US Destroyed Afghanistan with drugs now controls it's money

[Anthea]

Taliban Rule in Afghanistan

A Taliban spokesperson told Rudaw on Thursday that their rule in Afghanistan will not be violent, adding that they will treat women as per the Islamic law

When asked about the videos circulated on social media, purportedly showing Taliban fighters mistreating people, Zabiullah Mujahid told Rudaw’s Shaho Amin late Thursday that, “when someone is in a fight with the enemy, they will be violent with them.”

“However, we will not be violent with our people. Did you know that we have taken control of 13 states within the country in seven days, and we have established our rule in those 13 states. This means that we are not violent. People want us and they ask us to be with them. Everyone supports us, and we will give them all the rights specified in the Islamic sharia. We are committed to this,” he added.

Taliban has made new advances in government-held areas recently.

The Pentagon decided on Thursday to deploy around 3,000 troops to Kabul immediately in order to evacuate the US embassy employees, according to Defense Department spokesman John Kirby.

Mujahid also talked about the discussions between Taliban and Afghani political parties in Doha, claiming that these parties are not united when it comes to making a deal with Taliban.

“So, we cannot wait for them but take serious steps in order to end war in this country, return security to his country and Afghanis.”

Read the full interview below:

What is the Taliban's plan? What will happen to power balance in Afghanistan in the near future?

In the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate. I want to say that the people of Afghanistan have had two goals in the last 20 years: firstly, rescue their country from the American invasion, restore independence and remove all the foreign forces from Afghanistan, and secondly establish an authentic Islamic Afghanistan so that the people of Afghanistan can have stable lives under an Islamic rule. These are the two objectives we have struggled for and we are about to make them come true. The foreign forces have withdrawn from the country, and an Islamic all-inclusive state is about to be established in Afghanistan.

The international community and the West are concerned, saying that Afghanistan will be the center of radical groups. What do you have to say about this? What is your message for the international community?

Our message in this regard is very clear. We will never let Afghanistan soil be used against other countries and become a threat to the world. We want to have friendly relations with the whole world, including the Western and Oriental countries as well as our brothers from Islamic states and the regional and neighboring countries, because coexistence in Afghanistan depends on having friendly diplomatic relations with all countries in the framework of the international laws.

It is said that the US has handed over Afghanistan to the Taliban. How are your relations with the US?

The US has invaded Afghanistan for 20 years and caused bloodshed in our country. It has also caused uncompensated damage to our country but after 20 years it understood that they have to negotiate with us and reach a conclusion. In 2020, we signed an agreement which clearly stipulates that all foreign forces should leave the country and that Afghanistan should not be a threat to any country, including the US and its allies. We have been committed to the agreement in order to have good relations with the Americans and have contact in economic and diplomatic fields as well as having a mutual understanding.

You are holding talks and fighting simultaneously. Where have the talks reached? Why is there still fighting?

Yes, talks can still continue when there is fighting because talks are aimed at ending the fight. We tried in the last 18 months to make the talks lead to a conclusion. We have a strong team in Doha so that the talks resume and end successively. Unfortunately, the other side, who are different political parties in Afghanistan and have been aiding the US for 20 years have not been able to have a united position in order to negotiate with us. So, we cannot wait for them but take serious steps in order to end war in this country, return security to this country and for Afghanis.

Some videos have circulated, showing that your forces mistreat people, and when your forces enter some places their people run away from you. Will your treatment be as tough as it used to be or will you soften it? Will women be obliged to be fully covered or they will be given rights?

No, you may have seen some scenes where we are holding weapons during fights. Of course, when someone is in a fight with the enemy, they will be violent with them. However, we will not be violent with our people. Did you know that we have taken control of 13 states within the country in seven days, and we have established our rule in those 13 states. This means that we are not violent. People want us and they ask us to be with them. Everyone supports us, and we will give them all the rights specified in the Islamic sharia. We are committed to this.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/interview/12082021

[Anthea]

Islamic fundamentalism

Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a puritanical, revivalist, and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam

Islamic fundamentalists are of the view that Muslim-majority countries should return to the fundamentals of an Islamic state, which truly show the essence of the system of Islam, in terms of its socio-politico-economic system.

Islamic fundamentalists favor "a literal and originalist interpretation" of the primary sources of Islam (the Quran, Hadith, and Sunnah), seek to eliminate (what they perceive to be) "corrupting" non-Islamic influences from every part of their lives, and see "Islamic fundamentalism" as a pejorative term used by outsiders for Islamic revivalism and Islamic activism.[

Since the 1970s, a worldwide Islamic revival has emerged, owing in large part to popular disappointment with the secular nation states and Westernized ruling elites, which had dominated the Muslim world during the preceding decades, and which were increasingly seen as authoritarian, ineffective and lacking cultural authenticity.

