KABUL: Afghanistan's Taliban authorities said Saturday they will resume issuing passports in Kabul, giving hope to citizens who feel threatened living under the new administration.
Thousands of Afghans have applied for new travel documents to escape a growing economic as well as a humanitarian crisis described by the United Nations as an "avalanche of hunger."
Authorities will start issuing the documents from Sunday at Kabul's passport office, Alam Gul Haqqani, the head of the passport department in the interior ministry, told reporters.
The Taliban stopped issuing passports shortly after their August 15 return to power, as tens of thousands of people scrambled to Kabul's only airport in a bid to catch any international flight that could evacuate them.
In October, authorities reopened the passport office in Kabul only to suspend work days later as a flood of applications caused the biometric equipment to break down.
"All the technical issues have now been resolved," Haqqani said, adding that initially travel documents will be given to those who had already applied before the office suspended work.
New applications will be accepted from January 10.
Many Afghans who wanted to visit neighboring Pakistan for medical treatment have also been blocked in the absence of valid passports.
"My mother has some health issues and we needed to go to Pakistan a long time ago, but we could not because the passport department was closed," said Jamshid, who like many Afghans goes by only one name.
"We are happy now ... we can get our passports and go to Pakistan," he said as many began gathering outside the passport office after Saturday's announcement.
Issuing passports -- and allowing people to leave amid the growing humanitarian crisis -- is seen as a test of the Taliban's commitment to the international community.
The Taliban are pressing donors to restore billions of dollars in aid that was suspended when the previous Western-backed regime imploded in the final stages of a US military withdrawal.
The abrupt withholding of aid has amounted to an "unprecedented" fiscal shock for an economy already battered by drought and decades of war, according to the United Nations Development Program.
The crisis has forced many to sell household possessions to buy food.
On Saturday, the Taliban government's deputy foreign minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai urged aid agencies to apply pressure for the release of nearly $10 billion worth of assets held in the United States.
Stanekzai also urged all Afghan refugees to return now that the war had ended.
"We invite and encourage everyone to return to Afghanistan, even our political opponents," he said at a function held to mark International Migrants Day.
Afghanistan's minister for refugees Khalil Haqqani said that humanitarian organizations must help Afghan refugees return home.
"Afghan refugees living in camps abroad are in a bad situation. They have to return to Afghanistan and work here," said Haqqani, who is a member of the Haqqani network, which was branded a terror group by Washington.
Over the past four decades, more than six million Afghans have fled the country to escape war and economic crises, most of them living in neighboring Iran and Pakistan.
The international community has so far not recognized the current Taliban government that was formed after the chaotic withdrawal of US-led foreign troops.
International flights, mainly to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, have meanwhile slowly resumed at Kabul airport after the facility was trashed in August when crowds of people scrambled to evacuate.
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul
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Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul
- The Taliban stopped issuing passports shortly after their August 15 return to power, as people scrambled to Kabul airport in a bid to leave the country
- Thousands of Afghans have applied for new travel documents to escape a growing economic as well as a humanitarian crisis
Youth voices at COP29 demand a seat at the table
- Advocates on the ground are clear: climate action cannot succeed without fully integrating the voices of the generation that will live with its consequences
BAKU: At COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, young climate leaders are amplifying their calls for meaningful inclusion in global climate negotiations. Despite their innovative solutions and unique perspectives, many youth-led initiatives continue to face barriers such as underfunding and tokenism. Advocates on the ground are clear: climate action cannot succeed without fully integrating the voices of the generation that will live with its consequences.
Children as climate stakeholders
Catarina Lorenzo, a 16-year-old Youth Climate Champion, emphasizes the critical need for young people to be involved in decision-making processes. “Children are among the most vulnerable groups, yet their voices are often excluded,” Lorenzo says. She highlights the unique perspectives that children bring to the table, including an innate connection to nature and firsthand experiences of climate impacts such as floods and school disruptions.
Lorenzo points to a concerning statistic: only 2 percent of global philanthropic investments in development directly benefit children, despite their making up a third of the world’s population. “We need concrete actions,” she asserts, calling for greater investment and a dedicated youth and children-focused section in national contributions to climate goals. While she acknowledges an increase in youth presence at COP events compared to earlier years, she stresses that their voices remain sidelined during key negotiations.
