#taliban recognition in afghanistan

[apas-95]

Idk how to feel about China opening diplomatic relations with the Taliban. Yes Afghanistan's assets should be unfrozen and the entire reason the Taliban runs Afghanistan now is the fault of the US, but they are still an extremely brutal reactionary theocracy enforcing the most extreme gender apartheid in the world. It's not China's (or anyone's) place to change that obviously, but I can't bring myself to celebrate China opening diplomacy with them as a win for the third world.

So, in a word: non-interference.

You're right that the Taliban are a reactionary organisation, and you're right that they're in power because of US interference and invasion. Furthermore, you correctly point out that China should not attempt to change the internal political structure of Afghanistan, but the reason for that is much more than an abstract notion of sovereignty or respect - it is moreso a matter of practicality.

The Taliban are in power because they are the Afghan-nationalist group most favourable to US interests. The US would prefer its puppet government be in power, but failing that, there are groups it very much does not want to take power, such as Afghan communist organisations. The US directs more resources to undernining those groups than it does the Taliban. In any case, the Taliban are still better for Afghanistan than the US-comprador government is, but they are still ultimately in power due to continued US intervention. The US refusal to recognise the Taliban is an element in a continuum of intervention, attempting to tip the scale towards US-favourable groups - it is, counter-intuitively, an element of the exact strategy that is keeping the Taliban in power.

China's non-interference policy not only does not influence the internal affairs of other countries - inherently, it actively *weakens* US influence in those countries. If the threat keeping US-favourable groups in power is sanctions, blockade, and international non-recognition, then the credible promise that China, an incredibly useful partner, will engage with *whichever* domestic group takes power, no matter their ideology, allows for organic Afghan interests to express themselves and bring about organic Afghan political goals. Similarly, the provisioning of no-strings-attached investment, infrastructure, etc, makes US support of preferred groups less effective, as Afghanistan is both less desperate for support, and also has less incentive to take aid packages that include 'restructuring' demands.

In essence: refusing relations with the Taliban, like the US is doing, is part of the exact gradient of political-economic pressures that keeps the Taliban (the group least threatening to US interests, other than an unsustainable puppet) in power. Opening non-judgemental relations to *whoever* achieves power weakens that gradient, and strengthens the ability for the genuine interests of the Afghan people to determine who achieves and retains power. China refusing to open relations with the Afghan government because they do not align ideologically would not change that gradient at all, and could only add yet another set of foreign interests overriding those of the people (interests which could not be more commanding than those of the US military empire, in any case). Free and non-judgemental relations with a reliable trading partner is precisely the environment that weakens the political base of reactionary organisations, and strengthens genuinely revolutionary ones.

[mariacallous]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Bahara Rustam, 13, took her last class at Bibi Razia School in Kabul on Dec. 11 knowing it was the end of her education. Under Taliban rule, she is unlikely to step foot in a classroom again.

In September 2021, a month after U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan following two decades of war, the Taliban announced that girls were barred from studying beyond sixth grade.

They extended this education ban to universities in December 2022. The Taliban have defied global condemnation and warnings that the restrictions will make it almost impossible for them to gain recognition as the country’s legitimate rulers.

Last week, U.N. special envoy Roza Otunbayeva expressed concern that a generation of Afghan girls is falling behind with each day that passes.

Last week, an official in the Education Ministry said Afghan girls of all ages are allowed to study in religious schools known as madrassas, which have traditionally been boys-only. But Otunbayeva said it was unclear if there was a standardized curriculum that allowed modern subjects.

Bahara is holding onto her education and pores over textbooks at home. “Graduating (from sixth grade) means we are going to seventh grade,” she said. “But all of our classmates cried and we were very disappointed.”

There was no graduation ceremony for the girls at Bibi Razia School.

In another part of Kabul, 13-year old Setayesh Sahibzada wonders what the future holds for her. She is sad she can’t go to school anymore to achieve her dreams.

“I can’t stand on my own two feet,” she said. “I wanted to be a teacher. But now I can’t study, I can’t go to school.”

Analyst Muhammad Saleem Paigir warned that excluding women and girls from education will be disastrous for Afghanistan. “We understand that illiterate people can never be free and prosperous,” he said.

The Taliban have barred women from many public spaces and most jobs, all but confining women to their homes.

