The Taliban have slowly returned to their hardline position against the education of women and their freedoms since their return to power in Afghanistan 16 months ago. They argue their rules are in keeping with their interpretation of Islam, although Afghanistan is the only Muslim country that prohibits girls from being educated.

Here is a timeline of their clampdown:

August 2021: The Taliban return

The Taliban return to power in Kabul on August 15 during the chaotic final exit of US-led foreign troops, ending a 20-year war and precipitating the collapse of the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani.

The hardline Islamist group promises a softer rule than their first stint in power, from 1996 to 2001, saying they will honor human rights obligations, including those of women.

September 2021: Gender-segregated classrooms

The Taliban announce on September 12 that women can attend universities with gender-segregated entrances and classrooms, but they can only be taught by professors of the same sex or old men. Other restrictions include the wearing of hijabs as part of a compulsory dress code.

March 2022: Girls barred from school

On March 23, girls’ secondary schools are supposed to re-open, but the Taliban rescind the directive, and tens of thousands of teenagers are shut out and ordered to stay at home.

May 2022: Stay at home

Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada orders women on May 7 to fully cover themselves, including their faces, in public and generally stay at home. Women are also banned from inter-city travel without a male escort.

August 2022: Protests broken up

Taliban fighters beat women protesters chanting “bread, work and freedom” and fire into the air on August 13 to break up a demonstration outside the education ministry in Kabul.

The hardline Islamists also detain and beat journalists covering the protests.

November 2022: Parks out of bounds

Women are banned from entering parks, funfairs, gyms and public baths.

December 2022: Execution, floggings

The Taliban carry out their first public execution since returning to power, that of a convicted murderer who is shot dead on December 7 by his victim’s father in western Farah province.

The next day, more than 1,000 people watch as 27 Afghans, including women, are flogged in Charikar in central Parwan province for a range of offences ranging from sodomy and deception to forgery and debauchery.

Floggings in public have since been regularly carried out in other provinces.

December 2022: No university for women

Armed guards stop hundreds of young women from entering university campuses on December 21, day after a terse release from the minister for higher education announces an order “suspending the education of females until further notice”.

 
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The U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh cut short a meeting with some families of alleged victims of enforced disappearance last week because of pro-government protesters who tried to force their way into the meeting venue and surrounded his car, the embassy said.

The incident occurred December 14 at a private residence in Dhaka, home to a co-founder of an organization called Maayer Daak, Bengali for Mothers Call. Ambassador Peter E. Haas was meeting there with several families who say their loved ones were abducted by government forces and have not been heard from since.

“Families of over a dozen victims of enforced disappearance assembled at our place to share their experiences with the ambassador,” said meeting host Sanjida Islam Tulee, a coordinator at Maayer Daak. “But after the crowd of local Awami League supporters began swelling outside our house, for security reasons, he had to leave the meeting midway.”

The U.S. embassy in Dhaka confirmed in a statement to VOA that the ambassador ended his meeting early “due to security concerns.”

“The meeting was interrupted by protesters who attempted to enter the building where the ambassador was located. Other protesters surrounded the ambassador’s vehicle,” embassy spokesperson Jeff Ridenour said. “We have raised this matter at the highest levels of the Bangladeshi government, as well as with the Bangladesh embassy in Washington, D.C.”

Enforced disappearances are a long-standing issue in Bangladesh, especially under the current Awami League administration of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In a report last year, Human Rights Watch identified 86 victims who, it said, “were forcibly disappeared and who remain missing.”

“Awami League leadership and Bangladesh authorities mock victims and routinely obstruct investigations, making clear that the government has no intention of meaningfully addressing enforced disappearances by its security forces,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, in releasing the report.

During her visit to Bangladesh in August, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, urged the Bangladesh government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

“Bangladesh is party to all the core U.N. human rights treaties, except for it,” she said, adding that there are “continued, alarming allegations of both short-term and long-term enforced disappearances, and concerns about the lack of due process and judicial safeguards.”

The government of Bangladesh insists there have been no cases of enforced disappearance during the Awami League-led regime.

Local newspapers said the crowd that disrupted the ambassador’s meeting included members of Mayer Kanna, a rival organization comprising of families of army personnel who, they say, were victims of enforced disappearance in 1977 during a previous administration.

The country at that time was headed by President Ziaur Rahman, founder of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is now the largest opposition party. The reports say the Mayer Kanna members hoped to present Haas with a memorandum calling the attention of U.S. authorities to the 1977 disappearances.

According to witnesses, the ambassador left the Tulee home hurriedly without interacting with the Mayer Kanna protesters. Ridenour said the group had not followed protocol by requesting a meeting, and that the embassy “had not received any prior communication from Mayer Kanna over the last several years.”

The foreign minister of Bangladesh AK Abdul Momen said Monday (Dec 19) that Mayer Kanna group went against the norm by trying to submit a memorandum to the U.S. ambassador the way they did.

“Our country does not have the culture to stop a foreign ambassador on the road to submit a memorandum. Why did Mayer Kanna not communicate with the embassy first letting them know that they wanted to submit a memorandum to the ambassador? We will ask the group why they did so,” the minister said.

Members of the Maayer Daak group said they were pleased with Wednesday’s meeting.

“The ambassador sought to know about the enforced disappearance cases. We described before him how our brothers, sons and fathers became victims of enforced disappearance, and we are waiting for their safe return anxiously. We also explained how the cases have not been properly investigated by the authorities in Bangladesh despite repeated appeals from us. He listened to us attentively,” Tulee told VOA.

“In the past years, the U.S. embassy regularly maintained interactions with our organization on the issue of the enforced disappearances,” she said. “Finally, the ambassador himself came down to our place to meet the families of the victims. We understand that the U.S. is concerned about the serious human rights violations, including the issue of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh.”

Ridenour said human rights are “at the center” of U.S. foreign policy. “Therefore, the U.S. embassy takes seriously all allegations of human rights violations and regularly meets with a wide variety of human rights organizations.”

Nasrin Zahan Smrity, whose husband has not been seen since he was taken from his home in 2019, said she has met with authorities several times to discuss his case but is not satisfied with the actions that have been taken.

“As the ambassador came to meet us, we believe that the U.S. has taken the issue of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh very seriously,” she said. “We are thankful to the U.S.”
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When U.S. and Taliban representatives signed an agreement for peace in Afghanistan in February 2020, they agreed to “seek positive relations with each other.” But over the past year, their differences have only widened.

“We are not prepared to improve our relationship with the Taliban until and unless they actually start to uphold the commitments they’ve made to the Afghan people,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said at Monday’s briefing.

In August 2021, when the Taliban took control of the country, it had made commitments to the U.S. primarily on countering terrorism threats, forming an “inclusive Islamic” government and respecting and upholding human rights, especially those of women, in Afghanistan.

However, despite controlling Afghanistan for more than a year, the Taliban have failed to gain recognition from any country for their so-called Islamic Emirate. The United States and the global community in general have vowed not to recognize any government in Kabul imposed by force, fearing Taliban-led rule would prolong the Afghan civil war and threaten human rights in the country.

In June, when asked to explain whether his group’s policies or any country was responsible for the delay in winning the legitimacy, chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, “As far as recognition by foreign countries is concerned, I think the United States is the biggest obstacle.”

Mujahid claimed the Taliban had met “all the requirements” for their government to be given diplomatic recognition.

The U.S. has three senior diplomats assigned for Afghanistan — a charge d’affaires, a special representative and a special envoy for Afghan women — but no regular diplomatic engagement with the Taliban.

The U.S. embassy in Kabul, once one of the largest U.S. diplomatic missions, remains closed, and no U.S. diplomat has traveled to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power.

In May, the State Department took charge of Afghanistan’s embassy and consulates in the U.S. while allowing former Afghan diplomats to seek asylum.

In July, Rina Amiri, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan women, opted not to sit in a meeting with the Taliban’s acting foreign minister, saying she was “gravely concerned by the Taliban’s actions and current stance on the areas my office oversees.”

