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Afghanistan: Race To Preserve Historic Minarets Of Herat, Jam
A UNESCO team worked closely with local experts to stabilize Herat's fifth minaret in 2003 Experts from the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, are back on the ground in western Afghanistan. They're working with local authorities on a $1 million project to preserve the crumbling, centuries-old minarets in Herat and Jam, which are in danger of collapse. Political instability had forced the teams to interrupt their work. This summer, however, their biggest challenge is not lack of security, but logistics. Massive rigging is needed to stabilize the tall towers, but the equipment is too heavy to transport by normal means. As RFE/RL reports, UNESCO is once again hoping to enlist the help of the U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan.
Prague, 12 July 2005 (RFE/RL) -- In Afghanistan's leafy western city of Herat, a two-lane road slices between the city's five remaining 15th-century minarets. Every truck, car, bus, motorcycle, and horse-drawn carriage that passes by sends vibrations coursing through the delicate structures:
In particular, the Fifth Minaret -- all 55 meters of it -- seems ready to collapse into a dusty heap of bricks and colored tiles at any moment. A large crack near its base makes drivers speed up just a little as they pass by.
Professor Giorgio Macchi of Italy's Pavia University helped to stabilize the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. He has been enlisted to prevent the collapse of the Fifth Minaret. Christian Manhart, a cultural specialist at UNESCO in Paris, recalls Macchi's conclusions after visiting Herat.
"He did his measurements of the crack, and there he saw that we had already several hundreds of oscillations per minute -- small movements -- of the open crack, which is just above the base. And he said this is the proof that the minaret starts to move and that the process of collapse had started. And he said it can collapse within the next three days, three weeks, or three months. We have to do something immediately," Manhart says.
That was almost two years ago. Emergency measures were quickly put in place. Stainless steel cables now connect the Fifth Minaret to concrete blocks sunk into the soil. While that sounds simple, Manhart says the project was anything but. The cables were so heavy that the U.S.-led military coalition had to be called in to airlift them from Kabul.
Manhart says a UNESCO team has just returned from Herat. Experts made soil measurements to determine how best to proceed with the next phase of the project.
"Our aim in the long term is -- long term means 2006 and eventually 2007 even -- to strengthen the foundations of the minaret using steel bars and to link these steel bars with small steel bars which will be placed inside the staircase of the minaret in order to create a new 'backbone' of this minaret, which is now dramatically leaning still and only held by the cables which we have placed in 2003," Manhart says.
Some 300 kilometers from Herat, the 12th-century Minaret of Jam is tucked into a remote gorge in neighboring Ghor Province. The second-tallest brick minaret in the world at more than 65 meters, it has survived earthquakes, wars, and the havoc wreaked by Ghengis Khan.
Unknown to the West until the 1950s, the Minaret of Jam was the first site in Afghanistan to be placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It's also on the List of World Heritage in Danger, as it, too, is threatened with collapse. Two rivers -- the Hari Rud and the Jam Rud -- flow close by and are eroding its foundation.
Jam is a treacherous two-day drive from Herat. Italian architect Andrea Bruno -- who also worked to stabilize the tower in Pisa -- led the UNESCO team that just returned from the area.
"During the last mission, other specialists also have been invited -- two geologists carried out three different types of inquiry, which were quite difficult due to the topographical situation of the location of the minaret and the difficulty to transport the necessary tools by Jeep from Herat to the Jam Valley," Bruno says.
Stabilizing the Minaret of Jam involves wrapping special stainless steel cables around its base. As in Herat, the task of getting the equipment to such a remote location presents formidable challenges, as UNESCO's Christian Manhart explains.
"Professor Macchi has made a concept of strengthening [the base] and holding it together by rolling steel cables around. This also sounds very easy, but these steel cables must be of a certain material and quality, and also they must be brought around with a predefined pressure. And this is possible only if you construct a machine which will roll on rails around. So this machine is presently under construction in Italy, and the rails also. We then have to bring all this equipment to this very remote area of Jam," Manhart says.
Manhart says UNESCO is again hoping military helicopters can be called in to help transport the cables and rails to Jam.
The preservation efforts in both Herat and Jam would be even more difficult were it not for the enthusiasm the Afghans themselves have shown in the projects. In addition to lending muscle to repair work, Manhart says Afghans are now actively involved in protecting their unique cultural heritage.
"Yes, we have very good cooperation with the Afghans. They are very keen to do this work, and they are also keen to learn, because our projects are not only aimed at the consolidation of the monuments but also on the capacity building of the services in Afghanistan in charge of the conservation of cultural heritage. And we did already a lot of onsite training. We sent some of them already to conferences and training courses. And the capacity has already considerably improved. There is extremely good cooperation with them," Manhart says.
Sayyed Makhdum Rahin is Afghanistan's minister of information and culture. He tells RFE/RL that the next phase of the preservation project is due to get under way next month.
"About two years ago, based on a proposal by Afghanistan's Information and Culture Ministry, the Jam minaret was included on the World Heritage List. Since then, UNESCO has been looking for ways to protect this minaret. We had some discussions in this regard recently, and starting in August, a [UNESCO] delegation is due to start its work in order to protect the minaret," Rahin says.
Preservation efforts aren't limited to the minarets themselves, however. Funded by Italy and Germany, a tile-making workshop has also been set up in Herat. The minarets in Herat and the nearby mausoleum of Queen Gawhar Shad were at one time covered with glazed tiles in shades of turquoise, yellow, deep blue, cream, and black. Only scattered patches remain. Hundreds of broken tiles lay like colored candies at the base of the minarets.
Manhart says tile masters were brought back to Herat from Iran and elsewhere, given salaries, and put to work teaching some two dozen students the ancient tradition of tile making. He notes that the tiles, while beautiful to look at, more importantly protect the minarets and mausoleum from the damaging effects of rain and wind.
Professor Bruno says it is vital that these monuments be saved, to preserve the structures themselves, as well as Afghanistan's unique place in the world's cultural history.
"Especially the Minaret of Jam is unique in the world, and you know now it is described on the list of World Heritage Sites. Herat in the past was the first city for the very highest expression of architecture. And not only from an architectural point of view but also from all the other expressions of Islamic art, like calligraphy, mosaics, and poetry. It's been described as the Florence of Afghanistan," Bruno says.
(RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari contributed to this report.)
Audio Slide Show Saving The Afghan Minarets
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Taliban Returns Its 'Eye For An Eye' Justice To Afghanistan
With the recent execution of three convicted murderers in separate incidents, the Taliban has sent a very public message that its infamous "eye for an eye" approach to justice has been restored in Afghanistan.
"Qisas," or retributive Islamic punishments that can include killings at the hands of victims' families, were a trademark of the Taliban's first stint in power in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
After a nearly 20-year reprieve under new governance, the hard-line Islamist group has vowed since its takeover in 2021 to revive the practice in its push to reimpose its strict interpretation of Islamic law.
The public shootings of the three men in the past two weeks show the Taliban was issuing promises, not threats.
In a throwback to the executions carried out in stadiums under the previous Taliban regime, all three were executed by heirs of their victims in front of spectators.
On February 22, Syed Jamaluddin and Gul Khan were shot dead inside a soccer stadium in the southeastern province of Ghazni. "One was shot eight times while the other received six bullets," an eyewitness who requested anonymity told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
Days later, on February 26, an unidentified man shot Nazar Mohammad inside a sports stadium in the northern province of Jawzjan. The shooter was avenging the death of his brother, Khal Mohammad, two years ago.
