Authorities in Pakistan have arrested at least 170 people after a mob of Muslims attacked churches and homes belonging to the Christian community in the city of Jaranwala in the most populous province Punjab. The attack came as allegations of desecration of the Quran by two Christian men emerged Wednesday, August 16. Police have arrested the two accused. But as residents return to scenes of devastation and authorities ramp up efforts to return normalcy, some victims of the attacks say they may never feel safe again. VOA’s Pakistan Bureau Chief Sarah Zaman reports from Jaranwala. (Camera: Wajid Asad, Produced by Malik Waqar Ahmed)
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President Arif Alvi of Pakistan said Sunday that he has refused to sign into law two bills that critics say would undermine dissent and enhance authorities’ power to prosecute people for acts against the military and national security.

“As God is my witness, I did not sign [the] Official Secrets Amendment Bill 2023 & Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2023 as I disagreed with these laws,” Alvi wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The Pakistani parliament passed the bills in question just before it was dissolved on August 9, when its official term ended. But the bills required the president’s signature to become law in line with the Constitution.

“I asked my staff to return the bills unsigned within [the] stipulated time to make them ineffective. I confirmed from them many times, that whether they have been returned & was assured that they were,” Alvi wrote.

“However, I have found out today that my staff undermined my will and command… But I ask forgiveness from those who will be affected,” said the president, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan armed forces.

Alvi’s statement suggested that one of his staff officers might have forged his signature.

Legal experts said the presidential revelation was a setback to the powerful military and would likely plunge the nuclear-armed South Asian nation into a new constitutional crisis.

According to the constitution, the measure will become law if the president doesn’t sign the legislation or return it with his observations or objections within 10 days after it has been through the two houses of Pakistan’s parliament.

In response to the president’s comments, the Ministry of Law and Justice disputed his assertions and accused him of “purposely” delaying the approval of the bills.

“It is a matter of concern that the president has chosen to discredit his own officials. The president should take responsibility for his own actions,” said the ministry in its statement.

The bills Alvi referred to in his statement make it a criminal offense to reveal information detrimental to the security and interests of Pakistan or its armed forces. They also empower intelligence agencies to conduct raids and detain civilians even based on suspicion of legal breaches.

Independent critics and the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan rejected the laws immediately after the parliament passed them. They voiced concern that the new legislation would undermine civil liberties and further empower the military to suppress dissent under the pretext of national security.

Farhatullah Babar, a former Pakistani senator and harsh critic of the military’s meddling in politics, hailed Alvi’s unexpected announcement.

“OMG, in less than 100 words tweet @ArifAlvi did what no one could do in [the] last decade. Atomic bomb exploded. Besides immediate annihilation of many, its lethal radiations will continue to kill & maim in years ahead,” Babar wrote on X, evidently directing his sarcasm at the military. “No matter what happens now, Alvi earns deep respect of many,” said Babar, a mainstream Pakistan People’s Party leader.

On Saturday, the federal investigation agency arrested Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is standing in for Khan as the PTI leader. Citing the amended law, the agency accused him of exposing official secrets and harming state interests while serving as the foreign minister under Khan’s government.

Alvi was a key PTI leader before being sworn in as the president in 2018, when his party won the elections and formed a coalition government, with Khan as prime minister.

Khan, who is serving a three-year prison sentence in the eastern Punjab province after his conviction on graft charges, has also been interrogated for his alleged role in disclosing official information.

The 70-year-old former cricket star denies any wrongdoing, saying all cases against him are politically motivated.

Khan was removed in April 2022 through a parliamentary no-confidence motion, less than four years into office. He has since accused the military of orchestrating the toppling of his government in collaboration with his political rivals at the behest of the United States, charges Washington and Islamabad have rejected.

An ongoing nationwide crackdown on the PTI has led to the detention of thousands of its supporters, with more than 100 facing trials in military courts for attacking army installations during anti-government protests last May.

The deposed prime minister, who remains the most popular politician in Pakistan according to public polls, alleges the crackdown and controversial legislation are aimed at crushing his party, the country’s largest political force.

Pakistan installed a caretaker government a week ago when then-Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who succeeded Khan, dissolved the government and parliament after their mandated terms were completed.

Under the constitution, new caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, believed to be a close ally of the military, and his cabinet, are tasked only with overseeing elections due to be held by mid-November and managing day-to-day affairs until a new government is elected.

Critics say a slew of legislation rushed through parliament during the final weeks of the Sharif government has empowered the new caretaker administration to make policy decisions. That, in turn, has led to allegations the military wants to manage Pakistan through Kakar for a more extended period and does not intend to hold elections within the 90-day constitutional limit.

The military has directly ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its 76-year history by staging coups against elected civilian governments. According to politicians and independent observers, generals continue to influence policy-making matters even when they are not in power.
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A bus in Pakistan caught fire after hitting a van parked on the shoulder of an intercity highway in eastern Punjab province, killing at least 18 people and injuring 13 others, police and rescue officials said Sunday.

The accident occurred early Sunday near Pindi Bhattian, where the Islamabad-bound bus hit a van parked on the shoulder of the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway, senior police officer Fahad Ahmed said. The van was carrying fuel drums, which caused an inferno that engulfed the bus, Ahmed said.

There were more than 40 passengers on the bus, Ahmed said. Those who were rescued were badly burned, including several in critical condition. Other passengers were slightly injured with burns after escaping through the windows.

The drivers of both vehicles died, police said.

Such accidents happen frequently on Pakistan’s highways, where safety standards are often ignored and traffic regulations violated. Fatigued drivers also fall asleep behind the wheel during long drives.
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Indian police intervened to stop a meeting of prominent activists, academics and politicians discussing global issues ahead of a summit of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations that will be hosted in New Delhi next month, the meeting’s organizers said Sunday.

Nearly 400 participants had spent two days debating the G20 agenda and key issues that affect much of the world’s population, including food security, climate change, labor rights, natural resources and rising inequality.

The meeting also featured speakers who were critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government’s role in hosting the G20 summit, saying it was using the event to bolster Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of a general election next year.

Meeting organizers for the “We20” conference said they received a letter from New Delhi police on Sunday morning telling them to end the meeting since it did not have the proper permission in a high-security zone, according to Kavita Kabeer, a spokesperson for the group.

“We are shocked that we need to have permission to practice democracy,” a statement by the organizers said.

Critics of Modi say India’s democratic principles are under threat, and that assaults on the press and free speech have grown brazen under his government. Modi’s ministers deny this and say India’s democracy is robust and thriving.

Suman Nalwa, a Delhi Police spokesperson, declined to comment.

The Hindu newspaper cited police officer Sanjay Sain as saying that no police permission was sought for the meeting.

“They had erected tents outside the building. And there was a considerable gathering of people in an area where Section 144 (prohibiting gatherings of four or more people) had been imposed,” Sain said.

The organizer’s statement said police had also tried to disrupt the meeting on Saturday by preventing people from reaching the venue, but the program went on as scheduled.

Jairam Ramesh, an opposition Congress lawmaker, said it is “extraordinary that Delhi Police are stopping people from attending the We20 meeting.”

A. Raja, a leader of the Communist Party of India, said the police action was an attack on freedom of expression.

We20 meeting organizers said the G20 is a “popular networking event for the rich and powerful, under the pretense of saving the world.”

The Indian government has mounted an advertising campaign ahead of the G20 summit to showcase the country’s growing global clout under Modi, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat said.

Critics also challenged the interests of the G20 and whom it served to benefit.

“The G20 is being organized to secure the corporate interests of a few. We need to work to secure our interests, our rights, our forests, our water,” said Roma Malik of the All India Union of Forests’ Working People.
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Pakistani authorities Saturday arrested Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a twice-former foreign minister and current opposition leader, on charges that he played a role in misusing official secret information for political gains.

Qureshi, the acting head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, the party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was taken into custody from his residence in Islamabad just hours after he addressed a news conference, condemning a police crackdown on his party workers.

Officials said Qureshi was detained in connection with an ongoing investigation into a March 7, 2022, Pakistani secret diplomatic cable, known internally as a cipher, which allegedly contained a threat from the United States to remove then-Prime Minister Khan from power.

The cipher allegedly documented a meeting between U.S. State Department officials and Islamabad’s then-ambassador to the U.S., Asad Majeed Khan.

Last week, an American news outlet, The Intercept, published what it said was the cipher text for the first time, which Imran Khan has long held up as evidence of his claim that Washington engineered his defeat in a parliamentary no-confidence motion in April last year.

According to the Pakistani ambassador’s purported cable, the State Department officials at the meeting encouraged him to tell Pakistan’s powerful military that if Imran Khan were removed from office over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Islamabad could expect warmer relations with Washington.

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency reported in its initial findings that Imran Khan, Qureshi, and their associates “are involved in (the) communication of information contained in (the) secret classified document” to the public at large and “in a manner prejudicial to the interests of state security.”

No legal expert has questioned the legality of sharing the information.

The FIA investigation, conducted under the Official Secret Act, an anti-espionage law, alleged that the cipher “is still in the illegal possession/retention” of Imran Khan.

