Five states in India will choose new state governments this month, but all eyes are on the election in its most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, that pits Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party against a regional party. A victory here is seen as crucial for the ruling party ahead of national polls in 2024. Anjana Pasricha visited Uttar Pradesh and has this report. Camera – Darshan Singh. Video editor – Jason Godman.
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In the narrow lanes and courtyards of village homes in a lush sugarcane growing belt in India’s Uttar Pradesh state, there are animated debates over which party should govern the country’s most populous state.

The state starts polling Thursday – it will be the first among five states that choose new local governments this month.

The outcome in Uttar Pradesh, a national political bellwether, will be a midterm verdict on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

“Earlier, the roads in our villages were filled with potholes. Now they are much better,” said Bablu Tyagi, a young farmer from Didoli village, who wants the BJP to return to power. “The cost of living has gone up, but that happens with every government.”

In a town close by, many don’t share that sentiment. “There has been no development in Muradnagar. Everyone’s business is hit, children’s education is suffering, and young people are struggling to get jobs,” said Haji Shafiq, a supplier of building material in a nearby town.

Five years ago, in the primarily rural region, village communities had helped the BJP trounce the regional Samajwadi Party and catapulted it to power on promises of development, jobs and better incomes for farmers.

Getting re-elected to a second term is important for the BJP, according to political analysts. “It’s a do or die battle for the party because Uttar Pradesh accounts for so many members of parliament. Also, in the last four or five years, the BJP has lost several state elections, especially where they were ruling, so a victory here is critical,” said Sanjay Kumar, director of the Center for Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi.

But the party is battling discontent in one of the country’s economically marginalized states, home to more than 200 million.

In many villages, the impact of a year-long farmers protest held last year is still resonating. Many farmers in Uttar Pradesh had supported a movement to repeal the laws, and although in a rare concession, Prime Minister Modi scrapped the laws but the anger has not abated.

“Just taking back the laws did not solve our problem,” said Raj Singh, a 99-year-old farmer from Jalalabad village who joined the protest. “We don’t get good prices for our crops. We don’t get paid in time. Farmers and farm laborers are devastated.”

The discontent of the village elder is echoed by older and younger farmers sitting in his home. The lack of jobs has made it difficult for many to move out of agriculture, but high inflation has hurt their farming incomes, they say.

“Whether you take seeds or fertilizers, or electricity, costs have shot up, but our incomes have not kept pace with expenses. From that point of view farmers are losers,” said Achin, a farmer.

Despite the growing anger among farmers, the BJP is expected to return to power, although with a slimmer majority in a state with complex caste and religious politics.

Political analysts say the issue of religion will influence the poll outcome in the state, which is headed by a Hindu priest, Yogi Adityanath, who critics call a hardliner. The BJP is showcasing the ongoing construction of a grand temple at Ayodhya town in the state to honor Hindu God Rama at a site where a mosque once stood. The land was handed over to Hindus after a prolonged court battle in 2019.

“The question of religious identity is going to play a very important role. The point being emphasized is that Hindus must have a place they deserve in this country, and the BJP is instrumental in building the temple,” Kumar said.

In campaign speeches last month, Adityanath, characterized the ballot as “80% versus 20%,” figures he did not elaborate on. But analysts say it is a reference to the majority Hindu and minority Muslim community in the state.

Many Muslims, who make up nearly 20% of the population in the state, complain of religious polarization. “The BJP government has created a divide between Hindus and Muslims. We had always lived like brothers,” says Haji Shafiq, a supplier of building material in Muradnagar town.

The BJP says it does not discriminate against any community and its economic and social policies benefit all equally. It is campaigning on a plank of good governance, saying that in a state that had a high crime rate, it has restored law and order.

Some agree. “I can put my cattle out to graze until night without worrying,” says Aslam Kasar, a daily wage worker, who keeps some buffalo. “Earlier, people would steal them, and the police would not help us.”

Political analysts say the BJP is hoping to pick up votes on the issue. “There is a lot of emphasis on law and order. They are associating crime with the Samajwadi Party while making oblique references to people they hint are responsible for deteriorating law and order, the Muslims, etc.,” Kumar said.

The polls in Uttar Pradesh will be conducted in seven phases concluding on March 7 and results will be announced on March 10.

Which way the vote goes will be crucial for Modi ahead of national elections that will take place after two years. He had won a resounding victory in 2019.

“A win in Uttar Pradesh is imperative because otherwise, the narrative will start building that the BJP can be defeated in 2024 and this will give momentum to opposition parties,” Kumar said.
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New Delhi — School shutdowns that lasted nearly two years in India will hit the aspirations of millions of low-income families who had hoped a good education would lift their children out of poverty, according to experts.

India had the longest school closures of any country except Uganda during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a United Nations report — schools were shut for 82 weeks until October last year. Since then, they have opened intermittently. 

With around 250 million students enrolled in 1.5 million schools, India has the world’s second largest school-going population. But access to online learning has been extremely limited among low-income groups, especially for girls, both due to lack of smartphones and patchy internet connectivity in its vast rural areas.

As schools start to reopen, the challenge of overcoming two years of lost learning will be huge, say educators.

“A lot of children will struggle with lessons and end up dropping out of school in frustration,” fears Surender Yadav, from Self Reliant India, a voluntary group that provides additional coaching to primary school students in government schools in the north Indian states of Haryana and Uttarakhand to ensure that they get a good education and jobs. “The children that we are tutoring now need a lot more assistance in each subject. Besides not getting proper lessons during lockdown, they have forgotten what was taught to them earlier,” points out Yadav. 

Only around 8% of students in villages and 24% of the students in urban areas were studying regularly online according to a survey last August by a group of economists in India, who warned of the “catastrophic consequences” of the prolonged school lockout.  

As many as 37% were not studying at all.

Pooja Sharma is a grade eight student who lives in Faridabad town on the outskirts of New Delhi with her mother, a housemaid, and four siblings. The children attend a neighborhood school run by a voluntary group that started online classes as soon as the lockdown began in March 2020.

But with only one smartphone in the family, the four siblings have to take turns to use it to attend online classes. In a country where patriarchal norms are common, priority goes to their brother. “My teacher told me to join as many classes as I could. My younger sisters and I use the phone whenever my elder brother is not using it and we attend a few classes a week,” Sharma said. “I find it very difficult to understand the lessons. I do not know how I will manage as there is no one to explain all the missed lessons.”

She is waiting for schools to reopen, but is anxious how she will cope as she prepares to step into a higher grade.

“The impact of the school closure has been far worse for girls. Even when there were smartphones at home, the girls were not given the device for fear of misuse,” Terry Durnnian, Chief of Education, United Nations Children Fund told VOA. “Also, the girls were expected to take on the load of housework. The long-term impact will be that there will be far fewer women in the workforce in coming years.”

Sharma’s fear of not being able to keep pace is shared by many say educators.

It is a huge setback for millions of low-income families who in recent decades focused on educating their children, hoping it would put them on a good career path.

They are people like Kamal Singh, who works as a taxi driver in Gurgaon, a thriving business hub near the capital, New Delhi. After losing his work during the lockdown in 2020, he returned to his village in Bayana, Rajasthan, where his family lives.

His sons Kapil and Brajraj were studying in Grade 10 and 11 but the village school held no classes for a year and a half. “I was very worried about them. They would be out of the house all day long. Their behavior got more aggressive, and I was concerned that they might get into trouble,” he said.

Schools reopened in the village last October and promoted them to the next grade without any examination, but his sons are struggling to keep up with the lessons. His aspirations of sending them to college have taken a hit — with his own income dwindling due to the pandemic, he cannot afford extra coaching for them.

