LAST 24 HOURS
PAKISTAN CRACKS DOWN ON AFGHANS — In the wake of the violence at the recent Afghanistan–Pakistan cricket match, Pakistani authorities have ordered a crackdown on Afghans residing in the country. Members of Pakistan’s police force have visited areas in Islamabad where Afghans are known to reside in order to question them. In most cases, documents are reviewed and fingerprints/photographs are taken. To date, we have had no reports of anyone being detained or threatened with deportation, but that policy could change.
ZAKIR PUSHED FOR RESULTS IN PANJSHIR — According to a source in the Ministry of Defense, a strongly worded communiqué was sent to Commander Abdul Qayyum Zakir, the special military commander for Panjshir, asking for a full account of the recent Taliban military actions in the province. The source said a friend of Zakir’s had warned him that the leadership was concerned that Taliban forces are underreporting casualties and overstating the progress of the advance. Zakir is believed to have immediately launched two major attacks on NRF bases in hope of securing some victories to report.
INCREASED PASSPORT ISSUANCE — A source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the Passport Directorate has succeeded in increasing the daily passport quota, but it is far from the promised 4,000 per day.
TALIBAN ACCUSED OF HARASSING UN STAFF — The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced that three female staff members were temporarily detained by Taliban intelligence agents in Kandahar on Monday. UNAMA expressed mounting concerns about “an emerging pattern of harassment of Afghan UN female staff by the de facto authorities” and called on the Taliban to halt intimidation measures against its employees. A Taliban spokesman denied the claim, stating that authorities were questioning a gathering of women and immediately released them after discovering they were UN staff.
TAJIKS SUPPORTING TAJIKS — The Tajik diaspora living in Pakistan held a conference to discuss support for Tajiks in Panjshir. While the resolutions of the conference are not yet published, the community appears to have promised financial support and may launch a protest in front of UN offices in Islamabad to draw attention to what they refer to as “Tajik genocide”.
NEXT 24 HOURS
PREP FOR DOCUMENT CHECKS IN PAKISTAN — The increased registration of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the month. The Pakistani police are under orders to deport the hooligans who were filmed disrupting the cricket match. Afghans currently sheltering in Pakistan are encouraged to have all their documents assembled and reach out to their respective evacuation organizations periodically to let them know their status.
SPOTLIGHT ANALYSIS
Afghanistan’s centrality to the SCO
By Soumya Awasthi - The Hindustan Times
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was formed on the pretext of the Afghan civil war in response to direct threats of terrorism and drug trafficking in the late 1990s in Afghanistan. The SCO idea was born from a joint effort for a regional coalition to combat these threats. All the previous Afghan government's fight against terrorism, extremism, and opium cultivation was tuned to the SCO's objective to fight the ‘three evils,’ which formed the base for its formation in 2001. SCO was concerned about the threat emanating from the terror groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), and Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HUT) endeavoured to topple the Central Asian governments and create Muslim caliphates in the region.
AFGHAN NEWS
Local Officials Say Over 80% of Houses Searched in Herat City
By Naseer Ahmad Salehi – TOLOnews
Herat governor’s spokesman Hamidullah Mutawakil said the house-to-house searches are aimed at collecting illegal weapons from the city and providing proper security in the province.
No Casualties Left After Grenade Explosion in Northern Afghanistan
By Saqalain Eqbal – Khaama Press
A grenade in Balkh province, in northern Afghanistan, thrown out of a car due to the carelessness of the…
Education Minister’s Remarks Trigger Strong Reactions
By Asma Saayin – TOLOnews
The remarks of the education minister regarding girls' schooling has faced a strong reaction inside and…
REGIONAL NEWS
Turkey deported 1,000 Afghan refugees in last week
By Ariana News
The Turkish Immigration Department said Monday in a statement published on Monday that from September 2 to 8 this month, three thousand…
China to transport goods to Afghanistan through Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
By AKI Press
The Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) said that the process of transporting commercial goods by train from China to Afghanistan will start…
INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN
International Criminal Court Should Reach Decision on Afghanistan
By Elizabeth Evenson – Human Rights Watch
Delay in a critical International Criminal Court (ICC) ruling has protracted the wait of Afghans seeking some measure of justice for…
Biden Vows to Prevent Another 9/11 After Afghan Exit
By TOLOnews
Talking at the at 9/11 Memorial Ceremony, US President Joe Biden said that Washington’s commitment to preventing another attack on…
THE DAILY WTF
UN expert decries ‘systematic’ attacks on Afghan Shia groups
By Al Jazeera
Hazara and other Shia Muslim communities in Afghanistan are facing what seem to be “systematic” attacks that could amount to…
Afghani to the Dollar: $1 – 88.21 AFN (as of 13 SEP 2022)