KABUL: Three years into its rule of Afghanistan, the Taliban government has achieved some diplomatic wins even as it has consolidated power and enforced its strict version of Islamic law.
The Taliban rulers continue to operate without official recognition from any country — its restrictions on women a major sticking point.
But concern over Afghanistan’s worsening humanitarian crisis, the threat of terrorism, and hard-nosed pragmatism have led to some international engagement.
The most notable example was the Taliban government’s participation, for the first time, in United Nations-hosted talks in June in Qatar to discuss economic issues and counter-narcotics efforts.
Chief Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who led the delegation, said the gathering was further proof that: “Afghanistan has come out of isolation.”
“We are in favor of positive meetings with the condition that Afghanistan’s situation is taken into account,” he told AFP in a recent interview ahead of this week’s three-year anniversary of the Taliban taking back power.
The talks went ahead after Kabul obtained the agreement of the UN — which has described restrictions on women in Afghanistan as “gender apartheid” — that civil society and women’s rights groups would not attend.
Obaidullah Baheer, grandson of former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and an Afghan academic, said engagement at the talks was a “smart approach.”
“The international community can’t solve the women’s rights issue. What they can do is try to create an environment” to gradually stabilize the economy in Afghanistan, Baheer said.
“Economic stability naturally brings with it some sort of opening for politics as well.”
The Taliban authorities, who are still pushing to fill Afghanistan’s seat at the UN, are also forging regional ties.
“Currently we have very good relations with neighboring, regional and Muslim countries,” Mujahid said, adding that about 40 countries had embassies or consulates in Afghanistan.
While Western embassies in Kabul have been closed for three years, Pakistan, China, Russia, Iran and Central Asian republics have established de facto diplomatic relations with Kabul.
Russia is also preparing to remove the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations, while Beijing has appointed its first ambassador to Kabul since the takeover.
Fears over the growing security threat from the Daesh group’s branch in the region, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, have also spurred engagement.
Last week, the UN warned that IS-K posed the greatest external terrorist threat to Europe and was growing in strength.
Mujahid insisted the IS threat was being overblown.
“We have brought the phenomenon of ISKP to nearly zero,” he told AFP.
After ousting the foreign-backed government and ending their 20-year insurgency, the Taliban rulers have made security one of their highest priorities.
The Taliban authorities still allocate a large part of the national budget to security despite Afghanistan no longer being at war and its economy in dire straits. And while Afghans may welcome restored security after more than 40 years of successive conflicts, many also struggle to feed themselves and strain under tightening restrictions.
A civil society activist, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, described the rules on daily life as becoming “stricter and stricter.”
Government affairs are mostly run through religious edicts from the reclusive supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, based in the Taliban southern stronghold of Kandahar.
Politically, there is no visible opposition: parties are banned and there are no elections.
“There is no one to challenge the Emir,” the civil society activist said.
The UN has described a “climate of fear” in the country, where popular protests are virtually non-existent.
The Taliban government rejects these accusations.
“We don’t accept that we are totalitarian,” Mujahid said.
The authorities have “mechanisms... to convey the voice of the people to the government,” the spokesman said, referring to provincial counsels comprising clerics and tribal elders.
“They might not be the same as in the previous government or what are common in democratic governments, but we have developed these mechanisms in an Islamic way and we are committed to the country’s interests,” Mujahid added.
Baheer, based in Kabul, said he still believed dialogue could bring about change:
“What we can do is constantly speak to the nation and these people (the Taliban authorities), creating a larger national pressure and ultimately... hoping that they realize that they are up against the people and they have to compromise.”
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers score diplomatic wins, consolidate power
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Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers score diplomatic wins, consolidate power
- With restrictions on women major sticking point, Taliban continue to rule without official recognition from any country
- Worsening humanitarian crisis, threat of terrorism and hard-nosed pragmatism have led to some international engagement
Bangladesh opposition party rallies to demand a new election
DHAKA: Thousands of activists and leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday rallied in the nation’s capital to demand a democratic transition through an election as an interim government has yet to outline a time frame for new voting.
The supporters gathered in front of BNP headquarters in Dhaka, where they chanted slogans demanding a new election.
The interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has rolled out a number of plans to reform various sectors of the country, from the Election Commission to financial institutions. But major political parties — including the BNP, which is headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia — want the new election sometime soon.
