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☆ Thousands of Afghans escaped the Taliban with the help of private veteran groups. Today, many remain in limbo in the UAE
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Haley Britzky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

Several thousand were brought there by the State Department directly from Kabul and have since been relocated to the US or Canada. Consequently, thousands of Afghans evacuated by private groups were left in a legal limbo with seemingly no clear path to the US – or anywhere else. It was unclear whether that documentation is sufficient for what the State Department has required. The first two groups were evacuated from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in August 2021 by both the State Department and private groups working independently. In her responses to CNN, Tekach said the State Department “had limited information” about refugees who came on those separate flights.

☆ US Special Operations Command's workhorse helicopter is getting upgrades to replace parts that are nearly 50 years old
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

US special operators rely on their variant, the MH-47, for missions at night and behind enemy lines. As such, the US special-operations community's workhorse helicopter is getting upgrades to replace parts that are nearly 50 years old. US Army Special Operations Command has used Chinooks for several decades. Early versions had modifications for special operations. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, nicknamed "the Night Stalkers," is the cream of the crop when it comes to US military aviation.

☆ UN Security Council set to condemn Taliban crackdown on Afghan women
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

UNITED NATIONS, April 26 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Thursday to condemn a ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations in Afghanistan and call upon the Taliban administration to "swiftly reverse" its crackdown on the rights of women and girls. The draft resolution says the ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations "undermines human rights and humanitarian principles." Earlier this month the Taliban began enforcing the ban on Afghan women working for the U.N. after stopping most women working for humanitarian aid groups in December. The Taliban says it respects women's rights in accordance with its strict interpretation of Islamic law. The draft resolution also stresses "the critical importance" of the United Nations's continued presence across Afghanistan.

☆ 'I screamed so loud, I blacked out': Afghans tell of the Taliban's return to their old torture playbook
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Zahid Mahmood | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

"There were about 12 Taliban members surrounding me, they tied me to a chair and started beating me from all sides," Zafri told CNN. He added: "I screamed so loud, I blacked out because of the trauma." Fereshta Abbasi, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, told CNN that, since the Taliban's comeback, a local journalist told her how bleak the media landscape is, threatening free speech. "Freedom of speech and media in Afghanistan was one of the country's biggest achievements, which has now unfortunately gone." Meanwhile, Zafri remains stuck in Afghanistan despite repeated attempts to leave following his detention and torture by the Taliban.

☆ UN predicts Afghan economy would contract if aid drops 30%
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Charlotte Greenfield | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 18 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's economy will contract, inflation will rise and liquidity will fall if there is a 30% drop in international aid as feared, according to an analysis by the United Nations' development agency released on Tuesday. International officials say aid to Afghanistan, the recipient of the world's largest humanitarian program, will drop sharply this year as donors assess global crises and because of restrictions on female aid workers imposed by the Taliban administration. The United Nations' Development Programme (UNDP) analysed the impact of a 30% drop in aid and found gross domestic product for the already struggling economy would shrink 0.4% this year. "We may find ourselves in a larger drop in aid than 30%," said Al Dardari. Taliban officials have said their decisions on female aid workers are an "internal issue" and that foreign governments should reduce restrictions and unfreeze central bank assets to alleviate the economic crisis.

☆ Taliban ban on Afghan women working for U.N. an 'internal' issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A group of women wearing burqas crosses the street as members of the Taliban drive past in Kabul, Afghanistan October 9, 2021. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File PhotoKABUL, April 12 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban administration has said forbidding Afghan women from working for the United Nations was an "internal issue," after the global organisation expressed alarm at the decision and said it would review its operations there. On Tuesday, the U.N. Mission to Afghanistan said the Taliban administration would be responsible for any negative humanitarian impacts stemming from the ban. Taliban authorities in December said most Afghan female NGO workers would not be allowed to work. The U.N. humanitarian agency has said a huge funding plan for Afghanistan for 2023 is less than 5% funded.

☆ Taliban aim to boost Afghan security forces, anti-aircraft capacity -army chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Mohammad Yunus Yawar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In his remarks on Tuesday, Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat, a Taliban commander from the northern region of Badakhshan and the chief of army staff, condemned incursions by foreign drones into Afghan airspace. Fitrat said a major defence focus was securing Afghan airspace against drones and other incursions. He also stopped short of naming Pakistan, against which the Taliban administration has regularly protested, accusing its neighbour of allowing drones to enter Afghanistan. Ties between the neighbours have occasionally been tense as as Pakistan has accused the Taliban administration of allowing Afghan territory to be used as a haven for militant groups. The Taliban administration denies allowing its territory to be used for attacks on others, however.

UNITED NATIONS/KABUL, April 5 (Reuters) - U.N. chief Antonio Guterres condemned on Wednesday a ban by Afghanistan's Taliban authorities on Afghan women working for the United Nations, calling it "an intolerable violation of the most basic human rights" that should be immediately revoked. The United Nations has told some 3,300 Afghan staff - of which about 400 are female - not to report to their offices until further notice for security reasons. "Banning Afghan women from working with the U.N. in Afghanistan is an intolerable violation of the most basic human rights," Guterres posted on Twitter. Top U.N. officials in Kabul met with the Acting Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi on Wednesday after the Taliban authorities signaled on Tuesday that they would enforce a ban on Afghan women working for the world body. So far it is only 5% funded and the United Nations says nearly three-quarters of the country's 40 million people need help.

