Tajikistan Posthumously Awards Afghans Masud, Rabbani With Country’s Highest Honor

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Ahmad Shah Massoud

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 2, 2021

DUSHANBE — Tajikistan has awarded posthumously two former Afghan political figures, Ahmad Shah Masud and Burhanuddin Rabbani, with the country’s highest honor, the Order of Ismoili Somoni.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon signed the decree awarding the two men the honor on September 2. According to the decree, Masud and Rabbani were recognized for their contribution to ending a devastating 1993-1997 civil war in Tajikistan.

Ahmad Shah Masud, nicknamed the Lion of Panjshir, was one of the leading military commanders of the Afghan resistance to Soviet troops from 1979-1989 and fought against the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan from 1996-2001.

After Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan, Masud served as defense minister from 1992 until his assassination on September 9, 2001.

Rabbani served as Afghanistan’s president from 1992 to 2001. Between 1996-2001 his authority was not recognized by Taliban militants, who controlled many regions of the country.

Rabbani was killed on September 20, 2011, by a bomb attack during a meeting with Taliban representatives at his home.

Both Masud and Rabbani were ethnic Tajiks involved in peace talks that ended the war in Tajikistan in 1997.

The signing of the decree awarding the two men the honor comes as the Taliban battles resistance forces in the Panjshir Valley, which is mainly populated by ethnic Tajiks.

Tajikistan has officially stated that Afghanistan’s new government under the Taliban must include Tajiks, Uzbeks, and representatives of the country’s other ethnic groups.

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Tajik Interior Minister Says His Country Unable To Host Many Afghan Refugees

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 2, 2021

Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda says his country is unable to host many refugees from neighboring Afghanistan, as thousands look to flee after Taliban militants took control of the country.

Rahimzoda cited a lack of infrastructure to host Afghan refugees as the reason and called on international organizations, including the United Nations, to assist the Central Asian nation to build such infrastructure. He spoke during a meeting with Mulugeta Zewdie, the country director for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on September 1.

Rahimzoda noted that 80 Afghan families are currently in a neutral segment of the Tajik-Afghan border area and seek to enter Tajikistan fearing for their lives. Some 5,000 Afghan government troops have already entered Tajikistan as they fled from Taliban advances in recent weeks. The troops were later sent back to Tajikistan.

He also said his ministry is overwhelmed with work related to any possible influx of refugees, stressing that the ongoing instability and the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan may cause a “flow of terrorists to other countries.”

In the past 15 years, Tajikistan has accepted more than 3,000 families who left Afghanistan and allocated 70 hectares of land in the country’s south for setting up a proper camp for refugees two decades ago.

“However, in 20 years no international organizations provided any practical assistance to create an infrastructure to admit refugees and persons who seek asylum. Because of that, the Republic of Tajikistan does not have capacities to accept a big number of refugees or asylum-seekers,” the ministry quoted Rahimzoda as saying.

In July, almost 350 ethnic-Kyrgyz shepherds from Afghanistan with their families and some 4,000 livestock fled the country and entered Tajikistan. They were later sent back to their village in Afghanistan, although Kyrgyz authorities asked Dushanbe to secure their safe passage to Kyrgyzstan.

Last month, authorities in Uzbekistan said they had sent 150 Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan under an agreement with the Taliban and at the request of the refugees themselves.

In July, Tajikistan said it was ready to shelter up to 100,000 Afghan refugees but later backed away from that statement.

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Afghan Women Stage Protest In Herat, Call For Their Rights To Be Preserved

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
September 2, 2021

KABUL — About three dozen women in the western Afghan city of Herat have protested to demand the new Taliban leadership preserves the rights and advances women have made in the country since the militants were ousted two decades ago.

“Education, security and work is our fundamental right, “ the women chanted, according to amateur videos posted online.

“Don’t be afraid; we are all together,” they added at the September 1 protest held in front of the Herat governor’s office.

Since taking back power after the fall of Kabul on August 14, Taliban leaders have repeatedly said they want peaceful relations with other countries and would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.

During its 1996-2001 rule, also guided by Islamic Shari’a law, the Taliban stopped women from working. Girls were not allowed to go to school and women had to wear all-enveloping burqas to go out and then only when accompanied by a male relative.

Many still remember that period and don’t trust the militants’ pledge.

