AP: For weeks, girls in the western province of Herat have been back in high school classrooms — the fruit of a unique, concerted effort by teachers and parents to persuade local Taliban administrators to allow them to reopen. Taliban officials never formally approved the reopening after the lobbying campaign, but they also didn’t prevent it either when teachers and parents started classes on their own in early October. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Demand Unfreezing Afghan Assets in ‘Positive’ Talks with US
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
November 30, 2021
ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and the United States wrapped up two days of meetings in Qatar on Tuesday, with the Islamist group saying its delegates urged U.S. officials to unfreeze Afghan state assets and remove sanctions.
The discussions took place amid growing appeals by aid groups to international donors to scale up financial aid to Afghanistan, where the United Nations says more than half the population is suffering from acute hunger this winter.
U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West and Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi led their respective delegations at the talks in Doha, the Qatari capital.
Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the two sides discussed and exchanged views on political, economic, health, education, security and humanitarian issues.
“The Afghan side assured them about security, urged immediate unconditional unfreezing of Afghan reserves, ending of sanctions & blacklists, & disconnecting humanitarian issues from political considerations,” Balkhi tweeted. “Overall the sessions were positive and both sides agreed to continue such meetings moving forward.”
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement released Tuesday, “The United States remains committed to ensuring that U.S. sanctions do not limit the ability of Afghan civilians to receive humanitarian support from the U.S. government and international community while denying assets to sanctioned entities and individuals.
“The Department of the Treasury has issued general licenses to support the continued flow of humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan and other activities that support basic human needs,” Price said.
He added that the U.S. delegation “emphasized the importance of the Taliban fulfilling its public commitment not to allow anyone to pose a threat to any country from the soil of Afghanistan, safe passage for U.S. citizens and Afghans to whom we have a special commitment, the protection of the rights of all of Afghanistan’s citizens, including its women, girls, and minorities, and the safe release of Mark Frerichs,” an American civil engineer who disappeared in Afghanistan in 2020.
Washington had said in the run-up to the Doha meeting that the focus of the talks would be counterterrorism, safe passage for U.S. citizens and at-risk Afghans, humanitarian assistance and the economic situation of the country.
The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan from the Western-backed former government in August as U.S.-led foreign troops withdrew from the country after 20 years. It prompted Washington and allied countries to suspend financial assistance, freeze some $9.5 billon in Afghan central bank assets and impose stringent sanctions on the Taliban.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund also halted financial aid programs for Kabul.
The abrupt disruption of foreign development support has plunged the Afghan economy into free-fall, with the financial sector choked government employees remain unpaid, including those in health and education sectors, and trade activities almost halted.
The Taliban have warned the deepening economic crisis could prompt a mass exodus and refugee problems for the world if economic sanctions are not lifted and Afghan assets remain frozen.
The international community has not recognized the Taliban interim government, citing a lack of inclusivity and human rights as well as terrorism concerns.
The Islamist group insists its administration has brought peace and security to most of Afghanistan in a short period of time and it is determined to work with the international community to move the poverty-stricken country toward economic stability.
But critics are skeptical about those assurances, citing reports of revenge killings of former officials by Taliban forces and restrictions imposed on female participation in Afghan television programs.
Afghan frozen assets should be unblocked, the Taliban have enough weapons, Putin says
Putin
Aamaj: “This money will not go to buy weapons, the more so as the Taliban do not need weapons. The Taliban has weapons worth billions of dollars, which have been abandoned there,” he said on Tuesday at a plenary session of the VTB Capital investment forum Russia Calling! Click here to read more (external link).
Klusener to step down as Afghanistan’s cricket coach
Ariana: Former South Africa allrounder Lance Klusener will step down as the head coach of Afghanistan’s national cricket team when his contract expires on December 31. Klusener, who was appointed in September 2019, said in a statement issued on Monday he will not renew his contract. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – November 30, 2021
Afghan Pharmacies Running Out of Medicine
Tolo News: Officials and residents of Kabul on Tuesday complained about the lack of medicine in Kabul’s pharmacies, saying many pharmaceutical companies have recently stopped operating, and importing medicine is difficult. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Taliban Committing ‘Revenge Killings’ Against Former Afghan Security Forces, Says HRW
Henry Ridgwell
VOA News
November 30, 2021
Taliban forces have carried out more than 100 summary executions and forced disappearances in just four Afghan provinces, in a series of revenge attacks since the militant group seized power in August following the withdrawal of Western forces, according to Human Rights Watch.
