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The Group of Friends of Women in Afghanistan express deep concern regarding the increasing erosion of respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban, including through continued restrictions that limit access to education for women and girls.

The members call on the Taliban to immediately reverse the effective ban on girls secondary education in Afghanistan, which has been in place for over one year. Members are deeply disturbed by developments where local community demands lead to the reopening of some girls secondary schools, only to see them forcibly shut down by the Taliban once again. They underscore that the decision by the Taliban to exclude girls from schools does not reflect the wishes and demands of the majority of the Afghan people and that it makes Afghanistan the only country in the world that bans girls secondary education.

The members of the Group reaffirm the right to education for all Afghans, including girls, and call on the Taliban to respect the right to education and adhere to their commitments to reopen schools for all female students across the country without further delay. They note the importance of education of all people to economic stability and reiterate that exclusion from education prevents women and girls from contributing to Afghanistans future economic growth and prosperity. Furthermore, they emphasize findings by the World Economic Forum that banning women from working in the government and formal sectors will cause Afghanistans GDP to contract by a minimum of $600 million in the immediate term and restrictions on womens private sector employment could lead to a $1.5 billion loss of output by 2024.

The members of the Group note the heightened risks associated with disruption of access to education, particularly for girls, making them more vulnerable to child labour and child, early, and forced marriages, as well as to their future economic opportunities, and the long-term consequences this has for durable peace, security and development.

The members of the Group request the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to continue to closely monitor and report on the situation, and request the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to continue to engage with all relevant Afghan political actors and stakeholders, including relevant authorities, on this issue, in accordance with the mandate of UNAMA.

This statement is endorsed by the following members of the Group of Friends of Women in Afghanistan: United Kingdom, Qatar, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Chad, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States

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Statement of the Group of Friends of Women in Afghanistan - GOV.UK

A year of regressive Taliban policies and a spate of terrorist attacks targeting female students have sparked protests across Afghanistan. The international community must stand with Afghan women demanding their fundamental right to receive an education and ensure that Afghan girls are allowed to return safely to secondary schools.

LONDON Thousands of women and girls have taken to the streets of Afghanistans cities to protest the repeated violation of their right to an education. The trigger for the protests occurring simultaneously with protests in Iran was last months terrorist attack on an education center in Kabul that killed 53 students and injured more than 110 most of them girls and young women. But this was just the latest in a long series of attacks against female students, many of which targeted girls from the Hazara community.

Septembers deadly attack, which occurred as female students were getting ready to take a practice university entrance exam, came on the heels of an extremely damaging year for girls education in Afghanistan.

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan following the US militarys withdrawal in August 2021, its leaders promised to keep all primary, secondary, and tertiary schools open for both boys and girls. But it soon reneged. In March of this year, it barred girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade, effectively revoking the right to learn. When women in Kabul and other cities protested, Taliban forces responded violently, beating protesters and firing warning shots over their heads. Most of the 1,880 girls secondary schools in Afghanistan are currently shuttered, and the Taliban has threatened to close those that remain in operation.

At the same time, increased levels of conflict and violence, together with a severe drought and a succession of economic shocks, have made Afghan girls and women more vulnerable. These developments have resulted in an even greater degradation of womens rights, as evidenced by Afghanistans higher rates of early marriage and child labor since the Taliban takeover.

What makes the Talibans decision to prohibit girls secondary education even more tragic is that it reversed two decades of significant progress in expanding girls access to education in Afghanistan. The number of Afghan girls enrolled in school increased from just 100,000 in 2000 to more than 3.5 million in 2019, and female literacy doubled between 2011 and 2018. But while the Education Cannot Wait fund and its partners including UNICEF, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Save the Children continue to try to reach these girls, the Taliban ban has undoubtedly forced many more girls out of school.

