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August 15,2021 | Hujjatullah Zia | Opinion

The Holy Month of Muharram is celebrated annually among Muslims to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Husain (A.S) and his companions whose blood was spilt in the scorching desert of ...Read more

Following the recent advances of the Taliban in the countryside, they have also continued advances towards the center of provinces. They have taken the control of several provinces ...Read more

Historically, Afghanistan has experienced different political systems such as empire, kingdom, constitutional kingdom, communism, absolutism, but none of them unified Afghan ...Read more

Historically, Afghanistan has experienced different political systems such as empire, kingdom, constitutional kingdom, communism, absolutism, but none of them unified ...Read more

KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday said that he was in high level consultations for prevention of further violence in the country, but his priority was remobilization of Afghan security forces...Read More

WASHINGTON - The first forces of a Marine battalion arrived in Kabul at weeks end to stand guard as the U.S. speeds up evacuation flights for some American diplomats ...Read More

KABUL, Afghanistan The Taliban seized two more provinces on Saturday and approached the outskirts of Afghanistans capital while also launching a multi-pronged assault ...Read More

WASHINGTON - US Congressman Mike Waltz in a letter to President Joe Biden on Friday urged the Administration to take immediate steps to provide assistance to the Afghan people ...Read More

OTTAWA - The Canadian government has pledged to evacuate and resettle 20,000 Afghans, including women, aid workers and diplomatic staff, citing concerns about Taliban reprisals ...Read More

BRUSSELS - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called on the Taliban to immediately halt their offensive in Afghanistan, and warned that Afghanistan is ...Read More

In discussions with the international community in Doha, Qatar, the Afghan government has raised its concerns over the Talibans brutal attacks on cities, the Ministry ...Read More

MOSCOW- Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Aug. 20 in Moscow, the Kremlin announced on Friday...Read More

President Emmanuel Macrons office announced on Friday that he and his administration will skip next months United Nations conference on racism over concerns ...Read More

Two people were killed and 17 more were injured on Thursday after an explosion on a bus in southwestern Russia. The region's governor, Alexander Gusev ...Read More

Wildfires that have ravaged Greece for over two weeks have been brought under control, a fire brigade spokesman said on Friday. "Since yesterday, there is no major ...Read More

WASHINGTON - Unable to produce the final text of a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure bill, the Senate wrapped up a rare Saturday session making little visible progress on the legislative ...Read More

DORI- Awoken by gunshots in the middle of the night, Fatima Amadou was shocked by what she saw among the attackers: children. . . Read More

Following the recent advances of the Taliban in the countryside, they have also continued advances towards the center of provinces. They have taken the control of several provinces ...Read More

Historically, Afghanistan has experienced different political systems such as empire, kingdom, constitutional kingdom, communism, absolutism, but none of them unified Afghan ...Read More

Historically, Afghanistan has experienced different political systems such as empire, kingdom, constitutional kingdom, communism, absolutism, but none of them unified ...Read More

Afghans believe that US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is responsible for all the turbulence and deteriorated situation in Afghanistan as his negotiations did not lead to peace or stability...Read More

The United Nations Security Council is one of the main pillars of the United Nations responsible for safeguarding international peace and security. In regard to the forty-year ...Read More

One of the most misleading dimensions of war in the traditional society of Afghanistan was its religious sophistry in the last 20 years. According to the Afghan people ...Read More

The Taliban have neither honored their peace agreement, signed in February 2020 with the United States, nor negotiated with genuine intention with the Afghan administration...Read More

The Holy Month of Muharram is celebrated annually among Muslims to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Husain (A.S) and his companions whose blood was spilt in the scorching desert of ...Read More

In July, Donald Tusk, the former European Council president who previously served as Polands prime minister from 2007 to 2014, returned to Polish politics. Many voters ...Read More

The US military intervention in Afghanistan began in the crucible of terrorism. Twenty years later, as US forces withdraw from the country and the Taliban go on the offensive ...Read More

If the Taliban leadership declared ceasefire and reduced violence, neither of the warring sides would sustain the heavy casualties. The escalated violence inflicted heavy casualties ...Read More

The independent Pakistan found a golden opportunity to enter in Afghan politics and society openly when in December 1979 the Soviet Army intervened in Afghanistan and installed ...Read More

Afghanistan situation is deteriorating. The countrys future is uncertain and the last two decades achievements are really at stake, achievements that are too much precious ...Read More

A new phase of regional cooperation is in bloom following US President Joe Bidens decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021 ...Read More

Original post:
Home - Daily Outlook Afghanistan, The leading Independent ...

After Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, Halima received an email from the American University of Afghanistan that she would be on a flight out the next day. She took a small backpack with two sets of clothes, and left behind her family and the first 19 years of her life. The next day, she arrived at the American University of IraqSolemani.

She was at first worried about her safety in what she regarded as another war-torn country, but she eventually settled in and felt secure at her new campus.

Her course schedule is a mix of in-person classes with fellow students from the university in Iraq and online courses with Afghan students from around the world.

Scattered throughout the world, the students from the American University of Afghanistan are logging on across time zones to continue their education. Over half of the students have now been evacuated from Afghanistan and are mainly in Iraq, Kyrgyzstan and the U.S., with others in countries like Germany, France, Chile and Rwanda.

CBS News spoke to seven current students and is not using their real names out of security concerns for the students and their families.

The American University of Afghanistan was established in 2006 as the nation's first private college with a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. It was founded with 50 students and grew to over 1,000, with the aim of establishing a form of higher education built on the American model. The physical campus closed soon after the Taliban took control this summer.

Over 2,000 miles to the east of Iraq, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Fazal, a business student, joins his class from his new apartment near the American University of Central Asia. He's learning some Russian, the local language spoken, to get by in his new environment.

"I needed to leave my family, my father and mother, because I didn't want to be a threat to them by being affiliated with a U.S. institution," he said.

Concentrating on his studies has been difficult, with his mind wandering back to his homeland and family, but he remains motivated to graduate. "It has been a struggle to get back to the same focus, the attention span that I previously had," he said. "But I kind of keep trying and putting in effort to get back to being normal."

"They were impressive people even in relatively normal times, but what they're demonstrating now with their resilience and their ambitions and their desire to learn surpasses anything I've ever seen from students anywhere in the world," said Ian Bickford, president of the university.

Keeping the classes going hasn't been easy. Schedules still run on Kabul time to standardize when students around the world meet. That has students and professors signing on at various hours of the night and day.

The professors preview all the material at the beginning of the week, with online class sessions acting as a supplement. This format aims to help students who may not be able to attend every class.

"We thought that was a really important signal to send to our community that we are still there and we can still teach," said Dr. Victoria Fontan, vice president of academic affairs at the university and a professor of peace and conflict studies.

The students remaining in Afghanistan face unique challenges. With electricity and internet no longer reliable, it has been difficult for Norie to attend class. She has not told her family that she is continuing her studies with the university online. She fears them finding out, accidentally mentioning her continuing education and the repercussions that could follow.

But beyond the anxiety is the loneliness that plagues her current life as a woman in Afghanistan. "I can't go alone to meet with my friends. I can't go shopping alone. I can't go do sports. I used to run with my father in the morning and I can't anymore."

In a refugee facility in France, Hassan, a student who made it out of Afghanistan on his own, said he never thought he would leave his country and worries about his future.

"When I came to France, I lost my hope. I was like, I'm nothing right now. I was studying, and here I have nothing. I don't even have a bachelor's degree." From his room at the facility, he continues with his classes online in hopes that he will be relocated to a university. While still a student in Kabul, he was working on developing a software that would make it easier for students to take classes from their phone. He worries that his family is in danger and that there is nothing he can do to help them.

Even as the students are spread across 28 countries, some still hope to see their futures in Afghanistan. Pashtana Dorani was evacuated to the U.S. in late October on a researcher visa. She is at Wellesley College in Massachusetts researching the impact of conflict on women's education while finishing her undergraduate degree.

In Afghanistan, she founded LEARN, a nonprofit focused on education, organizing projects around digital literacy and menstrual hygiene management. While grateful for the opportunity to be in the U.S., she maintains that she wants to take the skills she learns back to her home country when it feels safe.

"Staying in the U.S. is good, I'm grateful for the support I have right now, and I'm so grateful for all these amazing women around me," she said. "But at the end of the day, the heart is where home is. And home is Afghanistan."

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American University of Afghanistan's students are scattered all over the world, but their education continues - CBS News

THE BACKGROUND: For Afghanistan, 2021 was punctuated by the chaos of a U.S. withdrawal and an uncertain next chapter. The Taliban, who were unseated as the countrys rulers by a U.S.-led coalition after the 9/11 attacks 20 years ago, could not be stopped by a collapsing Afghan military and Western-backed government that fled. They quickly took power back in mid-August asked,The Associated Press has revealed, by former President Hamid Karzai to help keep Kabul from falling into chaos and deadly violence.

Four months into Taliban rule, Afghanistan isfacing a looming economic meltdownand humanitarian catastrophe. Billions of dollars worth of the countrys assets abroad, mostly in the U.S., have been frozen and international funding to the country has ceased.

