Walt Disney said on Thursday its TV channels in India and digital streaming platform both set new viewership records in the recently concluded men’s cricket World Cup.

A record 518 million viewers from India watched matches during the 48-day event on TV, while Disney’s streaming app recorded a peak concurrent viewership of 59 million during the finals.

Disney’s disclosure comes as it competes aggressively with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema in the streaming sector.

In recent months, Ambani has sought to promote his platform by saying mobile streaming is the way to watch live matches, not TV.

On Thursday, Disney said 300 million users tuned into watch World Cup finals alone on TV, citing data from broadcast industry body BARC. “This becomes the most watched event in Indian television history,” said Sanjog Gupta, head of sports at Disney Star.

Disney is currently exploring options of finding a joint venture partner or even a sale of its India business.

The company has offered free streaming of World Cup cricket on smartphones via Hotstar, part of a strategy to boost advertising revenue and offset the impact of a subscriber exodus. JioCinema too have made cricket free to watch on phones.

Cricket-mad India hosted the 13th edition of the showpiece event Oct. 5-Nov. 19, where it lost to Australia’s national team in the final match.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has said that a record 1.25 million attended the matches from the stands during the World Cup this time.

Disney had bought digital and streaming rights to show the ICC tournaments in India from 2024 to 2027 by paying around $3 billion.
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Riot police used batons and tear gas to halt tens of thousands of supporters of Nepal’s former king who attempted to march to the center of the capital on Thursday to demand the restoration of the monarchy and the nation’s former status as a Hindu state.

The protesters, waving the national flag and chanting slogans supporting former King Gyanendra, gathered on the edge of Kathmandu and attempted to move toward the center of the city. Riot police blocked them, beating them with bamboo batons and firing tear gas and a water cannon. There were minor injuries on both sides.

Authorities had banned protests in key areas of the city prior to the rally.

“We love our king and country more than our lives. Bring back the monarchy. Abolish the republic,” the crowd chanted.

Supporters of the former king came to Kathmandu from all over the country to demand the return of the monarchy that was abolished in 2008. They accused the government and political parties of corruption and failed governance.

Weeks of street protests in 2006 forced then-King Gyanendra to abandon his authoritarian rule and introduce democracy.

Two years later, a newly elected parliament voted to abolish the monarchy and declared Nepal a republic with a president as head of state.

Since then, Gyanendra has been living as a private citizen with no power or state protection. He still has some support among the people but little chance of returning to power.

The demonstrators also demanded that Nepal be turned back into a Hindu state. The Himalayan nation was declared a secular state in 2007 by an interim constitution. 
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Afghanistan’s Taliban government has told the United Nations that it will consider religious values and refuse outside interference in the country’s internal affairs when dealing with the world.

The statement was submitted to the U.N. this week in response to a Security Council-commissioned assessment that included recommendations for an international approach to dealing with crisis-hit Afghanistan under de facto Taliban rule.

The independent assessment, written by Turkish diplomat Feridun Sinirlioglu in his role as a special U.N. coordinator, mainly stemmed from the Taliban’s demand for the world to recognize them as Afghanistan’s legitimate governing authority.  

The report linked the issue of granting legitimacy to the Taliban – and giving them Afghanistan’s seat at the U.N. — to their compliance with the country’s international treaty obligations that would require them to remove restrictions on women’s rights to education and employment opportunities.

In its response, the Taliban-led Afghan foreign ministry rejected any such link. “This government is obligated to take into consideration the religious values and national interests of the country during all engagements and will not allow anyone to interfere in our internal affairs,” it said.

Since reclaiming power two years ago, the Taliban have barred girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade across Afghanistan. They have stopped most Afghan female staff from working at government offices and aid agencies, including the United Nations.

Authorities have also closed beauty salons, and women are not allowed to visit parks and undertake road trips unless accompanied by a male guardian.

The Taliban refuse to ease curbs on women and insist their governance is aligned with local culture and Islamic law – assertions that many Afghan critics and the rest of the Muslim-majority countries dispute.

The U.N.-mandated assessment repeatedly underscored the importance of giving Afghan women the freedom to play a role in the conflict-torn country’s development.

“Any formal re-integration of Afghanistan into global institutions and systems will require the participation and leadership of Afghan women,” read the assessment, submitted to the Security Council this month.

It also recommended that a national dialogue among all Afghan stakeholders, including those outside the country, be initiated to establish inclusive governance and ensure sustainable peace and economic development in the country after 45 years of armed conflict.

The report argued that the dialogue would permit movement toward the full normalization and integration of Afghanistan within the international system. 

The Taliban welcomed some U.N. recommendations, such as helping the country strengthen its economy and encouraging regional connectivity via Afghanistan. However, they dismissed the idea of an intra-Afghan dialogue and skepticism about the ability of the current government to tackle the country’s security, economic, and humanitarian challenges.

“Afghanistan currently possesses a strong central government that represents the unique diversity of Afghans; therefore, it should not be viewed as a conflict zone where foreign-imposed political solutions like intra-Afghan dialogue are deemed necessary, and neither should the time of the international community be wasted with such endeavors,” the Taliban asserted in their response.

It also rejected as “unacceptable” a recommendation for a U.N. special envoy on Afghanistan.

The Taliban said Afghan women have secured some of their most basic rights, noting that 23.4% of all civil servants are female and unprecedented numbers of women participate as leaders and job creators in the business, commerce, and manufacturing sectors.

“The Islamic Emirate has collected thousands of street beggars – a legacy of the previous regime – a majority of whom were women, and allocated them regular stipends,” the Taliban statement said, using the official title for its administration.

It took credit for improving security across Afghanistan and eliminating opium cultivation. “Despite unilateral, malicious, and illegal sanctions, not only has the Islamic Emirate rescued the national economy from a total collapse but it has also launched large infrastructure projects,” read the Taliban response. 

The U.N. says a dire humanitarian crisis, stemming from years of war and natural disasters has worsened since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, noting that two-thirds of the country’s estimated 43 million people need aid.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev bewildered Vladimir Putin and his entourage when, during a November 9 briefing in the Kazakh capital, he addressed the visiting Russian president in his native tongue.

While Tokayev spoke in Kazakh for less than 30 seconds, the gesture made a point: Kazakhstan is not Russia. Moscow is a strategic ally and neighbor with a shared past, but Kazakhstan is a sovereign nation.

“It takes courage,” Azamat Junisbai, professor at Pitzer College, remarked in a posting on X. “That President Tokayev made a point of delivering even a small part of his message in Qazaq is meaningful and appreciated by those who know the context.”

Junisbai’s posting, using the native rather than the more familiar Russian spelling for the language, itself reflected the former Soviet republic’s determination to establish its own identity apart from Moscow.

Changes in perception slow in coming

Tokayev and other Central Asian leaders, especially Uzbekistan’s Shavkat Mirziyoyev, have been traveling the world, signing major investment deals and hosting international summits at home, promoting their development agendas and visions for the region.

Yet many in the West have been slow to acknowledge the trend, including major news publications such as Reuters, Deutsche Welle, The Wall Street Journal and Time, all of which have recently referred to Central Asia as “Russia’s backyard.”

