AP: The National Museum of Afghanistan is open once again and the Taliban, whose members once smashed their way through the facility destroying irreplaceable pieces of the country’s national heritage, now appear to be among its most enthusiastic visitors. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: Officials at the Afghan-Japan hospital in Kabul on Monday warned that another surge in COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan was expected after 620 new cases were reported in the past three weeks. They said that 350 people out of the 620 have been hospitalized. According to doctors, 10 people have died of the virus in this time. Click here to read more (external link).
By RFE/RL Gandhara
December 6, 2021
Essential services for female survivors of gender-based violence in Afghanistan have been “decimated” since the Taliban took control of the country, Amnesty International said on December 6.
In 26 interviews, survivors and service providers told the London-based rights group that the Taliban closed shelters and released inmates from prison, including many convicted of gender-based crimes.
“Women and girl survivors of gender-based violence have essentially been abandoned in Afghanistan. Their network of support has been dismantled, and their places of refuge have all but disappeared,” said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August, protective shelters were closed and some looted or seized by the Taliban, Amnesty said.
As the shelters shut, staff were forced to send many women and girls back to their families, or the survivors were forcibly removed by family members. Some survivors were forced onto the street or into other difficult situations. In some cases, Taliban members harassed or threatened staff.
Now many survivors – as well as shelter staff, lawyers, judges, government officials, and others involved in protective services – are at risk of violence and death, Amnesty said.
Before the Taliban seized control, Afghanistan had a network of shelters and services for victims of gender-based violence.
“The system was far from perfect, but served thousands of women each year in Afghanistan,” Amnesty said.
As the Taliban rapidly took control of territory in the summer, they also released many militants and other detainees from prisons. Many detainees had been convicted of gender-based violence offenses, Amnesty said.
“It defies belief that the Taliban threw open prison doors across the country, with no thought of the risks that convicted perpetrators pose to the women and girls they victimized, and to those who worked on survivors’ behalf,” Callamard said.
In response to the allegations, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told Amnesty International via telephone: “There is no place for violence against women and girls, according to the rules of Islam… The women facing domestic violence can be referred to the courts, and the courts will hear their cases… and their grievances will be addressed.”
The Taliban also denied releasing criminals, insisting the previous government had opened prisons as security forces collapsed.
Amnesty International called on international donors to provide funding for protective services and evacuate survivors and service providers facing danger.
The rights group also urged the Taliban to uphold their obligations to women and girls, particularly those who survive or are at risk of gender-based violence.
Since it toppled the internationally-backed government in Afghanistan, the Taliban has struggled to turn a guerrilla movement into a functioning administration.
The country is suffering a major economic crisis and the Taliban has struggled to pay civil servants.
Foreign donors had provided around 75 percent of the budget to the previous Western-backed government as well as supported organizations helping women and girl survivors of gender-based violence.
8am: After the Taliban took control of the country, crime in Kunduz has increased. In recent days, this issue has raised concern to businessmen and residents of the province. In the last few weeks, kidnappers have abducted a doctor and a former member of national security, according to local sources. Click here to read more (external link).
AP: The Afghan boxers, their coach and a top boxing federation official remained in Serbia after the AIBA World Boxing Championships finished in early November, saying they could face retribution from the Taliban if they returned home. Click here to read more (external link).
Photo: Akmal Dawi/IRIN
Ariana: Doctors warned Sunday that the air pollution level in Kabul is dangerously high and that it was threatening the lives of many people. Doctors and resident’s called on government to take measures to stop people from burning fuels such as plastic and rubber and get them to rather use gas or electricity. Click here to read more (external link).
Alam Gul Haqqani
Tolo News: Speaking at a press conference at the Government Media and Information Center (GMIC), passport department officials said that the passport-issuing process is set to begin tomorrow (Monday) in 14 more provinces of Afghanistan. Alem Gul Haqqani, director of the passport department, told reporters that with these 14 additional provinces, a total of 32 provinces will be completely capable of issuing passports for applicants. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Azadi: A former Radio Azadi journalist recounts a tense, late-night drive through Taliban checkpoints as he flees from Kabul to Pakistan for an uncertain future. Every time I think about my Pakistani visa expiring, my heart sinks. Afghanistan is too dangerous with the Taliban hunting for people like me, so I just have to try everything to survive here or make it to another country. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
December 5, 2021
The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has rejected condemnation by Western countries over the alleged summary killings of former members of the Afghan security forces.
The Taliban’s Interior Ministry on December 5 rejected a joint statement the day before in which the United States, European Union, and 20 other countries said that they were “deeply concerned” by allegations of “serious human rights abuses” that contradict the Taliban’s pledge to provide amnesty to former members of the Afghan security forces.
The ministry also rejected allegations by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report documenting executions and disappearances released on November 30.
“These reports and claims are not based on evidences,” spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti said in a video statement released by the Taliban. “We reject such claims.”
There have been some cases in which former members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces were killed, he said, but added that they had been killed “because of personal rivalries and enmities.”
Many ex-regime security personnel are living peacefully in the country on the basis of the general amnesty the Taliban granted, he added.
After taking power in August, the Taliban promised a general amnesty for anyone affiliated with the toppled internationally backed government in Kabul and former security forces, but the human rights group’s findings and other reports suggests that at least some local commanders are not meeting the pledge.
The Taliban said in its initial response to the allegations that those responsible for abuses had been dismissed but provided no information to corroborate their claim.
In its report, HRW documented the killing or disappearance of 47 former members of the Afghan security forces who had surrendered to or were apprehended by the Taliban between August 15 and October 31.
The group said it had gathered credible information on the killing of more than 100 military personnel, police, intelligence service members, and militia from Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, and Kunduz provinces alone.
According to HRW, the Taliban has also used employment records that the former government left behind to “identify people for arrest and execution,” and carried out search operations to “apprehend and, at times, forcibly disappear suspected former officials.”
Such executions and disappearances “have generated fear among former government officials and others who might have believed that the Taliban takeover would bring an end to the revenge attacks that had been characteristic of Afghanistan’s long armed conflict,” the watchdog said.
In their statement, the Western governments demanded the reported abuses be investigated in a transparent manner and those responsible held accountable.
“These steps must be clearly publicized as an immediate deterrent to further killings and disappearances,” they said. “We will continue to measure the Taliban by their actions.”
No country has formally recognized the new Taliban government. Western countries are looking for ways to engage the Taliban and address the country’s dire humanitarian situation but want to avoid direct support for the new government.
The United States and its allies are conditioning recognition of the Taliban on it forming an inclusive government and respecting human rights, including those of minorities and women and girls.
Other conditions include the Taliban meeting its amnesty pledge, not allowing the country to become a base for international terrorism and allowing foreign nationals and Afghans who want to leave the country to do so.
With reporting by AFP