Tag: Afghan Taliban

  • Taliban to be blamed for missing journalist, says rights group

    Taliban to be blamed for missing journalist, says rights group

    A journalists’ rights groups in Afghanistan said that the Taliban have arrested two Afghan journalists working for a local news channel, weeks after two female activists went missing.

    The rights group known as the Afghan Media Association, without naming anyone said that reporters Waris Hasrat and Aslam Hijab were picked up by masked gunmen in front of the channel’s office. They went out for lunch on Monday “and taken to an unknown location”.

    They said Taliban officials are investigating the matter and have given them insurance. However, a spokesperson told AFP he had no information on the missing journalists.

    Moreover, rights group Amnesty International demanded on Twitter that the Taliban “unconditionally and immediately release” the two.

    Two weeks earlier, two female activists went missing after taking part in a demonstration in Kabul for women’s rights.

    Previously, in September several Afghan journalists were beaten while covering rallies.

  • Taliban to reopen universities, silence on female students maintained

    Taliban to reopen universities, silence on female students maintained

    The Taliban acting Higher Education Minister Shaikh Abdul Baqi Haqqani has made an announcement that the public universities will be opened next month, i.e. February, across the country without specifying whether female students would be able to return or not.

    According to Reuters, the minister said universities in warmer provinces will reopen from February 2, while those in colder areas would reopen on February 26.

    The minister did not say what arrangements, if any, would be made for female students. However, earlier this month, government officials said that they hope to open all schools for girls and women in the country after March 21 but stressed that girls and boys must be completely segregated in schools.

    Since Taliban’s takeover in August, girls in most of Afghanistan have not been allowed back to school beyond grade seven. However, private universities in Kabul are still operating.

    Western governments have made education for female students a part of their demands as the Taliban seek more foreign aid and the unfreezing of overseas assets for which they have called Muslim countries to recognise them and made a recent visit to Oslo, Norway, where they presented their demands.

  • New terrorist wave

    New terrorist wave

    A new wave of terrorism seems to be gripping the country in recent months, with the Lahore blast being the latest in a series of attacks that have targeted security forces, policemen, and civilians. From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Balochistan, from Sindh to the capital city to the heart of Punjab, there is a rise in such attacks across the country.
     
    Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari told Dawn and Geo News that the Islamic State group’s Khorasan chapter (IS-K) is a different and bigger threat than even the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Coming from the police chief of a province that has been one of the worst victims of terrorism in the country, his statement should raise alarm bells for the state. Pakistan has given immense sacrifices in its war against terrorism – 70-80,000 people lost their lives at the hands of terrorist attacks. The APS attack is a tragedy that can never be erased from our memories. Our security forces and police officials have fought bravely against terrorist outfits and now for terrorism to make a comeback, it is even more important that the state should build a consensus on this issue and tackle the hydra of terrorism.
     
    A study conducted by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Study (PICSS) says that the rise in militant attacks in Pakistan coincided with the Afghan Taliban’s military offensive and their eventual takeover of Kabul. Many had been pointing out to the Pakistan government that a government that does not believe in the rule of law and does not abide by any international covenants cannot bring any stability in the region and will in fact lead to instability in the neighbouring countries when Pakistan was celebrating the takeover of Kabul by the Afghan Taliban.
     
    With the withdrawal of the US and NATO troops from Afghanistan, the fall of Kabul and the rise of the Afghan Taliban were inevitable. However, the support that they got from Pakistan has led to many problems, including the tensions between the US and Pakistan when it comes to diplomatic ties. But the most critical consequence of the new government in Afghanistan is the rise of militant outfits who are rearing their heads once again in neighbouring Pakistan.

    The rise of the Afghan Taliban has given new ideas and strength to militant outfits that had gone underground since the security forces defeated the TTP and crushed other terrorist outfits some years ago. We hope that the state will not let them wreak havoc with the country’s future again. Pakistan needs peace and stability, not chaos. 

  • Taliban ban women from acting in dramas

    Taliban ban women from acting in dramas

    Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership has set new laws prohibiting women from acting in television shows, reports the BBC. Female journalists and presenters are likewise required to wear headscarves when on camera. However no guidelines have been issued regarding which type of covering to use.