Bloomberg, for example, covered the French president’s visit to Central Asia this month with an attention-grabbing “Macron Lands in Putin’s Backyard Seeking New Friends and Uranium.”

Central Asian and some Western researchers take offense at the phrase, which they increasingly see as evidence of a colonial and condescending way of understanding a region that has its own history, culture and trajectory.

“Bloomberg reducing Kazakhstan/Central Asia to ‘Putin’s backyard’ is just a new level of ignorant, insulting, and unethical journalism,” wrote Akbota Karibayeva, a doctoral student from Kazakhstan at George Washington University, on X.

Asel Doolotkeldieva with the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, also reacted on X: “Bloomberg didn’t even bother to write the country’s name. Kazakhstan is just a ‘backyard.’ So tell me, how this Western imperial discourse is different from the Russian imperial discourse on Central Asia? How better you are?”

Eric Rudenshiold said in a recent Washington roundtable, “Central Asia is not a flyover zone. It is a destination.” The former National Security Council director for Central Asia under the Biden and Trump administrations is now a senior fellow at the Caspian Policy Center in Washington.

Central Asia wants “strong commitment”

Speaking remotely from Tashkent on the same panel discussion, Uzbek scholar Akram Umarov argued that countries seeking to boost relations with Central Asia need to appreciate that emerging identity.

“Central Asia is focused on its own development,” he said. “It wants a strong commitment and longstanding interest from its partners, including the United States.”

Part of that identity is forged by Central Asia’s location in a “tough neighborhood” — landlocked and surrounded by Russia, China, Iran and Afghanistan — while standing at the crossroads between eastern and western Asia.

“We cannot change our geography, which always matters. You deal with what you have, so we need to be pragmatic,” Umarov said.

His Kazakh colleague Iskander Akylbayev added that Central Asia is more than simply an area connecting larger, more powerful states, but one that aims to transform itself into a commercial hub.

Kazakhstan, one of the world’s top 12 oil producers, “does not just want an energy-oriented cooperation. It wants to become a knowledge-based economy,” Akylbayev said, stressing the importance of regional connectivity, which could lure more investment to Central Asia and boost its image.

But the reality is more complicated, according to Uzbek and Kazakh officials, who acknowledge that the region’s leaders are deeply affected by a fear of Russian aggression and a lingering distrust of the U.S. and the EU. Central Asian governments find themselves hedging, seeking an elusive balance.

Speaking on background with VOA about Central Asia’s predicament, a Biden administration official echoed this concern: “How do you move your goods and push for your interests when you are surrounded by Russia, China, Iran and Afghanistan?”

Openings for the U.S.

Rudenshiold sees the five Central Asian states “working together and breaking free from their former isolation to connect to a more global future — a process that has created significant new openings for the United States.”

China, the Gulf states and the EU are promising to invest billions that Central Asians hope will free them from “Russia’s stranglehold.” America’s pledge pales by comparison, Rudenshiold noted in his recent article for the Caspian Policy Center.

Kazakhstan is eager to develop a “Middle Corridor” through which East Asian goods can be transported to the West via its territory, the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. Double-landlocked Uzbekistan is desperate to access seaports. Turkmenistan wants a trans-Caspian gas pipeline to facilitate the sale of its main resource.

“Washington is missing out on a critical opportunity to assist the region,” Rudenshiold said. “U.S. diplomats and development experts are sending the right messages to Central Asian capitals, but they don’t have sufficient resources to follow up.”

But how to convince the U.S. Congress that the region is worth investing in? It seems to some like a mission impossible, especially when many lawmakers — at least partly informed by reports describing the region as a backyard — still view Central Asian republics as vassals of Russia and China.

U.S. lawmakers could start by scrapping the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, Rudenshiold suggested. The law, adopted nearly 50 years ago originally to restrict trade with the Soviet Union, still blocks some countries from achieving most-favored nation trading status with the United States.

While the U.S. cannot replace Central Asia’s neighbors as trade partners, it can enable Central Asians “to do business on their own terms, not dictated by Moscow and Beijing,” Rudenshiold said.

Rights advocates counter that repealing Jackson-Vanik and awarding more trade benefits would be unwarranted before the region shows more progress on establishing the rule of law. They note that several Central Asian states still pursue authoritarian practices, jail journalists, restrict nongovernmental organizations and religious freedom, and maintain harsh anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Rising regionalism

According to Edward Lemon, president of the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and professor at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, “the most significant change in foreign relations in Central Asia over the past decade has been rising regionalism.”

“Visa regimes have been relaxed, borders reopened, trade surged and intraregional migration has increased,” Lemon told VOA.

However, he says, Central Asian leaders still do not act as a cohesive group. “Doing so would certainly increase their bargaining power.”

Lemon added that while striving to overcome the label of “Russia’s backyard,” “all have maintained strong ties with Moscow, which have not substantially changed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
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A federal court in Pakistan ruled on Tuesday that the closed-door jail trial of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on charges of leaking state secrets was unlawful. 

A single-judge special tribunal has been conducting the judicial proceedings inside a prison near the capital of Islamabad, where Khan was indicted on the charges last month.  

But Khan challenged the indictment in a higher federal court, arguing that the entire trial breached his constitutionally guaranteed right to a fair and open trial.  

“Consequently … the trial conducted … in jail premises in a manner that cannot be termed as an open trial stand vitiated,” the court said in its Tuesday ruling. 

Khan’s lawyers said the trial was set up in a small room at the prison with only a couple of members of his legal team allowed. His family and the media were not given access. 

Tuesday’s ruling means the entire trial will start from scratch in an open court in the presence of the media, Khan’s lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, said. 

Charges stem from classified document

The charges against Khan, 71, stem from a March 2022 classified Pakistani diplomatic cable, known as a cipher, that Khan alleged documented the United States’ role in toppling his government a month later with the help of his country’s powerful military. 

Islamabad’s then-ambassador to Washington, Asad Majeed Khan, wrote the cable. 

The classified document purportedly quoted Donald Lu, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, as asking the ambassador to tell his military leadership it should remove Khan from office through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence because of his government’s neutrality over the war in Ukraine. 

The deposed cricket star-turned-prime minister was in Moscow for official talks with President Vladimir Putin on the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. 

An opposition alliance moved a no-confidence vote a day after the ambassador met with the U.S. officials, eventually bringing down the Khan government in April of that year because several of his party’s lawmakers and coalition partners had also defected, allegedly under pressure from the military. 

U.S. officials and the Pakistani military rejected charges they were behind Khan’s removal. A U.S. news outlet, The Intercept, published the purported text of the cipher for the first time last August. 

Popular leader faces lawsuits

Khan has been convicted in a graft case and sentenced to three years in jail. A higher court later suspended the sentence, but authorities quickly rearrested the former prime minister in the cipher case.  

He faces multiple lawsuits filed by authorities, which he claims to be a ploy by the military to prevent his comeback to power because of his advocacy for an independent foreign policy for Pakistan, one free from the influence of the United States. 