Indian policy makers have often underlined the demographic asset of a young workforce over countries with ageing populations like China. But experts say the challenge of bridging a two-year schooling gap will result in tens of thousands of young people remaining undereducated and erode India’s advantage.

“The demographic dividend might not pay off. With the extended school closures, a $4 trillion loss in lifetime earnings is estimated,” said Durnnian from UNICEF.

Acknowledging that students from rural areas and marginalized sections have been impacted by the school closures, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this month that the government would provide supplementary education in local languages by expanding existing educational television channels to 200. But experts question whether that would help — although television is widely available, electricity is often erratic in the country’s vast rural areas.

They say the imperative need is to reopen all schools — while in person classes have started for higher grades in many places, younger ones have still not been called back. Some states have opened schools fully.

“I don’t know of any reason why schools should be shut, especially when children are at least risk of COVID-19 outcomes, while benefits of education are far superior,” points out Chandrakant Lahariya, a public policy and health expert. “Every single day away from in-person classes causes harm to children. Our education system has been unnecessarily paralyzed by the pandemic for so long.”

Suhasini Sood contributed to this story. 
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Every day for the last three months, an average of six or seven families in Myanmar have posted notices in the country’s state-owned newspapers cutting ties with sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren who have publicly opposed the ruling military junta.

The notices started to appear in such numbers in November after the army, which seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government a year ago, announced it would take over properties of its opponents and arrest people giving shelter to protesters. Scores of raids on homes followed.

Lin Lin Bo Bo, a former car salesman who joined an armed group resisting military rule, was one of those disowned by his parents in about 570 notices reviewed by Reuters.

“We declare we have disowned Lin Lin Bo Bo because he never listened to his parents’ will,” said the notice posted by his parents, San Win and Tin Tin Soe, in state-owned newspaper The Mirror in November.

Speaking to Reuters from a Thai border town where he is living after fleeing Myanmar, the 26-year-old said his mother had told him she was disowning him after soldiers came to their family home searching for him. A few days later, he said he cried as he read the notice in the paper.

“My comrades tried to reassure me that it was inevitable for families to do that under pressure,” he told Reuters. “But I was so heartbroken.”

Contacted by Reuters, his parents declined to comment.

Targeting families of opposition activists was a tactic used by Myanmar’s military during unrest in 2007 and the late 1980s but has been used far more frequently since the Feb.1, 2021 coup, according to Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, senior advocacy officer at rights group Burma Campaign UK, which uses the old name for the former British colony.

Publicly disowning family members, which has a long history in Myanmar’s culture, is one way to respond, said Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, who said she was seeing more such notices in the press than in the past.

“Family members are scared to be implicated in crimes,” she said. “They don’t want to be arrested, and they don’t want to be in trouble.”

A military spokesperson did not respond to Reuters questions for this story. Commenting on the notices in a news conference in November, military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said that people who made such declarations in newspapers could still be charged if found to be supporting opposition to the junta.

Violent crackdown

Hundreds of thousands of people in Myanmar, many of them young, took to the streets to protest the coup a year ago. After a violent crackdown on demonstrations by the army, some protesters fled overseas or joined armed groups in remote parts of the country. Known as People’s Defense Forces, these groups are broadly aligned with the deposed civilian government.

Over the past year, security forces have killed about 1,500 people, many of them demonstrators, and arrested nearly 12,000 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a monitoring group. The military has said those figures are exaggerated.

Journalist So Pyay Aung told Reuters he filmed riot police using batons and shields to break up protests and livestreamed the video on the Democratic Voice of Burma, a news website. After authorities came searching for him, he said he hid in different locations in Myanmar before fleeing to Thailand with his wife and infant daughter. He was disowned by his father in November.

“I declare I am disowning my son because he did unforgivable activities against his parents’ wills. I will not have any responsibilities related to him,” said a notice posted by his father, Tin Aung Ko, in the state-owned Myanma Alinn newspaper.

“When I saw the newspaper that mentioned cutting ties with me, I felt a little sad,” So Pyay Aung told Reuters. “But I understand that my parents had fears of pressure. They might have worries of their house being seized or getting arrested.”

His father, Tin Aung Ko, declined to comment.

Two parents who disowned their children in similar notices, who asked not to be named for fear of attracting the attention of the military, told Reuters the notices were primarily intended to send a message to authorities that they should not be held responsible for their children’s actions.

“My daughter is doing what she believes, but I’m sure she will be worried if we got into trouble,” one mother said. “I know she can understand what I have done to her.”

Lin Lin Bo Bo said he hopes to one day go home and support his family. “I want this revolution to be over as soon as possible,” he told Reuters.

Such a reunification may be possible for some families torn apart in this way, according to Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, the rights activist.

“Unless they do it properly with lawyers and a will, then these things don’t really count legally,” she said of the disowning notices. “After a couple of years, they can go back to being family.”

So Pyay Aung, the journalist, said he fears his split with his parents is permanent.

“I don’t even have a home to go back to after the revolution,” he told Reuters. “I am so worried all the time because my parents are left under the military regime.”
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A ban on Islamic headscarves at schools has prompted an outcry among Muslims in southern India, with large crowds taking to the streets on Monday to protest against the restrictions. 

The stand-off in Karnataka state has galvanized fears among the minority community about what they say is increasing persecution under the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Students at a government-run high school were told not to wear hijabs last month, an edict that soon spread to at least two other educational institutions in the state. 

“It’s discriminatory in nature and also it’s against the rights that are provided under the constitution of India,” Sumayya Roushan, president of the Girls Islamic Organization Karnataka, said at a Monday press conference.  

Roushan said the ban violated “a personal choice that the students are entitled to, which doesn’t … harm any other person.” 

Social media footage showed hundreds of people gathered on roads and waving Indian flags in at least two towns in Karnataka, the latest in several days of demonstrations held to condemn the bans. 

One of the schools has since partially yielded, allowing its female Muslim students to attend class with a hijab but instructing them to sit in separate classrooms, according to local media. 

Two other schools that had implemented a hijab ban declared a holiday and were closed on Monday. 

Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party governs Karnataka state and several prominent members have thrown their support behind the ban, which has been criticized by other political leaders.  

“By letting students’ hijab come in the way of their education, we are robbing the future of the daughters of India,” Rahul Gandhi of the opposition Congress party tweeted last week. 

The state’s top court is expected to hear petitions on Tuesday and rule on whether to overturn the bans. 

 
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In six Afghan provinces, the Taliban have reopened public universities for both men and women, with the requirement of gender-segregated classes. Waheed Faizi has the report.
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U.S. businesses and Asian Americans are stepping up to help Afghan refugees adjust to life in the U.S. with technology training and tools. One resettlement effort that began at a military base in Indiana has spread throughout the United States. VOA’s Jessica Stone has the story.
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Pakistan’s military said Sunday five of its troops were killed when militants from across the Afghan border opened fire on them.

The attack, believed to be one of the deadliest such incidents in recent years, took place in the Pakistani district of Kurram on the border, the military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

It said Pakistani troops retaliated and inflicted “heavy casualties” on the assailants but gave no further details.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan and expects that [the] interim Afghan government will not allow conduct of such activities against Pakistan, in future,” the army said.

Pakistan will defend its borders against “the menace of terrorism,” the statement said, adding that the sacrifices of “our brave men further strengthen our resolve.”

Militant attacks have increased in Pakistan since the Islamist Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last August and U.S.-led Western troops ended their two decade-long presence in the neighboring country.

The Pakistani military did not say which group it believed was behind Sunday’s attack. Officials have long maintained that leaders and fighters of the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan TTP, are sheltering in Afghanistan after fleeing security operations against their hideouts in Pakistani border districts, and orchestrating terrorism from there.