It is also motivated by a desire to "restore Islam to ascendancy in a world that has turned away from God". The revival has been accompanied by growth of various reformist-political movements inspired by Islam (also called Islamist), and by "re-Islamisation" of society from above and below, with manifestations ranging from sharia-based legal reforms to greater piety and growing adoption of Islamic culture (such as increased attendance at Hajj) among the Muslim public.

Among immigrants in non-Muslim countries, it includes a feeling of a "growing universalistic Islamic identity" or transnational Islam, brought on by easier communications, media and travel. The revival has also been accompanied by an increased influence of fundamentalist preachers and terrorist attacks carried out by some radical Islamist groups on a global scale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_fundamentalism

[Anthea]

Human Rights in Islam

The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) is a declaration of the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) adopted in Cairo, Egypt, on 5 August 1990, which provides an overview on the Islamic perspective on human rights, and affirms Islamic sharia as its sole source. CDHRI declares its purpose to be "general guidance for Member States [of the OIC] in the field of human rights"

This declaration is widely acknowledged as an Islamic response to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948. It guarantees some, but not all, of the UDHR and serves as a living document of human rights guidelines prescribed for all members of the OIC to follow, but restricts them explicitly to the limits set by the sharia.

Because of this limit, the CDHRI has been criticized as an attempt to shield OIC member states from international criticism for human rights violations, as well as for failing to guarantee freedom of religion, justifying corporal punishment and allowing discrimination against non-Muslims and women.

Link to Full Article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Dec ... s_in_Islam

[Anthea]

Summary

Peaceful transfer of power to transitional government being prepared, acting interior minister says

The Taliban order their fighters to refrain from violence and allow safe passage for anyone wanting to leave

They say members of the Afghan security forces will be allowed to return to their homes

Eyewitnesses say the militants met little resistance along the way to the capital

The Taliban capture more territory, including the former US airbase at Bagram and the central Bamiyan province

[Anthea]

ISIS spread quickly due to local support

Much of that support was due treatment of Sunnis by the Shia government - the international community failed to protect the Sunni from Shia horrors such as the imprisonment, rape and torture of Sunni wives.

The forced segregation of Sunni and limited access to areas in Mosul by frequent road blocks and viloence

I will not mention the slaughter of thousands of innocents as the coalition liberated corpses as the internation community bombed Mosul to the ground

The Taliban

The Taliban's reason for re-taking control of Afghanistan, which had been under their control since 1996, is to get there country back

When the Taliban refused to hand over Bin Laden, the US decided Afghanistan needed a regime change and attacked and removed the Taliban from power

The press mentions among the horrors committed by the Taliban, is the hanging of 2 child kidnappers - no comment

Sharia Law

Islam forbids the playing of non-Islamic music - this is a well known FACT

• 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.

[Anthea]

Western Hypocrisy

I know a Western country that legally allows Sharia courts to control the rights of the Islamic population

A country where Islamic fundamentalism is on the increase and Islamic laws are becoming frighteningly stricter

A country where the many Muslim women live in fear of their husbands and other members of their community

A country where women are so controlled by their mosques and the Sharia courts that they believe they have no rights under the laws of the host country

THAT COUNTRY IS ENGLAND

[Anthea]

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has left the country bound for Tajikistan

A Taliban spokesman says their fighters have been ordered to enter the city to prevent looting

Earlier they were told to refrain from violence and allow safe passage for anyone wanting to leave the country

[Anthea]

Afghanistan: Why is there a war?

After 20 years of war, foreign forces are pulling out of Afghanistan following a deal between the US and the Taliban militants they removed from power back in 2001

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.

The Taliban have pledged not to allow Afghanistan to become a base for terrorists who could threaten the West.

But the country's hardline former rulers have quickly gained territory in recent weeks from Afghan army soldiers, who are now being left to protect a fragile government.

The Taliban also made a pledge for national peace talks, but many fear a worsening civil war remains a far more likely outcome.

Nevertheless, Joe Biden, the fourth US president to oversee what has become America's longest-ever war - one costing hundreds of billions of dollars - has set a symbolic date of 11 September 2021 for full withdrawal.

Why did the US fight a war in Afghanistan and why did it last so long?

Back in 2001, the US was responding to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. Officials identified Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, and its leader Osama Bin Laden, as responsible.

Bin Laden was in Afghanistan, under the protection of the Taliban, the Islamists who had been in power since 1996.

When they refused to hand him over, the US intervened militarily, quickly removing the Taliban and vowing to support democracy and eliminate the terrorist threat.