    Eight new Taliban restrictions have been handed to Afghan television networks. The restrictions include the banning of films considered against the principles of Sharia – or Islamic – law and Afghan values, while footage of men exposing intimate parts of the body is also prohibited.

    Comedy and entertainment shows that insult religion or may be considered offensive to Afghans are banned under the new laws.

    Earlier in September, Taliban laid special conditions for women. “[Here are] some special conditions that exist only for women. One is that the colour of their dress should not be very attractive. So that it does not attract people’s attention,” said a member of the Taliban on Afghanistan’s TOLO News, as per the subtitles of a video that went viral on social media.

  • ‘Ghani promised to fight till death but fled’: Antony Blinken

    United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani promised to fight till death but when the Taliban came, he fled, reports Dawn.

    In a show, Blinken was asked if he had personally tried to persuade Ghani to stay in Kabul. To which he replied that he was on the phone with the former President on the night of August 14 (a day before the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul). Blinken said that he was pressing him to accept a plan for transferring power to a new government.

    Secretary Blinken said that Ghani told him that, “he was prepared to do that, but if the Taliban wouldn’t go along, he was ready to fight till death. And the very next day, he fled Afghanistan.”

    This government would have been “led by the Taliban but would have included all aspects of the Afghan society,” he added while answering the question.

    Blinken claimed that he had engaged with the former President Ghani over many weeks and months.

  • Afghan footballer rumoured to be executed by Taliban, allegedly committed suicide before takeover

    Afghan footballer rumoured to be executed by Taliban, allegedly committed suicide before takeover

    News of an Afghan female footballer, Mahjabeen, beheaded by the Taliban in Kabul is making rounds on social media. As per a news report, in an interview with the Persian Independent, one of the coaches of the Afghan women’s national volleyball team confirmed that the athlete had been killed, but said that no one other than Mahjabeen’s family knew the exact time and manner of the incident.

    However, a journalist associated with TOLO News took to Twitter to clarify that the news of her beheading was false. The journalist claimed that Mahjabeen committed suicide 10 days before the takeover of the Taliban when he was heading TOLO news’ news-gathering.

  • Kabul’s last Jew fearing Taliban divorces wife to be in Israel

    Kabul’s last Jew fearing Taliban divorces wife to be in Israel

    Zebulon Simentov, who is known as the last Jew of Kabul, divorced his wife over a Zoom call so that he can be allowed to enter his Holy Land, reports Dawn.

    Under Jewish religious law, a husband must agree to grant his wife divorce, which Simentov had refused to do for many years. But last month, he finally agreed to avoid any legal procedures from his wife, who lives in Israel.

    Simentov fled Afghanistan last month after the Taliban takeover and landed in Turkey on Sunday on what his rescuers say is a final stop before travelling to Israel.

    Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, whose non-profit group Tzedek Association funded Simentov’s journey, said he had spent the last few weeks living quietly in Pakistan.

    “We are relieved we were successful in helping Zebulon Simentov escape from Afghanistan and now into safety in Turkey. His life was in danger in Afghanistan,” said Margaretten.

    He said his group had looked into bringing Simentov to the United States (US) but decided that Israel was a better destination as he has many relatives, including five siblings and two daughters, already in Israel.

    Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in the Islamic States, greeted Simentov at the airport in Istanbul upon his arrival.

    He said he had an appointment to take Simentov to the Israeli consulate to arrange his entry to Israel. Under Israel’s “Law of Return”, any Jew is entitled to Israeli citizenship.

    Simentov was born in Herat, Afghanistan, in 1959 and used to run a kebab shop.

  • Musicians flee Afghanistan fearing Taliban

    Musicians flee Afghanistan fearing Taliban

    More than 100 music students and teachers fled Afghanistan on Sunday from Kabul, fearing a crackdown on music by Taliban, New York Times reported.

    The musicians were affiliated with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music that became a target of the Taliban in part for its efforts to promote the education of girls. Ahmad Naser Sarmast, who opened the school in 2010, said that it’s a big step and a huge achievement that Afghan musicians have been rescued from the cruelty of Taliban. He now lives in Australia.

    Sarmast said that the group comprises of both women and girls and they are planning to fly to Portugal with the support of the government there.

    Supporters of the school, global network of artists, philanthropists, politicians, and educators, plan to continue to work to get the remaining musicians out of Afghanistan.