Meeting anti-Taliban

U.S. officials have said that diplomatic engagement with the Taliban, absent a formal recognition, is necessary.

When negotiating the agreement with the Taliban in 2019-2020, senior U.S. officials regularly met Taliban representatives in Qatar. In March 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held several meetings with Taliban officials, and President Donald Trump directly spoke with a Taliban leader over the phone.

However, with most Taliban leaders, including Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi unable to travel outside Afghanistan because of U.N. sanctions, the link between U.S. and Taliban diplomats appears broken.

Since August, there had been no official confirmation of a meeting between Taliban and U.S. diplomats.

But earlier this month, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West traveled to the United Arab Emirates, where he met with the Taliban’s acting defense minister as well as prominent anti-Taliban commander Ata Mohammad Noor.

Noor and several other former Afghan officials and politicians have formed a so-called National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) that opposes the Taliban politically and militarily.

Karen Decker, charge d’affaires of the U.S. mission to Afghanistan, traveled to Tajikistan to attend a meeting November 30-December 1 of mostly anti-Taliban figures. No Taliban representatives were invited.

Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan, has sheltered anti-Taliban fighters and has called for the formation of an inclusive government in Kabul, including a fair share for ethnic Tajiks.

The U.S. also has called on the Taliban to form an inclusive government, “including meaningful representation of women and minority communities,” the State Department said in August.

The Taliban, however, contend that their de facto government is representative of all Afghans and the U.S. should not interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.

“It’s unclear what inclusivity means in practice, but exploring that idea appears to be the reason why we are seeing U.S. officials traveling in the region and meeting with some anti-Taliban politicians,” Graeme Smith, a senior consultant with International Crisis Group, told VOA.

U.S. officials say they meet with Afghans from a broad range of the political spectrum and that is in line with Washington’s support for the people of Afghanistan, not political parties.

No support for violence

Having collaborated with the U.S. against the Taliban for over two decades, some anti-Taliban leaders have demanded U.S. support for their campaign to topple the Taliban government.

“A clear request by NRF would be that the United States and Washington should feel responsibility towards the situation in Afghanistan,” NRF leader Ahmad Massoud told an online Hudson Institute event on December 7.

The NRF has executed hit-and-run attacks against the Taliban in some parts of Afghanistan but has not been able to hold territory.

Last year, the NRF registered for political lobbying in the U.S. and at least two U.S. lawmakers, Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Michael Waltz, have called for support for the anti-Taliban group.

“The United States does not support violent opposition in Afghanistan,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA. “As we have said, we call on all sides to exercise restraint and to engage in dialogue. This is the only way that Afghanistan can confront its many challenges.”

Unlike the sanctioned Taliban officials, the NRF leaders have been able to travel and participate in political events outside Afghanistan. In September, Massoud traveled to Austria from his base in Tajikistan to attend a political gathering. He has indicated interest to travel to the U.S.

“I’d love to be there [in the U.S.], and the people of America are [a] great nation with great values, and there is a huge history between us,” Massoud told the event at the Hudson Institute.

While not offering material support for anti-Taliban forces, the U.S. has maintained its own capabilities to strike targets in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. In August, a U.S. drone bombing killed al-Qaida leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri at a house in Kabul.

The 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement had envisioned the formation of an Islamic government of Afghanistan through intra-Afghan talks. The talks did not happen.

Instead, the Taliban have forcefully silenced domestic opposition while defying international calls for reforms and inclusivity.

“We remain at something of an impasse,” U.N. Special Representative for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva told the Security Council on Tuesday as she described the growing differences between the Taliban regime and the international community.
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The State Department has welcomed the release of two U.S. nationals from Taliban detention in Afghanistan. The two were en route to Qatar on Tuesday from where they will fly to the U.S. to reunite with their families.

“We are in a position to welcome the release of two Americans, two U.S. nationals, from detention in Afghanistan,” Ned Price, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State, told journalists on Tuesday. “We are providing these two U.S. nationals with all appropriate assistance.”

U.S. officials have not yet disclosed the identities of the two individuals.

In August, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that Taliban authorities had detained Ivor Shearer, a U.S. citizen, and his Afghan colleague when they were filming the site of a U.S. drone bombing where al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed.

It is believed that Shearer is one of the two U.S. nationals released by the Taliban. The fate of Shearer’s Afghan colleague is not clear yet.

Price said the release was not a prisoner swap nor was money paid to the Taliban.

“We understand this, or at least the Taliban characterize this to us, as a goodwill gesture,” he said.

The release of the two U.S. nationals was praised on the same day that American officials condemned the Taliban’s announcement banning Afghan women from private and public universities. The Taliban made the announcement on Tuesday.

“The irony of them granting us a goodwill gesture on a day where they undertake a gesture like this to the Afghan people, it’s not lost on us,” Price said.
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The Taliban have freed two Americans in detention in Afghanistan, the State Department said Tuesday, on the same day that the militant regime faced condemnation for banning women at universities.

“This, we understand, to have been a goodwill gesture on the part of the Taliban. This was not part of any swap of prisoners or detainees. There was no money that exchanged hands,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

Price said that confidentiality rules forbade him from offering more details on the two Americans.  

The release came on the same day that the Taliban banned women from universities, drawing strong condemnation from the United States, which warned it would impose costs on the militants.  

“The irony of them granting us a goodwill gesture on a day where they undertake a gesture like this to the Afghan people, it’s not lost on us.” Price said. “But it is a question for the Taliban themselves regarding the timing of this.”

The United States has repeatedly condemned the Taliban’s track record since the militants swept back to power last year when President Joe Biden pulled out US troops, leading the 2-decade-old Western-backed government to collapse.  

But the Biden administration said that the Taliban were largely helpful during the takeover on letting out US citizens.
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The leader of an outlawed militant alliance waging terrorism in Pakistan praised his fighters Tuesday for taking several security officials hostage inside a provincial police counterterrorism interrogation center and urged them not to surrender, come what may.

Noor Wali Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban or TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan), issued the statement from his shelter in Afghanistan, raising renewed doubts about the sincerity of counterterrorism pledges by the neighboring country’s Islamist Taliban leadership.

“I congratulate you for carrying out this sacred act. I instruct you not to surrender to these infidels and apostates under any circumstances,” Mehsud said.

The TTP released the local Pashto language audio message just hours before Pakistani army commandos launched an operation and rescued the hostages from the compound in the northwestern garrison city of Bannu.

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, while sharing details with an evening session of parliament in Islamabad, said the counterterrorism center had housed “33 terrorists” when the siege started in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Pakistan army’s elite Special Service Group (SSG) conducted the operation and killed “all the terrorists,” Asif said. He added that two SSG personnel were also killed, while up to 15 others were wounded in the clashes. 

Residents reported they heard explosions and gunfire in the vicinity of the police compound.

Security officials said the operation was launched after multiple rounds of negotiations with “terrorists” to secure “freedom for innocent people” failed to achieve a breakthrough.

The hostage crisis started Sunday, when several detainees at the provincial counterterrorism facility were being interrogated in connection with incidents of terrorism. Some of the suspects managed to grab weapons from security guards before freeing an unspecified number of “high-profile terrorists” from the detention cell inside the compound.

Pakistani police and military forces quickly arrived in a bid to retake control of the facility and free the hostages. Their effort failed and at least one police officer was killed while several others were wounded in a brief gunfight.

The TTP claimed responsibility for being behind the siege. Pakistani officials opened negotiations Monday to seek freedom for the hostages, but the militants refused and instead demanded safe air passage to Afghanistan along with the captives.

The hostage-takers released a video message from inside the compound shortly after they took control of it, demanding the Pakistani government arrange for them “safe air passage” to Afghanistan. Otherwise, they threatened to kill all the hostages.

