LAST 24 HOURS
TALIBAN LEADER SAYS WOMEN’S LIVES ARE BETTER UNDER HIS RULE – “Women are provided with a comfortable, prosperous life.” according to Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Deobandist leader of the Taliban. He went on to say the Taliban wants good relations with the world and stressed that Afghanistan has fulfilled its obligations to the international community. The comments came during his Eid al-Adha message to the country. Based on the draconian gender policies the de facto regime is clinging to, international criticism is a certainty in the coming days.
KYRGYZSTAN DELIVERS SHIPMENT OF AID – A humanitarian flight delivered a shipment of medical supplies to Kabul yesterday as Kyrgyzstan has signaled its willingness to assist Afghanistan with its ongoing humanitarian crisis. It is thought that other shipments are being planned but will likely travel by road or rail.
LEADERS IN TAKHAR AND KUNDUZ WARN THAT RELOCATING PAKISTANI REFUGEES IN THE NORTH IS THE START OF A ‘LONG TERM PROBLEM’ – As more refugees from the Durand Line are deposited in the two Northern Provinces, local religious and political leaders are beginning to speak out. Many of the political party leaders have set aside their opposition to one another in expressing concerns that the relocation program has already lit the fuze for long-term ethnic conflicts. Sources in the North say that Resistance groups will likely benefit from more local support and recruitment over the hated policy. However, AMU TV interviewed some of the recently arrived refugees and they make the case that the situation in Pakistan is terrible for them and that they were forced to come to Takhar and Kunduz. A source in Kabul said there is concern that ISIS-K will seize on the issue and may attempt to carry out terrorist attacks against the refugees or other ethnic groups in order to sow dissension and make the Taliban look bad. The source went on to say that many Taliban leaders in Kabul have privately questioned the policy and see it as a case of their ‘giving in’ to Islamabad. The situation is tense and merits continued observation.
RECENT REPORT FROM IRAN CLAIMS OVER 90,000 AFGHANS HAVE BEEN DEPORTED OVER LAST THREE MONTHS – The Director of the Migrant’s Office in Khorasan Razavi Province released the figures in a report that was made public yesterday. The Director said the deportations were voluntary, but human rights activists say that the threat of violence was used liberally.
NEXT 24 HOURS
NO THREATS REPORTED
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
IRAN
Israel has accused Iran of being behind a foiled terror plot in Cypress that targeted Israeli and Jewish targets. Cypriot security forces reportedly foiled the plot and said the IRGC was behind the scheme.
Canada rebuffed a request by Iranian prosecutors to extradite a former banker, Mahmoud Reza Khavari, to face charges of fraud.
Several hundred people have been hospitalized due to dust storms in the South of the country that have aggravated respiratory issues.
PAKISTAN
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) announced that it had arrested the most notorious known human trafficker, Tahir Nadeem. Currently, Nadeem is facing 30 separate cases that range from extortion to murder and fraud.
Another deadly bus accident claimed 8 lives and injured 70 when two buses collided in Sindh Province.
The country is experiencing the highest demand on record for power demand. The government has implemented power cuts (load shedding) to try and ameliorate the issue for citizens.
SPOTLIGHT ANALYSIS
Our Biggest Errors in Afghanistan and What We Should Learn from Them
By Linda Robinson - Council on Foreign Relations
The Afghanistan War Commission, created by Congress, will shortly commence its investigation of U.S. policies in the twenty-year War in Afghanistan. So far this year, most headlines have been generated by a separate House Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. This searing denouement resembled the chaotic end of the Vietnam War, complete with images of desperate Afghans clinging to planes lifting off from Kabul Airport as bearded Taliban soldiers seized government offices, tanks, and guns. The tragedy continued as the dark curtain of Taliban rule fell over the South Asian nation, bringing back the draconian Deobandi Islamic [PDF] practices of the 1990s. Overnight, Afghan women lost the right to work and to appear in public, and those who resisted received harsh punishments. The turbaned Taliban leaders ejected women from the government and banned girls from school after sixth grade. Poverty, hunger, and maternal and infant mortality have spiked, as countries have withheld recognition of the Taliban regime, frozen funds, and suspended all but humanitarian aid. The Taliban’s latest punishment bans Afghan women from UN work, where they are vital to delivery of aid in this conservative, largely rural country.
AFGHAN NEWS
By Marjan Sadat - The Toronto Star
There are rules against music, but the rules don’t always to the Taliban, whose enforcers are proving keener on shaking down wedding parties than…
Taliban Claims Afghan Women Provided With 'Comfortable, Prosperous Life'
By VOA
The supreme leader of the Taliban released a message Sunday claiming that his government has taken the necessary steps for the betterment of women's lives in…
Allah Gul Mujahid Returns to Afghanistan
By AMU TV
He was an influential political figure in the former administration who was imprisoned and humiliated by the Taliban security forces in the early years of the…
REGIONAL NEWS
Turkey Deports Nearly 230 Afghan Migrants
By Fidel Rahmati - Khaama Press
According to reports, most deported Afghan refugees were undocumented and illegal…
China ‘trying hard’ to gain foothold in Afghanistan’s lucrative mining sector: Analysts
By AMU TV
China has been intensifying its efforts to enhance Beijing’s political and economic relations with the Taliban, following the collapse of the former Afghan government in August 2021…
INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN
China’s envoy to UN calls for sanctions against IEA to be lifted
By Ariana News
Zhang Jun, China’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has said the United States and the West should lift sanctions against…
By Lauren Crosby Medlicott - I News UK
Former UK student says his family ‘in living hell’ in Afghanistan after ‘rejection’ by British Government…
THE DAILY WTF
No Cases of Torture in the Country’s Prisons: Officials
By Bakhtar News Agency
The military deputy of the Directorate of Prisons affairs, Major General Qari Habibullah Badr, at the graduation ceremony of 124 officers and guards of the educational center of that…
Afghani to the Dollar: $1 – 85.83 AFN (as of 26 JUN 2023)