The deposed prime minister remains the most popular national political leader, and his opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, is rated as the country’s largest political party, according to recent public surveys 

The military has staged repeated coups against elected prime ministers since Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947 and ruled the country for more than three decades. Pakistani politicians, including former prime ministers, say the army significantly influences policymaking even when it is not in power and orchestrates the removal of elected leaders who fall out with the institution.  

The nuclear-armed South Asian nation of about 241 million people is scheduled to hold national elections on February 8, raising hopes the vote would help end the lingering political turmoil in Pakistan that erupted after Khan’s ouster from office.  

However, critics are skeptical about whether an election without Khan would deliver political stability, which they say is vital in helping Pakistan deal with its dire economic challenges.   
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The United Nations and partner agencies renewed a call Tuesday for countries to immediately suspend mass deportations of Afghan nationals, citing the onset of a harsh winter and the “worsening” humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

The call comes amid reports that Iran and Pakistan have collectively forced out more than 500,000 Afghans over the past two months, with the number of deportees growing by the day.

The International Organization for Migration, or IOM, said Tuesday that nearly 375,000 Afghans returned home from Pakistan through the Torkham and Spin Boldak border crossings between the two countries. De facto Afghan Taliban authorities have reported more than 400,000 returnees from the neighboring country.

The IOM statement noted that the number of border crossings dramatically increased from 200 daily to 17,000 after the Pakistani government ordered all undocumented foreigners, including an estimated 1.7 million Afghans, to leave the country by November 1 or face forcible expulsions.

“Their situation is desperate; most people told us they were forced to leave the country and leave belongings and savings behind,” said Maria Moita, chief of the IOM Afghanistan mission.

“People arriving in Afghanistan are extremely vulnerable and need immediate support at the border as well as for the long term in the areas of return,” Moita stated. “This is a significant humanitarian crisis, and funds are urgently needed to continue providing immediate assistance after arrival to ensure a safe and dignified return.”

Official Pakistani data shows that Afghans who have returned or are in the process of returning are doing so “voluntarily,” and only 16% of them were deported.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has decried the evictions and sought their reversal. Islamabad has rejected the criticism, saying the crackdown is targeting foreigners who are residing illegally or overstaying their visas.

Afghan media quoted de facto Taliban authorities as reporting that more than 120,000 refugees left Iran within the last two months, saying 90% of them were forcibly expelled. Tehran has not officially announced its crackdown, but Iranian authorities have in recent weeks repeatedly vowed to deport all illegally residing Afghans.

The Taliban have established large camps on the Afghan side of the border with Pakistan where returning families await immediate critical aid, such as shelter, essential household items, and healthcare, before proceeding to intended areas of return.

Philippa Candler, representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan, said Tuesday that “mass arrivals are adding to the ongoing humanitarian crisis” in Afghanistan, where winter temperatures are already dipping to -4°C in some locations.

“Many Afghan returnees are vulnerable, including women and children, who could lose their lives in a harsh winter if left without adequate shelter,” she told a news conference in Geneva.

Candler said the UNHCR staff and humanitarian partners are scrambling to monitor and assist the influx of returning Afghans.

“Those arriving now at border points inside Afghanistan are exhausted and in need of emergency assistance. Many have complained of harassment, extortion, and mistreatment. Desperate women and children are among those who were not given a choice but to pack and leave,” she added.

The IOM urged the international community to increase support at a time when funding for the people in Afghanistan is rapidly declining.

“After decades of conflict, instability, and economic crisis, Afghanistan will struggle to absorb the high number of returning families, many of whom have not lived in the country for decades, if ever,” the organization said, adding that returnees face a “precarious, uncertain future” because some six million people are already internally displaced in the conflict-torn country.

Pakistan defends the deportations, blaming illegally residing Afghans for playing a role in a recent surge in deadly militant attacks in the country, charges Taliban authorities reject.

Authorities, however, say 1.4 million legal Afghan refugees carrying “proof of registration” cards are not subject of the ongoing crackdown. Earlier this month, the government extended the legal residence status of these individuals until December 31. Additionally, more than 800,000 Afghan migrants registered by the Pakistani government in collaboration with the former Afghan government, and carrying the IOM-approved Afghan citizenship cards, are also not the target of the deportation plan.

 
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Growing up in Lahore — Pakistan’s cultural capital — fall used to be the perfect time for Mariam to enjoy outdoor activities after months of scorching summer heat. Now, she cannot imagine the same for her young daughters as Lahore’s air, ranked the most polluted globally, becomes unusually toxic in cooler months.

“You can just smell, sometimes you can taste it, and feel it as well,” said the mother of two describing what it is like to breathe the polluted air.

With an AQI reading of 345 early in the day, Lahore ranked second worst city in the world for air pollution on Tuesday, according to the Air Quality Index or AQI run by IQAir, a Swiss air purifier manufacturer.

An AQI above 151 is unhealthy, while above 301 the air is hazardous for breathing.

IQAir’s index ranked Lahore the most polluted city of 2022.

Smog emergency

The city, along with several other in Pakistan’s biggest province Punjab,is under a month-long smog emergency since early November.

Smog – a combination of smoke and fog – is a specific phenomenon that occurs when certain pollution particles mix with cold, moist air and hang close to the ground, reducing visibility.

In a bid to reduce traffic congestion and exposure to toxic air, the top court in Punjab on Monday ordered the closure of government-run educational institutions on Saturdays until the end of January 2024. The court also asked the provincial government to come up with a work-from-home plan for the private sector.

A year-long emergency

For a few weeks in fall, smoke in Punjab’s air increases as Pakistani and Indian farmers on both sides of the divided state burn agricultural residue to prepare fields for planting the next crop. Environmentalists, however, say the government is in denial about the extent of Pakistan’s pollution problem, which is primarily driven by low quality, high-Sulphur fuel.

“Air pollution has always been an issue in Pakistani cities, going back the better part of 15 odd years,” Ahmad Rafay Alam, a Lahore-based environmental lawyer told VOA. “We have a year-long regional air pollution emergency and we tend to think of it as a Lahore smog issue.”

According to the Air Quality Life Index developed by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, 98.3 of Pakistanis breathe air that is below the country’s own national air quality standard.

In 2017 the provincial Environmental Protection Department came up with an 11-point policy, on court orders, focusing on controlling emissions from vehicles and factories.

The court was, however, dissatisfied and constituted a smog commission for detailed analysis and recommendations on improving air quality.

Speaking to VOA, Naseem-ur-Rehman Shah, secretary of the provincial Environment Commission claimed that 80% of factories were now monitoring their emissions while 70-percent of brick kilns had moved to an environmentally friendly design

Still, data paints a terrifying picture.

“Every figure is telling you that the air pollution in Lahore is about, on the lower end, like 30, 40 times higher than the WHO safe limits,” said Abid Omar, founder of Air Quality Pakistan Initiative, a network of volunteers who monitor air quality using IQAir monitors.

Omar is based in Karachi which routinely competes with Lahore and Delhi for the worst air quality in the world.

Monitoring

For the city of nearly 15 million people, Punjab’s environmental agency gathers data from only five air quality monitors in Lahore.

Omar’s Pakistan Air Quality Initiative has 50 monitors feeding into IQAir’s Air Quality Index.