The TTP, a Pakistani offshoot and ally of Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban rulers, has stepped up attacks in Pakistan since ending its shaky, months-long unilateral cease-fire with the government last month. The truce was brokered by the Afghan Taliban in talks they hosted in Kabul between TTP leaders and Pakistani officials in June of this year.

The Pakistani Taliban is designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States, Britain and Canada.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price called Monday for the safe release of the hostages, reiterating that Islamabad is an important partner with Washington on dealing with the challenge of terrorist groups.

“There are groups that are present in Afghanistan, in the Afghan-Pakistan border region that present a clear threat as we’re seeing not only to Pakistan but potentially to countries and people beyond,” Price told reporters in Washington.

“So we’re in regular dialogue with our Pakistani partners. We are prepared to help them take on the threats they face,” Price added.

The Taliban rulers in Afghanistan repeatedly pledged to the world they would not provide a haven for transnational terrorists, including al-Qaida and the TTP.

Taliban-led Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi reiterated the pledge while speaking to VOA last week.

“The Islamic Emirate has a policy of not allowing anyone to use the soil of Afghanistan against others and of non-interference in their internal affairs,” Balkhi said, using his government’s official title.

In a bid to address allegations the TTP is using Afghanistan for terrorist activities, Mehsud alleged in his message Tuesday that the TTP controls territories in Pakistan.

“We are fighting our war from within the territory of Pakistan. We do not need to use the soil of another country,” the TTP chief said.
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Despite pressure from Western countries, India has remained steadfast in its partnership with Russia, refusing to condemn the war in Ukraine and not joining Western sanctions against Moscow. However, analysts say, this has not affected, nor is it likely to affect, India’s growing ties with the United States. 

On a visit to Moscow last month, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said New Delhi will boost economic ties with its Cold War ally.     

“For us, Russia has been a steady and time-tested partner and, as I said, any objective evaluation of our relationship over many decades would confirm that it has served both our countries very, very well,” he said.     

New Delhi has not joined Western sanctions imposed on Russia and has abstained from United Nations resolutions condemning Moscow over its aggression.     

Analysts say with India’s military heavily dependent on tanks, fighter jets and other equipment of Russian origin, it could not afford to isolate Moscow, particularly at a time when tensions with China are running high with both armies massed for a third winter along their disputed Himalayan border.     

“If your soldiers are facing the Chinese, you can’t really take on the one country that is supplying you weapons. That defense relationship India shares with Russia made India choose a more pragmatic engagement,” said Harsh Pant, Vice President for Studies and Foreign policy at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.    

Rebuffing calls by Western leaders to not buy Russian crude, India increased its purchases of oil, coal and fertilizers from Moscow. From less than one percent before the war began, Russia became a top supplier to New Delhi of oil by the year’s end. Indian officials said that buying oil from Moscow was to the country’s advantage and it would continue to do so.     

India also sent a contingent to participate in Russia’s large-scale Vostok military exercises alongside China and several other countries in August.    

“There are transactional sides to the India-Russia relationship that are important for both, such as their energy and defense relationship, and India will take decisions in its national interests,” said Sreeram Chaulia, Dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs.   

However, the escalation in the Ukraine conflict is causing concern in New Delhi. In September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan that “this is not an era of war.” He pointed out that the world was facing challenges, including food and energy shortages that were particularly affecting developing countries.     

In a recent phone call between the two leaders, Modi again called for diplomacy and dialogue to end the conflict, according to the Indian foreign ministry. Significantly, an annual summit that is held regularly between the Russian and Indian leaders has not been scheduled this year.     

“India feels that a lot of things that Russians are doing at the moment, perhaps are unwarranted — the kind of strikes on civilians and the energy sector. So there has been some negative response to what Russia is doing,” according to Pant. However, he added that public condemnation of Russia is not going to happen because “India feels that there are multiple causes for this conflict, therefore political dialogue is the only way forward.”  

Some have feared India’s neutral stance on Russia will strain ties with the United States – it is the only partner in the Quad alliance that consists of India, U.S., Japan and Australia, not to have sanctioned Russia. Critics said India’s huge purchases of Russian oil were undermining Western efforts to punish Russia for its aggression. But that did not happen as both countries stepped up their strategic partnership to counter an expansionist China.       

“Today we are positioning the U.S. and Indian militaries to operate and coordinate closely together across all domains and increasingly across the wider Indo-Pacific,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in April during a meeting with Indian foreign and defense ministers in New Delhi.     

In September, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the India-U.S. relationship “simply one of the most consequential in the world,” at a joint news conference with his Indian counterpart.     

Indian and U.S. armies held exercises close to India’s border with China last month. While these were part of regular annual drills held by the two armies, the location was considered significant.     

“The rise of China is one of the most powerful forces of our times and that has certainly consolidated this consensus that India and America would have to work together; there is no other option,” according to Pant. He said the partnership is important for both sides. “Without India there is no Indo-Pacific and I think America realizes the value of India as a partner, and India realizes the value of Washington at a time of this turbulence on its periphery.”     

Analysts say India wants to help in negotiating a way out of the Ukraine conflict, pointing out that it is taking a punishing toll on the global economy. “India, as a close partner of Russia, and also of the West, wants to be a bridge builder,” according to Chaulia. “There are already behind-the-scenes talks and India is hoping to play a constructive role in reducing the differences between the warring parties so that at least the armed hostilities stop.”   
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Despite pressure from Western countries, India has remained steadfast in its partnership with Russia, refusing to condemn the war in Ukraine and not joining Western sanctions against Moscow. However, as Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, this has not affected its growing ties with the United States. Videographer: Darshan Singh
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Sri Lanka’s navy has rescued 104 Rohingya adrift off the Indian Ocean island’s northern coast, an official said on Monday, as members of the Muslim minority continue to escape violence in Myanmar and hardship in Bangladesh refugee camps.

Many Rohingya risk their lives every year by attempting to reach Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia on rickety vessels, and their numbers have surged following deteriorating conditions in the camps and last year’s military coup in Myanmar.

The boat was first detected by the Sri Lanka Navy when it was 3.5 nautical miles from shore and a search and rescue operation was launched to eventually tow the vessel to a northern harbor on Sunday night, a navy spokesperson, Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya, said.

“The people have been handed over to the police,” Wickramasuriya told Reuters. “The police will present them before a magistrate who will decide the next step.”

A navy statement said it had 104 Myanmar nationals were found aboard a small trawler suspected to have originated from Myanmar and was heading to Indonesia when it ran into engine trouble in rough seas.

Wickramasuriya said 39 women and 23 minors were among the rescued people, and an 80-year old man, one mother and her two children were hospitalized suffering from minor sickness.

In 2018, more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to neighboring Bangladesh following a military crackdown in Myanmar that witnesses said included mass killings and rape.

Rights groups and media have documented killings of civilians and burning of villages.

Myanmar authorities have said they were battling an insurgency and deny carrying out systematic atrocities.
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For many journalists, the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021 signaled a return to censorship and repression.

The Taliban said they would support media rights but quickly issued directives that analysts say amount to prior censorship.

Restrictions on women’s movements resulted in large numbers of female journalists being forced to quit work, hundreds have gone into exile or seen their media outlets shutter, and at least three journalists are currently in prison.

More recently, the Taliban moved to block radio broadcasts from VOA and its sister network Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Veteran broadcaster Shaista Sadat Lami joined VOA in the early 2000s. In an interview with VOA, Sadat Lami recalls how journalists led the way to a freer Afghanistan and describes the efforts to keep audiences informed since the Taliban returned to power.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: You started at VOA in radio and were among the first female journalists to go on TV in Afghanistan in Western clothing. How was that experience?

Sadat Lami: VOA management decided that it’s time for our Afghan service to have a TV show. … It was right after the fall of [the] Taliban. There were very few women on air. It was one of the topics we sat down and discussed. “What are we going to do? Nobody is without a scarf on air.”

[Our editors] asked, “Do you want to go with no scarf and Western clothes?”

