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This was a secret school, set up to teach girls despite the bans on female education imposed by the Taliban since they retook control of Afghanistan two years ago. Girls, faces partially covered, attend class at a hidden school in Afghanistan. CNN‘I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t’Inspired, in part, by a 1996 Christiane Amanpour documentary titled “Battle for Afghanistan,” Hakim decided to create secret schools for a new generation of Afghan girls. After the militant group imposed the bans on girls’ education, Maryam says she was trapped at home and felt like a “zombie,” with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Hope stronger than fearBack at the secret school, Maryam learns the Taliban are checking neighborhoods for illegal activities and fears they risk being caught.

Persons: CNN — Parasto Hakim, Hakim, “, ” Hakim, –, CNN Hakim, ”, CNN ‘, Christiane Amanpour, Maryam, ” Maryam, Fatima, ” Fatima, Yalda, ” Yalda, Koofi, Hakim –, ” Koofi, ” Fawzia, Justin Tallis Organizations: CNN, Girls, United Nations, UN, ” CNN, ”, Taliban, Getty Locations: Afghanistan, Kabul, States, United, London

Islamabad, Pakistan CNN —Pakistan, home to more than 1.7 million people who have fled violence in neighboring Afghanistan, is launching a mass deportation of “illegal immigrants,” authorities said Tuesday. But their presence in Pakistan has long been controversial, with police crackdowns and threats of deportation in previous years. Hundreds of Afghans have already been deported from Pakistan this year, according to volunteer groups, citing local records. Many Afghans fled the Soviet invasion of their country in 1979, settling in Pakistan during the biggest refugee crisis in the world at the time. “It is deeply concerning that the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is not receiving due international attention.”

Persons: Sarfraz Bugti, ”, Bugti, Rizwan Tabassum Organizations: Pakistan CNN —, United Nations ’, Getty, National Apex Committee, Nonprofit, Amnesty Locations: Islamabad, Pakistan, Pakistan CNN — Pakistan, Afghanistan, Karachi, AFP, Soviet, Kabul, United States

☆ Afghan Refugees Not Involved in Pakistan's Security Problems - Taliban
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Oct. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: 1 min

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan's security problems, a spokesman for the Taliban administration in Kabul said on Wednesday, calling on Islamabad to reconsider plans to expel illegal Afghan immigrants. Zabihullah Mujahid also said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that the refugees should be "tolerated" by Pakistan as long as they did not leave voluntarily.

Persons: Zabihullah Mujahid Locations: ISLAMABAD, Kabul, Islamabad, Pakistan

Rescue workers clear the rubble from a damaged mosque, after a suicide blast in Hangu, Pakistan September 29, 2023. It was not immediately clear how Pakistani authorities could ensure the illegal immigrants leave, or how they could find them to expel them. Bugti said some 1.73 million Afghan nationals in Pakistan had no legal documents to stay, adding a total of 4.4 million Afghan refugees lived in Pakistan. "There are no two opinions that we are attacked from within Afghanistan and Afghan nationals are involved in attacks on us," he said. Islamabad has received the largest influx of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Kabul in 1979.

Persons: Stringer, Sarfraz Bugti, Bugti, Asif Shahzad, Jon Boyle, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, Afghan, State, Thomson Locations: Hangu, Pakistan, ISLAMABAD, Kabul, Afghanistan, Islamabad, Taliban Pakistan, Afghan

☆ No current talks with Taliban, Afghanistan's Massoud says, promising guerrilla warfare
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Massoud, who operates from overseas, said the NRF had been forced to change tactics because it could not fight the well-equipped Taliban conventionally. Massoud dismissed any suggestion of returning to Afghanistan as part of a Taliban reintegration scheme of former officials. "Those people who left Afghanistan, they left for more than just house or a car. "If the Taliban announced that they accept elections, today we all can return because this is what we want." The most recent elections in Afghanistan were held under the U.S.-backed administration which Taliban deposed in August 2021 when Western troops withdrew.

Persons: Ahmad Massoud, Ahmad Shah Massoud, Massoud, John Irish, Michael Perry Organizations: National Resistance, of, Taliban, U.S, Western, Thomson Locations: of Afghanistan, Soviet, Paris, France, PARIS, Afghan, Afghanistan, Panjshir, Kabul, Ukraine

Details of how the Taliban intend to expand and manage mass surveillance, including obtaining the U.S. plan, have not been previously reported. "At the present we are working on a Kabul security map, which is (being completed) by security experts and (is taking) lots of time," he said. The Taliban strongly denies that an upgraded surveillance system would breach the rights of Afghans. A July U.N. monitoring report said there were up to 6,000 Islamic State fighters and their family members in Afghanistan. The Afghan "home base" locations of Islamic State fighters are in the eastern mountainous areas, said Schroden.