After nearly two decades of Western-led intervention and engagement with the world, 18% of the population had internet access, according to the World Bank. "For girls in Afghanistan, we have a bad, awful internet problem," Sofia said. "It's too hard to access internet in Afghanistan and sometimes we have half an hour of power in 24 hours." Seattle-based Ookla, which compiles global internet speeds, put Afghanistan's mobile internet as the slowest of 137 countries and its fixed internet as the second slowest of 180 countries. She was working with international companies to find solutions to poor internet access but said she could not elaborate.

☆ Earthquake in Afghanistan kills at least 11, nine of them in Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISLAMABAD, March 22 (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed and 44 injured in northwest Pakistan by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck in neighbouring Afghanistan late on Tuesday, a Pakistani government official said. At least two people were killed in Afghanistan, a disaster agency official there said. The quake was felt over an area more than 1,000 km wide by some 285 million people in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people last year. In 2005, at least 73,000 people were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck northern Pakistan.

☆ Earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hits northern Afghanistan, killing at least 3
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KABUL, March 21 (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck northern Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, killing two in the east of the country and one child in neighbouring Pakistan. The tremor was very deep, 194 km (120.5 miles), and its epicentre was in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the remote northern Afghan province of Badakhshan. A spokesperson for Red Cross said they had no immediate reports of damages from Badakhshan's capital but were making checks on other areas. "We felt a strong earthquake, according to primary information the main place (affected) was Yamgan District," he said. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed over 1,000 people last year.

☆ Blast in Afghanistan's northern Balkh province kills one, injures 5
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, March 11 (Reuters) - A blast hit the capital of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province on Saturday, police said, killing one person and wounding five a few days after the death of the province's governor in an explosion claimed by Islamic State. "A blast has taken placed in the second police district of Balkh," said Mohamad Asif Waziri, Balkh's police spokesperson. A journalist based in Balkh, Mohammad Fardin Nowrozi, told Reuters he and other journalists were injured in the explosion, but did not provide further details. Taliban authorities were already investigating the explosion that killed the provincial governor, Mawlawi Mohammad Dawood Muzamil, and two others at his office on Thursday. The governor of Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar will temporarily run Balkh, his spokesman Haji Zaid told Reuters, until Supreme Spiritual Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada selects a new governor for the northern province, an important trade hub with Central Asia.

☆ Blast at Afghanistan journalist event kills at least one, injures eight
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, March 11 (Reuters) - A blast hit a cultural centre during an event for journalists in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding eight, according to authorities and journalists, a few days after the province's governor died in an explosion claimed by Islamic State. Takor added that five journalists and three children were among the injured and a security guard was killed. Sajad Mosawi, a journalist in Balkh who was injured in the blast, said it had torn through the centre during an event to celebrate journalists. Taliban authorities were already investigating the explosion that killed provincial governor Mawlawi Mohammad Dawood Muzamil and two others at his office on Thursday. Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by William Mallard and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Swiss-based trust holds second meeting to discuss plans for Afghan funds -trustee
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Charlotte Greenfield | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The frozen central bank reserves were transferred from Washington into the "Fund for the Afghan People" last year where U.S. officials say it will be shielded from the Taliban. Trustee Shah Mehrabi, a U.S. academic who also remains on the Afghan central bank's Supreme Council, said a meeting of the four trustees was held virtually on Feb. 16. "The issue of disbursements of funds and the options for that was discussed," Mehrabi told Reuters. "The idea clearly here is the necessary steps to disburse funds and potential options for achieving monetary stability." Mehrabi said he believed the funds should only be used for achieving monetary stability and reducing volatility in Afghanistan's exchange rate.

☆ The US military created an illusion of success in Afghanistan by handling tasks it was supposed to train Afghan troops to do, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A new watchdog report details how Afghanistan's security forces collapsed in August 2021. It said the US handled tasks that it was supposed to be training Afghan troops how to do. Washington lacked the political will and effort to actually develop an Afghan security force in a "war-torn and impoverished country," which is a monumental task. Additionally, the report placed blame on the Afghan government, which it said was riddled with corruption that trickled down into the military. "However, nothing affected morale more than the realization in February 2021 that US military forces were leaving."

☆ Putin gave Biden a $12,000 writing set in 2021. It was among the unusual presents world leaders offered the US president that year.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

These are 7 of the most unusual, unique, or noteworthy presents gifted to President Joe Biden that year. These are 7 of the most unusual presents gifted to President Joe Biden in 2021. Putin gave Biden a $12,000 desk setLess than a year before Vladimir Putin launched his unprompted war in Ukraine, the Russian president gifted Biden a Kholuy Lacquer miniature workshop desk writing set and pen valued at $12,000, according to the State Department. Queen Elizabeth gave the president a photo of herselfThe late Queen Elizabeth gave the gift of herself during the 2021 G7 summit in England. President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 1, 2021, in Washington.