[bfpnola]

[ID: Screenshot of an Instagram post by @/SeekWithSer. The location reads, “Haut-Karabagh.” The title reads, “WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE ETHNIC ARMENIANS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH IS A RESULT OF THE WEST'S APATHY TOWARD S.W.A.N.A REGIONS.” The users Substack article is mentioned at the bottom, titled “Uncomfortable Truth: Breaking the wall of silence, indifference, and apathy.”

Slide 2 reads: I'LL NEVER FORGET WHAT SOMEONE (A WHITE PERSON) SAID WHEN I MENTIONED THE 2020 WAR IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH.

"ISN'T THERE ALWAYS CHAOS IN THOSE AREAS? IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, THOSE PLACES ARE ALWAYS INFESTED WITH WAR AND DESTRUCTION."

This statement stuck with me because it represented the general apathy, indifference, and willful ignorance of the West toward countries we can't point to on the map whose names we can't pronounce.

And yet. AND YET. What we fail to realize (or conveniently ignore) is that our tax dollars are one of the most significant contributors to political and economic instability and PEACE in "those places."

Slide 3 reads: WHILE THE U.S. GOVERNMENT BANKROLLS GENOCIDES AGAINST WEST ASIAN MINORITIES, ETHNIC COMMUNITIES CONTINUE TO BE GASLIT AND TOLD TO BE GRATEFUL FOR U.S. INTERVENTION.

For example, Armenians are expected to be grateful to the U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide despite continuing to aid Azerbaijan in their genocidal efforts and ethnic cleansing of our ancestral lands.

For example, Afghans are expected to credit American soldiers for fighting terrorism in Afghanistan despite the U.S. playing a key role in the Taliban's rise.

IT IS ALL RELATED.

The more we see them as separate issues, the more divided we will become and the more power we hand over to imperialist agendas to continue pillaging ancestral lands and destabilizing SWANA communities.

Slide 4 reads: I'M NOT EXPECTING EVERYONE TO CARE ABOUT GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS. THAT IS YOUR PREROGATIVE.

BUT I WILL SPEAK ON BEHALF OF ALL SWANA COMMUNITIES THAT ARE HURT BY THEIR SO-CALLED ALLIES WHO WERE OUTRAGED OVER THE WAR IN UKRAINE BUT WHO CONTINUE TO TURN AWAY IN APATHY TOWARD THE PLIGHT OF THEIR COMMUNITIES.

Do they not deserve the same ounce of respect?

Have we collectively decided that their lives don't matter? Are they not worthy of the same rage and empathy that we've showed to our Eurocentric counterparts?

I IMPLORE us all to look at our hypocrisy. WE ARE COMPLICIT ABOUT THE SAME VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS THAT WE STAND AGAINST.

Slide 5 reads: ALLIES OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES NEED TO BREAK THEIR WALL OF SILENCE, INDIFFERENCE, AND APATHY.

WE NEED COLLECTIVE ACTION AGAINST THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES OF COLONIZATION AND INSTITUTIONALIZED TERRORISM NOW.

INDIGENOUS ARMENIANS OF ARTSAKH ARE BEING ETHNICALLY CLEANSED FROM THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS AS YOU READ THIS AND THERE IS NOT ENOUGH ATTENTION AND AWARENESS OF THIS HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE.

IF THE VALUES OF INTERDEPENDENCE, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY MEAN SOMETHING TO YOU, IGNORING THIS WOULD BE OUT OF INTEGRITY.

Slide 6 is a painting of an Armenian woman with tape across her mouth that reads “terrorist.” At the top, it reads: “seekwithser.substack.com.”

/End ID.]

[beardedmrbean]

Invisible, and now silent. Three years after the Taliban's return to power, Afghan women continue to see their few remaining rights dwindle away.

A Taliban ministry promulgated a new set of laws on August 21 that it said “will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice”. The laws aim to control all aspects of the social and private life of Afghans, especially of Afghan women.

Among the rules in the 114-page text published by the ministry is the requirement for women to cover their bodies and faces completely if they leave the house as well as a ban on women making their voices heard in public.

The new laws are “attacking their very existence”, Chekeba Hachemi, president of the organisation Free Afghanistan, told FRANCE 24.

“We no longer have the right to hear the sound of a woman's voice, or to see even a glimpse of a woman's body. It's as if we were telling them: ‘We want to kill you slowly’.”

