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Tag: Taliban in Afghanistan

  • We now not seize…: Taliban invitations folks to go to Afghanistan in new video

    The Taliban’s Public Relations Department on Thursday shared a video inviting vacationers internationally to go to Afghanistan, saying that they’d be “100 per cent safe since the war is over” and that the Taliban wouldn’t seize them for “ransom”.

    The Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021, described the nation because the “real land of the free and the home of the brave, unlike the Americans”.

    The Taliban’s PR Department wrote on X (previously Twitter), “A rugged country inhabited by muscular men and traditional women. You will be 100 per cent safe since the war is over and we no longer capturing tourists for ransom.”

    The video was a montage of drone photographs of Afghanistan’s landscapes, which have been in comparison with totally different colors, similar to pink, inexperienced, white, and black.

    Several web customers, amused by the publish, commented beneath asking if it was actually secure for them to go to Afghanistan. Others left sarcastic feedback on the publish.

    One web consumer requested, “Is it a nice honeymoon destination?” and to this, the Taliban’s PR crew mentioned, “Absolutely Mr Boob. We have tremendous hiking trails for honeymoon couples to trek through our rugged mountains. The same trekking path that was used by our masculine fighters during the war.”

    Another consumer mentioned, “What’s the ransom for an Indian these days?”

    To this, the Taliban’s PR Department mentioned, “Mr Aishwary, as we mentioned, we are no longer in the kidnapping business. As long as you respect the local culture and customs and do not engage in homosexual activity, you will be just fine.”

    The Taliban’s name for vacationers comes regardless of quite a few journey advisories warning towards visiting the nation resulting from ongoing safety considerations.

    The US Department of State, as an example, has issued a Level 4 journey advisory for Afghanistan, advising residents to not journey to the nation resulting from armed battle, civil unrest, crime, terrorism, and kidnapping.

    Similarly, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises towards all journey to Afghanistan, citing a particularly unstable safety state of affairs and a excessive menace of terrorist assaults all through the nation.

    Published On:

    Sep 17, 2023

  • Need to reinforce Afghanistan’s functionality to counter terrorism: NSA Ajit Doval at safety dialogue

    National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Friday stated there’s a want to reinforce Afghanistan’s functionality to counter terrorism whereas talking on the Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan that was held in Dushanbe.

    National Security Adviser Ajit Doval (third from proper) alongside along with his counterparts within the fourth Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan. (Photo from @IndEmbDushanbe on Twitter)

    National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, whereas talking on the fourth Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan, on Friday, highlighted the necessity for enhancing the nation’s functionality to counter terrorism. The NSAs of various international locations additionally confused the necessity to discover constructive methods to make sure peace and stability in Afghanistan whereas combating terrorism prevalent within the area.

    The safety dialogue was held in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. NSAs of India, Russia, China, Iran, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan took half within the dialogue to debate the safety scenario in Afghanistan.

    ALSO READ | Afghanistan envoy praises India’s resolution to calm down fumigation guidelines on agricultural imports

    NSA Ajit Doval stated India was and is a vital stakeholder in Afghanistan. He additionally stated India’s particular relationship with the individuals of Afghanistan over the centuries will information its strategy to any points within the nation. He added that after August 2021, India has supplied Afghanistan with 17000 Metric Tonnes (MT) of wheat, 500000 doses of Covaxin, 13 tonnes of important life-saving medicines and winter clothes, in addition to 60 million doses of polio vaccine.

    He highlighted the necessity for illustration of all sections of Afghan society together with ladies and minorities, in order that the collective energies of the inhabitants really feel motivated to contribute to nation constructing.

    He stated that ladies and youth are crucial for the way forward for any society and that continued provision of schooling for ladies and employment to ladies and youth will guarantee productiveness and spur development. It can even have a optimistic social influence, together with discouraging radical ideologies amongst younger individuals.

    He referred to as on all his counterparts current on the dialogue to assist improve Afghanistan’s functionality to counter terrorism and terrorist teams which pose a risk to regional peace and safety. He stated that with the collective effort of the Regional Dialogue members, Afghanistan can construct a affluent and vibrant nation as soon as once more.