    “The mission is not complete,” said Sarmast. “It just began,” he added.

    Since August when the Taliban consolidated their control of the country, a large number of Afghan musicians have fled the country.

  • Forgiving TTP: Never forget!

    Forgiving TTP: Never forget!

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the government is in talks with some groups of the banned militant outfit, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In an interview with TRT World, PM Khan said there are different groups that form the TTP and some of them want to talk to our government for peace. “So, we are in talks with them. It’s a reconciliation process.” Before PM’s interview, both President Arif Alvi and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had talked about giving amnesty to TTP members if they lay down their arms and follow the Constitution of Pakistan.

    These statements warrant a lot of questions: why did the president, prime minister, and foreign minister disclose such important information in interviews to media outlets and not in parliament? TTP is no ordinary terrorist outfit. The entire country came together after the horrific APS attack in December 2014, in which more than 150 people were martyred – most of them children. All the political forces of Pakistan reached a consensus, after which the National Action Plan (NAP) came about. There was a massive crackdown on TTP and other terrorist outfits. We finally managed to eliminate the TTP in Pakistan. Those from the TTP who survived the crackdown ran away to Afghanistan. At that time, the government in Kabul was not friendly towards Pakistan.

    The state told us that the TTP was supported and funded by India and Afghanistan – when Ehsanullah Ehsan first surrendered to Pakistan, he confirmed in a video that Afghan and Indian intelligence agencies [RAW and NDS] gave funds and other assistance to Pakistani Taliban to fight Pakistan. Last year, after sharing a dossier containing ‘irrefutable proofs’ of Indian funding of terrorism in Pakistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said: “The [specific] evidence presented by Pakistan provides a concrete proof of Indian financial and material sponsorship of multiple terrorist organisations, including UN-designated terrorist organisations Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Balochistan Liberation Army and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.”

    What is the reason for Pakistan to hold talks with a RAW and NDS-funded/supported terrorist outfit when we have broken its back in our country? And now that we have a friendly government in Kabul, what is the need to hold talks with an enemy outfit? Should the Afghan Taliban not help reign in the TTP and take action against those who are carrying out attacks against Pakistan from Afghan soil? Or, is it true that the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban both have the same ideology, even if the targets of their attacks are different? The people of Pakistan – who have been killed and maimed by the TTP over the years – deserve an answer.

    The government needs to be transparent. This decision cannot be taken just by the government alone. All political parties must have a debate on this issue and the people of Pakistan have to be taken on board as well. We cannot forget what the TTP did to our nation. We lost more than 70,000 lives at their hands. There must be a consensus about the talks and also the government should be transparent about the negotiations. Don’t keep us in the dark, dear government, for we were told that we will never forget their heinous crimes.

  • Taliban ban women from teaching, attending Kabul University until Islamic environment is created

    Taliban ban women from teaching, attending Kabul University until Islamic environment is created

    Newly Taliban-appointed Kabul University Chancellor Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat announced that women would be banned from the institution either as instructors or students.

    In a tweet, Ghairat said, ” I give you my words as the chancellor of Kabul University, as long as a real Islamic environment is not provided for all, women will not be allowed to come to universities or work. Islam first.”

    https://twitter.com/MAshrafGhairat/status/1442385192824487937?s=20

    While speaking with New York Times, one female lecturer said, “Presidents, teachers, engineers and even mullahs are trained here and gifted to society. Kabul University is the home to the nation of Afghanistan.”

    Earlier, the chancellor tweeted in Pashto that the university was working on a plan to accommodate teaching female students.

    “Due to shortage of female lecturers, we are working on a plan for male lecturers to be able to teach female students from behind a curtain in the classroom. That way an Islamic environment would be created for the female students to get an education,” he wrote.

    https://twitter.com/MAshrafGhairat/status/1442127895204442112?s=20

    Upon this Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid said that the ban on women would stay until there is a safer transportation system and an environment where female students are protected.

    The Taliban replaced the previous serving president of the university with Mr. Ghairat, a 34-year-old devotee of the movement who has referred to the country’s schools as “centers for prostitution,” reports CNN.

    Thousands of public university students are staying home. The American University in Afghanistan, in which the U.S. invested over a hundred million dollars has been abandoned completely and taken over by the Taliban.