“The only right we are allowed is to breathe. And even then ...” Hamida Aman, the founder of Begum TV, a Paris-based channel aimed at educating Afghan women and girls, told France Culture.

Just going by my own personal abuse healing…the left don’t know jackshit about what natives and marginalized groups without victims complexes want

The UN, the European Union, human rights groups and Afghan organisations have expressed their deep concerns over the new set of laws, which include some provisions that have already been in effect informally since the Taliban seized power again in August 2021.

But there is only so much the international community can do to help Afghan women.

Short-lived optimism

“After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one,” said Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, in an August 25 statement in which she said the laws evoke “a distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future”.

The UN has called for the immediate repeal of the text.

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced a “new attack on the rights of women and girls”. The EU said it was “distressed” by the decree, which was “a new blow” to the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

The EU also said the new laws create “another obstacle to the normalisation of relations” with Afghanistan, signalling that European recognition of the Taliban regime can only be achieved if Kabul “fully respects [its] international obligations and [those] towards the people of Afghanistan”.

The Taliban, in return, have denounced the “arrogance” of the West in its condemnations of the restrictions on women – which UN officials including Secretary General Antonio Guterres have described as “gender-based apartheid”.

On the same day the Taliban ministry published the new laws, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said in a statement that the regime had banned him from entering the country.

International condemnations no longer seem to have any effect.

“In the first year after the regime change in Afghanistan, the situation was not as bad as people might have feared,” said Mélissa Cornet, a specialist on gender issues in Afghanistan, pointing out that journalists were still working and women were still attending university.

“The Taliban really wanted to be recognised by the international community. They made lots of reassurances and there was a real hope they had changed,” said Cornet, who lived in Kabul while overseeing research on women's role in Afghan society for local and international organisations beginning in 2018.

This optimism, however, was short-lived. “As soon as the Taliban realised they would not be formally recognised by regaining a seat at the UN and the frozen assets of the central bank, there was a U-turn,” Cornet explained. “They said to themselves, ‘If we play the game and get nothing in return, we'll do what we want at home’.”

'Nobody wants another conflict'

The Taliban first came to power in Afghanistan in 1996 and were overthrown in 2001 by a NATO intervention following the September 11 attacks. But despite 20 years of war and occupation by US-led NATO troops, the Taliban slowly regained control of the entire country and outlasted the United States, despite the latter's military superiority.    

“There's a very proud side to saying, ‘We were in power in the 1990s, the United States came but we beat them in the end, so now you Western states have no right to come and lecture us and tell us what to do’,’’ Cornet said.

Ironically, since the international community made women's rights its focus, it has now become very difficult for the Taliban to compromise on this issue, she said. “If they ever announced that schools were reopening [for women], it would be seen by Taliban ultraconservatives as a kind of defeat, a concession, to the internationals.”

From one law to the next, human rights in Afghanistan – and women's rights in particular – are being eroded without the international community being able to intervene.

“For three years, we've seen the status of women go [from bad to worse], and we've reached a stage where it's unacceptable that the world isn't reacting,” said Chela Noori of the Afghan Women of France organisation.

The world is moving “towards acceptance of this situation, [because] nothing stands in the way of the Taliban”, said Begum TV's Aman.

“Unfortunately, there's not much we can do, which is why it's difficult to continue proposing solutions,” Cornet said.

Without a resistance movement in Afghanistan, the situation cannot change, Cornet said. “After all the decades of war, nobody wants another conflict, another war, or an invasion.”

And the Taliban regime is capitalising on the situation, said Cornet, pointing to the fact that the country is at peace for the first time in 20 years, poppy production has declined by 95 percent (almost all the heroin consumed in Europe comes from Afghanistan), there are no prominent terrorist groups operating in the country and the borders are under control, preventing any wave of migration to Europe.

“Security issues are more important to Western countries than women's rights in this distant country,” Cornet observed, calling out the “cynicism” of such an assessment.

'The UN has to work with the Taliban'

Heather Barr, deputy director of the Women's Rights Division at HRW, deplores the fact that the crisis in Afghanistan has been relegated to a secondary concern by the Ukraine war. “The lack of an effective international response gives the impression that women's rights are not really a concern for world leaders,” she said in February.

“No one cares about Afghan women or human rights in this country,” Aman told France Culture, recalling the conditions under which the Doha III conference, the third UN meeting on Afghanistan in the Qatari capital, took place in late June.

