notes.

Guterres cites credible reports that more than 100 individuals have been killed, in most cases by the Taliban or their allies, since August 15.

The UN secretary-general also says there are credible allegations of extrajudicial killings of at least 50 people suspected of being members of a local affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

With reporting by Reuters

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.

Rocket Attacks on Panjshir’s Dara and Parwan’s Salang District-Buildings

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8am: Local sources in Panjshir and Parwan provinces confirm that the building districts of Panjshir’s Dara and Salang of Parwan province have been targeted by rockets. Meanwhile, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks; however, the Taliban’s police chief for the Salang district in Parwan province blamed members of the National Resistance Front led by Ahmad Massoud for attacking the district building. Click here to read more (external link).

UNICEF Urges US to Reconsider Fulbright Program for Afghans

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Tolo News: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called on the US Department of State to reconsider the decision to suspend the Fulbright program for Afghanistan, which provides talented Afghan youth opportunities to build their future. Sam Mort, Chief of Communication, Advocacy and Civic Engagement for UNICEF Afghanistan, on Twitter expressed disappointment over the suspension of Fulbright scholarships for the Afghan students. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban have taken the power by force, they have no political legitimacy: Ahmad Zia Massoud

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Zia Massoud

Aamaj: Deputy of Jamaat-e-Islami party led by Salahuddin Rabbani, and former vice president, Ahmad Zia Massoud says that Taliban as an extremist religious group have taken the power by force, and there is no legitimacy for them. Mullah Hibatullah is an unknown, vague and mysterious person, who has the main power. Prime minister makes decisions on providing services using holy dreams. He adds that Taliban as an Islamic extremist group have failed to introduce a political system, and the structure of social life as well as Islamic economy. Click here to read more (external link).

Condition of Hazaras under Taliban

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Aamaj: Sky News Agency reported that a multitude of Hazaras have left Afghanistan after Taliban’s domination. A number of Hazaras who worked with foreign forces in Afghanistan told Sky News that Taliban are doing retaliatory actions, and because of that they are living in hiding. Some of them said that Taliban’s amnesty promise was a lie, adding, “They lie. There is no amnesty. The Taliban lie.” Click here to read more (external link).