The attacks were documented in Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, and Kunduz provinces between August and the end of October, but it’s believed such incidents have occurred across Afghanistan.
“They were targeting the people they had fought with. And many of the cases we investigated were people really on the front lines, people who were known to the Taliban in particular localities,” said report author Patricia Gossman, in an interview with VOA.
Revenge
She said the attacks have taken place despite Taliban promises that they would not seek revenge.
“They offered an amnesty; they have claimed this from their senior officials in Kabul. But what we see on the ground is in fact it doesn’t apply, at least for some people. They are deliberately going after people either based on personal relationships and enmities or because of the role they played,” Gossman said.
Researchers gathered evidence from 67 in-person and telephone interviews with witnesses, relatives, former government officials and Taliban officials.
Employment records
The report says the Taliban used employment records left behind by the former government to identify people for arrest and execution.
“What started out maybe as a kind of rush maybe of initial revenge killings in the first weeks, now seems to be much more deliberate. It’s spread to other provinces and it seems part of maybe a strategy to ensure that there isn’t any opposition remobilizing against them,” Gossman told VOA.
Human Rights Watch notes that the Taliban leadership directed members of surrendering Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) units to register with them in order to receive a letter guaranteeing their safety. “However, the Taliban have used these screenings to detain and summarily execute or forcibly disappear individuals within days of their registration, leaving their bodies for their relatives or communities to find,” the report says.
It cites the death of Baz Muhammad, who had been employed in Kandahar province by the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the former Afghan state intelligence agency.
“Around September 30, Taliban forces came to his house in Kandahar city and arrested him; relatives later found his body. The murder, about 45 days after the Taliban had taken over the country, suggests that senior officials ordered or were at least aware of the killing,” the report says.
Night raids
Human Rights Watch accused previous Afghan governments of using enforced disappearances against their opponents, including Taliban fighters and supporters. They accuse the Taliban of engaging in similar tactics. “[They] have also engaged in abusive search operations, including night raids, to apprehend and, at times, forcibly disappear suspected former civilian and security force officials,” according to the report.
It also accuses the Taliban of targeting people they accuse of supporting the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), an affiliate of the Islamic State terror group.
Taliban response
The Taliban told Human Rights Watch that they have dismissed those responsible for abuses but did not provide any further details or evidence.
In a speech aired on state media Saturday, the Taliban’s Mullah Mohammed Hassan Akhund – who claims to be Afghanistan’s prime minister – accused former government officials of stirring up trouble.
“Nation, be vigilant. Those left over from the previous government in hiding are making remarks and are causing anxiety, misleading the people to distrust their government. Nation, be vigilant, that the enemy does not overrun us again, defiant of our holy government, our security,” Akhund said.
Human Rights Watch is calling for continued United Nations scrutiny and investigation of abuses committed by the Taliban.
Humanitarian disaster
The United States, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund froze Afghan central bank assets worth $9.5 billion and blocked cash shipments to the country after the Taliban forcibly seized power on August 15 from the internationally recognized government of President Ashraf Ghani.
Aid agencies warn of an impending humanitarian disaster with millions unpaid or out of work, basic services on the brink of collapse, and many Afghans forced to flee their homes.
“We fear and predict that up to 23 million Afghans will be in crisis or [need] emergency levels of food insecurity. This will likely worsen indeed over the winter,” Deborah Lyons, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, warned earlier in November.
‘Terrified’ Afghan Hazara Say Taliban Evicted Them And Seized Homes
Members of Afghanistan’s Hazara community, an ethnic minority made up of mainly Shi’ite Muslims, say they are facing a wave of persecution under the new Taliban regime. Families who fled to Kabul from Daikundi and Uruzgan provinces report that Taliban officials forced them out of their homes in the middle of the night and seized their crops and property. Some say Hazara homes and land have been handed over to Taliban supporters.
Taliban Air Force Performs Exercises in Balkh Province
Tolo News: Amanuddin Mansoor, commander of the air force, said the pilots who were trained and serving under the former government and who fled the country should return and they will be recruited back into the air force. Click here to read more (external link).
