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Augusts adrenaline may have worn off but the harrowing memories have not faded. Its been six months since the Taliban took Kabul, the countrys then president and his cabinet fled and thousands of people flooded the airport in panic, so desperate for a way out that several men tried to hold on to a departing plane and fell to their deaths.

Food distribution in the northern Jowzjan province. Due to the economic crisis, many people cannot afford food, even though its widely available in the market.

Shaista, 50, from Jowzjan, says that since the Talibans takeover, her husband and children have lost their jobs. Right; Madina, 50, from Jowzjan.

Already scarred by four decades of war, Afghanistans rapid regime change has left a mark that will take a long time to process. As the Taliban are slowly putting their government in place, many Afghans feel lost and confused. With uncertain futures, some see little alternative but to seek a new life abroad, adding to a diaspora of more than 5 million worldwide.

Most people, even in Kabul, have no access to clean water in their homes. Here, people are seen filling up jerrycans with water for drinking and cooking.

Some of those who decided to stay, or who did not have an option to leave, say they will have to give the Taliban a chance, even though the group has not been recognised internationally. There isnt a large enough opposition anyway, and Taliban fighters have been stationed even in the most remote valleys of Panjshir, where the last battles of resistance played out.

We will keep fighting if we have to, were not tired, said Ziaul Rahman, a 21-year-old Talib stationed in Afghanistans Logar province. Resistance fighters, whether in Panjshir or in the Uzbek-dominated Jowzjan province, say the same.

For the past three and a half years of living and working as a journalist here, I have visited most of the countrys provinces. Since the Talibans takeover, I managed to return to many of them again, learning more about how people across the almost nation of 40 million perceive their new rulers.

The Taliban have been accommodating to foreign journalists, a privilege that has not been granted to all Afghan reporters. Several have been tortured, beaten, detained and intimidated and have since either left the country or are trying to get out.

To summarise or even generalise about the sentiment of a place as diverse as Afghanistan is, of course, impossible.

Destruction is widespread in Sangin, Helmand, previously right on the frontline. Here, every house is destroyed, few have been rebuilt, and people are starting over.

The data is bleak: last week Joe Biden announced that $3.5bn of frozen Afghan funds including the private savings of ordinary Afghans would be distributed to 9/11 victims, even though not a single Afghan was involved in the attacks.

The United Nations says at least half a million Afghans have lost their jobs since the Taliban takeover, and estimates that by mid-year up to 97% of people could be living below the poverty line. The majority of development aid funding almost 80% of the previous governments expenditure has ceased, throwing the country into economic crisis.

Human Rights Watch has reported executions and enforced disappearances of former government officials, and to this day many people live in fear and remain in hiding. With the newly appointed all-male cabinet and divisions within the Taliban, Afghanistans future remains uncertain.

As we feared, the situation is worsening in most respects a reflection of the Talibans determination to crush dissent and criticism, said Patricia Gossman, an associate Asia director for Human Rights Watch. Revenge killings, crushing womens rights, strangling the media the Taliban seem determined to tighten their grip on society, even as the situation grows increasingly unstable in the coming months.

At first sight, the changes on Kabuls streets arent all too visible. Surrounded by majestic mountain peaks, parts of the city are still bustling. Kebabs wrapped in fresh warm bread are sold by the roadside, and boys selling balloons navigate through busy traffic. The Talibans post-victory euphoria has ebbed, and while the city was flooded with insurgents in summer, most of them now seem to have left. Those remaining man checkpoints or work in the newly established government.

While the Taliban initially detained all drug addicts and moved many of them to prisons, now more are again seen on Kabuls streets. Right: Sayed Jafar, a carpet vendor, sits in his shop in Kabul. Since the Taliban takeover, business has essentially stopped as his customers have left the country.

Yet at a closer look the city is emptier, though the number of beggars has increased significantly. Once buzzing coffee shops are vacant; several restaurants have permanently closed. Outside the Iranian embassy, long queues of people wait for visa appointments; they say they are hopeless. At a Kabul maternity clinic, a newborn boy lies abandoned. His family doesnt have the money to take care of another child, said Latifa Wardak, one of the hospitals doctors.

Rahela Shahavi, 25, works as a nurse in the postnatal ward at Malalai maternity hospital, where up to 100 babies are delivered each day. Out of the 446 staff, 400 are women. Right: nurses and midwives working in the prenatal ward at Rabia Balkhi hospital in Kabul sit down for lunch.

The trauma of the last months haunts many, and although Afghans are private people who often choose to conceal emotion, they visibly carry their pain. Ive noticed it when interviewing people. The conversations last longer, because there is a real need to talk and process. With countless cups of green tea consumed, many describe the loneliness felt after their family members escaped the country. Memories of the past Taliban regime are recalled, often linked to present fears. Tears are shed.

There are good moments, too. On a snowy morning, Naim Naimy, 63, from the southern Kandahar province, said he had travelled six hours to see a white Kabul. Ive been watching the weather forecast, he said, standing amid trees in a park, soft white flakes melting on his skin. I love snow, he added, smiling.