Persons: Ali Khara, Abdul Mateen Qani, Washington, didn't, Qani, Amrullah Saleh, Saleh, Jonathan Schroden, Matt Mahmoudi, ETIM, ETIM couldn't, Afghanistan Thomas West, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Charlotte, Jonathan Landay, David Kirton, Liz Lee, Katerina Ang Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Islamic, Huawei, U.S, of Interior, Reuters, U.S.A, U.S State Department, RIC, Bloomberg News, Foreign Ministry, NATO, Center for Naval, Protect Journalists, Taliban, Amnesty International, East Turkestan Islamic, Security, Special, State, Ece Toksabay, Thomson Locations: China, Kabul, Afghanistan, Rights KABUL, Islamic State, —, Turkey, Turkish, Pakistan, United States, East Turkestan, Xinjiang, State, Russian, Charlotte Greenfield, Islamabad, Washington, Shenzhen, Beijing, Ankara

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Pakistan’s interim prime minister said he expects parliamentary elections to take place in the new year, dismissing the possibility that the country’s powerful military would manipulate the results to ensure that jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party doesn’t win. Kakar resigned as a senator last month after outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and opposition leader Raza Riaz chose him as caretaker prime minister to oversee the elections and run the day-to-day affairs until a new government is elected. “The most important player in this dispute is the Kashmir people," Kakar said. “It is neither India or Pakistan,” but the Kashmiri people who "have to decide about their identity" and their future. It’s just a divine blessing.”By law, he can’t contest the elections when he’s interim prime minister, but Kakar said in the future he hopes “to play a constructive political role in my society.”

Persons: —, Imran Khan’s, Haq Kakar, Khan, Kakar, Shehbaz Sharif, Raza Riaz, ”, ” Kakar, Imran Khan, I’m, that’s, — Kakar, Karar, “ Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, Associated Press, United Nations, NATO, Taliban, Islamic Locations: Pakistan, Kashmir, India, “, Ukraine, Europe, North America, Afghanistan, Islamic State, Kabul, Pakistan's

[1/2] Vehicles of Russian peacekeepers leaving Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region for Armenia pass an Armenian checkpoint on a road near the village of Kornidzor, Armenia September 22, 2023. Images of fleeing Armenians at Russia's own peacekeeping base at an airport in Nagorno-Karabakh have been harder for them to watch. But its handling of the Karabakh crisis has forced it into a blame game with Armenia and obliged it to defend its foreign policy in the region. It now accuses him of triggering the crisis by saying - after Russian peacekeepers were deployed to Karabakh in 2020 following Armenia's defeat in a 44-day war - that he recognised Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. Baku has long argued that Karabakh falls within its own borders, but Karabakh Armenians wanted Pashinyan to recognise their independence and unify them with Armenia.

Persons: Irakli, Alexander Baunov, Russia's, Sergei Markov, Pashinyan, Dmitry Medvedev, Medvedev, Margarita Simonyan, Andrew Osborn, Gareth Jones Organizations: REUTERS, Armenian, Soviet, Carnegie, Karabakh, Protesters, Kremlin, Russian, Security Council, NATO, Thomson Locations: Karabakh, Armenia, Kornidzor, Russia, Azerbaijan Moscow, Kabul, U.S, Afghanistan, Nagorno, Turkish, Moscow, Azerbaijan, Soviet Union, Turkey, Iran, Ukraine, South Caucasus, Stepanakert, Russian, America, Baku ., Yerevan, Baku, Pashinyan

☆ UN records torture, deaths of detainees in Taliban custody
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Taliban soldiers stand guard at the second-anniversary ceremony of the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2023. The U.N. Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 18 people had also died in prisons and in the custody of police and intelligence in the 19 months ending July 2023. The Taliban have staffed and controlled the police and the intelligence agency since they took over the country as foreign forces withdrew in 2021. Other violations included not being informed of the reason for arrest, not being able to access a lawyer and inadequate medical care in custody. "There is a pressing need to consider more engagement with the de facto authorities to end these practices."

