Taliban Boycott UN Meeting on Afghanistan in Rift Over Conditions
The Taliban skipped a UN-organized meeting on humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan after the United Nations rejected demands they made on the conditions of the meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said yesterday; these included the exclusion of Afghan civil society representatives from the talks (AP)
The two-day meeting had meant to offer a dialogue with the Taliban without officially recognizing them as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers (Al Jazeera)
World Bank Announces Mechanism to Send Funds to Afghanistan
The bank will channel around $300 million through UN agencies and other international organizations, bypassing the Taliban government, to support basic needs such as food, health, and water; it marks the first time the bank has sent its own money to Afghanistan since the Taliban took power in 2021 (Reuters)
Foreign Aid Reduction Cripples Public Health System in Afghanistan
A report by Human Rights Watch indicated that the Afghan population faces a severe healthcare crisis due to the significant decrease in foreign aid and continued abuses by the Taliban, disproportionately affecting women and girls (AP)
Pakistani Security Forces Kill Militants Near Afghanistan Border
Pakistani security forces killed seven militants during an intelligence-based operation conducted in Zhob district in Baluchistan province (AP)
UN Voices Concern Over Series of Arbitrary Arrests of Women and Girls
The arrests were for alleged violations of the Taliban government’s headscarf policy that had occurred since January 1 (AP)
Taliban Government Closes Shelters for Women Fleeing Domestic Violence
A new UN report said the Taliban is instead sending women to prison if they have no male relatives or those male relatives are considered unsafe; Taliban officials did not respond to a request for comment about where women seeking refuge from gender-based violence should go (AP)
Humanitarian Concerns Arise Over Afghanistan’s Exclusion from COP28
2023 is the third year in a row that the country has been left out of international climate negotiations, as the Taliban does not hold a seat at the United Nations; Afghanistan’s absence has raised concerns as it deals with drought, food insecurity, and other problems exacerbated by climate change (Reuters)
HRW: Taliban Education Policies Are Harming Boys as Well as Girls
The Taliban’s discriminatory measures against women and girls’ education in Afghan schools, such as firing female teachers, increasing corporal punishment, and regressing the curriculum, are jeopardizing education for boys as well as girls, Human Rights Watch said in a new report
Ambassador of Afghanistan’s Taliban Government Arrives in china
It is the first time the Taliban have sent an ambassador to another country since they returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021; while no country recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government, some countries such as China have an embassy in Kabul (AP)
More Than 400,000 Afghans Have Left Pakistan in Migrant Crackdown
Pakistan also canceled a special permit system for the border town of Chaman, requiring residents to acquire visas to cross into Afghanistan; the decision prompted protests, as many people do business and have relatives in Spin Boldak, just across the border (AP)
Online Abuse of Politically Active Afghan Women More Than Tripled Last Year
Between June and December of 2022, the frequency was 217 percent higher than during the same period in 2021, watchdog group Afghan Witness said; the Taliban has banned women from most areas of public life since taking over Afghanistan in August 2021 (AP)
UN: Opium Poppy Cultivation Plunges in Afghanistan
Cultivation of the plant dropped an estimated 95 percent following an April 2022 drug ban by the Taliban government, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); the director of the UNODC said the shift was an opportunity to build toward sustained results against the illegal opium market, but warned that Afghan farmers need alternative sources of income
Aid Workers: Taliban Response to Earthquakes Falling Short
Critics of the regime say its relief efforts following a series of deadly earthquakes over the last two weeks are falling short due to a lack of equipment and expertise (NPR)
U.S. Report Says Taliban Benefits from International Aid Through Fraudulent NGOs
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report alleged the Taliban have set up fraudulent NGOs and infiltrated or coerced existing NGOs to obtain and direct international aid (AP)
Taliban Apply to China’s Belt and Road Initiative
The group’s commerce minister said they were engaging in technical talks to join the infrastructure lending program (Reuters)
UN Food Aid Program Appeals for $19 Million for Earthquake-Hit Afghanistan
A series of recent earthquakes in Afghanistan are drawing down UN World Food Program funds after food aid was already reduced in the country earlier this year due to a lack of financing; the program is now working to provide emergency food assistance to 100,000 people in the region (AP)
Earthquake Hits Western Afghanistan Days After Previous Earthquake
The 6.3-magnitude quake injured more than one hundred people, health officials said; it came just days after a major earthquake killed more than one thousand people in the country (BBC)
Earthquake in Western Afghanistan Kills Over Two Thousand People
Officials from Afghanistan’s Taliban government said more than 1,240 others were wounded in the quake and aftershocks that struck the province of Herat, with expectations that the number will grow; UN agencies dispatched aid supplies, but international aid groups have said their ability to respond is limited by the Taliban (CNN)
Taliban Slams Pakistan’s Announcement That Undocumented Afghan Migrants Must Leave
Pakistani officials said that an estimated 1.7 million Afghans must leave the country by November 1 or face forced expulsion, an ultimatum the Afghan Taliban called “unacceptable;” Pakistan’s interior minister said undocumented Afghans carried out more than half of the suicide bombings in Pakistan this year (Reuters)
Meanwhile, the Taliban government is seeking Japanese investment in its mining sector; Japan’s envoy to Afghanistan met with a Taliban official in Qatar, and the Taliban signed seven mining contracts totaling $6.5 billion with firms in China, Iran, and Turkey (Nikkei)
Afghan Embassy in New Delhi Closes
Running out of personnel and resources, without a recognized government in Kabul, and lacking support from India, the embassy announced it would cease all but emergency consular services (AP)
Russia Hosts Taliban, Promises to Continue Aid
Officials from both countries met in Kazan, Russia, to discuss regional threats, where Russia promised to continue providing support but said Western countries should bear the burden of Afghanistan’s reconstruction (AP)
Reuters: Taliban Weighing U.S. Surveillance Plan
Afghanistan’s Taliban government is considering installing a camera surveillance network in cities across the country that would repurpose a plan designed by the United States before its 2021 departure, Reuters reports; the Taliban have also met with Chinese technology giant Huawei over potential cooperation (Reuters)
UN: Eighteen People Have Died in Prison Under Taliban Authority In Last Nineteen Months
The UN Mission to Afghanistan recorded over 1,600 incidents of rights violations against people detained by the Taliban (Reuters)
International Assistance Mission and United Nations Working to Free Eighteen Staffers
The eighteen staffers, including one international worker, were taken by Taliban authorities to Kabul, the nonprofit said Saturday (DW, AP, AFP)
Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Crossing Reopens After Closing Over Cross Fire
The Torkham border crossing had been closed for nine days after security forces from both countries exchanged fire; relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban government have been tense due to Pakistani allegations that Afghanistan is supporting the Pakistani Taliban (Al Jazeera)