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Taliban take control of Afghanistan, women cannot work until forced to wear burqa


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Taliban take control of Afghanistan, women cannot work until forced to wear burqa
Eny Kartikawati - wolipop Tuesday, 17 Aug 2021 06:53 WIB

 

KABUL, AFGANISTAN - AUGUST 13 : Displaced Afghan women and children from Kunduz are seen at a mosque that is sheltering them on August 13, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan.  Tensions are high as the Taliban advance on the capital city after taking Herat and the countrys second-largest city Kandahar. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)

 

Jakarta - The Taliban control of Afghanistan has become a terrible scourge for women in the country. Earlier, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the Taliban had won because they managed to occupy the Presidential Office.
Why would a returning Taliban in power be women's worst nightmare in Afghanistan? From 1996 to 2001 when the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan, as quoted by Al Jazeera, women were prohibited from going to work, girls were not allowed to go to school and women had to cover their faces or wear the burqa, and women had to be accompanied by a brother if they wanted to leave the house.
At that time women who break the rules of the Taliban will be punished. Apart from being humiliated, these women also received canings from the sharia police patrolling.
The fear of a return to the rule when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan was seen in early July 2021 yesterday. As quoted by Reuters, the Taliban troops who control Afghanistan forced their way into the Azizi Bank office in Kandahar. They then ordered six female employees to go home. The women were forbidden to work.

 

KABUL, AFGANISTAN - AUGUST 13 : Displaced Afghan women and children from Kunduz are seen at a mosque that is sheltering them on August 13, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan.  Tensions are high as the Taliban advance on the capital city after taking Herat and the country's second-largest city Kandahar. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)


The armed Taliban fighters actually escorted the female bank employees to their homes. And the female employees were ordered not to return to work. According to the Taliban soldiers, their brothers could take their place at the bank.

"It's very strange that I can't go to work, but that's what's happening now," said Noor Khatera, an employee of Azizi Bank in an interview with Reuters.

"I've studied English and even learned how to operate a computer, but now I have to find a place where I can work with more women," said the 43-year-old again.

Two days after the incident at the Kandahar branch of Azizi Bank, a similar incident happened to a female employee at Bank Milli, in Herat, Afghanistan. According to the testimony of two bank cashiers, two armed Taliban soldiers entered their office, ordered the women to go home and not show their faces in public.

Afghan Women Forced to Wear Burqa

 

KABUL, AFGANISTAN - AUGUST 13 : Displaced Afghan women and children from Kunduz are seen at a mosque that is sheltering them on August 13, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan.  Tensions are high as the Taliban advance on the capital city after taking Herat and the country's second-largest city Kandahar. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)


Maryam Durani, a journalist and human rights activist in Kandahar, Afghanistan, expressed the same concerns as bank employees who were sent home and barred from working for the Taliban. As quoted from the Financial Times, Maryam admitted that she had received threats if she continued her current activities.

"I studied for 25 years only to be ruled by completely uneducated people. If I was allowed to go to work, I believe I would have to wear the burqa, which I really can't tolerate," said Maryam, who has now left Kabul for her safety. and his family. "There is no guarantee of security for us," he added.
Miriam, an Afghan woman who The Guardian contributor met while shopping for a burqa, shared similar concerns. She went to buy a burqa after her husband forced her to do it.

"My husband asked me to change the style of clothes I wear and start wearing the burqa. So that I become less attractive to the Taliban when I'm outside the house," she said.
Afghan women and citizens also hope the world can help them escape the Taliban. Because if the Taliban came to power, all the basic rights that women and children had previously would be deprived in many aspects of life.

"Women and children are suffering the most here. The world must understand and help us," an Afghan government spokesman told Reuters.

 

link  :  https://wolipop.detik.com/worklife/d-5684979/taliban-kuasai-afghanistan-wanita-tak-boleh-kerja-hingga-dipaksa-pakai-burqa

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The Taliban Again Bans Afghan Women From Working
Reporter: Eka Yudha Saputra
Editor: Eka Yudha Saputra

 

Anggota kelompok pemberontak Taliban berjaga di pos pemeriksaan di Farah, Afganistan, 11 Agustus 2021. Tiga bulan setelah pasukan Amerika Serikat menarik diri, Taliban telah menguasai sekitar 65 persen dari wilayah Afganistan. REUTERS

 

Saturday, August 14, 2021 07:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In early July, when Taliban insurgents seized territory from government forces in Afghanistan, militia from the group broke into the office of Azizi Bank in the southern city of Kandahar and ordered the nine women working there to leave.

