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Taliban fighters stand guard outside the hospital after a bomb blast in Mazar-e Sharif, the capital city of Balkh province, in northern Afghanistan, on March 9. A bomb killed a Taliban-appointed provincial governor and two others in Mazar-e-Sharif , a Taliban police spokesman said.

Abdul Saboor Sirat/The Associated Press

Ruchi Kumar is an Indian journalist based in Mumbai who covers south Asia.

In April, 2020, after years of inter-governmental efforts, Ejaz Amin Ahangar a dreaded leader of the Islamic State regional affiliates in south Asia was captured in Kandahar province by the Afghan National Directorate of Security. Mr. Ahangar, an Indian national, had been wanted for his role in terrorist activities in Kashmir and Afghanistan, including for the brutal 2020 attack on a Sikh temple in Kabul that led to the deaths of 25 worshippers, an act claimed by Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), a regional arm of the Islamic State.

Just over a year later, Mr. Ahangar was free again, thanks to an unexpected jail break orchestrated by the Taliban a decision that the Taliban now surely regret.

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As the Talibans fighters took over province after province on their march to Kabul in 2021, they took over government prisons, releasing not only captive members of their own ranks, but also convicted criminals, insurgent allies, and other militants such as Mr. Ahangar.

But neither he nor any of the thousands of IS militants released by the Taliban were the groups allies. Since the ISKP first took root in Afghanistan in 2015, it has fought the now-collapsed foreign-backed Afghan government and the now-ruling Taliban alike. The ISKP has recruited aspiring insurgents from the south Asian subcontinent who had flocked to Afghanistan, where joining the Islamic States cause was more accessible.

However, the group largely remained on the fringe of militant activities before 2021, owing to the collective efforts of international and Afghan security officials who managed to keep the insurgency in check, if not entirely eradicated. In April, 2017, the U.S. military even dropped a Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) on Nangarhar provinces Achin district, which had become a hotbed of ISKP activity. Toward the end of 2020, more than 2,000 ISKP foreign fighters were in Afghan prisons, with another 3,000 to 4,000 estimated to be operating within Afghanistan.

All of this changed dramatically after the Talibans unceremonious seizure of power, which created a vacuum within the countrys security infrastructures and has allowed foreign militancy to thrive again in Afghanistan.

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Within days of their 2021 release, ISKP militants launched several attacks, including the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. soldiers during the chaotic evacuation efforts in August, 2021. In the year-and-a-half since, ISKP has conducted dozens of attacks that have largely targeted religious and ethnic minorities in Afghanistan, but the group has also taken aim at the Taliban, which it sees as less fundamentalist and allied with the west. Earlier this month, an ISKP suicide bomber killed Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the governor of Balkh province and a key leader of the Taliban movement. The Islamic State has effectively become to the Taliban what they once were to the previous foreign-backed government: a threat to national and regional stability, at the cost of Afghan lives.

For their part, the Taliban have been fighting to control the ISKP insurgencies and have had some success. Mr. Ahangar, along with the ISKPs intelligence and operations chief Qari Fateh, were killed in an operation conducted in February in Kabul. However, despite the few victories, the Taliban are faced with the same problems as any government trying to suppress terrorist activities.

But unlike most other governments, they are isolated in their counterterrorism efforts, owing to their own history of human rights violations and their support of terror groups, which has inspired no confidence in their abilities. The U.S.s latest Country Report on Terrorism, which was released last month, noted that the Talibans ability to prevent al-Qaeda and ISKP operations remained unclear. The lack of faith was further proven out by a U.S. drone strike that killed al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul last July.

The Taliban is unlikely to attract any allies in its fight against ISKP while it continues to serve as a patron for other insurgent and criminal groups. On their own, they lack the capacities to rein in the growing insurgencies of groups with vast resources and large stocks of foreign fighters.

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But this is a problem for the West, too. Analysts watching Afghanistan have warned that the Talibans failure could turn Afghanistan into fertile ground for terrorist groups looking for rent-free, lawless real estate from where they can target other countries. As the U.S. terrorism report noted: Instability and potential terrorist activities emanating from Afghanistan became a serious concern for the countrys neighbors, as they worried about spillover effects from the conflict and instability.

