UNICEF Queries Taliban Over Reported Ban of Global Education Aid
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) sought clarification from the Taliban over reports that international aid organizations could be banned from supporting education projects in the country; this could prevent more than five hundred thousand children, including over three hundred thousand girls, from getting an education (Reuters)
Also today, an explosion at a mosque in northern Afghanistan at the funeral of a deputy governor, whose death the Islamic State claimed responsibility for, killed eleven and injured thirty (Reuters)
Taliban Successfully Cracks Down on Opium Production
A U.K. firm estimates that production will fall more than 80 percent compared to 2022 levels, which farmers fear will leave their communities hungry due to the loss of income (BBC)
Suspected Poisoning of Schoolgirls and Teachers in Northern Sar-i-Pul Province
Eighty-nine schoolgirls and their teachers were hospitalized with respiratory and neurological symptoms in a suspected incident of poisoning at two girls’ schools over the weekend, officials said (NYT)
Taliban Leader Meets With Qatar Prime Minister
Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada held secret talks with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani earlier this month regarding international concern over the Taliban’s bans on womens’ education and employment, Reuters reported (Reuters)
China Urges Taliban to Change Policies on Women, Extremism
China’s foreign ministry called on Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to more seriously combat extremism and reform policies blocking women from education and public life; China previously raised concerns that Afghanistan is harboring separatists opposed to Chinese control of the autonomous Xinjiang region (AP)
Afghan, Pakistani Governments Agree to Cooperate on Trade, Security
Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government yesterday agreed to boost bilateral trade and improve security along their countries’ shared border (AP)
Meanwhile, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan called on the Taliban to end its use of corporal punishment; Afghanistan has publicly flogged two hundred and seventy-four men, fifty-eight women, and two boys in the past six months (UN News)
U.S. Watchdog: Taliban Harassing NGOs in Afghanistan
Taliban officials are harassing humanitarian workers in the country and interfering with their operations, a U.S. government watchdog said in a new report (AP)
UN Clears Taliban Foreign Minister for Travel to Pakistan
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has long been banned from international travel due to UN Security Council sanctions, but a Security Council committee said he can meet with his Chinese and Pakistani counterparts in Pakistan next week; the subject of the meeting was not immediately announced (Reuters)
UN Chief Holds Doha Meeting on Afghanistan
UN Secretary-General António Guterres is in Doha, Qatar, to host a two-day meeting on international engagement in Afghanistan; he will hold discussions on women’s and girls’ rights, terrorism, and drug trafficking, among other issues (UN News)
UN Security Council Condemns Taliban’s Ban on Women UN Employees
The fifteen-member Security Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for the immediate reversal of the ban, which the Taliban implemented earlier this month (UN News)
Taliban Kills ISIS-K Leader Who Directed 2021 Kabul Airport Bombing
Taliban forces killed a senior leader of the Islamic State in Khorasan, a group also known as ISIS-K, who had orchestrated the deadly 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul International Airport, a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson said; the spokesperson did not say when the killing occurred (CNN)
Pentagon Assessment Finds Afghanistan is Base for Terrorism Planning
The self-declared Islamic State is again using Afghanistan to coordinate plans for attacks across Asia and Europe, according to leaked U.S. military documents that were posted to the social platform Discord in recent weeks (WaPo)
Inspector General Claims U.S. Aid May End Up in Taliban Hands
The U.S. inspector general for Afghanistan said during a congressional hearing yesterday that U.S. agencies are blocking his ability to supervise aid flows to Afghanistan, meaning he cannot guarantee that U.S. funds are not going to the Taliban (NYT)
UN: Taliban Must Remove Restrictions on Women Working
According to the head of the UN Development Program, if the Taliban refuses to allow local women to work for the organization, the UN is prepared to make the “heartbreaking” decision to leave Afghanistan in May; UN officials are currently negotiating with the Taliban and hoping for an edict this month (AP)
A UN report revealed that Afghanistan needs women to aid its recovering economy; if restrictions on women working remain, any progress risks being undone (BBC)
Afghan Religious Scholars Speak Out Against Ban on Girls’ Education
In a rare rebuke of Taliban policies, two religious scholars who are well known in Afghanistan criticized the group’s ban on women attending school beyond the sixth grade (AP)
White House Report: Trump Administration Carries Blame for 2021 Afghanistan Pullout
A report on the U.S. military’s controversial exit from Afghanistan said that preparations for the withdrawal should have begun sooner and that President Donald Trump’s administration “severely constrained” his successor’s options for executing the pullout (NPR)
Taliban Forbid Women From Working With UN
The Taliban ordered women to stop working for the UN mission in Afghanistan, a spokesperson for the UN secretary-general said (UN News)
Taliban Raid on Islamic State Kills Six
The Taliban said their forces in Balkh Province killed six fighters from the Islamic State in Khorasan, a local offshoot of the self-declared Islamic State (AP)
Taliban Detaining Three British Citizens
The Taliban are holding three British citizens, including a charity worker, in their custody, an aid group from the United Kingdom (UK) said; the UK’s foreign ministry is working to make contact with the detainees (Al Jazeera)
Earthquake Near Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Kills at Least Twelve
The quake in northeastern Afghanistan also injured more than two hundred people (BBC)
UN Food Agency Forced to Cut Rations
The World Food Program announced cuts to life-saving assistance due to funding constraints, leaving at least four million people receiving half of what is needed (UN News)
Blast Kills One in Balkh Province
According to a Taliban police spokesman, an explosion killed one in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province during an award ceremony for journalists and wounded eight others (Al Jazeera)
IS Attacks Senior Taliban Governor
The Islamic State in Khorasan claimed responsibility for an attack that killed the governor of Balkh Province yesterday (AP)
Young Afghan Women Protest Outside Kabul University
A report by the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan said that the Taliban’s prohibitions on girls’ schooling could amount to a crime against humanity (CNN)
Inspector General: Poor Planning Led to Collapse of Western-Backed Government
Poor planning ahead of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and years of inadequate oversight of U.S. military aid to the country contributed to the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed government in August 2021, a new report from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found (WaPo)
The UN Deputy Special Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan said that Afghanistan is the “world’s largest humanitarian crisis in 2023” (UN News)
Meanwhile, a spokesman said Taliban forces killed two senior regional members of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan during separate operations (AP)