The gunmen escorted them to their homes and told them not to return to their jobs. Instead, they explained that a male relative could replace them, according to the three women involved and the bank manager.

"It's weird not being allowed to work, but now it's like this," Noor Khatera, a 43-year-old woman who once worked in the bank accounts department told Reuters, quoted August 13, 2021.

"I learned English on my own and even learned how to operate a computer, but now I have to find a place where I can work with more women around," she said.

The incident is a sign that the rights of Afghan women, which have been fought for for 20 years, are threatened with extinction if the Taliban seizes Afghanistan.

The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, have seized control of many of Afghanistan's largest cities in recent days and are closing in on the capital Kabul.

Under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic law, women are not allowed to work, girls are not allowed to attend school, and women must cover their faces and be accompanied by male relatives if they wish to leave the house.


Women who break the rules are sometimes subjected to social sanctions and even public beatings by the Taliban's religious police.

During the hitherto fruitless talks on a political settlement in recent years, Taliban leaders have made assurances to the West that women will enjoy the same rights granted by Islam, including the ability to work and be educated.

Two days after the incident at Azizi Bank, a similar scene occurred at another branch of the Afghan lender, Bank Milli, in the western city of Herat, according to two female cashiers who experienced it.

Three Taliban militants carrying guns entered a bank branch, reprimanding female employees for showing their faces in public. The women there stopped, sending male relatives in their stead.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the two incidents. Spokespeople for both banks did not respond to requests for comment.

On the broader question of whether women would be allowed to work in banks in the areas under his control, Mujahid added that no decision had yet been made.

"Once the Islamic system is established, it will be decided according to the law, and God willing, there will be no problems," he said.

Dozens of educated Afghan women took to social media to ask for help and express their frustration.

"With every city collapsing, the human body collapsing, dreams collapsing, history and future collapsing, art and culture collapsing, life and beauty collapsing, our world crumbling," Rada Akbar wrote on Twitter. "Someone please stop this."

 

587784_650.jpg


The United States and other Western powers fear that the Taliban will overthrow many of the freedoms won by women.

The gains made in women's rights have been cited as one of the greatest achievements in the 20 years US-led forces have been deployed in Afghanistan, though most have been enjoyed in urban centres.

Afghan women working in fields including journalism, health care and law enforcement, have been killed in a wave of attacks since peace talks began last year between the Taliban and the US-backed Afghan government.

The government blames most of the targeted killings on the Taliban, which denies carrying out the killings.

"The Taliban will experience a decline in freedom at all levels and that is what we are fighting against," said a spokesman for the Afghan government.

 

link  :  https://dunia.tempo.co/read/1494285/taliban-kembali-melarang-perempuan-afganistan-bekerja/full&view=ok

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Taliban Members Visit Banks in Afghanistan, Force Female Employees To Stop Working
Victor Maulana

Friday, August 13, 2021 - 22:04 WIB

 

Anggota Taliban Datangi Bank di Afghanistan, Paksa Karyawan Wanita Berhenti Bekerja

 

KABUL - Taliban members reportedly went to a number of banks in Afghanistan, where they forced female employees to quit their jobs. The incident is an early sign that some of the rights won by Afghan women 20 years ago when the Taliban government collapsed, could be lost if the group returns to power.

Under the strict interpretation of Islamic law groups, women cannot work, girls are not allowed to attend school and women must cover their faces and be accompanied by male relatives if they wish to leave their homes.

Women who break the rules are sometimes subjected to humiliation and public beatings by the Taliban's religious police.
 
In early July, as the Taliban began to seize territory from government forces in Afghanistan, members of the group broke into the offices of Azizi Bank in Kandahar and ordered the nine women working there to return home.

The gunmen escorted the women to their homes and told them not to return to work. On the other hand, members of the Taliban explained that a male relative could take their place.

"It's weird not being allowed to work, but now it's like this," Noor Khatera, a 43-year-old woman, was one of the women the Taliban had "laid off" from the bank.
"I studied English myself and even learned how to operate a computer, but now I have to find a place where I can work with more women around," she continued, as reported by Reuters on Friday (13/8/2021).

A similar incident occurred at a branch of Bank Milli in the city of Herat.

Three Taliban armed members entered the bank, reprimanding the female employees for showing their faces in public. The female employees then stopped and sent male relatives in their stead.