The former prime minister, currently jailed for three years after being convicted on graft charges, has long rejected the allegations of possessing the cipher or leaking any official secrets.

Khan, 70, maintains that cipher messages are written in a secret machine language and cannot be removed from a special cell established at the foreign ministry.

Former Pakistani diplomats back Khan’s assertions that only a summary of the cipher is shared with the prime minister and a few other top officials, not the original cipher.

Before he was ousted from office, Khan had formally dispatched copies of the cipher summary to the country’s chief justice, the military chief, and the house speaker, among others, asking them to order an investigation to determine who in Pakistan facilitated the alleged U.S. conspiracy to remove him from office.

Last week, U.S. State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said it had privately and publicly conveyed objections to Pakistan over the previous year’s visit to Russia by Khan but rejected allegations that Washington had played a role in his removal.

Miller added that even if the comments in the purported cable were accurate as reported, they show the United States is expressing concern about Khan’s “policy choices” rather than expressing its “preference” on who the leadership of Pakistan ought to be.

“We expressed concern privately to the government of Pakistan as we expressed concerns publicly about the visit of then-Prime Minister Khan to Moscow on the very day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We made that concern quite clear.”

Khan blames his ouster on the powerful military and says it is behind scores of lawsuits launched against him since then. The lawsuits accuse him of crimes ranging from terrorism and corruption to sedition and, if proved would block him and his party from returning to power.

After his conviction on graft charges, the deposed prime minister is barred from contesting any election for five years. He denies any wrongdoing.

Khan’s PTI won the last election in 2018, enabling the cricket-star-turned-politician to become prime minister for the first time until he was ousted in the no-confidence vote in April 2022.

His successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, dissolved the parliament and government earlier this month after completing their mandated terms. It allowed a caretaker government to take charge and oversee a general election meant to be held within 90 days, by November.

But the Pakistan Election Commission earlier in the week said it would announce an election date only after redrawing new constituencies nationwide in line with fresh census data. It said the process would be finalized by Dec. 14.

While speaking to reporters before his arrest Saturday, Qureshi rejected the commission’s statement as an excuse to delay the elections.

“It will be unconstitutional if the 90 days deadline is breached. We have decided to file a plea with the Supreme Court to contest any attempt to delay the election,” Qureshi said.

Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar is believed to be close to the military, fueling speculations his administration intends to stay in power for a more extended period.

Under the constitution, a caretaker setup in Pakistan is tasked only to oversee elections and manage day-to-day affairs until a new government is elected.

But critics note that a slew of hastily passed legislation just before Sharif dissolved the parliament has empowered Kakar’s government to make policy decisions, particularly on economic matters.  
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Beijing is pushing back on Seoul’s demand that China stop repatriating North Koreans who have left their homeland and been detained as they attempt to make their way to a third country.

China is detaining as many as 2,000 North Korean defectors who face severe punishment for fleeing the repressive Kim regime, South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yung Ho said Wednesday at a seminar in Seoul.

Elizabeth Salmon, the U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea’s human rights, estimated the number of North Korean defectors in China as of 2022 that the South Korean minister used.

China considers North Koreans entering its country to be illegal immigrants rather than refugees and arrests them when they are caught, then sends them back to North Korea, which treats them as traitors.

Human rights advocates expect China to repatriate those detained when the China-North Korea border fully reopens after being locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We ask cooperation from the Chinese government on the issue of North Korean defectors detained in China [subject to] forcible repatriation” to North Korea, Kim Yung Ho said.

China has an “obligation to abide by international norms prohibiting forced repatriation,” Kim continued, adding, “The South Korean government will accept all defectors who wish to come to South Korea.”

China, North Korea becoming closer

South Korea’s call for China to stop sending back North Korean defectors came two days ahead of a historic trilateral summit that Washington hosted for Seoul and Tokyo at Camp David on Friday. Beijing said it opposed the gathering of leaders of the three countries.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, on Thursday told VOA’s Korean Service, “The Chinese government has all along handled issues related to the DPRK people illegally entering into China in keeping with Chinese laws, international law and humanitarianism.”

The official name of North Korea is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

China ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol in 1982 and is obligated to follow the convention’s core principle of nonrefoulment. That is a principle of international law that forbids a country receiving asylum-seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in probable danger.

Ties between China and North Korea are becoming closer as tensions between Beijing and Washington increase. The two Asian nations agreed to increase cooperation when a Chinese delegation visited Pyongyang in July as the allies marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War of 1951-53.

South Korea’s Kim said China must designate North Korean defectors as refugees who have the right to receive protection rather than as illegal immigrants.

He added that the human rights of North Korean defectors in China should be guaranteed according to international norms and that the North Koreans in China should be allowed to go to a country of their choosing such as South Korea.

Robert King, who served as the U.S. special envoy for North Korea’s human rights under the Obama administration, said, “The Chinese are cooperating with the North Koreans on the human rights abuses.”

He continued, “I commend the South Korean government for making the issue and for raising the problem.”

New focus on human rights

Seoul has been raising human rights issues since President Yoon Suk Yeol took office in May 2022.

The previous administration of Moon Jae-in shunned the issue to avoid upsetting Pyongyang and Beijing. Moon, a former human rights attorney, wanted to improve inter-Korean relations with China’s support.

Roberta Cohen, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for human rights during the Carter administration, said Beijing should examine “whether China is complicating its relations with South Korea by forcibly repatriating North Koreans trying to reach Seoul,” as they are “beaten up, tortured, subject to forced labor, detention and possibly execution in the DPRK” when they are repatriated.

She continued, “South Korea can hardly remain silent when it is the country most affected by the forced repatriations of North Koreans.”

In the first open U.N. Security Council meeting on North Korea’s human rights in six years, South Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook on Thursday condemned North Korea’s human rights abuses.

He said human rights abuses are a “critical national security issue” for South Korea as Pyongyang represses its people to develop nuclear and missile programs that threaten South Koreans.

Kim Hyungjin contributed to this report.
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A global media watchdog urged Pakistan to immediately disclose the whereabouts of a nationally known television journalist Friday who has been missing since his arrest on May 11.

Imran Riaz Khan has 4 million YouTube subscribers and more than 5 million followers on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He was detained by police at the Sialkot airport in the central Punjab province as he tried to leave the country over fears of his arrest.

The journalist, often referred to as Imran Riaz, was accused of inciting people to violence through his reporting.

“Saturday marks 100 days of the disappearance of anchor @ImranRiazKhan, who has not been seen since his arrest on May 11,” the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement released via X.

The U.S.-based group noted that Pakistani authorities had repeatedly failed to present Riaz in court amid a “larger crackdown” on the media. “CPJ calls on authorities to immediately reveal his whereabouts and the conditions in which he is held.”

Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, told VOA it was “troubling” that Riaz remains missing and urged authorities to spare no effort to find him and ensure his safety.

“His continued disappearance shows the dangerous environment Pakistani journalists are operating in, where they often face retaliation for their critical reporting or commentary,” she said, urging Pakistani authorities to spare no effort to find Riaz and ensure his safety.

VOA contacted the Pakistani caretaker information minister for comments and was awaiting a response. Riaz was taken into custody under then-Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government.

Sharif dissolved the parliament and his government earlier this month when its mandated term ended, and a caretaker administration subsequently took charge to oversee elections in Pakistan.

Father says police abucted Riaz

In his complaint filed at a Sialkot police station, Riaz’s father alleged that police abducted his son, and requested his early and safe release.

Former government officials would not confirm the arrest, leading to allegations the powerful military was behind it because the missing journalist would frequently criticize in his talk shows the institution’s alleged meddling in political affairs.

Reporters Without Borders, known globally by its French acronym RSF, claimed in late May that it had received information from “confidential diplomatic sources” that Riaz was tortured and “may even have died in detention.”

The missing journalist’s lawyer, Mian Ali Ashfaq, dismissed those fears as unfounded. He appeared confident of securing Riaz’s release on bail from the high court in Lahore, the provincial capital, which is hearing the case.

However, Ashfaq acknowledged Wednesday that his lawsuit was suffering from unspecified delays.

“The last date of [the] hearing was on July 5, the case was then fixed for July 25. It was rescheduled by the High Court due to the unavailability of the bench of LHC CJ (chief justice),” he wrote on X.

“The same bench is hearing the case from day one. Since then, it has been requested to fix the case repeatedly for an early date of hearing, and the next date is still awaited,” Ashfaq said.

Police officers told the court during a May hearing that they did not have Riaz in custody and could not find him in any of the Punjab jails. Pakistani intelligence agencies have also denied holding him.

Human rights groups have since condemned it as an “enforced disappearance.”

Arrested after criticizing military

Riaz was a vocal supporter of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and the military.

But after Khan was removed from power in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April 2022, the journalist started harshly criticizing the military that Khan alleged was behind his ouster.

The journalist’s arrest came as a part of a nationwide crackdown on Khan supporters after they allegedly vandalized military properties in different parts of Pakistan to protest the short-lived arrest of the former prime minister in May.