Progress amid tokenism
While initiatives like the COP29 Youth Delegates Program, led by Presidency Youth Climate Champion Leyla Hasanova, aim to train young people in policy-making and technical advocacy, gaps in meaningful inclusion persist. Youth advocate Yitong Li recognizes a growing interest in youth participation but criticizes the tokenistic nature of many engagements.
“There’s more interest in involving young people, but it’s often superficial,” says Li, referencing instances where youth demands were disregarded, such as the controversy surrounding the creation of a Youth Climate Champion role. Despite these setbacks, Li remains optimistic about the growing influence of youth coalitions such as the Global Youth Statement, which has gained traction with world leaders and international organizations. “Young people remind us of what truly matters beyond the technicalities of negotiations,” she adds.
Concrete demands from youth advocates
Representing the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, Anjali Chalise brings a focus on actionable outcomes. At COP29, she outlined three key demands from the Global Youth Statement: integrating children’s rights into climate policies, prioritizing children in adaptation measures, and establishing early warning systems for climate impacts.
However, Chalise expresses frustration at the lack of responsiveness from decision-makers. “We participate in negotiations and present our demands, but they are not fully reflected in final decisions,” she explained. Despite this, Chalise underscored the importance of continuing to advocate for increased climate finance, particularly for youth-driven projects that address green initiatives and adaptation strategies.
Building a framework for youth inclusion
Programs like the COP29 Youth Delegates initiative are attempting to bridge the gap between youth participation and actionable outcomes. These efforts align with the conference’s broader emphasis on amplifying the role of young leaders in addressing interconnected climate crises, such as biodiversity loss, desertification, and sustainable development.
The Presidency Youth Climate Champion has highlighted the role of youth networks in fostering collaboration across Central Asia, where the program has helped align national actions with international commitments. In parallel, events like “Youth at the Forefront of Climate Action” have underscored the urgency of meaningful youth inclusion in the climate agenda, particularly as youth advocates call for safeguards against greenwashing in nature-based solutions and demand greater accountability from world leaders.
A call for action
The growing presence of youth voices at COP29 signals a shift in global climate discourse. However, advocates insist that recognition must translate into action. They demand not just applause for their speeches but a tangible seat at the table — one that allows them to co-create policies and implement solutions.
By addressing systemic barriers and investing in youth-led initiatives, COP29 has the potential to set a new standard for inclusive climate governance. The stakes are high, but the message is clear: the future of the planet depends on listening to those who will inherit it.
Putin gifts North Korea a lion, bears and ducks
- Putin previously gifted Kim 24 purebred horses, known to be Kim’s favorite
- The two countries, both under heavy Western sanctions, signed a mutual defense pact earlier this year
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has gifted North Korea dozens of animals, including a lion and two bears, as a sign of friendship between Moscow and Pyongyang, Russian officials said Wednesday.
The two countries have deepened political, military and cultural ties amid Russia’s offensive on Ukraine, with Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un repeatedly professing their personal camaraderie.
“An African lion, two brown bears, two domestic yaks, five white cockatoos, 25 pheasants of various species and 40 mandarin ducks were transferred from the Moscow Zoo to the Pyongyang Zoo,” Russia’s natural resources ministry said in a post on Telegram.
It posted a video of the animals in cargo boxes being unloaded off a government plane, and another of the lion in its new enclosure at the Pyongyang Zoo.
Putin previously gifted Kim 24 purebred horses, known to be Kim’s favorite, while Kim sent Putin a pair of local dogs.
The two countries, both under heavy Western sanctions, signed a mutual defense pact earlier this year that obligates them to provide immediate military assistance if the other is invaded.
Western capitals, as well as Ukraine and South Korea, say North Korea has recently deployed more than 10,000 of its troops to Russia, to be sent into combat against Kyiv’s forces.
Trump names former wrestling executive as Education Secretary
- Linda McMahon, former CEO of WWE, will lead Department of Education that Trump has pledged to abolish
- McMahon is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team ahead of his return to the White House in January
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump nominated Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, on Tuesday to lead the Department of Education, which he has pledged to abolish.