Educated women in Afghanistan themselves, through their social media accounts, have asked for international help to stop the progress made by the Taliban.
"With every city collapsing, human bodies falling, dreams collapsing, history and future collapsing, art and culture collapsing, life and beauty collapsing, our world crumbling. Someone please stop this," wrote Rada Akbar on his Twitter account.

 

link  :  https://international.sindonews.com/read/510352/40/anggota-taliban-datangi-bank-di-afghanistan-paksa-karyawan-wanita-berhenti-bekerja-1628863700

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Taliban Search Door-to-Door Search Afghan Women for Sex Slaves
Muhaimin

Thursday, 12 August 2021 - 13:16 WIB

 

Taliban Geledah Pintu ke Pintu Cari Wanita Afghanistan untuk Budak Seks

 

KUNDUZ - Taliban fighters are reported to have gone door to door in every house in Afghanistan. They look for girls, including 12-year-olds, and adult women for forced marriage and sex slavery.

A report published by Bloomberg yesterday said the group's jihadist commanders had ordered imams in the areas they controlled to bring with them a list of unmarried women aged 12 to 45 for their soldiers to marry. The group views the women in the areas they control as "qhanimat" or "spoils of war"—to be divided among the victors of the war.
The militias then went door to door claiming their "gifts," even looking through family cupboards to determine the girls' ages before forcing them into a life of sexual slavery.

The brutal treatment of women and girls is just the latest sign of the collapse of the Afghan military, which has prompted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to sack his top commander.

A local female journalist described running away from a town in northern Afghanistan, which she did not name, and hiding with her uncle for fear that the Taliban would hunt her down and execute her.
The 22-year-old said she fled "under the nose" of Taliban gunmen disguised under a burqa and went to a nearby village - but was forced to flee again after informants alerted the militants of her presence.

Now he is hiding in a remote location somewhere in the north of the country, and claims to be afraid for the safety of himself and his family. "Will I go home? Will I see my parents again? Where will I go? How can I survive," he said, asking not to be named because his life was in danger.

Meanwhile terrified locals fleeing the city of Kunduz, captured by the Taliban last week, have told of retaliatory attacks by the group's militias that hunt down anyone linked to the government and behead or execute them.

 

link  :  https://international.sindonews.com/read/508726/40/taliban-geledah-pintu-ke-pintu-cari-wanita-afghanistan-untuk-budak-seks-1628748515

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New Taliban rules: No smoking, no shaving
 Kempalan News 16 July 2021

 

ezgif-7-0bdef1abd716.jpg

 

KABUL-KEMPALAN: A few days after the Taliban captured a remote district in northern Afghanistan, they issued their first order in the form of a letter to the local imam.

“It says women cannot go to the market without a male escort, and men cannot shave their beards,” said Sefatullah, a resident of Kalafgan district.

The rebels also banned smoking, he added, warning anyone violating the rules "will be dealt with seriously".

According to Dawn, the Taliban are making major advances across the country as they capitalize on the latest withdrawal of foreign troops — capturing districts, capturing key border crossings, and laying siege to provincial capitals.

In some areas, they have reintroduced the harsh interpretations of Islamic rule that made them famous until they were overthrown by the US-led invasion that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Last month, they took Shir Khan Bandar, a northern customs post that connects the country with Tajikistan via a US-funded bridge spanning the Panj river.

"After Shir Khan Bandar fell, the Taliban ordered the women not to come out of their homes," Sajeda told AFP that she was working in a local factory at the time.

He added that there were many women and girls working in shoemaking and sewing and were afraid because of the Taliban rule. The rule for women to stay at home and only go out if there is a man accompanying them has been in place by the Taliban since they controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

Men are relatively freer but are ordered not to shave, will be beaten if they do not attend prayers, and told to only wear traditional clothes.

In addition, there was a statement purporting to be from the Taliban, circulating on social media this week, ordering villagers to marry off their daughters and widows to Taliban soldiers.

"All imams and mullahs in captured areas must provide the Taliban with a list of girls over 15 and widows under 45 to marry Taliban fighters," said the letter, which was issued on behalf of the Taliban's cultural commission.

It brings back bitter memories of the decree issued by the Ministry of the Spread of Virtue and Prevention of Evil during the Taliban's first stint in power.

However, the spokesman for the Taliban, Zahibullah Mujahid denied that his group issued any statements and considered the statements circulating as propaganda.

"They (statements) are rumors that are spread using artificial letters," he said.