World Bank Looks to Mismanaged Trust Fund to Aid Afghans
Michael Hughes
AOPNEWS
November 29, 2021
The World Bank is hoping to tap a multi-billion trust fund that had been reportedly abused by the Ghani administration amid poor oversight as a way of bypassing the Taliban and aiding Afghans who are suffering from economic implosion in the face of winter.
The UN and other aid agencies have issued several alerts about starvation in Afghanistan as the winter months creep up. The World Food Program said there has been a 37% surge in the number of Afghans facing acute hunger in the past six months. The situation was exacerbated when the international community froze funding to Afghanistan when the Taliban captured Kabul in August.
The new scheme would free $500 million from the World Bank-administered Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), although it would exclude workers in the public sector, Reuters reported on Monday citing people familiar with the plans.
“For now, it [the plan] will not cover salaries for teachers and other government workers, a policy that the experts say could hasten the collapse of Afghanistan’s public education, healthcare and social services systems,” the report said. “They warn that hundreds of thousands of workers, who have been unpaid for months, could stop showing up for their jobs and join a massive exodus from the country.”
Moreover, the plans are complicated by sanctions and the ARTF’s sordid history of being mismanaged by the Afghan government and the World Bank itself.
According to the report, World Bank board members will meet informally on Tuesday with UN and U.S. officials to discuss options. A Bank official confirmed that they may redirect ARTF funds to UN agencies to support humanitarian efforts.
The State Department said the United States, the largest contributor to the ARTF, is working with the World Bank on an aid package but provided no other details, as of late Monday.
One of the options under consideration would entail depositing ARTF funds in the international accounts of Afghan private institutions who would then disburse Afghanis to organizations locally.
The plans are “basically just a few PowerPoint slides at this point,” one of the sources said as quoted in the report.
Another source said the Bank will have zero visibility into the disbursements once assistance is transferred into Afghanistan.
“The proposal calls for the World Bank to transfer the money to the U.N. and other humanitarian agencies, without any oversight or reporting, but it says nothing about the financial sector, or how the money will get into the country,” the source said as quoted in the report.
The fact the plan calls for flooding Afghanistan with funds “without oversight” should not come as a surprise to those familiar with the inner workings of the World Bank including vis-à-vis the ARTF.
The ARTF, established in 2002 and backed by at least 34 donors, had been one of the largest sources of funding to Afghan government non-security related operations. Donors have paid more than $10 billion into the ARTF to provide direct assistance to the government, according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
In 2018, SIGAR in an audit said the ARTF needed to expand monitoring of “Afghan government employees’ salaries” and blasted the institution for lack of transparency, poor fiduciary controls, and no mechanisms for tracking performance.
For example, according to SIGAR, the World Bank could not determine whether six projects worth $2.25 billion had met objectives. The watchdog said the transparency issues uncovered put all ARTF funds “at risk of being spent improperly.”
“Because the Bank does not adhere to its own performance measurement guidance and has not addressed known measurement and reporting deficiencies and limitations, there is the substantial risk that U.S. taxpayers will continue to provide funds for the ARTF without adequate safeguards,” the U.S. inspector general said.
The watchdog had warned that if the U.S. government continues to fund the ARTF “without the World Bank addressing the monitoring and transparency challenges,” USAID “will be hard-pressed to explain the purpose and logic for supporting the extension of the ARTF through 2025.”
USAID officials had expressed concerns since 2017 about the ARTF funding falling into Taliban hands and being abused just as the inspector general was accusing Kabul of wasting hordes of American taxpayer funds.
U.S. officials for this reason wanted to cut off funding for any development projects being conducted in any territory under Taliban control.
Meanwhile, Ghani has been accused of absconding with Afghan funds as he fled the country. This came after his administration wasted or stole upwards to 30% of some $110-120 billion in rebuilding funds since 2001.
It is interesting that the World Bank, the United States and other international donors had zero qualms about letting the Ghani regime mismanage billions in development aid while stalling in attempting to pass through emergency assistance through Kabul with the Taliban in power. That said, there is no reason at this point to believe that the Taliban would manage the funding any more effectively.