Yunus took the helm after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid a mass uprising last month, ending a 15-year spell in power. The protests began in July and later morphed into an anti-government movement. Hasina has been living in India since.
In his recent speeches, Yunus hasn’t outlined a time frame for a new national election and said they would stay in power as long as the people want them to stay. A team of newspaper editors recently said that Yunus should complete crucial reforms first and stay in power for at least two years.
The BNP initially demanded an election in three months, but later said it wants to allow the interim government some time for reforms to be undertaken. The country’s main Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, which was once officially an alliance partner under Zia’s party, also wants to give the Yunus-led government more time before an election is conducted.
Afghanistan reopens its embassy in Oman, the Taliban say
- The Foreign Ministry said that 39 diplomatic missions are now under Taliban control
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Afghanistan’s Embassy in Oman has reopened, an official in Kabul said Tuesday, the latest sign of the growing inclusion of the Taliban among Gulf Arab countries following the United Arab Emirates’ acceptance of a Taliban ambassador last month.
The development also comes after the Taliban said in July that they no longer recognize diplomatic missions set up by the former, Western-backed government. Most countries still have not accepted the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government.
According to Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesman of the Foreign Ministry in Kabul, the embassy in Muscat, Oman’s capital, resumed operations on Sunday.
There was no immediate confirmation from Omani authorities and no reports from the sultanate’s state-run news agency about the embassy’s reopening.
“The work of the embassy is carried out regularly by diplomats of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” said Takal, using the Taliban name for their government.
“The resumption of embassy activities in cooperation with the host country will play a constructive role in strengthening the political, economic, social and religious relations between Kabul and Muscat,” Takal added.
The Foreign Ministry said that 39 diplomatic missions are now under Taliban control.
There is a deepening divide in the international community on how to deal with the Taliban, who have been in power for three years and face no internal or external opposition. And even though the Taliban and the West remain at loggerheads, Afghanistan’s rulers have pursued bilateral ties with major regional powers.
Last month, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov arrived in Afghanistan in the highest-level visit by a foreign official since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
As part of expanding their reach, the Taliban have moved to take control of the country’s embassies and consulates overseas.
The embassies in London and Oslo announced their closures this month, while others in Europe and beyond have continued to operate.
12-year-old boy youngest to be sentenced over UK riots
- The boy had earlier admitted to a charge of violent disorder in the town of Southport on July 31
- District Judge Wendy Lloyd sentenced the boy Tuesday to a three-month curfew order and a 12-month referral order, which requires him to commit to a rehabilitative program
LONDON: A 12-year-old boy who threw stones at police during rioting outside a mosque has become the youngest person to be sentenced so far over far-right riots that erupted in England this summer.
The boy, who can’t be identified because of his age, had earlier admitted to a charge of violent disorder in the town of Southport on July 31.
District Judge Wendy Lloyd sentenced the boy Tuesday to a three-month curfew order and a 12-month referral order, which requires him to commit to a rehabilitative program.
She told the boy the riots had “shaken society to the core.” “It was an angry mob and you chose to be part of it,” she said.
Rioting in Southport kicked off soon after a stabbing attack at a dance class in the town that left three young girls dead. False rumors spread online that the suspect in the attack was an asylum-seeker.
The boy was part of a crowd of hundreds of rioters who set a police van on fire and tried to storm the Southport Islamic Society Mosque.
The violence quickly spread around towns and cities around the country, but the unrest fizzled out after the swift charging and sentencing of those found to be involved.
Police have made more than 1,000 arrests and brought more than 800 charges.
Budapest and Poland’s Wroclaw reinforce river banks ahead of more flooding in Central Europe
- Heavy flooding has affected a large part of the region in recent days, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria
- Around 20 deaths were reported in the flooding, which followed heavy rainfall but the full human cost was still not clear
WARSAW: Soldiers and firefighters used sandbags to reinforce river embankments and delivered food and drinking water to cut-off communities as the worst flooding in years moved Tuesday across a broad swath of Central Europe, taking lives and destroying homes.
Heavy flooding has affected a large part of the region in recent days, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. Around 20 deaths were reported in the flooding, which followed heavy rainfall but the full human cost was still not clear. Casualties have been reported in Romania, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
In some areas, the waters were receding, leaving behind mounds of debris. As reports of looting came in, government and military authorities vowed to crack down on perpetrators. Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, said the military was deploying soldiers equipped with night vision and thermal imaging devices to support the police in areas where people had to leave for higher ground.