Friba Kabrzani, an organizer of the rally, said women should be allowed to participate in the new government, including the Cabinet and Loya Jirga, or elders’ council.

Afghan women have made many sacrifices over the past 20 years to achieve what they have, she said, adding, “We want the world to hear us, and we want our rights to be saved.”

Kabrzani says some families did not allow other women to join the march out of fear for their safety.

Another organizer, Basira Taheri, told AFP that the Taliban should consult women on important decisions.

“We don’t see any women in their gatherings and meetings,” she said.

Shortly after the Taliban takeover, the European Union said it would only cooperate with a new Afghan government if it respected fundamental rights, including those of women.

The United Nations and many human rights groups have also expressed concerns, especially after local media reports surfaced claiming the actions of the militants differed sharply from the moderate image the group’s leaders were trying to project.

The French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, for example, warned on September 1 that hundreds of women have been forced to stay home since the hard-line group took control of the country.

“We have witnessed them beating women again,” one of the protesters, Maryam Ebram, said adding that her group planned to continue to demand their rights.

“We will not sit quiet as the Taliban wants us to,” Ebram said.

This story is based reporting by Radio Azadi correspondents on the ground in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their protection.

With additional reporting by AP and AFP

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Diversity Visa Winners Stuck in Afghanistan After US Withdrawal

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Aline Barros
VOA News
September 2, 2021

They beat the odds and won a chance to legally immigrate to the United States under a lottery visa program for nationals from countries with low numbers of immigrants to the U.S.

But after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan followed by the American military withdrawal completed on Monday, these once-lucky Afghans fear they may never be able to leave their country.

After 20 years of war in Afghanistan spanning four American presidencies, the U.S. government slammed the door on the last evacuation flights of civilian Afghans last weekend, leaving behind hundreds of these diversity visa winners.

S., a 27-year-old former women’s rights advocate living in Kabul, is among them.

Due to safety concerns, she asked VOA not to share her full name.

She was first informed by the U.S. government in 2020 that she had won a spot in the diversity visa program, commonly known as the green card lottery. Under the Immigration Act of 1990, Congress approved the program to increase the diversity among immigrants to the United States.

At first, she was excited.

S. said she was excited when she learned she was among the 55,000 randomly selected people chosen annually from around the world. But there was plenty of paperwork and documentation to provide, and interviews and background checks conducted by U.S. Embassy officials.

S. told VOA she filed all the required paperwork and was waiting for an interview at the U.S. Embassy, a process that usually took a few months.

“When I received the letter [from the U.S. government], I was very, very happy. And I was a master’s degree student,” she explained.

Because of her advocacy work, and fear the Taliban might go after her, S. decided to move in with her brother. And then her hopes for final approval were dashed.

“Unfortunately, the [U.S.] embassy in Kabul closed [on Aug. 31] … We don’t know where to go for interviews or where to get our visas. … In Afghanistan, we’re at risk. … And it’s really worrying us about our lives. … But I will keep trying to leave Afghanistan,” she said in an audio message.

Program’s turbulent track record

Long before S. and others suffered this major setback, the diversity visa program had a turbulent track record.

In 2017, then-President Donald Trump announced a series of actions that blocked people from Muslim-majority countries from coming to the United States. Then in March 2020, Trump shut down consulates around the world because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Trump administration followed that by announcing a ban on certain immigrant visas, arguing that it was needed to protect the American economy.

As a result, hundreds of Afghan winners of the visa lottery were prevented from coming to the U.S. at that time.

According to a U.S. government document, once consulates began to reopen in the summer of 2020, officials were ordered to process diversity visas last.

Immigrant advocates sued. Earlier this month, a federal judge decided the U.S. government must keep on processing lottery visa winners. On Aug. 17, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the Biden administration to issue 9,095 diversity visas from Fiscal Year 2020.

Yet, Biden administration lawyers said in court the administration would not be able to deal with applications until the fall of 2022, at the earliest.

Lottery visas

While the 1990 immigration law was designed to increase diversity among immigrants to the United States, those interested in applying to the program had to have at least a high school degree or two years of work experience in a profession that required a minimum of two years of training.

Winners usually receive an email or letter in July notifying them they won. Then they submit a complete application and must attend an interview at the beginning of the federal fiscal year, by Oct. 1, at the closest U.S. consulate. And because visa eligibility does not transfer to the following year, the entire process must be done in a year.

