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  • Taliban Suspends University Education For Afghanistan Women

    Taliban Suspends University Education For Afghanistan Women

    Afghanistan’s Taliban-run education ministry has suspended university education for female students until further notice.

    A letter published Tuesday, Dec. 20, by the higher education ministry instructed Afghan public and private universities to suspend access to female students immediately, in accordance with a Cabinet decision.

    This comes after girls were barred from returning to secondary schools in March, after the Taliban ordered schools for girls to shut just hours after they were due to reopen following months long closures imposed after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

    The announcement banning university education for women by the Taliban came as the United Nations Security Council met in New York on Afghanistan.

    Foreign governments have said that a change in policies on women’s education is needed before it can consider formally recognising the Taliban-run administration, which is also subject to heavy sanctions.

    “The Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans, especially the human rights and fundamental freedom of women and girls,” U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Robert Wood told the council, describing the move as “absolutely indefensible.”

    Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said the suspension was “another egregious curtailment of women’s rights and a deep and profound disappointment for every single female student.”

    “It is also another step by the Taliban away from a self-reliant and prosperous Afghanistan,” she told the council.

  • Chinese President calls for consensus among neighboring countries of Afghanistan

    Chinese President calls for consensus among neighboring countries of Afghanistan

    President Xi Jinping Delivers Written Remarks at the Third Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan

    President Xi Jinping during a March 31st address at the third Foreign Ministers’ Meeting among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan pointed out that having gone through so much in the past, Afghanistan is in urgent need of development in many areas.

    The country has come to a critical point of transition from chaos to order. “Afghanistan is a common neighbor and partner of all participating countries, and we form a community with a shared future linked by the same mountains and rivers who would rise and fall together,” said President Xi. He also noted that a peaceful, stable, developing and prosperous Afghanistan is the aspiration of all the Afghan people. It is also in the common interests of regional countries and the international community.

    President Xi underscored that amity and good neighborliness are invaluable to a country. China always respects Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and has committed to supporting its pursuit of peace, stability and development. The coordination and cooperation mechanism among neighbors of Afghanistan, since its launch last September, has endeavored to bring into play the strengths of neighboring countries, thus playing a constructive role in promoting the steady transition in Afghanistan.

    President Xi concluded his remarks by stressing that the neighboring countries of Afghanistan should do their best to build consensus and coordinate efforts to support the people of Afghanistan in building a brighter future.

  • Taliban Declares Afghanistan Islamic Emirate, Forms All-Male Government

    Taliban Declares Afghanistan Islamic Emirate, Forms All-Male Government

    The Taliban has declared Afghanistan an “Islamic Emirate”, and formed a new government to be led by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund.

    Akhund is one of the founders of the group, which took control of Afghanistan mid-August.

    “We know the people of our country have been waiting for a new government,” Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, said while unveiling the cabinet.

    Abdul Ghani Baradar will be the deputy leader and Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of the founder of the Haqqani network, has been named as interior minister.

    Baradar was previously head of the Taliban’s political office, and oversaw the signing of the US withdrawal agreement last year.

    The new interior minister is on the FBI wanted list as he the leader of the Haqqani militant group, who are affiliated with the Taliban and have been behind some of the deadliest attacks in the country’s two-decade-long war.

    Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Mullah Omar, is the Defence Minister, while Hedayatullah Badri is the acting Minister of Finance.

    Amir Khan Muttaqi as acting foreign minister, and Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi as two deputies.

    The Taliban took full control of the after President Ashraf Ghani fled to avoid being captured.

    Ghani is currently in United Arabs Emirate where he is seeking assylum.

  • U.S drone strike kills ISIS-K ‘planner’ in response to Afghanistan airport attack

    U.S drone strike kills ISIS-K ‘planner’ in response to Afghanistan airport attack

    A US drone strike carried out overnight, Saturday August 28, has killed an Islamic State “planner”, two days after the group claimed a deadly bombing outside Kabul airport.

    Among the 92 killed in Thursday’s suicide blast, claimed by Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate, were 13 U.S. service members, the most lethal incident for U.S. troops in Afghanistan in a decade.