The Taliban, which had not taken part in the two previous conferences, made their participation in the third conditional on the exclusion of civil society organisations, and particularly women, from the talks.

The UN once again called for the “inclusion of women” in public life during the discussions, a request that did not prevent the Taliban from continuing to harden its policies towards women.

“The United Nations is silent in the face of the Taliban,” Aman lamented.

Cornet noted the UN needs to maintain contacts with the regime to continue providing aid to the country.   

“The UN works in Afghanistan and therefore has to work with the Taliban,” she said. “If it takes a very hard line on women's rights, it will be expelled from the country and no one will be able to talk to the regime and help Afghans.”

Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the latest World Bank report, “poverty affects half of the population, with persistent high unemployment and underemployment”.

The United Nations Development Programme said in an April 2023 report that over 90 percent of the population was unable to meet its basic food requirements.

The International Crisis Group, an NGO focused on monitoring and preventing deadly conflicts, explained in a January report how Afghanistan's neighbours have been seeking to re-establish relations with Kabul in areas such as security and trade.

Regional nations “are convinced that the best way to secure their countries’ interests and moderate the Taliban’s behaviour in the long term is patient deliberation with Kabul, rather than ostracism”, says the report.

“If you don't talk to them, you can't influence them,” Cornet said simply. “The Taliban couldn't care less about being sanctioned by the international community. The fact that they can't travel or can't use their bank accounts doesn't bother them.”

For their part, Afghan women are doing what they can to be seen and raise awareness of their plight. After laws called on them to hide their faces and lower their voices, several women filmed themselves singing, protesting online under the hashtag #LetUsExist.

“You are afraid of this voice, and this voice will be stronger every day,” wrote Taiba Sulaimani, a young Afghan woman, on X in a message accompanying a video of a group of activists singing in chorus.

In another video, the young woman sings while adjusting her veil in front of the mirror.

“A woman's voice is her identity,” she says. “Not something that should be hidden.”

[humanrightsupdates]

Global: Gender apartheid must be recognised as a crime under international law

Gender apartheid must be recognised as a crime under international law to strengthen efforts to combat institutionalised regimes of systematic oppression and domination imposed on the grounds of gender, said Amnesty International today.

The concept of “gender apartheid” was first articulated by Afghan women human rights defenders and feminist allies in response to the subjugation of women and girls and systematic attacks on their rights under the Taliban in the 1990s. It has become more widely used since the Taliban reclaimed control of Afghanistan in 2021.

A number of Iranian feminists and UN experts have also argued that the institutionalised discrimination or oppression of women in Iran could amount to gender apartheid.

An international campaign for the recognition of gender apartheid in international law has drawn wide support from feminist activists and allies globally, including four women Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

Amnesty supports the legal recognition of gender apartheid to address what is a major gap in international law.

The closest approximation under the current international framework is persecution on the basis of gender, which international law - such as in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court - recognises as a crime against humanity. However, the intent and scope of that crime differs in significant ways from apartheid. While specific groups may be targeted under both crimes, the concept of persecution alone does not fully capture the scope and reach of systemic domination, or the institutionalised and ideological nature of the abuses that may be committed under a system of apartheid.

[werindialive]

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri Meets Taliban’s ‘Foreign Minister’ in Dubai 

In a landmark development, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri held talks with the Taliban’s ‘Foreign Minister’ Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. This is the highest-ranking meeting between Indian officials and the Taliban leadership since the group took control of Afghanistan in 2021. 

The discussions, held in the UAE, focused on strengthening humanitarian aid, trade, and sports cooperation. India agreed to provide further material support to Afghanistan, particularly in the health sector and for refugee rehabilitation. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated, “In response to the request from the Afghan side, India will provide further material support in the first instance to the health sector and for the rehabilitation of refugees.” 

Another key outcome of the meeting was the agreement to promote the use of Iran’s Chabahar port for trade and humanitarian purposes. This move could facilitate smoother trade between India and Afghanistan while supporting the country’s economic recovery. 

The meeting took place just weeks after India condemned Pakistan’s bombing of Afghan territories in late December. Despite not officially recognizing the Taliban government, India has maintained diplomatic engagement with Afghanistan. This includes allowing the appointment of a new Consul General in Mumbai and operating a technical team at the Indian Embassy in Kabul. 