It is widely believed that when the Afghan Taliban were waging a deadly insurgency against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul and foreign troops, they took shelter in TTP-controlled Pakistani areas and recruited fighters from the Pakistani Taliban.

U.S. and Afghan officials also consistently accused the Pakistani military of covertly supporting the Afghan insurgency, charges Islamabad rejected.

The Taliban rulers have pledged to prevent transnational groups from using Afghanistan for attacks against other countries, but critics say the Islamist group is not living up to its commitments.

Late last year, Pakistani officials and the TTP said the Afghan Taliban had brokered a temporary cease-fire between the two adversaries to try to lay the foundation for peace talks. The 30-day truce expired in early December and the TTP refused to extend it, saying Islamabad violated its commitments. The government has denied the accusation.

Since then, the TTP, which the United Nations and United States have designated as a global terrorist organization, has intensified attacks against Pakistani security forces, killing dozens.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping Sunday held wide-ranging bilateral talks with visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in which they stressed the urgency of providing enhanced international aid to Afghanistan to help it avert a looming humanitarian crisis.

The meeting marked the culmination of a four-day visit to Beijing, where Khan was among foreign leaders invited to witness Friday’s opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games.

A post-meeting joint statement said that China and Pakistan “called upon the international community to provide continued and enhanced assistance and support to Afghanistan including through unfreezing of Afghanistan’s financial assets.”

“The two sides are ready to discuss with Afghanistan the extension of CPEC to Afghanistan,” the statement said, referring to a multi-billion-dollar investment program known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

CPEC is hailed as a flagship of Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative, which builds roads, power plants and other infrastructure projects in Pakistan with Chinese investments.

When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last August, wide-ranging international sanctions dating back to the Islamist group’s first time in power from 1996 to 2001 followed.

The Taliban’s return to power prompted the United States and other Western nations to immediately freeze more than $9.5 billion in Afghan central bank’s assets, mostly held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The sanctions have pushed the heavily aid-dependent Afghan economy to the brink of collapse and exacerbated a simmering humanitarian crisis in the conflict-torn South Asian nation, where the United Nations estimates around 24 million people, or more than half of the population, face acute hunger.

The international sanctions and other punitive financial restrictions, say aid agencies, are impeding the flow of much needed humanitarian aid to Afghans.

The Biden administration has acknowledged such concerns but remained noncommittal on possible remedies. Last month, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Washington is looking at options to ease Afghanistan’s cash crunch.

“Ultimately, a functioning Afghan economy will require an independent and technically competent central bank that meets international banking standards,” she said. “While Afghan Central Bank reserves held in the United States are subject to ongoing litigation, we recognize calls to examine making available reserves to help the people of Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, China and Pakistan have stepped up engagements with the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan in recent months to explore ways to increase humanitarian aid and economic cooperation with the crisis-hit country.

China and Pakistan are among the neighboring countries that fear that the turmoil, unless checked, could trigger a massive exodus of Afghan refugees and encourage transnational terrorists to use Afghan soil for cross-border attacks.

Chinese state media quoted Xi as pledging to work with Khan’s government to jointly build “a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, so as to bring greater well-being for peoples in both countries and provide more impetus for regional cooperation and stability.”

Xi was quoted as highlighting the significance of bilateral strategic ties, saying that China and Pakistan should further strengthen economic cooperation, regional connectivity and cooperation in fighting terrorism.

“The strategic relationship between China and Pakistan is of prominence in a changing world,” the Chinese president said.

Chinese officials have long said that militants linked to the outlawed East Turkistan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, use Afghan soil for terrorist attacks in China’s western Xinjiang border region. The separatist ETIM claims it is fighting to support the minority Uyghur Muslim community in Xinjiang. China has denied allegations of human rights abuses against the Uyghurs.

Meanwhile, Pakistani leaders say the banned Pakistani Taliban have set up sanctuaries on the Afghan side of the border and orchestrated terrorist attacks against Pakistan.

Both Beijing and Islamabad are pressing the Taliban to prevent such activities from their soil in line with their international pledges not to allow Afghanistan to be used for terrorism against other countries.

In the joint statement issued Sunday, Xi and Khan pledged to discuss with Taliban rulers ways to relaunch the China-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral foreign ministers’ dialogue.

Beijing initiated the process with the now-ousted Western-backed Afghan government to help defuse Afghanistan’s simmering tensions with Pakistan and improve security as well as economic cooperation between the two countries.
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Bollywood superstar Lata Mangeshkar, known to millions as the “Nightingale of India” and a regular fixture of the country’s airwaves for decades, died Sunday morning at the age of 92.

Mangeshkar was born in 1929 and started her musical training early under the tutelage of her father, Deenanath, singing in his theatrical productions when she was just 5.

Her father’s death when she was 13 forced her to take on the role of breadwinner to support four younger siblings, and the family eventually moved to Mumbai in 1945.

There she pursued a career as a playback singer, recording tracks to be mimed by actors, and her high-pitched voice soon became a staple of Bollywood blockbusters.

In a move reflecting her huge following, she was invited by the government to sing a patriotic tribute to the soldiers killed in the 1962 Indo-China war at India’s Republic Day commemorations in January 1963.

Her rendition of Oh the People of my Country reportedly moved then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to tears.

In the following decades, composers and film producers alike vied to sign the prolific Mangeshkar for their movies.

“I composed keeping Lata Mangeshkar’s range and voice quality in mind,” composer Anil Biswas said of her in an interview published in the Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema.

“She had a wide range, and one could think of more complicated melodies than with the earlier untrained singers,” he added.

‘Stalwart of Indian culture’

Together with her younger sister Asha Bhonsle — a superstar in her own right — Mangeshkar dominated Bollywood music for more than half a century and is considered by many to be the Indian film industry’s greatest-ever playback singer.

Mangeshkar was not shy about taking a stand when it came to raising her prices or asking for a share of the royalties earned on her songs.

Her longevity and discipline saw her lend her voice to teenage actresses who were 50 years her junior.

Critics complained that her dominance left little room for newer singers to thrive, but her audience remained loyal, ensuring that her songs ruled the charts.

She was also known for her quirks, such as never singing with her shoes on and always writing out each song by hand before recording it.

Mangeshkar was in 2001 awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor, and received France’s Legion d’Honneur in 2009 in recognition of her contribution to Indian music and cinema.

“Coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerize people,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

She died in a Mumbai hospital on Sunday after being admitted to its intensive care unit Jan. 11 with COVID-19 symptoms.

Public broadcaster Doordarshan announced a state funeral and two days of national mourning for the singer after news of her death broke.

A school dropout in her hometown of Indore, who said she only attended classes for one day, Mangeshkar was fluent in several languages.

She sang in more than 1,000 films, in addition to recording devotional and classical albums. Her oeuvre spanned around 27,000 songs in dozens of languages including English, Russian, Dutch and Swahili. 

  
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Pakistan announced Saturday it had killed 20 separatists to end a bloody 72-hour siege at two army bases in southwestern Baluchistan province.

At least nine soldiers, including two officers, were also killed while six others were wounded in the standoff that erupted on Wednesday night in remote Nushki and Panjgur districts of the violence-hit province.

“Security forces have completed the clearance operation today (Saturday),” the military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement, adding that both attacks were successfully repulsed.

An outlawed, armed separatist group, known as the Baluch Liberation Army, or BLA, took responsibility for staging the simultaneous assaults on the two bases of the Pakistani paramilitary Frontier Corps.

Officials said the ensuing shootout in Nushki lasted almost 24 hours before all nine heavily armed assailants were killed while security forces lost four personnel.

