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Afghan girls participate in a lesson at a high School, in Herat, on Nov. 25, 2021. Petros Giannakouris/AP hide caption

Afghan girls participate in a lesson at a high School, in Herat, on Nov. 25, 2021.

On the first day back to school in September 2021, one month after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Maryam, a 15-year-old girl from Mazar-i Sharif, remembers the fear and uncertainty she felt on her way to school.

NPR is not using her last name so she can speak freely. She and other students were greeted by Taliban soldiers at the entrance. Later that day, they also came in to the classrooms

"The Taliban entered our class and most of the girls ran to the back of the classroom and turned around. They didn't want to see their faces. They don't want to see the Taliban," Maryam said.

The Taliban came in to classrooms every day to check that all girls were wearing headscarves and gloves to cover their hands. Maryam's assigned seat was in the very front in the first row, and she recalls the anger and defiance she felt each time they barged in. But she refused to leave her seat like her classmates.

"I didn't want them to know I was afraid of them. I just sat there and refused to look at them," she said.

Maryam is one of the few lucky older girls in Afghanistan who have been able to go to school since the Taliban takeover.

Mazar-i Sharif, where she lives, is in Balkh, the only province that has kept schools open for older girls. Several other provinces have had some schools open for girls at different times, but for the vast majority of the country, girls above the 6th grade have not been allowed to go to school.

The inconsistency is due to disagreements about girls' education among the Taliban ranks, and without a cohesive policy on schools, the government in Kabul has left decisions to provincial Taliban officials.

Now, schools in Afghanistan are expected to open for the new semester on Wednesday, after a long winter break.

But despite Taliban assurances that all girls will be allowed back in schools, students and teachers are still unclear about what will happen. Afghanistan's Taliban-run Education Ministry did not respond to NPR's repeated requests for comment.

In Kabul, 17-year old Fatima Sadat, who dreams of being a successful psychologist, hasn't been to school in seven painful months, she said. She's been worried about her future, and is constantly asking her teachers for updates on whether she'll be allowed to go.

"Every teacher that we ask, they say we do not know and let's wait and see what happens," she said.

"We're still not going to know until the morning of the 23rd, whether the schools are actually open or not," said Heather Barr, the Associate Women's Rights Director at Human Rights Watch, who is based in Pakistan and focuses on Afghan women and girls.

And there's a risk that the Taliban might only open schools in visible areas, like big cities.

"There's the potential for some kind of photo ops at the same time that schools in rural areas may not get the same treatment," Barr said.

When it comes to girls' access to education in Afghanistan, the issue is broader than just schools being open. Class attendance for girls in provinces where schools were open dropped significantly.

Maryam from Mazar-i Sharif noted that of the 40 girls in her class, only 15 showed up at school for the rest of the term after the Taliban takeover. Barr says it's because the daily tensions with the Taliban have had a psychological effect on girls and their families.

"Everybody knows that the Taliban don't really want you to go and that's going to make people feel unsafe and it's going to undermine the efforts of girls who are trying to advocate for themselves and convince their families that they should be allowed to go," she said.

Another aspect is employment. Under the Taliban there are few sectors where women are allowed to work, mainly as teachers and health care providers to other women. And opportunities are few. Barr said that lowers the appeal for families to educate their daughters.

"Why would you study? Why would you and your family make enormous sacrifices for you to be able to complete high school, go on to university? You're not going to have the career that you dreamed of and you're not going to be able to provide the support to your family," she said.

After seven months of Taliban rule, most observers say not much has changed when it comes to their policies on women and girls. Barr notes the Taliban seem to be much more responsive to international pressure. But global attention on Afghanistan has waned.

"It's really frustrating in this moment where, this is the most serious women's rights crisis that's happened in the world since the last time the Taliban took power. And the response from the international community seems to largely be a bit of a shrug," Barr said.

Despite that, Fatima Sadat refuses to lose hope for her future and the future of Afghanistan.

"We will all be so happy if, God willing, schools reopen again for girls so that we can continue our education for the future of our country, to become successful servants and be able to stand our country back on its feet," she said.

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As school resumes in Afghanistan, will all girls be allowed to go? - NPR

Days before Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last August, Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, was welcomed to the United Arab Emirates. He was alleged to have taken with him $169m, from his countrys treasury.

Six months on, Khalid Payenda, once Ghanis finance minister, is driving an Uber in Washington DC.

If I complete 50 trips in the next two days, I receive a $95 bonus, Payenda told the Washington Post, from behind the wheel of a Honda Accord.

The 40-year-old once oversaw a US-supported $6bn budget. The Post reported that in one night earlier this week, he made a little over $150 for six hours work, not counting his commute a mediocre night.