Meanwhile in some areas that the Taliban managed to take over, such as in Yawan district, residents were gathered at local mosques and told they were not allowed to leave their homes at night.

This is reinforced by the statement of Mohammad Nazir, a local resident who was interviewed by AFP News and said that no one is allowed to go out at night and residents are prohibited from wearing red and green clothes which refer to the colors of the official Afghan government flag.

"Everyone has to wear a turban and no one can shave," said Mohammad, adding that girls who attended school above the sixth grade were barred from attending school.

The situation in Afghanistan has been heating up since the withdrawal of US troops and their allies from the field after 20 years entrenched there. This was followed by stagnant peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. (Dawn, Reza Hikam)

 

link  :  https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=eprempuan+tidak+boleh+keluar+rumah+oleh+taliban&fr=yfp-t&ei=UTF-8&fp=1

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Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Exchange of Afghan Leader Candidates from the Taliban
Kempalan News August 16, 2021

 

8f3bbe29-8ece-48bb-9ff1-07b39f93021e.jpg

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. (The Guardian)

 

KABUL-KEMPALAN: Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban leader who was released from a Pakistani prison at the request of the US less than three years ago, has emerged victorious in the 20-year war.

While Haibatullah Akhundzada is the overall leader of the Taliban, Baradar is its political head and most public face.
He was said to be on his way from his office in Doha to Kabul on Sunday evening. In a televised statement about the fall of Kabul, he said the real test of the Taliban had just begun and that they must serve the country.

Born in Uruzgan province in 1968, he fought in the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1980s. After Russia was expelled in 1989 and the country plunged into civil war between rival warlords, Baradar founded a madrasa in Kandahar with his former commander and his famous brother-in-law, Mohammad Omar. Together, the two mullahs founded the Taliban, a movement spearheaded by young Islamic scholars dedicated to the purification of the state religion and the creation of an emirate.

Baradar played successive military and administrative roles in the five-year Taliban regime, and by the time he was ousted by the US and its Afghan allies, he was deputy defense minister.

During the Taliban's 20 years of exile, Baradar had a reputation as a strong military leader and a smooth political operator. Western diplomats have come to see it as the wing of Quetta Shura, the Taliban leader regrouped in exile, most resistant to ISI control, and most amenable to political contacts with Kabul.

However, the Obama administration fears more of its military expertise than its expectations of its perceived moderate tendencies. The CIA tracked him to Karachi in 2010 and in February of that year persuaded the ISI to arrest him.

However, in 2018, Washington's stance changed and Donald Trump's envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, asked Pakistanis to release Baradar so he could lead negotiations in Qatar, based on the belief that he would accept a power-sharing arrangement.

"I've never seen any real evidence of it, but it just takes on a kind of mystical idea," the former official said.

Baradar signed the Doha agreement with the US in February 2020, which the Trump administration hailed as a breakthrough to peace but which now appears to be just a staging post towards total Taliban victory. (The Guardian, Reza Hikam)

 

link  :  https://kempalan.com/2021/08/16/mullah-abdul-ghani-baradar-bursa-calon-pemimpin-afghanistan-dari-taliban/

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Report: Taliban Abducting Girls to Turn into ‘Sex Slaves’ in Afghanistan

An Afghan women covered with a burqa listens to the former Taliban commander and presidential candidate Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi's speech, during a campaign rally in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 14, 2009. Afghans will head to the polls on Aug. 20 to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Farzana Wahidy)

 

The Taliban terror group is allegedly “going door-to-door” in some regions of Afghanistan to select girls as young as 12 years old to become “sex slaves” for the group’s jihadi fighters, News Corp Australia’s News.com.au reported Thursday.

 

“[T]he Taliban are going door-to-door in some areas, compiling lists of women and girls aged between 12 and 45 years for their fighters to forcibly marry,” Bloomberg reported on August 9.

“Taliban commanders, after capturing some of the provincial capitals, have ordered local Imams [Islamic leaders] to bring the lists of unmarried women aged from 12 to 45 for their soldiers to marry as they view them as ‘qhanimat or ‘spoils of war,’” OpIndia reported August 12, citing an August 11 report by the U.K.’s Daily Mail.

“The Taliban intends to ‘divide’ these kids among themselves as Jihadists consider them as a ‘prize,'” according to OpIndia, a conservative Indian news site.

“Taliban fighters are permitted to do this under their strict interpretation of Islam which views women as ‘kaniz’ or ‘commodities,'” Omar Sadr, a professor at the American University of Afghanistan, told the Daily Mail.

