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US Destroyed Afghanistan with drugs now controls it's money

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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed Nov 10, 2021 10:48 am

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Afghanistan's ghost soldiers

Afghanistan's ex-finance minister has blamed the government's fall on corrupt officials who invented "ghost soldiers" and took payments from the Taliban

Khalid Payenda told the BBC that most of the 300,000 troops and police on the government's books did not exist

He said phantom personnel were added to official lists so that generals could pocket their wages.

The Taliban rapidly seized (should be retook) control of Afghanistan in August, as US forces withdrew after 20 years in the country.

Mr Payenda, who resigned and left the country as the Islamist group advanced, said records showing that security forces greatly outnumbered the Taliban were incorrect.

"The way the accountability was done, you would ask the chief in that province how many people you have and based on that you could calculate salaries and ration expenses and they would always be inflated," he told the BBC's Ed Butler.

The former minister said the numbers may have been inflated by more than six times, and included "desertions [and] martyrs who were never accounted for because some of the commanders would keep their bank cards" and withdraw their salaries, he alleged.

There have long been questions over Afghan troop numbers.

A 2016 report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) claimed that "neither the United States nor its Afghan allies know how many Afghan soldiers and police actually exist, how many are in fact available for duty, or, by extension, the true nature of their operational capabilities".

In a more recent report, Sigar expressed "serious concerns about the corrosive effects of corruption... and the questionable accuracy of data on the actual strength of the force".

Mr Payenda said that troops who did exist were often not paid on time, while there were generals who were "double-dipping" - taking their government wage, and then also accepting payments from the Taliban to give up without a fight.

"The whole feeling was we cannot change this. This is how the parliament works, this is how the governors work. Everybody would say the stream is murky from the very top, meaning the very top is involved in this," he said.

He said he did not think former President Ashraf Ghani was "financially corrupt". Responding to accusations of corruption within the finance ministry, Mr Payenda said: "I agree with that to a certain extent but in these issues, absolutely not."

He added that the West were "part of" some of the failures in Afghanistan, and described the US and Nato's involvement in the country as "a great opportunity lost".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59230564
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:39 am

UK hid evidence of Afghan killings

Senior military officers buried evidence that British troops were executing detainees in Afghanistan, the High Court has been told

Ministry of Defence documents reveal UK Special Forces officers suspected their men were killing unarmed Afghans who posed no threat.

They also show the allegations were kept secret and not reported to the Royal Military Police (RMP).

The MoD says the evidence is not new and has already been investigated.

The court case follows a 2019 investigation by BBC Panorama and the Sunday Times that raised allegations of unlawful killings by special forces during the war in Afghanistan.

The High Court is considering whether the allegations were investigated properly by the armed forces.

The man bringing the case, Saifullah, claims four members of his family were assassinated in the early hours of 16 February 2011.

His lawyers were asking the court to order the defence secretary to release more documents before a full judicial review hearing.

Documents already disclosed were presented to the court. They showed nine Afghan men were killed in a raid on 7 February 2011 and eight more were killed by the same special forces assault team two days later.

More than a dozen detainees were killed after they were taken back into buildings to help search them. British troops claimed they were forced to shoot them after they reached for hidden weapons.

The documents show that in one email, a British lieutenant colonel expressed disbelief at the official accounts.

He said it was "quite incredible" the number of prisoners who decided to grab weapons after being sent back into a building.

A fellow officer replied: "I find it depressing it has come to this. Ultimately a massive failure of leadership."

A week later, the four members of Saifullah's family were shot dead in similar circumstances by the same special forces assault team.

The documents show the killings were described as "astonishing" by a senior officer.

Night time operations were common during the war in Afghanistan

Another senior officer later dismissed a soldiers' description of events, saying "the layers of implausibilities" made the official account "especially surprising and logic defying".

The court heard a British officer provided a written statement to a commanding officer after a member of the special forces told him all fighting-age males were being killed regardless of the threat they posed.

The officer said: "It was also indicated that fighting-age males were being executed on target inside compounds, using a variety of methods after they had been restrained. In one case it was mentioned a pillow was put over the head of an individual being killed with a pistol."

All the anecdotal reports of unlawful killings were locked away in a top secret "controlled-access security compartment", the court heard.

The court documents show the allegations were raised with a "very senior officer" at UK Special Forces headquarters.

The special forces leadership did not notify the RMP. Instead, the high-ranking officer ordered an internal review.

It examined 11 raids where the special forces unit had killed people in similar circumstances in the previous six months.

They had all been taken back inside buildings to help with the search after surrendering.

The final report was written by the commanding officer of the special forces unit accused of carrying out the executions. He accepted the version of events given in the official accounts of the raids.

Operation Northmoor

In 2014, the RMP started investigating the alleged executions after receiving reports from Afghan families and whistleblowers from the British military.

Its investigation, called Operation Northmoor, was closed in 2019 without resulting in any prosecutions.

The MoD claimed at the time the RMP had "found no evidence of criminal behaviour by the armed forces in Afghanistan".

But the documents quoted in court suggest there were serious weaknesses in the investigation.

A summary of Operation Northmoor states it only investigated three of the original 11 incidents in detail and two senior officers identified as suspects were later dropped without being interviewed.

The summary also shows a decision was taken not to view video footage of special forces raids.

The MoD maintains the four members of Saifullah's family were killed by British troops in self-defence.

It has previously said: "These documents were considered as part of the independent investigations, which concluded there was insufficient evidence to refer the case for prosecution.

"The Service Police and the Service Prosecuting Authority of course remain open to considering allegations should new evidence, intelligence or information come to light."

Mr Justice Swift ordered the defence secretary to release additional documents related to the allegations.

The MoD had argued the defence secretary had adopted a duty of candour and that requests for documents should be proportionate.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59238181
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sun Nov 21, 2021 11:21 pm

Ban on women in TV dramas

Women have been banned from appearing in television dramas in Afghanistan under new rules imposed by the Taliban government

Female journalists and presenters have also been ordered to wear headscarves on screen, although the guidelines do not say which type of covering to use.

Reporters say some of the rules are vague and subject to interpretation.

The Taliban re-took power in Afghanistan in mid-August and many fear they are gradually imposing harsh restrictions.

The militant Islamist group, which took control following the departure of US and allied forces, almost immediately instructed girls and young women to stay home from school.

During their previous rule in the 1990s, women were barred from education and the workplace.

The latest set of Taliban guidelines, which have been issued to Afghan television channels, features eight new rules.

They 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 prohibited.

Comedy and entertainment shows that insult religion or may be considered offensive to Afghans are also forbidden.

The Taliban have insisted that foreign films promoting foreign cultural values should not be broadcast.

Afghan television channels show mostly foreign dramas with lead female characters.

A member of an organisation that represents journalists in Afghanistan, Hujjatullah Mujaddedi, said the announcement of new restrictions was unexpected.

He told the BBC that some of the rules were not practical and that if implemented, broadcasters may be forced to close.

The Taliban's earlier decision to order girls and young women to stay home from school made Afghanistan the only country in the world to bar half its population from getting an education.

The mayor of the capital, Kabul, also told female municipal employees to stay home unless their jobs could not be filled by a man.