But the standoff in Panjgur, which claimed five personnel, continued into Saturday as four surviving attackers had fled and taken positions in a building near the base before being encircled by Pakistan security forces, according to the ISPR statement.

“All encircled terrorists were killed in today’s operation as they failed to surrender,” said the statement. It confirmed that beyond the eight assailants killed in Panjgur, three others “linked to the attacks, including ‘two high-value targets,’” were killed in the nearby Kech district on Friday “in a follow up clearance operation conducted on a makeshift terrorist hideout.”

Authorities imposed a curfew and suspended all telecommunication services in Nushki and Panjgur hours after the violence erupted, leaving residents trapped for several days.

Attackers well armed

Military officials said the attackers were heavily armed with sophisticated weapons, including rocket launchers and hand grenades, apparently intending to storm the bases to take hostages. They also rejected as “absolutely rubbish” BLA claims of killing dozens of Pakistani soldiers in the attacks.

Baluchistan, rich with natural gas and minerals, has for years experienced insurgent attacks, but the violence has surged dramatically in recent months.

Last week, dozens of heavily armed men linked to another outlawed separatist outfit, known as the Baluchistan Liberation Front, assaulted a military post in the province’s Kech district, killing 10 Pakistani soldiers while one attacker was also killed in retaliatory fire.

Ethnic Baluch insurgents claim they are fighting for independence of the poverty-stricken province and accuse Pakistan of depriving the local population of its natural resources with the help of China.

Pakistani officials allege the insurgency receives support and funding from rival India, charges Indian officials deny. Baluch militants are believed to have established bases in neighboring Iran and Afghanistan for mounting attacks in Baluchistan.

Khan visits China

Wednesday’s coordinated assaults on the army bases started hours before Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan left for Beijing for Friday’s opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics and holding bilateral talks with Chinese leaders on deepening economic ties between the two countries.

A senior security official told VOA the attacks were aimed at derailing Khan’s visit and sending a message to China that Pakistan is a not safe for foreign investments.

“Our security forces stand firm and resolutely committed to eliminating the menace of terrorism from our soil no matter what the cost,” the Pakistan army reiterated in its statement Saturday.

China has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in Baluchistan and elsewhere in Pakistan as part of Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative.

Officials in both countries say the increase in militant violence is aimed at undermining the multibillion-dollar mega-project known as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which includes roads, power plants and ports in the South Asian nation.

CPEC aims to eventually link the Chinese-operated Pakistani deep-water Gwadar Sea Port to China’s landlocked western Xinjiang border region.

BLA, designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States, has in recent years also carried out attacks against Chinese nationals working on CPEC projects and the Chinese consulate in Karachi.
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Police in Indian-controlled Kashmir said they arrested a prominent journalist on accusations of publishing “anti-national content,” in a widening crackdown against media in the disputed region.

Fahad Shah, the editor of news portal Kashmir Walla, was summoned for questioning in southern Pulwama town on Friday and later arrested.

Police said he was identified among Facebook users and portals that had published “anti-national content,” without specifying what it is. It said the content was posted with “criminal intention” to create fear and could “provoke the public to disturb law and order.” It said such content was “tantamount to glorifying the terrorist activities.”

The case relates to a gunfight between rebels trapped inside a civilian home and Indian troops in Pulwama on Jan. 30. Police had said a Kashmiri rebel commander was killed in the fighting along with a Pakistani and another local militant. They described the fourth slain teenage boy, the house owner’s son, as a “hybrid” militant, a term authorities began using last year for alleged militants with no police record and who operate as civilians. 

Kashmir Walla carried a series of reports on the fighting presenting both sides of the story. One video report quoted family members of the slain boy refuting the police. 

Another video quoted the boy’s sister contradicting an earlier statement from the family.

Shah, 34, was arrested under India’s harsh anti-terror and sedition laws, which include punishment of up to seven years.

Shah and few other reporters associated with Kashmir Walla have been questioned for their reporting several times in the last few years.

On Saturday, police tweeted that Shah was wanted in three cases for “glorifying terrorism, spreading fake news & inciting general public for creating L&O (law and order) situations.”

The award-winning journalist has also reported for several foreign publications.  

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both claim it in full. Since 1989, a full-blown armed rebellion has raged in the Indian-controlled part seeking a united Kashmir, either under Pakistani rule or independent of both. 

The region is one of the most heavily militarized in the world. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the raging conflict.

Journalists have long contended with threats in Indian-controlled Kashmir. But their predicament became worse after India revoked the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019, throwing Kashmir under a severe security and communication lockdown. A year later, the government’s new media policy sought to control the press to censure independent reporting.

Dozens have been arrested, interrogated and investigated. Fearing reprisals, local press has largely wilted under pressure.

Last month, police arrested journalist Sajad Gul after his tweet linked a video clip of a protest against Indian rule following a rebel’s killing.  

Also in January, a few journalists supportive of the Indian government, with assistance from armed police, took control of the Kashmir Valley’s only independent press club. 

Authorities shut it down the following day, drawing sharp criticism from media watchdogs. 

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists asked Indian authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release Shah and “drop any investigation into his work and cease detaining members of the press.”

Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, said in a statement the arrest “shows Jammu and Kashmir authorities’ utter disregard for press freedom and the fundamental right of journalists to report freely and safely.” 

“Authorities must immediately release Shah, and all other journalists behind bars, and cease detaining and harassing journalists for simply doing their jobs,” he said.
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The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan last August and the humanitarian crisis that followed have confronted the Biden administration with a dilemma: How to keep the flow of international assistance into a country facing mass hunger while ensuring that the aid money does not enrich Taliban and Haqqani Network leaders?

The answer has wide implications, not just for easing the suffering of more than 35 million Afghans but also for international efforts to get the militant group to moderate policies seen by many as harsh, even brutal.

“It is an almost impossible needle to thread,” said Jordan Strauss, a managing director at risk consulting firm Kroll, who worked as a Department of Justice official in Afghanistan from 2014 to 2015.

When the Taliban seized Kabul, wide-ranging sanctions dating back to their first rule followed them. To deny the Taliban access to funds, the Biden administration then froze more than $7 billion in Afghan government reserves held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The asset freeze exacerbated a simmering economic crisis.

“The absence of a functioning banking sector and risk of economic collapse continue to pose obstacles to mounting the scale of response needed to prevent a humanitarian crisis,” Bernice G. Romero, executive director of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), told VOA.

Under pressure from aid groups, the Biden administration issued sanctions exemptions in September and December.

This has allowed nonprofit organizations to deliver food and other assistance into Afghanistan. But many aid groups, NGOs and banks remain wary of violating U.S. sanctions, according to NGO officials.

Here is a look at current U.S. sanctions on the Taliban:

What sanctions are currently in place against the Taliban?

U.S. economic sanctions against the Taliban date back to their first time in power in the 1990s. The curbs were tightened after the attacks of September 11, 2001, which prompted the U.S. to invade Afghanistan.

Under an executive order issued just days after the attack by then-President George W. Bush, both the Taliban and the Haqqani Network were labeled Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

The designations allowed U.S. authorities to block and seize the assets of the two militant groups, while making it a crime to do business with them.

With the Taliban now the de facto government of Afghanistan, it remains unclear whether the 20-year-old restrictions apply to their current regime or only to individual officials previously named under U.S. sanctions.

“It needs to be clarified,” Strauss said.

What exemptions has the Treasury Department issued?

Concerned that the sanctions were impeding the flow of aid into Afghanistan, the Treasury Department has carved out broad exemptions for NGOs and other organizations working in Afghanistan.

Since September, the Treasury Department has issued six “general licenses” — essentially permits to carry out activities otherwise prohibited under U.S. sanctions.