Riaz had posted a video on his YouTube channel just before his arrest, accusing the establishment, a reference to the military, of harassing him and threatening to arrest him.

Global press freedom advocacy groups list Pakistan among the countries declared unsafe for journalists.

The CPJ says that at least 97 media workers and journalists have been killed, mostly for their work, in the South Asian nation since 1992. But investigations into these cases have not led to any convictions.
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India’s space agency on Friday released images of the moon taken from its Chandrayaan-3 space craft as it approaches the lunar south pole, a previously unexplored region thought to contain water ice where Russia is trying to land first.

The video, taken on Thursday just after the separation of the rocket’s lander from the propulsion module, showed a close-up of craters as Earth’s only natural satellite spun round.

“The Lander Module [LM] health is normal. LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km,” the Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] tweeted later.

The Indian space agency launched the rocket carrying the spacecraft on July 14, blasting off from the country’s main spaceport in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The lander is scheduled to attempt a touchdown on Aug. 23.

Russia launched its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years on Aug. 11, taking a more direct course to reach the moon’s south pole where scientists have detected water ice that could be used for fuel, oxygen and drinking water for future moon missions or a lunar colony.

Russia’s moon mission is on track to land the Luna-25 on Aug. 21, two days before India’s spacecraft.

Rough terrain is expected to complicate a landing on the lunar south pole. A previous mission by India’s space agency, the Chandrayaan-2, crashed in 2019 near where the Chandrayaan-3 will attempt a touchdown.

Chandrayaan, which means “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit, includes a 2-meter-(6.6-foot)-tall lander designed to deploy a rover expected to remain functional for two weeks running a series of experiments.

Both India and Russia have national interests in successful landings and in claiming the historic first at stake.

For Russia, the moonshot, which has been planned for decades, will test the nation’s growing independence in space after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine severed nearly all of its space ties with the West.

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos has said the Luna-25 mission would spend five to seven days in lunar orbit before descending to one of three possible landing sites near the pole.

For India, a successful moon landing would mark its emergence as a space power at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is looking to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses.

Since 2020, when India opened to private launches, the number of space startups has more than doubled. Late last year, Skyroot Aerospace, whose investors include Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, launched India’s first privately built rocket.

Indian officials have privately played down the race with Russia to land first, saying there was no competition.
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Two years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, there is growing consensus that the country is again devolving into a hotbed of terrorism activity that is already beginning to affect the region, if not yet capable of reaching the West.

Some of the more damning assessments have come from a United Nations sanctions monitoring team, which warned in a report in June that the Taliban “have not delivered on the counter-terrorism provisions” in the Doha Accords, the agreement that paved the way for the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Instead, the report, based on U.N. member state intelligence, warned that “a range of terrorist groups have greater freedom of maneuver under the Taliban de facto authorities.”

The various groups “are making good use of this,” the report added. “The threat of terrorism is rising in both Afghanistan and the region.”

Some estimates put the number of terrorist groups in Afghanistan at about 20, and even some of Afghanistan’s neighbors have raised concerns.

Pakistan, for instance, has repeatedly pointed to a surge of terrorism-related deaths, many concentrated along its border with Afghanistan.

The Taliban have rejected such allegations.

Earlier this month, a Taliban official touted a ruling by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada forbidding cross-border attacks on Pakistan.

Chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid went even further, telling VOA that Taliban fighters had essentially put an end to the terrorist threat in Afghanistan.

“Those found guilty of indulging in such activities will be brought to justice and punished in line with our legal system,” he said, saying the Islamic State terror group’s Afghan affiliate, known as IS-Khorasan or ISIS-K, had been “decimated” by Taliban counterterrorism operations.taliban-to-mark-august-15-victory-day-against

The Taliban have also gotten a public show of support from U.S. President Joe Biden, who caused a stir last month July when he indicated the Taliban had been true to their word.

“Remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said al-Qaida would not be there. I said it wouldn’t be there. I said we’d get help from the Taliban,” Biden said in response to a question about the frenzied U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“What’s happening now? What’s going on?” Biden said. “Read your press. I was right.”

A U.S. official who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity said Biden was referring in part to the Taliban’s role in killing the leader of the Islamic State terror cell that was behind an August 2021 bombing at Kabul airport. The attack killed 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghan civilians.

Other U.S. officials remain wary, though, pointing to long-term plans by both al-Qaida and IS-Khorasan, each of which has the intent, if not the capability, to attack U.S. and Western targets.

“Our intelligence is degraded,” the commander of U.S. Central Command, General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March when asked about the military’s ability to track the two terror groups.

“I believe we can see the broad contours of an attack [plot],” he said. “Sometimes we lack the granularity to see the full picture.”

Some former officials wonder how long it will be before al-Qaida or IS-Khorasan is able to break through.

“Neither al-Qaida nor [IS] in Afghanistan currently has the capability to strike U.S. interests but I don’t agree we can assume that beyond the short term,” Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former senior U.N. counterterrorism official and sanctions monitoring team coordinator, said during a recent webinar hosted by the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Other analysts have expressed similar concerns.

“Afghanistan seems eerily reminiscent to pre-9/11 Afghanistan, with the number of groups that are allegedly active,” said Colin Clarke, director of research at the global intelligence firm The Soufan Group.

“Terrorist groups thrive and indeed flourish amid instability. And that’s exactly what we have here,” he told VOA in June.

Here is a look at the Taliban and the major terrorist organizations now operating in Afghanistan, and how they have fared in the two years since U.S. and coalition forces left the country.

Click on the name of the organization to jump to that section, or scroll to read them in order.

Taliban

Islamic State Khorasan Province

Al-Qaida core

Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent

Haqqani network

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan

Khatiba Imam al-Bukhari

Islamic Jihad Group

Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement/Turkistan Islamic Party

Jamaat Ansarullah

Lashkar-e-Islam

Hezb-e-Islami

Lashkar-e-Taiba

Taliban

Since its emergence in 1994, the Taliban movement, which calls itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, has been led by an emir, a central figure appointed for life by a religious council of Taliban leaders.

Like his two predecessors, current Emir Hibatullah Akhundzada leads a reclusive life in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, surrounded by his inner circle.

June’s U.N. sanctions monitoring team report said Akhundzada “has become more assertive, projecting control and authority by appointing loyalists to positions of power” while growing ever more conservative.

But Akhundzada’s assertiveness may belie growing frictions within the movement as rumors swirl about his failing health after multiple bouts with COVID-19.

The U.N. report said the movement appears split with one faction, based in Kandahar, loyal to Akhundzada, and a second Kabul-based faction led by Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, acting Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqub Omari and intelligence chief Abdul-Haq Wassiq.

Haqqani, who leads the semi-autonomous Haqqani network, also is said to be feuding with other Taliban officials, including First Deputy Prime Minister, Mullah Baradar, as the two jockey for power and influence.

There are also questions about the Taliban’s armed forces.

The most recent estimates from U.S. intelligence agencies and U.N. member states are a year old and put the number of Taliban fighters between 58,000 and 100,000, with numbers fluctuating according to the time of year and battlefield conditions.

A U.N. report from May of last year suggested the Taliban were seeking to increase the size of their standing military to as many as 350,000 fighters and even establish a nascent air force, with some 40 operational aircraft captured from the former U.S.-backed Afghan military.

And despite claims of success against IS-Khorasan, there is evidence that the Taliban are struggling to eradicate the group.

“The Taliban have quietly reached out requesting intelligence and logistical support to fight ISIL-K, offering itself as a counter-terrorism partner,” the most recent U.N. report on Afghanistan said, using another acronym for the Islamic State group’s Afghan affiliate.

The same report, though, questioned the Taliban’s promises to distance itself from traditional terrorist allies, saying the Taliban link with al-Qaida and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan “remains strong and symbiotic.”

Moreover, there have been indications that some al-Qaida members are well integrated into Taliban-run Afghan military units.

Some analysts, however, caution that the Taliban’s grip on power should not be underestimated.

“The Taliban holds all the cards,” said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

“The Taliban has near total domination of the security situation,” he said during a recent webinar. “Groups like the Islamic State Khorasan Province, which a lot of people think is the real threat that emanates from Afghanistan — it’s a minor player.”

Islamic State Khorasan Province

IS-Khorasan is a sworn enemy of both the Taliban and al-Qaida, which has deep and long-standing ties to the Taliban leadership. But IS-Khorasan also benefits from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

According to a June report by the U.N. sanctions monitoring team, IS-Khorasan has exploited both the Taliban’s inability to establish control over remote areas and growing dissatisfaction with Taliban rule.

“Attacks against high-profile Taliban figures raised [IS-Khorasan] morale, prevented defections and boosted recruitment, including from within the Taliban’s ranks,” the U.N. report said.

The increase in recruitment, at least according to intelligence shared by U.N. member states, is significant.

Whereas IS-Khorasan was thought to have between 1,500 and 4,000 fighters at this time last year, the new estimates put the IS affiliate’s force strength at up to 6,000 members.

The intelligence also suggests IS-Khorasan has vastly expanded its footprint.