The Taliban claim that their restrictions on women working and girls studying are "temporary" and only in place to ensure all workplaces and learning environments are "safe" for them.

The BBC's John Simpson finds teenage girls returning to school in the Afghan town of Bamiyan

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59368488
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:50 pm

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New Taliban media guidelines

Afghan journalists and activists have expressed concern over a new “religious guideline” issued by Taliban rulers, saying the move is yet another form of control over women

The Taliban, which took over Afghanistan roughly 100 days ago, on Sunday urged female journalists to follow a dress code and called on TV stations to stop showing soap operas featuring women, sparking fears over women’s rights and media freedom.

Akif Muhajir, spokesman for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, said “these are not rules but a religious guideline”.

However, activists fear it could be misused to harass female journalists, many of whom have already fled the country in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover on August 15.

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The Taliban has been accused of backing down on its pledge to protect women’s rights and media freedom. The latest move, which called on women to wear the hijab while presenting their reports, does not specify which type of covering to use.

Such restrictions, as well as tightening control on news reporting, has been done to preserve “national interest”, according to the group.

‘Muzzle the media’

Zahra Nabi, a broadcast journalist who co-founded a women’s television channel, said she felt cornered when the Taliban resumed power, and chose to go off-air the very same day.

“All the media is under their [Taliban] control,” Nabi, who established Baano TV in 2017, told Al Jazeera.

The network that was once run by 50 women was a symbol of how far Afghan women have come since the Taliban’s first stint in power in the 1990s.

With most of the network’s crew members now gone, Nabi has remained adamant about doing her job, and like many other established journalists in Afghanistan, she has had to work under the radar.

“We work in a very tough environment, and are even collecting reports under the burqa,” Nabi said, referring to an outer garment worn to cover the entire body and face used by some Muslim women.

“It is really hard for female journalists,” she said, citing a recent example where she had to enter the city of Kunduz as a humanitarian worker, and not as a journalist.

“I’m not showing myself as a journalist. I had to arrange with local women a safe office space to work in,” Nabi said.

Now that Baano TV is off-air, the 34-year-old said she is trying to find other ways to showcase her reports, perhaps through social media platforms, or via broadcasters outside the country.

Commenting on the move, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday that the new strict guidelines will especially harm women.

“The Taliban’s new media regulations and threats against journalists reflect broader efforts to silence all criticism of Taliban rule,” said Patricia Gossman, an associate Asia director at HRW.

“The disappearance of any space for dissent and worsening restrictions for women in the media and arts is devastating.”

Sonia Ahmadyar, a journalist who lost her job in August, said the Taliban has been moving to slowly “muzzle the media”.

Day by day, the Taliban has been placing restrictions on women “to not let them be active,” Ahmadyar told Al Jazeera.

Women “really feel discouraged to appear on TV,” she said, adding that the group has taken away their “freedom” as well as their financial autonomy.

The 35-year-old called on the Taliban to allow women journalists to resume working “without being harassed” as soon as possible.

“It is their most basic right, because it is essential for their livelihood, and because their absence from the media landscape would have the effect of silencing all Afghan women,” she said.

‘Obliged to obey’

Previously, the Taliban stipulated that private media would be able to operate freely as long as they did not go against Islamic values. Within days of coming to power, the group had said that the government will be guided by Islamic law.

But journalists and human rights activists have criticised the guidelines as vague, saying they are subject to interpretation.

It remains unclear whether going on air without the hijab or airing foreign dramas featuring women, would attract legal scrutiny.

When asked if avoiding the guidelines would be punishable by law, Muhajir from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, told Al Jazeera citizens are “obliged to obey the guidance”, without elaborating.

According to Heather Barr, co-director of the Women’s Rights division of HRW, the Taliban’s directive is just the latest step by the group to “erase women from public life”.

The move comes after the group excluded women from senior roles in government, abolished the women’s ministry, women’s sports, and the system set up to respond to gender-based violence, she said.

Almost immediately after assuming power, the Taliban also instructed high school girls to stay home and not attend school. However, girls in parts of the country have now been allowed to resume classes.

Even though the vast majority of Afghan women cover their heads, some did not. But whether they did or not – “it was important that it was their choice,” Barr said.

Afghan city defies norm by keeping schools open for girls

Shaqaiq Hakimi, a young Afghan activist, agreed.

“God gave us … the right to decide. So it shouldn’t be something by force, but their [women’s] own decision,” she told Al Jazeera.

Since the guidelines do not specify the type of head covering women are expected to wear, Taliban officials will feel “empowered to determine what is and isn’t acceptable hijab,” Barr said, leaving women vulnerable to being stopped and harassed on the streets.

The consequences of such policing will force professional women to constantly wonder if their hijab is up to the Taliban’s standard.

This will have a “deeply chilling” effect on their ability to do their jobs, according to Barr.

But women like Nabi said the restrictions will not deter her from doing her job.

“We are working, we will not stop, and we will continue what we are doing,” she said. “That’s our plan.”

Hakimi echoed Nabi’s sentiment, saying if women stop fighting for their rights, “no one will give them to us”.

Link to Article - Photos:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/ ... guidelines
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:15 am

It’s like hell in here

The struggle to save Afghanistan's starving babies

Doctors in Afghanistan's crisis-hit hospitals, many of whom are now working without pay, spoke to the BBC about the country's deepening humanitarian crisis.

The young woman was crying, begging the doctor to kill her and her baby. Dr Nuri, an obstetrician in central Afghanistan, was about to deliver the baby by Caesarean section when the mother broke down.

"I don't know how I can stay alive," she said, according to Dr Nuri, "so how can I give birth to another human being?" The women on Dr Nuri's ward are so malnourished that they know they are unlikely to have enough breast milk to feed their children.

Dr Nuri says the wards are so crowded that she has to squeeze past women in labour pressed up against blood-stained walls, or lying on dirty sheets. Most cleaners left her hospital months ago, fed up with working without pay. And the maternity ward is so crowded that sometimes there are several women to one bed. Nearby facilities and private clinics have had to close, and this once prestigious modern hospital in central Afghanistan sees three times the number of women that it used to.

"The maternity ward is one of the happiest wards of any hospital, but not anymore in Afghanistan," says the obstetrician. She says that in just two weeks in September she watched five newborn babies die of starvation.

"It's like hell in here."

Afghanistan was already reeling from severe drought and decades of conflict, but the Taliban's takeover hastened the country's descent towards economic collapse. The slowing trickle of international aid, which propped up the economy and its health system for decades, came to a grinding halt in August. Western donors cited serious concerns in moving money through a government which denies basic rights to women and girls, and threatens harsh Sharia punishments. This means Afghanistan is facing its worst hunger crisis since records began, according to the latest UN figures. About 14m children are expected to suffer acute levels of malnutrition this winter.

Across the country, hospitals treating the starving are on the brink of collapse, with nearly 2,300 health facilities already closed. Doctors in remote areas have reported being unable to provide basic medicines - even something as simple as paracetamol for the gravely ill who have walked 12 hours to seek treatment.

In the capital Kabul, a major children's hospital is seeing some of the country's worst cases of starvation. It's currently running at 150% capacity.

