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The first public appearance by Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of Afghanistans Taliban regime, has given no room for hope that those who have taken charge of that benighted country will change for the better. Akhundzada, who was at one time even rumoured to be dead, made his first trip outside Kandahar for a two-day meeting of Taliban clerics in Kabul last week. In recent weeks, the Taliban, faced with factionalism and internal divisions, have responded by going into default mode, and women have been the first target. New restrictions on their movement have been imposed, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel for girls who want to go to school. Any expectations that this conference may come up with a way forward were belied. A resolution adopted at the end of the two-day all-male conference had only vague references to respect to the rights of women and to the need for religious and modern education. The meeting was closed to the media, but Akhundzadas speech was publicly broadcast. A hardliner in the Taliban system, he made no concessions to the demands both by Afghans and the international community that the regime must become inclusive of minorities and, more urgently, allow girls to go to school.

The rule by Taliban is not a normal arrangement. The armed group, whose luminaries include several designated terrorists, took power by force, and is determined to impose its extremist views on the people of the country. The overturning of the moderate progress in education and gender rights made over the last two decades is one thing. It has shown no sign of accommodation towards non-Pashtun, non-Sunni minority communities in Afghanistan. And it has given every sign of being in touch with the big transnational terror group, al Qaeda, and cross-border terror groups, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Yet, this regime in Kabul wants international recognition as a legitimate government of Afghanistan and wants the worlds assistance to tide over its difficulties, including a devastating earthquake that caused large-scale destruction. Akhundzada and the Taliban must realise that just as the world is rushing to help with humanitarian assistance for this natural disaster, it can hardly stand by and watch a Taliban-made disaster unfold.

It is good that India, which re-opened its embassy in Kabul with a small team of security and other officials at the end of June, made a strong pitch for the rights of Afghan women at the Geneva conference even as it called attention to Delhis dispatch of relief material in two special aircraft for survivors of the quake.

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Taliban regime in Afghanistan seeks international recognition while continuing to belie all expectations of moderation in power - The Indian Express

Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation on the ground since the Taliban takeover. Here, a young lawyer in Kabul reports on the complications Taliban governance has wrought for young lawyers wishing to regain their rights to practice in the country. For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding our correspondents name. The text has only been lightly edited to respect the authors voice.

The Afghanistan Independent Bar Association was merged with the Talibans Ministry of Justice right after they seized power in August last year. The Taliban merged the bar association into the Ministry of Justices organizational framework as a general directorate, despite efforts by several advocacy groups to protect the bar associations independence.

The organization of the ministry has been expanded to include the bar directorate, and a procedure was later created to govern its daily operations. In accordance to this procedure, in order to practice law in Afghanistan, every licensed attorney is required to pass a new evaluation exam.

To assess the legal and Islamic knowledge of attorneys who are interested in taking the test and obtaining a new license, a new testing mechanism was established.

The exam was divided into two main components that tested applicants legal and Islamic knowledge, respectively. Although the major purpose of the exam was to assess applicants understanding of Islam, the testing committee also posed questions about business laws, the penal code, arbitration, inheritance law, and other topics.

In accordance with the new procedure, a committee comprising five members mainly appointed on the basis of their knowledge of Islamic law is appointed to evaluate an attorney who shows interest in obtaining a new license to practice law. The procedure does not limit gender diversity for obtaining a legal license but unfortunately, no female attorneys have yet been given a license. In addition, the Ministry of Justice has not made any apparent effort to inspire female lawyers to obtain new licenses.

The result of the second round of the evaluation test can be accessed here.

I have interviewed two attorneys who succeeded in the last two exams under the new Taliban protocol, and below are the details they provided regarding the new testing procedures:

Question: Did you have a license to practice law previously?

Answer: Yes, I did.

Question: Did you represent any clients in court proceedings prior to taking and passing the new bar exam?

Answer: No. I was unable to do so. For a short period of time we were given the permit to continue based on our old license but during that period the judicial and prosecution agencies were largely inactive.

Question: How did you apply to obtain the new license?

Answer: I wrote a request letter to the Ministry of Justice. The letter was submitted to the Chief of Staff of the Ministry and once I received the requisite signatures, I received authorization to take the evaluation. The test date was then announced on the ministrys website and applicants were called for the evaluation test.

Question: How was the exam conducted?

Answer: There is a committee of five authorized members in the evaluation room. They have a list of subjects from which they ask prepared questions. The evaluation room is equipped with cameras.

Question: Were you able to identify any female attorneys who came for the evaluation test?

Answer: No. There were no female applicants.