In Kan-e-Ezzat village, as on many other similar frontlines, the guns have fallen silent since the Talibans takeover. Wardak had been one of the first provinces to see a resurgent Taliban after the start of the 2001 US-led invasion, with conflict almost a constant over the past decade.

Whenever fighting erupted, Lal Mohammad, 48, would run through the familys compound gathering his children and other relatives, shoving them towards a small, dark, underground cowshed. They would sit amid the dung, crammed in and scared, around 40 of them, sometimes for hours, listening to the sounds of bullets and mortars, often in the cold of the night, waiting for the flare-up to pass.

Naila, 10, from Wardak, has been having nightmares for months, even now that the war has stopped.

The Kabul-based International Psychological Organisation (IPSO) has said Afghanistan is a trauma state, estimating that 70% of Afghans are in need of psychological support.

Lal admitted to being traumatised too. He never aligned with the Taliban, but said he was glad that fighting had at least stopped. Most of his family sustained injuries over the years. He pointed to his 12-year-old nephew Sheer, sitting on a cushion next to him, his right hand deeply scared by a shrapnel wound. Little aid had trickled down to Lals village. The foreigners brought us cookies but little development, he said cynically.

Everyone in this village has either lost a family member or has an injury. Everyone is traumatised and tired. We didnt want the Russians, nor the Americans, nor the Taliban. We just want peace. Today I can at least tell my children that the war is over.

Read more here:
Afghanistan six months on from the Taliban takeover photo essay - The Guardian

Taliban Takeover: The Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan in August last year. (File)

The United States and Russia on Wednesday presented opposing visions at the Security Council for the UN's role in Afghanistan, with Washington's call for robust support of human rights running contrary to Moscow's desires.

With the UN political mission's mandate in need of renewal by March 17, the United States underscored its "strong support" for the human rights work being carried out.

Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said, however, that Moscow does "not agree that the human rights component of the mission should be reinforced."

"We stand against linking the human rights situation to humanitarian and recovery assistance," she said.

The mission "must not become a kind of a supervisor to meet the interests of those who are not ready to help Afghans without preconditions," she said.

For his part, US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Jeffrey DeLaurentis said the United States supports the mission's human rights monitoring functions and humanitarian coordination role.

He also highlighted its child and civilian protections and work to promote equal participation of women "in all aspects of public life."

The United States additionally took a swipe at Beijing, with DeLaurentis stating that it was "a pity that China spends more time criticizing US actions, than focusing on helping the Afghan people themselves."

"China's the second largest contributor to the UN. What China has done to help the people of Afghanistan, or contribute to regional security, does not match that standing," he said.

At the beginning of the session, the UN envoy to Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, asked the UN to engage with the Taliban without isolating them, which she said was the only way to enact positive change.

"We believe, as the winter season comes to an end, that we have perhaps averted our worst fears of famine and widespread starvation," she said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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"Pity That China Spends More Time...": US Slams Beijing On Afghanistan - NDTV

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced theAfghanistan Vetting and Accountability Act,a bill to strengthen vetting procedures for Afghans who were evacuated to the United States following Joe Bidens botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Senator Hawleys bill would implement careful and appropriate vetting standards for evacuees and declassify intelligence related to the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.

Senator Hawley said, "Nearly seven months after the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, there has been zero accountability. Now we know that the vetting process for evacuees was rushed and careless. My bill would implement strong new vetting procedures, declassify intelligence related to the withdrawal, and take steps to ensure public transparency and accountability for a disaster that claimed the lives of 13 American service members."

APentagon Inspector General reportreleased last month revealed numerous failures in the Biden administrations vetting process, including at least 50 evacuees with significant security concerns who were allowed to enter the U.S.

Bill text can be foundhere.

TheAfghanistan Vetting and Accountability Actwould:

Excerpt from:
New Hawley Bill to Strengthen Afghan Vetting Procedures, Declassify Afghanistan Withdrawal Intel - Josh Hawley

The Taliban have called on the international community to lift its sanctions on Afghanistan shortly after the United Nations warns about the countrys irreversible economic collapse.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, theTalibans deputy prime minister, made the demand during a conference on the national private sector on Friday, with some foreign representatives in attendance, Afghanistans TOLOnews television channel reported.

I call for...the international community to lift the remaining sanctions on Afghanistan and give the opportunity for Afghans to play their role in the economic development inside and outside Afghanistan, he said.

The official urged that nationwide security had been provided in Afghanistan and the ground was paved for trade and investment like never before.

He urged the Afghan traders inside and outside the country to invest in Afghanistan.

Come to your own country. Your investment and trade here will benefit you and the Afghan nation, Baradar said.

The Taliban authorities lack international recognition six months after overrunning Kabul as the last US-led international troops departed, ending 20 years of war.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has frozen nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank since the withdrawal of its occupation forces from the country in August 2021. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have suspended activities in Afghanistan, withholding aid as well as $340 million in new reserves issued by the IMF last August.

Many of the US allies and Western governments have also largely suspended their financial assistance to Afghanistan since the US troops withdrawal and the Talibans rise to power.