Such "eye for an eye" forms of justice, which include qisas as well as corporal "hudood" punishments such as amputations for lesser crimes, are carried out for crimes and offenses considered to violate God's boundaries.
The recent executions are not the first since the Taliban returned to power.
In December 2022, just a month after Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ordered the return of Islamic punishments, a convicted murderer was shot dead by his victim's father in front of hundreds of onlookers in the western Farah Province.
Last June, a man convicted of killing five people was executed in the eastern Laghman Province, according to the Taliban, which did not say how the sentence was carried out.
Since Akhundzada's order, the Taliban has also flogged, stoned, or amputated the body parts of hundreds of people for crimes such as theft and adultery.
The executions and punishments have been condemned by Afghans and abroad, and experts have questioned their validity under Islamic law and say they are mainly intended to incite fear.
Islamic Shari'a law can only be implemented as part of an overarching governing framework under a legitimate government accountable to the people, according to Afghan Islamic scholars.
"Judges who rule on such punishments must be famous for their fairness and in-depth knowledge," said professor Fazluminullah Mumtaz, an expert in Islamic jurisprudence. He added that judges "are obliged to have a thorough understanding of the jurisprudential and Shari'a aspects of the sentence and its execution."
That is not the case under the Taliban, which has gutted the Afghan judiciary and whose government is not recognized by any country.
The hard-line Islamist group has scrapped or suspended all laws implemented by the previous government, which constitutionally allowed for Islamic law while also adhering to international legal and rights norms.
And since taking over in 2021, the Taliban has fired thousands of judges, public prosecutors, and lawyers and replaced them with loyalists, most of whom are clerics.
"The Taliban government does not even have relative legitimacy and it operates in a legal vacuum," Subhanullah Misbah, an Afghan legal expert, told Radio Azadi.
The Taliban has effectively recreated its "Islamic emirate" of the 1990s, under which such punishments became a hallmark of its brutal take on Islamic law.
The group's insistence on pursuing its vision of Shari'a is widely seen as one of the reasons the Taliban has strongly resisted demands by Afghans and the international community that it allow the establishment of an inclusive government.
Its refusal to bend, despite initial promises to adhere to international law, has given the Taliban a monopoly on power but has also increased its isolation globally and fomented domestic political and economic crises.
All this, Misbah says, means the Taliban has failed to gain the qualifications required to determine the course of Islamic law. "No one in Afghanistan will oppose the implementation of Shari'a, but the Taliban first must meet the prerequisites for implementing such laws," he said. "Implementing capital punishments now will only spread fear in society."
Under the previous government, capital punishment was allowed in compliance with international law, and death sentences -- mostly by hanging -- were carried out in prisons.
But the return of public executions have alarmed the United Nations and global rights watchdogs. "Public executions are a form of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, or punishment," said Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for the UN Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights.
In a February 28 statement, he pointed out that such execution was arbitrary and "contrary to the right to life protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Afghanistan is a state party."
Amnesty International has called an immediate halt to such executions. "Carrying out executions in public adds to the inherent cruelty of the death penalty," said Livia Saccardi, Amnesty International's deputy director for South Asia. "And can only have a dehumanizing effect on the victim and a brutalizing effect on those who witness the executions."
Some rights campaigners oppose the death penalty globally and frequently oppose its implementation, including in Muslim countries where it is rooted in or inspired by Shari'a. Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran are among the world's leading executioners. All executions, including qisas, in these countries are justified according to their interpretation of Islamic law.
Graeme Smith, a senior Afghanistan analyst at the International Crisis Group, says that the Taliban's approach to justice did gain some legitimacy among Afghans, particularly in rural areas in the south and east of the country, when the group was fighting against the pro-Western government from 2002 to 2021.
Smith says this was because some Afghans -- frustrated by the rampant corruption in the Kabul-run court system -- preferred to take their cases before the insurgents. "Human rights organizations will rightly condemn these executions," he said. "However, it's worth remembering the recent history in Afghanistan, where many executions happened secretly."
After a communist coup in April 1978 toppled a republican government, Afghanistan witnessed large numbers of extrajudicial killings under communist, Islamist, and pro-Western governments.
"Many aspects of that violent legacy are still to be uncovered as journalists and other investigators gain access to former battlefields," Smith said.
The Azadi Briefing: Afghan Poet Languishes In Taliban Captivity
Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.
I'm Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.
The Key Issue
A prominent ethnic Pashtun poet has spent a month in Taliban captivity in what his family and rights activists see as another example of the hard-line Islamist group's sustained assault on freedom of expression.
Ezatullah Zawab's family members say they are completely in the dark about his situation a month after he was arrested under unclear circumstances. But Zawab's supporters have an idea why he is behind bars.
"We think that it is a conspiracy to silence my father through character assassination," Zawab's son, Nusrat Arman, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
Arman has rejected official claims that Zawab was arrested for carrying alcohol, which is strictly prohibited by the Taliban.
Zawab's supporters say the real reason is that the Taliban did not like Zawab's literary magazine, Meena ("Love" in Pashto), because it published prose and poetry that could be seen as critical of life under Taliban rule. Zawab is known for penning satirical verse with political undertones.
"The current political system in Afghanistan is dictatorial," Zarifa Ghafari, a rights campaigner, told Radio Azadi. "The Taliban silences anyone who raises a voice against it."
Why It's Important: Zawab's arrest shows the Taliban is underscoring its lack of tolerance for dissent in any form.
Pashtun poets such as Zawab were relatively immune to Taliban oppression because of their popularity and distance from known political factions. Some of them even dared to criticize the Taliban government for its abuses and mistakes publicly.
But as the Taliban strengthens its stranglehold on power, it is showing a willingness to mute even traditional avenues for airing grievances and criticism like poetry.
Since its return to power in August 2021, the Taliban has imposed all-encompassing censorship. It has detained and tortured journalists, writers, and activists, prompting hundreds in those fields to flee the country.
Despite early promises to tolerate a free press, the Afghan media has significantly declined under the Taliban. Hundreds of media outlets have been shut down and journalists not working for the Taliban are grappling with mounting restrictions.
To deny Afghans access to credible information, the Taliban has banned some international broadcasters. Its government has also denied visas to foreign correspondents to keep the country under wraps.
What's Next: The Taliban is doubling down on creating a media environment that only amplifies its views and promotes its interests.
Some Taliban officials had already declared all forms of photography un-Islamic amid speculation that women will be completely banned from working in or appearing on electronic media.
As the Taliban continues to replace journalism with propaganda, waning international interest in Afghanistan and diminishing access to the country makes accurate reporting on Taliban-ruled Afghanistan increasingly difficult.
What To Keep An Eye On
An international nongovernmental organization, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), has issued a fresh warning about the impact of climate change in Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan is the 12th-most-vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate change," the DRC said in a report issued on February 27.
The report says climate change "continues to worsen the frequency and severity of climate-related disasters such as droughts, floods, and landslides."
The DRC warned that a deepening water crisis and climate change present unique challenges to some 40 million Afghans, 80 percent of whom depend on natural resources for their livelihoods.
"Next year, we will not be able to look after our livestock, so we are selling them now," Faeza, a peasant in the western Ghor Province, told Radio Azadi. "Without water, grass, and vegetable feed, it will be difficult to keep them alive."