We must follow the lead of the Afghan women and girls protesting in the streets, risking their lives to fight for their fundamental rights, and take immediate action. For starters, the members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation must use their platform and demand that Afghanistans de facto authorities ensure that secondary-school girls return to school and that educational institutions, teachers, and students, particularly girls, are protected from attacks. Moreover, every young and adolescent girl must be welcomed back into classrooms with the teachers, infrastructure, and supplies needed for a quality education.

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Given the disastrous economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, the international community must ensure that schools have sufficient resources to provide safe and protective spaces and quality education for all girls and boys, including those living with disabilities. We must also provide Afghan educators with the training and materials they need to teach their students.

In a country as ravaged by war and disaster as Afghanistan is, we must also guarantee that all girls and boys have access to mental-health resources and psychosocial support. And we must all work to establish alternative learning environments for girls and boys who cannot attend public schools.

The Education Cannot Wait fund has invested more than $58 million in education in Afghanistan since 2017, some of it through emergency responses and some through a multiyear resilience program launched in 2019. Owing to the dedicated work of our partners, this funding has reached 51% of Afghanistans young female students and more than 181,000 girls and boys altogether. Soon, we will launch a new multiyear program to increase girls and boys access to community-based education, even in the most remote and challenging environments.

But much more needs to be done. The women and girls of Afghanistan are fighting for their rights in the face of violent attacks, and they are asking for help. It is our collective duty to heed their call.

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Afghanistans Girls and Women Fight Back by Gordon Brown & Yasmine Sherif - Project Syndicate

Pakistan witnessed a record 51 per cent increase in terrorist attacks in one year after the Afghan-Taliban got power in Afghanistan in August last year, according to a local think-tank report.

The rag-tag Islamist rebels swarmed the capital Kabul as the US prepared to leave and took over the city without any resistance in a symbolic victory after the world superpower failed to subdue them even after two decades of bloodshed.

"For Pakistan, the perils of a militant regime in Kabul have become unmistakably clear as the country has witnessed a mindboggling 51 per cent increase in the number of terrorist attacks in a single year since the Taliban takeover," Pak Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS) noted in its report 'Fallout of Afghan situation and Pakistan's policy responses '.

Likewise, there is a wave of fear and panic among residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) over the reported return of TTP militants from Afghanistan in recent months. What's more concerning is that militants' movements in the heart of KP such as Peshawar, Swat, Dir, and Tank have also been reported which points to a gradual expansion of militants in the settled districts.

The report says that recently, the police in Lower Dir issued advice to local notables, asking them to take measures for their safety and security in view of the emerging situation in the area. They were advised to reduce unnecessary movements and keep licensed weapons.

Similarly, on August 10, the Swat police issued a statement saying they were undertaking search operations for militants in the mountains of Balasoor and Kabal as well as in Khwazkhela tehsil.

The purpose of these analytical papers is to expand the knowledge base of key stakeholders on Pakistan's Afghan perspective, and its role and interest in Afghan peace and reconciliation.

"The mindless jubilation over Taliban victory is now turning into a rude shock because the evolving security situation under the erratic Taliban rule indicates Pakistan is about to face yet another ordeal viz-a-viz terrorism," the think-tank said.

It also noted the UN warned that foreign terror groups based in Afghanistan take the Taliban victory as a motivation to disseminate their propaganda in Central and South Asia, and globally.

Key terror outfits with active presence in Afghanistan include Al-Qaeda, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K). So far, the Taliban have acted only against the IS-K because it actively challenges the group's rule.

The publication while quoting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said more than 300,000 Afghans have fled to Pakistan since the Taliban takeover.

The figure contests Pakistani authorities' claim that about 60,000 to 70,000 Afghans entered Pakistan since August last year.

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Pak records 51% rise in terror attacks in one year after Afghan-Taliban got power in Afghanistan: Report - Economic Times

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray has long been a proud champion of abortion rights. Her challenger, Whitworth University alum Tiffany Smiley, a Republican, has long been an advocate for veterans, ever since Smiley's husband was blinded while serving in the Army in Iraq.

Those issues remain at the top of their minds.