Shah’s department does not use PAQI’s data over standardization concerns but it is planning to add several monitors of its own.

In 2019, the provincial environmental regulator was forced to revise its air quality standards after it emerged officials were underreporting pollution by using low standards.

Alam represented the complainants in taking the regulator to court.

Knee jerk reaction

With air quality declining dramatically this month, the provincial and city administration have ramped up crackdown on smoke-emitting factories, brick kilns, and vehicles.

Citing city administration, local media reported that more than 16,000 vehicles were ticketed and over $100,000 dollars in fines imposed since the beginning of the emergency.

Omar calls such administrative measures a knee jerk reaction lacking long-term impact.

“Because it’s very random and ad hoc implementation, it’s not going to be an effective policy,” Omar said.

Shah called such criticism unfair. “We are working to eliminate sources of pollution,” he said.

Policy shift

“What we need to do is improve the quality of our refineries, which don’t produce high quality fuels … you have to transition to renewable energies, which is expensive and time consuming,” said Alam, pointing to studies that show fuel and energy sector are among the primary polluters in the country.

In May this year, Pakistan’s Ministry of Climate Change introduced the National Clean Air Policy. It aims to reduce harmful emissions in the next 10 years by introducing interventions in transport, industry, agriculture, waste and household sectors.

Such an overhaul will take time, money, and political will.

For Mariam, who runs three air purifiers in her home, the only option at the moment is to keep her daughters indoors as much as possible.

“It actually feels like … you’re being deprived of something very basic … not being able to breathe in fresh air.”

According to the Air Quality Life Index at the University of Chicago, Pakistanis are losing 3.9 years of life expectancy because of breathing toxic air. In Lahore and the rest of Punjab, residents are on track to lose between 3.7 to 4.6 years of life expectancy.
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In India, the first images of 41 construction workers trapped in a tunnel in the northern state of Uttarakhand emerged on Tuesday as rescue teams established visual contact with them. 

The workers were building the tunnel as part of an ambitious highway project in the Himalayan mountains when it partially collapsed on Nov. 12.  

A video, released by state authorities, shows the men wearing their helmets and construction jackets and standing around the medical endoscopy camera that was sent through a 15-centimeter pipe pushed through the rubble on Monday.  

An official asks the men to smile and wave. The workers can be seen responding to the instructions.

The insertion of the wider pipe is being seen as a breakthrough. It was used late Monday to give the first hot cooked meal of rice and lentils to the men, who so far had survived on dry supplies like nuts and roasted chickpeas sent through a narrower pipe. Officials said it will also be used to send other essentials such as medicines, mobile phones and chargers.

“We will bring you out safely; do not worry,” rescuers can be heard reassuring the men on the video. An official is also heard telling them to present themselves before the camera one by one to confirm their identities. 

“All the workers are completely safe,” Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a statement. “We are trying with all our might to get them out safely soon.”

Family members of the trapped workers who have gathered at the rescue site told reporters they were reassured after seeing the images of their relatives. Earlier rescue teams had used radios to contact the men, who are all low-wage workers.

Efforts to extricate them entered the 10th day on Tuesday. Initial attempts to drive a 91-centimeter-wide steel pipe horizontally through which the men could squeeze out were suspended on Friday due to concerns that more debris could fall and complicate the rescue operation.

Rescue efforts have also been slowed by the breakdown of heavy machines that were drilling through the rock and debris to create an escape route.

Despite the challenges, an international tunnel expert, who has joined the operation, has expressed confidence that the men will be rescued as multiple options are being explored. 

“We’ve got mission from the top, missions from the front, mission from the side. The men are coming home. We’re just not sure which door they’re going to use,” Arnold Dix, the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association president, told news agency ANI. “We’re knocking on the top door. We’re knocking on all these doors. Which one opens? Not sure.”

Currently, engineers are creating an access road to the top of the hill from where they plan to dig a vertical shaft to reach the workers. Authorities said they would also continue digging horizontally from the mouth of the tunnel toward the laborers.

The effort is complicated by the geology of the Himalayas, a young mountain chain that is prone to landslides. Officials are not putting any time frame to the operation and have said digging will have to be done slowly. 

“It may look easy from the outside, but on-site we have to factor in the effects of the drilling vibrations on the fragile terrain,” Anshu Manish Khalkho, director of state-run highway management company National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, told reporters on Friday.

The government said in a statement on Monday that it is committed to saving the lives of all workers. “We are keeping constant communication and making all efforts to keep up the morale of the workers.”

Authorities have not said what caused the partial collapse of the under-construction tunnel, which is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious highway project to improve connectivity and access to important Hindu pilgrimage locations in Uttarakhand. The picturesque state is often called the “Land of the Gods” due to its many Hindu religious sites.
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Online abuse and hate speech targeting politically active women in Afghanistan has significantly increased since the Taliban took over the country in Aug. 2021, according to a report released Monday by a U.K.-based rights group.

Afghan Witness, an open-source project run by the non-profit Center for Information Resilience, says it found that abusive posts tripled, a 217% increase, between June-December 2021 and the same period of 2022.

Building on expertise gained from similar research in Myanmar, the Afghan Witness team analyzed publicly available information from X, formerly known as Twitter, and conducted in-depth interviews with six Afghan women to investigate the nature of the online abuse since the Taliban takeover.

The report said the team of investigators “collected and analyzed over 78,000 posts” written in Dari and Pashto — two local Afghan languages — directed at “almost 100 accounts of politically active Afghan women.”

The interviews indicated that the spread of abusive posts online helped make the women targets, the report’s authors said. The interviewees reported receiving messages with pornographic material as well as threats of sexual violence and death.

“I think the hatred they show on social media does not differ from what they feel in real life,” one woman told Afghan Witness.

Taliban government spokesmen were not immediately available to comment about the report.

The report identified four general themes in the abusive posts: accusations of promiscuity; the belief that politically active women violated cultural and religious norms; allegations the women were agents of the West; and accusations of making false claims in order to seek asylum abroad.

At the same time, Afghan Witness said it found the online abuse was “overwhelmingly sexualized,” with over 60% of the posts in 2022 containing terms such as “whore” or “prostitute.”

“Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, social media has turned from being a place for social and political expression to a forum for abuse and suppression, especially of women,” the project’s lead investigator, Francesca Gentile, said.

The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and work and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking power in 2021, as U.S. and NATO forces were pulling out of Afghanistan following two decades of war.

“The Taliban’s hostility towards women and their rights sends a message to online abusers that any woman who stands up for herself is fair game,” added Gentile.

One female journalist, speaking with Afghan Witness on condition of anonymity, said she deactivated some of her social media accounts and no longer reads comments, which affects her work when trying to reach out to online sources.

The report said it found the majority of those behind the online abuse were men, “from a range of political affiliations, ethnic groups, and backgrounds.”
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Australia won the Cricket World Cup for a record-extending sixth time Sunday, ending India’s dominant run in its home tournament with a six-wicket victory in a low-scoring final on the back of Travis Head’s 137. 

A heavily pro-Indian crowd inside the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium was silenced as Head combined with Marnus Labuschagne (58 not out) in a 192-run partnership to chase down the target of 241. 