  • Afghanistan’s Taliban order girls to cowl up head to toe

    Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Saturday ordered all Afghan girls to put on head-to-toe clothes in public — a pointy, hard-line pivot that confirmed the worst fears of rights activists and was sure to additional complicate Taliban dealings with an already distrustful worldwide group.

    The decree says that ladies ought to go away the house solely when crucial, and that male kinfolk would face punishment — beginning with a summons and escalating as much as court docket hearings and jail time — for girls’s costume code violations.

    It was the newest in a sequence of repressive edicts issued by the Taliban management, not all of which have been applied. Last month for instance the Taliban forbade girls to journey alone, however after a day of opposition, that has since been silently ignored.

    The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan stated it was deeply involved with what seemed to be a proper directive that will be applied and enforced, including that it might search clarifications from the Taliban in regards to the resolution.

    “This decision contradicts numerous assurances regarding respect for and protection of all Afghans’ human rights, including those of women and girls, that had been provided to the international community by Taliban representatives during discussions and negotiations over the past decade,” it stated in a press release.

    The decree, which calls for girls to solely present their eyes and recommends they put on the head-to-toe burqa, evoked comparable restrictions on girls throughout the Taliban’s earlier rule between 1996 and 2001.

    “We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety,” stated Khalid Hanafi, performing minister for the Taliban’s vice and advantage ministry.

    The Taliban beforehand determined towards reopening colleges to women above grade 6, reneging on an earlier promise and opting to appease their hard-line base on the expense of additional alienating the worldwide group. But this decree doesn’t have widespread assist amongst a management that’s divided between pragmatists and the hardliners.

    That resolution disrupted efforts by the Taliban to win recognition from potential worldwide donors at a time when the nation is mired in a worsening humanitarian disaster.

    “For all dignified Afghan women wearing Hijab is necessary and the best Hijab is chadori (the head-to-toe burqa) which is part of our tradition and is respectful,” stated Shir Mohammad, an official from the vice and advantage ministry in a press release.

    “Those women who are not too old or young must cover their face, except the eyes,” he stated. “Islamic principles and Islamic ideology are more important to us than anything else,” Hanafi stated.

    Senior Afghanistan researcher Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch urged the worldwide group to place coordinated stress on the Taliban.

    “(It is) far past time for a serious and strategic response to the Taliban’s escalating assault on women’s rights,” she wrote on Twitter.

    The Taliban have been ousted in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition for harboring al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and returned to energy after America’s chaotic departure final yr.

    The White House National Security Council condemned the Taliban’s Saturday decree and urged them to right away reverse it.

    “We are discussing this with other countries and partners. The legitimacy and support that the Taliban seeks from the international community depend entirely on their conduct, specifically their ability to back stated commitments with actions,” it stated in a press release.

    Since taking energy final August, the Taliban management has been squabbling amongst themselves as they wrestle to transition from struggle to governing. It has pit hard-liners towards the extra pragmatic amongst them.

    A spokeswoman from Pangea, an Italian non-governmental group that has assisted girls for years in Afghanistan, stated the brand new decree could be significantly troublesome for them to swallow since that they had lived in relative freedom till the Taliban takeover.

    “In the last 20 years, they have had the awareness of human rights, and in the span of a few months have lost them,” Silvia Redigolo stated by phone. “It’s dramatic to (now) have a life that doesn’t exist,” she stated.

    Infuriating many Afghans is the information that most of the Taliban of the youthful technology, like Sirajuddin Haqqani, are educating their women in Pakistan, whereas in Afghanistan girls and women have been focused by their repressive edicts since taking energy.

    Girls have been banned from faculty past grade 6 in many of the nation for the reason that Taliban’s return. Universities opened earlier this yr in a lot of the nation, however since taking energy the Taliban edicts have been erratic. While a handful of provinces continued to supply training to all, most provinces closed academic establishments for women and girls.

    The religiously pushed Taliban administration fears that going ahead with enrolling women past the sixth grade may alienate their rural base, Hashmi stated.

    In the capital, Kabul, non-public colleges and universities have operated uninterrupted.