The Taliban reconquered large swaths of Afghanistan in recent months as U.S. and NATO-allied troops withdrew from the country to end a 20-year-long joint military operation based out of Kabul. The U.S. launched the War in Afghanistan in the autumn of 2001, by ousting the Taliban from Afghanistan’s government and will end the operation by August 31. The Taliban has swiftly regained control over at least 85 percent of the country in the wake of the nearly complete troop withdrawal. The Sunni terror group has ramped up its military campaign over the past week, retaking three northern provincial capitals in a single day on August 8.

 

The Associated Press

Internally displaced Afghan women from northern provinces, who fled their home due to fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security personnel, receive medical care in a public park in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

 

The Taliban has reimposed sharia, or Islamic law, across most of the regions it reconquered in recent weeks. The group has ordered taxi drivers in the Afghan town of Balkh, a regional hub near the Uzbek border, “not to drive any woman into the town unless she’s fully veiled,” the BBC reported on August 11. The British broadcaster published its report after sending a group of reporters to Balkh to interview members of the Taliban.

“The day after we leave, reports emerge of a young woman being murdered because of her clothing,” the BBC revealed. “Haji Hekmat, though, rejects allegations Taliban members were responsible.”

The BBC identified Hekmat as a “local Taliban leader and our host in Balkh.”

“All the women we see … are wearing the all-encompassing burqa, covering both their hair and face,” the broadcaster wrote of its visit to Balkh’s main bazaar, or market.

Hekmat insisted to the BBC that no women were being “forced” to wear the full burka, claiming that “the Taliban are simply ‘preaching’ that this is how women should dress.”

“In our Sharia it’s clear, for those who have sex and are unmarried, whether it’s a girl or a boy, the punishment is 100 lashes in public,” a Taliban judge named Haji Badruddin told the BBC after the broadcaster visited “a Taliban court session” in Balkh.

“But for anyone who’s married, they have to be stoned to death … For those who steal: if it’s proved, then his hand should be cut off,” he said.

 

link  :  https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2021/08/12/report-taliban-abducting-girls-sex-slaves-afghanistan/

 
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Afghans reach Europe and buying burqas in Kabul: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

 

A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Afghanistan to Greece

 

Sarah Johnson, compiled by Eric Hilaire

Sat 28 Aug 2021 07.30 BST

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2021/aug/28/afghans-reach-europe-and-buying-burqas-in-kabul-human-rights-this-fortnight-in-pictures

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‘We were very lucky’: Afghan refugees arrive in US, exhausted but relieved

 

Refugees had been at special risk as they had worked for the US during the war

 

Wed 1 Sep 2021 13.00 BST
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Taliban inspect destroyed US planes after last US troops withdraw – video

 

Taliban soldiers inspected damaged aircraft and equipment at Kabul airport after the last US troops withdrew from a shattered Afghanistan. US troops destroyed more than 70 aircraft and dozens of armoured vehicles before they left........

 

Source: TRT WORLD via Reuters

Wed 1 Sep 2021 08.09 BST

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/sep/01/taliban-celebrate-and-inspect-destroyed-us-planes-after-last-us-troops-withdraw-video

 

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Afghanistan’s neighbours offered millions in aid to harbour refugees

 

Bordering states such as Pakistan urged to temporarily take in Afghans bound for Europe and the US

 

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
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Female TV anchor who interviewed Taliban flees Afghanistan

 

Beheshta Arghand, now in Qatar, says militants started targeting women soon after takeover

 

Hannah Ellis-Petersen and agencies
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‘I pray they are alive’: Afghans headed to US think of families left behind

 

Kabul evacuees at Sicilian air base of Sigonella worry about those left living under Taliban rule

 

 

Lorenzo Tondo in Sigonella
Thu 2 Sep 2021 06.00 BST
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Evidence contradicts Taliban’s claim to respect women’s rights

 

There are signs of a return to something worryingly close to the hardline restrictions of the past across Afghan life

 

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Taliban break up Afghan women’s rights march with gunfire

 

Militia members fire shots into air and demonstrator says they also used teargas and stun guns

 

Jon Henley

Sun 5 Sep 2021 13.22 BSTLast modified on Sun 5 Sep

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/05/taliban-break-up-afghan-womens-rights-march-with-gunfire

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‘We don’t want people to be in a panic,’ says chief of Taliban morality police

 

Exclusive: In his first interview with western media, Kandahar’s enforcer promises things will be different from the brutal 1990s

 