The world is waiting before extending any formal recognition to the new rulers in Kabul, wary the Taliban could impose a similarly harsh regime as when they were in power 20 years ago despite their assurances to the contrary.

The Taliban urge patience but some signs are worrisome: For instance, girls are not allowed to attend high school in most provinces, and though women have returned to their jobs in much of the health care sector, many female civil servants have been barred from coming to work.

However, security has improved under the Taliban, following their crackdown on crime, and humanitarian organizations say they can now reach parts of the country that were previously no-go areas.

Here, Associated Press reporters who covered the Talibans lightning sweep across the country and the subsequent fallout reflect on the story and their own experiences.

FILE - A U.S. Chinook helicopter flies over the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Helicopters landed at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as diplomatic vehicles left the compound amid the Taliban advance on the Afghan capital. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

Kathy Gannon, news director, Afghanistan and Pakistan:

This last year has been a particularly tumultuous one. It began really with the announcement by President (Joe) Biden that the last of the U.S. soldiers and NATOs soldiers would leave Afghanistan, but Im not sure that anyone thought that it would result in such chaos and such real misery for so many. ... Even Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, I think, was really taken by surprise that the Americans were leaving, that NATO would leave. I dont think that he ever felt that they would actually. And certainly we talked at the time to many people within the army, people within the government who were really surprised at the announcement. Even though the U.S. had been talking to the Taliban, had negotiated the agreement, had said that as of May 1st, they would begin this withdrawal, there really was a belief among many Afghans that it would not happen.

FILE - In this image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. service members assigned to Joint Task Force-Crisis Response, are pallbearers on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, for the service members killed in action during operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, as transfer cases are placed onto a U.S. Air Force C17A Globemaster III for the flight back to the United States. (1st Lt. Mark Andries/U.S. Marine Corps via AP, File)

Even before the Taliban took power, in 2018 there was a Gallup survey, and it showed that barely 2 percent of the population had any faith in their future in the next five years. And that was years before the Taliban took power. So the groundwork was already there. People were very frustrated. The poverty level was quite high already. There were very few jobs for people. People felt really discouraged with the future of their country.

So then when the Americans were leaving and then embassies were announcing they were going to close, it was almost like a snowball, gaining, gaining momentum. Rumors spread on social media that said, the Americans will take anybody who shows up at the airport. Just arrive. You dont even need to have your national papers. Well, for many Afghans, I think this was seen as their opportunity for a better life. Their opportunity to go to America, to go to the West, to have a future that they really had not seen as being a possibility in their own country even before the Taliban arrived.

And then, with the arrival of the Taliban, of course, there was tremendous apprehension and tremendous fear, particularly among the young generation who had not been there when the Taliban last ruled between 1996 and 2001. So I think that that all of that led to this massive surge toward the airport in Kabul, and no one was prepared for it.

And for me, in many ways, that really was a bit of an indictment of the last 20 years, that there was such a lack of hope and faith in the future. And the civil society, on whom so much faith had been put, seemed to be the first ones to make this rush to the airport because they feared for their lives, they feared for the future. They feared for the future of their children.

So that really contributed to that chaos in those iconic images of young men rushing the C-17 aircraft, hanging on to the wheels, trying to get into the aircraft. All of this uncertainty and fear contributed to that. And really the last 20 years, that didnt give them much hope for the future.

But I want to say there was no evidence from when the Taliban last ruled that there would be widespread retribution killings. Sadly, though, revenge killings have been a hallmark of every regime change in Afghanistan. There were scores of retribution killings when the Taliban were overthrown in 2001 by U.S.-backed Afghan allies, and human rights groups have reported upward of 80 revenge killings, particularly of former military people, by the returning Taliban rulers. However, until now there has been no evidence of systematic retribution.

The fact that the Taliban are here and that the world seems surprised seems a little bit in and of itself surprising, given that there were two years of negotiations with the Taliban, with the plan that at the end of these negotiations, there would be an agreement that would include them in power. And I think the future is still a mystery. The jury is still out on whether the Taliban will make good on some of their promises to guarantee education for girls. Whether they will open up their ranks, whether they will include more people. And I think that there still is not a clear picture of what that will look like. But what there is a clear picture of is that Afghans are desperate for help. The U.N. has said that 98 percent of Afghans by the end of this year will be in desperate need, and its still not clear that the world is ready to rise up to the occasion.