The hospital's director Dr Siddiqi saw a surge in fatalities in September after funding was cut, when up to four children under the age of 10 died every week from malnutrition or related diseases, such as poisoning from poor food hygiene. He says it's the youngest who bear the brunt of the crisis, with most under the age of five arriving too late to be saved.

"These children are [effectively] dying before they're admitted… We lose many cases like this," he says.

For those that do make it in time, there are few resources with which to help them - the hospital is suffering serious shortages of food and medicine, and struggles to even keep the patients warm. There is no fuel for central heating, so Dr Siddiqi now asks staff to cut and collect dried tree branches every day to feed a wood burner. "When we finish the branches we're worried about the next month and what to do next."

On Dr Nuri's maternity ward, regular power cuts are proving fatal. Several premature babies have died when their incubators failed during outages, she says.

"It is so sad to see them dying in front of your eyes."

And she says the power cuts can have potentially fatal implications for patients undergoing surgery too.

"The other day, we were in the operating theatre and the electricity was cut off. Everything stopped. I ran and shouted for help. Someone had fuel in their car and gave it to us so we could run the generator."

So, she says, every time the hospital performs an operation, "I ask people to hurry. It is a lot of stress."

Despite being forced to work under such challenging circumstances, most healthcare staff are not even paid at the moment.

Dr Rahmani, the director of a hospital in Farah province which specialised in treating Covid patients, shared with the BBC a letter from the Taliban-led health ministry, dated 30 October, which asked staff to keep working without pay until funding was secured.

On Tuesday Dr Rahmani confirmed that his hospital had now had to close when those funds did not materialise, and photos show patients being wheeled out of the hospital on stretchers. It is not clear what will now happen to them.

Nearby, another hospital specialising in treating drug addicts is also struggling to adequately care for its patients, whose withdrawal from heroin, opium and crystal meth can no longer be supported with medication.

"There are patients who have to be tied to the bed with chains, or there are patients who need to be handcuffed because they experience severe attacks. It's very difficult for us to take care of them," says Dr Nowruz, the hospital's director, adding that - without proper care - "our hospital is exactly the same as jail for them".

But this hospital too is on the brink of closing in the face of dwindling staff, and if it does shut, Dr Nowruz worries what will become of his patients in the brutal winter ahead.

"There is no shelter for them. They normally go and live in places like under bridges, in ruins, in graveyards, in a situation which is unbearable for a human," he says.

Dr Qalandar Ibad, the Taliban-appointed health minister, told BBC Pashto in November that the government is working in step with the international community to re-implement aid efforts.

However, major donors are looking to sidestep the Taliban, fearing that otherwise the aid won't be used for its intended purpose. On 10 November the UN succeeded in doing this for the first time - injecting $15m directly into the country's health system. About $8m was used to pay some 23,500 health workers over the past month. Though a relatively small amount for now, other international donors are hoping to follow suit. But time is running out.

"Soon we will not have enough drinking water," says Dr Nuri, as patients struggle to keep warm in the dropping temperatures.

Harsh weather conditions will soon restrict the remaining passage of goods being driven in from countries like Pakistan and India.

"Whenever these women leave our hospital with their babies, I keep thinking about them. They don't have any money, they can't afford to buy food," she says. Her own family is also struggling to stay afloat.

"Even I don't have enough food to eat as a doctor - I can't afford it and have almost finished all my savings.

"I don't know why I still come to work. Every morning I ask myself this question. But maybe it's because I'm still hopeful of a better future."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59419962
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sun Dec 12, 2021 2:19 am

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Afghanistan drugs boom

While Afghanistan has long been linked with heroin, in recent years meth production has also boomed

Heaped in plastic bags in a small room in rural southern Afghanistan, the white crystals glisten.

They are "export quality" methamphetamine, and will be trafficked to countries as far away as Australia. Once there, the 100kg (220lb) stored in this room will have a street value of around £2m ($2.6m).

Outside, smoke billows from two barrels where new batches of meth are being cooked.

Drugs are big business in Afghanistan, and under the Taliban, trade is booming. The country has long been linked with heroin, but in recent years, it has also emerged as a significant producer of crystal meth - another dangerously addictive drug.

One source involved in the trade says that about 3,000kg of crystal meth are now manufactured every day by more than 500 makeshift "factories" in a single remote drug-producing district in the south-west of the country.

The rise of meth has been fuelled by a discovery that ephedra - a common, wild herb known locally as "oman" - can be used to make one of the drug's key ingredients: ephedrine.

At a bazaar deep in the desert that serves as the central node of Afghanistan's meth trade, there are huge mounds of the plant on sale, on scale not previously seen before.

Previously, the Taliban were understood to charge tax on ephedra. But recently, they have announced a ban on its cultivation, in a decree that was not widely publicised.

For the moment though, they're continuing to allow the meth labs to function. One Afghan involved in the trade told us with a wide grin that the ban on ephedra had simply caused the wholesale price of meth to double overnight, while there were still warehouses full of supplies of the plant to use for future production.

Dr David Mansfield is a leading expert on Afghanistan's drug trade who has tracked the growth in meth production with the help of satellite imagery identifying labs involved in the process.

He says the ban on ephedra comes at a time of the year when the crop has already been collected, "so the true impact will not even be felt until July next year when the ephedra harvest is due".

For the moment, the Taliban are continuing to allow meth labs to function

Dr Mansfield believes the amount of meth being produced in Afghanistan could outweigh the amount of the country's other more established drug, heroin.

Opium harvested from the country's poppy fields is already estimated to be the source of about 80% of the world's supply, and it too appears to be booming.

In recent weeks, farmers across Afghanistan have been busy preparing their fields and planting opium seeds. "We know it's harmful," says Mohammad Ghani, while raking the earth outside the city of Kandahar, "but nothing else we grow makes any money."

Afghanistan's economy is collapsing following the withdrawal of international support in response to the Taliban takeover earlier this year, and for many farmers, opium seems like the safest option. Decreasing water levels, exacerbated by drought, are also forcing their hands, they say.

"We have to drill wells, and if we grow okra or tomatoes, we won't even make half of what the wells cost us," says Mr Ghani.

Speculation the Taliban might eventually ban opium cultivation has led to a rise in prices, which in turn, according to farmers, is encouraging them to plant more of it.

For now, the trade is flourishing. Opium dealers, who used to pay off corrupt government officials and sell bags of the thick black paste in secret, have now set up stalls in markets.

"Since the Taliban liberated the country, we have become totally free," one wholesaler says, with a smile.

The Taliban, however, are still sensitive about the trade. In Helmand province, they prevented the BBC from filming a large and notorious opium bazaar, describing it as a "restricted area".

We know it's (opium's) harmful... but nothing else we grow makes any money.

When pressed on whether the ban on media coverage was rooted in allegations some Taliban members were profiting from the trade, Hafiz Rashid, the head of the provincial cultural commission abruptly ended an interview and threatened to smash a camera unless the footage was deleted.

In neighbouring Kandahar, we were initially given permission to film an opium bazaar, but on arrival told it would not be possible.

Bilal Karimi, a Taliban spokesman in Kabul, told the BBC the group was "trying to find alternatives" for farmers. "We can't take this away from people without offering them something else," he said.

During the group's first stint in power, they did eventually ban opium. During their insurgency, however, taxes on it became a source of revenue, though in public they refute that.