Australia was wobbling on 47-3 after seven overs but Head and Labuschagne dug in to help their country regain its status as the king of one-day international cricket, adding to its 50-over world titles in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015. 

Head was dismissed off what proved to be the next-to-last ball of the match, caught in the deep while attempting to hit a title-clinching boundary. In came Glenn Maxwell and he ran two off his first ball, securing a victory that prompted fireworks above the world’s largest cricket venue. 

The Indians won all 10 of their matches before the final and were seeking a third trophy in their fourth appearance in a title match that brought a country of 1.4 billion people to a virtual standstill. They were outplayed in every department by Australia, though, restricted to 240 all out on a slow pitch after losing the toss with only Virat Kohli (54) and Lokesh Rahul (66) making half-centuries. 

Head became only the fifth player to score a century in a men’s World Cup final — and third Australian after Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist — and delivered a significant moment in India’s innings when taking a diving catch running back from cover to remove captain Rohit Sharma (47). 

Australia finished the tournament with a run of nine straight wins, after starting with back-to-back defeats to India and South Africa. 
…

In Pakistan, Punjab’s government says smog is so bad in 10 of the province’s districts that wearing a mask is now mandatory in those areas whenever stepping outside.

Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan wrote in a public order: “smog poses a serious and imminent threat to public health in all age groups.”

The districts affected by the mandate are: Lahore, Nankana Sahib, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Narowal, Hafizabad, Sialkot and Mandi Bahauddin.

The mandate is in effect from November 20 to 26.

National Geographic defines smog as “air pollution that reduces visibility.”
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Indian rescuers are considering opening a vertical shaft to free 41 men trapped in a collapsed tunnel after drilling at the site was paused over fears of further cave-ins and as efforts stretched into a second week.

Excavators have been removing earth, concrete and rubble from the under-construction tunnel in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand since last Sunday after a portion of the tunnel collapsed. 

Rescue efforts have been slowed by continued falling debris as well as repeated breakdowns of the crucial heavy drilling machines, with the air force having to twice airlift in new kit.

Drilling through the tons of debris was paused late Friday, after a cracking sound created a “panic situation”, officials said.

Operations were then halted due to the possibility of “further collapse,” said the government’s highways and infrastructure company, NHIDCL.

“Every possible effort is being made,” Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari said Sunday, after visiting the site.

He said if the drilling machine was fixed, they could reach the men by Tuesday, but said teams were also considering multiple alternative routes.

Relatives of those trapped, who spoke to the men via radio, said conditions were grim and morale low.

“They are in tears… they have started asking us whether we are lying about the rescue efforts being made to save them,” one relative told reporters late Saturday, without giving their name.

‘Bring those 41 men home’

Engineers had been trying to horizontally drive a steel pipe about 90 centimeters (nearly three feet) wide through the debris — enough for the increasingly desperate trapped men to squeeze through.

Bhaskar Khulbe, a senior government official involved in the rescue operations, said teams were now considering digging an entirely new shaft, including from above.

That could involve digging down more than 100 meters (330 feet), but a track would have to be constructed to even bring the heavy diggers to that site.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported initial “preparations to drill a vertical hole from the top of the hill” had begun, as an alternative route out.

Rescuers have been communicating with the trapped workers by radio, while food, water, oxygen and medicine have also been sent to them via a 15-centimeter-wide (six-inch) pipe.

Tunnel expert Arnold Dix, an independent disaster investigator and president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, said he was on his way to India after being asked to help.

“We are discussing right now our options for the safe rescue of these men,” Dix told India Today.

Experts have warned about the impact of extensive construction in Uttarakhand, where large parts of the state are prone to landslides. 

Dix said the tunnel was in “one of the most difficult areas,” but said he was confident they would be rescued.

“We are going to bring those 41 men home,” he said.

Villagers have set up a Hindu temple at the mouth of the tunnel to the local god, Boukhnag, saying the original temple had been moved during construction.

Some villagers told reporters they blamed the tunnel collapse on the fact that the initial temple was destroyed.
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Germany confirmed Saturday that it has launched an investigation into an alleged unauthorized trip to the country by a senior member of Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban regime.  

The controversy erupted after Abdul Bari Omar, head of the Taliban-led food and medicine authority, appeared at a mosque in Cologne on Thursday, addressing an audience largely made up of Afghan expatriates.  

The German Interior Ministry, on the X social media platform, condemned the appearance of Omar as “completely unacceptable,” saying Taliban members have no place in the country. It urgently sought clarification from the organizers, the Turkish-Islamic Union, or DITIB, on how the appearance came about.  

“Nobody is allowed to offer radical Islamists a platform in Germany. The Taliban are responsible for massive human rights violations,” the ministry wrote. “The responsible authorities are investigating the case intensively.”

‘We are shocked’

The DITIB distanced itself from the event, saying it had only rented the space to a Cologne-based Afghan cultural association for a religious gathering and did not know the Taliban official had been invited. 

“We are shocked by this incident,” the DITIB said in a Friday statement, insisting it “learned from the press” that the speaker was a Taliban representative.  

“Contrary to contractual agreement, this turned into a political event to which a speaker unknown to us was invited,” it said. This constituted a “blatant breach of contract,” and the association has been banned from the premises, it added. 

On Friday, the German foreign ministry said its official data shows that none of the country’s visa offices had issued a visa to Omar, nor was it informed about his visit. The ministry stressed in a statement posted on X that Germany does not recognize the Taliban government.  

“As long as the Taliban in Afghanistan blatantly tramples on human rights, especially the rights of women and girls, there will be no normalization with the Taliban regime,” the ministry added. 

Chief Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Friday the presence of Omar in Germany by tweeting pictures from the controversial Thursday event. 

“He encouraged the Afghan participants to return to the country and use their capital to contribute to the reconstruction and development of the country, telling them security has returned to the country,” Mujahid wrote.  

The DITIB is reportedly the largest Sunni Muslim organization in Germany and is linked to the Turkish government.  

Separately, the Dutch health and sports minister apologized Saturday for having his picture taken with Omar while both attended the Second World Local Production Forum in the Hague from November 6 to 8.   

Ernst Kuipers wrote on X that he stands for human rights, particularly women’s rights, and does not want to associate himself with what he denounced as the “terrible” Taliban regime.  

“I didn’t know who this person was at the time. This was a mistake, and it should not have happened, and I regret it,” he said. “We are investigating how this person was present at this conference.” 

The hard-line Taliban reclaimed power in August 2021, when U.S.-led Western troops chaotically withdrew after nearly two decades of involvement in the Afghan war.  

No foreign country has recognized the male-only Taliban regime mainly because it bans female education beyond the sixth grade in Afghanistan and bars women from most public and private sector workplaces, including the United Nations.  

De facto Afghan authorities justify their governance, saying it is aligned with Afghan culture and Islamic law. They have rejected international criticism of the Taliban government and calls for removing sweeping restrictions on women. 
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Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu officially requested that India withdraw its military personnel from the archipelago Saturday, a day after being sworn in.

The president’s office said in a statement that Muizzu made the request when he met Kiren Rijiju, India’s minister for earth sciences, who was in the Maldives for the presidential inauguration.