On Wednesday, Deborah Lyons, the special representative of the UN secretary-general and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said that solving the Afghan peoples problems required collaborating with the Taliban.

It is now clear that it will be impossible to truly assist Afghan people without working with the de facto authorities, Lyons said. This must be difficult for some to accept. But it is essential.

Six months of indecision, marked by continued sanctions albeit with some relief and unstructured political engagement, are eroding vital social and economic coping systems and pushing the population into greater uncertainty, Lyons said.

Afghanistan's economic collapse is "approaching a point of irreversibility," she cautioned.

Read more from the original source:
Taliban call for lifting of sanctions on Afghanistan - Press TV

Mellissa Fung is a Canadian journalist who has reported from Afghanistan.

Like everyone else, I have been heartbroken and dumbstruck by the horrific news coming out of Ukraine. Lives have been upended overnight. Men have taken their families to the border, saying goodbye, and then turned around to fight for their country, unsure whether they will survive to see their loved ones again. Civilians children have been killed with increasing abandon by a madman bent on erasing their country, their very being. Parts of beautiful cities have been turned into rubble. A population is on edge, awaiting inevitable violence.

The last time I felt this kind of sadness and fear was last August, when the Taliban rolled into Kabul and took Afghanistan back under their control. Girls were no longer able to go to school. Women were forced to hide at home. Desperate families had to make their way to Afghanistans chaotic airport or the border with Pakistan, to try to flee the inevitable oppression they knew they faced if they stayed. There was no fight and no bombs, as the government quickly capitulated but there was still so much fear.

That fear is just as profound today as it was more than six months ago, as the Taliban continue to tighten their rule with vicious tactics throughout the country.

Last week, the Taliban stepped up house searches in what spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid called a clearance operation to round up criminals and confiscate illegal weapons, prompting many to burn books and documents that might hint at any connection with the West. He then announced that citizens who have no excuse to leave the country would be prevented from doing so, which would have effectively denied more Afghans from fleeing a country that is failing economically and in the middle of a famine. (He walked back these comments days later, saying that Afghans with the right documents can still travel out of Afghanistan.)

And last Friday morning at about the same time the first Russian bombs were hitting Ukraine the Taliban were executing a door-to-door search in Kabul, as part of a sweep, targeting former Afghan government and military officials. One of them sent me a desperate appeal, along with a video he filmed with his phone of Taliban roaming up and down his street: Thats them in our neighbourhood. They are looking for us, maam. Please can you help us.

The young person who sent me the video told me he was starting to lose hope. It has been now six months since Afghanistan government collapsed, every minutes of our life is breathing with tension; we are frightened to death. We are stranded here not aware of what will happen to us. We might die here.

As of this writing, more than a million Ukrainians have managed to flee to neighbouring countries since Russia invaded their country last week. Afghans, meanwhile, have few options. Most of the large-scale evacuation flights hastily arranged by different groups over the past six months have slowed or stopped. Bombs may not be tearing up their cities, but they feel certain that death might come in other ways, should they be disappeared by the Taliban.

Canada announced it would prioritize applications for Ukrainians as well as establish new immigration measures for those seeking to reunite with family or start a new life. According to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, the department has approved nearly 2,000 applications from Ukrainian nationals since Jan. 19 of this year. Thousands more will likely apply in the coming weeks and months, and this is great news; every one of them should be welcomed with the kindness and empathy that has made this country one of the most desired destinations in the world for those fleeing violence.

But we also need to remember that there are thousands of other at-risk people still in limbo, waiting desperately for a response to their applications for resettlement. Of the 40,000 refugees Canada committed to receiving from Afghanistan last year, fewer than 8,000 have actually been resettled at this point. Some of those still waiting wrote to me this week, wondering if Ukrainian refugees would be prioritized over them. They were right to worry, it appears: on Thursday, Canadas Immigration Minister announced special new streams specifically for Ukrainians, with no limit on the numbers that can apply.

Reading between the lines of their messages, I know they are worried about some of the prejudices that are already creeping into how we talk about Ukraine and Afghanistan. They know that while Ukraine is being referred to as a western country, and Kyiv a European capital, Afghanistan is seen as a developing country, and Kabul a foreign capital. A CBS News correspondent in Ukraine actually said this explicitly on air last week: this isnt a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European city, one where you wouldnt expect that, or hope that its going to happen.

I tell the Afghans that Canada is a big country, and that Canadians welcome all refugees without prejudice or preference but its all I can tell them. No one ever wants to be a refugee, and the scenes we are witnessing at Ukraines borders and train stations leave no doubt about how wrenching it is to be forced to leave ones home, life and country, without knowing whether it will ever be possible to return. The least we can do is to make sure they have a safe landing should they decide to start over again in our country, to give them everything they need to rebuild the lives that have been ripped from them. But we also need to treat all refugees equally and compassionately whether they are running from Russian bombs in Ukraine, or Taliban brutality in Afghanistan.

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Opinion: All refugees from Ukraine, Afghanistan, or anywhere else need to be treated with equal compassion - The Globe and Mail