Source: Al Jazeera
A photojournalist recalls the Afghans he photographed, including the leader of a local police unit left to fight the Taliban alone when American soldiers left. A few days later, the police commander was dead.
Monthly Archives: September 2021
In rural Afghanistan, a family welcomes Taliban rule
Source: BBC
The interior of the house made of mud bricks was cool, clean and calm. A man called Shamsullah, who had a small son clinging to his leg, ushered his visitors into the room where they received guests.
A rug covered the floor and cushions ran along the walls that were at least two-feet thick. A few treasures were on display. A small cabinet with half a dozen tiny coloured glass bottles. But the family are poor, and any possessions they had were destroyed or looted during the last 20 years of war.
Afghanistan envoy withdraws from UN General Assembly debate
Source: Al Jazeera
Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Nations has pulled out of delivering an address to world leaders at the General Assembly on Monday.
Ghulam Isaczai, who represented president Ashraf Ghani’s government that was overthrown last month, was due to defy the Taliban with a speech but his name was removed from the list of speakers.
Taliban ban Helmand barbers from trimming beards
Source: BBC
The Taliban have banned hairdressers in Afghanistan’s Helmand province from shaving or trimming beards, saying it breaches their interpretation of Islamic law.
Afghanistan politics imperils effort to claw back 2001 war powers
Source: Politico
The rocky U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is imperiling Congress’ plans to repeal the war authorization that sent American troops to the Middle East in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Europe’s post-Afghanistan to-do list
Source: European Council on Foreign Relations
The EU’s approach to foreign policy and economic policy needs to account for the fact that, globally, the space between the two areas is increasingly narrow
The NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan has laid bare several urgent challenges for the European Union.
What the Arab Gulf is thinking after the Afghanistan withdrawal
Source: Atlantic Council
Following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, three heavyweights in the Gulf are carefully navigating the aftermath—each calculating what it stands to gain (or lose) in its relationship with the United States.
How does this development alter their perceptions of security, and how will it impact their dynamics vis-à-vis Washington? Based on recent travel to the region and several conversations with officials, here’s what to expect:
Mismatch of mindsets: why the Taliban won in Afghanistan
Source: Guardian
Some years ago, in Afghanistan, the anthropologist Scott Atran asked a Taliban fighter what it would take to stop the fighting, because families on both sides were crying. The fighter replied: “Leave our country and the crying will stop.”
US allows aid for Afghanistan despite sanctions against Taliban
Source: Al Jazeera
Amid concern that sanctions on the Taliban would worsen a continuing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the United States has taken steps to pave the way for aid to flow into the economically paralysed nation.
Pakistan to US: Abandoning Afghanistan risks humanitarian crisis
Source: Al Jazeera
Pakistan has repeated its call for the world not to “abandon” Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of that country, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.