Persons: Ali Khara, UNAMA, Roza Otunbayeva, Charlotte Greenfield, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, United Nations, Journalists, Thomson Locations: Kabul, Afghanistan, Mission

PESHAWAR/KABUL, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The main Afghanistan-Pakistan land border crossing reopened on Friday after being closed for nine days following firing between guards on both sides, a senior Pakistani official told Reuters. Thousands of travellers and hundreds of trucks laden with goods were left stranded last week by the closure the Torkham border crossing, at the western end of the fabled Khyber Pass. Spokespersons for Pakistan's foreign ministry and the Afghan authorities in Nangarhar province confirmed the reopening of the crossing. "The border closure was causing huge losses to traders and common people of the two neighbouring countries," Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. The Taliban foreign ministry criticised the closure of the crossing and said Pakistan security forces had fired on its border guards as they fixed an old security outpost.

Persons: It's, Abdul Nasir Khan, Torkham, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, Amir Khan Muttaqi, Mushtaq Ali, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Gibran Peshimam, Tom Hogue, Gerry Doyle, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Reuters, Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Thomson Locations: PESHAWAR, KABUL, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Pakistan's Khyber, Nangarhar province, Pakistani, Peshawar, Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Kabul, Torkham

☆ US military to conduct additional interviews with witnesses of Kabul airport bombing
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Haley Britzky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The senior US general for the Middle East has ordered additional interviews be conducted regarding the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, which killed 13 US service members during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US military announced Friday. It’s unclear if the new interviews will include Afghans who witnessed the blast, which killed more than 170 Afghan civilians. When pressed on whether the interviews would include Afghans, Lawhorn said it would be “up to the Supplementary Review Team to decide who to interview.”“I cannot be explicit about anything that the Supplementary Review Team may or may not decide to review in the future,” Lawhorn said. CENTCOM released a lengthy after-action review last year that included statements from more than 100 witnesses. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who was seriously injured in the blast and who has said he was not interviewed in CENTCOM’s original investigation.

Persons: Michael “ Erik ” Kurilla, Pat Frank, ”, Michael Lawhorn, Lawhorn, ” Lawhorn, CENTCOM, Tyler Vargas, Andrews, Vargas, ” Vargas, “, they’d, Kurilla, Frank Organizations: CNN, US Central Command, US Army Central, Marines, Gold Star Locations: Kabul, Afghanistan

CNN —The Taliban has welcomed Zhao Sheng as China’s new ambassador to Afghanistan during a lavish ceremony held at the presidential palace in Kabul on Wednesday. China is among a handful of countries, including Pakistan, Iran and Russia that have maintained a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan since the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021. In the palace ceremony, Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund shook hands with Zhao and “accepted the credentials of the new Chinese Ambassador,” the prime minister’s office said on X, formerly known as Twitter. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement the appointment was the “normal rotation of China’s ambassador to Afghanistan” and was “intended to continue advancing dialogue and cooperation” between the two countries, according to Reuters. The ministry said, “China’s policy toward Afghanistan is clear and consistent.”CNN has reached out to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Persons: Zhao Sheng, Mohammad Hasan Akhund, Zhao, “, Mr Zhao Sheng, Zabiullah Mujahid, ”, Mujahid, Afghanistan ”, Qin Gang Organizations: CNN, Taliban, Honorable, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Reuters, Pakistan Economic Locations: Afghanistan, Kabul, Wednesday, China, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, China’s, Islamabad, Xinjiang

☆ Afghanistan recall fast bowler Naveen for World Cup
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has returned to the Afghanistan one-day squad for the upcoming World Cup in India more than two years after playing his last ODI. Omarzai missed the ongoing Asia Cup with a side strain but has recovered to reclaim his place in the 15-member squad announced on Wednesday. Rashid Khan will spearhead a spin attack that also includes Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad. All-rounder Gulbadin Naib, who led the team when they finished bottom at the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales, is one of three reserve players. Afghanistan will kick off their World Cup campaign on Oct. 7 against Bangladesh in Dharamsala.