“Looters, night and lack of electricity will no longer be your ally,” he tweeted late Monday.
Other places braced for the worst yet to come, including two Central European gems: Budapest, the Hungarian capital on the Danube River, and Wroclaw, a city in southwestern Poland on the Oder River which boasts a Gothic cathedral and other historic landmarks.
Hungary deployed soldiers to reinforce barriers along the Danube as thousands of volunteers filled sandbags in dozens of riverside settlements.
In Budapest, authorities closed the lower quays, which were expected to be breached by rising waters. The lower half of the city’s iconic Margaret Island was also closed.
In Wroclaw, firefighters and soldiers worked through the night to reinforce river embankments with sandbags. The city zoo, located on the Oder, appealed for volunteers to fill sandbags on Tuesday morning.
“We and our animals will be extremely grateful for your help,” the zoo said.
The city said it expected the flood wave to peak there around Friday, though some had predicted that would happen sooner. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with a crisis team early Tuesday and said there are contradictory forecasts from meteorologists.
Tusk’s government has declared a state of natural disaster across southern Poland.
To the south of Wroclaw, residents spent the night fighting to save Nysa, a town of 44,000 people, after the Nysa Klodzka River broke its banks the day before. Mayor Kordian Kolbiarz said 2,000 “women, men, children, the elderly” came out to try to save their town from the rising waters, forming a human chain that passed sandbags to the river bank.
“We simply … did everything we could,” Kolbiarz wrote on Facebook. “This chain of people fighting for our Nysa was incredible. Thank you. We fought for Nysa. Our home. Our families. Our future.”
Later on Tuesday, authorities in Nysa said the city center had been saved from the flooding.
In Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, the deputy mayor for the environment, Jakub Mrva, said the level of the Danube had peaked and would slowly decrease. He said that mobile barriers had saved the historic center, but that there was still damage, including to tram lines.
“We also observed major damage at the zoo, which is flooded, and there is relatively high damage in the city forests of Bratislava, where many trees have perished,” Mrva told The Associated Press in an interview, speaking next to the flooded banks of the Danube.
In the Czech Republic, waters have been receding in the two hardest-hit northeast regions. The government approved the deployment of 2,000 troops to help with clean-up efforts. The damage is expected to reach billions of euros.
The Czech government also scrambled to help local authorities organize regional elections on Friday and Saturday as several schools and other buildings serving as polling stations were badly damaged. However, a planned evacuation of some 1,000 in the town of Veseli nad Luznici could be postponed as the waters had not reached critical levels so far.
Afghanistan reopens its embassy in Oman, the Taliban say
- This is latest sign of growing inclusion of Taliban among Gulf countries
- Last month the United Arab Emirates accepted a Taliban ambassador
DUBAI: Afghanistan’s Embassy in Oman has reopened, an official in Kabul said Tuesday, the latest sign of the growing inclusion of the Taliban among Gulf Arab countries following the United Arab Emirates’ acceptance of a Taliban ambassador last month.
The development also comes after the Taliban said in July that they no longer recognize diplomatic missions set up by the former, Western-backed government. Most countries still have not accepted the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government.
According to Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesman of the Foreign Ministry in Kabul, the embassy in Muscat, Oman’s capital, resumed operations on Sunday.
There was no immediate confirmation from Omani authorities and no reports from the sultanate’s state-run news agency about the embassy’s reopening.
“The work of the embassy is carried out regularly by diplomats of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” said Takal, using the Taliban name for their government.
“The resumption of embassy activities in cooperation with the host country will play a constructive role in strengthening the political, economic, social and religious relations between Kabul and Muscat,” Takal added.
The Foreign Ministry said that 39 diplomatic missions are now under Taliban control.
There is a deepening divide in the international community on how to deal with the Taliban, who have been in power for three years and face no internal or external opposition. And even though the Taliban and the West remain at loggerheads, Afghanistan’s rulers have pursued bilateral ties with major regional powers.
Last month, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov arrived in Afghanistan in the highest-level visit by a foreign official since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
As part of expanding their reach, the Taliban have moved to take control of the country’s embassies and consulates overseas.
The embassies in London and Oslo announced their closures this month, while others in Europe and beyond have continued to operate.