Over the past few years, India has consistently supported Afghanistan through humanitarian aid. Since 2021, it has sent 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat, 300 tonnes of medicines, 27 tonnes of earthquake relief materials, and COVID-19 vaccines. The MEA noted that discussions in Dubai also evaluated India’s ongoing assistance and explored future development projects in Afghanistan. 

Sports cooperation, particularly in cricket, was also discussed, further highlighting India’s efforts to build people-to-people connections with Afghanistan. 

The meeting marks another step in India’s policy of engaging with Afghanistan’s leadership to support the Afghan people. While formal recognition of the Taliban administration remains off the table, India’s humanitarian and developmental outreach underscores its commitment to stability and progress in the region. 

This engagement with the Taliban highlights India’s pragmatic approach to addressing pressing issues in Afghanistan while safeguarding its strategic and humanitarian interests. For more political news India in Hindi, subscribe to our newsletter! 

[elsolnetworktv]

Putin signs law opening door to Russian recognition of Taliban

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that will allow the Russian government to recognise, if it deems appropriate, the Taliban fundamentalist movement as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. Russia, like the rest of the international community, considers the Taliban to be a group of coup plotters who regained power by force in 2021. However, this consideration has not prevented…

[alaturkanews]

Afghanistan's Taliban to attend their first UN climate conference

The conference, known as COP29, begins on Monday in Azerbaijan and is one of the most important multilateral talks to include the Taliban, who do not have outside recognition as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. The National Environmental Protection Agency posted on social media platform X that a technical delegation had gone to Baku to participate. Matiul Haq Khalis, the agency’s head, said…

[studentofpolssunl]

Week 1, Post 1

Viewing this article, I am reminded of our discussion in class yesterday regarding Mary Wollstonecraft. The call for empowerment for female education is real, and ever-present, especially in places like Afghanistan. Although the Taliban promised to repeal their decision on female education, they have currently not done so. Education has an enduring influence on people, and to not allow females to have access to it is pretty horrible. Wollstonecraft was a revolutionary and would appear to be one for the Taliban. The whole situation is crazy to me. If the Taliban truly wants a gender-segregated society, how can women have dedicated healthcare when they are not educated to be able to provide healthcare services? Afghanistan has one of the world's highest pregnancy death rates, and this unfortunately will not change anytime soon unless there is equal education for both genders.

[entrepreneurshipsecrets]

Born or Made? The Inspiration behind Young Entrepreneurs

It is easy to think that entrepreneurs are born and that if you do not have that entrepreneurial gift, you will have no chance. After all, we can all think of examples of people who seemed to have risen effortlessly to success. However, this is likely to be deceptive as even the youngest entrepreneurs have put in a lot of hard work to get them to where they are. Instead, there are likely to be a lot of factors that contribute to the creation of a young entrepreneur, including the motivation that inspires them to keep trying and never give up.

Controlling their own destiny

Growing up, it can often feel like someone else is always in control, such as parents and teachers. The desire to control their own lives drives many young people. This can result in teenage rebellion and ‘going off the rails’, but for some, it inspires them to create a life where they can take control. In this instance, rather than seeking employment once they are adults, they instead want to own their own business where they call the shots. Beyond that, they want to be the ones who help create the future that awaits them.

Making a difference

It becomes clear that entrepreneurs are made rather than born when you consider their backgrounds and upbringing. Entrepreneurs often aren’t the lucky ones growing up in a privileged lifestyle, instead, they have often had to overcome considerable hardship and are only too aware of the problems in the world. The desire to solve those problems, create ways to make the world and people’s lives better and to generally make a difference inspires many entrepreneurs. This may be in the form of tackling the climate crisis through green enterprises or bringing prosperity and opportunity to a particular area. A good example of the latter category is the story of Afghan-born business leader Ehsan Bayat, who left Afghanistan after the Russian invasion in 1980 but who always hoped to return to make a difference. After the fall of the Taliban, he returned to establish several businesses, as well as the Bayat Foundation, which has improved maternity care and provides support for new mothers, orphan care, education, and an entrepreneurship program for widows, women, and youth to provide opportunities for Afghans today to prosper.

