Post Tagged with: "Taliban"

Taliban Break Up Afghan Women’s Protest in Kabul

Taliban Break Up Afghan Women’s Protest in Kabul

Taliban fighters violently dispersed dozens of female protesters in Kabul. About 40 Afghan women marched through the capital city demanding rights, before the Taliban broke the protest march up by firing into the air. This women’s protest march occurred almost a year after the Taliban seized power. The protesters chanted demands for “bread, work and freedom”, carrying a banner reading[Read More…]

by 14/08/2022 Comments are Disabled World
US pips regional states at race for Kabul

US pips regional states at race for Kabul

In a hugely consequential advisory, the US Treasury Department quietly signalled on Wednesday that it was “tweaking” the sanctions against the Haqqani Network. The international banks can transfer money to Taliban, including Haqqani Network without fear of breaching sanctions.  Washington simply issued clarifications dilating on the relaxation of sanctions announced in September and December for humanitarian work in Afghanistan. The banks[Read More…]

by 04/02/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Taliban delegation led by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with Western diplomats, Oslo, Norway, January 24, 2022

The West co-opts the Taliban

The three-day conclave in Oslo on January 23-25 for interaction for a core group of Western diplomats with Taliban officials marks a new phase in the political situation in Afghanistan. The West was represented by the US, UK, Germany, France and Italy as well as the European Union.  Norway is uniquely placed to reconcile alienated parties. Apart from its strong[Read More…]

by 28/01/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Souring of Taliban’s relations with Pakistan

Souring of Taliban’s relations with Pakistan

External interference in Afghanistan has reappeared much sooner than one would have expected after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August. In a familiar pattern, the rumour mill has become active.   The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova hit out today at the rumours being planted by American sources insinuating that Moscow is supplying arms to the so-called National Resistance Front of[Read More…]

by 18/01/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Taliban: One Hundred Days of Solitude

Taliban: One Hundred Days of Solitude

As the Taliban completes its first hundred days in power, the Western powers are groping for a face-saving formula to engage with the authorities in Kabul with some modicum of dignity.  The European Union is taking the lead role here. The European countries have a sense of urgency over potential refugee flow from Afghanistan. The EU intends to launch an[Read More…]

by 29/11/2021 Comments are Disabled World
US recognition of Taliban Government will be a game changer

US recognition of Taliban Government will be a game changer

The stunning disclosure late Tuesday in Brussels that the US is working on a “road map” for according recognition to the Taliban Government will take a lot of people by surprise but it could have been expected sooner rather than later.  The US has a consistent record of rethinking its strategies once it realises that the policy has landed in[Read More…]

by 10/11/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Acting Taliban Dy Prime Minister Mullah Baradar, Doha, Oct. 255, 2021

Taliban Government gains traction

All indications are that the regional states are preparing to accord recognition to the Taliban government. The meeting of regional states and Taliban officials in the so-called Moscow Format last Wednesday signalled that the Taliban government is a compelling reality and constructive engagement is needed. read more A week is a long time in politics. The foreign-minister level conference in Tehran[Read More…]

by 27/10/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Taliban government’s deputy prime minister Abdul Salam Hanafi (C) and Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi (R) arrive in Moscow to attend international talks on Afghanistan, Oct. 20, 2021

Taliban is the winner at Moscow conference

The Moscow meeting of ten regional states and the Taliban officials on Wednesday has produced an outcome that by far exceeds expectations. The salience of the consensus opinion is four-fold, as reflected in the joint statement issued after the event:  regional recognition that Taliban government is a compelling “reality”; it is through constructive engagement that regional states should endeavour to influence Taliban;  a[Read More…]

by 23/10/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Taliban Dy Prime Ministers Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (C) and Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi (R) met with British High Representative for Afghanistan Sir Simon Gass, Kabul, October 5, 2021

Taliban receives overtures from near and far

The Taliban is getting many suitors lately. It is far from the “pariah” that the Biden Administration thought it was destined to be. During the past month alone, the Taliban received six suitors from the region and beyond offering courtship — the foreign minister of Qatar; the special envoys of Russia, China and Pakistan; the High representative of UK Prime[Read More…]

by 09/10/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flanked by Taliban officials attending a conference on Afghanistan, Moscow, November 2018

Afghanistan and China, NATO, Russia

Afghanistan is now a hot issue among the world powers. China has talked to NATO while Russian Foreign Minister has said about a common approach by U.S., China, Russia and Pakistan. Media reports said: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held a virtual meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, amid longstanding disagreements between[Read More…]

by 28/09/2021 1 comment World
Oil Politics, Taliban and Islamophobia: Impact on India

Oil Politics, Taliban and Islamophobia: Impact on India

Withdrawal of US army from Afghanistan has led to the Taliban coming to power. The scene created in Afghanistan has been very disturbing. The minorities trying to flee, the Muslims attempting to leave the country desperately have made a sad spectacle. This has drawn global attention to the phenomenon in Afghanistan. The past record of Taliban rule is flashing in[Read More…]

by 26/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
The Taliban fighters posing for family photo and relaxing in the Presidential Palace, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug 15, 2021