My answer was simply “Yes.” Because this is how I am in my day-to-day life. This is how I do things, how I live. I don’t want to be somebody else when I’m in front of the audience. I want to be myself.

We were a little nervous, expecting a negative reaction. But we were surprised at so many positive reactions from people, especially women.

This was a big moment for Afghanistan, a moment of change from a dark era. People were deprived of information. And then progressing to (reporting on) human rights and women’s rights. It was just outstanding for us.

VOA: What were some topics you were able to discuss at that time that hadn’t been easy to discuss, at least during the Taliban era?

Sadat Lami: Pretty much the topics at that time that were challenging to cover are the same as now: religion, the status of women in Afghanistan, human rights and security.

The Taliban want to show the world that they are in control … but when you look at the situation in Afghanistan, it’s very fluid. People don’t know what will happen next because there have been so many attacks by Daesh [Islamic State militants] and so many different terrorist groups are active in Afghanistan right now.

Also, women have been through so much during the first era of [the] Taliban and now. You know, their future is very dark.

These are the topics that were being discussed then, and are still being discussed.

VOA: During the years of war, did any of you receive threats or backlash from the Taliban or others?

Sadat Lami: Only from the Taliban. But people were always happy. Songs are composed for our talents on air now. We have audio of callers talking about how great these programs are because of how they impact people’s lives.

[Once] a caller contacted us from a refugee camp and said, “This is a dire situation. We want the UNHCR to come and see what we need.”

The next day, we invited an official to our program and we opened the line. We were bombarded with phone calls, people saying what they need.

That’s an impact. We have this very special connection with our audience.

VOA: Let’s talk a little bit more about the press freedom situation. How was it at its peak and how has it changed?

Sadat Lami: With the arrival of [the] Taliban, Afghanistan lost its crowning achievement: press freedom.

Afghanistan was considered one of the best in the region, better than Iran, better than Russia, better than China. And we were very proud of this achievement.

Now, it’s gone.

Journalists are forced to self-censor or cease activities altogether because if they reveal the truth, they may be faced with some sort of consequence.

[When the Taliban blocked] our FM channels, their explanation was that we were violating the journalistic codes and regulations and rules.

But after 40 years of service, VOA’s Afghan audience, they trust us. And this trust made [the Taliban] fear for what we reveal—and that is the truth.

We didn’t want to follow their directives. We wanted to tell the truth.

During the ’80s listening to VOA was a crime. People still did it. It’s the same situation. Even if it is difficult for people to listen to us easily just by switching a button, they still try to find us.

They trust us and they want to hear us, and no matter what they will find us.

VOA: Tell me a little bit about the period around the time the Taliban took over in August 2021. What was the situation like for the team?

Sadat Lami: [At first] it was not difficult to get reports from the ground because we had all our stringers active within the country in different provinces. What was difficult was to know the situation. Even officials didn’t know what was going on. How long they would last, will the Taliban come or not. So, there were a lot of questions.

But right after the arrival of the Taliban, we were very afraid for our stringers on the ground. That was a very difficult time. Their safety was our No. 1 priority.

But [we also had] our commitment to our audience, our promise to provide news and information.

So … we told [our stringers] stay low, we don’t want you to be at risk. [From Washington] we got in touch with people on the ground, whoever we thought could provide information: “What is going on? What’s the situation today?” We had to work hard to fill in the gaps.

But it paid off, because now we see our colleagues safe here in the U.S.

VOA: VOA’s Afghan service and bureau chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan won the USAGM David Burke Award for journalists who work in difficult environments. What does this mean to the team?

Sadat Lami: This is such a great achievement. It was long nights, phone calls, tears during these phone calls [to bring our staff to safety]. But we not only did our job, we did it well.

VOA: We know that press freedom around the world matters. Why would you say specifically in Afghanistan right now that it matters so much?

Sadat Lami: 4.2 million children are deprived of going to school — and in rural areas, in provinces like Kandahar, 85% of girls are not able to go to school. That’s a big reason.

A U.N. report says that 23 million people — which is more than half of the population of Afghanistan are faced with acute food insecurity. And during this dark winter that’s a huge reason for us to go forward and to continue our efforts.

Women are not able go and participate in social life and work. That’s a huge reason.

Nobody has a voice now. That’s a huge reason to be a voice for those voiceless people within Afghanistan.
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Afghanistan’s Taliban have announced fresh public floggings of convicts, both women and men, in defiance of renewed United Nations calls for the Islamist rulers to immediately halt the practice.

The Taliban’s supreme court said Monday a group of 22 individuals, including women, was flogged in a crowded sports stadium in Sheberghan, the capital of the northern province of Jowzjan.

Each was given between 25 and 39 lashes for alleged crimes, including adultery, gay sex, running away from home, drug trafficking and theft, the statement said. The court also reported on Sunday that 11 men and a woman were flogged in central Ghor province for committing similar crimes.

The de facto Afghan authorities have carried out floggings of more than 130 men and women in crowded sports stadiums in several provinces and the capital, Kabul, since mid-November, when the Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, ordered the judiciary to implement Islamic law or Sharia-based punishments.

The order also led to the first public execution of a convicted murder since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

Officials said the execution in the western province of Farah two weeks ago was in accordance with “Qisas [retribution in kind], an Islamic law stipulating the person is punished in the same way the victim was murdered.

The flogging and execution have been administered in stadiums in the presence of senior Taliban officials and members of the public. The top Taliban court in its statement Monday defended the application of Islamic Sharia to criminal justice, saying it is key to promoting “peace and justice” in the country.

UN call for halt

On Friday, a U.N. panel of independent experts said in a statement they “are deeply aggrieved” about the public execution and resumption of flogging in Afghanistan. The panel urged the Taliban to halt immediately what it decried as “inhuman” along with “distasteful and undignified” punishments.

“International human rights law prohibits the implementation of such cruel sentences, especially the death penalty, following trials that apparently do not offer the required fair trial guarantees,” the statement said.

The U.N. panel maintained that at all times, no matter the status of a person, the individual is entitled to dignity and respect.

The Taliban leadership has criticized the outcry over the application of Sharia to criminal justice as an insult to its Islamic religious beliefs and ruled out any compromise on them.

No country has yet formally recognized the male-only Taliban regime over human rights concerns.

The Islamist group previously ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 when Taliban authorities would routinely carry out punishments in public, including floggings and executions at sports stadiums before crowds of spectators.

The Taliban repeatedly assured Afghans and the world at large after seizing power that they would not bring back the polices of the previous rule to govern the conflict-torn impoverished South Asian nation.

The group has reneged on its pledges and placed severe restrictions on the lives and freedoms of Afghans. The Taliban have increasingly excluded women from public life and barred teenage girls from attending secondary schools.

Taliban polices have prompted some in Western capitals to link any engagement with the group to the empowerment of women, tighten sanctions and isolate Afghanistan further. Others warned disengagement could push millions of Afghans into starvation and extreme poverty.

“There is no alternative to dialogue,” Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anniken Huitfeldt told an audience in Oslo last week while advocating continued engagement with the Taliban.

“We must not look away… No one will be safe if the country descends into civil war or becomes a base for terrorism. That would hurt both the Afghan people and the international community,” she warned.
…

Authorities in Pakistan continued Monday to negotiate a resolution to the overnight hostage crisis at a counterterrorism police detention center where dozens of suspected militant inmates have taken multiple officers hostage.

The inmates are demanding safe passage to Afghanistan in exchange for the hostages’ lives

The ongoing siege in Bannu, a garrison city in the northwestern Khyber Pakthunkhwa border province, has reportedly left at least two policemen dead and several others injured, including an army officer.

The casualties occurred during clashes with the hostage takers when security forces attempted to retake control of the facilities, shortly after the siege had begun.

A senior provincial advisor, Muhammad Ali Saif, confirmed the death of one security official without elaborating. He shared no further details.