    ALSO READ: Pakistan toasted brotherly Taliban’s takeover however why they’re bombing one another

    ALSO READ: Afghan college students protest outdoors Indian Embassy in Kabul towards delay in receiving e-visas

  • Taliban official says dozens of criminals arrested in sweeps

    Taliban forces have arrested dozens of criminals, kidnappers and smugglers in operations throughout Kabul, a Taliban authorities spokesman stated on Sunday.
    The clearance operations started within the capital and neighbouring provinces two days in the past, and can proceed, Zabiullah Mujahid stated in a press convention. The purpose was to gather weapons and arrest suspects, he added.

    “The operation was successful,” he stated. Hundreds of sunshine and heavy weapons have been confiscated, together with rocket-launchers and grenades, he stated. Over 60,000 rounds of ammunition have been additionally uncovered, in addition to 13 armoured autos and 13 tons of gunpowder and explosives.

    Mujahid additionally welcomed a latest US resolution to ease restrictions on Afghan banks. The new normal license issued by the US Treasury will enable for cash transfers for Afghan businessmen and others, however exclude particular person Taliban members.

    He stated he hoped the US will proceed to ease restrictions. Billions of {dollars} of Afghan belongings are frozen in US banks, severely hampering state establishments within the as soon as aid-dependent nation.

    In complete, 9 kidnappers, six Islamic State members, and 53 thieves have been arrested. Two kidnapped people have been additionally launched.

    The operations, through which Taliban went door to door, have garnered criticism amid reviews of abuse suffered by civilians — together with minority teams and ladies — by the hands of Taliban forces.

    “The intimidations, house searches, arrests and violence against members of different ethnic groups and women are crimes and must stop immediately,” tweeted Andreas von Brandt, EU ambassador to Afghanistan who has not returned to the nation for the reason that Taliban takeover in August.

    Responding to criticism, Mujahid stated the operation was “well organised” and included feminine safety personnel.

    “All these efforts are for the benefit of the people, it was necessary for the people and the government to launch such an operation,” he stated.

