CNN: It’s not clear yet how severely the Taliban will enforce its strict religious laws against Afghanistan’s LGBTQ citizens. No official statement has been made, but in an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper in July, one Taliban judge said there were only two punishments for homosexuality — stoning or being crushed under a wall. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – September 18, 2021
Low Quality Medicine Threatening Lives: Afghan Citizens
Tolo News: Several Afghan citizens on Saturday spoke to TOLO news with concerns over imports of low quality medicine to Afghanistan, saying that the low quality medicine threatens the lives of many patients. Shah Wali, a Badakhshan resident who brought his wife to Jamhouriat, a state-owned hospital, said: “We buy the medicine for 2,000 or 3,000 afghanis, but it does not work because the medicine is not good quality.” Click here to read more (external link).
At Least Three Killed, More Than 20 Wounded In Afghan Blasts
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
September 18, 2021
Reports from Afghanistan say three explosions have killed at least three people and wounded 19 others in the capital of the eastern province of Nangarhar, in what was described as the country’s first deadly attack since the Taliban gained control of most of the war-torn country more than a month ago.
Witnesses and a member of the Taliban-led government were quoted as saying that at least one of the blasts in the city of Jalalabad hit a vehicle carrying Taliban fighters.
Women and children were said to be among those wounded.
The blasts were caused by roadside bombs, a source in the province told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity. The source said three civilians were killed and an unspecified number of Taliban fighters were injured.
Photos allegedly taken at the site of the blast showed a pick-up truck with a white Taliban flag surrounded by debris as armed fighters looked on.
No other details were immediately available.
Earlier in the morning, a sticky bomb exploded in the capital, Kabul, wounding at least two people, police officials said.
The target of the Kabul attack was not immediately clear, but local media reported that it occurred in an ethnically Hazara-dominated area in police district 13, in the western part of the city.
The Taliban entered Kabul on August 15, ousting the internationally backed government and promising to restore security to the violence-wracked country.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts.
Nangarhar is the heartland of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group’s local branch, Islamic State-Khorasan, which is an enemy of Afghanistan’s new rulers.
An anti-Taliban resistance front is also active in Panjshir, a rugged mountain valley located about 100 kilometers northeast of Kabul.
During a visit to Tajikistan on September 18, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that Tehran will “will not allow terrorist organizations and IS to set up next to our border and strike other countries and the region.”
“The presence of IS in Afghanistan is dangerous not only for Afghanistan but also for the region,” he said.
Iran, which shares a 900-kilometer border with Afghanistan, did not recognize the Taliban during their first stint in power between 1996 and 2001.
But Tehran has recently said that the Sunni militant group must be “part of a future solution” in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s new rulers have formed a government led by hard-line Taliban veterans and composed by men almost entirely to the Pashtun ethnic group.
“A government belonging to only one ethnic or political group cannot solve Afghanistan’s problems,” Raisi said, calling for a government with representation for all Afghans.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he had launched talks with the Taliban — whose leadership has historically had close ties with its southern neighbour — to try to persuade the militants to form a government that includes Tajiks, Uzbeks, and members of the mainly Shi’ite Hazara minority.
Reflecting widespread disappointment over the recently announced Taliban-led government that left out women and minorities, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on September 17 saying that the group needs to establish an inclusive government that has “the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women” and upholds human rights.
The resolution also extended the mandate of the UN mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA, for six months, and delivered a clear message that the 15 council members will be watching closely events in Afghanistan.
With reporting by dpa, AP and AFP
This story also includes reporting by Radio Azadi correspondents in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their protection.
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.
Pakistan’s Shameful Glee at the Taliban’s Rise
Mohsin Dawar via The Diplomat: Pakistan has played an active role in creating, facilitating and supporting the Taliban over the decades, a fact that the state has stopped denying. But it has done so at the very heavy cost of the lives of thousands of Pakistanis and hundreds of thousands of Afghans. Pakistan continues to play with fire, and we fear that it will eventually be consumed by the flames. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Shootout in Palace Sidelines Leader Who Dealt With U.S
Baradar
Bloomberg: The man the U.S. and its allies hoped would be a moderate voice in Afghanistan’s Taliban government has been sidelined after a dramatic shootout in the presidential palace in Kabul, according to people with knowledge of the matter… Khalil ul Rahman Haqqani rose from his chair and began punching the Taliban leader… Click here to read more (external link).
Out with Ministry of Women’s Affairs and in comes Ministry of Preaching and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice
Taliban locked out all female workers of the Ministry of Women Affairs – a vast majority of them bread winners. The new Ministry is called Ministry of Preaching and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. pic.twitter.com/4neWJDyrLB
— BILAL SARWARY (@bsarwary) September 17, 2021
Imran Khan: Pashtuns are 75% of population in Afghanistan
In his trip to Tajikistan, Pakistan PM @ImranKhanPTI said: Pashtuns make up 75 % of Afghanistan's population. What is the base of this uninformed Khan? Based on which census? As if he has counted Pashtuns of both countries. You could be smarter than that; please wake up Mr. Khan! pic.twitter.com/5Hwub1Y1CK
— Dr. Latif Pedram (@LatifPedram) September 17, 2021
Putin censures US legacy of ‘complete economic, social devastation’ in Afghanistan
Putin
Press TV
September 17, 2021
The US-led coalition’s 20-year presence in Afghanistan brought nothing but economic and social devastation to the war-torn country, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
Speaking at a joint meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Friday, Putin stressed that “the weapons are perhaps the only thing that the Taliban received after the West’s twenty-year military presence in Afghanistan. In fact, there is nothing good about this. Otherwise, the country found itself in a state of complete economic and social devastation.”
Earlier this month, the Russian leader had criticized the Western presence in Afghanistan, saying that the 20-year occupation had resulted in “sheer tragedies and losses” for the United States and the Afghan people alike.
He noted at the time that the American presence in the region was “to impose their norms and standards of life in the broadest sense of this word, including the political organization of society.”
“This is a zero result, if not negative.”
Moscow has been critical of the US policy in Afghanistan, where Washington’s military engagement cost over $80 billion, and hundreds of thousands of lives.
However, as the US and its allies withdrew troops from the war-torn country, the Taliban quickly regained footing in the country and ousted the government of the now runaway President Ashraf Ghani in mid-August.
U.S. Says Deadly Drone Strike In Kabul Was ‘Mistake’
McKenzie (file photo)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 17, 2021
U.S. General Kenneth McKenzie says a deadly drone attack by U.S. military outside Kabul airport in the last days of the U.S. evacuation “was a mistake” and apologized for the loss of innocent lives.
McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said the attack killed as many as 10 civilians, including seven children, not extremists as the military said in assessing the attack shortly after it occurred on August 29.
“It was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology,” McKenzie said at a briefing on September 17.
He added that he now believes that it unlikely that the vehicle hit by the drone strike or those who died were Islamic State militants or posed a direct threat to U.S. forces at Kabul’s airport.
The military believed it had accurate information that the car that was hit posed an imminent threat. He noted that the attack was carried out amid threats from Islamic State and three days after a suicide bombing killed 13 U.S. soldiers and more than 170 Afghans outside an airport gate.
Investigative reports by The Washington Post and The New York Times in recent days quoted explosives experts who refuted the military’s claims that the drone strike hit a car that was laden with explosives.
McKenzie said the Pentagon is considering reparations for the families of the people killed and is in consultations on how to proceed with that.