Authorities said a group of detainees were being interrogated in connection with incidents of terrorism when some of them managed to grab weapons from security guards before freeing an unspecified number of “high-profile terrorists” from another detention cell.

A provincial government statement later confirmed the events, saying “under interrogation militants snatched weapons from the interrogators and released more prisoners who have all been surrounded” by security forces.

A social media video shows several armed men with an injured person, believed to be a security guard. One of the men, with his face covered and holding an assault rifle, demanded the Pakistani government urgently arrange for all his 35 associates “safe air passage” to Afghanistan. Otherwise, he threatened to kill all the hostages.

The authenticity of the video could not be ascertained from independent sources nor have authorities commented on it.

The city administration late on Sunday suspended access to internet and mobile phone services across Bannu, blocking roads leading to the prison compound and ordering residents to stay indoors.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed militant alliance also known as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the siege Monday, saying its fighters were among the detainees and asking the government to transfer them to areas near the Afghan border, where the group has its hideouts.

Pakistani negotiators have rejected all the demands, leading to a deadlock in the talks, sources said.

TTP, designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States, Britain and Canada, has recently intensified attacks in Pakistan, killing hundreds of people this year, mostly security forces. The group is a known offshoot and ally of Afghanistan’s ruling Islamist Taliban.

Leaders of the Pakistani Taliban and commanders have long taken refuge in Afghanistan and direct cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghan bases, according to the Pakistani government.

Islamabad has said that the return of the Taliban to power in Kabul has emboldened TTP operatives to intensify cross-border terrorist activities and urged the de facto Afghan rulers to curtail them.

TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud said while speaking to CNN last week that the Afghan Taliban were not helping his group in waging attacks in Pakistan.

“We are fighting Pakistan’s war from within the territory of Pakistan; using Pakistani soil. We have the ability to fight for many more decades with the weapons and spirit of liberation that exist in the soil of Pakistan,” Mehsud said.

The Afghan Taliban deny that the TTP or any other groups is being allowed to use Afghanistan to threaten other countries, including Pakistan. The Kabul regime has brokered and hosted talks between Pakistan and TTP leaders in recent months to help them negotiate a settlement, but the process recently broke down.

The Pakistani Taliban say their violent campaign is meant to overthrow the country’s government and impose their strict version of the Islamic system of governance.
…

Dozens of militants in custody in a Pakistan counterterrorism police detention facility Sunday overpowered multiple security guards and took them hostage, demanding safe passage to neighboring Afghanistan in exchange for their lives.

Pakistan security sources and residents confirmed the ongoing hostage crisis in Bannu, a garrison city in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border province.

Sources said suspected militants were being interrogated at the highly secure detention center when they managed to grab weapons from police personnel guarding them and later freed an unspecified number of “high-profile terrorists” from another detention cell. Up to 35 armed men were holed up in a part of the compound with hostages, the sources added.

Pakistan military forces, including commandos, immediately surrounded the building and an operation was under way to end the siege.

A provincial government spokesman in a statement late Sunday confirmed that while “under interrogation militants snatched weapons from the interrogators and released more prisoners who have all been surrounded.”

The brief statement added that the security forces’ “operation will be completed soon.”

A social media video shows several armed men with an injured person, believed to be a security guard, in custody. One of them, with his face covered and holding an assault rifle, demanded in the footage that the Pakistani government urgently arrange for their safe air passage to Afghanistan. Otherwise, he threatened to kill all the hostages.

The authenticity of the video could not be ascertained from independent sources.

There were no immediate claims of responsibly for the hostage-taking. It followed an attack by heavily armed militants on a police station in the nearby city of Lakki Marwat early Sunday.

The overnight raid left four security officers dead and several wounded, the city police spokesman said Sunday. Shahid Hameed told Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper that the militants struck the station at midnight and managed to escape after a brief firefight with police guards.

No one claimed the attack.

The Pakistani border province has seen a surge in militant attacks in recent months, most of them claimed by the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban.

The United States and the United Nations have declared the TTP a global terrorist organization. It is a known offshoot and ally of Afghanistan’s ruling Islamist Taliban.

Leaders of the Pakistani Taliban and commanders have long taken refuge in the neighboring country and direct cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghan bases, according to the Pakistani government.

Islamabad has said that the return of the Taliban to power in Kabul has emboldened TTP operatives to intensify cross-border terrorist activities and urged the de facto Afghan rulers to curtail them.

TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud said while speaking to CNN last week that the Afghan Taliban were not helping his group in waging attacks in Pakistan.

“We are fighting Pakistan’s war from within the territory of Pakistan; using Pakistani soil. We have the ability to fight for many more decades with the weapons and spirit of liberation that exist in the soil of Pakistan,” Mehsud said.

The Afghan Taliban deny that the TTP or any other groups is being allowed to use Afghanistan to threaten other countries, including Pakistan. The Kabul regime has brokered and hosted talks between Pakistan and TTP leaders in recent months to help them negotiate a settlement, but the process recently broke down.

The Pakistani Taliban say their violent campaign is meant to overthrow the country’s government and impose their strict version of the Islamic system of governance.
…

Suspected militants attacked a police station Sunday in Lakki Marwat in Pakistan’s volatile northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing four police officers and wounding four.

Shahid Hameed, a Lakki Police spokesperson, told Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper that the insurgents struck the station at midnight, but were unable to gain entrance into the building and escaped.

An Associated Press report says the attackers used grenades and automatic weapons in their assault.

Dawn reported that the police suspect that the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP group, is responsible for the attack.

Officials say no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
…

Russia’s war on Ukraine tested U.S. ties with India this year as New Delhi abstained from condemning Moscow’s aggression and imported vastly more Russian energy. Sarah Zaman reports that despite their differences over Russia, the U.S. and India’s shared concern about China kept the allies close.
…

 Arjun Viswanathan stood on the street, his hands folded, eyes fixed on the idol of the Hindu deity Ganesh.

On a humid morning, the information technology professional was waiting outside the temple, the size of a small closet – barely enough room for the lone priest to stand and perform puja or rituals for the beloved elephant-headed deity, believed to be the remover of obstacles.

Viswanathan was among about a dozen visitors, most of them there for the same purpose: To offer prayers so their U.S. visa interviews would go smoothly and successfully. Viswanathan came the day before his interview for an employment visa.

“I came here to pray for my brother’s U.K. visa 10 years ago and for my wife’s U.S. visa two years ago,” he said. “They were both successful. So I have faith.”

The Sri Lakshmi Visa Ganapathy Temple is a few miles north of the airport in Chennai (formerly Madras), a bustling metropolis on the Coromandel Coast in southeast India — known for its iconic cuisine, ancient temples and churches, silk saris, classical music, dance and sculptures.

This “visa temple” has surged in popularity among U.S. visa seekers over the past decade; they can be found in almost any Indian city with a U.S. consulate. They typically gain a following through word of mouth or social media.

A mile away from the Ganesh temple is the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Navaneetha Krishnan Temple, where an idol of Hanuman – a deity who has a human body and the face of a monkey — is believed to possess the power to secure visas. Also known as “Anjaneya,” this god stands for strength, wisdom and devotion. In this temple, he has earned the monikers “America Anjaneya” and “Visa Anjaneya.”

The temple’s longtime secretary, G.C. Srinivasan, said it wasn’t until 2016 that this temple became a “visa temple.”

“It was around that time that a few people who prayed for a visa spread the word around that they were successful, and it’s continued,” he said.

A month ago, Srinivasan said he met someone who got news of his visa approval even as as he was circumambulating the Anjaneya idol — a common Hindu practice of walking around a sacred object or site.

On a recent Saturday night, devotees decorated the idol with garlands made of betel leaves. S. Pradeep, who placed a garland on the deity, said he was not there to pray for a visa, but believes in the god’s unique power.

“He is my favorite god,” he said. “If you genuinely pray – not just for visa – it will come true.”