These licenses allow international organizations to deliver food and agricultural produce, support public hospitals and pay the salaries of teachers and healthcare workers.

For example, a U.S. company can ship food to Afghanistan, and a U.S.-based bank can carry out financial transactions to facilitate the shipment. Neither would face any penalties, according to the Treasury Department website.

The latest Treasury Department license, issued on December 19, goes further, allowing NGOs to conduct a broad range of activities that fall outside traditional humanitarian work, such as supporting human rights, access to information and government transparency.

Even as some Taliban and Haqqani Network officials remain subject to U.S. sanctions, NGOs and other organizations are now allowed to work with them.

For example, a nonprofit may enter into a memorandum of understanding with Taliban officials to coordinate the delivery of aid, provide descriptions of their projects and share office space, according to the Treasury website.

NGOs are also authorized to pay taxes, dues and import duties to the Taliban, the Haqqani Network and entities they control.

What the licenses don’t allow

While allowing NGOs and others to work with the Taliban and Haqqani Network, the Treasury Department licenses prohibit the transfer of funds to officials who remain under U.S. sanctions.

What is more, it remains unclear what civil society activities are allowed under the sanctions.

Crowdfunding giant GoFundMe recently reportedly suspended an Afghan journalist’s campaign to raise funds for his struggling news site.

GoFundMe did not respond to a request for comment.

The Treasury Department did not respond to follow-up questions from VOA about the scope of the sanctions.
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It was an attack that left a lasting mark on the U.S. in the waning days of its withdrawal from Afghanistan — a bombing and apparent follow-on attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul that left 13 American troops and more than 170 Afghans dead.

But a just-completed investigation by the U.S. military finds that much of what officials thought they knew about the August 26 attack at the airport’s Abbey Gate was wrong. In particular, the probe concludes that comments by senior commanders who argued it was part of a large and well-coordinated plot by the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate were misguided.

“This was not a complex attack,” Army Brigadier General Lance Curtis told reporters Friday, detailing the investigation’s findings.

“It was a single blast, and it did not have a follow-on attack,” Curtis said, still placing the blame with the group known as IS-Khorasan.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, which put U.S. forces in Kabul on heightened alert, senior U.S. commanders said there were two suicide bombers and that gunmen fired on both the crowd and U.S. troops following the explosions.

But Curtis and other military investigators now say that the evidence does not back that up, and that reports of a firefight with IS gunmen can be better explained by the nature of the bomb itself — made with about 9 kilograms (20 pounds) of military-grade explosives and ball bearings — and by the immediate response of U.S. and British troops in the vicinity of Abbey Gate.

The ball bearings, according to the investigators, created injuries that looked “remarkably similar to gunshot wounds.” And, they said, the reports of a firefight with militant gunmen likely were the result of U.S. troops on the ground hearing the echoes of warning shots fired by their colleagues within the confines of the security perimeter.

Commander of U.S. Central Command, General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, who helped oversee the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, praised the investigation, even though the conclusions differed from what he and others had said in the days following the deadly bombing.

“This was a terrible attack that resulted in tragic outcomes and a horrific loss of life, both Afghan and American,” McKenzie said. “While nothing can bring back the 11 Marines, one soldier and one sailor that we tragically lost in this attack, it is important that we fully understand what happened. Their sacrifice demands nothing less.”

Sources of evidence

Investigators said they based their findings on eyewitness testimony, video from a drone flying over the airport in the aftermath of the attack, forensic evidence and findings of medical examiners. They said, though, that they did not talk to any Afghan witnesses as U.S. troops had already left Afghanistan by the time their inquiry began.

They also emphasized that the evidence indicated all the deaths and injuries had been caused by the bomb itself, which they said was powerful enough to send shockwaves through the tightly packed crowds at Abbey Gate, spreading 50 meters from the detonation site.

“The disturbing lethality of this device was confirmed by the 58 U.S. service members who were killed and wounded despite the universal wear of body armor and helmets that did stop ball bearings that impacted them but could not prevent catastrophic injuries to areas not covered,” McKenzie said.

Military officials said the power of the explosion was also enough to cause some troops to suffer from traumatic brain injuries.

Investigators further said there was no proof that anyone was hurt or killed when U.S. and British forces fired a series of warning shots while targeting a perceived threat following the explosion. They also said the probe found no evidence that the Taliban, who at that point were coordinating with U.S. forces on airport security, knew anything of the looming attack.

Asked if there was anything the U.S. could have or should have done differently to prevent the attack, Curtis said no.

“Based on our investigation at the tactical level, this was not preventable,” he told reporters. “The [U.S. military] leaders on the ground followed the proper measures, and any time there was an imminent threat warning, they followed the proper procedures.”

Following the attack on Kabul Airport’s Abbey Gate, U.S. President Joe Biden said the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, known as IS-Khorasan, would be held responsible.

“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive,” Biden said in a nationally broadcast address. “We will hunt you down and make you pay.”

“We will respond with force and precision at our time, at the place we choose and the moment of our choosing” he said.

The Abbey Gate bombing also left the U.S. military in Afghanistan on heightened alert and possibly contributed to a botched airstrike three days later that killed as many as 10 civilians, including an aid worker and seven children.
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Since taking control of the Afghan capital last August, the Taliban have imposed severe restrictions on women and girls forcing many to give up on their education, careers, hopes and dreams. But at least one international group is trying to help. Karina Bafradzhian reports. Camera: Andrey Degtyarev
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Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, traveled to China Thursday to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and meet with Chinese leaders on cementing a traditionally close relationship between the countries.

Officials said several key ministers accompanied Khan on the four-day trip to Beijing, where discussions with President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang will focus on “stronger” economic and trade cooperation, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

China has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in Pakistan under CPEC, which is hailed as a flagship of Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative, which builds roads, power stations other infrastructure projects in Pakistan and other Asian and African nations.

CPEC aims to link the Chinese-operated Pakistani deep water Arabian Sea port of Gwadar to China’s landlocked western Xinjiang border region.

Officials said they expect the discussions in Beijing would lead to “further swiftness” in the pace of Chinese investments in Pakistan.

“The trip to China is very important for us both politically and economically in particular,” said Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, who is part of the Pakistani delegation, in a recorded video message.

“We are going to convey to China to relocate its industry to Pakistan because (CPEC) special economic zones are now ready and if you do so it would be a win-win situation,” Tarin said.

Khan’s visit comes at a time when his country’s historically rollercoaster relationship with the United States has become increasingly strained and Pakistan faces the diplomatic challenge of maintaining a fine balance between its decades-old ties with both world powers amid Beijing’s worsening tensions with Washington.

The Pakistani prime minister has repeatedly stated that instead of siding with so-called Cold War-like “blocks, his country would like to stay neutral and help de-escalate U.S.-China tensions.

“The imperatives of geopolitics have engendered new alignments in our region, which to many, are reminiscent of ideological confrontation of the last century,” Khan wrote in an article the Chinese Global Times published in connection with his visit.

The September 2001 terror strikes and subsequent U.S.-led military invasion of Afghanistan witnessed stability in U.S.-Pakistan ties because Islamabad provided its ground and air routes to American forces to sustain their fight against Taliban insurgents and international terrorists.

But the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces last August and the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan have upset U.S. policymakers over allegations the Pakistani military’s covert support enabled the Islamist group to seize power in Kabul – charges that Islamabad denies.

Critics say U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration appear to have downgraded ties with Pakistan, citing the absence of Biden’s direct contact with Khan since assuming office more than a year ago.

The bilateral tensions and Washington’s deepening ties with Pakistan’s arch-rival India have pushed Islamabad even closer to Beijing in terms of meeting its economic and defense requirements.