Nato allies had joined the US and a new Afghan government took over in 2004 but deadly Taliban attacks continued. President Barack Obama's "troop surge" in 2009 helped push back the Taliban but it was not long term.

In 2014, at the end of what was the bloodiest year since 2001, Nato's international forces ended their combat mission, leaving responsibility for security to the Afghan army.

That gave the Taliban momentum and they seized more territory.

Peace talks between the US and the Taliban started tentatively, with the Afghan government pretty much uninvolved, and the agreement on a withdrawal came in February 2020 in Qatar.

The US-Taliban deal did not stop the Taliban attacks - they switched their focus instead to Afghan security forces and civilians, and targeted assassinations. Their areas of control grew.

Who are the Taliban?

They emerged in the civil war that followed the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, predominantly in the south-west and the Pakistan border areas.

They vowed to fight corruption and improve security, but also followed an austere form of Islam.

By 1998, they had taken control of almost all of the country.

They enforced their own hardline version of Sharia, or Islamic law, and introduced brutal punishments. Men were made to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering burka. TV, music and cinema were banned.

After their overthrow they regrouped in Pakistani border areas.

With up to 85,000 full-time fighters, they are thought to be stronger now than at any point since 2001.

How costly has the war been?

In terms of lives lost, it is obviously not easy to say exactly. The number of coalition casualties is much better recorded than Taliban and Afghan civilians.

Research by Brown University estimates losses in the Afghan security forces at 69,000. It puts the number of civilians and militants killed at about 51,000 each.

More than 3,500 coalition soldiers have died since 2001 - about two-thirds of them Americans. More than 20,000 US soldiers have been injured.

According to the UN, Afghanistan has the third-largest displaced population in the world.

Since 2012, some five million people have fled and not been able to return home, either displaced within Afghanistan or taking refuge in neighbouring countries.

Brown University research also puts the US spending on the conflict - including military and reconstruction funds in both Afghanistan and Pakistan - at $978bn (£706bn) up to 2020.

But one US intelligence assessment in June concluded it could fall within six months of the military departure.

By early August the Taliban were in control of about half the country, according to research by the BBC and others.

The Afghan government disputed some of the militants' territorial claims - fierce fighting was going on in a number of key cities, and several were in the hands of the militants.

The US says it will keep 650 to 1,000 troops to guard the US embassy, Kabul airport, and other key government installations. The Taliban have said any remaining troops could be targeted.

The other major fear is the country once again becoming a training ground for terrorism.

Taliban officials insist that they will fully adhere to the deal and prevent any group from using Afghan soil as a base for attacks against the US and its allies.

They say they aim only to implement an "Islamic government" and will not pose a threat to any other country.

But many analysts say the Taliban and al-Qaeda are inseparable, with the latter's fighters heavily embedded and engaged in training activity.

It is important also to remember that the Taliban are not a centralised and unified force. Some leaders may want to keep the West muted by not stirring up trouble but hardliners may be reluctant to break links to al-Qaeda.

Just how powerful al-Qaeda is and whether it could now rebuild its global network is also unclear.

Then there is the regional branch of the Islamic State group - ISKP (Khorasan Province) - which the Taliban oppose.

Like al-Qaeda, ISKP has been degraded by the US and Nato but could use the post-withdrawal period to regroup.

Its fighter numbers could be only between a few hundred and 2,000 but it may try to gain footholds in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and parts of Tajikistan, which could be a serious regional concern.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49192495

[Anthea]

Taliban vows new era of peace

As the Taliban mass at the gates of Kabul, they are promising a new era of peace in Afghanistan, with amnesty for those they have been battling for two decades and a return to normal life

But Afghans who remember the Taliban’s brutal rule and those who have lived in areas controlled by the Islamic militants in recent years have watched with growing fear as the insurgents have overrun most of the country while international forces withdraw.

Government offices, shops and schools are still shuttered in areas recently captured by the Taliban, with many residents either lying low or fleeing to the capital, Kabul. But already there are indications of a return to the harsh version of Islamic rule Afghans lived under from 1996 until 2001, when the US drove the Taliban from power after the 9/11 attacks.

Many fear the Taliban will roll back two decades of gains by women and ethnic minorities while restricting the work of journalists and NGO workers. An entire generation of Afghans was raised on hopes of building a modern, democratic state — dreams that seem to have melted away before the Taliban’s relentless advance.

As the insurgents reached the capital early Sunday, a photo circulated on social media showing the owner of a beauty salon painting over posters depicting women. Young men raced home to change out of their jeans and tee-shirts and into the traditional shalwar kamiz outfit.