The Post recorded Payenda telling one passenger his move from Kabul to Washington had been quite an adjustment.

He also said he was grateful for the opportunity to be able to support his family but, Right now, I dont have any place. I dont belong here and I dont belong there. Its a very empty feeling.

Afghanistan faces a humanitarian and economic crisis, assets frozen and cut off from international aid that would require recognition of the Taliban government which replaced the US-supported regime.

The Post described Payendas experience in late 2020, when his mother died of Covid-19 in an impoverished Kabul hospital. He became finance minister after that. The Post said he now wished he had not.

I saw a lot of ugliness, and we failed, he said. I was part of the failure. Its difficult when you look at the misery of the people and you feel responsible.

Payenda told the Post he believed Afghans didnt have the collective will to reform, to be serious. But he also said the US betrayed its commitment to democracy and human rights after making Afghanistan a centerpiece of post-9/11 policy.

Maybe there were good intentions initially but the United States probably didnt mean this, Payenda said.

Payenda resigned as finance minister a week before the Taliban seized Kabul, as his relationship with Ghani deteriorated. Fearing the president would have him arrested, he left for the US, where he joined his family.

We had 20 years and the whole worlds support to build a system that would work for the people, Payenda said in a text message to a World Bank official in Kabul on the day the capital fell, quoted by the Post.

All we built was a house of cards that came down crashing this fast. A house of cards built on the foundation of corruption.

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Afghanistans former finance minister is now Uber driver in Washington DC - The Guardian

It took the international community two long decades of sacrifices with blood and fortune to establish some sort of representative governance in Afghanistan, which the Taliban overthrew in days, and the media threw the entire story off its radar in weeks.

In January, some Taliban members in northern Mazr-e-Sharf city allegedly gang-raped eight women in custody. These women were part of the group of people arrested while trying to flee the country following the Taliban takeover in the wake of the withdrawal of foreign troops.

The Taliban, obviously, denied this.

My friends in Kabul told me that the women who survived the gang rape were later killed by their families in the name of honour after they were handed over by the Taliban. The rest of the women, they said, were still missing.

In less than seven months since the Taliban took over the country, most of the girls secondary schools remain closed.

The barriers between young women and higher education are at the highest, women are banned from most paid employment, womens sports have been banned, and over 72% of women journalists have lost their jobs.

In their early days of power, the ministry of womens affairs was swiftly replaced by the Taliban with the infamous ministry of virtue and vice, which later saw an array of restrictions imposed on womens travels. Women have been beaten and abducted for peaceful protests for their right to work, education and health more and more people now selling their daughters away for mere survival.

Yet there is a deafening silence in international media, which seems to have become bored with the plight of the Afghan people, especially women.

The life of a woman under Taliban rule is not a mystery to the outer world. Yet international media are becoming increasingly disinterested and distracted.

After the initial winners and losers coverage that kept newsrooms busy for a few weeks, as soon as the international troops and contractors left, international media made an exit too.

The US abandonment of Afghanistan set its people on a trajectory that prophesied a life of intimidation, terror and incarceration human rights violations, poverty and statelessness that proved their worst nightmare true.

But the US government is not the only one lying to the world about what actually happened at the end in one of the longest wars in history. International media lied as well by concealing information and dismembering the voice of so many affected people.

The absence of war is not peace.

Journalists may not be propagating war, but through inconsistent and infrequent coverage they are also not prioritising peace with the US-led coalition quitting and the Taliban ruling Afghanistan. It gives way to propaganda and misinformation to permeate through without public attention or inquiry.

On top of that, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which led to fluctuations in the global stock markets, and the surging Covid-19 infections around the world have resulted in war-ravaged Afghanistan disenfranchised and ignored by international media continuing to suffer silently and helplessly.

The international media spotlight on Afghanistan is fading fast.

Yet the agony of the Afghan people, especially women and young girls, is far from over the crisis is only escalating, with the crumbling healthcare and services system caught between international isolation and hardline Taliban rule.

Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, local media does not have the freedom to raise questions, let alone investigate. Taliban control local media insofar as heavily armed Taliban fighters have been seen to accompany their leaders when they make live TV appearances.

Separate surveys by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have revealed that over a half of Afghanistans media outlets have closed since the Taliban took power back in August.

For surviving journalists, the Taliban announced the vaguely worded 11 journalism rules basically their way of censoring and controlling media.

And now, with the western media broadly shelving the coverage of Afghanistan, theres hardly anyone left to rely on with conflict de-escalatory coverage that is grounded in the frameworks of humanisation, justice and peace.