Describing McMahon as a “fierce advocate for Parents’ Rights,” Trump said in a statement: “We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”
McMahon is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team ahead of his return to the White House in January. It is tasked with filling some 4,000 positions in the government.
Regarding McMahon’s experience in education, Trump cited her two-year stint on the Connecticut Board of Education and 16 years on the board of trustees at Sacred Heart University, a private Catholic school.
McMahon left WWE in 2009 to run in vain for US Senate, and has been a major donor to Trump.
Since 2021, she has chaired the Center For The American Worker at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute.
During the election campaign Trump promised to do away with the federal education department when he returns to the White House.
“I say it all the time. I’m dying to get back to do this. We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education,” he said in September during a rally in Wisconsin.
At the Republican convention in Milwaukee, McMahon said she was “privileged to call Donald Trump a colleague and a boss,” as well as “a friend.”
Her ties with Trump go back to her years in the professional wrestling industry — she said she first met him as chief executive at WWE.
At the culmination of a staged feud, Trump once body-slammed her husband, legendary wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, and shaved his head in the middle of a wrestling ring on live television.
In 2017, she was confirmed as the head of the Small Business Administration, which is responsible for supporting America’s millions of small businesses, which employ around half the country’s private-sector workforce.
In nominating her, Trump pointed to her experience in business, helping to grow the WWE.
After leaving the administration, she served as chair of the pro-Trump America First Action SuperPAC, or political action committee.
Elections in two Indian states test of Prime Minister Modi’s popularity
- Millions are voting in elections in Maharashtra, western industrial hub and mineral-rich eastern province of Jharkhand
- Election surveys on the eve of polling put the opposition alliance comprising Congress party and two others ahead of the BJP
NEW DELHI: Millions of people are voting in state elections in Maharashtra, India’s western industrial hub, and the mineral-rich eastern province of Jharkhand on Wednesday, in a test of the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party and its regional partners.
Politically significant Maharashtra is India’s wealthiest state and home to the financial and entertainment capital, Mumbai. It is currently ruled by a coalition of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and a Hindu nationalist ally. An opposition alliance, including the Congress party, is in power in eastern Jharkhand state.
Modi has held big rallies in the two states. The challenge comes barely four months after his party suffered a setback and returned to power in national elections for a third term without a parliamentary majority. He formed the government with the help of regional partners.
Modi, in a post on social platform X ahead of the state elections, wrote: “On this occasion, I appeal to all the youth and women voters to vote in large numbers.”
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a political analyst who wrote a Modi biography, said a reversal in these state elections would negatively impact Modi’s leadership style.
“It will have repercussions for the BJP in coming elections in Delhi and Bihar states next year,” he said.
Votes in the two states will be counted on Saturday.
After suffering a setback in national elections, the BJP regained momentum in October as it won Haryana state elections, where pollsters had predicted an easy victory for the opposition Congress party.
Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party won a consolation victory in alliance with the regional National Conference party in local elections in India’s insurgency-wracked Jammu and Kashmir after a 10-year gap.
The BJP is trying to wrest power from the Congress party and its allies in Jharkhand, a state rich in iron ore, coal and other minerals.
The BJP’s use of slogans like “If you divide, then you will die” and “If we are united, then we are safe” to attract Hindu votes has prompted opposition parties to accuse the BJP of trying to polarize the voters along Hindu-Muslim religious lines.
Hindus constitute nearly 80 percent and Muslims 11.5 percent of Maharashtra state’s estimated 131 million people.
Mukhopadhyay saw a tendency from top BJP leaders to communalize the elections, saying, “It shows the growing desperation of the party, and it looks like their reading is they are not doing very well in Maharashtra and Jharkhand states.”
Election surveys on the eve of polling put the opposition alliance comprising the Congress party and two truncated regional groups, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress party, ahead of the BJP and its allies currently governing the state. The Congress party defeated the BJP and its allies in the June national elections by winning 30 out of 48 seats in the state. The BJP and its regional partners won 17 seats.
The Congress party and its allies hope to capitalize on the simmering disaffection with high youth unemployment, inflation and low crop prices during the BJP’s rule.