Once mostly limited to remote parts of Kunar, Nangarhar and Nuristan provinces, in the country’s northeast, along the Pakistan border, IS-Khorasan is now thought to have strongholds or camps in at least 13 of the country’s 34 provinces as well as a network of sleeper cells that can reach Kabul and beyond.

A subsequent U.N. report, also based on member state intelligence, further warned IS-Khorasan may be building up its ability to threaten the region and even Europe, and that the group “is becoming more sophisticated in its attacks against both the Taliban and international targets.”

Not everyone agrees. U.S. officials in particular have pushed back hard against the U.N. assessment.

The estimate that IS-Khorasan boasts 4,000 to 6,000 members “is thousands more than the [U.S.] intelligence community has assessed or assessed there to be,” a senior U.S. official told VOA.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence, further refuted some of the more dire warnings of IS-Khorasan’s ability to pose a threat far beyond Afghanistan.

“Our view is that ISIS-K has not closed that ambition-capacity gap that it very much hoped to close after the U.S. departure, and indeed has faced some very real setbacks and some very concerted pressure from the Taliban,” the official said.

Officials familiar with the June U.N. report told VOA they are convinced there are some significant disagreements on the state of IS-Khorasan within the U.S. government. Some U.S. officials have publicly stated their concerns.

In March, U.S. Central Command’s General Michael Kurilla told lawmakers that IS-Khorasan “can do an external operation against U.S. or Western interests abroad in under six months with little to no warning.

A week earlier, Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told lawmakers, “It’s a matter of time before they may have the ability and intent to attack the West.”

Earlier this year, Christine Abizaid, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, called IS-Khorasan the “threat actor I am most concerned about.”

One area in which officials from the U.S. and other countries seem to be in agreement is that there are questions about IS-Khorasan’s path moving forward.

In June, intelligence officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan told VOA that the IS-Khorasan leader, Sanaullah Ghafari, was killed by Taliban forces in a mountainous region of Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

However, neither U.S. officials nor officials from other U.N. member states who have provided intelligence on IS-Khorasan have been able to confirm that Ghafari, also known as Shahab al-Muhajir, is in fact dead.

Al-Qaida core

Intelligence assessments from a number of countries shared with the U.N. in the months after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan suggested al-Qaida was enjoying “a significant boost” from the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Recent intelligence assessments from the U.N. suggest nothing has changed.

The link between the Taliban and al-Qaida “remains close and symbiotic, with Al-Qaida viewing Taliban-administered Afghanistan a safe haven,” the U.N. sanctions monitoring team said in its June report.

While al-Qaida appears to be maintaining a low profile, “there are indications that Al-Qaida is rebuilding operational capability,” the report warned, pointing to new training bases in Badghis, Helmand, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Zabul provinces.

The number of al-Qaida core personnel is also thought to have grown significantly, from just several dozen members shortly after the Taliban takeover to between 30 and 60 senior officials and another 400 fighters and some 1,600 family members.

Intelligence shared by U.N. member states further warns that al-Qaida members are being given roles within the Taliban’s security forces and that al-Qaida fighters are even benefiting from so-called Taliban welfare payments.

As with IS-Khorasan, the assessments of many U.N. member states clash with intelligence being shared by the U.S.

“These numbers are wildly out of whack with the best estimates of the U.S. intelligence community, and indeed the best estimates of our partners and allies,” a senior administration official told VOA in June, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

In contrast to the U.N. estimate of 30 to 60 al-Qaida core officials residing in Afghanistan, the senior U.S. official told VOA: “There was one … and we dealt with it,” referring to the July 30, 2022, drone strike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Al-Qaida “simply has not reconstituted a presence in Afghanistan since the U.S. departure in August 2021,” the official added, asserting that it is unlikely attempts by al-Qaida to establish training camps in Afghanistan, as the U.N.’s June report claimed, would go unnoticed by the U.S. and its allies and partners.

The disagreement between the U.S. and other countries keeping watch over al-Qaida in Afghanistan goes even further.

Some U.N. member states assert that Afghanistan has been hospitable enough to host visits by al-Qaida core’s de facto leader, Saif al-Adel, and presumed al-Qaida No.2, Abd al-Rahman al-Maghrebi, both of whom are based in Iran.

One U.N. member state has suggested that al-Adel has decided to make Afghanistan his new base of operations.

Senior U.S. officials have rejected such claims.

“We do not have indications that the likes of Saif al-Adel have traveled to Afghanistan,” according to the senior U.S. official who spoke to VOA in June. “Al-Qaida, as far as we can tell, and we look pretty closely, they do not see Afghanistan right now as a permissive or hospitable environment in which to attempt to operate.”

Other U.S. officials have played down the threat al-Qaida in Afghanistan currently poses to the U.S. homeland.

“We have achieved what I would call [a] suppressive effect,” Department of Homeland Security Counterterrorism Coordinator Nicholas Rasmussen said in March.

Additionally, some countries’ intelligence services and some analysts suggest the long-standing ties between al-Qaida and the Taliban may be preventing al-Qaida from growing into a direr threat.

“In the case of a stable Afghanistan, the al-Qaida core might consider relocating to other operational theatres, to avoid offending their Taliban hosts,” the U.N. said in its June report. “Member States suggested that, in the mid- to long term, Al-Qaida would be strengthened by increased instability within Afghanistan.”

Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent

Just as with al-Qaida core, there are divergent views on the status of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, one of al-Qaida’s key offshoots.

In January, the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center’s Abizaid, called AQIS “defunct.”

Months earlier, an assessment from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said AQIS had maybe 200 members still in Afghanistan.

The most recent assessment by U.N. member states suggests AQIS is not dead, but that its footprint in Afghanistan has somewhat lessened, from up to 400 fighters in 2022 to up to 200 fighters at present.

The U.N. assessment places AQIS fighters in Kandahar, Nimruz, Farah, Helmand and Herat provinces.

Other than the number of estimated fighters, there are lingering questions about AQIS’ viability as a terrorist entity.

A U.S. intelligence assessment that was declassified last year called AQIS “largely inactive,” with many of its members focused more on media production than on plotting terror attacks against the West. Some U.S. counterterrorism officials wondered whether AQIS might eventually be absorbed by the Taliban.

One U.N. member state said its intelligence suggested AQIS may be preparing to try to spread into Bangladesh, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, and Myanmar.

But the same intelligence agency warned some AQIS members appear ready to switch allegiance and join with IS-Khorasan.

Other U.N. member states believe AQIS is working more actively with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which like al-Qaida has a strong relationship with the Taliban.

AQIS fighters, including native Afghans and fighters from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Myanmar, were said to have fought alongside the Taliban against the U.S.-backed government prior to its collapse.

AQIS leader Osama Mehmood, and AQIS deputy leader Atif Yahya Ghouri, are both thought to reside in Afghanistan.

Haqqani network

The Haqqani network is widely considered to be the most influential and strategically successful extremist group in the region.

Prior to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the Haqqani network was seen as nominally loyal to the Taliban, with some countries describing it as “semi-autonomous,” noting it maintained ties with both al-Qaida and IS-Khorasan.

Since the Taliban takeover, the relationship has grown somewhat more complicated, as the network’s leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is also the Taliban’s interior minister.

The network’s ties to al-Qaida appear to remain entrenched, as former al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was staying at a guest house linked to Sirajuddin Haqqani when al-Zawahiri was killed in a U.S. drone strike in July 2022.

But tensions with the Taliban have emerged.

In February, Sirajuddin Haqqani publicly criticized Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada for “monopolizing” power.

Some U.N. member states have advised in recent reports that Sirajuddin Haqqani may be trying to build support, possibly to undermine Akhundzada and replace him with Mullah Yaqub, the son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar.

Previous U.N. intelligence assessments warned the Haqqani network a “highly skilled core of members who specialize in complex attacks and provide technical skills, such as improvised explosive device and rocket construction.”

The Haqqani network is also thought to oversee a force of between 3,000 and 10,000 traditional armed fighters in Khost, Paktika and Paktiya provinces, as well as at least one elite unit. The network also controls security in Kabul and across much of Afghanistan.

Newer intelligence assessments shared by U.N. member states suggest the Haqqani network is increasingly getting involved in the production and distribution of methamphetamine and synthetic drugs.

For much of its existence, the group was based in Pakistan’s tribal areas as it operated across the border in Afghanistan.

The Haqqani network has been accused of perpetrating some of the deadliest and most sophisticated attacks against U.S., Indian and former Afghan government targets in Afghanistan since 2001. They are also believed to have strong ties to Pakistani intelligence.

The U.S. designated the Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organization in 2012, and Sirajuddin Haqqani has a $10 million bounty on his head from the U.S. government.

Intelligence gathered in recent years from some U.N. member states said the Haqqani network has at times acted as a go-between for the Taliban and IS-Khorasan, and that with the tacit approval of the Taliban, they directed the Islamic State affiliate to attack the now defunct U.S.-backed Afghan government.