According to the latest figures from the U.S. State Department, more than 13 million people applied last year.

The unluckiest ones of all

But in the program’s 30-year history, winners in the last few years may have been the unluckiest of all.

H., a 33-year-old Afghan diversity visa winner, said despite sending all documents necessary he and his family have been waiting for a visa interview for a year.

“There is no hope for life in this country anymore,” he told VOA in a text message.

A State Department spokesperson told VOA by email Wednesday that although the U.S. government is “currently” unable to provide consular services for immigrant visas in Afghanistan, they are developing alternative ways so officials can continue to “deliver this important service for the people of Afghanistan.”

“Immigrant visa applicants should continue monitoring official U.S. government websites, including travel.state.gov, for updated information,” the spokesperson said.

H. said because of the work he did assisting U.S. officials and the former Afghan government prosecuting criminals, his whole family is currently in hiding. He said only his wife or mother-in-law goes out to buy food when the family needs basic supplies.

“I have written [you] the reality of my life. … I wish the visa interview would be online and electronically, so that we can travel comfortably to our new life and home,” H. said in a text message.

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Anti-Taliban resistance grows in Panjshir Valley as soldiers clash

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Resistance fighters in Panjshir

news.com.au: The Taliban faces its strongest resistance in the north of Afghanistan, where a resistance army is growing in the Panjshir Valley. The valley has long been a stronghold in Afghanistan, thanks to its natural defences, and has never fallen to the Taliban or the Soviets. Reports have also surfaced that the Taliban lost a number of soldiers on Monday night when they clashed with resistance fighters. Click here to read more (external link).

Pakistan’s New Endgame in Afghanistan: Mitigate Blowback

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TTP Flag

Michael Hughes: The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has certainly bolstered Islamabad’s position vis-à-vis its rivalry with New Delhi, yet troubling signs are already emerging that Frankenstein monsters could end up uniting against the Pakistani state.

According to a post in the Indian Defense Research Wing, New Delhi is certainly concerned that Pakistan will attempt to leverage its new victory to oust the Indians from Kashmir. The next few months will determine if the Afghan Taliban will keep their word and stay out of Kashmir but there is a likelihood that elements of the group, with help of their ISI sponsors, will not live up to this commitment and cause havoc in the region as they did in the 1990s, the article written by Rajesh Ahuja said.

Click here to read more.

Taliban say ‘consensus’ achieved on formation of Afghan government

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Anas Haqqani

Press TV
September 1, 2021

The Taliban and other Afghan leaders have reached “consensus” on the formation of a new cabinet under the leadership of the group’s top spiritual leader, officials say, against the backdrop of the United States’ withdrawal of the last division of its forces.

Bilal Karimi, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, told media outlets on Wednesday that an announcement on the agreement could come in a few days.

The Taliban official said there had been consultations on forming an inclusive Afghan government within the Islamic Emirate’s leaders with the leaders from the previous government and other influential leaders, and that the talks had “officially ended.”

It is speculated that the Taliban supreme commander Haibatullah Akhundzada will be the top leader of any governing council.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of Akhundzada’s three deputies and the main public face of the Taliban, would likely take charge of the daily functioning of the government.

Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban leader, had earlier informed the press that the formation of a new government was in its final stages. “We have covered about 90 to 95 percent and we will announce the final outcome in the following few days.”

The last US military plane departed Hamid Karzai International Airport close to midnight local time (19:30 GMT) on Monday. Celebratory gunfire was heard across the Afghan capital afterward. The Taliban took complete control of the airport in the early hours of Tuesday.

Afghanistan’s Pajhwok news agency said on Wednesday that the Taliban had appointed senior veterans to the positions of finance, interior, and defense minister.

The Taliban are said to have already included Afghanistan’s former President Hamid Karzai and former peace negotiator Abdullah Abdullah in a 12-member council, which will govern Afghanistan during the transition period.

The government of Afghanistan rapidly collapsed on August 15 and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in the face of lightning advances of the Taliban.

The collapse of Kabul followed what has been criticized as a hasty withdrawal of American forces from the country, 20 years after they invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban.

The Taliban have called on Washington to stop evacuating skilled Afghans after the group’s takeover of the country.