Why It's Important: Afghanistan remains one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, and its ability to adapt and difficulties in attracting international aid under the unrecognized Taliban government stand as major obstacles to dealing with the situation.
In one rare bit of good news following years of drought, an ongoing spell of rain and snowfall is expected to prevent drought in parts of the country this summer. However, the country remains the third-greatest at risk from human and natural disasters in the world.
That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at email@example.com
Until next time,
Abubakar Siddique
If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday. You can always reach us at firstname.lastname@example.com
- By Kian Sharifi
Killing Of Street Sweeper Puts Spotlight On Iranian Leader's 'Fire At Will' Approach
Iranians are blaming the killing of a young Afghan street sweeper in Tehran on the authorities' adoption of a "fire at will" approach that allows staunch supporters to take the protection of the Islamic Revolution into their own hands.
The street sweeper, identified as Elias Mohammadi, was thrown off a bridge to his death in the early hours of February 9.
A man arrested in connection with the attack, whose name has not been revealed, told Iranian media that he acted in the belief that Mohammadi was seeking to "insult" flags raised in the Iranian capital to mark the revolution's 45th anniversary on February 11.
The apparent act of revolutionary fervor, coming years after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave supporters free rein to protect the Islamic republic's core values, led to suggestions that the approach has left even ordinary municipal workers at risk.
"Street sweeping is probably the least safe job in Tehran," the reformist Etemad newspaper wrote on February 27.
On social media, observers highlighted how supporters of Iran's clerical establishment feel emboldened to carry out acts of vigilantism in defense of the state.
Moein Khazaeli, an Iranian human rights lawyer based in Sweden, wrote that Mohammadi's death was "the direct result of...the promotion of the culture and ideology of 'fire at will.'"
Khamenei first endorsed the approach in June 2017, when he described supporters as "officers of the soft war" who were free to act independently to put the Islamic republic's teachings into practice at their own discretion.
"Everyone must work independently; as they say on the battlefield, 'fire at will,'" he said in an address to university students in Tehran.
His remark was widely taken as giving pro-establishment Iranians the green light to confront any perceived threat to the Islamic republic or violations of its rules.
With criticism of the clerical establishment at the heart of various mass demonstrations in recent years -- including over contentious elections, Iran's draconian hijab law, and the suppression of human rights and political opposition -- the ingredients for vigilante justice abound.
As authorities have increasingly enforced the requirement that women wear a hijab, or head scarf, numerous cases of ordinary citizens taking it upon themselves to warn, and in some cases attack, women who do not cover their hair have been documented.
"The heinous killing of the Afghan street cleaner, like all those murdered by the executioners of Khamenei, was very upsetting," wrote Gohar Eshqi, an Iranian activist and mother of Sattar Beheshti, a political prisoner who died in custody in 2012.
One user on X lamented Mohammadi's death and said he had fallen victim to "one of the regime's fire-at-will nightcrawlers." Another demanded that the authorities "bridle the fire-at-will crowd" and bring justice to Mohammadi.
Rising Anti-Afghan Sentiment
Mohammadi's killing also comes amid rising anti-Afghan sentiment in Iran. This has been promoted in recent weeks on social media by mostly anonymous accounts under a Persian hashtag that calls the "expulsion of Afghans" a "national demand."
The authorities say around 5 million undocumented Afghan citizens live in Iran "illegally" and have vowed to deport them. More than 400,000 Afghan migrants have been expelled since November 2023.
Afghan migrants have also been banned from living in, traveling to, and working in 16 of Iran's 31 provinces.
Iran enhanced restrictions particularly after a man identified as an Afghan citizen attacked a Shi'ite shrine in Shiraz, Fars Province, in August 2023, killing 13 people. The attack was claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.
Following the incident, Iran imposed a ban on "foreign nationals" living in the vicinity of the shrine. In the directive, however, the Persian term used for foreign nationals -- "atba'" -- is generally understood to be a euphemism for Afghans.
In recent months, Afghan migrants in Iran have complained to RFE/RL's Radio Azadi about rising harassment.
Iranian authorities say that despite hosting millions of Afghan refugees, the country is receiving little financial support from international groups.
Taliban Holds Another Public Execution In Afghanistan
A spokesman for the Taliban government said a man was publicly executed on February 26 at a stadium in Shibirghan, in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan Province, the fifth public execution since the radical group returned to power in August 2021. Zabihullah Mujahid said the Taliban's Supreme Court had sentenced the man to death for murder. The man was shot five times with a rifle by the victim's brother, according to an anonymous witness. Last week, two people were publicly executed for murder in the southern city of Ghazni. The UN and rights groups have criticized the practice, calling for its abolition. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.
Polio Inoculation Campaign Kicks Off In 21 Afghan Provinces
An extensive polio vaccination campaign started on February 26 in 21 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, the country's Health Ministry said. The Taliban-controlled ministry's spokesman, Sharaf Zaman, said the four-day-long campaign aims to inoculate 7.6 million children under the age of five. Zaman asked local religious leaders to cooperate with the inoculation teams. Some parents in the northwest refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated against polio, an infectious disease that can cause paralysis and lead to death. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio has not been completely eradicated. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.
- By AP
Taliban Releases 84-Year-Old Austrian Man Detained In Afghanistan Last Year
An Austrian man, 84, who had been arrested in Afghanistan has been released by the Taliban, the Austrian government said on February 25. The Austrian Foreign Ministry said Herbert Fritz arrived in Doha, Qatar, from Afghanistan. A spokeswoman said the man had been held in a Kabul prison. An Austrian newspaper last year reported that an Austrian man had been arrested in Afghanistan and that he was a far-right extremist and co-founder of a minor far-right party that was banned in 1988. It said he was arrested after a far-right magazine published an article he wrote titled Vacation With The Taliban in which he gave a positive view of life under Taliban rule.
Afghan Girls Banned From Contacting Media In Eastern Province
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) has reported that Taliban police authorities in the eastern Khost Province have banned girls from contacting local radio and television channels and warned local media outlets not to accept phone calls from girls.
Regional security head Abdul Rashid Omari cited the potential for spreading immorality as the reason for giving the order in a letter he sent to the Taliban's provincial Information and Culture department.
In the letter, published by the media watchdog AFJC's website on February 25, Omari alleged that some private media outlets were spreading corruption by way of "illegitimate contacts" with girls through their social and educational programs.
The letter alleged that such contacts led to "inappropriate behavior" that was in violation of the hard-line Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic law.
It said that local media, some of which allegedly lacked the required permission to broadcast educational content, had been warned they could be summoned and prosecuted for violating the order.
Representatives of two media outlets in the province confirmed to RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that they had received warnings but declined to reveal their identities or to have the names of their outlets published out of fear of retribution by the Taliban.
Taliban officials in Khost Province did not respond to requests by Radio Azadi for comment.
Educational and social programs have emerged as a crucial outlet following the Taliban's banishment of education for girls past sixth grade.
AFJC communications head Samia Walizadeh told Radio Azadi that the order was in clear violation of media laws and the right for citizens to have free access to information and said the nongovernmental watchdog was demanding the order be rescinded so that "freedom of expression can be saved."
One woman from Khost Province who spoke to Radio Azadi on condition that her voice be altered for her protection said prohibiting girls from contacting the media shows that "women are slowly being removed from society as a whole."