    According to the Pentagon, there were no civilian casualties from the strike and US forces were prepared for more attacks from ISIS even as they continue to airlift people out of the war torn Taliban controlled Afghanistan.

    “Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties,” the U.S. military said in a statement, referring to the overnight drone strike.

    U.S. Central Command said the strike took place in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul and bordering Pakistan. It did not say whether the target was connected with the airport attack.

    According to Reuters, residents of Jalalabad city, capital of Nangarhar, said they heard several explosions from an air strike around midnight on Friday though it was not clear if the blasts were caused by a U.S. drone.

    The White House said the next few days were likely to be the most dangerous of the U.S. evacuation operation that the Pentagon said has taken about 111,000 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks

    Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United States believed there were still “specific, credible” threats against the airport after the bombing at one of its gates.

    “We certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts,” Kirby told reporters in Washington. “We’re monitoring these threats, very, very specifically, virtually in real time.”

  • Taliban Warns Of Consequences If US Delay Troops Removal in Afghanistan

    Taliban Warns Of Consequences If US Delay Troops Removal in Afghanistan

    The Taliban warned on Monday there would be “consequences” if the United States and its allies extend the presence of troops in Afghanistan beyond next week, as chaos continued to overwhelm Kabul airport.

    The rapid fall of the country to the hardliners last weekend shocked Western nations, coming just two weeks before an August 31 deadline for all troops to fully withdraw from the country.

    Instead, thousands of soldiers have poured back in to manage the frantic airlifting of foreigners and Afghans — many who fear reprisals for working with Western nations — out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

    “If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — the answer is no. Or there would be consequences,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News on Monday.

    Staying beyond the agreed deadline would be “extending occupation”, he added.

    The rush to leave Kabul has sparked harrowing scenes and killed at least eight people, some crushed to death while at least one person died after falling from a moving plane.

    One Afghan was killed and three others were injured in a dawn firefight on Monday that according to the German military erupted between Afghan guards and unknown assailants.

    German and American troops “participated in further exchange of fire”, the German army said in a statement.

    The Taliban, infamous for an ultra-strict interpretation of sharia law during their initial 1996-2001 rule, have repeatedly vowed a softer version this time.

    – Impossible to meet deadline –

    The Taliban’s victory ended two decades of war, as they took advantage of US President Joe Biden’s decision to exit the country and end America’s longest war.

    Biden has insisted he wants to end the US military presence and the airlifts by August 31.

    But with the European Union and Britain saying it would be impossible to get everyone out by then, Biden is under pressure to extend the deadline.

    Speaking at the White House on Sunday, Biden said talks were under way to explore the possibility of extending the deadline.

    He also acknowledged the tragic scenes at the airport, which have also included babies and children being passed to soldiers over razor-wire fences and men clinging to the outside of departing planes.

    But he said they were part of the cost of departure.

    “There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss and heartbreaking images you see,” he said.

    – ‘Peace and calm’ –

    Biden spoke after the Taliban, who have been holding talks with elders and politicians to set up a government, slammed the evacuation.

    “America, with all its power and facilities… has failed to bring order to the airport,” Taliban official Amir Khan Mutaqi said.

    “There is peace and calm all over the country, but there is chaos only at Kabul airport.”

    In the streets of the capital, the Taliban have indeed enforced a calm of a kind, with their armed forces patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints.

    Visually, they have also been looking to stamp their authority, ensuring the tri-coloured national flag is replaced with their white banner.

    At a roadside in Kabul at the weekend, young men sold Taliban flags, which bear in black text the Muslim proclamation of faith and the regime’s formal name: “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”.

    “Our goal is to spread the flag of the Islamic Emirate throughout Afghanistan,” said seller Ahmad Shakib, who studies economics at university.

    – Resistance –

    Outside of Kabul, there have been flickers of resistance against the Taliban.

    Some ex-government troops have gathered in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital — long known as an anti-Taliban bastion.