The thrill of the challenge

Many young entrepreneurs are drawn to entrepreneurship because they love a challenge. These young people are driven and motivated, always on the lookout for new ways to test themselves. This could lead them in many directions, such as into sports or academia, both paths that offer their own challenges. However, if coupled with some of the other motivations mentioned above, it can lead many into entrepreneurship. Conceiving, setting up, and managing an enterprise is full of challenges, with many hurdles to success and countless competitors. For young entrepreneurs, these problems to tackle are part of the attraction.

Innovation

Young people look to the future more than any other group in society and are keen to help shape it. Their minds are brimming with ideas regarding what they would like to see in the future, and they are keen to do whatever it takes to bring those ideas to fruition. The desire to innovate can be a particular motivation for those whose entrepreneurial mindset is paired with creativity and imagination. They will also be ready to embrace the innovations of others, keen to explore the latest developments in technology and science and use these developments to enhance their own innovations and ideas. Young entrepreneurs are keen learners, always interested in finding out more about the different ways they can develop their business ideas.

Recognition

Like most people, young entrepreneurs are, in part, driven by the opinions of others. Initially, a young entrepreneur can be buoyed by the support and praise of their families and friends. However, the opportunity for recognition can go beyond the young entrepreneur’s immediate circle. They may be featured in the local or even national press. They may win business awards or be awarded bursaries to help them further grow their enterprise. There are also mentorships available, as experienced entrepreneurs have the necessary experience to teach their younger counterparts about achieving success in a competitive world.

Born or made?

 Some of the characteristics that make an entrepreneur may be innate. Some people are born with an innovative streak or an interest in problem-solving, but this does not mean that you can only be an entrepreneur if you are born one. Instead, the opposite is true. Many aspects of a person’s upbringing can help fuel an entrepreneurial spirit, such as a desire to help others, to control your own destiny or to make a difference in a fast-changing world. Through a combination of personality traits, patience, and hard work, young people can be inspired to take their first steps toward an entrepreneurial career. Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash Read the full article

[intriguingpeoplebyangelafloyd]

AFGHAN GIRL

AFGHAN GIRL

            Afghan Girl is a photograph featured on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985. The photograph was taken by American photographer Steve MCurry who took the photo near Peshawar, Pakistan in a refugee camp. It became one of the most famous photographs of all-time.

            The girl in the photograph remained a mystery, but she was aged 12-13 at the time of the photograph and was living in Nasir Bagh, Pakistan. MuCurry made several attempts during the 1990s to locate her, but failed.

            The girl in the image wasn’t discovered again until 2002, her name is Sharbat Gula, who was an Afghan refugee in Pakistan during Soviet-Afghan War. The search for the Afghan Girl was featured in the documentary, ‘Search for the Afghan Girl’ (2002). Many women claimed it was them in the photograph and many men believed it was their wives. Her identity was helped with the use of iris recognition.

            When she was discovered she was around 30-years old, married with three daughters, who had returned to Afghanistan in 1992 and was living in a remote region. When she was showed the photograph, she said she had never seen it before and that was the first time she had viewed it.

            When she was aged 6, she, her grandmother, brother and three sisters walked across the mountains to Pakistan and ended up in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp, Pakistan, 1984 after her village was attacked by Soviet helicopters. She got married to Rahmat Gul when she was around 13-years old and had three daughters, her husband died in 2012.

            She is Muslim and she wears a burka and was hesitant in meeting McCurry as he is a male who isn’t a relative. Gula said that she wishes her daughters end up with an education that she never had. In 2016, she was arrested by Pakistani authorities for living in Pakistan with forged documents; she was deported back to Afghanistan in 2017. When asked if she felt safe she said, ‘No, but life under the Taliban was better. At least there was peace and order.’ In 2021, at her request, she was granted asylum in Italy, three months after Taliban took over Afghanistan.

#afghangirl #nationalgeographic #stevemcurry #sharbatgula #sharbatbibi #afghanistan

[mariacallous]

In November 2024, a delegation from the Taliban terrorist movement made its first appearance at a major international UN event, the COP29 Climate Summit. More and more governments are gradually establishing ties with Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, especially neighboring states. Afghanistan is developing closer ties with India, China, and multiple Central Asian countries. Russia is also committed to developing bilateral cooperation, as Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu announced after a Russian delegation visited Kabul on Nov. 25. On Nov. 26, the Russian parliament turned its attention to a bill that would remove the Taliban from Moscow’s blacklist. However, broader international recognition of the Taliban is hampered by divisions within the movement itself.