FILE - In this image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, evacuees wait to board a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 30. 2021. (Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/U.S. Marine Corps via AP, File)

Fazel Rahman, senior television producer, Afghanistan:

The biggest surprising and shocking moment for me this year came in the middle of night: Gunmen knocked on the AP bureaus door, looking for us and they were threatening us with death. But we were very, very lucky. Fortunately, they were not able to harm anyone. We dont know who they were. The Talibans spokesman Suhail Shaheen was notified right away about these people knocking at the AP door. Taliban officials within two days had come to the office, and after looking around, assured our AP people no one would or should enter our premises without our permission. Should anyone do that we were told to call the officials. We have certainly been cautious, but we have not had Taliban or others unlawfully enter our premises.

As an Afghan, I see my people losing their hopes. They lost the achievements of 20 years, two decades, overnight. You know, my daughter cannot go to school. My boys are leaving the house, and she is not able to.

Unfortunately, because the Taliban came to power again, you know its very difficult for them to leave again, at least for a short time. The good thing is, we have winter ahead of us, which is not usually a fighting time in Afghanistan. And I think we have chances of negotiation.

Originally posted here:
US withdrawal and Afghanistan's next chapter - Military Times

A British man is missing in Afghanistan after a report he has been detained by the Taliban. Grant Bailey was arrested in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where he has been working as a security consultant.

The arrest came during a Taliban security clampdown, according to the Daily Mirror.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office could not confirm his identity, but a spokesperson said: We are aware of the detention of a British national in Afghanistan and have been in touch with their family to support them.

Baileys work duties include liaising with the US state department on security-related issues. He was last heard from on Saturday after being arrested at gunpoint, a UK security source told the Mirror.

The Mirror quoted the source saying: We were quite surprised he went back to Kabul after the western withdrawal as the security situation there is obviously much worse.

Added to that, the Taliban government is making it very difficult for the few ex-pats working there, making it very difficult to travel. A lot of people are trying to get to the bottom of what has happened to him, where he is being held, and under what charges.

Bailey is believed to have returned to Kabul in September shortly after the Taliban took over and the US and UK forces withdrew amid chaotic scenes at Kabul airport. His employer has been contacted for comment.

Baileys arrest underlines the continuing risks facing the small number of westerners who continue to work in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, hundreds of Afghans who were previously employed by UK organisations, including former BBC staff and those who worked for the British Council and UK forces, have been forced into hiding since the Taliban took over.

Earlier this month, Joseph Seaton, the former British Council Afghanistan English manager, said of his former colleagues: These people are living in constant fear of their lives. They were contracted under a British government-funded scheme to teach English teachers British values of diversity, inclusion and equality, the values that the Taliban oppose. They were always told they were employees of the British government.

Since the Talibans takeover, the UN has warned that 23 million Afghans face hunger due to conflict, drought and an economic downturn.

In October, the World Food Programmes executive director, David Beasley, said: Afghanistan is now among the worlds worst humanitarian crises if not the worst and food security has all but collapsed.

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Briton missing in Afghanistan after reports of Taliban arrest - The Guardian

For decades, U.S. policy toward Pakistan has been predicated on Americas goals in Afghanistan. Pakistan both helped and hindered the U.S. war on terror, making for a notoriously dysfunctional relationship. Now the United States is out of Afghanistan, and the relationship is on shaky footing. Its time to reimagine it.

The United States must treat Pakistan as a country in its own right, not as a fulcrum for U.S. policy on Afghanistan. That starts with America disentangling itself from the close military relationship with Pakistan.

A reset wont be easy: Resentment is rife. America sees Pakistans support for the Taliban as one reason it lost in Afghanistan; Pakistan sees the Taliban insurgency it faced at home as blowback for partnering with America next door. In Washington the grim mood has led to talk of disengagement and sanctions. Neither approach will work or be satisfactory in the long run.

Pakistan, meanwhile, wants a broad-based relationship with the U.S. focused on geoeconomics which is not realistic.

Instead, the Biden administration seems to be defaulting to the status quo: largely limiting engagement with Pakistan to Afghanistan, mostly for over-the-horizon counterterrorism options. This sets up a repetition of the old, failed cycle, missing the opportunity to steer Pakistan away from its own harmful overreliance on the military to a more productive future.

It would be smarter and safer for the United States to pivot to a multidimensional approach that acknowledges the realities of the country and its neighborhood. Pakistan is a nuclear-armed country with a population of more than 220 million, neighboring not just Afghanistan but also Iran and Pakistans close friend China and nuclear-armed rival India. Pakistan faces immense domestic challenges, including with governance and terrorism. It also has unrealized economic potential.

The first and most important step to this pivot would be explicitly reducing American dependence on its usual partner in Pakistan: the military and intelligence services. While Pakistans military is perceived as more efficient than its civilian institutions, it has repeatedly shown that its incentives are not aligned with Americas.

