Tahir Khan Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News August 29, 2021 KABUL/ISLAMABAD – A senior Taliban leader confirmed to VOA on condition of anonymity that the group is in the final stages of announcing a new Cabinet that was expected to include all members of its current Rahbari Shura, or leadership council. Taliban supreme commander Hibatullah Akhundzada
Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 16, 2021 Thousands of Taliban militants encircled Kabul as fear and panic swept through the capital, its residents bracing for a bloody takeover of the city and a return to an oppressive life under the militant Islamist group. Amid the chaos on the clogged streets and the teeming
Press TV July 11, 2021 By Sa’adollah Zarei for Kayhan A notable number of Afghan towns’ fall into the hands of the Taliban has given rise to many discussions on the international and regional levels, including in Iran. The main question here is what will be the fate of Afghanistan as a result of these
1TV: Taliban militants have forcibly displaced residents and burned homes in northern Afghanistan in apparent retaliation for cooperating with the government, Human Rights Watch said Since May 2021, the Taliban have captured 150 districts in northern provinces, HRW said on Thursday. Click here to read more (external link). Related Taliban Put Strict Curbs on Women,
Ariana: Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Idrees Zaman [is] accused of ethnic cleansing in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after he dismissed several directors from their positions in a short period of time. A number of lawmakers on Monday called on the Afghan parliament to prevent “such illegal dismissals”. Click here to read more
The National Interest: Kabul is a democracy in name only. Many non-Pashtuns see the political integration of the Taliban as an intra-Pashtun reconciliation process—not all-Afghan—that will deepen the Pashtunization of the power structure under Ghani, helping consolidate the ethnic group’s dominance. Under the national unity government agreement , Afghanistan was to have convened a loya jirga
Eisa Ayoobi via The Globe Post: Ashraf Ghani and Zalmay Khalilzad have been the most influential Afghan-Americans to impact U.S.-Afghanistan relations over the decades. Their education and Washington-based experience have earned them rhetoric sway and a vastly influential network of friends. However, their ethnonationalism-aspired Afghanistan “vision” has cost the U.S. thousands of lives and “trillions of
Ahmad Mohibi via The Diplomat: Vice President Dostum’s return to Afghanistan underlines the complexity of the battle for political influence. The underlying problem in Afghanistan is longstanding ethnic conflict and fears. Throughout history, Pashtuns predominantly ruled the nation and considered themselves the dominant ethnic group — but were not the majority of the population… The technocrats – represented
Ariana: Addressing a joint press conference with members of the coalition for Salvation of Afghanistan on Sunday in Mazar-e-Sharif City, Noor said that the government’s “ethnic cleansing” approach should be ended. He said the security forces shouldn’t be used against the people and that Qaisari’s arrest was against the law. Click here to read more (external
Ariana: Former Energy and Water Minister Ali Ahmad Osmani on Sunday accused the Presidential Palace (ARG) of power monopoly. The transfer of authorities from legal institutions into the office of [President’s] advisors based on nepotism have paralyzed the objective processes of governance in most of the institutions,” Osmani told reporters at a press conference in Kabul.