Scales and bags of opium can be seen at a market in Kandahar, Afghanistan

Some traders say that if the Taliban want to, they will be able to effectively enforce a ban on the drug again. Others are sceptical.

"They've achieved what they have thanks to opium," one farmer says, indignantly. "None of us will let them ban opium unless the international community helps the Afghan people. Otherwise we'll go hungry and won't be able to look after our families."

Dr Mansfield warns that increases in costs of food and agricultural products linked to the economic crisis will lead farmers and lab owners to ramp up the volume of trade, "just to maintain their income".

In parts of Afghanistan, the drug industry is deeply enmeshed in the local economy.

Gandum Rez, a remote cluster of villages in Helmand, is only reachable by a dusty gravel track. But it's at the centre of the global heroin trade.

As well as a large number of market stalls devoted to the sale of opium, it's home to factories, employing 60-70 people each, which process it into heroin. The drug is smuggled into Pakistan and Iran, and then westwards to the rest of the world, including Europe.

According to one local source, a kilogram of heroin for export sells at around 210,000 Pakistani rupees (£900; $1,190).

A former drug trafficker in the UK told the BBC that by the time a kilogram reached Britain and had been cut with various mixing agents, it would have a street value of around $66,000.

Most of that profit is made by those transporting the drugs internationally, but the Taliban do levy taxes on producers.

According to Dr Mansfield, the amounts earned by the group from drugs are often overstated, and less significant than other sources of revenue. But he estimates that in 2020, they received around $35m from taxes on drug production - money that they need.

"The first time the Taliban came to power, it took them six years before they actually enforced a ban on drugs and that was just opium at the time," he says.

To do so now, given the state of the Afghan economy, Dr Mansfield says, would be seen as punishing a constituency that has previously given the Taliban "succour and support".

Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told the BBC that eradicating drug production would help both Afghanistan and the international community, "so the world should help too".

Men gathered on the side of the road in the capital, Kabul to use drugs
Image caption,

Drug users gather on the side of the road in the capital, Kabul

The country's drug trade doesn't solely revolve around exports. It has also had a devastating impact on the Afghan population, in which high levels of addiction are seen.

By the side of a busy road on the outskirts of the capital Kabul, a few hundred men are huddled together in small groups, smoking crystal meth and heroin.

"Now the drugs are made in Afghanistan, they're much less expensive," says one man, "before they used to come from Iran. A gram of meth was 1,500 Afghani ($15), now it's 30 to 40 Afghani ($0.31 to $0.41)."

Conditions are squalid, with some living inside sewage ditches. "Even a dog wouldn't live the way we do here," says another man.

The Taliban often roughly round them up and take them to under-resourced rehab centres, they say, but most end up straight back here.

For now, more drugs look set to hit the streets both in Afghanistan and abroad.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59608474
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Dec 13, 2021 12:00 pm

The roar, the fear, the bunker
    My time at a frontline hospital in Afghanistan
Gianna Falchetto Nurse

In the city of Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) supports Boost Hospital. It's one of the largest public health facilities in the region, with a total of 300 beds available and staffed by around 1,000 people

I worked there as a nursing director and I lived in Lashkar Gah during the hectic days of fighting that occurred in Summer 2021.

My year in Lashkar Gah was a very busy year. Every day, we could see the consequences for the community of insecurity that has been going on for years and years.

Poor access to healthcare and the risk of travelling led people to only make a journey when it was really necessary. This is why, very often, patients arrived at the hospital when their health conditions were already very serious.

The recent fighting has worsened the security situation, after we had already seen a deterioration in October 2020.

Back then, about 15,000 people had fled to neighbouring villages looking for a safer place to stay. Many had found help from their relatives while others had found temporary shelter.

MSF Afghan appeal

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The violence

After a period of relative and apparent calm, the situation deteriorated again this May. The fighting intensified once more and moved closer to the city. The noises of the explosions were very loud and helicopters were flying much more often in the skies above Lashkar Gah.

One evening, as we were getting ready for dinner, we heard a loud explosion. Rockets had been fired at some buildings in the city, coming close to our house where the international MSF team was living.

It had never happened before and it could only be a bad sign. From that moment, there was an escalation of violence.

The clashes got worse very quickly. And, although previously our hospital was not primarily concerned with treating war trauma, since May we began to receive more and more patients with injuries from bullets, shrapnel, explosions.

The situation worsened to the point of forcing us to sleep in the bunker under the hospital. This was so that we could stay close to patients and to those who continue to need us.

Around us, the city was deserted. All the shops were closed. The climate was surreal.

We spent 12 days in the bunker. We had mattresses on the floor and blankets so that we could rest whenever possible. This arrangement allowed us to continue to work with our local teammates and ensure continuity of care in the hospital.

In those days the number and type of patients we were seeing changed.

Usually, the hospital was full of children and adults with serious illnesses. However, in those two weeks, most of the patients were war-wounded. In maternity, where we usually saw around 80 births a day, it was barely 10.

The number of staff also decreased. Many of our Afghan colleagues were unable to reach the hospital or left the city to take their families to safer places. Those who remained shared the bunker when they needed to rest.

There were many women among the staff who stayed. They had told their families that if us women from the international team stayed to deal with everything that was going on, then they would stay with us.
2009-2019: Boost Hospital Caption

The nights in the bunker weren't always easy.

In the dark the explosions seemed stronger than during the day, but we tried to support each other. The hospital was located right on the frontline, so bullets and shrapnel constantly flew into the grounds.

I have many memories of those days. I remember one night the deafening noise of a helicopter that, a few metres from the hospital, fired at its targets.

I also remember well one afternoon when a rocket hit the roof of the outpatient area of ​​our hospital. A place that should be safe had been damaged by the fighting, as had happened to other hospitals in the area.
Fear and family

Everyone was afraid. When that rocket hit the building, I and the other nurses on the international team were inside.

I remember a big roar, the rush to get to safety in the bunker, the fear.

I remember that, in those difficult moments, someone suddenly called for prayer and we all began to pray together. There was harmony and each in their own way prayed that everything happening would end as soon as possible.

In the middle of that tragedy and horror… we became a family.

During the daytime, I stopped to chat with the team. Everyone was working very hard but trying to keep morale high. Some told stories and even made fun of each other a little. Those were important moments that I don't think I'll ever forget.

An influx of patients

Then, one night, it was suddenly all over.

The constant noises of gunfire and shelling ceased. At that moment it no longer mattered. We were alive. I was alive.

One afternoon we went back to our house, which, fortunately, had not been damaged in the previous days. Everything was intact. We had been lucky. Even taking a real shower and sleeping in a real bed was great.
2009-2019: Boost Hospital

MSF Afghan appeal

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The following days we resumed working normally with the full team. The streets became busy once again.

However, now that the fighting had stopped, many sick and injured people were finally able to travel to the hospital safely. Soon, our emergency room would be full one again.

We would reach peaks of 800 patients a day as we worked to treat those cut off by the conflict.