Murray points to the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade as the reason why Americans need to vote against Republicans.

"Today," Murray wrote after the decision in late June, "Republicans dragged this country backwards by half a century. The American people will not forget Republicans' crueltynot today, not tomorrow, and not this November."

Smiley, meanwhile, was particularly horrified by President Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, and the psychological toll it had on veterans who served there.

"Does he not understand that he has given the interpreters, guides, and others who have supported coalition forces a death sentence at the hands of the Taliban?" Smiley wrote in a statement about Biden last year.

Both have tried to defuse the other's strength.

Smiley post-primary, at least has struck a much more moderate position on abortion than the rest of her party: She says she doesn't oppose Washington state's current abortion law, and proclaimed in an ad, "I'm pro-life, but I oppose a federal abortion ban."

Murray, meanwhile, ran her own ad featuring a retired Army captain, wearing an Army T-shirt, lamenting the assault on "our temple of Democracy" on Jan. 6. and attacking Smiley for publicly questioning the integrity of the 2020 election.

The rest is here:
Abortion and Afghanistan: The race for U.S. Senate - Inlander

Express News Service

VIRUDHUNAGAR: The carnelian beads unearthed during the first phase of the Vembakottai excavation have presumably brought to light the region's trade links with Afghanistan centuries ago.

As per Vembakottai Excavation Director, Pon Baskar, the beads, found in Afghanistan, could have been imported from there to decorate shell bangles, an industry that had been thriving in the region those days. He also cites a copper coin unearthed from the region as a testimony to the existence of trade.

Baskar said many terracotta seals (Vaniga muthirai) have also been unearthed from the site. "While some of the seals are single-dotted, some are six-dotted, some have designs on them and a few have their centre bulged. "Since the site has different seals, it is evident that different groups of people could have come here for work. Each group might have had different seals," he said, adding terracotta weighing units have also been recovered from here.

The excavation which was inaugurated by Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for Department of Industries, Tamil Official Language, Tamil Culture and Archeology along with R Sivanandam, Director of Department of Archaeology, Tamil Nadu, district collector J Meghanath Reddy among others on March 16 ended on September 30. It was carried out on Uchimedu, and 16 trenches had to be dug for it. Baskar said 3,254 antiquities were unearthed during the excavation out of which 60 per cent of the antiquities are shell bangles and glass beads and 20 per cent are terracotta items including, beads, figurines of humans and animals. The rest of the antiquities includes ivory pendants, amethyst, and carnelian beads.

The excavation director said the shell bangles obtained from the site are broken, unfinished, and decorated. "This indicates only the decorative work of the bangles was carried out here. There were neither full shells nor materials used for cutting them. The shells could have been sourced from another place and the cutting works could have been carried out at a different place," he said, adding the fully decorated shell bangles were exported and the waste (recovered during the excavation) was discarded here.Artistic SkillsBaskar pointed out all the decorative works in the shell bangles are done by hand and the designs on the bangles are floral in nature. "A few bangles were also painted red using natural colours. The artwork of performing artistes needs a lot of patience to do. They had done it meticulously," he said.

He further said the shells were sourced from Thoothukudi (where conch picking is a common livelihood even now) and were cut in some other place before transporting it for decoration work. "Many decorated terracotta earrings have also been unearthed from the site," he said.

Leisure activities and Lifestyle

The terracotta items including gamesmen and hopscotches unearthed from the site reveal that people working in the industry had spent their leisure playing games including Paandi. The terracotta figurines of birds and humans were also being used as toys for playing. The evidence of fire activities was found in all 16 trenches. "The activities must have been carried out for making terracotta items," he added.

Around three ivory pendants, and a gold ear ornament were recovered from the region. "This could have been worn by women or the group leader, and they indicate that rich people had lived here," Baskar said, adding the exact time period the artefacts belonged to could only be said after carbon dating.

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Vembakottai excavation throws light on trade link with Afghanistan - The New Indian Express