National Resistance Front (NRF) has claimed that Taliban has started the distribution of land around Qosh Tepa area in Kabul. According to NRF, an office named Qosh Tepa Canal Development in the Administrative Office of the Taliban Prime Minister handles the land distribution.
Sibgatullah Ahmadi, the NRF spokesperson, claimed that the land will be distributed "to terrorists transferred from Pakistan” and to the people who are not indigenous residents of the area.
Ahmadi stated on Thursday that the purpose of the relocation is "to change the demographic structure and erase the identity of the region".
Qosh Tepa is one of the districts of Jawzjan province in northern Afghanistan.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that Afghanistan is witnessing a rise in cases of child pneumonia and malnutrition as the economic conditions worsen there.
As per a new report, at 33 ICRC-supported hospitals across the country, child malnutrition cases are already 90% higher in 2022 compared to all of 2021, rising from 33,000 cases to over 63,000 so far this year.
The report also stated that number of children under 5 being treated for pneumonia has risen 55 percent in 2022 versus the same period last year at an ICRC-supported children’s hospital in Kabul itself.
“The poverty level in Afghanistan has increased compared to past years. Most people cannot buy material to keep their homes and children warm. They also cannot afford to feed their children properly so pneumonia cases are rising, and the number of malnutrition cases linked to pneumonia will rise, too,” said Dr. Abdul Qayum Azeemi, an ICRC doctor who coordinates ICRC’s programme in Kabul’s Indira Ghandhi hospital.
With winter setting in, the situation of Afghanistan remains alarming, ICRC stated. The deepening economic crisis further impacted by international sanctions and the economic consequences of the Russia-Ukraine international armed conflict makes it impossible for millions of Afghans to make ends meet. “Afghan families face an impossible choice: To eat or to buy heat. And, really, they can’t afford either, resulting in a frightening rise in malnutrition and pneumonia cases,” Martin Schüepp, ICRC’s director of operations, said during his visit to Afghanistan this week.
To provide life-saving assistance to Afghans, the ICRC is supporting 33 hospitals with a total capacity of more than 7,000 beds. The support includes paying for medical supplies, running costs and salaries to nearly 10,500 health workers – a third of whom are women. Those health services reach an estimated population of 26 million people. The ICRC also helps support 46 basic healthcare centers and one hospital run by the Afghanistan Red Crescent Society.
Several domestic media organisations, which had covered the Afghan women's demonstrations in Kabul, withdrew their published reports after a while. TOLOnews is one of the media outlets which removed a video report on the women's demonstration without any explanation.
The Afghan domestic media has been facing severe restrictions under the Taliban regime.
Media support groups have previously announced that there is no free media in Afghanistan and Taliban members control media content production and dissemination. Even, many domestic media outlets have allegedly become propaganda tools of the Taliban.
A group of Afghan women once again held a demonstration in Kabul on Thursday.
These women held the protest demanding their rights and participation in the society while chanting the slogan "Women, Life and Solidarity".
These women stressed that without active participation of women, there will not be any progress in society.
The demonstrators emphasised that they will not stop holding the protests until the rights of Afghan women are respected. Currently, a number of women protestors and women's rights activists are being held by the Taliban.
The Taliban have continuously suppressed women's protests and beaten journalists for covering demonstrations.
Currently, several Afghan women's rights activists have been held in Taliban’s detention centers.
Farid Hamidi, the former Attorney General of Afghanistan, said that former President Ashraf Ghani, released dangerous criminals when he pardoned 5,000 Taliban prisoners in 2020. He said that those criminals had been accused of drug trafficking, rape, and kidnapping.
According to Hamidi, the reason for the release of such criminals had been corruption at the high-level government bodies.
Ashraf Ghani had pardoned and released 5,000 Taliban prisoners to support the peace process in 2020.
In an exclusive interview with Afghanistan International, Hamidi said that among these 5,000 people, the presidential palace of Afghanistan released 700 dangerous criminals who were not members of the Taliban and should not have been included in the amnesty list.
He accused Ghani's government of bypassing the Afghan justice system in the case of big criminals like Anas Haqqani and releasing them through a political deal.
The previous Afghan government has been criticised extensively for its corruption cases and that is why Afghanistan has been on the list of the most corrupt governments in the world.
A group of Afghan women once again held a demonstration in Kabul on Thursday. These women held the protest demanding their rights and participation in the society while chanting the slogan "Women, Life and Solidarity".
These women stressed that without active participation of women, there will not any progress in any society.
The demonstrators emphasised that they will not stop holding the protests until the rights of Afghan women are respected.
The Taliban have imposed severe restrictions on Afghan women after taking power in August 2021.
During this period, however, Afghan women repeatedly held demonstrations and protested against the violation of their human rights.
In the past, Taliban have not only suppressed the demands of the women rights activists, but they have brutally cracked down on these demonstrations and have in many cases arrested women rights activists.
A Taliban court flogged 12 people, including three women, on various charges at the football stadium in Pul Alam city of Logar province. Gul Rahman Akhundzada, head of Taliban appeals court in Logar said that it is a happy moment that after 20 years, Hodud has been implemented.
According to the Logar local media center, Akhundazada, while flogging these people, emphasised that the implementation of Hudud and the implementation of Sharia law is important.
He said that on the orders of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, they will implement "Hodud". He added that the cases of the accused have been investigated and they have confessed to their crimes.
Mawlawi Enayatullah Shoja, the deputy governor of the Taliban for Logar, also said that the purpose of the Taliban is to strengthen the Islamic system and implement Sharia law.
Shoja stressed that the implementation of Sharia is the solution to Afghanistan's major challenges.
Images posted on social media show that hundreds of people had gathered at the football stadium to watch the flogging.
Hudud refers to offences which, under Islamic law, certain types of punishment are mandated, while qisas translates as “retaliation in kind” -- effectively an eye for an eye. Hudud crimes include adultery -- and falsely accusing someone of it -- drinking alcohol, theft, kidnapping and highway robbery, apostasy, and rebellion.