The conflict in Afghanistan has moved into a new phase, and the Taliban appear to be in over their heads. In this case, that is not a good thing.

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Opinion: The Taliban, Afghanistan's governing terrorists, face a ... - The Globe and Mail

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says it was a messy situation trying to help Afghans escape the Taliban, as Conservatives questioned her departments decision to install a plaque commemorating the August 2021 airlift.

I cant turn back the clock, Joly told the House of Commons immigration committee, where she was questioned about the governments chaotic attempts to bring thousands of people from Kabul to safety.

But a senior Global Affairs Canada official, Weldon Epp, told the committee the effort was made more difficult because Ottawa had fewer resources on the ground, given that Canada had decided to close its embassy earlier than some of its peers.

Canada was in a different position than some of its allies, said Epp, the assistant deputy minister for Asia.

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Their comments follow earlier testimony from senior soldiers who said the effort was hampered by a lack of preparedness and Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus decision to call a snap election.

Canadas final commander in Kandahar during the Afghan war, retired Maj.-Gen. Dean Milner, previously testified that Canadas embassy staff left embarrassingly way too fast.

He had said thats part of the reason we only managed to pull out maybe about 15 to 17 per cent of those critical interpreters who soldiered alongside us.

Chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre previously testified that rules restricting government work during elections limited the Defence Departments ability to publicly communicate.

2:10Women journalists under assault in Afghanistan

Still, Joly insisted Wednesday that all NATO countries struggled with evacuating Afghan nationals as the Taliban rapidly advanced.

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Nobodys perfect around this table, and I think we can always do a better job, Joly told MPs at the meeting on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, The Canadian Press reported that Ottawa plans to install a plaque commemorating the evacuation, based on documents obtained through an access-to-information request.

The plaque carries a $10,000 price tag and was approved in a July 2022 memorandum that critics argue will send the wrong message.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner asked who had proposed the plaque; bureaucrats said it came from within Global Affairs Canada.

Bloc Quebecois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe said his party had no problem with the plaque.

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Opposition parties also argued Wednesday that the government has failed to learn from the evacuation.

Conservative foreign-affairs critic Michael Chong said he worries Canada would not be able to evacuate its own citizens from Hong Kong in a hypothetical event, such as if China imposed martial law.

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He took umbrage with a government report last October that argued it had an effective and efficient working relationship between departments and the military, which he said contradicts the testimony of multiple witnesses.

Julie Sunday, the assistant deputy minister for emergency management at Global Affairs Canada, responded that her team managed well under the circumstances of the Taliban takeover.

9:51Advocates dont know what the hold up is in bringing Afghan MPs to Canada

She said the Afghan evacuation prompted more queries than Russias invasion of Ukraine and the repatriation of Canadians when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic.

We had been of course contingency planning for a long period of time, she said of the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

Sunday said the demand was overwhelming, with 200 people working at the departments emergency response centre handling a peak of 70,000 emails in one day.

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One of the big challenges with this was the velocity that the crisis hit, Sunday said, adding that she couldnt speak for how quickly immigration officials work.

© 2023 The Canadian Press

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Joly calls Afghanistan evacuation messy as MPs hear of challenges on the ground - Global News

March 21 (Doha): Qatar Fund For Development (QFFD) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for new commitments to the OOSC education project in Afghanistan. The projects aim to enroll 30,000 out-of-school primary children, 50% of those children are girls, in several provinces across Afghanistan.

HE Khalifa Al-Kuwari, Director General of Qatar Fund For Development, met with HE. Sayed Habibullah Agha, The Minister of Education in Afghanistan, to sign the MoU.

The joint three-year project: Providing Access to Learning Opportunities to OOSC in Afghanistan, targets the most out-of-school children in need, including girls and students with disabilities. It will work with community-based education schools to construct and refurbish classrooms and improve wash facilities. It will also provide training for community-based educators and aim to recruit more teachers and engage key stakeholders in the enrolment and retention of students.