Yet, amid the threats of abduction and targeted persecution, a group of women took to the streets of Kabul on Sunday, demanding access to education and work. For these women to stand in the face of tyranny that even the most powerful country in the world does not want to face is an act of resilience in the most desperate of times.

It calls for robust international media coverage and solidarity.

Yes, some primary girls schools have reopened this month and some women have been allowed to return to work in the education and health industries, but human rights violations, hunger, poverty and sickness remain at a record high, and a predicted famine is around the corner due to economic crisis. And with people resorting to selling their daughters and kidneys in the black market for bare survival, one must recognise that there is hardly any strength left in them to stand for themselves.

These stories need to be told to shake minds and souls around the world for action.

With the era of media witnessing war and other distant crises came the age of the attention economy, where quite important issues struggle to survive in the public discourse for longer periods of time.

They need constant reminders. The continuity aspect of postwar follow-up reporting can give visibility to stories that may have been missed by the public in the first instance. The news media cycle is swift and urgency-centric. The continuity aspect keeps information alive and safe from obscurity.

We need to remember that what Afghan men and women have been fighting for since the 1970s and the SovietAfghan war is the same reason the Ukrainians are fighting now. The only difference is that the Afghans have been neglected and betrayed over and over again.

Peace reporting in a conflict is crucial and places a lot of responsibility on the journalists.

In the global fight between the pens and the AK-47s, the international media and journalists need to stay engaged in Afghanistan through peace journalism and not allow the latter an easy win.

Dr Ayesha Jehangir is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Technology Sydney

Link:
The media spotlight on Afghanistan is fading fast but the agony of its people is far from over - The Guardian

KUALA LUMPUR: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) needs to intensify assistance to the Afghan people whose lives are seen to be getting more and more stressful every day, said Geostrategy expert Prof Dr Azmi Hassan.

He said the assistance was necessary to prevent the people in Afghanistan from continuing to face the threat of starvation.

"The United States action early last month seizing funds belonging to the Afghan government that were frozen after US troops withdrew from the country's soil has had an impact on the people of the country. The majority of them are living from hand to mouth.

"Therefore, the OIC must continue to ensure that this assistance continues to be enhanced from time to time to ensure that the fate of the Afghan people continues to be protected," the Senior Fellow of the Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research (NASR) told Bernama.

Earlier last month, the US seized US$7bil (RM29.4bil) in assets belonging to the Afghan government and said it would be divided between the much-needed aid for the Afghan people and for the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

US President Joe Biden had allocated US$3.5bil of Afghanistan's frozen US$7bil funds to be used for pending legal proceedings and compensation claims for the 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.

Azmi added that the Taliban-led Afghan government was now seen to be able to survive for five months to a year despite not having the funds.

"The Taliban government may be able to withstand without the funds, but the victims are the people.

"In this case, the decision is in the hands of the Taliban government itself to convince the international community, including the OIC, that they (the Taliban) would honestly implement their promises, especially in terms of assistance to the people of the country," he said.

Last Wednesday (March 16), Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar said Malaysia would donate 1.6 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Afghanistan in an effort to help the country recover.

Following the withdrawal of US troops in August 2021 after occupying the country for 20 years, the Taliban forces overthrew the government of Mohammad Ashraf Gani and took over the administration but faced difficulties due to a serious lack of funds. - Bernama

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OIC needs to intensify assistance to Afghanistan - The Star Online

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The United Nations Security Council agreed to renew its assistance mission for Afghanistan for another year on Thursday not long after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the situation in the war-torn nation in January as "hanging by a thread."

His words, observers say, served as a stark reminder of the state of affairs that saw the sudden downfall of its government following the Biden administrations rapid withdrawal of U.S. military forces last August.

"The Russian play in Ukraine is directly related to the weakness and incompetence we displayed to the world with our tragically flawed withdrawal from Afghanistan," said Christopher Miller. Miller served as acting secretary of defense in the Trump administration and was a veteran of the Afghan campaign. "The Chinese, North Koreans and Iranians took note. We are in the most dangerous geo-strategic situation since the Cuban missile crisis."

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Miller was one of the first officers to lead troops into Afghanistan where he commanded the Fifth Special Forces group after 9/11. Miller, who retired as a colonel in the special forces, also trained and fought alongside Afghan troops during his service there.

He pulled no punches over the U.S. withdrawal: "It's an absolute disgrace, and I'm ashamed personally and professionally at how we left our Afghan allies in such a desperate situation. It was completely preventable."

Prior to becoming acting defense secretary, he was part of a team working on the Trump administrations withdrawal plan. He said the narrative used by the Biden administration that characterized the situation as "unpredictable" was negligent.