MSF in Afghanistan

Decades of conflict have ruined Afghanistan’s economy and infrastructure, and many people rely on humanitarian aid.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) provides emergency, paediatric and maternal healthcare in Afghanistan, which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

In May 2021, there was a significant surge in violence, with fierce clashes between Afghan forces and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, also known as the Taliban) claiming thousands of lives and forcing many more people from their homes. By mid-August, the IEA entered the capital city of Kabul and Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Throughout this time, MSF teams have continued to provide life-saving medical care to people caught in the chaos.

https://msf.org.uk/article/roar-fear-bu ... Gwodb8kLWw
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Feb 04, 2022 11:44 am

Women going back to university

Female students walked in the courtyard of Kandahar University this week for the first time since August

Rana was worried as she got ready to return to university in Kandahar.

It had been six months since the Taliban seized power and told women to stay away from higher education and work.

On Wednesday some public universities reopened their campuses to male - and female - students after a recess. It was the first time women could attend since the takeover and a small number returned.

"I felt very anxious and the Taliban were guarding the building when we arrived, but they didn't bother us," Rana told the BBC.

"Many things felt normal, like they were before. Women and men were in the same class because our university is small - boys were sitting at the front and we were sitting at the back."

Students returned to Laghman University whilst Taliban fighters stood guard

In other universities, however, male and female students were kept apart.

One third-year student in the city of Herat told the BBC she had been told she could only be on campus four hours a day, as the rest of the time is allocated to male students.

Since sweeping to power, the Taliban have imposed strict rules on daily life, many of them against women.

Afghanistan has become the only country in the world which publicly limits education by gender - a major sticking point in the Taliban's attempts to gain international legitimacy.

Girls have been banned from receiving secondary education, the ministry for women's affairs has been disbanded, and in many cases women have not been allowed to work.

Women have also been instructed to wear the hijab, although the Taliban stopped short of imposing the burka as they did when they ruled the country in the 1990s.

A Taliban guard mans a post on the rooftop of the main gate of Laghman University

The new Taliban government says it has no objection to women's right to an education.

But education officials have said that they want classes segregated by sex and a curriculum based on Islamic principles, with wearing the hijab mandatory for female students.

'My dream was to become a doctor'

Only public universities in six of Afghanistan's warmer provinces - Laghman, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Nimroz, Farah and Helmand - resumed classes this week after the recess.

In colder areas, including the capital Kabul, higher education institutions are not expected to open their doors to male and female students until late February.

"After many months of sitting at home, this is indeed good news," says Hoda, a student who hopes to resume her civil engineering degree in Kabul. "But I know many lecturers have left Afghanistan."

BBC Pashto has established that since the Taliban took control last August, 229 professors from three of the country's major universities - Kabul, Herat and Balkh - have left the country.

For six months, 150 public universities have been closed across Afghanistan

During the Taliban's first period of rule, between 1996 and 2001, women were barred from education.

So this week's return to classes has been cautiously welcomed, however small a first step it represents.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan tweeted: "So crucial that every young person has equal access to education."

    Tomorrow can be the start of something truly important for Afghanistan. UN welcomes the announcement that public universities will begin re-opening 2 February to all female and male students. So crucial that every young person has equal access to education. pic.twitter.com/BI7rGDJt3Q
    — UNAMA News (@UNAMAnews) February 1, 2022
While some universities are now open for women who were enrolled before the takeover, the journey towards higher education is still very uncertain for girls.

"My dream was to go to university and become a doctor. Now that I heard the Taliban is letting women go to university, I am very hopeful that they will let us continue our education in high school and then university," says 11th-grade student Mahvash, who is 17 and from Takhar province.

'I can't really leave my home'

Some also fear that the Taliban may limit women's enrolment to a handful of courses.

A civil engineering student from Kabul said she was shocked when she recently heard a Taliban education spokesman say there was no reason for women to become politicians or engineers as these are "manly tasks".

Equally, university students who want to attend the Faculty of Arts of Kabul University told the BBC they feel uncertain as to whether the Taliban will allow women to apply for arts degrees.

Angela Ghayour, who founded the Online Herat School to offer remote courses for women and girls, was also sceptical at the news of universities reopening. Angela Ghayour first began teaching as a teenager to help those with no access to school.

"I believe the Taliban will include more Sharia and Islamic subjects into the curriculum. The girls aren't able to play sport any more, they have to cover up more. I believe the Taliban education won't let women make their own free choices, and that is my biggest fear. I am really afraid," she said.

"As things are today, even if women graduate they cannot enter the workforce."

Soraya, a university graduate from Herat, has a degree but the current restrictions mean she cannot get a job.

"I can't really leave my home," she told the BBC. "They say women should not work, or work in an all-women environment. But there are very few work settings where you wouldn't find men."

International pressure

The reopening of public universities comes after a Taliban delegation held talks with Western officials in Norway in January, where they were pressed on improving the rights of women in order to get access to more foreign aid and the unfreezing of Afghanistan's overseas assets.

The halting of aid has worsened the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which has already been devastated by decades of war. The UN says 95% of Afghans now do not have enough to eat.

One university student from a medical school in Mazar-e-Sharif told the BBC that "going back to university isn't a priority any more".

"We are starving. My father was working for the previous government and since the Taliban returned he is jobless and we have no food to eat, so obviously my father cannot afford my education any more. I need to buy books, clothes… but we have no money."

The path to higher education is uncertain for Afghanistan's schoolgirls

Others who have the means to return say they have mixed feelings about the real progress that can be achieved.

"We have lost a lot of study time and, while I'm happy that they want to reopen, there are new rules we will have to obey whilst at university. There are some things I feel uncomfortable about, such as having to have a male chaperone take me to university," says a student from Takhar who will return to lectures on 27 February.

Female students who were enrolled already may still return to classes

Pashtana Durrani, founder of Learn Afghanistan who runs schools in the country and teaches women and girls remotely, made the hard decision to leave Afghanistan for the US following the Taliban takeover.

For her, this week's news is bittersweet.

Ms Durrani, a teacher, has established schools in Kandahar

"This feels like a peace-making gesture and we need to welcome it, but as an Afghan girl who had to flee the country because my university closed down, I also feel hurt."

Ms Durrani says many of her friends who, like her, were enrolled in higher education institutions, have left Afghanistan.

"Even if they are opening universities, the country has lost so many good people."

Rana, meanwhile, wants to get back to focusing on her studies, even if she is not sure what the future holds for her and her peers.

"Many of my female classmates didn't show up [on the first day]. But here's to hoping more girls feel safer in the near future to come back to uni."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60236826
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Feb 04, 2022 2:58 pm

Sharia Law

• Theft is punishable by amputation of the hands (Quran 5:38).

• Criticizing or denying any part of the Quran is punishable by death.

• Criticizing Muhammad or denying that he is a prophet is punishable by death.

• Criticizing or denying Allah is punishable by death (see Allah moon god).

• A Muslim who becomes a non-Muslim is punishable by death (See Compulsion).

• A non-Muslim who leads a Muslim away from Islam is punishable by death.

• A non-Muslim man who marries a Muslim woman is punishable by death.

• A woman or girl who has been raped cannot testify in court against her rapist(s).

• Testimonies of 4 male witnesses are required to prove rape of a female (Quran 24:13).

• A woman or girl who alleges rape without producing 4 male witnesses is guilty of adultery.

• A woman or girl found guilty of adultery is punishable by death (see "Islamophobia").