At the Ganesh temple, some devotees had success stories to share. Jyothi Bontha said her visa interview at the U.S. Consulate in Chennai went without a hitch, and that she had returned to offer thanks.

“They barely asked me a couple of questions,” she said. “I was pleasantly surprised.” 

Bontha’s friend, Phani Veeranki, stood nearby, nervously clutching an envelope containing her visa application and supporting documents. Bontha and Veeranki, both computer science students from the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh and childhood friends, are headed to Ohio.

Both learned about the visa temple on the social media platform Telegram.

Veeranki said she was anxious because she had a lot riding on her upcoming visa interview.

“I’m the first person in my family to go the United States,” she said. “My mother is afraid to send me. But I’m excited for the opportunities I’ll have in America.”

Veeranki then handed over the envelope to the temple’s priest for him to place at the foot of the idol for a blessing.

“We’ve been hearing about applications being rejected,” she said, her hands still folded in prayer. “I’m really hoping mine gets approved.”

If she and Bontha make it to Ohio, they want to take a trip to Niagara Falls.

“I’ve always wanted to see it,” Bontha said.

Mohanbabu Jagannathan and his wife, Sangeetha, run the temple, which Jagannathan’s grandfather built in 1987. Their house is on a cul-de-sac, which is considered bad luck in several Asian cultures. In Chennai, it is common to find a Ganesh temple outside cul-de-sac homes due to the belief that the deity has the power to ward off evil. At first, only neighbors came to the temple, Jagannathan said.

“But over the years it started earning a quirky reputation,” he said. “A lot of visa applicants who came to the temple spread the word that they found success after praying here.”

In 2009, his father, Jagannathan Radhakrishnan, reconstructed the temple and added the word “visa” to the temple’s name. Jagannathan said the success stories are heartwarming; visitors sometimes stop by his home to thank his family for keeping the temple open.

“I’ve never been bothered by it,” Jagannathan said. “We offer this as a service to the public. It’s a joy to see how happy people are when they come back and tell us they got their visa.”

His wife said she was touched by the story of a man who came all the way from New Delhi to pray for a visa to see his grandchild after eight years apart. She remembers another time when a woman called her in tears, saying her visa application was rejected.

“Sure, some don’t get it,” she said. “God only knows why.”

Padma Kannan brought her daughter, Monisha, who is preparing to pursue a master’s degree in marketing analytics at Clark University. Kannan believes her daughter got her visa because of this powerful deity.

“I found this temple on Google,” she said. “I was so nervous for her, and so I prayed here.”

Monisha Kannan said she is not so sure she got her visa because of this temple, but she said she came to support her mom.

“I’m skeptical,” she said. “I’m just someone who goes with the flow.”

Her mother takes a more philosophical stance.

“We pray for our children and things happen easily for them,” she said. “I think when they go through the rigors of life themselves, they will start believing in the power of prayer.”

Viswanathan said he is not someone “who usually believes in such things.” When his brother got his British visa a decade ago after offering prayers here, Viswanathan chalked it up to coincidence. He became a believer when his wife got her U.S. visa two years ago, he said.

The day after he visited the temple this time, Viswanathan’s employment visa was approved. He’ll head to New Hampshire in a few months.

“It’s all about faith,” he said. “If you believe it will happen, it will happen.”
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Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Saturday that his party would dissolve two provincial assemblies next week, earlier than scheduled, in an attempt to build pressure on the federal government to hold early general elections.

Khan has campaigned for snap polls since being ousted from power in a parliamentary vote in April, which has heightened political uncertainty in the South Asian nation even as it struggles to stave off financial default.

Khan’s party controls two of the country’s four provincial assemblies. The other two are controlled by his political opponents, who also control the federal government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and who have said they will not hold national and local polls before they are due in November 2023.

“Next Friday [Dec. 23], we will dissolve the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies,” Khan said while addressing a gathering of his supporters in the eastern city of Lahore.

Punjab, controlled by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, is the country’s most populous province and makes up nearly half of the country’s population of 220 million.

The dissolutions could create a fresh constitutional crisis in the country.

Historically, polls for the federal and provincial governments are held at the same time in a general election every five years. If the two provincial assemblies are dissolved earlier, separate polls would have to be held for them within 90 days, which could throw up legal problems.

Khan, who was injured in an apparent assassination bid last month, said he was “sacrificing” his two provincial governments for the sake of the country’s future.

He added that elections in the two provinces would mean holding polls in 66% of the country, and so the government might as well hold general elections.

(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari; Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Frances Kerry)
…

Malaysian officials say 21 people, including five children, died Friday morning in a landslide at an unlicensed campsite at a farm in Selangor state bordering the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The Associated Press reported that rescue workers found the bodies of a mother and her toddler daughter “hugging each other in a heart-rending scene.”

Emergency workers are still looking for 12 missing people.

Search and rescue operations were halted overnight because of bad weather conditions but resumed Saturday.

Malaysian officials said an estimated 450,000 cubic meters of debris — enough to fill 180 Olympic-sized swimming pools — hit the campsite, according to AP.

Malaysia has ordered the closure of all high-risk campsites.

Some information for this article came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

A women’s bicycling camp in northwest Pakistan drew national attention this week when one of the country’s leading religious political parties, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), objected to the event, calling it vulgar and a threat to religion and local culture.

The camp, organized by Samar Khan, a well-known Pakistani cyclist and international adventurer, provided girls and women with bicycles and training to encourage more people to take up the sport.

“The objective of this rally was to make aware and educate girls on the benefits of cycling, sports careers and eco-friendly transport. Also, how they can be a part of development if they are not given opportunities?” Khan told VOA’s Deewa Service.

The local chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party with influence in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Afghanistan, rallied against the camp, held in Landi Kotal, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and accused it of promoting a foreign agenda.

“We will not let such indecent activities take place in our area which would threaten our religion and culture. This was a Western agenda applied in Landi Kotal,” Muqtader Shah, a local JI leader, told VOA.

Why un-Islamic?

Another camp organizer, Jamaima Afridi, told VOA she rejected the idea that the camp promoted foreign values.

“Why is it seen as un-Islamic activity? All the girls were dressed culturally and wearing hijabs,” she said.

Religious conservatives have not detailed their objections to the bicycling camp, but organizers suggest it likely has to do with outdated ideas about protecting symbols of female virginity.

“When most developed countries are enjoying the benefits of cycling and sports, creating healthy spaces and infrastructure for their communities, we are debating whether it breaks the hymen of a woman?” Khan told VOA.

Another local organizer of the camp, Jamaima Afridi, said learning sports is equally important for girls and boys in the development of strong bodies, and the girls at the camp clearly appreciated being there.

“The moment when the girls received their first bikes and experienced the joy, freedom and fun associated with it was beautiful. Their faces could tell the story,” said Jamaima.

Khan said cycling can help solve practical issues important to people in the valley, such as promoting better health, reducing people’s daily commute and curbing pollution. But local attitudes could remain a challenge.

Much like in neighboring Afghanistan, many people living in Landi Kotal hold conservative views on gender norms. However, the region for many years has had a steady stream of foreign visitors, in part because of the nearby historic Khyber Pass, one of the main land routes into Afghanistan.

Over the decades, Queen Elizabeth II; Diana, Princess of Wales; and even former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy all visited the Khyber Pass.

But the waves of extremism from successive wars in Afghanistan have left an impact. And local activists say the Taliban’s recent takeover in Afghanistan has made things even more difficult for local women.

Protest against ban

Earlier this month in the region’s main city, Peshawar, human rights activists protested the Taliban’s ban on women’s education.

Wagma Feroz, a civil rights activist who was among the protesters, told VOA about why people turned out to protest.

“Taliban have outlawed women and banned girls from education. We are calling on the international community to act against the Taliban’s ban on women,” Feroz said.

Extremism researchers say there is more evidence the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan is worsening the rights situation in Pakistan.

The Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, an independent research and advocacy think tank, said in a recent report that Pashtun regions close to Afghanistan have seen a 51% increase in violence since the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa Service.
…

Rising domestic demand is forcing Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to cut back or halt natural gas exports to China, prompting a shakeup of regional energy markets and a rethinking of trade relationships across Central Asia. Meanwhile, American experts have been urging the West to invest in the region’s energy infrastructure, arguing that this kind of support “will create steady partners and balance Chinese and Russian ambitions.”

Residents in Central Asia not only face bitterly cold winters but also endure energy cuts during this season. They blame the government for corruption and lack of accountability, but authorities blame decreasing production and supply bottlenecks.

“Stop exporting, start delivering!” blare many social media debates in Uzbekistan, to which officials respond: “We are not exporting. … This is all we have.”

“We import natural gas in winter to meet domestic needs and export it in summer to return the gas we have received,” said Jurabek Mirzamahmudov, Uzbekistan’s energy minister.

The China-Central Asia pipeline from Turkmenistan carries gas across Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Beijing, the region’s biggest trade partner, mostly buys energy products, including natural gas and oil, from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

In the first quarter of 2022, Turkmenistan, China’s largest gas supplier, delivered $2.87 billion worth, according to official Chinese data. Ashgabat increased gas exports by 53% this year, with October’s cost volume amounting to $8.23 billion.

Kazakhstan, selling $270.6 million worth of gas to China at the beginning of the year, will halt exports, instead using it for domestic consumption. The government has warned that gas prices, currently subsidized by exports, will rise.

Uzbekistan aims to end gas exports in coming years due to rising domestic demand. This year its plan is to export 3.3 billion cubic meters, a notable decrease from 2019, when it sold 12.2 billion cubic meters. China’s General Administration of Customs reported that Uzbekistan exported $132.8 million in gas to China from January to April.

On December 7, Mirzamahmudov confirmed that Uzbekistan had stopped gas exports to China, then 6 million cubic meters a day. “However, our daily domestic demand has gone up to 25 million cubic meters a day,” he said.

Relations with China

Meetings in Tashkent with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua in early December indicated the countries are working toward boosting business and aiming to grow annual trade to $10 billion from about $8 billion.

Official news agency Xinhua highlighted that “Uzbekistan is willing to deepen cooperation with China in such fields as trade, investment, transportation, energy, infrastructure … and advance the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and other connectivity projects to benefit people in the two countries and the region.”

“China wants to engage and invest in Central Asian resources as a bridge towards markets in Europe, towards hydrocarbon resources and politically friendly parts of the Middle East, such as Iran, and increasingly Saudi Arabia and Iraq. … It wants to reshape the international economic order,” said Wesley Hill, one of the authors of a recent report from Washington-based International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC), which focused on Central Asia’s energy potential.

In Kazakhstan, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, a vision of building land and sea trade routes from China to other countries through investments and infrastructure. Kazakhstan was also the first country Xi visited since COVID-19 became a public health emergency.

Western interests, Russian ambitions

Beyond China, “Efficient exports of Central Asian resources to potential trading partners requires infrastructure investments, including pipelines and specialized port terminals,” said the ITIC report, since existing ones mostly cross Russia or Iran.

Kazakhstan earns 40% of its revenue from oil, but 80% of the energy exports pass through Russia via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

“Kazakhstan is a responsible actor,” said First Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov, who was visiting Washington for the annual Strategic Dialogue earlier this month.

“Over 70% of our oil exports go to the European Union,” he told journalists and experts gathered at George Washington University on December 6. “Kazakh oil exports account for more than 1.5% of global supply.”

As the West intensifies ties with Central Asia, American analysts caution that Russia is likely to weaponize energy, intimidating regional exporters, “hoping to prevent their role as potential suppliers to Europe. Similarly, China could attempt to increase its leverage while Russia is preoccupied in Ukraine and protect its own economic interests.”

Like many reports from U.S. think tanks, the ITIC study also stresses multivector cooperation and regional integration, underlining “these are not in Russian or Chinese interests.”

“Western investment — both government-directed and private — should prioritize the energy infrastructure of states whose resources make them best able to meet current demand: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan,” the ITIC publication says.

“As Russia escalates its bid for hegemony over formerly Soviet states, the strengthening of the Central Asian republics’ energy sectors allows them a pathway to greater autonomy and prosperity … Kazakhstan with oil and uranium, Uzbekistan with natural gas and uranium, and Turkmenistan with natural gas.”

By supporting the region’s energy industry, the ITIC experts urge, “the democratic world will create steady partners and balance Chinese and Russian ambitions.”

Observers in Washington agree, this is a time of economic uncertainty and assertive Russian aggression.

The Carnegie Endowment’s Russia and Eurasia expert, Paul Stronski, said Washington should avoid asking Central Asians to pick sides.

“They are sympathetic to Ukraine and wary of Russia. But Russia is willing to muck around,” he said.

Stronski suggested the U.S. provide security assistance and encourage the region to seek new linkages.

“We and Central Asians don’t want the region to be stuck between Russia and China.”

“Economic engagement is key but largely depends on these countries’ willingness to reform. In Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, specifically, Washington should hold governments accountable for their promises, while providing technical support,” Stronski said.

The ITIC report noted, as energy exporters, Central Asian states must continue “market liberalization and anti-corruption reforms, building confidence that energy and infrastructure projects will not be hindered by grift, needless roadblocks, expropriation, or confiscatory and punitive taxation” and ensure the rule of law to be attractive “safe harbors for foreign investment.”
…

Following this week’s Islamic State attack on a guesthouse in Kabul, U.S. officials say the terrorist group is recruiting a multiethnic force that threatens security in neighboring countries and that the Taliban need to do more to eliminate the threat.

While the Taliban claim they have restored peace in Afghanistan, a local offshoot of IS, the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), has carried out a string of high-profile terrorist attacks in several Afghan cities over the past year.

On Monday, IS fighters stormed a hotel in Kabul, killing several people and wounding others, including five Chinese citizens.

Previously, U.S. officials had said that most IS fighters in Afghanistan were ethnic Pashtuns from the volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions and that many had links to the Taliban.

However, after the Taliban seized power last year, there were concerns that some former Afghan army and intelligence forces were joining IS ranks to defy Taliban persecution.

Some of the recent ISKP attacks in Afghanistan, including Monday’s attack and an attack in June on a Sikh temple in Kabul, appeared to involve fighters who were from neighboring Central Asian countries.

“IS in Afghanistan remains a multiethnic terrorist network and draws most of its recruits from within Afghanistan,” a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told VOA this week.

ISKP first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in January 2015. In late 2019, the U.S. and the former Afghan government announced the terror group was nearly decimated as hundreds of its fighters were killed in joint counterterror operations.

ISKP, however, survived and even managed to kill 13 U.S. military personnel in a suicide attack at Kabul airport in August 2021 – the last U.S. casualties in Afghanistan.

Boosting border security

“So far, attacks inside Afghanistan by jihadis based in Tajikistan have been unusual,” Graeme Smith, a senior consultant with the International Crisis Group, told VOA, adding that most Central Asian nations perceive militancy emanating from Afghanistan.

Earlier this year, ISKP fighters fired several rockets at Tajikistan and Uzbekistan from Afghanistan in what appeared to be an effort by the group to instigate regional conflicts.

“It’s clear that greater regional cooperation on security issues is necessary, especially along Afghanistan’s rugged borders,” Smith said.

Among the six countries surrounding Afghanistan, Tajikistan in particular has developed unfriendly relations with the Taliban regime, primarily by hosting leaders of the anti-Taliban forces that have launched an armed insurgency in pockets of northern Afghanistan.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has also called for the creation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan where ethnic Tajiks are given a fair share in the Cabinet.

“Tajikistan is rightly concerned about terrorist travel and terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan and is taking important steps to address the threat,” said the State Department spokesperson.

While calling on the Taliban to eliminate terrorist groups inside Afghanistan, the U.S. has maintained security cooperation with Central Asian nations to boost their border security.