[historybannedonfacebook]

THE TALIBAN

1994                      TALIBAN -   (Taleban) is an Islamic political movement in Afghanistan, it ruled from 1996 to 2001 – it only gained recognition from 3 states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Mohammed Omar was the founder of the Taliban until his death in 2013. Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was his replacement. While in power, it informed Sharia Law (Islamic Law), they treated women with much brutality. Pakistan has been accused of continuing to support the Taliban; Pakistan states it dropped support for the Taliban after the 11 September attacks. Al-Qaeda also supported the Taliban. Saudi Arabia provided the Taliban with financial support. The Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied food supplies to civilians, and destroyed thousands of homes. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee. After the 11 September attacks, the Taliban were overthrown by the American invasion of Afghanistan. The Taliban has been using terrorism to further their ideological and political goals.

                The Taliban movement's origins go back to the Pakistan-trained mujahideen in North Pakistan, during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. When Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq became President of Pakistan he feared that the Soviets would invade, so he sent Akhtar Abdur Rahman to Saudi Arabia to gain support for the Afghan resistance against forces. The US and Saudia Arabia joined with Afghanistan to stop Soviet occupation forces and helped them with funds. Zia-ul-Haq aligned with Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and later picked General Akhtar Abdur Rahman to lead the insurgency against the Soviet Union inside Afghanistan. 90,000 Afghans were trained by ISI during the 80s. The USA and UK gave aid of about 20 billion dollars in the 80s to Pakistan to train Taliban personnel and also provided them with arms and ammunition. After the fall of the Soviet regime of Mohammad Najibullah in 1992, several Afghan political parties agreed on peace. Saudi Arabia and Iran supported the Afghan militia's hostility towards each other. Iran assisted the Shia Hazara Hezb-I Wahdat forces of Abdul Ali Mazari, as Iran attempted to maximize Wahdat’s military power and influence. Saudi Arabia supported the Wahhabite Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and his Ittihad-I Islami faction. The conflict between the 2 soon escalated. These forces saw an opportunity to press their own political agendas. The Taliban emerged in south Afghanistan in Kandahar in 1994. Due to the sudden civil war, the government, and the police did not have time to form. Crimes were committed by criminals and individuals. The Red Cross (ICRC) collapsed within days.

                The Taliban, while trying to control northern and western Afghanistan, committed systematic massacres against civilians. There were 15 massacres between 1996 and 2001. Arab and Pakistani support troops were involved in these killings. Bin Laden’s 005 Brigade was responsible for the mass-killings of Afghan civilians. Arab fighters went around with long knives and slit people’s throats and skinned people. Taliban’s former ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, in 2001 said that the cruel behaviour by the Taliban had been “necessary”. The Taliban denied emergency food to 160,000 hungry and starving people due to political and military reasons. In 1998, the Taliban attacked Mazar-I Sharif. Out of 1500 defenders, only 100 survived. The Taliban gained controland started to kill people randomly. They started shooting people in the street, and began to target Hazaras. They raped women, and they put thousands of people in containers and locked them in and left them to suffocate to death. This left 5,000 to 6,000 dead. 10 Iranian diplomats and one journalist were also killed. They burned orchards, crops and destroyed irrigation systems, and forced more than 100,000 people from their homes with hundreds of men, women and children still unaccounted for.  The Taliban killed civilians. Istalif, was home to 45,000 people – the Taliban gave all of these people just 24 hours' notice to leave. In 1999, Bamian was taken, people – men, women, and children were all executed. There was another massacre in the town of Yakalang in 2001. 300 people were murdered. In 1999, the Taliban forced thousands of people from the Shomali Plains and other regions and burned their homes, farmland, and gardens.

                Taliban and al-Qaeda ran human trafficking, abducting women and selling them into sex slavery in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban argued that the strict restrictions they placed on women were to protect them. The behavior of the Taliban made a mockery of that claim. There were women who committed suicide over slavery. In 1999 in Shomali Plains, more than 600 women were kidnapped, the women were forced into trucks and buses. The women were penned up inside a camp in the desert. The more attractive women were selected and taken away. They were sold into brothels or to private household to be kept as slaves.  Not all involved with the Taliban were for human trafficking, many in the Taliban were opposed to it. One Taliban commander and his men freed women who were abducted.