With U.S. forces no longer in Afghanistan, it appears the Haqqani network has ceased to nurture ties with IS-Khorasan.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan

Most active on the 2,640-kilometer border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, is an insurgent group involved in terrorist attacks in both countries.

U.N. intelligence estimates put the number of TTP fighters between 4,000 and 6,000, up from an estimate of 3,000 to 4,000 fighters last year.

The group’s stated objectives are to end the Pakistani government’s control over the Pashtun territories of Pakistan and to form a strict government based on Shariah, Islamic law.

Intelligence shared by member states with the U.N. finds TTP, like al-Qaida, maintains a “strong and symbiotic” relationship with the Taliban that is “unlikely to dissipate.”

Recent intelligence assessments suggest TTP has been emboldened by the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and is looking to reestablish control of territory in Pakistan.

Although TTP’s ambitions appear to have been boosted by a reunification with several splinter groups, a recent U.N. report cautioned that “TTP capability is assessed as not matching its ambition, given that it does not control territory and lacks popular appeal in the tribal areas.”

Following talks between Pakistani and Taliban officials earlier this month ((August)), Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ruled cross-border attacks by the TTP on Pakistan to be “haram” or forbidden under Islam.

In the meantime, there is some evidence to suggest TTP fighters have been getting training and ideological guidance from al-Qaida, and some countries have voiced concern that TTP might evolve into an umbrella organization for foreign fighters.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Pakistani military have killed or captured several TTP leaders over the past two decades.

The group’s current leader, Noor Wali Mehsud, has publicly declared allegiance to the Afghan Taliban leader.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, was founded in the late 1990s with help and financial support from al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden. Several IMU leaders have served as part of the al-Qaida hierarchy. The group has sought to replace the Uzbek government with a strictly Islamic regime.

IMU launched its first attack in February 1999 by simultaneously detonating five car bombs in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. The group is also believed to have carried out attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In 2015, then-IMU leader Usman Ghazi and other senior members of the group shifted allegiance from al-Qaida to the rival Islamic State group. The move did not sit well with Taliban leaders, who launched a major military campaign against Ghazi, killing him and nearly wiping out the group.

According to U.N. member states, IMU has somewhat rebounded under the leadership of a new emir, Mamasoli Samatov, and now has anywhere from 150 to 550 fighters.

Khatiba Imam al-Bukhari

Khatiba Imam al-Bukhari was founded in 2011 by fighters who left the IMU and fought against the U.S.-backed Afghan government alongside the Taliban.

The group is led by Dilshod Dekhanov, a Tajik national.

Khatiba Imam al-Bukhari is also thought to have about 80 to 100 or so fighters across Badghis, Badakhshan, Faryab and Jowzjan provinces.

Previously, it was also thought to have dozens of fighters in Syria, possibly in Latakia or Idlib governorates.

According to the U.N., Khatiba Imam al-Bukhari ‘s numbers in Afghanistan had been growing due to the successful recruitment of locals and due to money from the Taliban and funds acquired via its leadership in Syria.

Islamic Jihad Group

According to intelligence assessments shared with the U.N., the Islamic Jihad Group has been considered “the most combat-ready Central Asian group in Afghanistan,” and is known for expertise in “military tactics and the manufacture of improvised explosive devices.”

The group is led by Ilimbek Mamatov, a Kyrgyz national. The group’s second-in-command, Amsattor Atabaev, hails from Tajikistan.

U.N. member states assess that it now has between 200 and 250 fighters.

Islamic Jihad Group fighters have operated across Badakhshan, Baghlan and Kunduz provinces, some having fought alongside Taliban forces.

Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement/Turkistan Islamic Party

The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party, was first established in the Xinjiang region of China, with its first reported attack in 1998.

After 2001, it began getting help from both al-Qaida and the Taliban, and it has been consistently active in Afghanistan since 2007.

According to intelligence estimates provided by U.N. member states, ETIM has between 300 and 1,200 fighters in Afghanistan training for and plotting attacks on Chinese targets.

A U.N. report from June warned ETIM “continues to recruit fighters of various nationalities in an effort to internationalize” and that it “actively expanded the scope of its operations and built operational bases and armories in Baghlan province.”

One U.N. member state warned that ETIM “formulated a long-term plan to train young fighters, with hundreds already trained.”

Intelligence shared with the U.N. suggested the Taliban last year relocated many ETIM fighters from Badakhshan province, which borders China, “to both protect and restrain the group.” But more recent intelligence estimates from one U.N. member state cautioned ETIM was working to revive terrorist activities in Xinjiang.

It is thought that ETIM members have been given Afghan passports and identity papers.

In addition to the group’s close ties to the Taliban and al-Qaida, it has been reported to collaborate with other groups in Afghanistan, including TTP and Jamaat Ansarullah, an ethnically Tajik faction of the IMU.

There is also evidence to suggest that ETIM has developed closer ties with IS-Khorasan, with some ETIM fighters joining IS-Khorasan operations.

Jamaat Ansarullah

According to recent U.N. member state intelligence, Jamaat Ansarullah remains closely affiliated with al-Qaida and also the Taliban.

The group’s 100 to 250 fighters are led by Asliddin Khairiddinovich Davlatov, with some U.N. members warning up to 30 have been issued Afghan passports.

U.N. member states also warned that JA fighters joined Taliban forces in several offensives against the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front.

Lashkar-e-Islam

Lashkar-e-Islam was founded in the Khyber district of Pakistan in 2004 but relocated to Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province in 2014, following clashes with the Pakistani military.

Since coming to Afghanistan, Lashkar-e-Islam has clashed with IS-Khorasan, with major skirmishes taking place in 2018 as the two groups fought for control of territory and resources.

Hezb-e-Islami

Hezb-e-Islami, or “Party of Islam,” was founded in 1976 by former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

The group shares much of the same ideology as the Taliban, and its fighters have assisted the Taliban in the past.

In 2015, Hekmatyar ordered his followers to help IS fighters in Afghanistan but never pledged allegiance to IS.

Hezb-e-Islami was known to target U.S. forces in Afghanistan, carrying out a series of attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in from 2013 to 2015.

Lashkar-e-Taiba

Lashkar-e-Taiba, or “Army of the Pure,” was founded in Pakistan in the 1990s and is sometimes known as Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

Led by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and aligned with al-Qaida, the group is perhaps best known for carrying out the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, that killed more than 160 people.

Intelligence assessments shared with the U.N. said the group’s leadership met with Taliban officials in January 2002 and was operating training camps in Afghanistan, having previously sent fighters to Afghanistan to assist the Taliban.

Saeed, who has been in and out of Pakistani custody, was found guilty in Pakistan in April 2022 on charges related to terrorism financing and was sentenced to 31 years in prison.

The U.S. is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to Saeed’s conviction in the Mumbai attacks. Saeed has denied any involvement.

Ayaz Gul, Patsy Widakuswara, and Anita Powell contributed to this report.
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The World Health Organization has warned that a lack of funding and resources to support Afghanistan’s health care system threatens millions of lives in a country ravaged by decades of instability and natural disasters.  

Through its new alert launched Friday, the WHO urged the global community to help address the Afghan health crisis, saying “the consequences of inaction are catastrophic.”

The WHO noted that unless investment is ramped up, 8 million Afghans will lose access to essential and potentially lifesaving health assistance, and 450,000 patients will have little to no access to lifesaving trauma care services.

Additionally, an estimated 1.6 million people with mental health conditions will have little to no access to mental health consultation and psychosocial support.  

“The situation in Afghanistan is grave, and the lack of resources and funding to support health workers and facilities is putting countless lives at risk,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.  

“Women and children are suffering the most. I call on donors to give generously so that we can continue our lifesaving work,” he urged.  

The U.N. has appealed for $3.26 billion in humanitarian funding for Afghanistan this year but donors have given only about $800 million — less than 25% of the appeal — as of August 8. More than two-thirds of the country’s estimated 40 million population need urgent assistance. 

“The vulnerability of women and girls has further intensified, as they face increased obstacles in accessing healthcare due to the ban on education and workforce participation,” the WHO noted Friday.  

The hardline Taliban government, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, or IEA, has imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s access to work and education since retaking control in August of 2021. It has also banned Afghan female staff of the United Nations and other aid groups from workplaces, undermining humanitarian operations nationwide.  

ICRC program

Meanwhile, the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, is preparing to cease funding for more than 25 Afghan public hospitals by the end of August, citing worldwide funding difficulties.

The support, called the Hospital Resilience Program, was launched to respond to health care needs following the Taliban takeover, Cecilia Goin, the ICRC communication coordinator for the Afghan mission, told VOA.  

She said when the ICRC introduced the program, the Afghan health care system almost had come to a “full stop” due to the lack of financial resources and significant administrative changes.

“It was an exceptional emergency measure taken by the organization to save the health care system from collapsing due to the financial crises that Afghanistan was experiencing at the time and because many development agencies and other organizations left the country, while the ICRC stayed,” Goin explained.  

The program’s main goal was to allow Taliban authorities to organize themselves to take over their duties, Goin said.  