U.S. officials dismiss suggestions the relationship with Pakistan is facing any challenges. Despite strains in bilateral ties, Pakistan is listed as the top recipient of U.S. COVID-19 vaccine donations abroad, receiving nearly 43 million vaccine doses.

“Pakistan is a strategic partner of the United States. We have an important relationship with the government in Islamabad, and it’s a relationship that we value across a number of fronts,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Wednesday.

Price also dismissed reports Washington is pressing the country to choose between the United States and China.

“We think partnership with the United States conveys a series of advantages that countries typically would not find when it comes to the sorts of relationships that the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) has sought to have around the world,” Price said.

Officials in Washington are critical of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, including CPEC, saying it’s a “debt-trap” for developing countries, including Pakistan.

Islamabad and Beijing dismiss the criticism as unfounded, saying CPEC projects have ended Pakistan’s power crisis and laid the foundation for sustainable economic growth in the country.

Khan has strongly defended China’s controversial human rights record, especially against allegations that Chinese authorities are carrying out large-scale abuses against minority Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

“There is a lot of criticism about the treatment of Uyghur by China in the West. But our ambassador went there [to Xinjiang] and he sent us information that this is actually not true on the ground,” he told a group of Chinese journalists in Islamabad ahead of his Beijing visit.

Mustafa Hyder Sayed, the executive director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan-China Institute, underscored the importance of Khan’s meeting with Xi, saying the last time the two leaders met in person was in October 2019.

“Historically, China and Pakistan have always been very, very close but the recent new Cold War has actually brought both countries closer, with China becoming the biggest and primary investor in Pakistan,” Sayed noted.
…

Pakistan said Thursday security forces had successfully repulsed overnight militant attacks on two army bases in southwestern Baluchistan province that killed seven soldiers and 15 assailants.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said in a recorded video message that a clearance operation was underway in Nushki and Panjgur districts, where the raids took place late Wednesday.

“The terrorists were repulsed from both places… As of this moment, four or five people [assailants] in Panjgur are surrounded by security forces and will be neutralized soon,” Ahmed said.

A military statement issued later confirmed the clashes also injured four soldiers. “As per initial investigation, intelligence agencies have intercepted communications between terrorists and their handlers in Afghanistan and India,” the statement said.

A separatist militant group known as Baluch Liberation Army took responsibility for staging the coordinated raids, claiming its so-called suicide squad stormed the Pakistani paramilitary forces’ camps and inflicted heavy casualties on them.

The authenticity of the claim could not be verified from independent sources, as separatists often issue inflated details for such attacks.

Wednesday’s almost simultaneous militant raids came a week after dozens of heavily armed men linked to another outlawed separatist outfit, known as the Baluchistan Liberation Front, assaulted a military post in the province’s Kech district.

That attack killed 10 Pakistani soldiers while one attacker was killed in retaliatory fire and the rest managed to escape, according to officials.

Two days after the deadly insurgent raid, a bomb attack in another district killed three paramilitary forces and wounded eight others.

Baluchistan, rich with natural gas and minerals, has for years experienced insurgent attacks, but the violence has surged dramatically in recent weeks.

Pakistani officials allege Baluch insurgents receive support and funding from rival India, charges Indian officials deny. Baluch militants are believed to have established bases in neighboring Iran for mounting attacks in Baluchistan.

The province also borders Afghanistan, where Pakistani officials say Baluch militants have their sanctuaries.

The overnight attacks came hours before Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan left for Beijing to attend the opening of the Winter Olympics Games.

In a statement on Twitter, Khan paid tributes to security forces for defeating the attacks.

China has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in the province and elsewhere in Pakistan as part of Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative.

Officials in both countries say the increase in militant violence is aimed at undermining the multibillion-dollar megaproject known as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which includes roads, power projects and ports in the South Asian nation.

The corridor aims to link the Chinese-operated Pakistani deep-water Arabian Sea Gwadar port to China’s landlocked western Xinjiang border region.

The stepped-up separatist violence comes as the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, have also intensified attacks across the country, mainly targeting security forces.
…

U.S. experts agree on the need for Washington to rethink its strategy for Central Asia in light of its withdrawal from Afghanistan but are divided on what shape that new strategy should take.

Until 2001, few Americans knew this remote region. But it played a key role in U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan hosting air bases and helping the coalition transport critical goods.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lesslie Viguerie said Central Asia is still strategically important, despite the U.S. exit from Afghanistan. “Many things have changed over decades, but our overarching goals remain the same: sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,” Viguerie said.

At a recent U.S. Institute of Peace forum, Viguerie said the nations of Central Asia— which include Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan — have become more concerned about their own security since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.

As the State Department’s top official for the region, he said Washington steadfastly supports political, economic and social reforms.

“Pluralism and democratic governance are the foundational bedrock for a free and prosperous society,” he said. “We continue to advance the rule of law, promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and fight corruption.”

In 2015, Washington created the regionally focused C5+1 forum to discuss common challenges and “to enhance connectivity, economic integration and energy linkages.” That discussion included links with Afghanistan, but whether that continues will largely depend on the actions of the Taliban, officials said.

Viguerie said regional cooperation could help the five nations to deal more effectively with problems as diverse as the pandemic, climate change and disinformation campaigns.

“Recent events in Kazakhstan remind us of the importance of addressing the underlying social and economic factors that can lead to instability,” he said in reference to nationwide protests sparked by a sharp spike in fuel prices.

“We continue to highlight the positive role civil society can play in examining the root causes of economic and social frustrations.”

Mistaken presumption

Richard Hoagland, a former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, said that while Washington speaks publicly about democracy and economic development, it is more quietly focused on countering Russian and Chinese influence in the region.

In the 1990s, Hoagland recalled, U.S. policy presumed that the nations of Central Asia “would surely become free market democracies if only we could offer enough assistance. But they didn’t. And in retrospect, that’s not the least bit surprising.”

The ways of the West were too foreign to Central Asians who had long lived under repressive rulers, Hoagland said.

Going forward, he said, these five countries will need to resist outside pressure in order to balance their relationships with Moscow, Beijing, Brussels and Washington. “Russia would not be at all displeased to see the West and especially the U.S. pack up its bags and go home.”

Beijing, the largest investor in the region, made further commitments during a virtual meeting last week between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the five Central Asian presidents. India showcased its own interest in investing in the region during a similar summit a day later.

Hoagland argued that U.S. concerns over governance and human rights problems should not lead Washington to dial back its relations with the region.

“We need patience,” he said, noting the rise of a new generation in Central Asia, including some with Western education and values.

Jennifer Murtazashvili, an analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said U.S. strategy for the region does not take current realities into account.

“The U.S. can play a very constructive role in Central Asia but has to understand their needs, desires and goals,” she said at the USIP forum.

She urged Washington not to look at the region through the lens of Russia or China, saying, “We can’t be reactive to what other countries are doing, but proactive.”

Murtazashvili said U.S. engagement with the region should focus on the intersection between economic development and public administration, including efforts to combat corruption and work with emerging civil society. “Without reforms in these areas, it will be difficult for Central Asians to achieve their goals,” she said.

She considers education the biggest area of demand for cooperation with the U.S. because of youthful populations.

Security cooperation first

But Fred Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, contends that security cooperation should instead be front and center. “A discussion with the countries that honestly includes security, sovereignty, self-government and self-determination is what’s been missing,” he said.

Speaking at the same virtual forum, Starr said Central Asia is the only region in the world that doesn’t have its own intraregional organization without outsiders and urges Washington to support such initiatives.

“The C5+1 is thin. The concept is good, they have meetings, but it’s been very passive by comparison to what China and Russia are doing,” Starr said.

