Day: January 30, 2022

The Taliban announced Sunday they would start reopening all public universities in Afghanistan from this week, more than five months after the Islamist group retook control of the war-torn country.

Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the minister for higher education, said by video that students in Afghan provinces with a warm climate would return to classes on Wednesday, while universities in the colder areas, including Kabul, will reopen February 26.Haqqani did not elaborate, but in his earlier statements the minister had announced that gender segregation would be enforced in public universities in line with Sharia or Islamic law before reopening them. He also said at the time that hijabs would be mandatory for female students.

Sunday’s announcement comes as the Taliban face pressure from the international community to respect the human rights of all Afghans, especially those of women, and allow all girls to receive an education.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his call for the Taliban earlier on Sunday to uphold pledges to respect human rights.

“In Afghanistan, women & girls are once again being denied their rights to education, employment & equal justice,” Guterres tweeted on Sunday. “To demonstrate a real commitment to be a part of the global community, the Taliban must recognize & uphold the basic human rights that belong to every girl & woman.”In mid-September, the Taliban allowed female students to resume classes in some 150 private universities under a strictly gender-segregated classroom system.

Afghan public and private universities were co-educational before the Taliban takeover, with males and females studying side by side, and women didn’t have to abide by a dress code. In elementary and high schools, however, girls and boys were taught separately until the Islamist group regained power last August.

“Co-education is in conflict with the principles of Islam and with national values and it is against the traditions of Afghans as well,” Haqqani said in a September news conference in Kabul.

While the Taliban’s male-only caretaker government opened secondary schools for boys in early September, most girls across Afghanistan are still waiting for official permission to continue their education.

The Taliban have pledged that all girls will be allowed to go back to the classroom in March when the new school year begins in the country.

Leaders of the ruling Islamist group have repeatedly rejected as false propaganda that they oppose education for women, saying financial constraints and a lack of an “Islamic environment” in educational institutions were preventing them from letting women resume their studies.

No country has yet recognized the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

The global community has been watching closely to see whether the Islamist group might rule the country differently from its first time in power in the late 1990s, when girls were banned from attending schools and women from leaving home unless accompanied by a close male relative.

Source: Voice of America

On January 27, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a virtual summit with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The summit was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of official ties between India and the five Central Asian states, though this was the first time leaders of the six countries had ever held a summit.

Their talks focused on historical cultural ties and connectivity, and while the results may appear modest, some see the meeting as symbolically ushering in a new era of relations in India’s ancient connections with the Central Asian region.

On this week's Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL's media-relations manager, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion that looks at Indian-Central Asian ties and where they could be going after this summit.

This week's guests are: from New Delhi, Ashok Sajjanhar, executive council member at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses; president of the Institute of Global Studies; a distinguished fellow with the Ananta Aspen Centre, and former Indian ambassador to Kazakhstan; also from New Delhi, Punchok Stobdan, currently a senior fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in India and a former Indian ambassador to Kyrgyzstan; from California, Bakyt Beshimov, currently a Global Studies and International Relations lecturer and professor of the practice at Northeastern University and a former Kyrgyz ambassador to India; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations has received "credible allegations" that more than 100 former members of the Afghan government, its security forces and those who worked with international troops have been killed since the Taliban took over the country Aug. 15, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says.

In a report obtained Sunday by The Associated Press, Guterres said that "more than two-thirds" of the victims were alleged to result from extrajudicial killings by the Taliban or its affiliates, despite the Taliban's announcement of "general amnesties" for those affiliated with the former government and U.S.-led coalition forces.

The U.N. political mission in Afghanistan also received "credible allegations of extrajudicial killings of at least 50 individuals suspected of affiliation with ISIL-KP," the Islamic State extremist group operating in Afghanistan, Guterres said in the report to U.N. Security Council.

He added that despite Taliban assurances, the U.N. political mission has also received credible allegations "of enforced disappearances and other violations impacting the right to life and physical integrity" of former government and coalition members.

Guterres said human rights defenders and media workers also continue "to come under attack, intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment and killings."

Eight civil society activists were killed, including three by the Taliban and three by Islamic State extremists, and 10 were subjected to temporary arrests, beatings and threats by the Taliban, he said. Two journalists were killed — one by IS — and two were injured by unknown armed men.

The secretary-general said the U.N. missions documented 44 cases of temporary arrests, beatings and threats of intimidation, 42 of them by the Taliban.

The Taliban overran most of Afghanistan as U.S. and NATO forces were in the final stages of their chaotic withdrawal from the country after 20 years. They entered Kabul on Aug. 15 without any resistance from the Afghan army or the country's president, Ashraf Ghani, who fled.

The Taliban initially promised a general amnesty for those linked to the former government and international forces, and tolerance and inclusiveness toward women and ethnic minorities. However, the Taliban have renewed restrictions on women and appointed an all-male government, which have met with dismay by the international community.

Afghanistan's aid-dependent economy was already stumbling when the Taliban seized power, and the international community froze Afghanistan's assets abroad and halted economic support, recalling the Taliban's reputation for brutality during its 1996-2001 rule and refusal to educate girls and allow women to work.

Guterres said: "The situation in Afghanistan remains precarious and uncertain six months after the Taliban takeover as the multiple political, socio-economic and humanitarian shocks reverberate across the country."

He said Afghanistan today faces multiple crises: a growing humanitarian emergency, a massive economic contraction, the crippling of its banking and financial systems, the worst drought in 27 years, and the Taliban's failure to form an inclusive government and restore the rights of girls to education and women to work.

"An estimated 22.8 million people are projected to be in `crisis' and `emergency' levels of food insecurity until March 2022," the U.N. chief said. "Almost 9 million of these will be at `emergency' levels of food insecurity -– the highest number in the world. Half of all children under five are facing acute malnutrition."

On a positive note, Guterres reported "a significant decline" in the overall number of conflict-related security incidents as well as civilian casualties since the Taliban takeover. The U.N. recorded 985 security-related incidents between Aug. 19 and Dec. 31, a 91% decrease compared to the same period in 2020, he said.

The eastern, central, southern and western regions accounted for 75% of all recorded incidents, he said, with Nangarhar, Kabul, Kunar and Kandahar ranking as the most conflict-affected provinces.

Despite the reduction in violence, Guterres said the Taliban face several challenges, including rising attacks against their members.

"Some are attributed to the National Resistance Front comprising some Afghan opposition figures, and those associated with the former government," he said. "These groups have been primarily operating in Panjshir Province and Baghlan's Andarab District but have not made significant territorial inroads" though "armed clashes are regularly documented, along with forced displacement and communication outages."

Guterres said intra-Taliban tensions along ethnic lines and competition over jobs have also resulted in violence, pointing to armed clashes on Nov. 4 between between Taliban forces in Bamyan city.

In the report, the secretary-general proposed priorities for the U.N. political mission in the current environment, urged international support to prevent widespread hunger and the country's economic collapse, and urged the Taliban to guarantee women's rights and human rights.

Source: Voice of America