“We have worked with our Central Asian partners, including Tajikistan, for many years to support improved border security and to build law enforcement capacity to interdict terrorist travel. This security cooperation includes training, assistance, mentorship and equipment to counter terrorist activity and curtail transnational crime,” the spokesperson said.

Declining counterterrorism cooperation with the U.S., Taliban authorities insist that their globally isolated Islamist regime is capable of eliminating ISKP independently — a mission even U.S., NATO and former Afghan forces could not complete.

U.S. intelligence officials have warned about the Islamic State’s growing capabilities in Afghanistan but have doubted the group’s ability to strike the U.S. in the near future.

 
…

Officials in Pakistan said Thursday a fresh round of “indiscriminate” cross-border artillery shelling by Afghanistan’s Taliban forces on civilian targets had killed one person and wounded 15 others. Women and children were among the victims.

The attack sparked the intermittent exchange of fire near the Chaman border crossing but no details of losses on the Afghan side were immediately known.

Pakistani and Taliban officials accused the other of initiating the latest conflict, underscoring growing strains in otherwise friendly bilateral ties.

“Unfortunately, today there was another shooting by Pakistani soldiers in Spin Boldak … and it’s caused clashes,” the Taliban defense ministry said in a statement, naming the Afghan side of the Chaman crossing.

It stressed the need for solving problems through dialogue, warning that “negative actions and making excuses for war are not in the interest of any of the parties.”

On Sunday, Pakistan said that cross-border shelling and gunfire by Taliban forces targeted civilians just across the border region, killing seven Pakistanis and wounding around two dozen.

Taliban authorities confirmed the skirmishes had resulted in the death of a Taliban border guard and 10 civilians on their side.

However, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told parliament Monday the skirmishes had killed up to nine Taliban combatants, noting that the Taliban government had “apologized” for the incident.

Pakistani officials said their forces were repairing a damaged part of the border fence when Taliban authorities interrupted them and eventually started shelling civilian settlements just across the frontier.

Last month, Pakistan closed the Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing for more than a week after similar clashes, stranding hundreds of truck convoys transporting Afghan commercial goods on both sides.

Landlocked Afghanistan relies on the crossing, along with the northwestern Torkham border terminal, to access Pakistani overland routes and seaports for international trade.

Afghanistan disputes the nearly 2,600-kilometer former British-era demarcation with Pakistan, often sparking border tensions and limited military skirmishes.

Islamabad rejects Kabul’s objections and maintains Pakistan inherited the international border when it gained independence from Britain in 1947.

Thursday’s clashes coincide with a visit to Pakistan by General Michael Kurilla, the commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). Kurilla led his delegation in talks with Pakistani military chief General Asim Munir and his aides in Rawalpindi, where the army is headquartered, focusing on defense and security cooperation as well as regional matters.

Officials said the top American general was later flown to Torkham, where he was “apprised on counterterrorism and border management mechanisms in place” along the border. 
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A top foreign ministry official said Wednesday that Pakistan has traced “undeniable” and “indisputable” links between India and acts of terrorism on Pakistani soil, and that the evidence is being formally shared with the United Nations.

Hina Rabbani Khar, the deputy foreign minister, told a news conference in Islamabad that the “dossier” being shared contains “details and evidence” of New Delhi’s role in a deadly 2021 car bombing in the Pakistani city of Lahore, among other incidents of terrorism.

“We waited until we had strong, hard evidence to be making the case we are making today,” Khar said.

The bombing killed four people and wounded many more.

“We have shared, or in the process of sharing, the copies of the dossier with the members of the U.N. Security Council and with the U.N. secretary-general,” she said.

“We hope that they would look into this evidence and fulfill their responsibility,” Khar stated, adding that the victims of the Lahore blast “look towards all of us for justice.”

The minister noted the Pakistani suspects linked to the violence had already been prosecuted and convicted, alleging the facilitators and mastermind of the bombing are based in India.

“We would want India to hand them over … and if India is a responsible nation, they will cooperate,” she said. Khar added that Islamabad was also making efforts, with the help of Interpol, to arrest the Indian suspects.

Officials in India did not immediately respond to Pakistan’s allegations.

The attack

The Lahore attack took place near the residence of an Islamist leader, Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group blamed for the deadly 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai.

Saeed denies Indian allegations that he masterminded the carnage, which killed 166 people, including foreigners. He is currently serving a prison term in Pakistan on charges of financing anti-India militants.

Khar spoke a day before India, the current president of the U.N. Security Council, is set to chair a meeting of the 15-nation body on the way forward for a global counter-terrorism approach.

Accusations

New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of harboring and funding militant groups blamed for terrorist attacks on Indian soil, allegations Pakistan denies.

India has regularly urged Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai bloodshed to justice.

Pakistani officials maintain their Indian counterparts have not shared enough evidence to ensure a successful prosecution of several suspects in custody.

India and Pakistan routinely accuse each other of sponsoring subversive acts inside their territories, allegations both the nuclear-armed South Asian archrivals deny.
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Taliban authorities in southern Afghanistan publicly flogged 27 people, including two women Wednesday, for allegedly committing theft, adultery and other crimes.

Officials and residents reported the punishments were administered in the southern Helmand and Zabul provinces.

Mohammad Qasim Riyaz, a provincial government spokesman in Helmand, said 20 men were lashed in the sports stadium in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

Riyaz said that each man was flogged between 35 to 39 times before a large number of spectators, including provincial Taliban officials, religious clerics and local elders. Some of the convicts were additionally given prison terms, he added.

Separately, the Taliban-run state news agency reported public flogging of five men and two women for “illicit relationships, robbery and other crimes” in Qalat, the capital of Zabul. It did not elaborate.

Afghanistan’s hardline rulers have flogged dozens of men and women in crowded football stadiums in several provinces and the capital, Kabul, in recent weeks, applying their strict interpretation of Islamic law to criminal justice.

Wednesday’s public lashings come a week after the Taliban carried out their first public execution of a convicted murderer since taking control of the conflict-torn impoverished South Asian nation.  

Taliban officials said the execution, carried out with an assault rifle by the victim’s father, was staged in a crowded sports stadium in western Farah province in line with “qisas” — an Islamic law stipulating the person is punished in the same way the victim was murdered.  

The execution drew international criticism and denunciation, with human rights groups demanding an immediate end to public punishment of convicts.   

“Treating criminal proceedings as sporting events is an affront to the dignity & human rights of all Afghans,” Karen Decker, the charge d’affaires of the United States mission to Afghanistan, wrote on Twitter while condemning the execution in Farah.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the outcry as “disrespect” to Islamic law.  

“The fact that Afghanistan is being criticized for applying Islamic sentences shows that some countries and organizations have either insufficient knowledge or have problems with Islam, respecting Muslims’ beliefs and laws,” Mujahid stated.  

“This action is an interference in the internal affairs of countries and is reprehensible.”

The Taliban began implementing public punishments early last month, when their reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, ordered judges to fully enforce Sharia.  

Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban also have tightened restrictions on Afghan women, effectively limiting their access to public life and education.  

Teenage girls are not allowed to attend school beyond the sixth grade across most of Afghanistan.

The polices, especially their treatment of women, have effectively blocked the Taliban’s efforts to secure legitimacy for their male-only government in Kabul.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price last week cautioned the Taliban against bringing back the “regressive and abusive practices” of their previous rule in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.  

“It was an affront to the dignity and the human rights of all Afghans then; it would be an affront to the dignity and the human rights of all Afghans now. It is a clear failure by the Taliban to uphold their promises,” Price told reporters in Washington.

Amnesty International denounced the public execution and flogging, saying the Taliban “continue to flagrantly flout human rights principles with complete disregard for international human rights law.”

The former insurgent group returned to power in August 2021 as the United States and NATO partners withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years of war with the Taliban.

The Associated Press provided some information for this report.
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