“The president noted that at the presidential election held in September, the Maldivian people had given him a strong mandate to make the request to India and expressed hope that India will honor the democratic will of the people of the Maldives,” the statement said.

Muizzu, who is seen as pro-China, campaigned on a promise to evict Indian military personnel and balance trade, which he said was heavily in favor of India under his predecessor, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

The election was seen a virtual referendum on which regional power — China or India — should have the biggest influence in the Indian Ocean archipelago. Both India, the closest neighbor of the Maldives, and China have been vying for influence in the islands, which are located strategically on the shipping route connecting east and west.

The number of Indian troops in the Maldives is not publicly known. Critics say secrecy in the agreement between India and Solih’s government regarding the role and number of Indian military personnel has led to suspicion and rumors. The Indian military is known to operate two Indian-donated helicopters and for assisting in search and rescue operations for people stranded or facing calamities at sea.

The Maldives’ minister for strategic communications, Ibrahim Khaleel, told The Associated Press that the president himself will have to find out the number of Indian troops from officials after the weekend.

He said that the discussions took place in a cordial manner, and that the Maldives was hopeful the withdrawal would take place soon.

Muizz’s ally, former President Abdulla Yameen, made the Maldives part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative during his presidency from 2013 to 2018. The development initiative is meant to build railroads, ports and highways to expand trade — and China’s influence — across Asia, Africa and Europe. 
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India captain Rohit Sharma said Saturday his players understand the pressure of being Indian cricketers and remain “calm and composed” for the World Cup final against five-time champion Australia.

The hosts are undefeated in 10 matches and will eye their first global trophy in over a decade in front of around 130,000 fans at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

“Leading up to every game we have been quite composed, quite calm about what we want to do, because we know how it is outside the environment we have,” Rohit told reporters. “The expectations and the pressure, criticism and everything, so it’s important we stick to our strength and what we want to do as a team.

“Inside, what they [players] feel I can’t tell you, but when they are around the group, everybody seems to be quite relaxed and calm. Being an Indian cricketer you have [to] deal with pressure, that’s a given, it’s there,” Rohit said.

Australia team captain Pat Cummins said the immense size of the stadium will be a challenge.

“The crowd’s obviously going to be very one-sided, but in sport, there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent, and that’s the aim for us tomorrow,” he told reporters Saturday. “You’ve just got to embrace every part of a final. … You know in the lead-up there’s going to be noise and more people and interest, and you just can’t get overwhelmed.”

India last won the World Cup in 2011 at home under M.S. Dhoni with the cricket-crazy country erupting in joy as thousands took to the streets to celebrate.

Two years later, Dhoni led India to the 2013 Champions Trophy, but the cricketing powerhouse faltered at the World Cup semifinal stage in 2015 and 2019.

This time around, Rohit’s team has lived up to its billing as pre-tournament favorites with a perfect showing in the league stage and then a 70-run win over New Zealand in the semifinal.

“Emotionally it’s a big thing, a big occasion,” said 36-year-old Rohit. “So along with me, all the other 10 players who will play on the ground tomorrow, their focus will be more on their work for the team, rather than thinking about, ‘This is the biggest moment of my life.’”

Fellow cricket superpower Australia is now into its eighth World Cup final.

They have won eight matches on the bounce after two opening losses, including a six-wicket defeat to India after they were bowled out for just 199.

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc said after his team’s semifinal win over South Africa, “India has been the best in the tournament so far, and we both find ourselves in the final. We played them in the first game of the tournament, now we get to take them on in the last. What a place to be at the end of a World Cup.”

“They’ve won eight out of eight, and they played it really well. So, it’s going to be a good contest,” said Rohit. “Both teams deserve to be at this stage playing the finals, and we understand the importance of what Australia can do. They are a very complete side, and for us, again, what is important is to focus on what we want to do as a team.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister has said his country did not sell weapons for use by Ukraine in its war with Russia, calling reports of such sales a “confusion.”

In an exclusive interview with VOA, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said Pakistan did not sell arms to the U.S. for Ukraine.

“We will investigate if it [Pakistan arms] has ended up somewhere else. But, as far as Pakistan is concerned our arms were not at all destined for either Ukraine or any other place for that matter,” Kakar said.

A recent investigative report by a Pakistani online news platform Soch established a link between sale of Pakistani small arms and ammunition to two U.S. companies and concluded, using publicly available procurement data, the items became part of Washington’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and ended up on the battlefield.

“We are just exploring that how this entire confusion has been created and what are the reasons behind those confusions,” Kakar said, claiming his government was already discussing this issue “on different diplomatic channels with the concerned authorities” in Washington.

WATCH: VOA Interview

Responding to an earlier VOA query on this matter, a spokesperson told VOA via email, “we don’t have anything for you on this.”

Pakistan has tried to maintain a neutral posture in Russia’s war on Ukraine. A visit to Moscow by then-Prime Minister Imran Khan on the day Russia invaded Ukraine embarrassed Islamabad and irked Washington.

Afghanistan

Pakistan is currently in the process of expelling nearly 1.7 million Afghans residing without documents. Islamabad alleges Afghans were involved in several recent terror attacks and accuses the Taliban government in Kabul of insufficient action against anti-Pakistan militants.

Asked if Pakistan would be safer after the mass expulsion, Kakar said it was not a counterterrorism tactic.

“We want to have a regulated movement interaction with the Afghanistan as a state. This is the prime target,” the Pakistani caretaker premier said.

Kakar’s recent comments referring to the Taliban government as illegitimate sparked a controversy. Calling his choice of words unfortunate, Kakar told VOA he meant the de facto government was unrecognized. He said deciding the legitimacy of their government was up to the Afghan people.

Kakar denied Pakistan had ever supported the Afghan Taliban and dismissed reports of sheltering then-insurgent leaders as exaggerated.

“Whenever next we have to choose and commit ourselves along with global powers in the regional wars we should mull over and deliberate more before making our choices,” Kakar said, complaining that Pakistan was incorrectly blamed for the outcome of the 20-year war while its human and economic sacrifices were not recognized.

China

Pakistan is home to the roughly $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the flagship project in China’s global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

However, as Beijing aims to protect the BRI from risks, Kakar rejected the notion that Pakistan’s political and economic instability and poor security environment was making the country less attractive for China.

“Pakistan is a midsize market in itself. So, they do see Pakistan in isolation and in connectivity with the whole region.”

During a recent trip to China to celebrate a decade of BRI with other partner countries, Kakar made a historic visit to Xinjiang, the northwestern Chinese province bordering Pakistan.

He said he saw no “so-called human rights abuses” during his time in Xinjiang, where he offered Friday prayers with local officials in a mosque.

International human rights watchdogs accuse China of rights abuses in the region through mass surveillance of Uyghur Muslims, suppression of their religious identity, and internment of around 1 million people in forced labor camps.

China dismisses this as Western propaganda. It calls the camps reeducation centers meant to curb militancy by helping Uyghurs assimilate with China’s majority Han culture.

“My own observation and experience in that region has been that they are having a fantastic and fabulous life under Chinese leadership.”

Kakar said the U.S. and its allies had lost moral authority as Israeli strikes on alleged Hamas hideouts kill thousands of children in Gaza.