                The Taliban forced women into house arrest, and if they left their homes they were punished physically. The Taliban stopped women from being educated, and girls were not permitted to go to school or college. If a woman went shopping she had to be accompanied by a male relative and had to wear the burqa. If any woman disobeyed she was publicly beaten into submission. Any woman who was in public with someone who was not a relative was accused of adultery – which involved public flogging in the stadium – 100 lashes. The religious police carried out abuse on women. Women could not work, unless it was in the medical sector, because male medical personnel were not allowed to treat women and girls. The Taliban also closed down primary schools, not only female schools but male schools as well, due to teachers being female. In 1998, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul and issued all homes to blacken their windows, if women lived inside so women could not be seen from the outside.

                The Taliban were responsible for 76% of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2009 and 80% in 2011. In 2008, the Taliban increased its use of suicide bombers and targeted unarmed civilians and aid workers. Female suicide bombers have become increasingly common. Schools and homes were booby-trapped, snipers shelter in houses deliberately filled with women and children. The Taliban targeted health officials that work to immunize children against polio due to fears of the vaccine. Taliban banned the vaccine and the Taliban assassinated 4 female UN polio-worker in Pakistan because they accused them of being spies.

                The Taliban has a strict and anti-modern ideology, they also go by Sharia Law. They are a militant Islam group and extremist jihadists of Osama bin Laden. They are inspired by the mystical Sufis, traditionalists, and radical Islamicists inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan). Under the Taliban, Islam Law – Sharia Law prohibited pork, many different technologies, alcohol, and forms of art including paintings and photos, and was against women playing sport. Men were forbidden to shave their beards and required to wear a head covering.

                The Bamyan Buddhas at Bamyan were 2 6th-century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan. In 2001, The Taliban destroyed them with dynamite. The Taliban believed that worshiping anything outside of Islam was unacceptable and that the statues had to be destroyed.

90s 1990s THE TIME MACHINE

[warningsine]

KABUL, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The Taliban will attend China's Belt and Road Forum next week, a spokesman said on Saturday, underscoring Beijing's growing official ties with the administration, despite its lack of formal recognition by any government.

Taliban officials and ministers have at times travelled to regional meetings, mostly those focussed on Afghanistan, but the Belt and Road Forum is among the highest-profile multilateral summits it has been invited to attend.

The forum in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday marks the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping's ambitious global infrastructure and energy initiative, billed as recreating the ancient Silk Road to boost global trade.

The Taliban's acting minister for commerce and industry, Haji Nooruddin Azizi, will travel to Beijing in the coming days, ministry spokesman Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad said in a text message to Reuters.

"He will attend and will invite large investors" to Afghanistan, he said.

The impoverished country could offer a wealth of coveted mineral resources. A mines minister estimated in 2010 that Afghanistan had untapped deposits, ranging from copper to gold and lithium, worth between $1 trillion and $3 trillion. It is not clear how much they are worth today.

China has been in talks with the Taliban over plans, begun under the previous foreign-backed government, over a possible huge copper mine in eastern Afghanistan.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Azizi will continue discussions in Beijing on plans to build a road through the Wakhan corridor, a thin, mountainous strip in northern Afghanistan, to provide direct access to China, Akhundzada said.

Officials from China, the Taliban and neighbouring Pakistan said in May they would like Belt and Road to include Afghanistan and for the flagship China Pakistan Economic Corridor to be extended across the border to Afghanistan.

The Taliban has not been formally recognised by any government since taking control of Afghanistan two years ago as U.S. and other foreign forces withdrew.

A series of restrictions on women's access to public life and the barring of many female NGO staff from work has increased roadblocks to recognition, especially by Western countries, officials and international relations analysts say.

China has boosted engagement with the Taliban, becoming the first country to appoint an ambassador to Kabul since the Taliban took power, and invested in mining projects.

Beijing's ambassador presented his credentials to the Taliban's acting prime minister last month. Other nations have kept on previous ambassadors or appointed heads of mission in a charge d'affaires capacity that does not involve formally presenting credentials to the government.

[blogynewz]

Taliban's Surprising Move: Joining China Belt and Road Forum in Beijing to Strengthen Bonds

The Taliban announced on Saturday that they will attend China’s Belt and Road Forum next week, indicating the growing official ties between Beijing and the Taliban administration, despite the lack of formal recognition by any government. While the Taliban has previously participated in regional meetings focused on Afghanistan, their attendance at the Belt and Road Forum is considered one of the…