  • Taliban search ties with US, different ex-foes

    Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers are dedicated in precept to schooling and jobs for women and girls, a marked departure from their earlier time in energy, and so they search the world’s “mercy and compassion” to assist hundreds of thousands of Afghans in determined want, a prime Taliban chief stated in a uncommon interview.
    Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi additionally instructed The Associated Press that the Taliban authorities desires good relations with all nations and has no problem with the United States. He urged Washington and different nations to launch upward of $10 billion in funds that had been frozen when the Taliban took energy Aug. 15, following a speedy army sweep throughout Afghanistan and the sudden, secret flight of US-backed President Ashraf Ghani.
    “Sanctions against Afghanistan would … not have any benefit,” Muttaqi stated Sunday, talking in his native Pashto through the interview within the sprawling pale brick Foreign Ministry constructing within the coronary heart of the capital of Kabul.
    “Making Afghanistan unstable or having a weak Afghan authorities shouldn’t be within the curiosity of anybody,“ stated Muttaqi, whose aides embrace workers of the earlier authorities in addition to these recruited from the ranks of the Taliban.
    Muttaqi acknowledged the world’s outrage on the Taliban-imposed limitations on ladies’ schooling and on girls within the workforce. In many components of Afghanistan, feminine college students between grades 7 and 12 haven’t been allowed to go to high school because the Taliban took over, and lots of feminine civil servants have been instructed to remain residence. Taliban officers have stated they want time to create gender-segregated preparations in faculties and the office to satisfy their extreme interpretation of Islam.
    When they first dominated from 1996-2001, the Taliban shocked the world by barring women and girls from faculties and jobs, banning most leisure and sports activities, and sometimes finishing up executions in entrance of enormous crowds in sports activities stadiums.
    But Muttaqi stated the Taliban have modified since they final dominated.
    The overseas minister in Afghanistan’s new Taliban-run Cabinet, Amir Khan Muttaqi speaks throughout an interview to the Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Mohammed Shoaib Amin)
    “We have have made progress in administration and in politics … in interaction with the nation and the world. With each passing day, we will gain more experience and make more progress,” he stated.
    Muttaqi stated that beneath the brand new Taliban authorities, ladies are going to high school by way of grade 12 in 10 of the nation’s 34 provinces, non-public faculties and universities are working unhindered, and 100% of girls who had beforehand labored within the well being sector are again on the job.“This exhibits that we’re dedicated in precept to girls participation,“ he stated.
    He claimed the Taliban haven’t focused their opponents, as a substitute saying a basic amnesty and offering some safety. Leaders of the earlier authorities reside with out menace in Kabul, he stated, though most of them have fled.
    Last month, the worldwide group Human Rights Watch printed a report that stated the Taliban summarily killed or forcibly disappeared greater than 100 former police and intelligence officers in 4 provinces. However, there have been no studies of large-scale retribution.
    Muttaqi alleged the federal government that took energy after the US-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime in 2001 carried out widespread revenge assaults towards the Taliban. Hundreds disappeared or had been killed, with hundreds fleeing to the mountains, he stated. The Taliban had been ousted for harboring al Qaida and Osama bin Laden for masterminding the 9/11 terrorist assaults within the US.
    Muttaqi insisted poverty and the dream of a greater life _ not concern _ drove hundreds of Afghans to hurry to Kabul’s airport in mid-August in hopes of attending to America. The crush of individuals had generated searing pictures of males clinging to a departing American C-17 plane, whereas others fell to the bottom because the touchdown gear retracted.
    He stated the Taliban have made errors of their first months in energy and that “we are going to work for extra reforms which may profit the nation.“
    He didn’t elaborate on the errors or doable reforms.
    Muttaqi pushed again towards feedback by US Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie who instructed the AP final week that al-Qaida has grown barely in Afghanistan since US forces left. McKenzie is Washington’s prime army commander within the Middle East.
    In a February 2020 deal that spelled out the phrases of the US troop withdrawal, the Taliban had promised to combat terrorism and deny terrorist teams a protected haven.
    Muttaqi stated Sunday that the Taliban have saved that promise, together with a pledge to not assault US and NATO forces within the remaining section of the withdrawal, which led to late August.
    “Unfortunately, there are (always) allegations against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, but there is no proof,” Muttaqi stated. “If McKenzie has any proof, he should provide it. With confidence, I can say that this is a baseless allegation.” Meanwhile, militants from the Islamic State group have stepped up assaults on Taliban patrols and non secular minorities previously 4 months. The IS affiliate in Afghanistan has focused Shiite mosques within the provincial capitals of Kunduz and Kandahar, finishing up frequent assaults on Taliban autos.

    Muttaqi, nevertheless, stated the Taliban have gained the higher hand in latest weeks, saying there had not been a significant assault within the final month. Washington’s means to trace IS actions in Afghanistan has been handicapped because the US withdrawal.
    Muttaqi stated he doesn’t envision cooperating with the US within the battle towards the Islamic State group.
    However, he did categorical hope that with time, “America will slowly, slowly change its policy toward Afghanistan” because it sees {that a} Taliban-ruled nation standing by itself is a profit to the US.
    “My last point is to America, to the American nation: You are a great and big nation, and you must have enough patience and have a big heart to dare to make policies on Afghanistan based on international rules and relegation, and to end the differences and make the distance between us shorter and choose good relations with Afghanistan,” he stated.

  • UN airlifts winter shelters for displaced Afghans

    The UN refugee company UNHCR began to airlift provides to Kabul on Tuesday to assist a whole bunch of hundreds of displaced Afghans construct shelters forward of the winter.
    The UNHCR stated a primary aircraft was on account of arrive afterward Tuesday, carrying 33 tonnes of kits which comprise flooring and partitions to enhance tent insulation. Two different flights are deliberate on Nov. 4 and seven.
    “More resources are urgently needed to reach all those who will need help to survive the harsh winter ahead,” UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo instructed a briefing in Geneva.
    The UNHCR stated it’s dashing to supply winter help to some 500,000 displaced Afghans, returnees and native host communities by the top of 2021.
    It has already offered support together with shelter, meals, blankets and range to half one million Afghans this yr.
    Afghanistan was plunged into disaster in August after Taliban fighters drove out a Western-backed authorities, prompting donors to carry again billions of {dollars} in help for the aid-dependent financial system.

