Page 18 - Afghanistan

Police headquarter comes under attack in Pakistan; 2 policemen killed

At least two policemen were killed and as many as injured after militants attacked a regional police headquarters in a former Taliban stronghold in northwest Pakistan on Friday, three days after terrorists killed 23 soldiers in the same region. The attack occurred at the Police Lines in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Tank district, the Dawn newspaper reported. A terrorist blew himself up in a suicide bomb and that the huge attack was thwarted, the newspaper quoted Tank District Police Officer Iftikhar Shah as saying. He said that all contingents present in the Police Lines were evacuated safely and that a search operation was underway after alerts of the presence of more militants in the area. The attack was claimed by a new militant group, Ansarul Jihad. The attack comes days after at least 23 soldiers were killed and more than 30 others injured after militants belonging to the Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), a newly formed militant group that is an affiliate of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliba

Taliban sending Afghan women to prison for protection, says UN report

Taliban officials are sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, according to a UN report published Thursday. Before the Taliban seized power in 2021, there were 23 state-sponsored women protection centers in Afghanistan where survivors of gender-based violence could seek refuge. Now there are none, the UN report said. Officials from the Taliban-led administration told the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan that there was no need for such shelters or that they were a Western concept. The Taliban sends women to prison if they have no male relatives to stay with or if the male relatives are considered unsafe, the report said. Authorities have also asked male relatives for commitments or sworn statements that they will not harm a female relative, inviting local elders to witness the guarantee, it added. Women are sent to prison for their protection akin to how prisons have been used to accommodate drug addicts and homeless people in Kabul, the repor

Afghan envoy to UN emphasises importance of women's education, work

In the statement of the UDHR conference, the international community was asked to take necessary measures in the area of human rights violations, especially women's rights in Afghanistan

UN agency warns of Afghans dying in winter if they don't get proper shelter

The UN refugee agency has warned that Afghans could die in harsh winter conditions if they don't get adequate shelter once they cross the border from Pakistan. Almost half a million Afghans have left Pakistan since early October, when the Islamabad government announced it would arrest and deport foreigners it said were in the country illegally. The overwhelming majority of them are from neighboring Afghanistan, though Islamabad insists the policy doesn't target a specific nationality. The forced returns are piling pressure on Afghanistan and aid agencies, which are providing the bulk of essential services like health care. Freezing temperatures are setting in and conditions at the border remain dire. Many Afghan returnees are vulnerable, including women and children, who could lose their lives in a harsh winter if left without adequate shelter, the U.N. refugee agency said in a report published Friday. People arriving at the border are exhausted and require urgent assistance as well

Taliban must embrace and uphold human rights obligations in Afghanistan: UN

The Taliban must embrace and uphold human rights obligations in Afghanistan, the UN mission in the country said on Sunday on Human Rights Day and the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban have erased basic rights and freedoms, with women and girls deeply affected. They are excluded from most public spaces and daily life, and the restrictions have sparked global condemnation. The UN mission, highlighting the Taliban's failures in upholding rights' obligations, said it continues to document extrajudicial killings, torture and ill-treatment, corporal punishment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and other violations of detainees' rights. People who speak out in defense of human rights face arbitrary arrest and detention, threats and censorship, the mission said. We pay tribute to and express our solidarity with Afghan human rights defenders, many of whom are paying a heavy price for seeking to uphold the fundamental tenet

Taliban's education policies harm boys as well as girls in Afghanistan: Rpt

The Taliban's abusive educational policies are harming boys as well as girls in Afghanistan, according to a Human Rights Watch report published Wednesday. The Taliban have been globally condemned for banning girls and women from secondary school and university, but the rights group says there has been less attention to the deep harm inflicted on boys' education. The departure of qualified teachers including women, regressive curriculum changes and the increase in corporal punishment have led to greater fear of going to school and falling attendance. Because the Taliban have dismissed all female teachers from boys' schools, many boys are taught by unqualified people or sit in classrooms with no teachers at all. Boys and parents told the rights group about a spike in the use of corporal punishment, including officials beating boys before the whole school for haircut or clothing infractions or for having a mobile phone. The group interviewed 22 boys along with five parents in Kabul, .

Malala urges world to confront Taliban's 'gender apartheid' against women

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has said that the world needs to recognize and confront the gender apartheid against women and girls imposed by the Taliban since they seized power in Afghanistan more than two years ago. She urged the international community on Tuesday to take collective and urgent action to end the dark days in Afghanistan. Yousafzai was awarded the peace prize in 2014 at the age of 17 for her fight for girls' education in her home country, Pakistan. She is the youngest Nobel laureate. Two years earlier, she survived an assassination attempt by the Pakistani Taliban a separate militant group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban when she was shot in the head on a bus after school. The 26-year-old activist spoke to The Associated Press after delivering the annual Nelson Mandela lecture in Johannesburg on the 10th anniversary of the death of South Africa's anti-apartheid leader and Nobel laureate. Yousafzai is also the youngest person to give the lecture, .