Persons: Naveen, Haq, Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naib, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmat Shah, Riaz Hassan, Najibullah Zadran, Ikram, Azmatullah Omarzai, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Ul, Amlan Chakraborty, Peter Rutherford Organizations: Ireland, Bangladesh, Thomson Locations: KABUL, Afghanistan, India, Abu Dhabi, Asia, England, Wales, Dharamsala, New Delhi

☆ Afghanistan meth trade surges as Taliban clamps down on heroin, UN report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Taliban soldiers celebrate on the second anniversary of the fall of Kabul on a street near the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2023. REUTERS/Ali Khara/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSept 10 (Reuters) - Methamphetamine trafficking in and around Afghanistan has surged in recent years, even as the Taliban has curbed heroin trafficking since taking power, a United Nations report said on Sunday. The Taliban, which regained power in August 2021, announced a ban the following April on the production of narcotics in Afghanistan, the world's main opium producer. While heroin trafficking has slowed, the UNODC said in a statement, meth trafficking "has intensified since the ban". Countries as far away as France and Australia have reported seizing methamphetamine that likely originated in Afghanistan it said.

Persons: Ali Khara, Ghada Waly, Charlotte Greenfield, William Mallard Organizations: REUTERS, United, Drugs, Thomson Locations: Kabul, Afghanistan, United Nations, Iran, Pakistan, France, Australia

☆ Afghan Taliban criticises closure of main border crossing with Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Trucks loaded with supplies to leave for Afghanistan are seen stranded at the Michni checkpost, after the main Pakistan-Afghan border crossing closed after clashes, in Torkham, Pakistan September 7, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz/file photo Acquire Licensing RightsKABUL, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban criticised the closure of its main border crossing with Pakistan this week after clashes between security forces, saying the halt in trade would see heavy losses for businesses. The busy Torkham border crossing closed on Wednesday after Pakistani and Afghan Taliban forces started firing at each other, according to local officials. The statement said the incident had started after Pakistani security forces fired at Afghan Taliban forces fixing an old security outpost near the border. Disputes linked to the 2,600 km (1,615 mile) border have been a bone of contention between the neighbours for decades.

Persons: Fayaz Aziz, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Charlotte Greenfield, Michael Perry Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Afghan Taliban, Taliban administration's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thomson Locations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Afghan, Torkham, Rights KABUL, Islamic Emirate

Biden, who spent eight years as Obama's vice president, told a friend that Obama couldn't even curse properly, according to “The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future." In private, Biden would “occasionally admit to friends he felt tired," the book says. She said the book was actually praising Biden for helping to push major legislation through Congress and unify global support around Ukraine. "And we’re not going to litigate here.”Foer's book also describes struggles by Vice President Kamala Harris to carve out a role for herself as Biden's No. Foer's book says Biden tried to treat Harris more respectfully than he felt Obama often had treated him as vice president, calling her “the vice president" instead of “my vice president."

Persons: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Biden, Obama, Joe Biden’s, Franklin Foer, Donald Trump, Biden's, flailing ”, “, Karine Jean, Pierre, ” Jean, ”, Jean, ” “, Kamala Harris, Foer, Harris, Anthony Fauci, Jake Sullivan, Ashraf Ghani, Hillary Clinton, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sullivan, Clinton Organizations: WASHINGTON, Harvard, Ardent, White, Central, Taliban, U.S, Marines Locations: Ukraine, Scandinavia, U.S, Mexico, Afghanistan, Kabul

☆ Hillary Clinton's allies used a QR code from a bag of chips to make a visa look more official in a desperate bid to get women out of Afghanistan: book
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hillary Clinton and her allies went to incredible lengths to get vulnerable women out of Afghanistan. Clinton's struggle to get vulnerable women out is depicted in great detail. Jake Sullivan asked her," Foer wrote. Albanian officials, Foer wrote, wanted to make the digital document look more official. "The Albanians felt that a QR code would make the email look more official," Foer wrote.

Persons: Hillary Clinton, Clinton, Joe Biden's, Franklin Foer, Foer, Justin Trudeau, Jake Sullivan, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Hamid, Lloyd Austin, Qataris, Sullivan Organizations: Service, Canadian, Airport, Defense, Canada, Vital, Albania — Locations: Afghanistan, Wall, Silicon, America's, Kabul, Albania

☆ Mother of Marine killed in Abbey Gate bombing says she wants full account of where her son took his last breath
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Kaanita Iyer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“Just accurate statements of where my child was at the time of the bombing, where he took his last breath – all that, we have no information on any of that,” Alicia Lopez, mother of Cpl. The Biden administration has sought in recent days to honor members of the military involved in the US withdrawal of American troops from the country. But two years on, questions over the frenzied exit remain and Lopez and other families of Abbey Gate victims are demanding that the president take accountability. “We have requested true accountability and validation of the stories that the Marines that were injured and that were there have told us,” Lopez told Tapper. At a congressional roundtable earlier this week, the families of Abbey Gate victims offered emotional testimony about the withdrawal and losses.