According to the AFJC, which operates independently across Afghanistan under the country's mass media law, 15 private radio stations and three private television outlets are broadcasting in Khost Province, along with National Radio and Television under the control of the Taliban.
In August, women's voices were banned from being broadcast by media in the southern Helmand Province. That order warned that media outlets would face punishment and possibly be shut down if any women's voices were broadcast on air, including advertisements.
The Taliban has used its interpretation of Shari'a law to justify its consistent degradation of women's rights, including barring women from public spaces and education, and jailing women's rights activists who dare protest.
Despite promises to allow press freedom after returning to power, the Taliban has also shut down independent radio stations, television studios, and newspapers. Some media outlets have closed after losing funding.
The Taliban-led government has banned some international broadcasters while some foreign correspondents have been denied visas.
Families Demand Release Of 39 Afghans Detained In Turkey
The families of 39 Afghan citizens detained in Turkey after they reportedly tried to reach Europe on a migrant route have called for the release and the safe return of their relatives.
The Afghan migrants were hiding inside a truck carrying boxes of tissue when they were arrested in the Çilimli district of the northwestern Duzce Province, Turkey's state-run news agency reported on February 22.
All 39 Afghans were taken to the Immigration Department, and the truck driver was also arrested on charges of human trafficking, Anadolu reported.
Their relatives said they were attempting to reach Europe via Turkey to seek better opportunities.
The father of one of the Afghans detained in Turkey told Radio Azadi that he told his son he didn't have money for the journey, but he left anyway and reached Turkey after staying in Iran for a month.
The man, who identified himself as Sediqullah, a resident of Nangarhar, said he now has sent his 18-year-old son money so he can return to Afghanistan.
His son is among a wave of migrants who are fleeing Taliban persecution and a country that is reeling from one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.
Some Afghans who have been detained by the Turkish police in the past claim that they were tortured by the security forces during their detention.
"They electrocuted, tortured, and brutalized the Afghans," said 23-year-old Rahman Heydari, an Afghan who was recently deported from Turkey.
Earlier this month, Abdul Rahman Rashid, the Taliban's deputy minister of refugees, said some 1,600 Afghans currently languish in Turkish prisons. He said that Ankara has released more than 600 Afghans, who returned to their country.
Last year the number of Afghans deported by Turkey was in the thousands. In November alone the number was 4,000. The number of Afghans expelled by Turkey was even higher in 2022 when Ankara deported 50,000 back to their country.
According to the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, Turkey hosts one of the largest refugee communities worldwide, with some 3.6 million Syrians and more than 300,000 people from other countries, the majority of whom are Afghan.
In a 2022 report, global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch criticized Ankara for routinely pushing tens of thousands of Afghans -- many of whom are undocumented -- back to its border with Iran or deporting them directly to Afghanistan "with little or no examination of their claims for international protection."
Neighboring Iran and Pakistan forced more than 1 million Afghans to return to their country in the past year.
The Azadi Briefing: Public Executions On The Rise Under Taliban Rule
Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.
I'm Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.
The Key Issue
The Taliban held the public execution of two men accused of murder in southeastern Afghanistan on February 22.
The two men -- Syed Jamaluddin and Gul Khan -- were killed by gunfire by the relatives of the victims in a soccer stadium in Ghazni Province.
The Taliban said the men were executed according to the Islamic concept of qisas, or retributive justice, under which a convicted murderer can be publicly killed at the request of the murder victim's relatives.
Several thousand people witnessed the executions in Ghazni, but were banned from recording the incident.
"One was shot eight times while the other received six bullets," an eyewitness who requested anonymity told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
Why It's Important: The killings were the third and fourth known executions to have been carried out by the Taliban since it seized power in 2021. Three people have been executed in the last seven months, suggesting an uptick.
The Taliban's use of corporal and capital punishments and retributive justice underscores its commitment to imposing strict Islamic Shari'a law.
In November 2022, the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, ordered the use of qisas and hudood punishments, which allow "eye-for-an-eye" retribution and corporal punishments for offenses considered to be in violation of the boundaries set by God.
Since then, hundreds across Afghanistan have been publicly flogged or had body parts amputated for crimes such as theft and adultery.
These punishments have provoked strong criticism from human rights watchdogs and Afghans. Meanwhile, Islamic scholars have questioned whether the Taliban has met the stringent conditions required by Islamic law in implementing such harsh punishments.
Livia Saccardi, Amnesty International's deputy director for South Asia, said in a statement on February 23 that the executions were "a gross affront to human dignity as well as a violation of international laws."
What's Next: Despite international criticism, the Taliban appears set to continue to impose capital punishments and retributive justice.
With the Taliban bent on creating a "pure" Islamic system in Afghanistan, the group is likely to increase its use of harsh Islamic punishments.
Under the Taliban's first regime in the 1990s, public executions were common. The group gained international notoriety for using sports stadiums to carry out the killings.
What To Keep An Eye On
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has described the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as one of the world's "most challenging" crises.
The organization said this week that the political upheaval following the Taliban takeover has plunged the country of around 40 million people into turmoil.
"Afghanistan is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis," IOM said. "Two-thirds of the population require humanitarian assistance."
The IOM said the humanitarian crisis has been exacerbated by the deadly earthquakes that devastated western Afghanistan last year and the deportation of around 1 million Afghan refugees from neighboring Pakistan and Iran in recent months.
"It's raining, it's winter, we don't have shelter even as we are sick," Abdul Qadir, an Afghan refugee who recently returned from Pakistan told Radio Azadi. "We can't buy medicine for our children. There's no work."
Why It's Important: The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, already the world's largest, is likely to worsen as international aid recedes.
Aid agencies operating in Afghanistan have urgently called for more international funding amid fears of a widespread famine. Millions of Afghans are on the verge of starvation.
The Taliban government, which remains unrecognized and has been hit by sanctions from the international community, appears unable to address the humanitarian needs of Afghans.
That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at email@example.com
Until next time,
Abubakar Siddique
If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday. You can always reach us at email@example.com
Taliban Publicly Executes Two People For Murder
Taliban officials say two people were publicly executed on February 22 for murder at a soccer stadium in the southeastern Afghan city of Ghazni. The Taliban's Supreme Court said in a statement that the execution of the two, whose names were withheld, was ordered by three courts and the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada. Witnesses were ordered not to record the executions. The first confirmed public execution after the Taliban's return to power in August 2021 was carried out in December 2022 in Farah Province. In June 2023, the Taliban publicly executed a person for murdering five people in Laghman Province. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.
With Sights On Taliban, UN Experts Call For Declaring Gender Apartheid A Crime Against Humanity
United Nations experts on discrimination against women and girls have called on the international community to formally recognize "gender apartheid" as a crime against humanity.
Emphasizing the grave situation of women and girls under the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the five-member panel of experts from Mexico, the United States, China, Serbia, and Uganda said the step is long overdue.
"The Taliban's rule makes codifying gender apartheid in international law particularly urgent," a UN press statement said.
"It would allow the international community to better identify and address the regime's attacks on Afghan women and girls," the statement added.
Since seizing power in August 2021 as international troops left the country, the Taliban has reinstated one of the most rigid gender discrimination policies in the world.
Its government has banned women and teenage girls from education and employment in most sectors. The Taliban's growing restrictions against women are aimed at controlling their appearance and their public interactions.