Afghan Resistance Fighters In Panjshir Battle Taliban As Thousands Head To Borders

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 1, 2021

More clashes have been reported between the Taliban and resistance forces in an area northeast of Kabul where the militants have yet to seize power, as thousands of people looking to flee the country continue to head to Afghanistan’s borders after the withdrawal of U.S. forces put an end to a massive airlift.

The Taliban on September 1 called on the holdout bastion of the rugged Panjshir Valley to lay down their arms after renewed the resistance fighters said they had repulsed militant attacks.

At the Torkham crossing with Pakistan, a Pakistani official said that “a large number” of people are waiting on the Afghanistan side of the frontier for it to open.

Witnesses were quoted as saying that thousands of Afghans had also flocked to the Islam Qala border post with Iran.

Since the Western-backed government and Afghan Army collapsed under a lightning Taliban offensive, thousands of Afghans have fled their homes fearing a repeat of the Taliban’s brutal rule between 1996 and 2001.

The National Resistance Front (NRF), comprising anti-Taliban militia fighters and former Afghan security forces, has vowed to defend Panjshir Valley, 100 kilometers northeast of the capital, as the Islamist group sends more fighters to encircle it.

Former Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi said a renewed assault launched by the Taliban overnight was “defeated,” while claiming that 34 Taliban fighters were killed and 65 wounded in a second day of fighting after foreign troops left the country to meet an August 31 deadline for their withdrawal.

The United States and its allies evacuated more than 123,000 people out of Kabul since August 14, the day before the Taliban regained control of the country two decades after being removed from power by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

But tens of thousands of Afghans Afghans who had helped Western nations oust the militants during a 20-year war and others at risk remained behind.

Britain said on September 1 it was in talks with the Taliban to secure “safe passage” out of Afghanistan for a number of British nationals and Afghans who remain inside the country.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told an emergency session of a foreign affairs select committee on September 1 that intelligence assessments did not predict such a swift Afghan capitulation to the Taliban as foreign troops pulled out.

“The central assessment that we were operating to…is that the most likely, the central proposition was that, given the troop withdrawal by the end of August, you would see a steady deterioration from that point, and that it was unlikely Kabul would fall this year,” Raab said.

“That doesn’t mean we didn’t do contingency planning or game-out or test the other propositions. And just to be clear, that’s something that was widely shared — that view — amongst NATO allies,” Raab said.

In a resolution, the UN Security Council has urged the Taliban to allow safe passage for those seeking to leave Afghanistan.

The militants have promised to allow Afghans to leave and return to the country, but many remain in doubt about the hard-line Islamist group’s intentions.

Meanwhile, the administrative vacuum accompanying the Taliban’s takeover has left foreign donors unsure of how to respond to warnings of a looming humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.

The Taliban has yet to name a new government or reveal how it intends to govern, unlike in 1996, when a leadership council was formed within hours of taking the capital.

The foreign minister of neighboring Pakistan, which has close ties to the Taliban, said on August 31 that he expected Afghanistan to have a new “consensus government” within days.

The Islamist militia focused on keeping banks, hospitals and government machinery running after the final withdrawal of U.S. forces on Monday brought an end to a massive airlift of Afghans who had helped Western nations during the 20-year war.

As the world watches to see if the Taliban lives up to its promises of a more tolerant and open brand of rule compared with their first stint in power, and with foreign donors unsure how to respond to a looming humanitarian crisis, the group said its leader Mullah Hibatullah had wrapped up a three-day consultative meeting with tribal and religious elders in the southern city of Kandahar.

Meanwhile, the Taliban prepared to stage a parade in Kandahar showcasing Humvees and other military hardware they captured during their takeover of Afghanistan, AFP reported.

The Taliban has declared an amnesty for all Afghans who worked with foreign forces during the war that ousted it from power, said it was in talks with “all factions” to reach an agreement on a future government, and repeatedly promised a more tolerant and open brand of rule compared with their first stint in power.

However, many reports have said summary executions and house to house searches for those who worked with international groups or the previous government are occurring across the country.

The Taliban declared victory in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, with fighters streaming into Kabul airport on August 31.

A Qatari aircraft reportedly landed in Kabul carrying a “technical team” to discuss the resumption of operations at the airport, which U.S. officials have said is in bad condition.

“While no final agreement has been reached regarding providing technical assistance, Qatar’s technical team has initiated this discussion based on the other sides’ request,” AFP quoted a source with knowledge of the matter as saying.

