Putin censures US legacy of ‘complete economic, social devastation’ in Afghanistan

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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’

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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.

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 Schools To Reopen For Boys Amid Apparent Reinstitution Of Moral Police

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 17, 2021

The Education Ministry of the Taliban-led Afghan government says middle schools, high schools, and madrasahs for males will reopen on September 18, with no mention of when girls in those classes will return amid indications that the department of women’s affairs is undergoing a radical change.

The order from the Education Ministry applies to boys and teenagers from grade six and above and their teachers according to a statement on September 17. There was no reference to girls in the statement.

Students in lower grades have already been told to return to school.

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in 1996-2001, girls were not allowed to attend school and women were banned from work and education.

After toppling the Western-backed government in Kabul a month ago, the hard-line Islamist group suggested it had changed, including in its attitude toward women and girls.

Many Afghans were taken aback when last month the Taliban-led government announced that female university students could continue their studies but only in gender-segregated classes and if they wore a niqab — an Islamic veil that covers the face – and abaya — a loose-fitting and all-covering robe.

For 20 years university students of both genders studied in joint classes and did not have to abide by a dress code.

Meanwhile, in Kabul on September 17, workers replaced a sign for the department of women’s affairs with one indicating the ministry would revert to the role it played in the earlier Taliban government as its moral police.

A sign for the building was covered by a replacement in a mixture of Dari and Arabic reading Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, according to photographs and witnesses quoted by Reuters.

Female employees said they had been trying to report to work in the building for several weeks only to be told to return to their homes, according to videos filmed outside the building seen by Reuters.

The gates of the building were locked on September 16, one of the women said.

A Taliban spokesman did not respond to requests for comment, Reuters said.

During the Taliban’s earlier rule its Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice became known as the group’s moral police, enforcing its interpretation of Shari’a law that included a strict dress code and public executions and floggings.

A list of cabinet posts announced by the Taliban on September 7 included an acting minister for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice and made no mention of a department of women’s affairs. No women were included in the list of senior government positions.

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

With reporting by dpa and Reuters

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.

Taliban behead Afghan man in front of his family

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The Taliban Are Hunting Down Any Afghan Tied to Western Organizations

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Taliban Militants in Kabul

National Review: The Taliban are methodically collecting as much information about the Afghan population as possible, looking for anyone who has, in their eyes, been tainted or corrupted by Western influences or values. Hiding Afghan allies of the U.S. are now wondering if it is worth it to try making the dangerous journey to sneak into Pakistan — although that option offers a separate plethora of deadly risks. Click here to read more (external link).

The U.S.-Pakistan Relationship Needs a Rethink

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Taliban leader Mullah Baradar with Pakistan’s ISI Chief Faiz Hameed

Bloomberg: Taliban leaders would not hold power in Kabul today if not for Pakistani support. The haven that Taliban commanders, their families and their fighters received within Pakistan allowed the insurgents — devastated and scattered by the initial U.S. invasion in 2001 — to rebuild their ranks. For nearly two decades, elements within the Pakistani military provided money, training and logistical support to the Taliban, even as Pakistan pocketed more than $33 billion in American aid. Pakistani leaders have hardly bothered to disguise their satisfaction at the Taliban victory. Click here to read more (external link).

Roads Into Panjshir Reopen, Telecom Services Resume

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Tolo News: Some Panjshir residents said “90 percent” of locals left their homes and fled to the mountains following the clashes between the Taliban and the Resistance Front forces in the past weeks, and they face serious issues.  “An economic crisis has emerged, people are struggling with economic problems,” a resident said. “From 100 percent, only 10 percent of people stayed, and the rest have left their houses,” a Panjshir resident said. Click here to read more (external link).

Media Watchdog Denounces Escalating Attacks On Journalists In Taliban-Led Afghanistan

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Journalists beaten by Taliban

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 17, 2021

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the Taliban’s “mounting attacks” on press freedoms with at least 153 media organizations being forced to cease operations as the hard-line Islamist group solidifies its rule over the country.

In a statement on September 17, the world’s largest organization of journalists also cited women journalists being barred from working, telecommunication shutdowns, and “ever-increasing threats and violence” toward media workers.

The Brussels-based group said more than 7,000 media workers had been affected by the Taliban takeover, “with many prevented from working, in hiding and fearful for their lives and those of their families.”

“I believe what we will see emerge is an official media — a Taliban media — and no women. All other journalists will just disappear,” said IFJ Secretary-General Anthony Bellanger.

The statement cited “escalating” reports of Taliban militants detaining journalists, seizing their equipment, and subjecting them to torture or beatings.

There has been growing fear that the government installed by the Taliban after it gained control of most of the war-torn country a month ago will return to the brutal rule the group employed during its first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.

The Taliban has sought to reassure the international community, promising inclusiveness and a general amnesty for former opponents, but many Afghans remain deeply fearful, especially after the group formed an all-male government led by hard-line veterans, banned protests, and cracked down on demonstrators and journalists.

The Taliban-led government has also instructed telecommunications providers to cut Internet and mobile service in areas of Kabul, according to the IFJ.