Afghan women are also banned from leisure activities and visiting bathhouses. Women are barred from or discouraged from running or visiting beauty salons and restaurants.
"State laws, policies, and practices that relegate women to conditions of extreme inequality and oppression, with the intent of effectively extinguishing their human rights, reflect the very core of apartheid systems," the UN statement said.
The UN experts recommended including gender apartheid as a crime against humanity under Article 2 of the draft articles on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity. The UN General Assembly's Sixth Committee is currently considering the draft legislation.
"Women are detained and tortured under various pretexts," a woman resident of the capital, Kabul, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. "I hope that gender apartheid will be recognized in Afghanistan."
Another woman in he capital told Radio Azadi that gender discrimination needs to end soon.
"Don't perpetuate this crisis," she said.
For more than a year, Afghan women's rights activists have been campaigning to declare the Taliban's treatment of Afghan women and girls as gender apartheid.
Taliban's Boycott Of Key UN Meeting A Blow To Hopes Of Increased Engagement
The Taliban boycotted a United Nations-sponsored conference on Afghanistan, the first time the extremist group was invited to participate in a major international event since it seized power in 2021.
The group's refusal to attend the February 18-19 conference in Qatar is seen as a blow to the hopes of the international community to improve dialogue with the Taliban government, which remains unrecognized and is under sanctions.
The two-day event brought together representatives of member states, special envoys to Afghanistan, and Afghan civil society members, including women.
The conference came amid a standoff between the Taliban and the international community. Since regaining power, the hard-line Islamists have monopolized power, committed gross human rights abuses, and severely curtailed the freedoms of Afghan women.
The international community has called on the Taliban to reverse its repressive policies and create an inclusive government, which the extremist group has refused.
"One of our main objectives is to overcome this deadlock," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on February 19, adding that "the concerns of the international community" and "the concerns of the de facto authorities of Afghanistan" both need to be taken into account.
While the world body has left the door open for the Taliban to participate in future UN-sponsored meetings, observers said it is unclear if the Taliban and the international community can increase engagement and bridge their differences.
The Taliban set conditions for its participation in the Doha conference, including that it be the sole representative of Afghanistan at the meeting. The UN chief said the group's demands were "unacceptable" and amounted to recognizing the Taliban as the country's legitimate government.
The Taliban has also opposed the appointment of a UN special envoy to Afghanistan, one of the key issues discussed at the Doha meeting. One of the envoy's main tasks would be to promote intra-Afghan dialogue.
The Taliban's Foreign Ministry, in a statement issued ahead of the meeting, accused the international community of "unilateral impositions, accusations, and pressurization."
Javid Ahmad, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, said the group wants to engage with the international community on "Taliban-owned terms without having to entertain negotiations that could challenge their grip on power."
Ahmad said the Taliban was keen to avoid being "pigeonholed by the engagement community into unwanted conference outcomes without prior discussions, which would undermine their authority as rulers."
That, experts said, would explain the Taliban's opposition to the appointment of a UN special envoy for Afghanistan, an international interlocutor who would be tasked with promoting dialogue between the extremist group and exiled opposition political figures.
Since seizing power, the Taliban has sidelined many ethnic and political groups as well as women. The Taliban's theocratic government appears to have little support among Afghans.
"Problems will persist as long as these issues are not addressed," Ali Ahmed Jalali, a distinguished professor at the National Defense University in Washington, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. "The appointment of the UN special envoy will mean that the Taliban government is downgraded from a government to a group."
'Categorical Answer'
Most of the international community's dialogue with the Taliban has been through its ministers in Kabul and its diplomats in Qatar, where the group maintains a political office.
But experts said the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, and his key confidants, all of whom are senior clerics, have the real decision-making authority in the group.
The Taliban sees itself as only answerable to Allah and not the people of Afghanistan and even less to the international community."-- Anders Fange, Swedish aid worker
The reclusive Akhundzada, a hard-line cleric who rarely leaves the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, has the ultimate say on all important matters under the Taliban's clerical system.
"The Taliban diplomats will keep the door open," said Anders Fange, a Swedish aid worker who worked for the UN in Afghanistan. "But the people down in Kandahar will give you a more categorical answer."
Fange said international pressure on the Taliban is unlikely to work given the fundamentalist views of its leadership.
"The Taliban sees itself as only answerable to Allah and not the people of Afghanistan and even less to the international community," he added.
International Divisions
One of the key aims of the Doha conference was to reach a consensus among member states on how to deal with the Taliban. But that has been complicated by Afghanistan's neighbors, as well as Russia and China, who have forged ties with the Taliban.
At the Taliban's request, the Russian delegation that participated in the Doha meeting refused to meet the Afghan civil society representatives.
China's special envoy to Afghanistan, who was in Doha, meanwhile called on Washington to unfreeze some $7 billion in Afghan central bank reserves held in the United States, a move that Beijing has said will allow the Taliban to address the devastating humanitarian and economic crises in Afghanistan.
If the West does not engage with the Taliban, it risks "being entirely without influence" in Afghanistan, said Fange.
Landslide In Afghanistan Kills At Least 5, Leaves 22 Trapped, Missing
An avalanche has killed at least five people and left 22 more trapped or missing amid heavy rainfall in a mountainous region of an eastern Afghan province, locals and a Taliban official said on February 19. The landslide in the Nurgram district of Nuristan Province destroyed as many as six homes, according to Gohar Rahman, a deputy district governor for Afghanistan's Taliban-led government. Afghanistan has been hit by heavy rainfall following an extended drought that worsened the humanitarian crisis in a country already hard-hit by decades of war. To read the original story by Radio Azadi, click here.
At Afghanistan Meeting, UN's Guterres Pledges Work To Appoint Envoy
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on February 19 told a press conference at a two-day UN-sponsored meeting of more than two dozen nations but not including Taliban representatives in the Qatari capital to discuss the "evolving situation" in Afghanistan that he is starting consultations toward appointing a UN envoy to coordinate engagement between Kabul and the international community.
The Doha gathering is also aimed at discussing possible international engagement since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in mid-2021.
Guterres held closed-door sessions with the representatives of several nations and organizations on the meeting's first day.
Mahbouba Seraj, a civil-society and women's rights representative who is in Doha along with a number of other Afghan participants not affiliated with the Taliban-led government, told Radio Azadi that priority topics on day two would include the plight of women and girls under the Taliban.
She expressed hope that hers and other women's voices will "finally be heard, that this issue will be followed up on, and indeed someone" will take up the cause of Afghan women, who are routinely discriminated against and isolated under the hard-line fundamentalist Taliban.
Girls above the sixth grade have been barred from attending school, universities are closed to women, and work in the nongovernmental sector and among most government bodies has been banned for women, in addition to other restrictions.
The Taliban leadership declined the invitation from the UN Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding (DPPA) to attend the gathering.
Guterres said the Taliban set unacceptable conditions for attending the meeting, including the barring of Afghan civil society members and de facto recognition of the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate rulers.
"I received a letter with a set of conditions to be present in this meeting that were not acceptable," Guterres told a news conference. "These conditions denied us the right to talk to other representatives of Afghan society and demanded a treatment that, to a large extent, would be similar to recognition."
Russia also said via its embassy in Afghanistan that it wouldn't send a delegation to the Qatari meeting.