“This support was never designed to last in time and it will come to an end. The financial difficulties the ICRC is facing worldwide have sped up, in transparency with IEA authorities, the expected return of the full responsibilities of the health services to the Ministry of Public Health,” she said.

Goin vowed that the ICRC would monitor the situation, however, and she underscored that its health assistance to Afghanistan will continue to support critical programs. That includes rehabilitation support for people with disabilities and more than 46 primary health care clinics run by the Afghan Red Crescent Society, facilitating access to health care for 1 million people.
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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is likely to end the financial running of 25 Afghan hospitals by the end of August because of funding constraints, a spokesperson told Reuters, amid growing concerns over a plunge in aid to Afghanistan.

“Although we continue to engage with government ministries, donors and organizations to find alternative sustainable support mechanisms for the hospital sector, the phase-out of the Hospital Program is expected to happen tentatively at the end of August,” Diogo Alcantara,

ICRC’s spokesperson for Afghanistan, told Reuters on Thursday.

“The ICRC does not have the mandate nor the resources to maintain a fully functioning public health-care sector in the longer term,” Alcantara said.

In April, ICRC said its governing board approved $475.30 million in cost reductions over 2023 and early 2024, and a rolling back of operations in some locations as budgets for humanitarian aid were expected to decrease.

“The financial difficulties the ICRC is facing have sped up, in transparency with IEA [Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan] authorities, the expected return of the full responsibilities of the health services to the Ministry of Public Health,” Alcantara said, referring to the Taliban administration.

The program’s end comes amid growing concerns over cuts to Afghanistan’s humanitarian aid, two years after the Taliban took over and most other forms of international assistance, which formed the backbone of the economy, were halted.

The Geneva-based organization would continue its other Afghanistan health programs, including rehabilitation support for people with disabilities.

A spokesman for the Taliban-run Afghan health ministry did not respond to request for comment.

It was not clear how much was needed to pay for the operations, which fund salaries and other costs at many of Afghanistan’s major hospitals serving millions of people, and if Taliban authorities could cover that amount from the fiscal budget.

An Afghan finance ministry spokesman said this year’s budget had been finalized, but not publicly released.

The hospitals have been supported by ICRC since a few months after foreign forces left in August 2021.

Development funding was cut to Afghanistan as the Taliban — which has not formally been recognized by any country — took over the country. The sudden financial shock imperiled critical public services including health and education.

The ICRC and other agencies including the U.N. stepped in to try to fill gaps.

“The [ICRC] took this decision back then to save the health care system from collapsing due to the financial crises that Afghanistan was experiencing and because many development agencies and other organizations left the country while the ICRC stayed,” Alcantara said.

The ICRC hospital program had originally covered 33 hospitals, eight of which have already been phased out, paying for the salaries of over 10,000 health workers and some medical supplies. The hospitals provided thousands of beds and served areas encompassing more than 25 million people — over half the population.

Neighboring Pakistan is closely watching the development, a senior government official told Reuters. Pakistan, a major destination for healthcare for Afghans, routinely has thousands of medical visa applications lodged with its embassy, officials said.

“We are concerned about a further influx of medical patients,” said the Pakistani official, who declined to be identified to speak openly about sensitive diplomatic issues.

Pakistan’s foreign office did not reply to request for comment.

There is growing alarm over cuts to aid to Afghanistan, where the U.N. humanitarian plan for 2023 is only 25% funded, even after requested budget was downgraded from $4.6 billion to $3.2 billion.

Diplomats and aid officials say concerns over Taliban restrictions on women alongside competing global humanitarian crises are causing donors to pull back on financial support. The Taliban has ordered most Afghan female aid staff not to work, though granted exemptions in health and education.

Almost three-quarters of Afghanistan’s population are now in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the aid agencies.
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Two years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the United States has begun easing rules that could allow commercial airlines to fly over the country in routes that cut time and fuel consumption for East-West travel.

But those shortened flight routes for India and Southeast Asia raise questions never answered during the Taliban’s previous rule from the 1990s to the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

How do you deal with the Taliban as they engage in behavior described by United Nations experts as potentially akin to “gender apartheid”? Can airlines manage the risk of flying in uncontrolled airspace over a country where an estimated 4,500 shoulder-launched anti-aircraft weapons still lurk? And what happens if you have an emergency and need to land suddenly?

Who wants to fly over such a country? The OPSGroup, an organization for the aviation industry, recently offered a simple answer: “No one!”

“There’s no ATC [air traffic control] service across the entire country, there’s a seemingly endless list of surface-to-air weaponry they might start shooting at you if you fly too low, and if you have to divert, then good luck with the Taliban,” the group wrote in an advisory.

Still, the possibility of overflights resuming would have a major impact on carriers.

Although landlocked, Afghanistan’s position in central Asia means it sits along the most direct routes for those traveling from India to Europe and the United States.

After the Taliban takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, civil aviation simply stopped, as ground controllers no longer managed the airspace. Fears about anti-aircraft fire, particularly after the 2014 shootdown of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine, saw authorities around the world order their commercial airliners out.

In the time since, airlines largely curve around Afghanistan’s borders. Some travel south over Iran and Pakistan. Other flights rush through Afghan airspace for only a few minutes while over the sparsely populated Wakhan Corridor, a narrow panhandle that juts out of the east of the country between Tajikistan and Pakistan.

But those diversions add more time to flights, which means the aircraft burns more jet fuel, a major expense for any carrier. That’s why a decision in late July by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration caught the industry’s eye when it announced flights above 9,750 meters (32,000 feet) “may resume due to diminished risks to U.S. civil aviation operations at those altitudes.”

The FAA, which oversees rules for U.S.-based airlines, referred questions about the decision to the State Department. The State Department did not respond to requests for comment. However, a State Department envoy has met multiple times with Taliban officials since the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Taliban officials likewise did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press over the lifting of the restrictions.

For now, outside of Afghan and Iranian carriers, it does not appear that any airline is taking chances over the country.

Part of that comes from the risk of militant fire: Afghanistan has been awash in aircraft-targeting missiles since the CIA armed mujahedeen fighters to fight the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Afghanistan also may still have Soviet-era KS-19 anti-aircraft guns, said Dylan Lee Lehrke, an analyst at the open-source intelligence firm Janes.

The FAA says it believes flights at or above 32,000 feet remain out of reach of those weapons, even if fired from a mountain top.

Despite the lack of interest now, airlines in the past used the route heavily. A November 2014 report from the International Civil Aviation Organization noted that from near-zero flights in 2002, overflights grew to more than 100,000 annually 12 years later.

Before the Taliban takeover, the government charged each flight $700 in fees for flying over the country, which could be a significant sum of cash as Afghanistan remains mired in an economic crisis.

The Taliban say they already are profiting from the limited overflights they see. Private Afghan television broadcaster Tolo quoted Imamuddin Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Transportation and Aviation Authority Ministry, as saying that Afghanistan had earned more than $8.4 million from overflight fees in the last four months.

The ministry also said it received the money from the International Air Transport Association, a trade association of the world’s airlines. However, IATA told the AP in a statement that its contract with Afghanistan to collect overflight fees “has been suspended since September 2021” to comply with international sanctions on the Taliban.

“No payments have been made since that date,” it said.
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Police arrested more than 100 Muslims in overnight raids from an area in eastern Pakistan where a Muslim mob angered over the alleged desecration of the Quran by a Christian man attacked churches and homes of minority Christians, prompting authorities to summon troops to restore order, on Aug. 17, 2023.
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Days of relentless rain in India’s Himalayan region have killed at least 72 people this week, a government official said Thursday, as a heavy monsoon triggered landslides and flash floods that have submerged roads, washed away buildings and left residents scrambling for safety.

Rescuers in the mountainous Himachal Pradesh state have been working through challenging weather conditions to save people trapped under mud and debris from the rains that struck over the weekend. India’s weather department has put the state on high alert and expects the downpours to continue over the next few days.

Vikram Singh, an operator at the state’s emergency operation center, said Thursday that the 72 deaths occurred over the previous five days and that rescue work was ongoing.

Hundreds of roads remain blocked and schools in the capital city of Shimla have been ordered shut as the Indian Air Force and disaster response teams help evacuate people from low-lying, vulnerable areas. The state’s chief minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, said over 2,000 people have been rescued using helicopters and motorboats and are now safe in relief camps.

Visuals on social media showed trees falling apart as homes, built atop the hills, collapsed in succession. In the background, people can be heard crying out in horror, as they shouted “Get out from here” and “Get back.”

In Shimla, a Hindu temple collapsed Monday amid deadly landslides, and authorities feared that people are still buried under the debris. Authorities said the temple was crowded with devotees, raising fears that the death toll could rise as rescue work carries on.

Homes in some districts were also washed away after a cloudburst — a sudden, very heavy rain — Sunday night, leaving roads flooded and people stranded.

Cloudbursts are defined as when more than 10 centimeters of rainfall occurs within 10 square kilometers within an hour. They are a common occurrence in Himalayan regions, where they have the potential to cause intense flooding and landslides affecting thousands of people.

