UNAMA Announces Start of Review Period in Afghanistan Till May 5 After Taliban’s Ban

In a statement on Monday, Jamiat-e-Islami too supported the demands of the Coalition of Women Protest Movements, which has asked for the closure of UNAMA offices in Afghanistan.

On Monday, the Coalition of Women Protest Movements in a statement called for the closure of UNAMA in Afghanistan. The coalition argued that UNAMA had failed even to defend the human rights of its own employees.

The Jamiat-e-Islami party called UNAMA "incompetent" and stressed that a "new practical approach" must replace the current operational mechanisms of the UN offices in Afghanistan.

After the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, UNAMA’s mandate in Afghanistan has been extended so that the UN office should monitor human rights, support civil society organisations, and facilitate political dialogues.

Critics have said that UNAMA has not taken a bold stance to put pressure on the Taliban.

In a letter to the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, the US Congress members referred to the findings of a study that shows that in the last five years, Iran has organised at least 33 cases of conspiracy to kidnap and assassinate EU citizens in Europe or to spy on them.

The letter of the Democratic and Republican members of the US House of Representatives stated that "Iran is still a country that supports terrorism. For decades, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has freely and openly plotted to target citizens of countries across the European Union”.

The United States designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organisation on April 15, 2019, and recently the European Parliament voted for a proposal that asks the European Union to add the IRGC and its affiliates to the EU's terrorist list.

Israeli soldiers recently attacked the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem and clashed with dozens of Palestinian worshipers. Israel has accused the worshipers of causing chaos.

However, Israeli police announced that they have arrested 350 people after the recent chaos.

Palestinians said that Israeli soldiers used plastic bullets to drive out the worshipers, which injured several worshipers inside the mosque.

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians intensify, especially during the month of Ramadan.

In Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, the former supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, had named the last Friday of Ramadan the Quds Day, to show solidarity with the Palestinians and had asked Muslims to come to the streets on this day to express solidarity with the Palestinians.

In Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, recently, the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, seemingly in coordination with the Taliban, installed billboards stating "Our Iftar in Quds" across the city, which has been met with widespread reactions from Afghan social media users.

The former female judge said that before leaving the country, she survived two assassination attempts.

"Now living in the UK, I am deeply concerned for the safety of women who, like me, worked in the justice system in Afghanistan," said Babakarkhail in the petition, which was published on a website called Change.org.

The former female judge added that these brave women sent Taliban, terrorists, and criminals to prison, but according to her, with the takeover of power by the Taliban and the release of all prisoners, women who once delivered justice are being hunted by these brutal men committed to revenge.

In the petition, Babakarkhail stressed, "In hiding in Afghanistan, they live with daily death threats and in constant fear of violent reprisals. They and their children, their families are at imminent risk of violent attacks.”

According to this female judge, these women who fought for the rule of law and a more just, inclusive, and equal Afghanistan, are now exposed to violence.

She urged the UK government and the international community to do everything in their power to evacuate these women from Afghanistan and resettle them to a third country.

The campaign has just collected tens of thousands of signatures and it is due to be officially presented in the UK Parliament.

These sources said that despite the Taliban's oppression and restrictions against Afghan women, China, and some other countries have been lobbying for the group in the United Nations.

A source, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, told Afghanistan International, that the UN Security Council meeting on Saturday discussed ending the United Assistance Mission in Afghanistan’s (UNAMA) mission if the Taliban’s current policies continue, however, the Chinese representative strongly criticised the discussion.

However, according to this source, the representatives of several other countries reacted against these pro-Taliban stances and said that engagement with the Taliban and ignoring the current situation in Afghanistan as a result of the group’s policies will isolate Afghanistan globally.

The Taliban recently instructed the United Nations in Afghanistan that female staffers of the UN agencies are not allowed to work.

The United Nations said that after banning Afghan female staffers of the UN agencies from work, 3,300 male and female employees of the UN have stayed at home.

The recent decision of the Taliban has been met with widespread domestic and foreign condemnation.