    Many Afghans are promoting possessions to purchase meals with the Taliban unable to pay wages to civil servants, and concrete communities are dealing with meals insecurity on ranges just like rural areas for the primary time.
    Aid teams are urging international locations, involved about human rights underneath the Taliban, to interact with the brand new rulers to stop a collapse they are saying might set off a migration disaster just like the 2015 exodus from Syria that shook Europe.

  • Many Afghans pack their luggage, hoping for the prospect to depart

    As their flight to Islamabad was lastly about to take off, Somaya took her husband Ali’s hand, lay her head again and closed her eyes. Tension had been constructing in her for weeks. Now it was occurring: They had been leaving Afghanistan, their homeland.
    The couple had been making an attempt to go ever for the reason that Taliban took over in mid-August, for a number of causes. Ali is journalist and Somaya a civil engineer who has labored on United Nations growth applications. They fear how the Taliban will deal with anybody with these jobs. Both are members of the primarily Shiite Hazara minority, which fears the Sunni militants.
    Most essential of all: Somaya is 5 months pregnant with their daughter, whom they’ve already named Negar.
    Household objects are displayed at a flea market in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)
    “I will not allow my daughter to step in Afghanistan if the Taliban are in charge,” Somaya informed The Associated Press on the flight with them. Like others leaving or making an attempt to depart, the couple requested that their full names not be used for his or her safety. They don’t know in the event that they’ll ever return.
    Ask nearly anybody within the Afghan capital what they need now that the Taliban are in energy, and the reply is identical: They wish to depart. It’s the identical at each stage of society, within the native market, in a barbershop, at Kabul University, at a camp of displaced folks. At a restaurant as soon as common with businessmen and upper-class teenagers, the waiter lists the international locations to which he has utilized for visas.
    Some say their lives are at risk due to hyperlinks with the ousted authorities or with Western organizations. Others say their lifestyle can’t endure below the hard-line Taliban, infamous for his or her restrictions on girls, on civil liberties and their harsh interpretation of Islamic regulation. Some usually are not as involved with the Taliban themselves however concern that below them, an already collapsing economic system will completely crash.
    A baby sleeps on a hammock subsequent to packed suitcases from the Jawed household in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)
    Tens of 1000’s of individuals had been evacuated by the United States and its allies within the frantic days between the Aug. 15 Taliban takeover and the official finish of the evacuation on Aug. 30. After that wave, the numbers slowed, leaving many who wish to depart however are struggling to discover a method out. Some don’t have the cash for journey, others don’t have passports, and the Afghan passport places of work reopened solely not too long ago.
    The exodus is emptying Afghanistan of a lot of its younger individuals who had hoped to assist construct their homeland.
    “I was raised with one dream, that I study hard and be someone, and I’d come back to this country and help,” stated Popal, a 27-year-old engineer.
    “With this sudden collapse, every dream is shattered. … We lose everything living here.”
    Light shines via an empty empty room of Ahmadullah’s household home in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)
    When Popal was 5 years previous, his father despatched him to Britain with relations to get an training. Growing up, Popal labored low-skill jobs, sending a refund to his household, whereas finding out engineering. He finally gained British citizenship and labored within the nuclear sector.
    A number of weeks earlier than the Taliban takeover, Popal returned to Afghanistan in hopes of getting his household out. His father as soon as labored at a navy base in Logar Province, the place his mom was a instructor. His sisters have been finding out medication in Kabul.
    The current weeks have been tumultuous. His household’s dwelling in Logar was destroyed by the Taliban, and so they moved to Kabul. They consider it was as a result of they refused to provide data to relations who’re linked to the Taliban. One of his sisters went lacking as she commuted between Kabul and Logar, and has not been heard from in weeks. The household fears it could possibly be related to warnings they obtained from relations to cease the daughters from research, Popal informed the AP.
    Popal has been in touch for weeks with British officers making an attempt to rearrange evacuations. But he stated they informed him he couldn’t deliver his dad and mom and siblings. In early October, Popal managed to get out to Iran. Complaining that he’s had no assist from the British Foreign Office, he’s making his method again to Britain, the place he’ll attempt to discover a method to deliver out his household.
    Najia, second left, pose along with her household in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. Soon after the Taliban took management of Kabul, the household bought their households and used the cash to unsuccessfully cross into Pakistan. (AP)
    The British Foreign Office stated in a press release that it’s working to make sure British nationals in Afghanistan are in a position to depart.
    A former adviser to a senior Cabinet minister in Afghanistan’s ousted authorities stated he was trying to find a method out. The determination got here after years of sticking it out via mounting violence. He survived a 2016 suicide bombing that hit a protest march in Kabul and killed greater than 90 folks. Friends of his had been killed in an assault later that 12 months on the American University of Afghanistan, killing a minimum of 13.
    In the previous, he had alternatives and affords to go to the United States or Europe. “I didn’t take them because I wanted to stay and I wanted to work and I wanted to make a difference,” he stated, talking on situation he not be named for his safety.
    Now he’s in hiding, ready for his alternative to flee.
    The American University of Afghanistan, a non-public college in Kabul, is arranging flights out for a lot of of its college students.
    A member of Afghan’s previous regime poses for a portrait in Kabul. The man informed the AP he may simply be killed if noticed by the brand new rulers as he was a excessive profile within the earlier authorities. (AP)
    One scholar, a 27-year-old, recounted one try by the college to get evacuees to Kabul airport on Aug. 29, the second-to-last day when U.S. troops had been there. In the chaos, buses carrying the scholars drove for hours across the capital, looking for a path to the airport, he stated. They couldn’t make it.
    The scholar has been ready for the previous month for a spot on one other flight organized by the college for himself, his spouse and two younger youngsters. He hopes that after out, he can apply for visas to the United States. His household has packed up all the pieces of their home, masking their furnishings with sheets to guard it from the mud. His dad and mom are attempting to get to the United Arab Emirates.
    In Pakistan, on the Islamabad airport, a bunch of American University college students, freshly arrived from Kabul, waited to cross via immigration. They will go on to sister faculties in Central Asia.
    But their households couldn’t include them, so that they face the unsure future alone for the second.
    Without her household for the primary time ever, Meena, a 21-year-old political science scholar, cringed with humiliation as an airport official shouted rudely on the college students.