Moscow said it was acting "at the request of the Afghan authorities" and would not join "so-called Afghan civil activists, whose selection, by the way, was conducted nontransparently behind Kabul's back."
Organizers said participants from 25 nations and groups would include those from "Afghanistan, the wider region, and beyond."
"Other regional organizations working actively on Afghanistan such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization" were also expected to be there.
The Taliban-led government remains overwhelmingly unrecognized internationally since taking over following the withdrawal in mid-2021 of the U.S.-led international coalition that spent two decades in Afghanistan after the events of 9/11.
The Taliban's Foreign Ministry on February 17 said that due to the nonacceptance of its demands, it did not consider participation in the Doha meeting to be fruitful, expressing anger over the planned appearance of non-Taliban Afghan representatives at the sessions. The Taliban has long had a representative office in Qatar.
The DPPA said the current session would "take place in the context of Security Council resolution 2721 (2023), which encourages member states to consider increasing international engagement in the country, with the objective of a 'clear end state of an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbors, fully reintegrated into the international community, and meeting international obligations.'"
The gathering is the second such meeting organized by the UN in the past year following a session in May 2023.
With reporting by AP
- By AFP
Afghan Province Orders Officials Not To Photograph Living Things
Authorities in the Afghan province of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, ordered officials on February 18 not to take pictures or videos of "living things." In a letter addressed to civilian and military officials, the provincial department of the interior directed them "to refrain from taking pictures of living things in your formal and informal gatherings, because it causes more harm than good." It said text or audio content on officials' activities was allowed. Images of humans and animals are generally avoided in Islamic art, extending for some Muslims to an aversion to any images of living things.
Former Envoy Gives Pessimistic Assessment Of Taliban As Crucial UN Meeting Opens
A former British diplomat and NATO representative in Afghanistan says he is not optimistic about the situation in the war-torn country as its Taliban leaders continue to restrict rights and freedoms, especially for women.
In an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, Nicholas Kay, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan between 2018 and 2020, said he saw little potential for change in Afghanistan in the near future with the Taliban holding a tight grip on society.
"I think it's tough days ahead for Afghans, unfortunately," he said ahead of a major UN meeting on Afghanistan that began in Doha on February 18. "I wish I could be more optimistic."
Since the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, the extremist Islamist group has banned education and work for women in most sectors. Afghans have lost most fundamental rights and many face Taliban retribution and oppression.
The country's aid-dependent economy has shrunk dramatically as natural disasters, climate change, and forced returns of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries have worsened the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
Kay says that reforming or diluting the Taliban's hard-line policies will be "a long, hard process," because the group is committed to its ideology and way of governing.
"I don't see any immediate openings in terms of granting more human rights, civil and political rights to Afghans," he said.
Kay, however, said he didn't expect the international community to abandon the country, with continued aid likely to flow to alleviate the suffering of Afghans.
"It is nobody's interest to see the Afghan state collapse and its institutions collapse," he said. "So, a degree of cooperation and support will continue."
International diplomacy concerning Afghanistan is intensifying.
The United Nations has invited the Taliban to the two-day international conference on Afghanistan that began in the Qatari capital on February 18.
Hosted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, special envoys of member states and regional organizations will discuss international engagement with the Taliban and the potential appointment of a UN special envoy tasked with promoting reconciliation among Afghans.
Kay said that if the meeting achieves consensus over appointing a UN special envoy, it will be "good progress."
However, the Taliban government is staunchly opposed to the appointment of a high-profile UN envoy.
It argues that the UN presence under Roza Otunbaeva, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan, who heads the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), is enough.
"A lot will depend on whether the Taliban attend the meeting in Doha," Kay said.
The Taliban claims that its internationally unrecognized government has restored peace by establishing a central authority, and thus there's no need for an inclusive government.
Meanwhile, Kay said he saw the Taliban as being "an awful long way" from accepting that its government is not inclusive and that its treatment of girls and women "is a crime against humanity" and "a form of gender apartheid."
"As long as that persists, then I fail to see that there will be a normalization of relations between the international community and the Taliban."
Written by Abubakar Siddique based on reporting by Mustafa Sarwar
- By dpa
5.0-Magnitude Earthquake Jolts Northern Afghanistan
A relatively strong earthquake hit Afghanistan's northern province of Balkh on February 18. The 5.0-magnitude quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers, according to the United States Geological Survey. Haji Zaid, the Balkh governor's spokesman, said on social media that there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. In October, a series of quakes with magnitudes of up to 6.3 rocked Afghanistan's western province of Herat. According to the United Nations, the quakes killed around 1,500 people and injured nearly 2,000.
International Envoys Discuss Afghan Engagement In Doha; Taliban Rejects Invite
Special envoys from more than two dozen countries gathered in the Qatari capital to discuss the "evolving situation" in Afghanistan and possible international engagement since the Taliban's takeover of the country in mid-2021, organizers of the UN-led event said on February 18.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held closed-door sessions with the representatives of several nations and organizations on the first day of the two-day meetings in Doha sponsored by the UN's Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding (DPPA). No details of the meetings were immediately released.
Organizers said participants from 25 countries and groups would include those from "Afghanistan, the wider region, and beyond."
"Other regional organizations working actively on Afghanistan such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization" would be there, a statement said.
The DPPA said the "de facto authorities" from Afghanistan had been invited, but the Taliban's Foreign Ministry on February 17 said that due to the nonacceptance of its demands, it did not consider participation in the Doha meeting to be fruitful, expressing anger over the planned appearance of non-Taliban Afghan representatives at the sessions.
The Taliban has long had a representative office in Qatar.
Reports in the Afghan media said Lotfollah Najafizadeh on behalf of civil activists and Mahbubeh Siraj, Mitra Mehran, and Shah Gul Rezaee representing Afghan women's rights groups were participating.
The DPPA said the current session would "take place in the context of Security Council resolution 2721 (2023), which encourages member states to consider increasing international engagement in the country, with the objective of a 'clear end state of an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbors, fully reintegrated into the international community, and meeting international obligations.'"
In an interview with RFE/RL, Nicholas Kay, a former British diplomat and NATO representative in Afghanistan, said he is not optimistic about the situation in the war-torn country as its Taliban leaders continue to restrict rights and freedoms, especially for females.
Kay, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan in 2018-20, said he sees little potential for change in Afghanistan in the near future with the Taliban holding a tight grip on society.
"I think it's tough days ahead for Afghans, unfortunately," he told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi ahead the Doha sessions.
"I wish I could be more optimistic," he said.
The gathering is the second such meeting organized by the UN in the past year following a session in May 2023.
- By AP
Afghan Women Fear Going Out Alone Due To Taliban Decrees On Clothing, Male Guardians, UN Says
Afghan women feel scared or unsafe leaving their home alone because of Taliban decrees and enforcement campaigns on clothing and male guardians, according to a report from the UN Mission in Afghanistan. The report was issued days before a UN-convened meeting in the Qatari capital Doha, where member states and special envoys to Afghanistan are expected to discuss engagement with the Taliban. The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking power in 2021.
The Azadi Briefing: Why Does The Taliban Oppose Appointment Of A UN Special Envoy To Afghanistan?
Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.
I'm Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.
The Key Issue
The United Nations is convening a major international meeting on Afghanistan in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar on February 18-19.
The possible appointment of a special UN envoy to Afghanistan will be one of the key issues discussed at the meeting, which will bring together the special representatives for Afghanistan from various countries.