Shops, government offices and schools remain closed in cities seized by the Taliban in recent days, with residents staying indoors or fleeing to Kabul because of security fears. Many appeared to be lying low until they see what kind of order the militants impose.

A 25-year-old university graduate who works for a local NGO in the western city of Herat, which fell to the Taliban last week, said she hasn’t left home in weeks because of the fighting. From speaking with other residents, she said there were few if any women out on the streets, with even female doctors staying home until the situation is clearer.

“I can’t face Taliban fighters,” she said by phone from Herat, asking that her name not be used for fear of retribution. “I don’t have a good feeling about them. No one can change the Taliban’s stance against women and girls, they still want women to stay at home.”

She had planned to begin a master’s program this year at Herat University, where women make up more than half of the student body.

“I don’t think I would be ready to wear a burqa,” she said, referring to the all-encompassing blue robe women were forced to wear under Taliban rule. “I can’t accept it. I will fight for my rights, whatever happens.”

The Taliban have issued statements aimed at reassuring Afghans. They say there will be no revenge attacks on those who worked for the government or its security services, and that “life, property and honor” will be respected. They are urging Afghans to remain in the country and have pledged to create a “secure environment” for businesses, embassies, and foreign and local charities.

But some of their actions send a different message.

Last month, after capturing the Malistan district of the southern Ghazni province, Taliban fighters went door to door looking for people who had worked with the government, killing at least 27 civilians, wounding 10 others and looting homes, according to the semi-official Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

After capturing Herat, Taliban fighters paraded two alleged thieves through the streets with black makeup on their faces. That’s considered a warning, while repeat offenders risk having a hand cut off. The Taliban have also been known to stone suspected adulterers and carry out public executions in accordance with their harsh version of Islamic law.

During their earlier rule, the Taliban barred women from working outside the home or attending school. Women were required to wear the burqa and had to be accompanied by a male relative whenever they went outside.

These days, the Taliban leadership says it is open to women’s education, but rights groups say the rules vary depending on local commanders and the communities themselves. Afghanistan remains an overwhelmingly conservative country, especially outside major cities.

“The gap between official Taliban statements on rights and the restrictive positions adopted by Taliban officials on the ground indicates that the Taliban are far from an internal consensus on their own policies,” the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report last year.

One issue on which they seem to be in agreement is intolerance of dissent.

Human Rights Watch says the Taliban routinely threaten and detain journalists, particularly women and reporters who are critical of the group. The Taliban and the government blamed each other for a recent string of killings of journalists, some of which were claimed by the more radical Islamic State group.

On Friday, the Taliban commandeered a radio station in the southern city of Kandahar and renamed it the Voice of Sharia, or Islamic law. It’s unclear whether the insurgents purged the station’s employees or allowed them to return. But the station will no longer broadcast music, which is banned in Taliban-run regions.

The Taliban also closed a radio station in the southern Helmand province that offered women’s programming, but the insurgents said it was a temporary decision.

Fear is running especially high among the ethnic Hazara minority, Shiite Muslims who were persecuted by the Taliban and made major gains in education and social status over the past two decades. They are seen as having been deeply invested in the Western-backed government, which could open them up to reprisals following its demise.

In recent years, the Sunni extremists of the local Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate have carried out a wave of horrific attacks targeting Hazaras. An attack on a maternity ward last year killed 24 people, including mothers and their newborn babies.

The Taliban have condemned such attacks and engaged in turf wars with the ISIS affiliate. But it remains to be seen whether, once in power, the Taliban will crack down on such groups, which share some their ideology and include former Taliban fighters.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/world/16082021

[Anthea]

Iraqi army must focus on ISIS

In a meeting with military commanders on Tuesday to discuss the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, Iraq’s defence minister emphasized the need for well-trained, disciplined forces to combat a [b]surging Islamic State group (ISIS). Iraqi forces have carried out multiple operations against ISIS in the past few days[/b]

“Because of the regional situation and the recent developments in Afghanistan as well as the noticeable significant increase in ISIS activity, I decided to convene with the military commanders,” Iraqi Minister of Defense Jouma Anad said.

In their meeting, they emphasized Iraq’s forces need to be “highly prepared to fight, focused on discipline and military training, and to take caution,” he said following the meeting.

“Trained sectors have fewer losses than the untrained,” he added.

Afghan troops put up little to no resistance as the Taliban took control of the country over the past week, following the withdrawal of United States forces. Comparisons have been drawn with Iraq in 2014 when Iraqi forces melted away as ISIS seized control of much of the country’s north and west.

US forces, which returned to Iraq as part of the global coalition against ISIS, are formally shifting to an advisory and training role. US President Joe Biden, meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi last month, said that America’s combat mission in Iraq will be over by the end of the year.