It said there were also serious concerns for journalists’ safety after the Taliban “released some 1,000 serious criminals from prisons, who are now threatening reporters who covered their arrests and detention.”

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged the Taliban to immediately “cease the use of force towards, and the arbitrary detention of, those exercising their right to peaceful assembly and the journalists covering the protests.”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said “incidents involving media personnel have been on the rise in both Kabul and provincial cities,” with Afghan journalists being “harassed by the Taliban, arrested, and beaten with cables.”

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.

SCO Leaders Call For Increased Afghan Aid, Unfreezing Of Assets

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By RFE/RL’s Tajik Service
September 17, 2021

Leaders of the Russia- and China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have urged the world to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets and boost assistance to the war-torn nation as it teeters on the brink of crisis following the Taliban’s return to power last month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, told a CSTO summit in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on September 17 that failure to provide necessary support to Afghanistan could allow terrorism and drugs to flourish while pushing the country into a full-blown humanitarian crisis — a perspective that has raised alarm of the potential for tens of thousands of refugees to pour over the border.

Founded 20 years ago to combat what it calls the “three evils” of separatism, extremism, and terrorism, the Eurasian security bloc initially consisted of China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan before India and Pakistan joined in 2017.

In Dushanbe, CSTO leaders also said they were beginning the process of accepting Iran into the organization.

Since Taliban militants swept into Kabul on August 15, some $9 billion in foreign reserves of Afghanistan’s central bank have been frozen — most of it held in the United States.

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, foreign governments, and other donors have suspended payments to Afghanistan, while ordinary bank transfers to individuals in the country also have been blocked, leaving ordinary Afghans reeling from rocketing inflation, rising poverty, cash shortages, a plummeting currency, and rising unemployment.

The Biden administration has said that any central-bank assets the Afghan government has in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban for the time being.

Even before Taliban takeover, Afghanistan’s economy was extremely fragile. Propped up for 20 years by foreign aid, about 40 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product was the result of international assistance.

Addressing the SCO summit via video link, Putin insisted that the organization should do its “utmost” to prevent the threats of “terrorism, drug trafficking, and religious extremism” emanating from Afghanistan.

He added that the security bloc should “use its potential” to “stimulate the new Afghan authorities” in fulfilling their promises on normalizing life and bringing security in Afghanistan.

“I think it also makes sense to work with the United States [and] other Western countries for a gradual unfreezing of Afghanistan’s reserves and restoring programs through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,” he added while blaming Washington in large part for the current situation, saying it should bear the “main part” of the expenses related to the rebuilding process.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, whose country borders Afghanistan, called for efforts to prevent the rise of extremism in Afghanistan, saying that unfreezing the assets kept in foreign banks could help achieve these goals by facilitating dialogue with the Taliban-led government in Kabul.

China’s Xi said SCO member nations should help to drive a smooth transition in Afghanistan and assist it in developing an inclusive political structure that would see it follow moderate internal and external policies, according to Chinese state media.

Beijing has called on the Taliban to hold to its pledge to restrain militants seeking independence for the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan called for economic support for Afghanistan to “prevent a humanitarian crisis and an economic meltdown.”

“We must remember that the previous government depended heavily on foreign aid and its removal could lead to economic collapse,” Khan said, adding that Islamabad thinks that “positive engagement of the international community with Afghanistan is extremely important.”

Pakistan has been accused of supporting the group as it battled the U.S.-backed government in Kabul for 20 years — a charge denied by Islamabad.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon called for “bolstering the capability of the SCO’s regional anti-terrorist structure and stepping up the interaction of our countries’ law enforcement agencies and special services” in order to counter the “challenges and threats” emanating from neighboring Afghanistan.

Rahmon expressed serious concern over the situation in Panjshir Valley, the last pocket of resistance to the Taliban’s takeover, reiterating his call for the international community to provide emergency assistance to the province, which he said has been under a “complete [Taliban] blockade for about two months.”

Kazakhstan’s President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev proposed the organization of a hub in the southeastern Kazakh city of Almaty for international aid to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan also holds observer status at the SCO, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this week that the Taliban had not been invited to observe proceedings in the Tajik capital.

The SCO summit came a day after leaders of another regional security bloc — the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) — also held talks in Tajikistan’s capital.

The two days of talks come as Moscow and Beijing move to assert themselves as key players in the region following the rapid collapse of the Western-backed government in Kabul at the end of a 20-year U.S.-led military mission in Afghanistan.

Both security groupings have been viewed as Moscow’s and Beijing’s counters to U.S. geopolitical dominance.

Meanwhile, Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said in an interview published on September 17 that an ad-hoc summit of the Group of 20 major economies to discuss Afghanistan will be held after the United Nations Assembly in New York ends on September 30.

Di Maio told daily la Repubblica that Rome, which holds the rotating G20 presidency this year, has asked for agencies of the United Nations and nonprofit organizations active in Afghanistan to be involved in the talks.

With reporting by Reuters, TASS, 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.

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