Sukhu, the chief minister, told the Press Trust of India news agency that it will take a year to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the rains of this monsoon, and claimed the estimated loss to be about 100 billion rupees ($1.2 billion). “It’s a big challenge, a mountain-like challenge,” he said.

Last month, record monsoon showers killed more than 100 people over two weeks in parts of northern India, including in Himachal Pradesh, which was the worst hit.

Disasters caused by landslides and floods are common in India’s Himalayan north during the June-September monsoon season. Scientists say they are becoming more frequent as global warming increases.

However, local experts say the current disaster is likely due to unplanned construction in this vulnerable region. “It is poor planning and governance that has led to this much damage,” said Anand Sharma, a retired meteorologist with the Indian Meteorological Department, the country’s weather agency.

Sharma is from the Himalayan region and has closely observed weather patterns in this region for over three decades. He said the heavy and sometimes extreme rains is expected in the Himalayan foothills during the monsoon season.

“All the fallen buildings are those that were constructed recently, buildings built a hundred years ago have witnessed little to no damage,” he said, adding that growing tourism to the region is another factor.

“They build anywhere they like and when heavy rains occur, such disasters inevitably follow,” Sharma said.
…

Police arrested more than 100 Muslims in overnight raids from an area in eastern Pakistan where a Muslim mob angered over the alleged desecration of the Quran by a Christian man attacked churches and homes of minority Christians, prompting authorities to summon troops to restore order, officials said Thursday.

There were no casualties as Christians living in a residential area in the city of Jaranwala in the Faisalabad district quickly moved to safer places along with their families following one of the country’s most deadly attacks against Christians.

Christians slowly returned to their homes Thursday, only to see the destruction of at least one church that was burned. Four other churches were also damaged. Two dozen homes were torched or badly damaged during the riots.

“We were sitting at home when suddenly we heard that a mob is coming and it is burning homes and attacking churches,” said Shazia Amjad, as she wept outside her home, which was torched Wednesday.

She told The Associated Press that the rioters burned household items and furniture. Some of Amjad’s possessions were stolen as she moved to a safer place with her family, she added.

Amjad said the rioters sprinkled petrol to burn homes in their area, and they also stole jewelry and other things. Other Christians described similar ordeals and expressed bewilderment.

Local Christians consoled each other outside their damaged homes, as many women wept and cried over the destruction. Those whose homes were burned had no idea where to go or what to do now.

On Wednesday, Khalid Mukhtar, a local priest, told the AP that most Christians living in the area had fled to safer places. “Even my house was burned,” he said, adding that he believes most of Jaranwala’s 17 churches had been attacked.

Delegations of Muslim clerics arrived in Jaranwala to help calm the situation, as troops and police patrolled the area.

Local authorities have shut schools and offices and banned rallies for a week to prevent more violence.

The violence drew nationwide condemnation, with caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul-ul-Haq Kakar ordering police to ensure the rioters are arrested.

On Thursday, Rizwan Khan, the regional police chief, said 129 suspects had been arrested and the situation was under control.

The violence erupted after some Muslims living in the area claimed they had seen a local Christian, Raja Amir, and his friend tearing out pages from a Quran, throwing them on the ground and writing insulting remarks on other pages.

Police say they are trying to arrest Amir to determine whether he desecrated Islam’s holy book.

According to Khan, the mob quickly gathered and began attacking multiple churches and several Christian homes. The rioters also attacked the offices of a city administrator on Wednesday, but police eventually intervened, firing into the air and wielding batons to disperse rioters with the help of Muslim clerics and elders.

Videos and photos posted on social media show an angry mob descending upon a church, throwing pieces of bricks and burning them. In another video, four other churches are attacked, their windows broken as attackers throw furniture out and set it on fire.

In yet another video, a man is seen climbing to the roof of the church and removing the steel cross after repeatedly hitting it with a hammer as the crowd down on the road cheered him on.

The violence drew condemnation from various domestic and international human rights groups. 

Amnesty International called for repealing the country’s blasphemy laws.

Under the country’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death. While authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy, often just the accusation can cause riots and incite mobs to violence, lynching and killings.

Domestic and international human rights groups say blasphemy allegations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities in Pakistan and settle personal scores. 
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The Taliban on Wednesday banned all political parties in Afghanistan, stating that such activities are against Islamic law, or Sharia.

The move comes a day after the de facto Afghan leaders marked the second anniversary of returning to power in Kabul.

Abdul Hakim Sharaee, the Taliban minister of justice, announced the ban at a news conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

“There is no Sharia basis for political parties to operate in the country. They do not serve the national interest, nor does the nation appreciate them,” the minister said without elaborating.

More than 70 major and small political parties were formally registered with the Ministry of Justice until two years ago, when the then-insurgent Taliban reclaimed control of war-ravaged Afghanistan.

The Taliban have since been persistently accused of curbing freedom of association, assembly and expression to suppress critics, allowing only supporters to undertake such activities.

They have since imposed their strict interpretation of Islamic law to govern the impoverished South Asian nation, banning girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade and barring most Afghan women from work and public life. 

Afghan media is also under attack by the new rulers, forcing scores of news channels and outlets to close and hundreds of journalists to leave the country. 

The United Nations and other global monitors have consistently decried worsening human rights conditions in Afghanistan and demanded that the Taliban reverse their restrictions on women and civil liberty. 

The Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, 2021, as the United States and NATO withdrew all their troops after 20 years of involvement in the Afghan war. 

The insurgent takeover prompted prominent Afghan political party leaders and politicians to flee the country, fearing retribution for their association with the U.S.-backed former government.

Many self-exiled Afghan political leaders have since opposed the new rulers in Kabul and called for armed resistance to dislodge them, but they have not received international backing for their campaign.

Foreign countries have refused to recognize the Taliban as the country’s legitimate rulers for their treatment of Afghan women and for not involving other ethnic and political groups in running the country.

Torek Farhadi, an Afghan political commentator, said the Taliban follow the example of Gulf countries without political parties.

“What is needed is the participation of women and people from all walks of life to participate in a conversation about the country’s future,” Farhadi said.

“As much as it can sound politically incorrect, political parties can create unnecessary divisions in Afghanistan today, and that is the last thing the country needs.”

The U.N. says years of war and prolonged drought have worsened the humanitarian crisis in the country, where two-thirds of the population need aid. 
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When Britain granted India independence in 1947, the subcontinent was divided along religious lines, triggering an exodus of an estimated 12 million people amid carnage and violence across the newly carved borders of the two countries, India and Pakistan.

Among the cities that received a massive influx of refugees was the Indian capital, Delhi.

A partition museum that opened in the city three months ago, documents the traumatic legacy of the times through the stories and memorabilia of the men, women and children who came there 76 years ago.

“Delhi was inundated with refugees. They came without any hope, without any home, they had lost their family, they had lost their friends, very often they came with very little money, and they had to start life all over again,” said Kishwar Desai, chairperson of The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust that has set up the museum.

The museum, housed in a revamped Mughal-era building given by the government, is the second one set up by the non-profit group – it opened one in the northern city of Amritsar six years ago.

The purpose is to ensure that future generations can learn of the massive scale of loss and displacement that accompanied the subcontinent’s chaotic division. “It’s a very important but forgotten narrative,” said Desai.

One of the seven galleries in the museum recreates a train in which millions fled across both sides of the border. Even some of the trains were ambushed by mobs.

The journeys were difficult, with refugees clambering onto trains clutching a handful of possessions – some meant to secure livelihoods, others as memorabilia. Some of these items that were carefully preserved by families for decades have been donated to the museum. They are diverse — a sewing machine, a chair, a drum used to store wheat.

In another gallery, a tent symbolizes the sprawling refugee camps that sprang up in the city for those who survived the slaughtering and rioting in which half-a-million to one million people were killed.

There are black and white photographs of the times, newspaper clippings and interviews running on screens of those who made it across the border.

But the exhibits also demonstrate that, despite the violence at that time and the decades-long political rivalry between India and Pakistan that persists, the bond among ordinary people on both sides of the border remains strong.

There is an old electricity meter handed over to an Indian family when it revisited their former home in Pakistan – the Pakistani family living there had kept it in memory of the earlier occupant. A frayed ledger on display belonged to an Indian man who once ran a shop in the neighboring country. It had been carefully preserved by the shop’s new owner in Pakistan.

“These small things, memories which are kept alive by both sides, add to the fact that there is still hope,” said Desai. “Even if politically, it is a very difficult narrative, when people from here go back to Pakistan, the contact is just wonderful. They are treated like VIP’s (very important persons). People say come in, this is your own home, and this happens on both sides of the border.”

Many survivors of partition carry no bitterness. Like Ashok Kumar Talwar, who has donated a brass bowl to the museum – it was among the handful of things his family had carried when they brought him to Delhi as a five-year-old.

Why a brass bowl? “I don’t know,” he answers. He speculates that it is probably because his family thought they would be able to return and reclaim their more precious possessions like jewelry, so they only carried what they needed during the journey.