Persons: Biden, ” Alicia Lopez, Cpl, Hunter Lopez, CNN’s Jake Tapper, Lopez, ” Lopez, Tapper, hasn’t, Joe Biden, ”, Chris Meagher, “, Hamid Karzai, Trump, Jaclyn Schmitz, Lance Cpl, Jared Schmitz Organizations: CNN, Marines, Pentagon, Gold Star, Department of Defense, Republican, House Foreign Affairs Committee, White, Department Locations: Kabul, Afghanistan

☆ Army, Marine units involved in Afghanistan withdrawal to receive Presidential Unit Citation two years later
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Haley Britzky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —US service members deployed on the Afghanistan withdrawal mission will receive the Presidential Unit Citation, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Thursday, the two-year anniversary of the withdrawal. The Air Force does not appear to be included in the units receiving citations under Thursday’s announcement, an Air Force official said, though Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a news briefing on Thursday that more units could receive the citation in the future. “So in the statement that we put out today, it highlighted the units that have currently been awarded that recognition. The Biden administration conducted an after-action review of the Afghanistan withdrawal and released a summary of findings in April this year.

Persons: Lloyd Austin, ” Austin, “, Pat Ryder, ” Ryder, Hamid Karzai, Austin, Mike McCaul, they’d, Biden, Trump, Ashraf Ghani, Christine Wormuth, ” Wormuth Organizations: CNN, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Force, Central Command, 82nd Airborne Division, Gold Star, Army National Guard and, The Air Force, Air Force, Pentagon, Hamid, Capitol, House Foreign Affairs, Republican, Biden, Department, Marines, The Defense Department, US Central Command, Army, Marine Corps, 82nd Airborne, Command Locations: Afghanistan, Kabul

☆ Biden says he's 'forever grateful' to forces in Afghanistan on two-year anniversary of exit
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"We also remember the hundreds of service members from allied and partner countries who lost their lives during this 20-year war. The conflict, which spanned over four administrations, claimed the lives of nearly 2,500 U.S. service members and more than 100,000 Afghan troops, police personnel and civilians. In April 2021, Biden ordered the full withdrawal of approximately 3,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 of that year. Taliban forces stand guard in front of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2, 2021. Evacuees crowd the interior of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan August 15, 2021.

Persons: WASHINGTON —, Biden, Defense Lloyd Austin, servicemembers, Austin, George W, Bush, Hamid Karzai, Stringer, Ashraf Ghani, Antony Blinken Organizations: Forward Operating Base, Department of Defense, WASHINGTON, Taliban, NATO, Defense, World Trade, Pentagon, Bagram Air Base, U.S, Afghan National Security and Defense Force, Reuters, Western, U.S . Air Force, Handout Locations: Forward Operating Base Salerno, Khost province, Afghanistan, U.S, Kabul's, New York City, Bagram, Kabul, Doha, Qatar, United States

☆ Opinion: Why the fall of Afghanistan in 2021 broke me in a way my husband’s death didn’t
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Hilary Krieger | Opinion Jane Horton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Chris Horton, a sniper with 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard, stands with his weapon in Paktia, Afghanistan, in 2011. In this March 2016 photo, US Central Command Commander Gen. Lloyd Austin and Gold Star Wife Jane Horton talk at Headquarters Resolute Support Mission in Kabul, Afghanistan. Jane Horton, senior adviser to the acting secretary of defense, gives a speech in Kabul in December 2020. It was a place that might have even been darker than the day Chris died. Chris Horton and Jane Horton pose for a photo on their wedding day in 2009 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Persons: Jane Horton, CNN —, It’s, Chris, I’ve, Marcus Yam, who’d, Kirk Owen, ”, Chris Horton, ., Whitney Hughes, “ Jane, Marshal Rommel ‘ Don’t, ’, —, Lloyd Austin, Myles Cullen, ” Maryam, Ashraf Ghani, Taylor Crul Organizations: Department of Defense, Afghan Women’s Council, CNN, Oklahoma National Guard, Los Angeles Times, Facebook, Spc, 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard, National Guard Bureau, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gold Star, Embassy, Central Command, US Air Force, 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, III, Hamid, Airport, Twitter, State Department Locations: Georgetown University’s, Afghanistan, Kabul, Paktia, United States, Washington, Resolute, American, Paktya, –, America, Cleveland , Ohio, anytown USA