• A male convicted of rape can have his conviction dismissed by marrying his victim.

• Muslim men have sexual rights to any woman/girl not wearing the Hijab (see Taharrush).

• A woman can have 1 husband, who can have up to 4 wives; Muhammad can have more.

• A man can marry an infant girl and consummate the marriage when she is 9 years old.

• Girls' clitoris should be cut (Muhammad's words, Book 41, Kitab Al-Adab, Hadith 5251).

• A man can beat his wife for insubordination (see Quran 4:34 and Religion of Peace).

• A man can unilaterally divorce his wife; a wife needs her husband's consent to divorce.

• A divorced wife loses custody of all children over 6 years of age or when they exceed it.

• A woman's testimony in court, allowed in property cases, carries ½ the weight of a man's.

• A female heir inherits half of what a male heir inherits (see Mathematics in Quran).

• A woman cannot speak alone to a man who is not her husband or relative.

• Meat to eat must come from animals that have been sacrificed to Allah - i.e., be "Halal."

• Muslims should engage in Taqiyya and lie to non-Muslims to advance Islam.

Many people complain about the lack of women's rights in Afghanistan due to Sharia Law

    I am strongly against the restrictions placed on females - men who suppress their wives - beat them - make them wear burkas that look like rubbish sacks - but under Sharia Law females are treated like rubbish - refuse to let their wives go out without them - refuse to let female relations study or work - they are told that they have no rights or protection in law other than those granted from the Sharia Law courts
The world is shocked when this happens in Afghanistan BUT this is happening in ENGLAND with the UK government support and NOBODY does anything to stop the expansion of Sharia Law or protect these terrified females

Yes England has allowed the setting up of Sharia Law courts - terrified females are told that they have NO rights under UK LAW and must go to the Sharia Law courts run from several UK Mosques
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Feb 24, 2022 12:36 am

Inside an Islamic School

When I ask Mufti Hayatullah Masroor to choose a text for the morning lesson in the Al-Jami'a Al-Islamiya Al-Mohammadia-Kabul madrasa he oversees in Qala Haidar Khan, a village outside Kabul, he takes his time, approaches the shelf where he keeps his books, flips through it, carefully selects the lines, and reads this hadith aloud: "I heard the Messenger of Allah say, 'Every woman who dies will enter Paradise if God has been pleased with her behavior'."

In front of him are about 20 students. The youngest is his son, aged six, sitting at the back of the class, the others are all teenagers. They listen to him with their heads bowed, covered by their turbans, their hands crossed on their knees, in a silence that is already a devotion.
Servant of Islam

The text read by Mufti Hayatullah Masroor is one of the 600 pamphlets written by the founder of the Koranic school, Shaik Mohammad Zahed Azizkhel, a scholar from Logar province who is specialized in religious studies and also a jurist known worldwide for his publications. "A great servant of Islam", as everyone here calls him.

Trained in Pakistan, he has taught Islamic subjects in madrasas in 16 Afghan provinces. When news of his arrival is heard, the Mufti says, life stops, and families pray for their children to be admitted to classes.

He first came to the village ten years ago to give short seminars to 500 local students. There were no books, not enough space, but no one gave up. Students listened to him while sitting in the cold. They slept on the floor to hear him again the next day. "His lessons were our challenge to the previous regime," says Mufti Masroor, piling the founder's texts in front of me, one on top of the other, and giving me one, in French, that indicates the rules of good conduct for the sisters of the Islamic faith.

In 2018, a school was born from these short seminars, built on an area of one hectare, costing so far 12 million afghanis ( about 110,000 euros) from private funds collected by Shaik Mohammad Zahed Azizkhel from businessmen who support him, mainly in Pakistan.
Useless graduates

Since coming to power, the Taliban have insisted that the country no longer needs the young graduates of the last 20 years. The ones who were taught by the usurping armies to change the country's traditions.

Minister of Education Abdul Baqi Haqqani made it clear in his first meeting with university teachers: "The graduates we inherited from the occupation years are useless." Learning languages and science was declared irrelevant.

The Taliban banned girls from schools and called Koranic schools "the only scholarship the country needs," a clear reference to the money spent by the West to fund school projects from 2001 to the present.

Education is considered one of the success stories of international aid. Last year in Afghanistan, 67% of boys and 48% of girls were enrolled in school according to World Bank figures, which means that under the protection of the international community, nine times more young people had access to education than during the first Islamic state era, between 1996 and 2001.

For a long time, madrasas were the only way for the most vulnerable segments of the population to educate their children

In the classroom 24 hours a day

The building is still under construction, many of the windows have no glass and only a handful of classrooms have stoves. Yet, 150 children live in the school to learn the Koran by heart and take two-year specialization courses in Islamic studies and law.

There are 150 now, but they are supposed to increase to 1,500 in two years.

Life is enclosed within the walls of the school and is subject to a strict 24-hour schedule. The time from dawn to noon is dedicated to classes and prayers, and is followed by individual study of texts until the evening. After that, there is a two-hour break, more memory exercises on the Koran, and writing until 11 p.m.

"This is the pure instruction of pure Islam," the Mufti repeated several times. Only by instructing the youth in this way, "will Afghan people's regulations be conducted in accordance with Islam and under the supervision of the Ulema (religious scholars)."

For a long time, madrasas were the only way for the most vulnerable segments of the population to educate their children, who were welcomed, protected, fed and clothed. Madrasas have arrived in Afghanistan where the state has not: the Kabul government has historically allocated few resources to education in rural areas, allowing Koranic schools to grow in number and influence. It was in these classrooms that the majority of the young people who entered Kabul last summer, rifles on their shoulders, waving the flag of victory, grew up.

The return of the mullahs

Today, for the Taliban, challenging the previous educational paradigm not only means seeking continuity with the past but also bringing the mullahs back where the West wanted to build Afghanistan's new leaders.

"You see, the ruling mullahs and Taliban don't have PhDs, master's degrees nor even high school diplomas, but they are the greatest of all," the deputy education minister said.

Members of the government who, like the founder of the madrasa that hosted me, were also trained in Pakistani Koranic schools. Almost all of them come from one of the oldest seminaries in the country, the Darul Uloom Haqqania. The Haqqani network, the military wing of the Taliban, responsible for some of the most odious attacks of the last years, owes its name, gives its name to that very seminary.

Analysts call it the "university of jihad." It is believed to have been the breeding ground for violence in the region for decades. This is where many important members of today's government come from: Sirajuddin Haqqani, the current interior minister in Kabul, who has a $5 million bounty from the U.S. government, as well as Amir Khan Muttaqi, the foreign minister, and — needless to say — Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the minister of higher education.

For 20 years you have promoted education for all, the madrasa walls seem to whisper, but we, the Koranic students, have won.

Life is enclosed within the walls of the school and is subject to a strict 24-hour schedule

Who will run the government?

Mufti Hayatullah Masroor says that here, in the madrasa of the village near Kabul, specialization does not exist: No English, no mathematics.

"Maybe one day we will include these subjects in our curriculum, but it is definitely premature to think about it now. We're thinking of taking in people in need, and there will be time for other subjects."

But without specializations, it's hard to make the government work.

