LAST 24 HOURS
PAKISTAN’S DEPORTATION THREAT - ECHOES OF HYPOCRISY – Lost amid the panic over the recent call to deport over 1 million Afghans from Pakistan is a lesson from a similar situation that shares many similarities with the crisis between Kabul and Islamabad of today. Pakistan’s Minister of the Interior has recently claimed that Afghan nationals have been complicit in terror attacks and are to blame for much of the insecurity in the country. In addition, both the previous regime and the current one have continued to blame the Taliban authorities for sheltering the TTP terror groups in Afghanistan and have suggested they are aiding the terrorists with weapons and equipment. While this may be true, the heavy-handed response called for by the caretaker regime seems excessive and calls to mind the events that transpired after the deadly Mumbai terror attacks that struck India in 2008.
On November 26th, 2008 a terror group consisting of 10 militant Islamists that was headquartered and trained in Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Taiba, launched a series of 12 coordinated gun and bomb attacks which lasted for a total of four days across Mumbai. The attacks killed 175 people (9 of whom included the terrorists) and wounded another 300. The attacks are commonly referred to as the 26/11 Attacks.
Similar to the situation facing Pakistan today, India alleged that support for the terrorists had been provided by the Pakistani intelligence services and that Pakistan had provided shelter for the group as it trained for its mission. Pakistan vehemently denied these accusations for several months but was eventually forced to investigate the cases in Pakistan under significant international pressure. Just like Pakistan, India lost nearly twenty police and military personnel putting the terrorists down. However, while there were some calls for the mass deportation of Pakistani nationals living in India, the brunt of the criticism fell on the Indian government and a slew of officials resigned.
Most will concede that Pakistan has borne the brunt of the violence outside of Afghanistan’s borders after the Taliban seized power in 2021. Few agree with this bizarre and unprecedented deportation action that has seemingly come out of nowhere and could affect over a million people who never had anything to do with terrorism.
INDIAN OFFICIALS SAY THEY ARE IN TOUCH WITH AFGHAN DIPLOMATS IN THE COUNTRY – Officials in the Ministry of External Affairs said that their government was in discussions with Afghan diplomats who worked in the Embassy in New Delhi and also in both consulates (Mumbai and Hyderabad). The discussions indicated that the Embassy wanted to close but both Consul Generals wanted to keep their missions open to continue serving Afghan citizens.
55 AFGHAN FEMALE STUDENTS FINALLY ARRIVE IN DUBAI – Photos of another 55 female students who had been invited to Dubai to study under a wealthy patron’s offer to pay for their scholarships made the rounds on social media. Some staunch supporters of the Taliban regime took to social media and called on the Supreme Leader to reverse his policies with regard to banning education for women.
IRANIAN MEDIA OUTLETS CONTINUE TO SOUND ALARM OVER AFGHAN REFUGEES – A report from Jahan San’at News in Tehran is sounding the alarm that Southern neighborhoods of Tehran are overrun by Afghan refugees and that government infrastructure is being threatened by the additional workload. Some Iranian media outlets continue to promote xenophobic reporting with regard to the Afghan community there.
NEXT 24 HOURS
NO THREATS REPORTED
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
IRAN
The Iranian authorities have arrested the mother of a teen who is currently in a coma after having been beaten by Iran’s morality police.
Former President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had his passport taken and was informed that he had been issued a travel ban while attempting to take a trip to Guatemala.
Reports are surfacing that patients are skipping out of their hospital stays over the high treatment costs.
PAKISTAN
The Rupee continued to rebound and gained against the dollar for the third week.
The Foreign Ministry sought to define the threat of deportations are extended to all illegal immigrants in the country.
The regime announced it was banning trade with Afghanistan that would cover 212 items/commodities. The announcement follows new rules that will charge a 10% surcharge on goods imported from Afghanistan.
SPOTLIGHT ANALYSIS
Why the Crimes against Humanity Treaty Should Codify Gender Apartheid
By Just Security
Since its takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has issued nearly 100 edicts and decrees severely restricting the daily lives of women and girls, removing them from public life – from Parliament, offices, salons, universities and schools, parks and playgrounds, and protests – and relegating them solely to child-bearers, child-rearers, and sources of unremunerated domestic labor. As former Afghan diplomat Nazifa Haqpal previously explained in Just Security, “[a]mid the Taliban’s despotic policies against Afghanistan’s population at large, their views and policies towards women form the core of their ideology.” The Taliban has deployed an institutionalized regime to systematically oppress and dominate women and girls, eviscerating any autonomy and agency over their lives and futures. It is a crime of sweeping dystopian vision unfolding before our eyes: the crime of gender apartheid. Yet as Professor Karima Bennoune previously explained, gender apartheid has yet to be codified under international law, despite the fact that the international community and victims groups have been calling for recognition for more than 25 years.
AFGHAN NEWS
Taliban arrests almost 200 "sorcerers and witches"
By AKI Press
The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, created in Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power, reported the…
ADB throws WFP a lifeline of $100 million for critical food aid in Afghanistan
By Ariana News
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan has welcomed a contribution by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) of $100 million to help provide…
The story of abandoned weapons and equipment in Afghanistan
By Inam Ul Haque - The Express Tribune
Since 2002, the US-supplied equipment worth approximately $18.6 billion to ANDSF including around 300 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft…
REGIONAL NEWS
China hopes Afghanistan continues to fight terrorism, eliminates ETIM forces
By CGTN
Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said on Thursday that China hopes Afghanistan will continue to take effective measures to resolutely combat terrorism and completely eliminate the forces of the…
Top cop says Afghans involved in 75% of suicide attacks in KP
By Rasool Dawar - The International News
Afghan nationals were found involved in 75% of suicide attacks that took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the recent wave of terrorism, the provincial police…
INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan’s UN envoy tells General Assembly it’s time to recognize ‘gender apartheid’
By AMU TV
Naseer Ahmad Faiq, Chargé d’Affaires of Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, has raised concerns over the human rights situation in Afghanistan under…
Top Pakistani, Afghan diplomats meet in Tibet amid tensions over expulsion of illegal migrants
By Amir Latif Arain - Anadolu Agency
The Pakistani and Afghan foreign ministers met in Tibet on Thursday amid escalating diplomatic tensions over Islamabad's deadline for illegal Afghan refugees to leave…
THE DAILY WTF
Afghan students and teachers mark World Teachers’ Day amid closed doors for girls
By Fidel Rahmati - Khaama Press
Students and teachers in Afghanistan are commemorating World Teachers’ Day for the second consecutive year while the doors of schools and…
“A sad, sad day.” TAD Staff
Afghani to the Dollar: $1 – 76.33 AFN (as of 6 OCT 2023)