Ahead of traveling to Washington, Kadhimi said Iraq can fight ISIS itself, but still needs some US support. "The Iraqi army still needs their forces for training. We need their support to our air force, and we need their intelligence support in the fight against ISIS," he said in an interview with the Saudi owned al-Hadath TV.

Iraqi Minister of Defense Jouma Anad, August 17, 2021. Photo: handout/Jouma Anad Twitter

ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, but the group remains a security threat carrying out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions. Iraq’s forces are carrying out operations against ISIS on multiple fronts.

Iraqi forces raided an ISIS hideout near Mosul, seizing explosives and other materials, the military’s Security Media Cell stated on Tuesday. The hideout was later blown up, it added.

The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) launched a new operation, called Ashura al-Karama (Dignity of Ashura), to clear out the group’s remnants in Diyala, according to state media. Ashura is a holy day for Shiite Muslims who traditionally make a pilgrimage to Iraq’s Karbala, the final resting place of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed there in 680 AD. Last week, the PMF discovered a stash of explosives intended for attacks on Ashura pilgrims.

Iraqi forces on Saturday morning launched a large-scale security operation to clear out ISIS remnants in northern Baghdad. A number of suspects were arrested and a suspected ISIS leader was killed in a raid on his home on Sunday.

Seven other ISIS militants were arrested in Nineveh province while two others were killed in Kirkuk.

The operations follow numerous ISIS attacks on the country's electricity grid, contributing to a blackout last month that left millions across central and southern Iraq without power.

In its propaganda magazine, ISIS claims to have carried out 134 attacks on electricity towers between June 6 and August 10. Its claimed activities have not decreased, despite Iraq’s security efforts, as the group said it carried out 33 attacks on power pylons in the last week alone.

ISIS is taking advantage of a security vacuum between federal Iraqi forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga along the border of the Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq. The two sides recently opened joint operation centres to increase cooperation in these areas and are in talks to form joint brigades.

The US-led coalition “has always supported the military integration & security cooperation between our ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] & Peshmerga," tweeted spokesperson Colonel Wayne Marotto on Tuesday.

He said this support "is a key step for achieving long-term stability. Together, we remain committed to deny Daesh [ISIS] remnants the means & opportunities to resurge."

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/170820212

[Anthea]

Summary:

The Taliban's top political leaders have landed back in Afghanistan from Qatar where many were in exile

Taliban militants give their first press conference, two days after completing their takeover of Afghanistan

Women will enjoy rights according to sharia [Islamic law], spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says

He says there's an amnesty on all who have worked for foreign powers - "no harm will be done"

Local reports say the streets of Kabul are quiet

Militants are out in force manning checkpoints across the city

Military flights evacuating diplomats and civilians have re-started at Kabul's airport

[Anthea]

What is Sharia law?

The Taliban say they will rule Afghanistan according to a strict interpretation of Islam's legal system called Sharia law

In the first press briefing after taking control in Kabul, a Taliban spokesman said issues such as the media and women's rights will be respected "within the framework of Islamic law", but the group has not yet provided any details of what that will mean in practice.

When they were last in power, the Taliban introduced or supported punishments such as public executions of convicted murderers and adulterers.

What is Sharia?

Sharia law is Islam's legal system. It is derived from both the Koran, Islam's central text, and fatwas - the rulings of Islamic scholars.

Sharia literally means "the clear, well-trodden path to water".

Sharia law acts as a code for living that all Muslims should adhere to, including prayers, fasting and donations to the poor.

It aims to help Muslims understand how they should lead every aspect of their lives according to God's wishes.

What does this mean in practice?

Sharia law decrees that men and women should dress modestly, although countries vary in how they interpret this

Sharia can inform every aspect of daily life for a Muslim.

For example, a Muslim wondering what to do if their colleagues invite them to the pub after work may turn to a Sharia scholar for advice to ensure they act within the legal framework of their religion.

Other areas of daily life where Muslims may turn to Sharia for guidance include family law, finance and business.

What are some of the tough punishments?

Sharia law divides offences into two general categories: "hadd" offences, which are serious crimes with set penalties, and "tazir" crimes, where the punishment is left to the discretion of the judge.

Hadd offences include theft, which can be punishable by amputating the offender's hand, and adultery, which can carry the penalty of death by stoning.

Some Islamic organisations have argued that there are many safeguards and a high burden of proof in the application of hadd penalties.

The UN has spoken out against death by stoning, saying it "constitutes torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and is thus clearly prohibited".

Not all Muslim countries adopt or enforce such punishments for hadd offences, and surveys have suggested attitudes of Muslims to harsh penalties for such offences vary widely.