The families, comprising more than 10,000 people, had asked U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan to put his Feb. 21 decision on hold while they appeal. "An important public interest lies in the enforcement of terrorism judgments," Daniels wrote. In ruling against the families, Daniels said awarding them the frozen assets would effectively recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government, which the Biden administration has not done. The president ordered $3.5 billion set aside to benefit the Afghan people, leaving the rest for the families to pursue. The case is In re Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

☆ 9/11 victims are blocked from seizing $3.5 billion in frozen assets from Afghanistan because Biden would have to recognize the Taliban
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The families of 9/11 victims are blocked from seizing $3.5B in frozen Afghan central bank funds. A federal judge ruled that seizing the funds would mean recognizing the Taliban as legitimate rulers. A group of families of 9/11 victims had previously sued the Taliban for their losses, winning a default judgment when the militant group did not turn up to court. Last February, Biden cleared a legal path for relatives to pursue the $3.5 billion held in Afghanistan's central bank to pay off the judgment debts. "This decision deprives over 10,000 members of the 9/11 community of their right to collect compensation from the Taliban," he said.

NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said on Tuesday victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are not entitled to seize $3.5 billion of assets belonging to Afghanistan's central bank to satisfy court judgments they obtained against the Taliban. U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan said he was "constitutionally restrained" from finding that the Taliban was Afghanistan's legitimate government, a precursor for attaching assets belonging to Da Afghanistan Bank, or DAB. Daniels said letting victims seize those assets would amount to a ruling that the Taliban are Afghanistan's legitimate government. He said U.S. courts lack power to reach that conclusion, noting that Biden administration does not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's government. The case is In re Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

☆ Main Afghan-Pakistani border crossing closed, residents report gunfire
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The main border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan was closed on Monday, officials from the two sides said, and residents in the area reported the sound of gunfire near the normally bustling border transit point. It was not immediately clear if Afghan or Pakistani authorities closed the Torkham border crossing, near the Khyber Pass, but it comes after relations between Afghanistan's ruling Taliban and Pakistan have deteriorated sharply. Media reported that the border was closed on Sunday evening but did not give a reason. Clashes between Afghan and Pakistani security forces have also at times closed the second most important crossing between the two countries, at Chaman to the south. A Taliban foreign ministry spokesperson said later Pakistan should raise issues in private and not at public forums.

☆ Taliban plans to turn former foreign bases into special economic zones
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mohammad IsmailKABUL, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The Taliban administration will move ahead with plans to turn former foreign military bases into special economic zones for businesses, the acting deputy prime minister for economic affairs said in a statement on Sunday. "Following a thorough discussion, it was decided that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should progressively take control of the remaining military bases of the foreign forces with the intention of converting them into special economic zones," Mullah Baradar said in the statement. He added a pilot plan would begin to convert bases in the capital Kabul and in northern Balkh province. Afghanistan's economy has struggled and aid agencies are warning of a severe humanitarian crisis since the Taliban took over in 2021 as foreign troops withdrew after 20 years of war. The Taliban have said they are focused on boosting economic self-sufficiency through trade and investment.

He added that a government committee was looking into adding secular subjects to madrasas alongside religious study, a development that hasn't been previously reported. Other students and teachers said Islamic education played an important role in their lives, though they hoped to be able to study secular subjects too. He didn't elaborate on the government's plans for religious schools. Reuters was unable to determine the current number of madrasas, and Taliban authorities have not provided figures. "There's deep-seated mistrust of the formal education sector, despite the fact that it too incorporates Islamic education."

☆ Inside Afghanistan's madrasas as girls' dreams fade: podcast
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Follow on Apple, Google or Spotify. We visit Afghanistan’s madrasas – the only educational option for teenage girls. The road ahead for Erdogan and Assad after the quake. Plus the latest from North Korea on the birthday anniversary of late leader Kim Jong Il. Further ReadingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Biden will deliver his second State of the Union address at about 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday). It will be broadcast live on major U.S. broadcast television networks and online by the White House and the House of Representatives. The speech could deliver Biden his largest television audience of the year. The White House has also invited Brandon Tsay, who disarmed a gunman responsible for a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California. Republicans have picked Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House press secretary under Donald Trump, to deliver their response.

☆ Taliban administration to send earthquake aid to Turkey, Syria
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] People look on as the search for survivors continues in the aftermath of an earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Suhaib SalemKABUL, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban administration will send around $165,000 in aid to Turkey and Syria to help the response to a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck this week, according to a foreign ministry statement. The Taliban took over in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew, sparking enforcement of sanctions on its banking sector, and no capital has formally recognised its government. Many aid groups have partially suspended operations due to a Taliban administration ruling that most female NGO workers could not work, leaving agencies unable to operate many programmes in the conservative country. Western diplomats have said they will not consider formally recognising the administration unless it changes course on women's rights.

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