Senior US Congressman Seeks Stronger Response to Taliban’s Actions Against Afghan Women

Mar 3, 2023, 09:16 GMT

Michael McCaul, Chairman of US House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, called the White House’s response to Taliban’s actions against Afghan women, as weak. In a letter to the US Secretary of State he also said that the Taliban have heinously treated Afghan women.

McCaul also urged the US administration to impose wider visa restriction sanctions against Taliban officials.

In his letter, McCaul stressed that under the Taliban’s rule, Afghan women and girls have been forced to hide away inside their homes, have been prevented from working, left out of humanitarian aid deliveries, barred from seeking healthcare without a male escort, banned from receiving an education above the 6th grade, tortured, forced to marry, and blocked from leaving the country.

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Amid Differences In Taliban leadership, Group’s Leader Meets Defense & Interior Ministers

Mar 2, 2023, 14:45 GMT

Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, announced that the group’s interior and defense ministers have met Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundaza. The meeting has taken place in Kandahar city and several religious scholars had been present too.

The Taliban leader meets the two powerful ministers while there have been reports of differences among the group’s leadership regarding recent restrictions against Afghan women.

This is the first meeting of senior Taliban officials with the leader of the group after the recent public differences among the Taliban leadership.

The Taliban spokesperson has not given details of the meeting and talking points of the Taliban leaders and the two ministers.

The Taliban spokesperson, however, has said that the scholars present during the meeting expressed their views about the problems in the government to the Taliban leader.

The Taliban leader has told the meeting that they have to obey Sharia and serve the Islamic system.

The Taliban spokesperson has stressed that these religious scholars have promised to carry out the orders of the Taliban leader.

Recently, Taliban defense minister, Mullah Yaqoob and interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, have criticised the Taliban leadership in an unprecedented manner.

In the latest case last week, Mullah Yaqoob told the Taliban members in Kabul that they should not obey anyone's orders blindly.

Doha Agreement Empowered Taliban, Weakened Our Partners in Afghan Govt, Says Ned Price

Mar 2, 2023, 13:14 GMT

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price has stated that the Doha Agreement had empowered the Taliban and weakened their partners in the former Afghan government. He added that the Taliban have not fulfilled their own commitments made in the Doha Agreement.

The unfulfilled promises include unsatisfactory steps regarding terrorist groups in Afghanistan as Taliban sheltered then-al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri; Taliban have also not engaged in political dialogue leading to a negotiated settlement and that the Doha Agreement envisioned a peaceful settlement, not a takeover on the part of the Taliban.

The Doha Agreement had been signed on February 29, 2020, between Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US representative for Afghanistan peace affairs, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the current Deputy Prime Minister of the Taliban, in Qatar.

Price added that despite no clear plan for the withdrawal they were committed to it because of an imposing deadline.

He went on to call on the Taliban to fulfil the commitments that they made to not only the United States in the context of this document but, to their own people.

He also said that the US and the world are hoping for the Taliban to revise their decision regarding girls’ education. “We expect Afghanistan’s schools to reopen. We stand with the Afghan people in calling on the Taliban to allow women and girls to have access to education and to participate fully in society. The Taliban’s decision to close secondary schools to girls last March violated again the very promises the Taliban made to their own people. It’s had a significant impact in turn on our engagement with Taliban representatives,” he added.

Price emphasised that education is an internationally recognised human right and is essential to Afghanistan’s growth, to its economic stability, to its potential for prosperity as well.

He said that the US is focused on channelling the humanitarian support, channelling the macroeconomic stability and macroeconomic support that they can provide to Afghanistan in ways that in essence bypass the Taliban.

Constructive Dialogue Needed To Resolve Afghan Political Issues, Says Jamiat-e-Isalmi

Mar 2, 2023, 12:11 GMT

Jamiat-e-Islami Afghanistan led by Atta Mohammad Noor urged that Afghanistan's political issues should be resolved through constructive dialogue with an oversight of the United Nations. Jamiat-e-Islami also referred to the Doha agreement and called it a major political mistake.

The Jamiat-e-Islami issued the statement about Afghanistan on the occasion of the third-year anniversary of the signing of the Doha agreement between the US and the Taliban.

Atta Mohammad Noor published the statement on his Facebook page.

This party added that Afghanistan is now completely isolated internationally and does not have a legitimate government.

The Jamiat-e-Islami Party of Afghanistan has expressed hope that "the international community will take a forward-looking approach towards the Afghan people”.

Salahuddin Rabbani, leader of the Jamiat-e-Islami Afghanistan, also issued a statement on the Doha agreement and stressed that the agreement only served to empower an extremist group.

Rabbani has said that the Taliban is unable to create national unity, lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Taliban Education Minister Urges World To Realise Responsibility of War-Torn Afghanistan

Mar 2, 2023, 09:01 GMT

In a meeting with Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Special Representative in Afghanistan, Habibullah Agha Taliban’s education minister urged the world to realise their responsibility of a war-torn Afghanistan. Agha said that Taliban had impressive achievements in the educational sector.

The Minister of Education of the Taliban has spoken about the progress in the education sector of Afghanistan, while the group has deprived millions of Afghan girls of their right to education and work.

The ministry of education of the Taliban in a statement has quoted the UN special representative in Afghanistan as saying that the UN unconditionally helps Afghanistan's education sector.

This is while the international community has repeatedly called for the reopening of schools and universities for Afghan girls and women in Afghanistan.

However, the Taliban has ignored the international calls and domestic protests of Afghans for their right to education of Afghan girls.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Higher Education of the Taliban announced that universities will reopen for men in Afghanistan in the second week of March while the group has remained silent on girls’ education.

Earlier, some Taliban officials had indicated that they will provide a solution regarding the education of girls in the next academic year.

Iran Foreign Ministry Hosts Former Afghan Diplomats After Handover of Embassy to Taliban

Mar 1, 2023, 15:15 GMT

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran announced that it has hosted the former diplomats of the Afghan embassy in Tehran for their end of the mission.

Rasul Mosavi, assistant foreign minister of Iran, said that the diplomats change from time to time, but the relations of the nations remain in place.

Mosavi hosted Abdul Qayyum Soleimani, the former head of the Afghan Embassy in Tehran.

The Iranian diplomat said that Iran’s friendly relations with Afghanistan will continue with the defined framework and in line with the interests of the two countries.

Iranian foreign ministry hosted former Afghan diplomates after the country officially handed over the Afghan embassy in Tehran to the Taliban members on Monday.

The decision of Iran regarding the Afghan embassy has been met with wide ranging criticism from Afghans.

Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, no one including the Islamic Republic of Iran, has recognised the Taliban. However, representatives of the group have been present in the political delegations of Afghanistan in some countries, including Turkey, Russia and China.