Can Muslims be executed for converting?

Apostasy, or leaving the faith, is a very controversial issue in the Muslim world and experts say the majority of scholars believe it is punishable by death.

But a minority of Muslim thinkers, particularly those engaged with Western societies, argue that the reality of the modern world means the "punishment" should be left to God - and that Islam itself is not threatened by apostasy.

The Koran itself declares there is "no compulsion" in religion.

How are rulings made?

Like any legal system, Sharia is complex and its practice is entirely reliant on the quality and training of experts.

Islamic jurists issue guidance and rulings. Guidance that is considered a formal legal ruling is called a fatwa.

There are five different schools of Sharia law. There are four Sunni doctrines: Hanbali, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanafi, and one Shia doctrine, Shia Jaafari.

The five doctrines differ in how literally they interpret the texts from which Sharia law is derived.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-27307249

[Anthea]

Taliban on Free Speech

The Taliban spokesman on Tuesday mockingly responded to a question about whether their government would respect freedom of speech - telling the journalist to ask Facebook

The Taliban is banned from Facebook and its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as TikTok and YouTube - but it is allowed on Twitter.

Zabihullah Mujahid, who has 310,000 followers on Twitter, was asked about the Taliban's plan for freedom of speech.

'This question should be asked to those people who are claiming to be promoters of freedom of speech who do not allow publication of information,' he replied.

'I can ask Facebook company.'

Zabihullah Mujahid, pictured on Tuesday in Kabul at his first ever news conference, shrugged off questions about whether the Taliban would respect freedom of speech. He pointed out that Facebook blocks their content

Taliban spokesman attacks Facebook and Big Tech

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid answers press members questions as he holds a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan

Facebook and other social media companies have been criticized for censoring conservative figures such as Donald Trump, who has been blocked since the January 6 Capitol riot, in response to concerns about stirring up violence.

Mujahid's remarks were commended by Donald Trump Jr, who retweeted the 30-second video clip and said, 'LOL ... Also not wrong.'

A spokesman for Facebook said in a statement earlier in the day the company was going to continue banning content from the Taliban, citing the fact the State Department designated it as a terrorist group.

'The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organization under U.S. law, and we have banned them from our services under our Dangerous Organization policies,' the spokesman said.

'We also have a dedicated team of Afghanistan experts, who are native Dari and Pashto speakers and have knowledge of local context, helping to identify and alert us to emerging issues on the platform.'

Twitter has been criticized for allowing Taliban figures to remain active on their platform, but the company said they were monitoring the situation.

Twitter said in a statement that it will 'continue to proactively enforce our rules and review content that may violate Twitter rules, specifically policies against glorification of violence, platform manipulation and spam.'

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has had an active Twitter account since 2017

Trump was permanently banned from Twitter over the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6

Mujahid on Tuesday was asked what Taliban rule will look like.

He claimed 'there is a huge difference between us and the Taliban of 20 years ago', when female Afghans were beaten in the street or publicly executed, denied work, healthcare and an education, and barred from leaving home without a male chaperone.

During their press conference in the capital city, the Taliban insisted girls will receive an education and women will be allowed to study at university - both of which were forbidden under Taliban rule in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, before the US-led invasion.

The terror group also claimed they want women to be part of the new government after female Afghans staged a protest outside a local Taliban HQ in Khair Khana district, a suburb of north-west Kabul.

However, women and girls remain the most at risk under the new regime, with gangs in conquered areas allegedly hunting children as young as 12 and unmarried or widowed women they regard as spoils of war - 'qhanimat' - being forced into marriage or sex slavery.

The Taliban has also said women will have to wear hijabs but not burkas.

During the press conference on Tuesday, Mujahid did not detail what restrictions would be imposed on women, although he did say it would be a government with 'strong Islamic values'.

Mujahid claimed: 'We are committed to the rights of women under the system of Sharia. They are going to be working shoulder to shoulder with us. We would like to assure the international community that there will be no discrimination.'

The Taliban denied it was enforcing sex slavery, and claims that such actions are against Islam.

During the 1990s, the regime established religious police for the suppression of 'vice', and courts handed out extreme punishments including stoning to death women accused of adultery.

'We are going to decide what kind of laws will be presented to the nation,' said Mujahid.

'This will be the responsibility of the government with the participation of all people.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ts-US.html

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US invasion

In October 2001 the United States invasion of Afghanistan began and Karzai led tribes around Kandahar against the Taliban; he became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

During the December 2001 International Conference on Afghanistan in Germany, Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve a six-month term as chairman of the Interim Administration.