“We have to be more patient and tenacious with those who are underperforming in areas that are important to us,” he added. “Treat them as a region, treat them with respect, foster a regional thinking in our programs.”

Murtazashvili sees Afghanistan as a place with potential to foster positive relationships among Russia, China and the United States. Now that the geopolitical implications of a major foreign presence in Afghanistan no longer overshadow more immediate regional interests, she said, major powers could collaborate on development and investment opportunities in this part of the world.

“Having a Central Asian strategy that was so dependent on what happened in Afghanistan was a huge risk,” she said. “We weren’t seeing the strong mutual interests that many countries in Central Asia had with Afghanistan regardless of who is in power.”

Starr and Murtazashvili recommend the United States make Afghanistan part of a renewed strategy. “Central Asians are more confident in dealing with Afghanistan than we are,” said Murtazashvili, specifically referring to Uzbekistan’s humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.

Values-based approach

Steve Swerdlow, professor of human rights at the University of Southern California, argues for a values-first strategy toward the region. In an interview with VOA, he said America’s reputation as a defender of human rights and democracy has been damaged in recent years but argued that the Afghan withdrawal frees up the U.S. to reclaim a more values-based approach to Central Asia.

“Washington should speak out more about the harassment of journalists and create greater recognition that support for civil society is a core national interest of the U.S.,” he said.

“Global Magnitsky sanctions against bad guys should be used more in Central Asia in a strategic way,” he added. “Go after corrupt individuals; curtail some of the globalized, offshore asset holdings by” a close circle of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Swerdlow said Washington should utilize the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations to raise human rights issues in Central Asia and negotiate with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan as members of the U.N. Human Rights Council about their obligations.
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A British judge this week ordered the family of an Azerbaijani lawmaker to forfeit some $7.6 million to the National Crime Agency on the grounds that the funds were illegally brought into Britain.

The judgment against the family of Javanshir Feyziyev, a member of Azerbaijan’s parliament, relates to the so-called Azerbaijani Laundromat, a complex money-laundering scheme that was initially exposed by Danish newspaper Berlingske and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in 2017.

Records indicate that four United Kingdom-registered shell companies processed some $2.9 billion in transactions, which Azerbaijan’s ruling elite were allegedly using to bribe European politicians, buy luxury goods and enrich themselves.

Azerbaijan’s government routinely ranks low on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index reflecting the country’s continuing struggle to make gains in democratic elections, judicial independence and free press.

“The current kleptocratic system owes its existence to corruption and bribery,” Azerbaijani human rights defender and former prosecutor Rufat Safarov told VOA.

Once imprisoned by Azerbaijan authorities on what international human rights organizations deemed politically motivated charges, Safarov considers graft to be almost standard for governance in his country.

“The state governing structures — institutions tasked with the fight against corruption — not only fail to fulfill their functions, but in government structures, inclination toward bribery is ordinary,” Safarov said.

According to economist Gubad Ibadoglu, in Azerbaijan, the fight against corruption is an imitation. In his view, the endemic corruption has affected judiciary, police and even social security organs of the state.

“Corruption is intertwined with political system and authoritarian governance,” Ibadoglu told VOA, adding that all branches of the government are under the thumb of the executive branch.

Azerbaijani authorities, however, persistently reject such assessments of the country’s record on corruption.

Gunay Selimzade, press officer for the prosecutor general, states that her government takes “intensive measures” to remedy corruption in the spheres of legislation, criminal investigation and raising public awareness.

“The fight against corruption in Azerbaijan via institutional and criminal investigative measures has been highly assessed by experts of the influential international organizations,” she told VOA.

Kamran Aliyev, the country’s chief prosecutor, recently touted some statistics as evidence of the ongoing struggle against corruption. According to him, police have closed criminal corruption investigations involving nearly 500 individuals in 2021.

Independent observers view such numbers more as an attempt to cover up the government’s poor record of combating corruption. According to Ibadoglu, reducing corruption will depend on the establishment of rule of law and an independent judiciary that can investigate charges of corruption.

To date, very few top officials have been charged or prosecuted on charges stemming from financial scandals reported abroad, including the notorious Azerbaijani Laundromat case.

This story originated in VOA’s Azerbaijan Service.
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The Taliban on Wednesday released two journalists working for a local news channel in Afghanistan two days after their arrests, which drew domestic and international denunciation of the Islamist group over its crackdown on dissent. 

Sharif Hassanyar, the head of the private Ariana News TV, confirmed via a tweet the release of reporters Waris Hasrat and Aslam Hijab from Taliban custody. 

The journalists were picked up Monday by Taliban forces while they were leaving their office for lunch in the capital, Kabul. The reason behind their arrest was not known, and Taliban authorities released them without accepting responsibility. 

The United Nations and local and international rights groups had condemned the detention of Hasrat and Hijab, demanding their immediate release. 

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan acknowledged the release of the journalists, urging the Taliban to stop abductions and secure the release of several female activists. The women disappeared two weeks ago after attending a protest rally to demand more rights and denounce Taliban restrictions on women, including wearing an Islamic hijab while in public.

Critics say the Taliban’s return to power last August has undermined freedom of expression in Afghanistan.

The Islamist group has cracked down on human rights activists, forcefully dispersed protests against its regime and subjected several journalists to torture for covering demonstrations that were not first approved by authorities. 

Last week, the Taliban blocked an Afghan media advocacy group from holding a press conference in Kabul, drawing international condemnation. 

Emergence of independent media outlets was hailed as one of the major outcomes of the U.S.-led international involvement in Afghanistan during the past 20 years.  

A survey jointly released in December by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association found that at least 40% of media outlets in Afghanistan have disappeared and more than 80% of female journalists have lost their jobs since the return of the Islamist Taliban to power. 

More than 6,400 journalists and media employees have lost their jobs since August 15, when the Taliban seized power from the Western-backed Afghan government, according to the survey.
…

A new poll indicates that nearly all Afghans, already tormented by decades of war and poverty, say their living conditions have worsened to the point where they say they are “suffering.”

“Ninety-four percent of Afghans rate their lives poorly enough to be considered suffering,” said the Gallup survey, adding the percentage was “not only a record high for the country, but also the highest Gallup has seen for any country since 2005.”  

More than 2,000 Afghans ages 15 and up were interviewed in two rounds of questioning which was which was conducted inside Afghanistan between August 9 and September 29 of last year, Julie Ray from Gallup told VOA.  

From food affordability to respect for women’s rights, the survey presents a bleak picture of an estimated 36 million Afghan population with little hope for their future.  

Female respondents, in particular, rated their circumstances as dire.   

While three in four Afghans cannot afford food for their families, according to the survey, the gender gap widened with 82% of women struggling to buy food versus 69% of men.

Since the Taliban re-took control of Afghanistan in August of 2021, the country has seen worsening poverty rates, and Afghans say respect for women’s rights has plummeted.  

“For the first time in the history of Gallup surveys in Afghanistan, the majority of men in Afghanistan (60%) do not feel that women are treated with respect and dignity,” the poll found.  

“People are absolutely desperate,” Stephen Carter, an Afghanistan expert at the London-based NGO Global Witness, told VOA. “They are literally facing starvation.”  

To save lives and mitigate hardships, the United Nations has called for more than $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in 2022 – the largest single-country appeal the organization has ever made. 

Taliban rejection 

A spokesman for the ruling Taliban called the Gallup survey baseless and misleading.  

“Spreading baseless reports of disappointments among people is the work of the enemies of Afghanistan,” the spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, tweeted Tuesday.  

Despite claiming they have restored peace in Afghanistan, the Taliban concede the country’s economy is grim but say that is a legacy of the previous U.S.-backed Afghan government.  