    The Taliban said Monday their fighters had surrounded resistance forces holed up in the valley, but were looking to negotiate rather than take the fight to them.

    Taliban fighters “are stationed near Panjshir”, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted, saying they had the area surrounded on three sides.

    “The Islamic Emirate is trying to resolve this issue peacefully,” he added.

    The announcement follows scattered reports of clashes overnight, with pro-Taliban social media accounts claiming gunmen were massing, and Afghanistan’s former vice president Amrullah Saleh saying resistance forces were holding strong.

    One of the leaders of the movement in Panjshir, named the National Resistance Front, is the son of famed anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

    The NRF is prepared for a “long-term conflict” but is also still seeking to negotiate with the Taliban about an inclusive government, its spokesman Ali Maisam Nazary told AFP in an interview on the weekend.

    “The conditions for a peace deal with the Taliban are decentralisation, a system that ensures social justice, equality, rights, and freedom for all,” he said.

  • Taliban Renames country to ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’

    Taliban Renames country to ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’

    The Taliban has renamed Afghanistan the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ after its fighters swept into the capital, Kabul, a bustling metropolis of six million that has turned into a male-dominated city without police or traffic controls.

    Aljazeera reports that scores of Afghans ran alongside a US military plane as it taxied on the runway and several clung to the side as the jet took off with Senior US military officials confirming to Aljazeera that the chaos left seven dead, as well as several who fell from the flight.

    According to AP, the Taliban, a militant group that ran the country in the late 1990s, have again taken control.

    The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 ousted the insurgents from power, but they never left.

    After they blitzed across the country in recent days, the Western-backed government that has run the country for 20 years collapsed.

    CNN reports that hundreds of people poured onto the tarmac at Kabul’s international airport, desperately seeking a route out of Afghanistan on Monday after the Taliban’s sudden seizure of power sparked a chaotic Western withdrawal and brought to a crashing end the United States’ two-decade mission in the country.

    Meanwhile, at a special session of the UN Security Council in New York, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, urged Taliban to show “the utmost restraint to protect lives” and demanded that anyone who wanted to leave the country must be able to do so.

    US President Joe Biden also received a briefing by top security officials on the situation in Afghanistan, the White House said.

    “This morning, the President was briefed by his national security team, including the Secretary of Defense and Chairman Milley, on the security situation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, and ongoing efforts to safely evacuate American citizens, US Embassy personnel and local staff, SIV (special immigrant visa) applicants and their families, and other vulnerable Afghans,” it said in a statement.

  • China’s tweet about Australia’s war crime in Afghanistan further reveals hypocrisy of Australian politicians

    China’s tweet about Australia’s war crime in Afghanistan further reveals hypocrisy of Australian politicians

    By Zhong Sheng

    When both the Australian society and the rest of the international community are sending strong condemnation to Australian soldiers who allegedly committed war crimes in Afghanistan, some Australian politicians, on pins and needles, accused China after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijiantweeteda satirical cartoon featuring an Australian soldier murdering an Afghan child on Monday.

    According to a recent report released by the Australian military, some Australian soldiers were allegedly involved in murder of innocent civilians and prisoners during their mission to Afghanistan.

    The severe crimes committed by these Australian soldiers in Afghanistan are irrefutably evident and undeniable.

    The report, released bythe Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) on Nov. 19, said a total of 25 current or former Australian special forces soldiers had taken part in unlawful killings across 23separate incidents and covered up what they did.

    The findings of the report were based on a four-year inquiry into the misconduct of Australian forces in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2016.In total, 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners were killed and another two were cruelly treated, said the report.

    What the report revealed is astonishing and appalling. In some cases, elite Australian troopsshot adult men and boys in groups, blindfolded them and slit their throats, and forced new recruits to shoot prisoners for “practice.”

    Such cruel acts seriously violated international conventions and betrayed human conscience. They have sparked strong condemnation in Australia and the rest of the world.

    Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, said in a statement that those who are responsible for these crimes, and any efforts to conceal them, must be brought to justice.The families of those victims must be compensated for their unjust loss, he added.