He was then chosen for a two-year term as interim president during the 2002 loya jirga (grand assembly) that was held in Kabul, Afghanistan. After the 2004 presidential election, Karzai was declared the winner and became President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

He won a second five-year term in the 2009 presidential election; this term ended in September 2014,[3] succeeded by Ashraf Ghani.

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Defeat was inevitable

In the spring of 1996, Owais Tohid, a well-known Pakistani journalist, travelled around Afghanistan speaking to Taliban fighters and commanders. The west didn’t understand them, they told him again and again. “Americans have the clocks,” a young Talib quoted Mullah Omar, “but we have the time.”

The United States and their Nato partners had technology and weapons, but the Taliban were fighting for their home. For all their sophistry, the west had no persistence. The west’s arrogance hasn’t changed much, no matter the case, they imagine that they can land their military might on top of a political terrain and forever transform it. But violence has never worked, not once, in all the United States’ misadventures – it didn’t work in Vietnam, Laos, Korea, Iraq, Syria, Libya or Afghanistan.

The Vietnamese believed the same thing during their war with the United States: as long as we persist, we win. Ho Chi Minh said: “You can kill 10 of my men for every one I kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.” Persistence. The Vietnamese and the Taliban controlled time, and ultimately victory, because the idea of home will always be a stronger force than military might, technology or violence.

Occupiers can only have temporary power, eventually they have to leave. They have to go back somewhere. But men fighting for their home cannot be defeated. You give them no choice, they have to fight you. They have nowhere else to go, nowhere to retreat to.

This is a lesson the feverish colonisers of the west cannot seem to learn: the concept of home, not violence, is how wars are won. The west’s profound misunderstanding of Islam – and proud refusal to learn anything about it as they launched wars all over the Muslim world over the last two decades – coupled with this ignorance is what made defeat in Afghanistan inevitable.

Kabul’s fall to the Taliban is a horrific event, one that augurs more horrors to come. The United States betrayed the Afghans it protected, particularly women and girls, by promising them a Taliban-free future that it could never fulfill.

What is unfolding in Afghanistan is so tragic that it ought to represent the worst possible outcome. And yet, one alternative was worse still: continuing the US war effort. That would have meant sending more US service members to kill and be killed for the sole purpose of slowing the Afghan government’s defeat. Such a course would have hurt Americans without ultimately helping Afghans. For Joe Biden, it was unacceptable. Biden made a correct and important decision to withdraw US ground troops, even though the immediate humanitarian impact has been even worse than anticipated.

For most of the two-decade conflict, the United States fought an unnecessary war for an unachievable objective.

It aimed to build a centralized, western-style state in a country that had no such thing, and it tried to make that state, despite being dependent on external support, somehow become independent. The swift collapse of the Afghan security forces confirms what the administration had concluded: no further amount of time or effort would have produced a substantially better result.

For Americans, a first step – essential to avoiding future disasters – is to come to terms with defeat instead of indulging the fantasy that somehow, in some way, an unwinnable war could have been won.

David Vine: This was a corrupt war to its core

Since it invaded Afghanistan, the US has fueled corruption in Afghanistan through CIA and military deliveries of bags of cash to Afghan power brokers and a system of bribes to ensure US troops remained fed and supplied. Absurdly, the US government has spent billions paying the Taliban not to attack convoys supplying troops sent to fight the Taliban.

The vast majority of the $2.3tn the US government has spent or obligated for the war has gone not to Afghans – corrupt or otherwise – but to US military contractors (and those who bought US debt): a reported 80–90% of US outlays ended up back in the US as a “massive wealth transfer” from taxpayers to firms in the military industrial complex, which have seen their profits and stock prices skyrocket.

Beyond President Eisenhower’s worst nightmares, the military industrial complex has become defined by spiraling expenditures, fraud, and contracts lacking incentives to control costs. To keep the funding flow­ing, contractors have paid Washington DC lobbyists millions and made millions more in campaign contributions to Congress members who have inflated military budgets beyond cold war highs.

The military industrial complex has become a system of largely legalized corruption revolving around entrenched incentives to wage endless war for financial and political gain. If we don’t end this system and the corrupting belief that war is a legitimate and useful policy tool, the United States will keep fighting endless wars.

David Vine is Professor of Anthropology at American University in Washington, DC. Vine is the director of the American University Public Anthropology Clinic and a board member of Brown University’s Costs of War Project. The views expressed here are Vine’s alone

Shadi Hamid: ‘Biden saw Afghanistan as a nuisance’

Joe Biden was dealt a bad hand on Afghanistan. But instead of modifying the withdrawal timeline or ensuring close military-to-military coordination with the Afghan government, he saw Afghanistan as a nuisance to be done away with as soon as possible. After all, he had been complaining about American involvement since Barack Obama’s first term, when as vice-president he favored a near exclusive focus on counter-terrorism operations against al-Qaida.