Strict Punishment, Amputations and Executions will Return to Afghanistan, says Taliban Co-founder

Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, a co-founder of the Taliban who will control prisons under the new regime in Afghanistan, said strict punishment, including amputations and executions, will return. “Everyone criticized us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi said in Kabul during an interview, which was published Thursday by the[Read More…]

by 24/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Stay Home: Taliban-run Kabul Municipality Orders Female Workers

Stay Home: Taliban-run Kabul Municipality Orders Female Workers

Female employees of the Kabul municipality have been told to stay home, with work only allowed for those who cannot be replaced by men, the interim mayor of Afghanistan’s capital said Sunday, detailing the latest restrictions on women by the new Taliban rulers. The decision to prevent most female city workers from returning to their jobs is another sign that[Read More…]

by 20/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
The rise of Taliban and Taliban-ism

The rise of Taliban and Taliban-ism

One must go back a few decades to understand the birth of Taliban and the continuity of this phenomenon that has shaken the world, quite literally. Yes the world underneath one’s foot shook on 9/11/2001, tremors caused by the country cousin of Taliban called Al Qaida. Getting back to a few decades as proposed in the beginning, it started around[Read More…]

by 17/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Taliban get a government!

Taliban get a government!

The regional states will be shell-shocked by the brazen way Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), coerced the Taliban to announce an interim government that is guaranteed to preserve Rawalpindi’s control over the levers of power in Kabul. There are several things to be noted about the so-called interim government announced by the Taliban on September[Read More…]

by 09/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Are all Fundamentalisms Similar: Can Taliban be compared to RSS?

Are all Fundamentalisms Similar: Can Taliban be compared to RSS?

With Taliban coming to power in Afghanistan, the memories of horror stories of yesteryears have been rekindled. When in power they not only implemented their version of Sharia law but also undertook the horrifying oppression of women. That was not all; they went onto impose dress and beard code on men and went on to destroy the Lord Gautama Buddha’s[Read More…]

by 08/09/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (R) receiving Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar (2nd-R), Doha, Sept. 2020

Rise and rise of Qatar in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan

When the US State Department announced that it would host a virtual ministerial meeting on August  30 with “key partners on Afghanistan,” there was an element of surprise in the list of participants. Apart from the US’ NATO and EU allies, there was a solitary non-western partner country — Qatar.  What qualified this peninsular Arab country to be invited to join such a privileged circle of America’s[Read More…]

by 02/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Terror bombs, gunfire kill at least 72 in Afghanistan capital

Terror bombs, gunfire kill at least 72 in Afghanistan capital

In what the US military described as a “complex attack,” several terrorists attacked a screening checkpoint at a gate into the Kabul airport and a nearby hotel on Thursday, inflicting a horrific toll of death and destruction. Unnamed Afghan health officials told the media that at least 60 Afghan citizens were killed and another 140 wounded. The Pentagon said that[Read More…]

by 27/08/2021 1 comment World
Terrorist strikes in Kabul: A political windfall for Taliban

Terrorist strikes in Kabul: A political windfall for Taliban

The horrific terrorist strikes in Kabul on Thursday which killed at least 12 US servicemen and dozens of civilians will lead to a higher level of cooperation between the US and the Taliban. The commander of CENTCOM Gen. Kenneth McKenzie disclosed to journalists on Thursday that the US was already sharing information on terror threats in Afghanistan with Taliban. As[Read More…]

by 27/08/2021 Comments are Disabled World
New Taliban, New Afghanistan?

New Taliban, New Afghanistan?

After 20 years of US/NATO/Afghan Puppet Army’s brutal and illegal occupation of Afghanistan, Kabul, the capital city finally fell on August 15, 2021, at the hands of the reclusive but a defiant new Taliban. The Fall has turned all military calculus upside down – world’s mightiest have been defeated by the world’s smallest, a jungle army, the new Taliban! Pundits[Read More…]

by 27/08/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Taliban And India’s Threat Perception

Taliban And India’s Threat Perception

Taliban’s re-capture of Afghanistan was virtually certain after the February 2020 (Doha) US-Taliban deal concerning US forces pull-out from Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s immediate and regional neighbours had plenty of time to re-strategize the forthcoming situation. However, Taliban’s easy capture of Kabul due to the unexpectedly rapid collapse of Afghan forces trained and equipped by USA, has surprised all. Reports of Afghanistan[Read More…]

by 17/08/2021 Comments are Disabled World
The Taliban take Kabul

The Taliban take Kabul

It unfolded as a story of fleeing.  The Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, taking flight to Tajikistan, giving little clue of his intentions to colleagues.  The fleeing of the infamous Abdul Rashid Dostum, a warlord assured to fight another day. The fleeing of tens of thousands of residents out of the city of Kabul, long seen as beyond the reach of[Read More…]

by 16/08/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (R, bottom) at the peace talks with Afghan government, Doha, Qatar (File photo)