3. Mr. Khalifa Al-Kuwari, Director General of QFFD, stated, We believe that education is one the most important pillars toward the prosperity of the LDCs. Unfortunately, 3.7 million children are out-of-school in Afghanistan today, and 60% are girls. And through this MoU, we are targeting 30,000 OOSC in Afghanistan, 50% of whom are girls. This is part of our vision to support fair access to education for all.

CEO of Education Above All, Fahad Al-Sulaiti, added: The signing represents a significant landmark for the children of Afghanistan. These projects will have a positive impact on the opportunities for marginalized children in and enable them to attain a brighter future for themselves and their families.

The agreement with Afghanistan demonstrates Qatar Fund for Development and Education Above Allsongoing commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on SDG4 ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.

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Qatar Fund For Development and Education Above All cooperate ... - ReliefWeb

Researchers at Princetons Afghanistan Policy Lab are researching four key areas areas of policy

Members of the Afghanistan Policy Lab include, back row from left, Lutf Ali Sultani, Storai Tapesh, Muhammad Idrees Ghairat, and Gran Hewad; and front row from left, Ambassador Adela Raz and Naheed Farid.

Photo: Frank Wojciechowski

The journey from Afghanistan to Princeton was not easy for Lutf Ali Sultani.

Sultani worked as a journalist for a newspaper during the two-decade period when the U.S.-backed Afghan government supported freedom of the press. After the U.S. began bringing troops home in August 2021, the government fell to hardline Taliban fighters. Sultani was supposed to be evacuated, but that was delayed after a deadly explosion close to the airport.

So he continued working, covering a womens protest on Sept. 8. When two of his colleagues were detained by the Taliban, Sultani went to the police station to seek their release. Instead, Sultani was beaten and taken to a small cell with 17 other people. After his paper reported the arrests, he was released, but his two colleagues were tortured to death, he said.

Local journalists in Afghanistan arent able to publish today, but they can send out information anonymously, and Afghan journalists in exile in Europe and the U.S. can share their reports.

Lutf Ali Sultani

I realized that the country was drawn deep into crisis and there was no place for those who believe in modern values such as freedom of speech, human rights, and democracy anymore, Sultani said. He managed to leave on Oct. 17, on a flight organized by the U.S. State Department and the Qatari government.

Sultani was brought to a military base in New Jersey, and from there he was hired by Princeton as a fellow with the Afghanistan Policy Lab, run by the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA). Sultani and a handful of other fellows are tasked with researching one of four key areas of policy regarding Afghanistan: how to provide humanitarian aid, how to create civic spaces, how to ensure equality for women, and how to heal the nation.

When the airlifts from Kabul were under way, Amaney Jamal had just taken over as dean of SPIA. She knew that many SPIA alumni had worked in Afghanistan over the years and that they were worried about their colleagues on the ground. Meanwhile, people Jamal knew in academia and in think tanks were telling her that policy schools needed to play a role in helping Afghan evacuees find new purpose in the U.S.

Jamal said she decided that the Universitys motto In the Nations Service and the Service of Humanity was not abstract theory. We had to model those words. We knew a conversation would happen in exile. If we could secure a group of displaced Afghans here to influence policy debates, that would be valuable.

With help from Princetons Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, the Afghanistan Policy Lab was officially unveiled in the spring of 2022, with work beginning in earnest in the fall. Along with a simultaneous program for Ukrainian scholars who had been displaced by Russian invasion (see PAW, February 2023), the Afghanistan project was the first time we had done something outside the box like this, Jamal said.

Adela Raz, who had served as Afghanistans ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations, was tapped as the labs director. Growing up in Afghanistan, Raz was forced to study at home for five years because the Taliban wouldnt let girls attend school. I read encyclopedias, magazines, old newspapers whatever was available, she said. Later, Raz earned degrees in the U.S. from Simmons University and Tufts Universitys Fletcher School.

Under Raz, a small number of fellows, such as Sultani, will work full time for 12- to 18-month terms, conducting research, writing policy recommendations, and engaging with Princeton students and the wider community through panels and public events. Other fellows include womens rights advocates Muqadasa Ahmadzai and Storai Tapesh, former Afghanistan Parliament member Naheed Farid, and former government official Gran Hewad.