But the Taliban has opposed the appointment of an envoy, an international interlocutor who would be tasked with promoting dialogue between the extremist group and exiled opposition political figures.
After seizing power in 2021, the Taliban has monopolized power and sidelined many ethnic and political groups as well as women. The Taliban's theocratic government remains unrecognized internationally and appears to have little support among Afghans.
Why It's Important: An intra-Afghan process that would lead to a power-sharing agreement among rival Afghan groups is seen as the best way to reach a lasting peace in the war-torn country.
The Taliban's failure to agree to the appointment of a UN special envoy could undermine reconciliation efforts.
"The Taliban thinks that it is not necessary to have a political dialogue with people who have left the country," Tariq Farhadi, an Afghan political analyst based in Europe, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
Many of the leaders of the former internationally recognized Afghan government went into exile after the Taliban takeover.
The Taliban has said the appointment of a UN envoy is unnecessary because the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which primarily coordinates humanitarian and development efforts, is already present in the country.
"I don't think that's correct," former British diplomat Sir Nicholas Kay told Radio Azadi, adding that the task of a special envoy will be to promote dialogue among Afghans and "dedicate themselves to that diplomatic international task."
What's Next: Given the Taliban's opposition to a political dialogue and its insistence on imposing its harsh rule through brute force, most of the international community is likely to support the appointment of a special envoy.
But such a move could prompt the Taliban to stop engaging with the United Nations and the international community, which would likely entrench Afghanistan's international pariah status under Taliban rule.
What To Keep An Eye On
Iran has said it is building a 74-kilometer-long "physical barrier" along its long border with Afghanistan.
Kiumars Heydari, head of Iran's regular army ground forces, said on February 10 that the aim was to "block a strip of the border with Afghanistan with physical barriers to limit traffic" on the porous frontier.
He said the project was "one of the most important" undertaken by the Iranian government and will be carried out in four phases.
The launch of the project comes after explosions claimed by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group killed more than 90 people in the southern city of Kerman on January 3, the deadliest attack in Iran in decades.
Tehran has not recognized the Taliban government. But it enjoys relatively good relations with the group, despite clashes over issues like cross-border water resources.
Senior Iranian officials have expressed concerns over security threats emanating from Afghanistan, where IS militants are active. The Taliban claims that the extremist group does not exist in Afghanistan.
Why It's Important: Iran is the second country -- after Pakistan -- that is attempting to build a barrier on the border with Afghanistan.
Iran's project is likely aimed at curbing the thousands of illegal Afghan migrants who cross into the Islamic republic every week. Many are fleeing their homeland to escape Taliban repression and the humanitarian and economic crises in Afghanistan.
On February 14, Taliban officials said that more than 25,000 Afghans had been forcefully expelled from Iran this month.
Tehran has vowed to expel the estimated 5 million Afghans it says are living "illegally" in Iran.
That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.
Until next time,
Abubakar Siddique
If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday. You can always reach us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Azerbaijani Envoy Hands Letter To Taliban On Opening Embassy In Kabul
Afghanistan's Taliban-led government says Azerbaijan has officially reopened its embassy in Kabul, following through on a pledge made last year.
A spokesman for the Taliban-led government's Foreign Ministry, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on February 15 that Azerbaijani Ambassador to Afghanistan Ilham Mammadov arrived in the Afghan capital and handed an official letter on opening the oil-rich South Caucasus state's embassy in Kabul to Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
"This meeting discussed the beginning of diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, economic cooperation and many other issues," Balkhi wrote, adding that Muttaqi called the opening of the embassy and the sending of ambassador-level diplomats "an important development in bilateral relations."
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a law on opening an embassy in Kabul in January 2021. In July the same year, Mammadov was appointed the ambassador to Kabul.
In December, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov said Azerbaijan would open its embassy in Kabul in 2024.
Azerbaijani armed forces took part in the international anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan. They left the country along with the U.S.-led international forces in August 2021, after which the Taliban, which is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization, returned to power.
Mammadov's trip to Kabul comes three days before UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to host an international meeting in Doha, Qatar, to discuss joint efforts to assist the people of Afghanistan.
The Taliban confirmed earlier this month that it had received an invitation to the meeting and was considering "meaningful participation" in it.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan drove millions into poverty and hunger after foreign aid stopped almost overnight.
Sanctions against the Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers, and frozen billions in Afghanistan's currency reserves have cut off access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.
UN, EU Diplomats Discuss Afghanistan With Central Asian Officials Ahead Of International Conference
BISHKEK -- The UN secretary-general's envoy for Afghanistan met on February 14 in Bishkek with EU and Central Asian officials to discuss joint efforts to assist people in Taliban-led Afghanistan ahead of a more formal international meeting scheduled to take place on February 18-19 in Doha, Qatar.
UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Roza Otunbaeva held talks with two European Union officials -- Special Representative for Central Asia Teri Hakala and Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas Niklasson -- as well as officials from the five Central Asian states.
It was their fifth meeting to discuss relief efforts for Afghanistan, which has experienced a sharp drop in foreign aid since the Taliban regained power in 2021.
The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said in a statement that participants discussed current developments in the South Asian country and the UN-led process ahead of the Doha meeting that Taliban representatives have been invited to attend.
"An online exchange of views also took place with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the diplomatic missions of Central Asian countries based in Kabul," the ministry's statement said.
Niklasson told RFE/RL that the meeting was "rather informal," mostly to exchange opinions and analyses on the situation in Afghanistan to check "how we see development, challenges, and opportunities" there.
"This meeting came just a few days ahead of a meeting [on Afghanistan] in Doha [Qatar.] The purpose of this meeting was to compare notes and see that we have a lot in common," Niklasson said.
"We see a need to continue to engage Afghanistan, we see a need to continue to support the people of Afghanistan. At the same time, we see a number of challenges that makes it difficult to move beyond where we currently are," Niklasson added, citing security concerns, economic problems, and a poor human rights situation in Afghanistan under what he called "de facto" leadership.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host the meeting in Doha, which is starting on February 18. Earlier this month, the Taliban confirmed that it had received an invitation to the meeting and was considering "meaningful participation" in it.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 drove millions into poverty and hunger after foreign aid stopped almost overnight. Sanctions against the Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers, and frozen billions in Afghanistan's currency reserves have cut off access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.
Human Rights Watch said in a report published on February 12 that the drop in foreign aid has heavily impacted that country's public health-care system, exacerbating "malnutrition and illnesses resulting from inadequate medical care."
EU Special Representatives Arrive In Bishkek To Participate In Afghanistan Talks
Two European Union officials -- Special Representative for Central Asia Teri Hakala and Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas Niklasson -- arrived on February 13 in Bishkek, where they will participate in special talks with Central Asian officials on joint efforts to assist people in Afghanistan. The two EU representatives will also meet with representatives of Kyrgyzstan's government agencies and civil society. The visit takes place amid criticism by Western nations and rights groups of Kyrgyz authorities over an ongoing crackdown on independent media and democratic institutions. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.
- By RFE/RL
Afghan Health Care Hit By Drop In Foreign Aid, Taliban Rule, Says Rights Watchdog
A sharp drop in foreign aid to Afghanistan has heavily impacted that country's public health-care system, exacerbating "malnutrition and illnesses resulting from inadequate medical care," Human Rights Watch said in a new report published on February 12. HRW also said Taliban restrictions on women and girls have impeded access to health care, jeopardizing the right of millions of Afghans to medical services. The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 drove millions into poverty and hunger after foreign aid stopped almost overnight. Sanctions against the Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers, and frozen billions in Afghanistan's currency reserves have cut off access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.