China formally accords diplomatic recognition to Afghanistan's Taliban govt

China has become the first country to confer diplomatic status to a Taliban-nominated official as Afghanistan's Ambassador to Beijing, thereby formally recognising the Taliban-run administration as a legitimate government in Kabul. As a long-standing friendly neighbour of Afghanistan, China believes that Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing on Tuesday when asked whether China recognised the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Earlier reports from Kabul said China has given Bilal Karimi, a Taliban nominee the status of Ambassador and he has submitted his credentials to the foreign ministry here. China along with Pakistan and Russia maintained its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of American troops from the war-ravaged country. While maintaining close contact with the Taliban interim administration,

US officials to visit Pakistan in Dec to discuss Afghanistan, other issues

Islamabad has been continuously blaming Kabul for rising terrorist attacks and usage of Afghan oil to carry out attacks in its neighbouring country

Pakistan sends back around 402,312 'illegal' Afghans to their homeland

"Thousands of Afghans are returning to their homeland on a daily basis through Chaman and Torkham borders, thanking Pakistan for its generosity," Radio Pakistan reported

Pakistan's SC hears petition on deportation of Afghans born in country

Pakistan's top court opened a hearing on Friday on a petition by human rights activists seeking to halt the forceful deportation of Afghans who were born in Pakistan and those who would be at risk if they were returned to Afghanistan. The deportations are part of a nationwide crackdown by the government in Islamabad that started last month on Afghans who are in Pakistan without papers or proper documentation. Pakistan claims the campaign does not target Afghans specifically, though they make up most of the foreigners in the country. Pakistan has long hosted about 1.7 million Afghans, most of whom fled during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. In addition, more than half a million people fled Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power in August 2021, in the final weeks of US and NATO pullout. Since Islamabad launched the crackdown in October, giving Afghans until the end of the month to go back or face arrest, hundreds of thousands have returned home, many in Pakistan-organised ...

Pakistan's top court begins hearing challenge to expulsion of Afghans

More than 370,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since Oct. 1, after Pakistan vowed to expel more than a million undocumented refugees, mostly Afghans

Afghanistan to open embassy in India, highlights commitment to boost ties

"In this regard, Afghanistan is pleased to announce its intention to open an Afghan embassy in India," the Afghan Embassy in India posted on X

Afghan embassy in New Delhi will be functional in few days: Taliban govt

The Afghan embassy in New Delhi will resume operations in the next few days, Deputy Foreign Minister in the Taliban set up, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, has said. Stanikzai told Afghan broadcaster RTA that officials at the Afghan consulates in Hyderabad and Mumbai have visited the embassy following instruction from Kabul. The Taliban leader said Afghanistan wants good relations with the neighbouring countries. His comments about resuming operations at the Afghan embassy came days after the mission under the control of Ambassador Farid Mamundzay announced its permanent closure, citing "persistent challenges from the Indian government". Mamundzay, appointed by the previous Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul, has been out of India for the last few months. On Friday, the embassy announced its permanent closure. The diplomats at the embassy appointed by the previous government had announced on September 30 too that the mission is ceasing its operations from October 1, alleging a "lack

Pakistan carried out 'widespread abuses' against Afghan refugees: Report

"Pakistani officials have created a coercive environment for Afghans to force them to return to life-threatening conditions in Afghanistan," said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch

Turkey delivers 500 tonne aid for Herat earthquake victims in Afghanistan

The provided assistance includes essential items such as food, clothing, spices, hygiene products, blankets, and tents, Khaama Press reported

EU pledges 10 million euros to support Afghanistan's healthcare system

The long-lasting cooperation between the EU and WHO has contributed to stronger and more resilient health care in Afghanistan, it said

Why Afghanistan has permanently shut its embassy in India

In a significant diplomatic development, the Embassy of Afghanistan in New Delhi announced the cessation of its operations, effective from 23rd November, 2023. Watch the video to know why Afghanistan

Persistent challenges: Afghan Embassy announces permanent closure in Delhi

Afghanistan Embassy on Friday announced its permanent closure, citing "persistent challenges from the Indian government", even as heads of its Mumbai and Hyderabad missions claimed to have assumed the leadership of the embassy here. The developments come after the Afghanistan Embassy had announced on September 30 that it is ceasing its operations from October 1. The mission had then cited a lack of support from the host government, failure to meet expectations in serving Afghanistan's interests and reduction in personnel and resources. In a statement issued on Friday, the embassy said it regrets announcing the permanent closure of its diplomatic mission in New Delhi, effective from November 23, "owing to persistent challenges from the Indian government". "This decision follows the embassy's earlier cessation of operations on 30th September 2023, a move made in the hope that the Indian government's stance would evolve favourably for the normal continuation of the Embassy of the Islam

Afghanistan embassy announces closure in New Delhi, issues statement

Despite "limitations in resources and power", the Afghan embassy said it has worked "tirelessly for their betterment and in the absence of a legitimate government in Kabul"