It is little surprise, then, that Biden and his top aides seemed indifferent as the Taliban marched toward Kabul. This wasn’t their fight. Indifference is one thing. Cruelty is another. In his speech on Monday, Biden showed his trademark stubbornness, refusing to admit fault or responsibility. Moreover, he blamed Afghans for lacking the will to fight for their own future, despite over 60,000 Afghan military and security forces having perished in precisely that fight over 20 years.

It may be tempting to dismiss this as an unfortunate but understandable logistical failure. If only. Optics matter. Narratives matter. Is this how America treats its friends and allies when it grows tired of them? This is the question on minds of officials in foreign capitals everywhere. As Politico Europe reported, “Even those who cheered Biden’s election and believed he could ease the recent tensions in the transatlantic relationship said they regarded the withdrawal from Afghanistan as nothing short of a mistake of historic magnitude.” Even if this isn’t how European officials and others should interpret Biden’s nonchalance, they are perceiving it nonetheless. And perceptions – or misperceptions – have a way of creating new, darker realities.

Shadi Hamid is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World

Moira Donegan: ‘Neocons used women’s suffering for the invasion’

In the weeks and months after 9/11, all sorts of justifications were proposed for the predetermined invasion of Afghanistan. One of the pretexts on offer was the Taliban’s treatment of women, which, before the American intervention, was indeed brutal and tyrannical. The neoconservative elite then in power used Afghan women’s suffering as a moral shield, claiming that feminists should back the invasion.

It was a cynical bit of PR, though it did succeed in persuading some American feminists to wave the flag. In practice, the neoconservatives largely ignored the feminist movement’s substantive concerns in Afghanistan, and actively worked against their goals domestically. Their commitment to women’s rights was always a matter of pretense, not principle.

Now, after the spectacular failure of the American occupation and the return of Taliban rule, feminists have become a convenient scapegoat for the invasion. Renewed feminist concerns about the Taliban’s violent oppression of women are being cast as imperialist, rather than humanitarian – a point of view that ignores the perspectives of Afghan women themselves, who have been vocal about their alarm. Meanwhile, the politicians who were actually responsible for the invasion have faced no accountability, or even had their reputations rehabilitated.

But where western feminists do bear responsibility is in their failure to comprehend Afghan women’s oppression as related to, though different from, their own. In discussions of the Taliban, western feminists tended to exoticize the group’s culturally specific forms of male supremacy (notably, the enforced burka) rather than emphasizing the connections between the Taliban’s logic of misogyny and that professed by women’s oppressors in the west, including those who perpetrated the 2001 invasion. If western feminists want to build a truly global feminist movement, they will need to approach their Afghan counterparts with solidarity, not paternalism.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

Haroun Dada: ‘Life for Kabul’s elite wasn’t the same as rural Afghans’

Before westerners succumb once again to labeling rural Afghans regressive for indifference or support of the Taliban, we must acknowledge how disrespect for the sanctity of life across Afghanistan’s countryside helped generate this sentiment.

When analyzing the US and the Ghani administration’s failures and the Taliban’s success, it is critical that we understand rural Afghans’ victimhood at the hands of US and Nato forces. These forces maimed, tortured and killed rural Afghans, their limbs collected for sport. They went so far as to define innocent, teenage boys as “enemy combatants” to justify their crimes and falsify statistics.

But in addition to understanding the US and Nato forces’ war crimes, we must understand why capital and democratic processes rarely reached rural Afghans. This will allow us to understand why it was that they could so easily undermine the Ghani administration’s legitimacy.

Ghani did not represent Afghanistan – 923,592 Afghans, that’s 2.5% of the population, voted for him. Only 4.75% of the population felt engaged and/or safe enough to even vote in the last election.

Furthermore, Kabul and other Afghan cities are not representative of where Afghans live – 28 million of the total 38 million Afghans live in rural areas. The urban elite are not representative of Afghans – 80% of Afghans rely on rain-fed agriculture and cattle-grazing for their incomes.

Appalling levels of economic, social and political inequality persist between urban and rural Afghans. This inequality is a known fact; it only took the Taliban, in a manner similar to communists in the 1970s, to exploit it and overthrow Ghani’s administration.

As we reflect on the war in Afghanistan, it’s crucial that we incorporate the urban-rural divide, which considers class, ethnicity and other socio-economic factors, into our understanding and assessment of the current state of Afghanistan – the Taliban already do.

Haroun Dada is an Afghan American based in Chicago. He currently works as a management consultant

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... fghanistan