- By AP
Two Afghans Detained At Guantanamo Bay For 14 Years Released By Oman, Taliban Says
Two Afghan prisoners who were held in U.S. custody for at least 14 years at the Guantanamo Bay detention center after 2002 were released from house arrest in Oman, a Taliban spokesman said on February 11. Abdul Zahir Saber and Abdul Karim were released as a result of the efforts made by Afghanistan, a Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman said. An official welcome ceremony is being organized in the capital, Kabul, for their return on February 12, the Taliban said. The two were held in Guantanamo until 2017, when they were transferred to Oman, where they spent the next seven years under house arrest, forbidden to travel.
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The liquid starch we used was the brand STA-FLO, you can find it at your local grocery store with the laundry detergent or you can purchase on amazon.
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subset: commoncrawl


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"I feel like I'm proven, but I've been out for a while and I've fallen to the back of people's minds, so I gotta come out and shine and do well."
The words may change, but to Brian Bowles they all mean the same. So when he's talking about the year he's been out of competition due to injury, there is no silver lining.
"It's been terrible," said Bowles of his time on the disabled list. "I broke my hand, then I broke my foot and it's been awful just sitting around. I was a fighter who can't fight. I would sit around and not do anything but wishing I was back in there. It's been miserable."
Terrible. Awful. Miserable. You get the picture. What made it even worse was that it's been nearly 12 months to the day of waiting to get the taste of his last fight, a second round stoppage defeat against Dominick Cruz, out of his mouth. Not only did he enter that fight with a rib injury, but he left it with a broken right hand, forcing him to remain in his corner at the bell for the third round, relinquishing his WEC bantamweight title in the process.
"I think if I would have just gone out there and broke my hand, I probably could have kept going, but all the injuries that I had added up to me pretty much being worthless out there," said Bowles, who was making the first defense of his crown against Cruz in March of 2010.
The soft-spoken bantamweight from Athens, Georgia admits that "a lot of people have judged me and said different things," about the ending to the Cruz bout, but as he explains, he was really in a no-win situation against a dangerous foe who was going to have target practice on him if he would have continued.
"My gameplan was to go out there and keep the fight standing and try to knock him out," he said. "That was my mindset and as soon as I broke my hand, it was like a meltdown. I was standing out there getting beat on and I couldn't grab him, wrestle or punch. It was going to be like letting someone punch you in the face for 10-15 minutes."
The loss was Bowles' first in nine fights, and followed a string of excellence that saw him run through the bantamweight division like Jose Aldo did through the WEC's featherweight class. Charlie Valencia, Marcos Galvao, Damacio Page, Will Ribeiro, and Miguel Angel Torres all fell to Bowles, and all were finished by knockout or submission. His first round KO of Torres in August of 2009 stunned the MMA world, but as easy as he made it look, Bowles' journey to the top was anything but easy.
"It really takes over your whole life," said Bowles, who trains with the Singer brothers, Adam and Rory at the Hardcore Gym in Athens. "I'll do interviews and people will ask 'well, what do you do for fun?' And I don't really do much for fun. The days I'm off when I could do fun things are the days that I just rest and lay around. When you train all day every day, if you're not training, you're lying around, resting or eating and recuperating so you can train more. It takes over your whole life and it's gotta be your whole life if you want to achieve the goals that you set."
Bowles, 30, made it to the top once. Now the goal is to do it again. A November 2010 bout against Wagnney Fabiano in the WEC was scrapped when Bowles broke his foot in training, but this Thursday he will make his long-awaited return to competition against a familiar face in Page, who he previously submitted in August of 2008.
"I watch a lot of the 35ers fight and I didn't know if I would ever fight him again or not, but I kept my eye on him," said Bowles of Page. "He's had some pretty good fights and he knocks people out, he's dangerous, so you've just got to be careful with that."
And he's not about to look past his opponent just because he's beaten him before.
"I never take anybody lightly," he said. "Just because I beat him one time doesn't mean I can beat him again. The way I look at it is that he's coming for revenge, so I've gotta train hard and make sure that he doesn't get what he's looking for. I'll have to prove that I'm the better fighter and come out with the win again."
Just putting on the gloves and getting back to work is probably enough reason for Bowles to get excited about this week's bout, but when you throw in that he will be making his UFC debut as well, those terrible, awful, and miserable days seem far, far away.
"I've been kinda expecting it," said Bowles of last year's WEC / UFC merge. "The rumors went around for a little bit, and usually when those rumors go around, it ends up being true. I was waiting for it and waiting for it, and hoping it would come along and it finally did. I'm excited and I can't wait to get out there. The crowds are bigger and even though I know and most of the real fans knew that Cruz is the real champ, when I was the champ, I would get questions like 'when are you gonna fight for the UFC?' So now I don't have to put up with that anymore."
What he will have to deal with is reintroducing himself to fight fans again. This is a very 'what have you done for me lately' culture, and Bowles quickly found that out in the aftermath of the Cruz bout. Some thought that his low profile in the media was self-imposed, but as he explains, that wasn't necessarily the case.
"Not a lot of people were asking," he said. "I usually like to wait a little bit after my fight to give my mind a rest and quit thinking about fighting for a minute, but then after that, people kinda moved on. I had a few (interviews) set up and then they would fall through, and it was just something that happened – nothing that I had planned."
The phone should be ringing off the hook soon enough though, especially if Bowles can recapture the buzz that he had around him when he was tearing through the WEC. And while he's already paid his dues, he's got no problem giving folks a little reminder as to why they should be paying attention.
"I've already proven myself," said Bowles. "I've already been the champ and it wasn't an easy road for me. Every fight I had was tough. Miguel was a dominant champ and I beat him, and everybody I had leading up to him was tough. It's not like I fought a bunch of chumps to get where I'm at. So I feel like I'm proven, but I've been out for a while and I've fallen to the back of people's minds, so I gotta come out and shine and do well and remind people that I'm here."
Jamahal Hill Talks UFC 300 Main Event
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What I like about working at a museum is running into curators who offhandedly tell you something really interesting about art that you didn't know and never would have found out otherwise. Not long before Art of the Pacific opened, for example, I happened to meet Nancy Thomas, museum deputy director and curator, as she was about to enter the galleries. So Nancy kindly gave me a spontaneous tour of the installation, pointing out the canoe prow, the skull rack … and the operculum eyes.
The operculum is a convex rounded plate that serves as the trapdoor on the shell of a number of marine snails and some land ones too, protecting the snails from predators and from drying out. The operculum has a smooth side and a rough side. Set into a sculpted face of approximately human dimensions, as some long-ago artist discovered and many others would confirm, an operculum with the smooth side out makes an uncannily convincing eye: soft, three-dimensional, with an irislike ring of color around a glossy dark center.
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Papua New Guinea, New Ireland Province, Memorial Figure, c. 1900 (detail), purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski and The Ahmanson Foundation
The opercula are individual as well, each one forged by the life and times of a lone maritime snail. As eyes they give the masks or statues a strangely personal presence and almost an air of distraction or being lost in thought, as if the figures represented were trying to sort out some important things on their minds.