U.S. reliance on Pakistans military has weighted the civilian-military equation evidenced in how military spending accounts for about 16 percent of Pakistans annual expenditures. (U.S. military spending accounts for 11 percent.) Pakistans dominant military has kept active the specter of potential conflict with India, and its intelligence services have cultivated relationships with an array of dangerous nonstate armed actors.

A civilian-focused U.S. policy will help Pakistan begin to shift the balance away from its military and will, in the longer term, bolster Pakistans democracy. While that certainly wont guarantee liberalism in Pakistan, it can in time curb approaches favored by the military including relationships with jihadists that have proved harmful for the region and Pakistan itself.

In practical terms, that will mean U.S. cabinet secretaries make fewer calls to Pakistani army chiefs and more to civilian ministers. It will mean that President Biden should finally make a long-awaited call to Pakistans prime minister to discuss China, India, counterterrorism and the economy, not just cooperation on Afghanistan.

There are risks to this approach. The military and intelligence services in Pakistan wont be thrilled about this downgrade in their status, and they may choose to retaliate by reducing cooperation in areas like intelligence sharing or by limiting access to Pakistani airspace for counterterrorism operations. This approach might also seem to be asking the U.S. government to overlook past issues with Pakistan (especially its support of the Taliban) and will require a level of generosity that some believe Pakistan does not deserve. But the benefits from such a reset stronger Pakistani civilian institutions, which will mean a more reliable partnership both diplomatically and militarily for the United States will ultimately outweigh short-term risks.

Once Americas reliance on Pakistans military is explicitly and clearly reduced, U.S. policy toward Pakistan can be steered toward economic and other forms of engagement. This can be a step-by-step process.

First, America and Pakistan should look for avenues to boost trade. (The United States is Pakistans top export destination, but Pakistan is Americas 56th-largest trading goods partner.) Washington could, for example, provide technical support to industries like textiles while making clear Pakistan must produce and market its goods at competitive prices. Second, U.S. firms should be encouraged to consider investments in Pakistan which could be a strong incentive for Pakistan to further improve its investment climate.

America can also engage with Pakistan in other ways, like helping it tackle its massive air pollution problem. Engagement that is not conditional on security concerns wins hearts and minds in Pakistan.

Thats not to say there wont need to be an Afghanistan element to this new approach, given that America still needs Pakistans help for over-the-horizon counterterrorism options to deal with any threats from militant groups in Afghanistan. Plus, America wants Pakistan to withhold recognition of the Taliban. But it should be only one aspect not all of U.S.-Pakistan policy.

This new approach can reset the relationship in a constructive direction in the longer term, compared to the alternative: a policy menu of disengagement and sanctions.

Disengagement may satisfy Pakistan hawks in Washington, but it makes for disingenuous policy. It reduces Americas leverage with Pakistan in the event of a conflict with India and ignores the reality of Pakistans nuclear status and domestic struggle with terrorist groups. Disengagement also risks pushing Pakistan further into Chinas arms, which is not inevitable. (China has promised Pakistan $62 billion under the Belt and Road initiative, though the project has seen slowdowns.)

As for sanctions: Not only did U.S. sanctions against Pakistan in the 1990s fail to curtail its nuclear program, but also Pakistans takeaway was to hedge against future American abandonment which in turn partly contributed to its dual-track policy after 2001.

Whats more, a wealth of evidence shows broad-based sanctions make for ineffective foreign policy. And their effect is limited when other countries dont sign on. More effective and multilateral tools exist to shape Pakistans behavior, like the Financial Action Task Force, an international watchdog monitoring terrorist financing. Its graylisting of Pakistan in 2018 prompted the country to crack down on Lashkar-e-Taiba and other jihadist groups.

To be fair, shifting the U.S. approach to Pakistan wholesale will not be easy. Decades of American policy have seen Pakistan squarely through the Afghanistan prism, and government inertia makes change difficult. Mr. Bidens focus is on the Indo-Pacific. Critical statements by Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan regarding the United States havent gone over well in Washington, and his move to skip Mr. Bidens summit for democracy may have left a sour taste. Pakistans military wont be happy. But such a policy change is possible, if done deliberately and done right.

This shift would be in line with the Biden administrations foreign policy frame of great power competition, helpfully keeping Pakistan from gravitating further toward China.

Pakistan is simultaneously important and complicated. There is no magic bullet when it comes to reimagining a new policy, but the United States now has an opportunity to steer the relationship in a potentially more productive direction. Washington should give it a shot.

Excerpt from:
Opinion | U.S. Policy Toward Pakistan Can't Be All About Afghanistan - The New York Times