☆ A diplomat who was pressed into leading the Afghanistan withdrawal was so flummoxed by his last-minute assignment that he had to run to REI for gear: book
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former Afghanistan ambassador John Bass was pressed to return to Kabul in August 2021. Bass was called by a top State Department official to return to the nation to help lead the US' withdrawal. Bass was so unprepared for the assignment that he had to run to an outdoor store to get gear. I've just been asked to go back to Kabul and support the evacuations," the book quotes him as saying. According to the book, Biden himself would "pepper" Bass with ideas on how to get more evacuees through the airport's gates.

Persons: John Bass, Bass, Afghanistan John Bass, REI, Franklin Foer, Joe Biden's, Ross Wilson, Wendy Sherman, I'm, I've, Hamid Karzai, Biden, Foer, Ross, Sherman Organizations: State Department, Service, Airport, Atlantic Locations: Afghanistan, Kabul, Wall, Silicon, Foggy, Virginia

☆ UN says Taliban carried out hundreds of extrajudicial killings after seizing power
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Heather Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Taliban fighters have committed hundreds of extrajudicial killings since taking power in Afghanistan in 2021, despite a “general amnesty” meant to protect the previous government, according to the United Nations. International rights groups and bodies like the UN have accused the Taliban of unwinding progress in protecting human rights since seizing power. In interviews conducted with UN officials, individuals recounted beatings with pipes, cables, verbal threats and abuse at the hands of Taliban security force members. “Former government and security officials are entitled to the same human rights protections as all Afghans.”Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on the Taliban to punish offenders. “Afghans were able to regain their country, freedom, government and will,” Taliban deputy spokesperson Bilal Karimi previously told CNN.

Persons: “, ”, Volker Turk, Abdul Khaliq, ’, Alia Azizi, hasn’t, UNAMA, ” Turk, Amir al, Hibatullah Akhundzada, Bilal Karimi, Roza Otunbayeva, ” Otunbayeva Organizations: CNN, Taliban, United Nations, United Nations Assistance, Afghan National Army, police, National Directorate of Security, UN, Human Rights, NATO, Taliban’s Locations: Afghanistan, Kabul, Herat, Emirate

☆ Taliban stopped 100 women flying to Dubai for university scholarships, UAE billionaire says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Charlotte Greenfield | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Afghan women shout slogans during a rally to protest against what the protesters say is Taliban restrictions on women, in Kabul, Afghanistan, December 28, 2021. REUTERS/Ali Khara/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 23 (Reuters) - The head of a Dubai-based conglomerate on Wednesday said Afghanistan's Taliban authorities had stopped around 100 women from travelling to the United Arab Emirates where he was to sponsor their university education. Spokespeople for the Taliban administration and Afghan foreign affairs ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. They allow Afghans to leave the country but usually require Afghan women travelling long distances and abroad to be accompanied by a male chaperone, such as their husband, father or brother. Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield and Maha El Dahan Editing by Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Ali Khara, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, Al Habtoor, Charlotte Greenfield, Maha El, Bill Berkrot Organizations: REUTERS, United, United Arab Emirates, Al, UAE, Thomson Locations: Kabul, Afghanistan, Dubai, United Arab, Maha

☆ UN says over 200 former Afghan military, officials killed since Taliban takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Ali Khara/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 22 (Reuters) - More than 200 members of Afghanistan's former military, law enforcement and government have been killed since the Taliban took over, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said on Tuesday, despite a "general amnesty" for old enemies. The mission said in a report it had recorded at least 218 extrajudicial killings with links to the Taliban from their takeover of Afghanistan in mid-2021 up to June. "In most instances, individuals were detained by de facto security forces, often briefly, before being killed," the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said. Senior Taliban leaders have said there is an amnesty for former government officials and members of the military by order of their supreme leader. In total, UNAMA had recorded 800 incidents of human rights violations connected with the Taliban against former government employees and military including arbitrary arrests, disappearance and torture.

Persons: Ali Khara, UNAMA, Charlotte Greenfield, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Senior, Afghan National Defence and Security Forces, Thomson Locations: Emirate, Afghanistan, Kabul, Islamic Emirate

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