Emma Graham-Harrison and Abdul Rauf Wafa in Kandahar
Sun 19 Sep 2021 07.45 BST
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Three killed in explosions in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan

 

Initial reports suggest a Taliban convoy may have been targeted in the ISKP’s stronghold region

 

Shah Meer Baloch in Kandahar
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House Foreign Affairs Republicans Prepared for U.S. to Go Back Into Afghanistan

BY DAVID BRENNAN ON 9/17/21 AT 10:17 AM EDT

Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee warned that American troops may yet have to return to Afghanistan amid fears that the Taliban will again allow the country to become a haven for international terrorist groups.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was hauled in front of Congress this week as lawmakers demanded to know how America's longest war ended in such humiliation. But even amid the inquest, lawmakers' minds are turning to reintervention.

For many, the war—one so complicated by vague and ever-expanding goals, Pentagon and White House deceit, and a zealous belief in America's ability to nation-build—is not over.

"I think it's quite likely that we're going to end up somehow militarily involved again," Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee that quizzed Blinken this week, told Newsweek.

"You're gonna see a gathering of the worst of the worst there, terrorist groups from all over the world. And now they've got our weapons...so that makes them probably even more dangerous now than they were prior to September 11, 2001."

As the Taliban settles into the business of governing, Americans are wondering what two decades of blood—the vast majority of it Afghan—and trillions of dollars actually achieved. The Taliban holds Kabul, Al-Qaeda fighters are reportedly back in Afghanistan, and America's annals of foreign policy blunders have another chapter.

The Taliban and Al-Qaeda will remain hostile to the U.S. Now, Afghanistan is also home to Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-KP), a regional affiliate of Islamic State which for years has been carving out areas of operation while battling the Taliban, the Afghan government, and international forces.

"Biden's top intelligence officials have said Al-Qaeda is likely to reconstitute in Afghanistan and be able to threaten America in one to two years," Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the foreign affairs committee's ranking member, told Newsweek in a statement.

"Biden has allowed Afghanistan to become a safe haven yet again for global jihad, so we need to prepare for all possibilities."

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), also a member of the committee, told Newsweek that the White House must not hesitate to respond to national security threats. "Any credible, direct threat to the United States or the lives of Americans needs to be forcefully and preemptively addressed," Zeldin said.

"President Biden should draw a red line; however, he cannot repeat the mistakes of the Obama Administration by delivering empty threats, not enforcing red lines and approaching our adversaries from a position of weakness."

That terrorist threat was the driver for the 2001 invasion, and the excuse given for much of America's bloody and sprawling "War on Terror."

Some Republican senators still believe in this casus belli. "We will be going back into Afghanistan as we went back into Iraq and Syria," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) earlier this month.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he believed "it was in our own interest to prevent [Afghanistan] from becoming a haven again, and providing a victory for terrorism."

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said the defeat "will badly hurt American intelligence and give jihadis a safe haven in Afghanistan, again."

Sens. Sasse, Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Roy Blunt (R-MO)—all of the Senate Intelligence Committee—said in a letter to Biden the debacle would "inspire jihadists celebrating the Taliban's victory over the U.S. and motivate future terrorists."

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said the defeat brings "a renewed threat of international terrorism brought on by Al Qaeda and its affiliates. Afghanistan is now more likely to serve as a global launchpad for terrorism."

Republicans, and some Democrats, will demand assertive action from the Biden administration on any perceived threats to the U.S. homeland, its allies, or its regional interests. Chabot is among those sounding the alarm.

"I would anticipate you'll probably see smaller-scale attacks than [9/11], probably on a whole range of our allies in different regions on the globe," he said. "I think you'll see them in Europe, I think you'll see them in the Middle East, I think you may very well see them here on our soil here in the United States."

Taliban leaders have repeatedly assured the West that Al-Qaeda and other terror groups would not be allowed to set up shop in their Islamic Emirate. But the early signs suggest otherwise. Al-Qaeda is believed to retain close ties with the Taliban, and the country's new authorities will likely struggle to suppress ISIS-KP and other militant groups.

The interim Taliban government includes notorious militant leader Sirajuddin Haqqani—leader of the powerful Haqqani network—as interior minister. Haqqani remains on the U.S. sanctions list and his network has been accused of a long list of attacks on international troops and civilians.

"The fact that they've essentially assigned a terrorist as the interior minister gives you a pretty good sign of what we're in store for," Chabot told Newsweek. "I wouldn't believe anything the Taliban says, at this point in time. I think we should judge them by their actions."