Question: Why do you think no female lawyers were in attendance?

Answer: There are a number of significant reasons why female lawyers are unable to attend the test. In particular, most women fear participating and practicing within the Talibans judicial and prosecution agencies and many are discouraged from working as lawyers in the country. Generally speaking, the Talibans mentality toward gender roles in education and professional life has caused women not to attend the evaluation test.

Question: What sorts of religious questions you were asked?

Answer: The test was on basic Islamic issues such as specific procedures as related court hearings, and issues like praying five times a day. Those with the greatest awareness of Islamic rules and principles seemed to have better opportunities to obtain their new law licenses.

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Afghanistan dispatch: new Taliban bar exam procedures and the notable absence of new women attorneys - JURIST

Ole Andreas Lindeman, Norwegian Ambassador to Afghanistan, said that if Afghanistans frozen assets are freed, Afghanistans economy will grow. Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, in a meeting with envoys of Japan and Norway in Doha, asked the International community to take part in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Muttaqi said that this is the responsibility of the whole world to help and support the new government of Afghanistan, so that we can rebuild the damage caused by the four decades of war in Afghanistan, tweeted Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry.

Meanwhile, Japans ambassador to Afghanistan Takashi Okada pledged $14M from Japan for Afghan agriculture and development projects in the meeting on Sunday with acring Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Takal tweeted.

It has its own benefits if the Taliban side has a strong agenda, said Aziz Marij, former diplomat.

Ole Andreas Lindeman, Norwegian Ambassador to Afghanistan, said that if Afghanistans frozen assets are freed, Afghanistans economy will grow.

The first thing is to see if the Taliban actually changes its national and international policies or not. The second thing is that based on the demands of the Americans to make contact with the Taliban or even to recognize them, they need to show a move from their side, said Maisam Kazemi, political analyst.

The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and his accompanying delegation met with representatives from more than ten countries during four days in Doha.Tolo News

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Acting FM Muttaqi calls on world to cooperate with Afghanistan - Pakistan Observer

A villager transporting food aid in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, in April.Credit...Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Road blocks, roadside bombs, ambushes and kidnapping were the kinds of threats aid workers operating in Afghanistan faced for two decades during the Talibans insurgency. Parts of the country were off limits entirely as the conflict ebbed and flowed, and even on open roads the risk of gun battles remained real.

Last August, however, the Taliban stormed to power, effectively ending the war and easing security for millions of residents as well as for humanitarian workers.

There is no active conflict going on now, said Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency who started working in the country more than two decades ago. We do have more access.

That access should make it easier to bring relief after the deadliest earthquake in two decades killed at least 1,000 people and injured more than 1,600 others.

We are rushing in supplies for the earthquake and for other humanitarian emergencies, Mr. Baloch said.

But even as access has improved, other developments since last August have sent humanitarian needs soaring and brought unforeseen problems, aid workers say.

Most notable is the loss of financial, technical and security assistance from Western governments that were desperate to see the country emerge as a democracy after the Taliban was toppled in 2001.

That flood of aid more than doubled the nations annual per capita gross domestic product, from around $200 in 2001 to around $500 last year, according to World Bank figures. But those gains were not spread evenly rural areas saw less change than cities such as the capital, Kabul, and the southern city of Kandahar.

The economy has contracted sharply since the Taliban took power. Investors and foreign governments pulled back and many skilled workers fled, while the United States and other Western countries froze government bank accounts now controlled by the Taliban.

As the country struggles with drought and hunger, half of Afghanistans roughly 40 million people need humanitarian aid, the United Nations said in January as it asked member nations for more than $5 billion for the people of Afghanistan, as governments struggle with how to support a population in need while avoiding helping the Taliban itself.

Part of the Afghanistan population is already in a humanitarian crisis, with people buying expired bread that is normally fed to animals, the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, said on Wednesday, referring to trends in the country over the past year. This does add to the burden of dealing with the earthquake.

In addition, aid workers face an institutional challenge rarely seen in other countries: Coordinating operations with officials who were long part of an insurgent force, but are now attempting to transition into a full-fledged government.

In one measure of the dynamic, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asked those wishing to help from any part of the world to donate to the countrys arm of the Red Crescent, which would deliver aid to victims in full transparency.

See the article here:
At Least 1,000 Killed in Afghanistan Earthquake, Officials Say

The military ranks of Afghanistan were the military insignia used by militaries of Afghanistan throughout history.

Following the return of the Taliban into power, the Islamic Emirate Armed Forces continue to use the rank insignia of the Islamic Republic Armed Forces.

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.

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Military ranks of Afghanistan - Wikipedia