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Violent Extremism in South Asia

Afghanistan Grapples With Growing Food Crisis

  • The country’s food crisis threatens millions of Afghans living on minimal daily food intake as Washington’s ninety-day freeze on foreign aid risks worsening the crisis (Reuters)

Trump’s Suspension of Foreign Aid Pauses Travel Plans for Forty Thousand Afghans Approved for Special Immigrant Visas

  • Most are in Afghanistan, while some are in Albania, Pakistan, and Qatar (Reuters)

ICC Seeks Arrest of Taliban Officials for ‘Persecuting Afghan Girls and Women’

  • International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan applied for warrants to arrest the Taliban’s top leader and top judicial official, warning additional applications were forthcoming; an ICC probe found them criminally responsible for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds—targeting women, their perceived allies, and LGBTQ+ people—in Afghanistan from the day they took over in August 2021, Khan said (ICC)
  • Women’s rights activists inside and outside the country celebrated the application; a three-judge ICC panel will now decide whether to approve the warrants (Reuters)
  • Since the Taliban took back power in Afghanistan, they have issued over eighty directives limiting women’s rights, stripping them of freedoms to study, travel, and participate in public life (The Guardian)
  • The Taliban foreign ministry today rejected Khan’s accusations, calling them “politically motivated” (AFP)
  • These are the first warrants the court has sought in Afghanistan since opening an investigation into potential war crimes there in 2007 (Al Jazeera)

Trump’s Immediate Freeze on U.S. Foreign Aid Programs Supporting Women and Girls in Afghanistan

  • The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council called the cuts “disastrous” as Washington is currently the largest donor to those projects (Reuters)

Two Americans Freed in Prisoner Swap, Taliban Says

  • Two U.S. citizens were exchanged for Khan Mohammed, a Taliban figure previously jailed on terrorism charges in California, the Taliban’s foreign ministry said; the family of Ryan Corbett, an American who had been held by the Taliban, said he was freed, while unnamed U.S. officials told media outlets that U.S. citizen William McKenty was also released (AP)
  • Before leaving office, Biden said he urged the Taliban to also release George Glezmann and Mahmoud Habibi and for the Trump administration to continue efforts to free them (CNN)

India Opens Diplomatic Relations With the Taliban

  • Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met with Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities in Qatar, where both parties discussed strengthening bilateral economic and political cooperation; this comes as Afghanistan-Pakistan relations continue to worsen (BBC)

Biden Talks to Families of Americans Held in Afghanistan

  • U.S. President Joe Biden spoke yesterday to the families of Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann, and Mahmood Habibi about efforts to bring them home from Afghanistan. The Taliban publicly denies holding Habibi, but is considering a proposal to release the three men in exchange for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, a high-profile detainee that the United States is holding in Guantánamo Bay (Reuters)

Biden Talks to Families of Americans Held in Afghanistan

  • U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to the families of Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann, and Mahmood Habibi about efforts to bring them home from Afghanistan; the Taliban publicly denies holding Habibi, but is considering a proposal to release the three men in exchange for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, a high-profile detainee that the United States is holding in Guantánamo Bay, unnamed sources told Reuters (Reuters)

Report: Biden Administration in Talks With Taliban Over Prisoner Swap

  • The Joe Biden administration is considering a potential trade involving a high-profile Guantánamo Bay detainee accused of being a senior al-Qaeda aide and three Americans detained in Afghanistan in 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported citing unnamed sources; the Taliban did not comment, while a National Security Council spokesperson said the administration is working to ensure the safe return of the Americans (WSJ)

Air Strikes, Cross-Border Exchanges Reflect Afghanistan-Pakistan Tensions

  • Multiple rounds of cross-border fighting have broken out following Pakistan’s December 24 air strikes into Afghanistan (Al Jazeera)
  • Unnamed Pakistani officials told the New York Times that their attacks targeted members of the Pakistani Taliban; Islamabad has said the group is sheltering in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan (NYT)