Talwar’s family still fondly calls him “Shaukat,” a Muslim name given to him in Pakistan by his father’s student. And he has not forgotten his Pakistani roots. “I am fond of Pakistani things. I watch Pakistani movies and shows on TV. I have friends who are Muslim in the city. I am doing very well with them. There is no enmity at the grassroot level.”

The political relationship is starkly different – ties between the two bitter South Asian rivals have been in deep freeze for nearly eight years.

Many visitors to the museum are young people. Some draw a lesson from an event that left a deep mark on millions in both India and Pakistan but about which they had so far learned largely from fiction or movies.

For Sangeeta Geet, a postgraduate student, the museum highlighted the dangers of polarization that she says is driven by politicians on both sides of the border.

“We should learn from 1947. Here we can see what happens when we divide on the basis of religion,” said Geet. “So, we should step forward toward peace.”

That is the message the museum reinforces in the last section. Here a red mail box “of dreams and hope” underlines the hope that two countries with a shared heritage can have a better future. Visitors can write down their thoughts on postcards – many have said they had no idea what an older generation had experienced.

“We want people to leave the museum saying this should never happen again,” said Desai, who grew up hearing stories of partition from her parents, who also had to leave their homes in Pakistan in 1947.
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During the first period of Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, the people of Afghanistan suffered extensive hardships, many of which are repeating today.
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China and India agreed Wednesday to maintain “peace and tranquility” in border areas after military commanders met to discuss a disputed border.

The two sides issued a statement saying two days of talks produced a “positive, constructive and in-depth discussion” about resolving issues regarding the Line of Actual Control and that China and India would continue dialogue through military and diplomatic channels.

The Line of Control separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in the east, which China claims in its entirety.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Two years ago, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul closed and the U.S. military evacuated more than 100,000 Afghans in a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

A significant number of evacuees who worked for the U.S. government during the war are still going through immigration proceedings to allow them to permanently live in the United States.

For those still waiting in third countries, if they have an immediate family member who has legal U.S. status, that person can petition to have their relative resettle in the U.S.

Others can take advantage of pathways within the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program that allow people to join their immediate relatives in the U.S.

P1, P2, P3

In early August 2022, the State Department announced new priority eligibility under the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program for Afghans who worked for the U.S. government (P1), or worked for U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations or American news organizations (P2), or have immediate family members in the U.S. who are refugees or asylees (P3).

But even if an Afghan evacuee qualifies for these programs, there is no guarantee they will be approved for resettlement to the United States.

“All applicants must pass extensive security checks and complete an interview with a Department of Homeland Security/US Citizenship and Immigration Services officer,” the State Department website says.

U.S. Refugee Admission Program

The USRAP provides a straightforward path to the refugee resettlement process, but first refugees must, on their own, reach a third country where they can contact the State Department to begin the resettlement process.

Applicants are prescreened at one of a handful of Resettlement Support Centers scattered around the world. This is followed by an interview conducted by a U.S. immigration officer, multiple security checks, and a medical examination to determine their eligibility for resettlement in the United States.

The State Department is managing referrals to the refugee program, but there is no direct contact between an applicant and the U.S. government before an applicant leaves Afghanistan.

It can take the department 12-18 months to process an application, the department’s website says, so applicants would need to live in a third country and support themselves and their families until the case processing is complete.

The third priority category offers access to the refugee program for those whose immediate family members have entered the United States as refugees or were given asylum within the past five years.

Family-based paths

A person with refugee or asylee status in the U.S. can seek “follow-to-join benefits” for their spouse or unmarried children younger than 21, who were not previously given refugee status.

Those who have humanitarian parole status, or were initially paroled into the United States and later received Temporary Protected Status, can also file for their spouse and unmarried children under 21 for entry to the United States as refugees.

Or U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can file a petition for certain relatives to immigrate to the United States.

Through the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Congress established the family immigration procedures we know today.

The law creates a preference system allowing U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents to sponsor immediate relatives, including spouses, unmarried minor children and parents, to immigrate immediately to the U.S. without any numerical limits.

The U.S. citizen or resident files an application that includes a 12-step process within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and State Department.

Once approved, applicants will receive travel documents to resettle in the United States.

The Department of State funds the international transportation of refugees resettled in the United States through a program administered by the International Organization for Migration.

Refugees are expected to pay back their travel expenses, starting six months after they arrive.

They are also assigned to a sponsoring resettlement agency that provides assistance with services such as housing and employment upon the refugee’s arrival in the U.S.

Under U.S. immigration law, those under refugee status may apply for green cards to become permanent residents after one year in the United States. After five years of permanent residency, they can apply for U.S. citizenship.
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s a woman and a journalist, Nafisa Sahar saw no future for herself when the Taliban took back power in Afghanistan. Now in Dusseldorf, Germany, she is picking up the pieces of her life. For Helay Asad in Dusseldorf, Bezhan Hamdard has the story for VOA News.
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Rashmin Joyenda, an Afghan woman who championed women’s freedom and education under the Taliban in Afghanistan, has found asylum in France. After being detained by the Taliban for her protests, she fled her homeland and now speaks out against the regime from Paris. VOA’s Jalal Mirzad has the story, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard. Camera: VOA Afghan.
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A special court dealing with sexual crimes against children has sentenced two men to life in prison for gang raping and murdering two Dalit sisters in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh about a year ago.

The POCSO, Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses court, also sentenced two other men found guilty of destroying evidence of the crime, to six years in prison.

After the bodies of the two siblings, 15 and 17, were found hanging from a tree in the Lakhimpur district of U.P. on September 14, the crimes were widely reported across global media and triggered widespread outrage.

The police swung into action as soon as the bodies were found and arrested six people, including two minor boys. Post-mortem reports confirmed the girls were raped and strangled to death.

Last week the POSCO court convicted two of the four men of abducting, gangraping and murdering the two girls. Two other men, who helped the main accused to hang the bodies of the victims from the tree, were found guilty by the court of “causing disappearance of evidence,” while the verdict for the two minors — ages 16 and 17 at the time of the crime — are pending in a juvenile court.

On Monday (August 14), Rahul Singh, a judge in the POCSO court, observed that the crime was from the “rarest of the rare” category and said the life sentences of the two convicts would “run until their last breath.” The two men, identified by their first names, Junaid and Sunil, have been ordered to pay a fine of $553 each.

After the crime was committed last year, the family of the two sisters alleged that the girls had been abducted from their village hours before they were found murdered.

The police report filed last year, however, said the girls were in a relationship with two of the six charged and they left their village voluntarily with some of the accused on their motorcycles. The girls were then taken to a sugarcane field where they were raped, before being strangled to death.

According to the police, after they were raped, the girls insisted the two men marry them. The men refused and a heated argument ensued, concluding with the sisters being strangled to death. The men hung their bodies from a tree using one of their dupattas [scarves] to make the case look like a joint suicide, the police report added.

The family of the two murdered sisters was given compensation of $30,034 and a house by the U.P. government, which also promised “exemplary punishment” for the perpetrators in the case.

When the police began the investigation into the case, the family of the victims said they would not be satisfied unless the culprits were given capital punishment.

“They strangled my daughters to death. I want them to be hanged and die by strangling,” the father of the two girls said last year.

After Monday’s verdict, the father of the two sisters said he was satisfied with the court judgment.

“I would have been happier if the court handed out death sentences to all of them,” the father said. 
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The United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education said Tuesday that the International Criminal Court should investigate and pursue charges against the Taliban for their denial of basic rights to Afghan women and girls.

“The legal opinion we have received shows that the denial of education to Afghan girls and employment to Afghan women is gender discrimination, which should count as a crime against humanity, and it should be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court,” Special Envoy Gordon Brown told reporters in a video briefing.

Brown, who served as British prime minister from 2007 to 2010, made the announcement on the second anniversary of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.

He said he is in contact with the ICC and has sent court officials the legal opinion. He urged The Hague-based court to investigate and prosecute those responsible.

Brown also urged Muslim nations to send a delegation to Kandahar, Afghanistan, to meet with Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and his close associates to urge them to lift the education and work bans, which have no basis in the Quran or Islam. The supreme leader has shown no sign of reversing the edicts.

“The offer should be made that if schools are reopened under terms that allow girls proper rights and dignity, then the education aid that existed for 20 years that has been cut will now be restored,” Brown said.

Brown echoed other U.N. officials who have said they believe there is a split in thinking within the Taliban regime on restoring education.

“We believe there are many people within the Afghan Education ministry itself, and of course many teachers, who want to get the girls back to school,” he said.

The special envoy offered a five-pronged coordinated approach of applying pressure via the International Criminal Court; sanctioning individuals; sending a Muslim delegation to meet senior leaders; offering education funding; and showing through the continuation of online and underground schools that the regime cannot stop education getting through to its female population.

The Taliban have banned girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade, blocked female students from accessing university classes, and banned Afghan women from working for the U.N. and other aid groups.

The United Nations has been working to persuade the Taliban to lift many of the 50 edicts, orders and restrictions they have imposed, including the April 5 ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations. About 400 Afghan women work for the organization in the country, and the U.N. has moved them to remote work to try to circumvent the decree. 
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