The goal was to resume flights for both humanitarian aid and to provide freedom of movement, including the resumption of evacuation efforts, the source said.

Meanwhile, a senior board member of the Afghan central bank urged the U.S. Treasury and the International Monetary Fund to take steps to provide the Taliban-led government some access to Afghanistan’s reserves, telling Reuters that the country risks an “inevitable economic and humanitarian crisis.”

In Slovenia, European Council President Charles Michel said on September 1 that the 27-member bloc should take action to be better prepared for evacuations of its citizens in situations such as occurred in Afghanistan.

“In my view, we do not need another such geopolitical event to grasp that the EU must strive for greater decision-making autonomy and greater capacity for action in the world,” he told a forum ahead of an EU defense ministers’ meeting.

The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, at the same forum criticized EU members’ failure to take in significant numbers of Afghans fleeing that country.

“We have seen countries outside the EU come forward to welcome Afghan asylum seekers, but we have not seen a single member state do the same,” Sassoli said.

This story includes reporting by Radio Azadi correspondents on the ground in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their protection.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, the BBC, and dpa

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Iran’s president says US must be held accountable for rights abuses, ‘dormant catastrophe’ in Afghanistan

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Raeisi

Press TV
September 1, 2021

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi says the US must be held accountable for gross human rights violations in war-stricken Afghanistan, where a considerable number of women and children bore the brunt of the US occupation.

Speaking at a weekly cabinet session on Wednesday, Raeisi said what happened in Afghanistan over the past two decades is an obvious manifestation of blatant human rights abuses and violations, citing the high number of women and children maimed or injured during the US occupation of the country.

“If we only take into consideration the number of women and children who have been killed, injured or maimed in Afghanistan over these past [twenty] years, we will see what a dormant catastrophe had been going on in this country,” he added.

He said the war in Afghanistan attests to the fact that US military presence in different parts of the world has never contributed to security, but undermined peace, stability and security.

“Instead of being held accountable in the courts of the world public opinion for such a record [in human rights violations] and [inhumane] actions, Americans are busy creating a poisonous atmosphere against other countries under various pretexts,” the Iranian president noted.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Raeisi said the promotion of interaction and trade exchanges with neighbors was among the top priorities of his administration and added that the most active government diplomacy should be with Iran’s neighbors.

“We should make every effort to increase trade and economic cooperation with the neighbors because there are good grounds for strengthening these relations and increasing Iran’s share of regional exchanges,” the president said.

The remarks come two days after the last American troops and diplomats departed Afghanistan, which once again fell under the Taliban’s rule.

Together with its allies, the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to eliminate the Taliban; however, not only did the Americans fail to achieve that goal, they set the stage for Daesh, the world’s most notorious terror group, to gain a foothold in the country.

A day after the departure of the last troops from Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden hailed what he called the “extraordinary success” of the evacuation of Kabul in a speech in which he offered no apologies for either his decision to end the war or the way in which his administration executed that mission.

He instead strongly defended his decision to end America’s two-decade war in Afghanistan and blamed his predecessor Donald Trump for negotiating a bad deal with the Taliban.

The US’s longest war cost over $2 trillion, claimed thousands of lives and culminated in a takeover by the very militant group that the United States had sought to remove.

Meanwhile, United Nations officials have warned about a humanitarian catastrophe in war-battered Afghanistan, as the US completed its withdrawal.

Afghanistan’s tragedy “will still be a daily reality for millions of Afghans,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grand said in a statement, adding, “We must not turn away. A far greater humanitarian crisis is just beginning.”

According to Isabelle Moussard Carlsen, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan, half the country is in need of aid, and half the children are malnourished after “decades of conflict and drought.”

The population is “very vulnerable” and does not have access to food, water, education and health care, she said.

“The situation on the ground today is really of a humanitarian catastrophe that is looming,” she added.

The UN’s Children Agency UNICEF has also predicted that if the current trend continues, one million under-fives in Afghanistan will face severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening condition.

The aid organization Save the Children says nearly 33,000 children were killed or maimed during 20 years of US war and occupation in Afghanistan.

According to the organization, an estimated 32,945 children had lost their lives over the two decades of war, but the number does not include the children who died due to hunger, poverty, and disease.

“What remains after 20 years is a generation of children whose entire lives have been blighted by the misery and impact of war,” it said.

“The magnitude of human suffering of the past two decades is beyond comprehension,” it added.

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