The BJP hopes to attract women voters with a scheme that provides 1,500 rupees ($18) a month to over 20 million women aged 21-65 whose annual family income is less than 250,000 ($3,010). If the Congress party is voted to power in the state, it has promised women double that amount and free transportation in government buses.
UN moves to unlock stuck climate financing for Afghanistan
- UN agencies drawing up proposals for climate projects
- Initial projects expected to be worth around $19 million
KABUL/BAKU: United Nations agencies are trying to unlock key climate financing for Afghanistan, one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change which has not received approval for any fresh such funds since the 2021 Taliban takeover, two UN officials told Reuters.
Plagued by drought and deadly floods, Afghanistan has been unable to access UN climate funds due to political and procedural issues since the former insurgents came to power.
But with the population growing more desperate as climate woes stack up, UN agencies are hoping to unseal project financing for the fragile country to boost its resilience.
If successful, this would be the first time new international climate finance would flow into the arid, mountainous nation in three years.
“There are no climate skeptics in Afghanistan,” said Dick Trenchard, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) country director for Afghanistan. “You see the impact of climate change and its environmental effects everywhere you go.”
Two UN agencies are currently drawing together proposals they hope to submit next year to shore up nearly $19 million in financing from the UN’s Global Environment Facility (GEF), part of the financial mechanism of the 2015 UN Paris Agreement on climate change.
These include the FAO, which hopes to get support for a project costing $10 million that would improve rangeland, forest and watershed management across up to four provinces in Afghanistan, while avoiding giving money directly to Taliban authorities.
That’s according to diplomatic sources, who say that the world’s 20 major economies have reached a consensus — but a fragile one.
The UN Development Program, meanwhile, hopes to secure $8.9 million to improve the resilience of rural communities where livelihoods are threatened by increasingly erratic weather patterns, the agency told Reuters. If that goes ahead, it plans to seek another $20 million project.
“We’re in conversations with the GEF, the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund — all these major climate financing bodies — to reopen the pipeline and get resources into the country, again, bypassing the de facto authorities,” said Stephen Rodriques, UNDP resident representative for Afghanistan.
National governments often work alongside accredited agencies to implement projects that have received UN climate funds. But because the Taliban government is not recognized by UN member states, UN agencies would both make the request and serve as the on-the-ground partner to carry out the project.
A Taliban administration spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
FLOODS, DROUGHT
“If one of the countries most impacted by climate change in the world cannot have access to (international climate funds), it means something isn’t working,” Rodriques said, adding that any funds should come alongside continued dialogue on human and women’s rights.
Flash floods have killed hundreds in Afghanistan this year, and the heavily agriculture-dependent country suffered through one of the worst droughts in decades that ended last year. Many subsistence farmers, who make up much of the population, face deepening food insecurity in one of the world’s poorest countries.
The FAO and UNDP will need to receive initial approvals by the GEF secretariat before they can submit their full proposals for a final decision from the GEF Council, which comprises representatives from 32 member states.
If the agencies get that first green light, Trenchard said, they would aim to submit their proposals in early 2025.
We “are awaiting guidance as to whether it would be possible to proceed,” Trenchard said.
No foreign capital has formally recognized the Taliban government, and many of its members are subject to sanctions. The United States has frozen billions in central bank funds since the former insurgents took over and barred girls and women over the age of 12 from schools and universities.
Many human rights activists have condemned the Taliban’s policies and some have questioned whether interaction with the Taliban and funnelling funds into the country could undermine foreign governments’ calls for a reversal on women’s rights restrictions.
The Taliban says it respects women’s rights in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic law.
Countries mired in conflict and its aftermath say they have struggled to access private investment, as they are seen as too risky. That means UN funds are even more critical to their populations, many of whom have been displaced by war and weather.
Taliban members are attending the ongoing annual UN climate negotiations COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan as observers for the first time, Reuters has reported.
The Taliban’s presence could build trust between Afghanistan and international donors, said Abdulhadi Achakzai, founder of the Afghanistan climate nonprofit Environmental Protection Trainings and Development Organization, on the sidelines of COP29.
“It will be a safer world for the future to include Afghanistan officially in the agenda,” he said. “We see this is an opportunity. There are funds for Afghanistan, we just need to secure it.”
