HRW, 4 August 2022 A useful overview over the current humanitarian situation in Afghanistan plus questions and answers on th US sanctions and banking restrictions on the Taleban which in reality hit the Afghan people indiscriminately. HRW sums up: “Economic Crisis Underlies Mass Hunger”. The following questions are answered: How serious is the humanitarian situation […]
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Etilaat-e Ruz, 9 July 2022 During a speech in Kandahar’s in the Eidgah Mosque, Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzadeh, the leader of the Taleban, said a completely Islamic system will be established in the country and all “non-Sharia” laws passed and enforced during the administration of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani will be abolished.
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The Diplomat, 26 July 2022 A new attempt is made to construct a railway line connecting Uzbekistan and Pakistan through Afghanistan, this time with the Taleban on board. The project is facing a set of problems, however: funding, security issues and the problem of the tracks’ gauge. Uzbekistan is using the Russian gauge (which is […]
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Pajhwok, 25 July 2022
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NPR, 17 July 2022
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RFI, 2 July 2022 A reportage from Eastern Turkey.
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Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Data, and Conflict at Princeton University, June 2022 A new report based on the study of “the activity of 63 accounts claimed by the Taliban leadership, spokespersons, and avowed members from April 1 to September 16, 2021” with more than two million followers in September 2021, and of “the broader Taliban […]
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SIGA, 14 June 2022 A very insightful report from Nuristan by Swiss Franz Marty for the Swiss Institute for Global Affairs, reflecting the still existing diversity even in Taleban-dominated Afghanistan. It shows that even some pre-Islamic institutions of self rule seem to have survived in parts of the province, of course now in ‘Islamic’ disguise.
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The Economist, 20 May 2022 One reason for their success is that they have plenty of experience collecting taxes. During their two decades as a rebel army, they collected traditional tithes, such as oshr, a share of farmers’ harvests, and zakat, religious alms, in areas under their control. (…) Second, the Taliban have kept official revenues flowing. A […]
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The Guardian, 3 May 2022 A pretty unexpected reportage from Kandahar where the human rights NGO Geneva Call holds international humanitarian law courses for young Taleban. One says he has learned there to respect the dignity of prisoners which, he said, he was not aware that this should be done – after 8 years in […]
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RFE, 20 May 2022 An overlooked aspect of the Taleban takeover of power: danger for non-Afghan political refugees to become victims of the regime change.
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Costs of War Project, 1 September 2021 In case you missed it, too: the figures from Afghanistan & Pakistan (Oct. 2001 – Aug. 2021); Iraq (March 2003 – Aug. 2021); Syria (Sept. 2014 – May 2021); Yemen (Oct. 2002-Aug. 2021) and Other Post-9/11 War Zones by the Brown University/Watson Institute’s Costs of War Project.
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