Another evacuee working with the Princeton lab is Muhammad Idrees Ghairat, who earned two masters degrees and worked for a variety of international nongovernmental organizations. He said he saw others injured or killed while struggling to get to the airport, and he said it was a hard decision to leave his parents and a disabled sister in Afghanistan. After arriving in the U.S., Ghairat interpreted and taught in Denver before he was hired as a special assistant to Jamal.

The labs objective, Raz said, is to produce and share policy recommendations with diplomatic and development officials inside and outside the United States. Part of the labs mission will be to keep the conversation alive, she added, so that the plight of Afghanistan doesnt slip from the worlds consciousness.

According to United Nations estimates, the poverty rate under the Taliban may be as high as 97%, and half of the population is in immediate need of humanitarian aid. Seventy percent of the population in Afghanistan is below the age of 30, and half are women, Raz said. Its dire. Its as bad as can be.

In December 2022, the Taliban government officially declared, as advocates had feared, that girls and women would be banned from attending schools and universities. Public execution has returned, music has been banned, and news and entertainment are censored. From what Sultani hears from friends in Afghanistan, everyone wants to get out. The humanitarian situation is catastrophic right now.

The one silver lining is that the internet and social media have continued to operate, including WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram. Such channels are crucial for Sultanis work, which focuses on the possibilities of recreating a civic sphere in Afghanistan one of the key achievements from the time the Western-backed government was in charge.

Local journalists in Afghanistan arent able to publish today, but they can send out information anonymously, and Afghan journalists in exile in Europe and the U.S. can share their reports, Sultani said. They have done really good work. Sultani said his research will focus on how to bridge journalists inside and outside Afghanistan. He is also publishing a weekly news bulletin.

As for ways of getting around restrictions on teaching girls, Raz said its possible to envision efforts that use remote learning.

Because tensions remain raw between the U.S. and the Taliban, participants in the lab understand that it may take a while for their recommendations to be implemented. Countries in the Middle East and Europe may have more space to find creative solutions, said Andrew Moravcsik, the Liechtenstein Institutes director.

A core question for the lab and there are varying opinions on this is, do we engage with the Taliban or not? Jamal said. I hope the lab will remain a place to have that intellectual conversation.

Raz acknowledged that, in the near term, its hard not to be pessimistic about the possibility of improvements in Afghanistan. But over the medium and longer term, she said, were trying to keep that hope.

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Evacuated Experts Keep the Conversation About Afghanistan Alive - Princeton Alumni Weekly

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will head to Brussels to attend a session with the members of the European Council, which will include a working lunch.Among the topics to be discussed are Ukraine, climate change and the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, notably the global economic and financial situation, as well as reform of the international financial architecture.

Turning to Afghanistan. In a tweet, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan noted that as the new Afghan school year starts this week, more than a million Afghan girls will be barred from attending classes.

On Syria, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, is in Damascus today, where he met with President Bashar Al-Assad and Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad.

Turning to Ukraine. Our humanitarian colleagues are again sounding the alarm about the heavy toll the escalation of hostilities in the Donetsk region is taking on civilians, particularly in the areas of Avdiivka and Bakhmut.

UNICEF says that six months after catastrophic floods struck Pakistan, more than 10 million people, including children, living in flood-affected areas remain deprived of safe drinking water.

Tomorrow afternoon, the UN and the African Union will hold a joint high-level meeting on financing for the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, or ATMIS, and resourcing for the Somali security transition.

We have an update from our peacekeeping colleagues in the Central African Republic, where a joint operation with the countrys internal security forces led to the arrest of Hussein Damboucha, regional commander of the armed group FPRC (Front populaire pour la renaissance de la Centrafrique) and member of the CPC (Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement).

Turning to Mozambique, our colleagues there tell us that the number of people impacted by Tropical Cyclone Freddy has risen to more than 886,000.

Today we mark a few international days: In his remarks to the General Assembly event marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination a short while ago, the Secretary-General said that racial discrimination is a deeply damaging and pervasive abuse of human rights and human dignity that affects every country.

Id also like to point out in terms of briefings that tomorrow is World Water Day.

For further details please see SOURCE below.

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Secretary-General Travels, Afghanistan, Syria/Trkiye & other topics ... - UN Web TV