Pakistan

As the caretaker prime minister, Kakar’s primary responsibility is to ensure Pakistan holds free and fair elections, slated for February 8 next year. That may be a challenge.

If the much-delayed polls happen at all, it is likely Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan will not be able to participate. The country’s most popular leader, according to surveys, is in jail on corruption charges and faces a long list of cases, which he alleges are politically motivated.

Khan’s party has seen mass defections as it faced a massive crackdown after supporters stormed government and military installations to protest the leader’s arrest on May 9. Those that have stayed with the party and are not in jail say they are unable to run an election campaign.

“What I am trying to do over here is, we should commit ourselves to the utmost transparency, to the utmost fair play, to all the players and even then, after that, if we are criticized, we are OK with it,” Kakar said when asked how he can ensure credible elections.

More than 100 of Khan’s supporters are in military custody for the May 9 violence. Kakar vehemently opposed the Pakistani Supreme Court’s recent decision prohibiting their trials in military courts.

“Of course they should be tried in military courts. It has got nothing to do with, anything, the word of democracy,” Kakar asserted.

Since the top court’s decision, the Pakistani Senate passed a controversial resolution demanding military trials of civilians. A group of citizens who lost loved ones to past terror attacks has also petitioned the Supreme Court to reverse its decision.

Kakar said it was fine if people protested outside political office, but those breaching military properties should face military courts.

“Why people go towards the military installation?” he asked. “If they choose to do so, there are laws in every country and in this country, and they have to face the consequences of that.”
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On November 1, Pakistan’s government began deporting Afghans who had been living there illegally. Hundreds of thousands of people have since crossed back into Afghanistan and are living in makeshift camps near the border. These families say they need shelter and jobs as the winter is approaching. VOA Afghan Service has the story, narrated by Elizabeth Cherneff.
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Judges at the World Court ordered Azerbaijan Friday to let ethnic Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh in September to return, and to keep the Armenians remaining in the enclave safe, as part of a set of emergency measures.

Azerbaijan in September recaptured the region, then controlled by its ethnic Armenian majority despite being internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

The lightning offensive, after decades of enmity between Baku and Yerevan and a nine-month blockade of essential supplies by Baku, prompted the mass exodus of most of the region’s 120,000 ethnic Armenians to neighboring Armenia.

Yerevan accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing and asked the International Court of Justice, as the World Court is formally known, to issue emergency measures aimed at protecting the rights of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Azerbaijan must … ensure that persons who have left Nagorno-Karabakh after Sept. 19, 2023, and who wish to return to Nagorno-Karabakh are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner,” presiding judge Joan Donoghue said.

The court said Azerbaijan must also make sure any ethnic Armenians still living in the enclave were “free from the use of force or intimidation that may cause them to flee” and ordered that Baku report to the court in two months to show what it was doing to comply with the order.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said it had already pledged to ensure all residents’ safety and security, regardless of national or ethnic origin, and that it had not forced the ethnic Armenians to leave Karabakh.

“Azerbaijan is committed to upholding the human rights of the Armenian residents of Karabakh on an equal basis with other citizens of Azerbaijan,” it said in a statement.

The measures are part of two competing legal disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan before the ICJ. Both states accuse each of violating a U.N. anti-discrimination treaty.

No date has been set for the main case and a final ruling is not expected before sometime next year.
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Government forces in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir killed five suspected militants in a gunbattle, police said Friday.

Indian forces launched a joint operation Thursday evening following a tip that rebels were hiding in a village in the southern Kulgam district. The siege led to a gunbattle that continued until Friday, police said.

Five militants were killed in the fighting, a police statement said. It said they had been involved in several attacks on government forces and civilian killings.

There was no independent confirmation of the police claims.

Residents said troops destroyed two civilian houses with explosives during the fighting, a common anti-militancy tactic employed by Indian troops in Kashmir. Another home was partially damaged.

At least two of the people killed were in their teens and three had joined the rebel ranks last year, according to police.

The counterinsurgency operation came two months after major fighting in nearby Anantnag killed three Indian soldiers, including a commanding officer and his deputy, and a police officer. Two militants were killed in the weeklong operation.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

Rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir’s independence or merger with Pakistan. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal.

New Delhi insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle.

In 2019, New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms while intensifying counterinsurgency operations.
…

Journalists from India, Togo, Georgia and Mexico are honored with International Press Freedom Awards this week. The legal threats and harassment all four confront reflect a wider downward trend in civil liberties, they say.  For Liam Scott, VOA’s Jessica Jerreat has more. VOA footage by Hoshang Fahim and Cristina Caicedo Smit.
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Afghanistan’s neighbors, along with Russia, are sustaining ties with its Taliban government under an “understanding” that they will grant it formal recognition simultaneously if certain conditions are met, a regional diplomat said Thursday. 

Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s special representative on Afghanistan, told an international seminar that the regionally developed approach has helped sustain the crisis-hit country economically.

“There is an understanding among the immediate neighbors of Afghanistan and Russia that we will recognize the Taliban regime simultaneously and not unilaterally,” Durrani said at the annual Margalla Dialogue organized by the state-run Islamabad Policy Research Institute.

He noted that the regional consensus enabled these countries to enter into “bilateral trade, currency swap, and barter trade agreements” with de facto Afghan authorities. Durrani said if this were not the case, there would likely be 10 million people fleeing poverty-stricken Afghanistan and seeking refuge in Pakistan. 

“The positive thing in Afghanistan is that there is less corruption, and [the Taliban] have raised their revenues. There’s security in the country, and … drug or opium cultivation is at its all-time low,” the Pakistani envoy said, citing international observations and recent U.N.-backed studies.

Durrani dismissed suggestions that Pakistan would be better off dealing with terrorism threats emanating from neighboring Afghanistan by granting diplomatic recognition to the Taliban. 

“We should be part of the consensus because here we’re talking about just not Afghanistan, we are talking about the region and it will also have an impact on your regional policy,” Durrani cautioned. 

He said that Pakistan is not alone in expecting the Taliban to meet conditions such as lifting the ban on Afghan women’s right to education and employment opportunities. 

“They say it is Islamic. It is not Islamic. It may be the [Afghan] tribal or cultural [practice], but it is not Islamic,” said the Pakistani envoy. 

Under its strict interpretation of Islamic law, the Taliban have forbidden female education in Afghanistan beyond the sixth grade and barred women from most public and private sector workplaces, including the United Nations and other aid groups. They have rejected criticism of their policies, saying they are aligned with Islamic law and Afghan culture. 

While Russia, Iran, and some other regional countries have urged the Taliban to give representation to all Afghan groups in their government to make it more inclusive, Pakistan and China have been stressing the need for allowing women to have a role in the war-shattered country’s development. 

The hardline Taliban reclaimed power from an American-backed government in Kabul two years ago, but no country has recognized their men-only administration over human rights concerns, including restrictions imposed on Afghan women’s freedom.

A recent independent assessment commissioned by the United Nations has also linked the recognition of the Taliban to compliance with the country’s international treaty obligations and commitments, requiring them to remove all curbs on Afghan women’s rights immediately.