Saudia Arabia Revamps Operations at Diplomatic Mission in Kabul

  • Riyadh aims to provide services to the Afghan people, the embassy said; Saudi diplomats had previously withdrawn from the country over the Taliban takeover in 2021 (AFP)

Blast Kills Taliban Minister for Refugees in Kabul

  • A group affiliated with the self-declared Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement carried on an ISIS-linked news agency; the minister was the highest-profile Taliban official killed since the group’s 2021 takeover of Afghanistan (AP)

Lower House of Russian Legislature Approves Bill to Remove Taliban From Terrorist List

  • The move is the first of three required votes and puts Russia closer to officially recognizing Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which would make it the first country to do so (Newsweek)

UN Slams Taliban Ban on Women in Medical Classes

  • The UN human rights office condemned a ban on women receiving private medical education in Afghanistan, saying it “puts the lives of women and girls at risk in multiple ways;” Afghanistan already has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates (UN News)

UN: Taliban Has Arbitrarily Detained Journalists 256 Times Since Taking Over Afghanistan in 2021

  • The Taliban denied arresting that many journalists and said its detentions were lawful (Reuters)

UN Agencies Planning to Channel Initial $19 Million in New International Climate Funding to Afghanistan

  • This is the first time funds would be disbursed since the Taliban took over; the UN agencies themselves would administer the climate projects in the country (Reuters)
  • The Taliban sent observers to the annual climate talks in Baku for the first time (NPR)

Taliban Wants ‘New Chapter’ of Relations With Trump Administration

  • A top official in Afghanistan’s Taliban government told Bloomberg it seeks a fresh start to relations, including the unfreezing of some $9 billion of frozen foreign exchange reserves (Bloomberg)
  • As the Taliban works to get international recognition for its pariah government, it held official talks with India last week and sent a delegation to the ongoing UN climate summit for the first time (TNN, AP)

Afghanistan, Pakistan Launch New Polio Vaccination Drives as Cases Grow

  • Pakistan has seen forty-one cases this year and Afghanistan has seen twenty-three, up from six cases in each country in 2023, the World Health Organization said; violence, misinformation, and government delays have slowed vaccination campaigns this year, but new pushes began today (VOA)

China to Offer Tariff-Free Trade to Taliban

  • While China has not formally recognized the Taliban’s government, Afghanistan exported $64 million worth of goods to China last year, nearly 90 percent of them pine nuts; Taliban officials have said they want to export more minerals (Reuters)

Use of Afghan Airspace Increases Amid Middle East Tensions

  • Airlines operating between Asia and Europe have increasingly diverted flight paths to Afghanistan ahead of an expected Israeli ballistic missile attack on Iran; the increase follows an EASA warning for international airlines to avoid flying over Iran (Reuters)

Countries Launch Gender Discrimination Proceedings Against Afghanistan

  • The push announced yesterday by Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands could result in the Taliban being taken to the International Court of Justice over gender discrimination; if negotiations fail, the case could be the first of its kind to go to the Hague (AFP)

Gun Attack in Central Afghanistan Kills Several Civilians

  • The self-declared Islamic State claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack, while unnamed local sources told RFE/RL that at least twelve people had been killed and some wounded (AFP, RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi)

Unspecified Number of Current and Former Australian Commanders Stripped of Medals Over War Crimes Allegations

  • The action came after an Australian military investigation into reports of the unlawful killings of thirty-nine Afghans between 2005 and 2016; Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said this was not a suggestion that the commanders knew what happened, but that unit commanders “accept the responsibility of that unit in terms of what failings occur” (AP)

Suicide Bombing in Kabul Kills At Least Six People

  • At least six people were killed and thirteen injured in an explosion in Kabul yesterday, Taliban authorities said; police determined it was a suicide attack, but no group immediately claimed responsibility (RFE/RL Radio Azadi)

UAE Become Second Country After China to Accept Credentials of Taliban Ambassador

  • The United Arab Emirates said it aims to build “bridges” to help the people of Afghanistan through both reconstruction projects and “regional de-escalation and stability,” an unnamed Emirati official said (AFP)