If education is one of the main goals of the new Taliban policy, is it legitimate to ask who and with what skills will solve the banking paralysis? Who will operate the administrative and diplomatic machinery? Who will buffer the humanitarian crisis?

Once the victory's euphoria has passed, the young Taliban find themselves at check points with weapons on their shoulders and empty pockets. A youth who display the values of "pure" Islam in a constant parade of victory. A fragile parade in the face of an economic collapse, in need of urgent solutions, and specialists capable of managing it.

it is possible for women to receive an education, but only in accordance with the Islamic sharia

Skills like those learned by the country's students over the last 20 years, those are the skills necessary to rebuild the country. Sooner or later, the Taliban will be forced to ask for help and cooperation, to free up the billions of dollars of blocked funds and to reactivate the administrative machine, emptied of its employees and civil servants and occupied by students who know the Koran by heart, but not mathematics.
Women's rights

The morning I was accepted in the madrasa, Mufti Hayatullah Masroor was teaching grammar and reading a text about women. When I asked him why he had chosen this among many others, he said that he had done so to show that "it is possible for women to receive an education, but only in accordance with the Islamic sharia, that is, according to their needs."

He explained to his students more or less this: women are precious human beings and need to be protected, that is why they are protected at birth by their father, then by their husband and finally by their son. According to him, this is proof that women are more valuable than men: they are supported as long as they are alive, they do not need to work and they do not have to worry about financial problems. Men are their servants. That is why school is not a necessity.

For a moment I thought the lesson, specifically the part about the Western occupier, was aimed at me, rather than at them.

The Mufti then said: "Women's rights promoted by Western countries are in contradiction with our religion and tradition. The invaders will never be able to impose these rights, except at the cost of war, like the one they just lost."

And so I understood. I understood that the lesson wasn't aimed at me. I was the subject. I was presented to the future winning Taliban as evidence of the West's defeat.

https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society ... -graduates
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine as winter looms

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon May 09, 2022 11:55 pm

Afghans face acute hunger

The WFP says some 19.7 million people, almost half of Afghanistan’s population, are facing acute hunger

The UN World Food Program (WFP) announced that almost half of the Afghan population is facing acute hunger, with more than 20,000 people in the Ghor province nearing a food security catastrophe.

In a statement, the WFP highlighted that "[Some] 19.7 million people, almost half of Afghanistan’s population, are facing acute hunger according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis conducted in January and February 2022 by Food Security and Agriculture Cluster partners."

The report noted the existence of a small pocket of "catastrophic" levels of food insecurity in the country.

"More than 20,000 people in the north-eastern province of Ghor are facing catastrophic levels of hunger because of a long period of harsh winter and disastrous agricultural conditions," the WFP added.

In the same context, the organization predicted a minor improvement in the situation in the period from June to November, with the number of people facing food troubles decreasing to 18.9 million due to the upcoming wheat harvesting season.

But the WFP pointed out that "the harvest will only offer short-term relief and very little opportunity for recovery. The war in Ukraine continues to put pressure on Afghanistan’s wheat supply, food commodities, agricultural inputs, and fuel prices."

The statement explained that "Access to seeds, fertilizer and water for irrigation is limited, labour opportunities are scarce and enormous debts have been incurred to buy food over the last few months."

Afghanistan is facing a dire humanitarian situation in the wake of the August takeover by the Taliban movement after the hasty US withdrawal from the country.

A number of countries and organizations expressed readiness to continue providing humanitarian assistance to the nation amid political and social turmoil.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... unger:-wfp
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Jun 23, 2022 1:35 am

Death Toll of Afghan Quake 920

The death toll from an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday has reached 920, while over 600 people were injured, said Deputy to State Ministry for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs Mawlawi Sharafuddin Muslim

The number of casualties may further rise as the quake destroyed scores of houses in the mountainous region and several people were still trapped under the debris. Gayan district in Paktika province and Sapari district of neighboring Khost province were the worst-hit areas.

The disaster and humanitarian body has planned to pay about US$1,124 to the family of any individual killed and about US$558 to anyone injured in the earthquake, according to Muslim.

The quake, with a magnitude of 5.9, jolted 44 km southwest of Khost, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake jolted mountainous areas and the Ministry of Defense dispatched seven helicopters with life-saving equipment and medical personnel to the area, while medical and rescue teams were also on the way to the affected areas.

More than 300 ambulances reached the affected areas. The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) has also dispatched rescue workers, health teams and volunteers to help those affected by the earthquake.

"The ARCS is transferring blankets, tents, kitchen utensils, medicine, water bottles, and food items to the earthquake areas of Khost and Paktika provinces from HQ warehouses of the ARCS in Kabul," the ARCS tweeted.

Currently, teams of the World Health Organization (WHO) are on the ground to support immediate health needs, provide ambulances, medicines and trauma services and conduct needs assessment.

    #Afghanistan | Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the capital Kabul chanting anti-Pakistan slogans and calling for “freedom”, a day after resistance leader Ahmad Massoud called for an “uprising” against the Taliban rule. pic.twitter.com/G8LTR7aNVL
    — teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) September 7, 2021
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Jun 23, 2022 1:38 am

At Least 1 500 Deaths

On Wednesday, an earthquake hit Afghanistan, which according to officials' reports, has left 1500 casualties, and over 600 injured, numbers that authorities expect to rise as information trickles in from remote mountain villages

The earthquake that hit the Asian country was recorded as 6.1 magnitudes on the Richter scale, which caused the reduction of houses to rubble and bodies swathed in blankets on the ground. According to authorities, the number of people that remain stuck under debris and outlying areas is still unknown.

Reports dropped that rescue operations are still the complicated cause of the difficult conditions worsened by the heavy rains, which result in landslides and the nestled of several villages to inaccessible hillside areas.

According to a health worker in Paktika province, "many people are still buried under the soil. The rescue teams of the Islamic Emirate have arrived and, with the help of local people, are trying to take out the dead and injured."

Loretta Hieber Girardet from the United Nations' disaster risk reduction office said that recovery and rescue operations in Afghanistan would represent a massive challenge due to the terrain and weather.

"The roads are poor even at the best of times, so having a humanitarian operation put in place is going to be immediately challenged by the lack of easy access to the area," said Hieber.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ear ... -0014.html
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue Jul 12, 2022 10:57 pm

British war crimes in Afghanistan:

One SAS squadron may have massacred around 54 Afghan civilians during a six-month tour in Afghanistan

A new Panorama documentary revealed disturbing evidence of SAS war crimes in Afghanistan, BBC reported.

A clear pattern of unlawful killings of Afghans by a squadron of SAS commandos during night raids appears to have emerged, with as many as 54 victims over a six-month period.

The revelations, which could lead to war crimes charges, were vehemently denied by the UK Ministry of Defense, which claimed that allegations of unlawful conduct by commandos had previously been thoroughly investigated.

In a statement, the ministry said: “Neither investigation found sufficient evidence to prosecute. Insinuating otherwise is irresponsible, incorrect, and puts our brave Armed Forces personnel at risk both in the field and reputationally.”

Conversely, the BBC argued that Royal Military Police (RMP) investigators had been obstructed by military leadership.