Zeldin added: "This government is made up of designated terrorists and it has a history of harboring terror groups in Afghanistan. Sadly, there's a strong possibility we will see that repeat itself."

US troops at Kabul airport Afghanistan Taliban

U.S. troops sit on a wall as Afghans gather on a roadside near the military part of the airport in Kabul on August 20, 2021, hoping to flee from the country after the Taliban's military takeover of Afghanistan.

 

Republicans also see a political window in the Afghanistan chaos. Some have called on Biden, Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to resign. For them, the Afghanistan debacle is Biden's child.

 

"The whole thing was so disorganized and chaotic, and just feckless," Chabot said.

Zeldin told Newsweek: "President Biden has left Afghanistan and the entire region in a state of heightened uncertainty and chaos, and the threat of terrorism is greater than it has been in years."

Democrats, some Republicans, and many foreign policy experts are more reluctant to place the blame squarely at Biden's door.

The 20-year war has many parents, not least former President Donald Trump, who signed a peace deal with the Taliban, released thousands of their members from detention, and let it be known the U.S. would leave with or without an inter-Afghan power-sharing deal.

America's Afghan house of cards was never stable, but some observers blame the Trump administration's negotiations with the Taliban for setting the stage for the government's ultimate collapse.

By the time Taliban fighters swept the country, the group had already agreed secret deals with local governors, tribal leaders, and other regional power brokers, ensuring major centers would fall with little resistance.

American reintervention could come in many forms. Covert operations by special forces teams, standoff strikes with drones or cruise missiles, airstrikes using American bombers, financial and military support for local resistance groups fighting the Taliban.

 

"How many troops would be exactly involved or under what particular circumstances, of course, it's impossible to know at this time," Chabot said.

"I think they should defend this country and defend our allies by taking military action when necessary," he added of the Biden administration. "And you have to, obviously, determine what's necessary on a case by case basis."

Zeldin said the type of action "depends entirely on the circumstances—I would not support sending our troops into harm's way without necessity, clearly defined objectives and measures of success."

Americans might be hesitant to send their sons and daughters back into harm's way. Thirteen service members were killed by ISIS-KP bombs during the Kabul evacuation, their deaths the most recent of the 2,406 American troops killed in-country since 2001.

Many Americans will want those deaths to be the last.

But the U.S. remains a global power, its sprawling empire demanding American bodies to protect and advance its interests. Even the bipartisan desire to end the "forever wars" won't stop new deployments when deemed necessary by one or both major parties.

"I think the American people certainly understand and appreciate the fact that sometimes it's necessary for a country like the United States to be involved across the globe," Chabot said.

"We don't want to be the world's policeman, but we certainly are a great power and we have responsibilities to protect our own citizens, but also to protect our allies across the globe who work with us.

"The United States is a great power...and on occasion, it's necessary to be involved militarily."

Remains of US troops killed in Kabul

In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, flag-draped transfer cases line the inside of a C-17 Globemaster II on August 29, 2021, prior to a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. The service members died while supporting non-combat operations in Kabul.

 

link  :  https://www.newsweek.com/afghanistan-war-republicans-us-foreign-affairs-congress-1630145

 
 
 
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Taliban Tells Male Students in 6th Through 12th Grade to Return to Class, No Word on Girls

BY REBECCA KLAPPER ON 9/17/21 AT 11:45 AM EDT

The Taliban's education ministry issued a statement telling all male students in sixth through 12th grade and male teachers to return to class, but girls of the same age range were not mentioned.

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last month, girls in first through sixth grade had been allowed to resume classes. However, the statement published Friday on Facebook neglecting to mention girls older than that has highlighted concerns that the Taliban may again impose restrictions on girls and women.

During the Taliban's previous rule of Afghanistan in the 1990s, women and girls had been forbidden from attending school and work. In some provinces, women are still not allowed to return to work, with exceptions for women working in health departments, hospitals and education.

Afghan School Girls

The Taliban released a statement on Sept. 17, 2021, telling boys in sixth through 12th grade to return to classes, but did not mention girls of the same age range. School girls gather at their class after arriving at a gender-segregated school in Kabul on Sept. 15, 2021.

 

 

India Raises Concerns of Afghanistan Being Used 'to Spread Terrorism'

India's prime minister says it's essential that the global community collectively decides on whether to recognize the new Taliban government in Afghanistan.