    “I don’t know my future. I had a lot of dreams, but now I don’t know,” she stated, beginning to cry.
    She confirmed the college pen she introduced along with her as a result of it has the flag of her nation on it, the one now changed in Afghanistan by the Taliban flag.
    “We just burned our dreams … we are just broken people.”

  • US: Kosovo will host Afghan evacuees who want extra screening

    The United States intends to ship Afghanistan evacuees who fail to clear preliminary screenings to Kosovo, which has agreed to accommodate them for as much as a yr for extra processing, a US official informed The Associated Press on Saturday.
    The US plan is more likely to face objections from refugee advocates, who already complain of an absence of public disclosure and unsure authorized jurisdiction within the Biden administration’s use of abroad transit websites to display screen lots of roughly 120,000 Afghans, Americans and others evacuated from Taliban-held Afghanistan.
    The US official spoke on situation of anonymity to debate the plan. It was the primary disclosure of what the US intends to do for Afghans or different evacuees who’ve didn’t clear preliminary rounds of screening or whose circumstances in any other case require extra time.
    Other international locations have been reluctant to take evacuees who could pose safety issues off US arms.
    Families evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, stroll away from a U.S air pressure aircraft after arriving at Kosovo’s capital Pristina International Airport on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021. (AP Photo)
    Most Afghan evacuees are clearing processing in a matter of days at massive transit websites that US authorities workers arrange shortly at navy bases in Qatar, Germany and Italy, together with smaller websites elsewhere. Those evacuees then fly by Philadelphia or Washington Dulles airports for resettling within the United States.

    Other US officers have mentioned they count on most or all Afghans whose circumstances could initially increase pink flags or inquiries to move additional screening.
    The US official mentioned the transit facilities “provide a safe place for diverse groups … to complete their paperwork while we conduct security screenings before they continue to their final destination in the United States or in another country.”
    The US will use a navy camp, Bondsteel, that homes the US military close to the Kosovo capital for the additional screening and processing of evacuees supposed for resettlement within the United States, the US official mentioned.
    A web site down the highway that previously housed highway crews will briefly home evacuees certain for different NATO international locations, below NATO’s administration and care, the official mentioned.