Negative view of US

Many Afghans, 53% of those interviewed by Gallup, have said they want to leave their country permanently. Many want to move to the U.S., Canada, or another Western country. 

The U.S. and its allies have evacuated more than 120,000 Afghans since the fall of the Afghan government last year.  

The desire to move to the U.S. comes amid soaring disapproval of the U.S. – a record high of 84% – among Afghans, particularly since the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

“Afghans now view the U.S. in the same light as they do Russia,” the survey said, noting that disapproval of the American leadership has risen to a record 84% — even higher than the 76% who disapprove of the Russian leadership. Afghans “are relatively more positive about the leadership of Germany and China, but few approve of any foreign leadership,” it said.  

 
…

The U.N. human rights office is calling on the Taliban for information about the whereabouts of six women who were abducted two weeks ago in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The agency says it is extremely concerned about the fate of the six who were abducted in connection with women’s rights protests in Kabul. On Saturday, the de facto Taliban authorities announced they were investigating the disappearance of these individuals.

U.N. rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said no confirmed information on their whereabouts has been received.

“We call on the de facto authorities to publicly report on the findings of their investigation into the abduction and disappearance of these women and their relatives, and to take all possible measures to ensure their safe and immediate release, and to hold those responsible to account,” she said.

Shamdasani said since the women were abducted, there have been worrying reports about searches at the homes of other women who have taken part in demonstrations. She said information about where they’ve been taken, and their well-being is lacking and unclear. All of this, she said, perpetuates a climate of fear and uncertainty.

“These reports have also brought into focus what appears to be a pattern of arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as torture and ill-treatment, of civil society activists, journalists and media workers, and former government officials and security forces in Afghanistan. We also continue to receive credible allegations of other gross human rights violations,” she said.

Shamdasani said control over dissent appears to be tightening.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid bristles at criticisms such as this. In response to media questions earlier in the week on the disappearance of the six women, he denied that any were being held. Then he said the authorities had the right “to arrest and detain dissidents or those who break the law.” 
…

Public universities in warmer provinces of Afghanistan reopened Wednesday to both female and male students for the first time since the Islamist Taliban took control of the war-torn country last August.  

Witnesses said university administrations enforced gender segregation in line with directives from the Taliban government, including staggered operating hours and separated classes for boys and girls. 

Bibi Hawa, a student at the state university in eastern Nangarhar province, said she was “extremely delighted” at the resumption of their education and so were other fellow female students. 

“Our dead hopes have been resurrected and we will now be able to achieve our unfulfilled dreams,” Hawa told VOA in an audio message, adding they returned to a different study environment at the campus. 

“There are separate classes for boys and girls. The study timings are different. Female students are required to wear all-covering black dresses and hijabs [headscarves],” Hawa said. “These changes are acceptable to us, and we have no issues with them.” 

The head of the United Nations mission to Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, praised the Taliban’s decision to permit women to resume their education.  

“Let’s all support the return of Afghan young female and male students to the universities across Afghanistan. Supporters can consider a range of scholarship programs and ongoing support to female and male professors,” Lyons tweeted Wednesday. 

Officials and witnesses said state universities in Laghman, Kandahar, Nimroz, Farah and Helmand provinces also opened Wednesday but attendance was generally thin. No female students showed up at the university in Kandahar, the southern province known as the birthplace of the Taliban. There are around 40 public universities in Afghanistan. 

Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the Taliban minister for higher education, while announcing reopening of public universities on Sunday said that universities in the colder areas, including Kabul, will reopen on February 26.  

All state-run universities and secondary schools for girls were shuttered when the Taliban took over Afghanistan and banned co-education.  

While boys were allowed to rejoin secondary schools in September, most schoolgirls are still waiting for permission to resume class. In mid-September, the Taliban allowed female students to resume classes in some 150 private universities under a strictly gender-segregated classroom system. 

The vague measures, however, sparked domestic and international concerns the Islamist movement would again bar women from education, as happened during the previous Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.  

The Taliban have pledged to respect women’s right to education in accordance with Sharia, or Islamic law, and promised to allow all schoolgirls to return to classes in March, when the new education year begins in Afghanistan. 

The international community has not yet recognized the Islamist group as the legitimate rulers of the country and made female education a key part of its demands as the Taliban seek increased foreign aid and unfreezing of billions of dollars in Afghanistan’s overseas cash reserves.  

The suspension of international aid to Afghanistan after the United States and other Western countries withdrew their troops in late August has worsened a humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country. 

Donor countries are also pressing the all-male Taliban government to rule the country through a broad-based administration and ensure women participation in public life. 

On Tuesday, the radical group’s administration announced first appointments of women to leadership roles.    

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that Dr. Malalai Rahim was appointed as director of the specialized maternity hospital in Kabul and Dr. Aryan as director of the capital’s teaching hospital.   

The move followed several days of meetings Taliban delegates held in Norway last week with U.S. and envoys from other Western governments on a range of issues, including rights of women to education and public life. 
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A pregnant New Zealand journalist who was stranded in Afghanistan by her home country’s COVID-19 border policy said Tuesday she will return home after her government offered her a pathway back.

The government offer amounted to a backdown by New Zealand after officials had earlier insisted that Charlotte Bellis needed to reapply for a spot in the country’s bottlenecked quarantine hotels. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said Bellis had been offered a voucher for a room. 

“I will be returning to my home country New Zealand at the beginning of March to give birth to our baby girl,” Bellis said in a statement. “We are so excited to return home and be surrounded by family and friends at such a special time.”

Her case was quickly becoming an embarrassment to New Zealand, which has thousands of citizens waiting abroad for space to open in the military-run border quarantine hotels. 

Bellis said she wanted to thank fellow New Zealanders for their support and would continue to challenge the government to find a solution to its border controls. She added that she was disappointed the decision was a one-off and didn’t offer a pathway home for other pregnant New Zealanders. 

She said on Sunday that each day was a battle. Now 25 weeks pregnant, she said she had tried without success to enter New Zealand via a lottery-style system and then applied for an emergency return but was rejected. 

Chris Bunny, the head of New Zealand’s quarantine system, said the new offer was made to Bellis because Afghanistan was extremely dangerous and there was a risk of terrorism. He said there was a limited ability to help people on the ground, especially after the withdrawal of U.S. forces last year. 

“We do acknowledge that Ms. Bellis considers herself to be safe and did not seek an allocation on that ground,” Bunny said. “We have the residual discretion to grant allocations in rare and exceptional circumstances.” 

Bunny said the publicity surrounding the case was not a deciding factor and that the sole consideration was Bellis’ safety. 

Bellis, 35, had worked as an Afghanistan correspondent for Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news network. She resigned in November because it is illegal to be pregnant and unmarried in Qatar. 

Bellis then flew to Belgium, trying to get residency in the home country of her partner, freelance photographer Jim Huylebroek, who has lived in Afghanistan for two years. But Bellis said the length of the process would have left her in Belgium with an expired visa.

Hopping from country to country on tourist visas while she waited to have her baby would have cost too much money and left her without health care, so she and Huylebroek returned to Afghanistan because they had a visa, felt welcome and from there could wage her battle to return to her home. 

New Zealand officials said they would add Huylebroek to Bellis’ voucher if he took the same flight with her.

New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said this week that while officials had needed to make some difficult choices, the quarantine system had worked well overall by saving lives and preventing the health system from becoming swamped. 

The Taliban have come under international criticism for repressive rules they imposed on women since sweeping to power in mid-August, including denying girls education beyond sixth grade. However, they have said that all girls and women will be allowed to attend school after the Afghan New Year at the end of March. While women have returned to work in the health and education ministries, thousands of female civil servants have not been allowed to return to their jobs. 

 
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