Islamabad, Pakistan – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has called on countries worldwide to engage with the Taliban’s interim government in Afghanistan or risk a “humanitarian crisis” resulting from the collapse of the state.
His comments in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Friday followed a visit to Afghanistan this week and two days of talks with Pakistani leaders.
New York (CNN Business)As the Taliban entered Kabul last month, the team behind the crowdsourced news alert app Ehtesab deserted their office in the city. But they continued their work of providing Afghans with critical information, such as which roads were congested and where outbreaks of violence had been reported.
Councils who support people through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) or Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme will receive £20,520 per person, over 3 years, for resettlement and integration costs. This is based on the previous Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, but over 3 rather than 5 years, with more money provided in the crucial early period to help people settle and become part of their new communities.
GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations drummed up more than $1.2 billion in emergency pledges Monday for helping 11 million Afghans facing an escalating humanitarian crisis in their homeland and millions more elsewhere in the region as the U.N. human rights chief voiced concerns about the Taliban’s first steps in establishing power in the beleaguered and impoverished country.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran Wednesday resumed commercial flights to Afghanistan that had been halted after the Taliban assumed power, news agencies reported.
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported that a charter return flight transported passengers from Tehran to Kabul. It said a second flight from northeastern city of Mashhad left for Kabul, too.
Journalism in Afghanistan is in danger of disappearing, according to the head of the International Federation of Journalists, who said that reporters trying to continue working under the Taliban have been subjected to beatings and imprisonment.
“The Taliban don’t want to make too many waves right now, but they will want to take control of everything, including the foreign press in Afghanistan,” Anthony Bellanger, the IFJ secretary general, told the Guardian. “And as often happens in such situations, foreign journalists will be considered agents of foreign governments.
After street demonstrations across major cities in Afghanistan, women have now taken to social media to protest against the Taliban’s hardline policies towards them.
An online campaign has seen Afghan women around the world share photos of themselves wearing traditional colourful clothes, using the hashtag #DoNotTouchMyClothes.
CHIBA, Japan (Kyodo) — Several Afghan evacuees arrived at Narita airport near Tokyo on Sunday night, the first confirmed group of people from Afghanistan to take refuge in Japan following the Taliban’s return to power in mid-August.
The evacuees were among around 10 Afghans who entered neighboring Pakistan by land last week. The four were a local worker of the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Afghanistan and family members, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Madina Morwat was among scores of Afghan journalists who lost their jobs when dozens of television and radio stations suspended programming after the Taliban captured Kabul last month.
But the 23-year old reporter quickly resumed her career after taking a job at Tolo News, part of Afghanistan’s largest media company Moby Group and a channel that has come to symbolise the rise of liberal media in Afghanistan since the Taliban were first ousted from power following the US-led invasion in 2001. “Many embassies asked if I wanted to leave Afghanistan, but I am committed to work for women and my country,” she said.
The UK government has released a fact-sheet for people evacuated from Afghanistan. It provides information on rights and the next steps regarding the immigration status in the UK. – read the full factsheet here.