Terror threat

Pakistan complains that fugitive militants sheltering on Afghan soil have intensified terrorist attacks in the country since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul two years ago, killing and injuring thousands of Pakistanis, including security forces. 

Taliban authorities reject the allegation, saying they are not responsible for internal security challenges facing Pakistan, nor are they allowing anyone to use Afghan soil against other countries. 

The standoff over terrorism-related concerns has prompted Islamabad to unleash a crackdown on hundreds of thousands of Afghans they say are residing unlawfully in Pakistan. The move has fueled mutual tensions, with the Taliban demanding a suspension of the deportation plan or more time for refugee families to enable them to organize their return. 

Durrani, in his talk Thursday, anticipated bilateral tensions would take time to subside, cautioning that it would be a long and drawn-out process, but that Pakistan is determined to sustain engagements with the Taliban.

“If you talk about the recent spat between the two countries, that would continue,” he said. “We have to bear with all kinds of ups and downs as far as [the relationship between] Afghanistan and Pakistan is concerned. So, don’t expect miracles coming anytime soon.” 

Pakistan was long accused of covertly supporting and sheltering Taliban leaders while they were directing insurgent attacks against the U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan and their local allies for nearly two decades until they withdrew in August 2021.

The Taliban’s return to power had generated hopes in Pakistan that the power shift in Kabul would deter fugitive anti-state militants from seeking refuge on Afghan soil and launching cross-border attacks. 

However, those hopes have since evaporated, with Pakistani officials reporting a 60% rise in terrorist attacks in the country and a 500% increase in suicide bombings. They have blamed Taliban-allied outfits operating out of Afghanistan for the deadly violence, killing more than 2,300 Pakistanis, including security forces.
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Pakistani President Arif Alvi said his country has carried a huge burden in hosting Afghans for nearly four decades.    

In an exclusive interview with VOA Urdu, Alvi defended Islamabad’s decision to expel Afghans living in Pakistan without proper documents.

He said giving refuge to citizens of the neighboring country had deeply affected his own country’s economy and culture. 

 “I think that it’s a huge burden for Pakistan. We have given refuge to 3.5 million people for 30, 40 years. They are our Afghan, Muslim brothers, and this deeply impacted our economy, our livelihood. Because when all of these people got jobs, Pakistan’s workforce is 80 to 100 million, and out of those, 3.5 million are Afghans.” 

Pakistan is a country of over 240 million people. While the South Asian nation has struggled financially for years, it has a large undocumented or untaxed economy that Afghans also participate in as business owners, traders and laborers.  

“It is said that the Kalashnikov culture here increased with the presence of Afghans,” Alvi said, referring to the mass inflow of weapons into Pakistan in the aftermath of the Soviet war in Afghanistan nearly three decades ago. 

Pakistan hosts over 4 million Afghans of which roughly 1.7 million lack legal documents to stay. According to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, the country is currently hosting around 1.4 million legally registered Afghan refugees and nearly 900,000 as documented economic migrants.  

There is also a sizeable population of Afghans born in Pakistan to parents who fled war or poverty in the last four decades. However, many lack proper documents. 

Citing security concerns, Pakistan in early October ordered people of all nationalities residing illegally in the country to leave voluntarily or face a crackdown after November 1. Since then, over 300,000 Afghans have left the country voluntarily, while a small fraction has been deported. 

Alvi, who serves a largely ceremonial post, complained that the international community had not provided Pakistan with sufficient support to host one of the world’s largest refugee populations. 

“The world makes promises to cooperate when refugees arrive, but nobody has given any cooperation,” he said. 

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, nearly 700,000 Afghans arrived in Pakistan seeking refuge. Thousands among them are awaiting resettlement abroad. 

In this time, Pakistan has also seen a dramatic rise in terror attacks. Islamabad accuses Afghan Taliban of providing a haven to the banned militant outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, responsible for many of the attacks. 

The de facto rulers in Kabul deny the charge and say Pakistan is blaming them for its internal “failure.” 

Islamabad also claims that Afghan citizens were involved in 14 out of 24 terror attacks in recent months.  

When asked if the push to expel Afghans was a retaliatory move against the Taliban’s alleged inaction against cross-border terrorism, Alvi called the two issues a “concurrent problem.”  

“Pakistan is repeatedly telling the Afghan Taliban to not let infiltration [of terrorists] happen from their side. [That] the anti-state players should not act against us sitting on your side,” he said. 

Alvi said he did not know why the Taliban have not alleviated Pakistan’s concerns but noted that military and diplomatic channels of communication are open.  

VOA Urdu’s Ali Furqan contributed to this report.
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More than half of the estimated 5,000 refugees who had fled the heavy fighting in Myanmar’s western Chin state and had entered northeastern India have begun returning home, Indian officials said Thursday.

Sunday and Monday saw heavy fighting between the rebels and the Myanmar military in the Chin state across the border from Zokhawthar, a village of around 600 households, in India’s Mizoram state. The military junta lost control of some areas after rebels, largely belonging to the Chin National Front, seized two military posts.

“Since Wednesday, we have not heard sounds of airstrikes or gunfire across the border. We presume the situation across Mizoram border in Myanmar is returning to normal, leading to most of the 5,000 refugees returning back,” James Lalrinchhana, the Deputy Commissioner of Champhai district in Mizoram, told The Associated Press.

The fighting also forced 40 troops from the Myanmar army to cross over and take shelter in India.

The troops crossed to India on Monday, and the Indian Air Force airlifted them to neighboring Manipur state from where they crossed into Myanmar the next day, according to an Indian defense official who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

India shares a 1,643-kilometer (1,020-mile) border with Myanmar, and is home to thousands of refugees from Myanmar in different states.

The Arakan Army, one of the many ethnic insurgent groups active in Myanmar, along with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, launched a coordinated offensive on Oct. 27 in northern Shan state in northeastern Myanmar along the border with China.

The groups called themselves the “Three Brotherhood Alliance.”

The alliance has claimed widespread victories and Myanmar’s military government has acknowledged losing control of three towns, including a major border crossing for trade with China.

The attacks took place despite a yearlong cease-fire with Myanmar’s military government, which the Arakan Army called off Tuesday.

The Arakan Army is the well-trained and well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement seeking autonomy from the central government.

Rakhine is also known by its older name of Arakan. It’s the site of a brutal army counterinsurgency operation in 2017 that drove about 740,000 minority Rohingya Muslims to seek safety across the border in Bangladesh.

Anti-junta rebels across Myanmar appear to have been emboldened to target symbols of the junta-led government in Myanmar, experts say.

“Forces like the CNF were obviously monitoring the situation in the northern Shan state bordering China where the rebels were attacking the government soldiers. Rebels in the western Chin state, bordering India, also intensified their offensive,” said Arunav Goswami, a researcher with the Guwahati-based Centre for Development and Peace Studies.

The offensive in the northern part of Shan state was already seen as a significant challenge for the army, which has struggled to contain a nationwide uprising by the members of Peoples’ Defense Force. The pro-democracy resistance organization was formed after the army seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in February 2021. It also set up loose alliances with several of the ethnic armed groups.
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