USA’s Hypocritical Dealings with Taliban

Speculations abound over Taliban’s aim to exploit the vacuum left by the partial withdrawal of US-NATO troop to seize control of the capital Kabul and re-establish an Islamic Emirate, similar to the one the US dislodged from power after its 2001 invasion. The ground reality seems to confirm these concerns about an impending civil war. Violence and territorial contestations are[Read More…]

by 18/06/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Afghan children walk past a Taliban Red Unit, an elite force, Alingar district, Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan (File photo) 

Pakistan’s Geopolitical Game in Afghanistan

On June 14, 2021, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke at the inaugural Pakistan-Afghanistan Bilateral Dialogue in Islamabad. His tone was mildly aggressive. Talking about USA’s pullout from Afghanistan, Qureshi said: “If the objective of going to Washington is starting a new blame game and holding Pakistan responsible for all the ills and the lack of progress in the[Read More…]

by 17/06/2021 1 comment World
 Ilhan Omar & Moral Non-equivalence Of Hamas & Taliban Versus US & Israeli Invaders

 Ilhan Omar & Moral Non-equivalence Of Hamas & Taliban Versus US & Israeli Invaders

Somali-born and Muslim American Congresswoman Ilhan  Omar recently caused a storm by Tweeting “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked @SecBlinken where people are supposed to go for justice”. She was variously criticized[Read More…]

by 16/06/2021 Comments are Disabled Palestine
Handover ceremony at Camp Anthonic, from US Army to Afghan Special Forces, Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 2, 2021.

US-Taliban acquiesce to live and let live

But the US withdrawal is no longer conditions-based, which means the Taliban have achieved their number one objective without bending on any of the key issues such as their continuing links with the al-Qaeda or their agenda to reestablish the Islamic Emirate…  Apparently, all that the US extracted out of the Taliban is a tacit understanding that the western troops[Read More…]

by 15/05/2021 Comments are Disabled Uncategorized
Is peace possible in Afghanistan?

Is peace possible in Afghanistan?

Doha peace talks, held in September of 2020, between the Afghan government and Taliban, led by peace council chairman Abdullah Abdullah and Mullah Baradar Akhund respectively, is a remarkable advancement towards the establishment of peace in Afghanistan, despite the fact that it is still difficult to say about when the ongoing conflicts started with the USA invasion in 2001 after[Read More…]

by 16/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Afghanistan On A Very Sticky Wicket

Afghanistan On A Very Sticky Wicket

The Afghan-Taliban and the US sponsored Ashraf Ghani government seem to be heading towards a deadlock,  as very soon US, after its disastrous war with Afghan-Taliban , is slated to move out in 14-months, after its agreement with the Afghan-Taliban on February 29, 2020 1 , thus, leaving it in-between Ashraf Ghani and Afghan-Taliban to decide their future for themselves.[Read More…]

by 18/09/2020 Comments are Disabled World
Peace process in Afghanistan: En route to failure?

Peace process in Afghanistan: En route to failure?

The ongoing peace process provided an opportunity for Afghan factions to unite and undo all the wrongs committed against them in the past 20 years. Unfortunately, the internal strife of Afghanis has again prevailed over this opportunity. Explicitly, compelled by the upcoming election promise, the US wishes to withdraw forces from Afghanistan. China and Pakistan are earnestly pushing the peace[Read More…]

by 06/08/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Taliban join Moscow peace talks on Afghanistan

Taliban join Moscow peace talks on Afghanistan

The 19th Century British politician, Lord Palmerston was of the view that:  “Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.” Henry Kissinger rephrased it: “America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.” This applies to Russia which hosted the Taliban for peace talks in Moscow attended by Afghanistan, India, Iran, China, Pakistan and five former[Read More…]

by 10/11/2018 Comments are Disabled World
Fought to the Table: Talks with the Taliban

Fought to the Table: Talks with the Taliban

“Attempting to control rural areas in Afghanistan always eventually ends up boiling down to personal survival.” Evan McAllister, former Marine staff sergeant, New York Times, July 28, 2018 It genuinely doesn’t matter how the security boffins within the Pentagon frame it: the Taliban have fought the United States, through sheer will of force and mania, to the negotiating table –[Read More…]

by 05/08/2018 2 comments World
11 Pakistani Soldiers Killed By Taliban Gaining Strength In Afghanistan

11 Pakistani Soldiers Killed By Taliban Gaining Strength In Afghanistan

  A suicide bomber killed at least 11 Pakistani army soldiers and injured 13 at an army camp in Sawat Valley on Saturday (Feb 3). An army Captain was among those who died in the bombing. Army officials in Swat told the press that the soldiers were playing a volleyball match outside their base camp in Kabal in lower Swat[Read More…]

by 05/02/2018 1 comment South Asia