    Germany and Italy every have set closing dates of not more than two weeks for US processing of anybody evacuee on their soil.
    Muslim-majority Kosovo considers itself a detailed ally of the United States because the US spearheaded a NATO air marketing campaign towards Serbian forces brutalizing Kosovo civilians in 1999. Its leaders have agreed to one-year stays for the evacuees, with a risk of extensions.
    Refugee organizations say the US hasn’t been open or environment friendly in its therapy of evacuees at abroad transit facilities.

    “There’s just a staggering lack of transparency from the administration about what is happening, who is there … who to contact if there are issues” for evacuees on the websites, mentioned Adam Bates, an legal professional with the International Refugee Assistance Project, one of many important US refugee working with with Afghans in search of escape from the Taliban.
    He spoke earlier than the Biden administration disclosed its plans for the Kosovo web site.

  • Canada to soak up 5,000 Afghan refugees evacuated by the US: Minister

    Canada stated on Tuesday it will absorb and resettle some 5,000 Afghan refugees who had been evacuated by the United States after the withdrawal of the final American troops from Kabul.
    “We know there is more to do with allied evacuation operations ending,” Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino stated. “We’re pulling out all the stops to help as many Afghans as possible who want to make their home in Canada.”

    Canada evacuated some 3,700 Afghans from Kabul who had labored with its armed forces up to now. Canada withdrew its final troopers from Afghanistan seven years in the past.
    The 5,000 refugees evacuated by the United States might be resettled as a part of a beforehand introduced Canadian plan to soak up greater than 20,000 weak Afghans – together with girls leaders, human rights staff and reporters – to guard them from Taliban reprisals.
    Canada stated it hoped to proceed to assist Afghans who need to resettle so long as the Taliban permit them to depart.

    “Afghans with travel documents to other countries must be allowed to move safely and freely out of the country without interference,” Foreign Minister Marc Garneau stated at a information convention. “Canada and its allies are firm on this point, and we are united.”
    Celebratory gunfire resounded throughout Kabul on Tuesday because the Taliban took management of the airport following the withdrawal of the final US troops, marking the top of a 20-year battle that left the Islamist group stronger than it was in 2001.

  • After Taliban takeover, Afghans within the Gulf fear about house

    Five months in the past, 35-year-old Abadat left Afghanistan along with her two teenage daughters for the Gulf fearing for his or her security after a sequence of explosions rocked the neighbourhood the place they lived. Now safely within the United Arab Emirates, Abadat fears for her household again in Afghanistan following the swift take over by the Taliban that culminated within the seize of Kabul on Aug. 15.
    “I’m really scared for them and I wish I can help them and bring them to me or to any other country that is safe,” she stated of her mom and three sisters, all Kabul residents.
    The UAE, which despatched troops to Afghanistan throughout the twenty-year conflict together with to coach Afghan forces, says it has facilitated the evacuation of at the very least 36,500 individuals from Afghanistan and that as of this week it was briefly housing round 8,500 Afghans.

    Abadat now lives in Ajman within the north of the UAE, and is getting help from the native teams serving to individuals in want. Abadat stated she worries that Afghan ladies’s lives will change into more and more tough below the Taliban, an ultra-hardline Sunni Islamist group which largely barred ladies from working or finding out throughout their 1996-2001 rule.
    “Women’s rights are lost … Our life is difficult in Afghanistan with the Taliban in charge, it’s very hard,” stated Abadat, who declined to reveal her surname for safety causes.

    Since capturing Kabul on August 15, the Taliban have proven a extra average face and stated they may respect ladies’s rights this time spherical, however these statements have performed little to reassure Abadat. “I am frightened and tense. It’s not safe to live in that country,” she stated, including that the nation was not protected even earlier than the Taliban took over.

    In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Afghan Khalid Abdulrasheed advised Reuters he prays for peace in his nation and that every one those that not too long ago fled will be capable to return safely.
    Others hope {that a} looming financial disaster brought on by the Taliban takeover could be staved off. “We want a government to be formed. The Taliban are also our brothers… We want to have a government so that in future everything gets back to normal,” Afghan Sheren Agha stated in Riyadh.