India supports the central role of the United Nations on this issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a video statement on Friday at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The economic and security group is made up of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

Modi also said the recent developments in Afghanistan, where the Taliban swept into power in a blitz that stunned the world last month, will have the greatest impact on neighboring countries such as India.

Instability and fundamentalism in Afghanistan will lead to terrorist and extremist ideologies all over the world, he said. "Other extremist groups may also be encouraged to seek power through violence. We all countries have been victims of terrorism in the past."

"Together we must ensure that the soil of Afghanistan is not used to spread terrorism in any country," Modi added.

India's leader said he sees many other risks from the instability, such as an uncontrolled flow of drugs, illegal weapons and human trafficking. A large amount of advanced weapons remain in Afghanistan, he warned and urged the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to play a positive role in monitoring these flows and enhancing information sharing.

German Commander Who Led Afghan Evacuations Receives Award

Germany's president has bestowed one of the country's highest awards to the commander who led the evacuation of Germans and some Afghans from Kabul last month.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised Brig. Gen. Jens Arlt's leadership of an operation that he said was "unprecedented" in Germany's post-World War II history.

The German military evacuated more than 5,300 citizens of 45 countries from the Afghan capital, as part of a wider international effort to airlift 120,000 people after the Taliban takeover last month.

Steinmeier noted that Arlt had managed to bring home all of his 500 troops unharmed, despite the risks they faced on the ground. He added that "we bear some of the responsibility for human tragedy" in Afghanistan.

Pakistan Yet to Recognize Afghanistan's Taliban Government

Pakistan's prime minister has met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Afghanistan.

The Foreign Ministry's statement on Friday said the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's meeting in Tajikistan's city of Dushanbe. The discussion centered on Afghanistan and other bilateral issues, with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan underscoring his country's vital interest in a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan.

Khan is visiting Tajikistan to participate in the meeting of members of the China and Russia-dominated organization. Afghanistan's future has dominated the summit.

The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last month. So far Pakistan, like other countries, has not recognized the new government next door. Pakistan says any such decision will be announced after consultation with the world community.

According to the statement, Khan said it was essential to take urgent steps to stabilize Afghanistan's security, humanitarian and economic situation.

Afghan Women and Girls

The Taliban told male students in sixth through 12th grade to return to classes, but did not mention girls of the same age range, highlighting ongoing concerns that the Taliban will impose restrictions on women and girls again. Afghan women and children receive bread donations in Kabul's Old City, Afghanistan, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021.

 

link  :  https://www.newsweek.com/taliban-tells-male-students-6th-through-12th-grade-return-class-no-word-girls-1630266

 
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Money Laundering Probe Into Seizure Of 3,000 Kg Heroin At Gujarat Port

Recovered Monday, the drugs were part of a shipment of talc that originated from Afghanistan and have sparked a political row in what is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state

Reported by Shonakshi Chakravarty, Edited by Chandrashekar Srinivasan (with inputs from AFP)Updated: September 21, 2021 6:51 pm
New Delhi: 

The Enforcement Directorate has initiated a money laundering probe into the seizure of around 3,000 kg of heroin - valued at nearly  20,000 crore - from Gujarat's Mundra Port.

Recovered Monday, the drugs were part of a shipment of talc from Afghanistan that arrived in India via Iran, according to news agency AFP.

2,000 kg were found in one container and the rest in another. The drugs were seized after physical verification of the substance. Officials said the drugs were packed into the bottom of bags, with layers of talc placed above to throw off suspicion.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), which conducted the seizure, has so far arrested two people and carried out searches in Ahmedabad, Chennai and Delhi, according to Gujarat Special Public Prosecutor Kalpesh Goswami.

Mr Goswami said the two - a husband-wife duo of Sudhakar and Vaishali - were picked up in Chennai, produced before a special court in Gujarat last week, and sent to DRI custody for 10 days.

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The drugs were recovered from the Adani Group-owned Mundra Port in Gujarat

 

 

The haul has triggered a row given Gujarat is the home state of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, with the Congress leaping to criticise the ruling BJP ahead of next year's election.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi this evening, leader Pawan Khera asked the BJP "can (you) tell us why Gujarat has become such a hotbed for drug smuggling?"

"What is the reason Gujarat has so much drug smuggling coming in? Why are we not busting this racket? How is it the syndicate still carrying on? This is a serious matter..." Mr Khera said.

Image

 

link  :  https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/mundra-port-heroin-bust-money-laundering-probe-into-seizure-of-3-000-kg-heroin-at-gujarat-port-2548602

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