General Mark Carleton-Smith, then-head of the UK Special Forces, failed to share evidence of misconduct with the investigation, as per BBC.

"Executions were carried out at a close range"

The new documentary expands on an earlier BBC investigation into SAS night raids in Afghanistan.

An anonymous source provided the outlet with hundreds of contemporaneous military reports, not to mention operational accounts filed by the squadron after missions.

It is worth noting that the BBC was able to identify some of the raid locations and traveled to Afghanistan to speak with witnesses and collect forensic evidence, such as images of bullet holes in walls.

In many cases, what has been discovered during these trips contradicted what the SAS team had reported about killing enemy combatants in firefights or retaliating with lethal force when detainees pulled concealed weapons during a search.

According to experts, what the BBC discovered on the ground in three locations indicated that executions were carried out at the close range.

In November 2010, the squadron in question was deployed to Helmand province for a six-month tour.

A pattern of suspicious killings

The documents examined revealed a pattern of suspicious killings justified by the discovery of weapons on the scene, according to the BBC.

Those weapons, which included AK-47 assault rifles and grenades, may have been planted by British troops as justification for killing people who posed no threat in the first place as per reports, the broadcaster suggested.

The report added that the squadron "was attempting to outnumber the one it had replaced”, stressing that the total number of people killed during the tour was in the triple digits.

The team's post-raid reports piqued the officers' interest at the time, who described them as "quite incredible" and referred to the missions as the squadron's "latest massacre."

According to the BBC, a high-ranking Special Forces officer in Afghanistan warned in a secret memo that there could be a "deliberate policy" of extrajudicial killings of fighting-age males.

An infrequent internal investigation was ordered, but the investigating Special Forces officer "appeared to take the SAS version of events at face value," according to the documentary.

Efforts to disturb investigations

The evidence was classified and was not shared with military police, who conducted a separate murder investigation linked to one of the raids in 2013.

It is worth noting that the RMP launched Operation Northmoor in 2014 to investigate over 600 alleged offenses committed by British forces in Afghanistan.

Some of the SAS squadron's killings were on the list, BBC reported.

It went on to say that RMP investigators revealed to them that the British military had hampered their efforts to gather evidence.

During the 1839-1842 Anglo-Afghan war, the British empire was humiliated in Afghanistan, but following the Sept. 11 Al-Qaeda attacks, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair joined US President George W. Bush in invading Afghanistan under the guise of overthrowing the Taliban.

The United States and its various western allies, including the United Kingdom, are behind many war crimes in Afghanistan, which they committed as part of their 20-year-long occupation of the country.

The United States even went out of its way to commit a war crime against Afghan civilians following its incredibly chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which saw hundreds upon hundreds flocking toward the airport, stampedes, and abandoned allies. There even was a scene that reminded the world of the American withdrawal from Vietnam's Saigon, during which they air-lifted their staff off of the embassy's roof.

Despite killing tens of thousands of civilians during their occupation, US soldiers opened fire on the crowd outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, killing several civilians, including women and children.

The United Kingdom helped Washington do its bidding in Afghanistan, and British troops are just as complicit in all the crimes and the chaotic withdrawal as their American counterparts.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... istan:-bbc
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Re: Afghans 23 million people facing famine

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Feb 09, 2023 9:46 pm

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1516
Million in Afghanistan need urgent aid

Russian President Vladimir Putin underlines that the terrorist threat only increased in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of the United States from the country

The situation is not getting any better in Afghanistan after the United States withdrew from the country in 2021, with terrorist organizations becoming more active, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

"The situation in this country, unfortunately, is not getting better. International terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaeda, are becoming more active, building up their potential, and all of you know it very well," Putin told a meeting with the secretaries of the security councils of several countries on the Afghan problem.

The Russian President also noted that Moscow was concerned about attempts by regional countries to use the situation in Afghanistan in order to expand and create infrastructure under the guise of combating terrorism.

"Although these countries are doing nothing that would be required for a true fight against international terrorism," Putin stressed.

Russian data said about four million people in the crisis-stricken country are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, he said.

"We have established contacts with the leadership of Afghanistan in Kabul. We know that there are good plans for the implementation of major economic projects that could stabilize the situation in the economy," Putin added.

"It is clear that today there is a lot of conflict potential in the world, a lot of conflicts, and we have a lot of conflicts not far from Russia, including in the Ukrainian direction. We understand perfectly well, we are aware of this. But this does not reduce the significance of the situation in Afghanistan," the Russian President revealed.

"For us, it was always important, and today it is doubly important because we do not want any more points of tension to arise near our southern borders," the Russian leader concluded.

The fifth multilateral meeting of secretaries of security councils on the Afghan problem was held in Moscow earlier in the day.

The event was attended by high representatives in charge of security issues from India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Russia was represented by Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said in early January that the US hastily withdrew its forces from Afghanistan so it can focus on Ukraine.

In an interview for aif.ru, Patrushev stated that the United States's presence in the Asian country did not contribute to the fight against terrorism, however, it resulted in corruption schemes amounting to billions of dollars and soaring production of drugs.

"It turns out that the reasons for the Americans’ abrupt withdrawal from the country included the need to focus on Ukraine, where, in their view, the puppet Kiev regime was making successful preparations for an offensive against Russia," Patrushev said.

Patrushev backed his point by recalling a statement made earlier by the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken that were it not for the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US wouldn't have been able to aid Kiev as much.

Moreover, the Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, stressed that there was evidence pointing out that the US has been attempting to build ties with current Afghan authorities while secretly sponsoring ISIS.

"Yes, there is such data, they [the US authorities] do it not for good, but for harm, because they really want to avenge their shameful military-political defeat in Afghanistan and, in retaliation, they do everything so that peace is not established in this long-suffering land, but even worse is that, in addition to contacts with the armed opposition in Afghanistan, the Anglo-Saxons secretly sponsor ISIS," Kabulov said.

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan caused mayhem at Kabul airport as some Afghans that colluded with the US occupation tried to escape the country. The US officially withdrew in August of 2021 after 20 years of occupation.

Joe Biden's decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was a miscalculated decision on all levels - not because they did any good to Afghanistan, but the reason is attributed to how the US left the country. In a war that cost 20 years and 1.5 trillion dollars and was "lost" in 20 days, a lot of things could be happening that are far from good.

The never-ending costs of US failure, in lives and dollars, are tragic for those living under occupation and others recruited to force it. The poor decisions of the United States will go down in history, never to be forgotten.

Although the Taliban government is not internationally recognized, Russia and China are convening with representatives of the Taliban in order to restore the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. The UN estimates that ISIS attacks have resulted in approximately 700 deaths since the US withdrawal in August 2021.

After the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, the US-backed government was dissolved, leaving behind over $7 billion in central bank assets deposited with the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

US President Joe Biden later signed an executive order to freeze the $7 billion, claiming that the funds will be used for humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan and compensating American victims of "terrorism", including 9/11 families.

In response, the Taliban movement saw the US decision as a showcase of theft and US moral decline, according to Mohammad Naeem, a spokesperson for the Taliban political office, as he took to Twitter to say: "The theft of blocked money belonging to the people of Afghanistan by the United States, as well as taking possession of it, is a showcase of the human and moral decline of the country and people".

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... aid:-putin
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