Newly graduated Afghan National Army personnel march during their graduation ceremony after a three-month training program at the Afghan Military Academy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2020. (AP/Rahmat Gul, File)

"Our adversaries noted our fecklessness, and we couldn't have provided them more powerful ammunition to create dissension with our allies and partners. We're going to be dealing with the blowback on our ham-handed, disastrous withdrawal for the next 20 years -- I'd hate to be a military man or diplomat trying to convince a potential partner to work with us."

During the early days of the withdrawal, reports of resistance by anti-Taliban forces, including elements of the Northern Alliance with a new group called the National Resistance Front (NRF), came together. However, without U.S. funding, their efforts will be in vain, according to Miller and other experts.

Miller bemoaned the lack of planning leading up to the Taliban takeover and said the US should support "anyone or group in Afghanistan that wishes to establish a meaningful government that can create opportunity and justice for the Afghan people."

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Miller maintained the lack of planning meant that Taliban forces defeated the Northern Alliance and other forces during their hour of need.

"If we had armed them and provided a handful of advisers to direct airstrikes, the Northern Alliance would still be in control of an enclave in the north that we could have developed additional resistance forces to use to pressure the Taliban to moderate their behavior (perhaps even establish a coalition government) or to mass forces to move on Kabul."

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Freedom for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), said the National Resistance Front (NRF), based in Tajikistan and led by former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh, so far has had minimal impact and said the Biden administration needs to both arm and fund them, "but the administration does not want to reengage in Afghanistan. It is inclined to work with the Taliban instead."

Roggio is the editor of the acclaimed Long War Journal, a publication that has provided in-depth analysis of the global war on terror since 2007. He described Afghanistan as a "black hole for terrorists," noting the terror threat coming out of Afghanistan is "significant."

He said al Qaeda and its leadership once again have found themselves a safe haven to operate from if they so choose. "The Taliban-al Qaeda alliance is strong, it was never broken," he added, while noting, "Other international and regional terror groups such as The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, the Turkistan Islamic Party, the Islamic Jihad Union, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Ansraulah are currently operating" under the Taliban's protection.

With no U.S. presence in Afghanistan and bordering countries, he painted a bleak picture for those who were left behind by the U.S. and our ability to fight the terrorists there.

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"The Biden administration has done little to help because it has next to no capacity to help. Additionally, President Biden does not seem inclined to help. His attitude towards Afghans who have supported American efforts has been callous since the moment he announced the withdrawal." Roggio concluded that the "ability to conduct counterterrorism strikes against al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other terror groups has been reduced to nearly zero."

With the U.S. presence now non-existent in Afghanistan, the question observers want to know is who will fill the vacuum? While Miller noted that Russia, Pakistan, and Iran are looking across their common borders, China has taken a particular interest. "Beijing certainly wants to take advantage of a U.S.-free Afghanistan, but it is not entirely clear that it will be able to do so," noted Gordon Chang, a leading expert on China.

Chang, a distinguished fellow at the Gatestone Institute, described Beijings thinking: "China wants to use Afghanistan as the first part of a land bridge to the Arabian Sea so that it will not be dependent on the Strait of Malacca, a choke point. Moreover, the Chinese covet Afghanistans minerals, like copper and lithium, and they want to make sure Afghan territory will not end up as a refuge for militants attacking China."

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, political chief of Afghanistan's Taliban, in north China's Tianjin, July 28, 2021. (Li Ran/Xinhua via Getty Images, File)

Chang says it wont necessarily be easy, noting, "None of these objectives will be obtainable unless the Afghan Taliban or some other group establishes control and stabilizes the situation. If some group does accomplish that, China will probably get most everything it wants."

And with a human rights situation in tatters, those who are suffering the most are women and girls and religious and other minority groups.

Paul, who didnt want to use his real name out of fear, is an Afghan Christian. He told Fox News Digital that he was able to escape to the U.S. and says Christians like him have been ruthlessly targeted by the Taliban: "If a Talib knows you are an Afghan Christian, thats a great blessing for him to kill you."

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Afghanistan recently topped North Korea as the worst country in the world for Christian persecution. The yearly World Watch List is published by Open Doors USA.

Paul described the dire economic situation that he left behind him: "People dont have jobs, and yeah, many sell their kidneys, people (are) starving,"

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Speaking at a recent U.N. Security Council meeting, Afghan American Womens rights activist Ahbouba Seraj said, "It has taken less than six months to completely dismantle the rights of women and girls across the country."

Yet even with all the despair and instability in Afghanistan, Miller still held out hope for the war-torn nation. "The Afghan people are enormously industrious and rugged, and Afghanistan has a large amount of natural resources that could be developed -- they just need meaningful leadership," he said.

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Afghanistan faces crisis on the ground as tens of thousands hide from Taliban, observers say - Fox News