    Australian newspaper The Australian called the cruel acts “the most shameful page in Australian military history.”

    Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described the report as truly shocking, saying the unlawful killing by Australian soldiers has undermined Australia’s international standing.

    There were also voices made to support China’s stand after Australia made groundless accusations against China to divert attention. Some internet users pointed out that Zhao’s tweet was an accurate expression based on the Australian report and the war crimes committed against the Afghan civilians by Australian soldiers.

    What the Australian government should do now is to reflect on its misconducts and hold the perpetrators accountable, make a former apology for the Afghan people, and make a solemn promise to never commit such horrible crimes again.

    However, out of utter discomfiture, some Australian officials only shifted the blame to China, which fully revealed their hypocrisy. It seems like they believe those who killed innocent Afghan civilians and prisoners are guiltless, while it is wrong to condemn the crime.

    Some Australian politicians have always posed as so-called human rights defenders, but what they worship is only double standards. They should reflect on themselves and think more about what measures shall be taken to stop their country from violating human rights and justice, frominterfering in other countries’ internal affairs in the name of human rights issues, and from engaging in political manipulation.

    The lives of the Afghan people deserve to be respected.Australia owes an explanation to them and the world.It’s hoped that Australia can face the problem, rather than trying to divert attention orplay the blame game.

    (Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)

  • Bomb attack injures Afghanistan’s VP, kills 10

    A roadside bomb in Kabul has injured first Vice President, Amrullah Saleh, on Wednesday. Saleh, 49, escaped with minor injuries.

    The explosion killed at least 10 people and wounded 15, including the VP’s bodyguards.

    Saleh, in a video, confirmed he sustained a minor burn on his face and an injury to his hand.

    Standing next to a flag with a bandaged left hand, he said: “I am fine but some of my guards have been wounded. My son, who was in the car with me, and I are both fine. I have some burns on my face and hand. The blast was strong.”

    The former intelligence chief, is the senior of President Ashraf Ghani’s two vice presidents.

    Saleh has survived several assassination attempts, including one on his office in 2019. At least, 20 people were killed in that incident.

    Javid Faisal, National Security Council spokesman tweeted that the attacks “won’t weaken our resolve for a lasting and dignified peace in Afghanistan.”

    European Union delegation in Afghanistan condemned the development.

    “This is an attack on the Republic and desperate act by spoilers of peace efforts, who must be collectively confronted”, it tweeted.
    The Taliban, through its spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, has denied involvement in the attack which occurred ahead of a meeting with the Afghan government.

    The peace talks will be held in Qatar’s capital, Doha.

  • Watchdog: U.S. reconstruction in Afghanistan cost thousands of lives

    Watchdog: U.S. reconstruction in Afghanistan cost thousands of lives

    According to a U.S. watchdog, reconstruction and stabilisation activities in Afghanistan have left 5,135 people killed or injured.

    The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released a report titled “The human cost of reconstruction” in the war-ravaged country.

    The incidents happened during a period of 17 years from 2002 through 2018.

    “The total reconstruction-related casualties include 2,214 killed and 2,921 wounded,’’ SIGAR said.

    The survey also identified 1,182 individuals who were either kidnapped or went missing.

    It included casualties that happened during security-related activities like training and mentoring Afghan security forces (818 casualties).

    It also included casualties during governance and development activities (4,060) like road and infrastructure construction, or improvement of local governance and humanitarian activities, such as providing health and education services (257).

    “More than 70 per cent of those killed or injured and about 86 per cent of those kidnapped are Afghans, mostly civilians.

    “Furthermore, at least 284 U.S. nationals, the majority in uniform, 100 coalition soldiers, and 124 third-country nationals, civilians other than Americans and Afghans, were killed in Afghanistan while performing reconstruction or stabilisation missions,’’ the report said.

    Data collected by SIGAR shows that the majority of casualties occurred during the height of the reconstruction efforts between 2008 and 2011.

    The figures do not include casualties that occurred during combat missions unrelated to reconstruction, or during attacks on Afghan government or military sites.