Tag Archives: Taliban

Taliban to be taken to ICJ for gender discrimination in a groundbreaking move

Meryl-Streep-and-Asila-Wardak

Important Takeaways:

  • The move announced at the UN general assembly is the first time the ICJ, based in The Hague, has been used by one country to take another to court over gender discrimination.
  • The case is being brought under the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, which was adopted by the general assembly in 1979 and brought into force in 1981.
  • Afghanistan, prior to the 2021 Taliban takeover of the country, ratified the convention in 2003.
  • In the first legal move of this type since the Taliban took over, it is expected that Afghanistan would have six months to provide a response before the ICJ would hold a hearing and probably propose provisional measures.
  • Advocates of the course argue that even if the Taliban refuse to acknowledge the court’s authority, an ICJ ruling would have a deterrent effect on other states seeking to normalize diplomatic relations with the Taliban.
  • Last month, the Taliban published a new set of vice and virtue laws that said women must not leave the house without being fully covered and could not sing or raise their voices in public.
  • The countries involved in the litigation say they are willing to negotiate with the Taliban in good faith to end gender discrimination, but will, if the necessary stages prove fruitless, seek a hearing at the ICJ.

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What if Hamas, Taliban, Hezbollah, and ISIS join forces?

Islamic-State-militants

Important Takeaways:

  • Iranian Christian Leader’s ‘Absolute Armageddon’ Question: ‘What Happens if Hamas, Taliban, Hezbollah, and ISIS Join Forces?’
  • Lazarus Yeghnazar, founder and president of Transform Iran, an organization that spreads the Gospel in Iran, told CBN Digital such collaborations are already unfolding
  • “What happens if Hamas, Taliban, Hezbollah, and ISIS join forces? What will it force the Western countries, and the democracies, and Israel to do?” Yeghnazar asked in the clip. “A conflict, which is catastrophic, will engulf the whole region.”
  • He also warned the murderous chaos will eventually come for everyone, not just Israel.
  • “This is … a plague that is not only destined to obliterate Israel [but one] that will not stop until they subjugate all of us,” Yeghnazar said.
  • With Iran at the center, the faith leader said “only God knows” where the chaos will end, citing a “deep root of bitterness” at the heart of such horrific actions. He also noted that Iranian officials harm, harass, and kill their own people.
  • “I think this destruction is going to carry on,” he said. “You cannot get the deep root of bitterness away. You can destroy buildings.”
  • And that bitterness and chaos, he said, is “deeply spiritual,” calling it a manifestation of “darkness over light.” Despite terrorists’ diabolical claims and goals, Yeghnazar said Israel won’t be wiped from the map.
  • “In this type of Islamic theology, there is no peaceful coexistence, and I think the West has to understand it.”
  • “I think this will end in an absolute Armageddon’” he said. “But, believe me, my sadness is not what Satan is doing, because this is already prophesied in the scripture that this will happen. My sadness is what will happen to wake up the church — what will happen to prevent the church into forgetting its own pity … introvert attitude.”
  • Yeghnazar encouraged humanity to “wake up and pray together” as God performs “His own will” in the Middle East.

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McCarthy: ‘We could have the same thing happen next week to us’

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-736x552

Important Takeaways:

  • Israel Didn’t See a Hamas Strike Coming. The U.S. Could Be Next, McCarthy Warns
  • Former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), who told the Washington Free Beacon in a wide-ranging interview that the chaos at the U.S. southern border could set the stage for a similar type of terror attack.
  • McCarthy said. “We caught more people on the terrorist watch list in February than we caught in the entire administration. We could have cells sitting inside of America right now.”
  • Analysts are calling the attacks Israel’s 9/11, echoing a time when U.S. intelligence agencies completely failed to detect a shock al Qaeda operation that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
  • “We should take a step back and look at ourselves,” McCarthy said. “Your intel is never perfect and we’ve got a wide-open border. They’re coming from 160 different countries,” including those known to harbor militant operatives loyal to Iran and other terror groups, like the Taliban.
  • “How did we not know that is happening” in the Gaza Strip? McCarthy asked. “Everybody should look at their own intelligence right now.”
  • McCarthy told the Free Beacon that the uncertainty created by his ouster is contributing to fears Congress will not be ready to ensure Israel is armed with the resources it needs to combat Hamas.
  • McCarthy also said the Biden administration is “1,000 percent” responsible for creating conditions that enabled Iran to fund Hamas and help plan its attack on Israel.
  • This includes a $6 billion ransom payment last month that gave Iran access to cash reserves that analysts and Republican lawmakers say helped pay for Hamas’s war.

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Taliban calls for international community to act against Israel and hand over Palestine territory

Taliban-Spokesman

Important Takeaways:

  • Taliban Releases Statement Following the Israel-Hamas War — Urges Islamic Nations and International Community to Act Against Israel
  • The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban) has released an official statement in the wake of the recent Israel-Hamas war. The statement outlines the Taliban’s stance on the issue and calls upon Islamic countries and international organizations to take action against Israel.
  • The statement explicitly calls for these entities to “prevent the violence of the Israeli occupying forces against the innocent people of Palestine” and to resolve the issue “on the basis of granting the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.”
  • The Jerusalem Post reported:
    • The Taliban has reportedly asked Iran for passage to Israel to help Hamas continue its terror against the Jewish state, according to multiple foreign media reports from October 7.
  • The Taliban has allegedly asked for passage to ‘conquer Jerusalem’ if Iran, Jordan and Iraq are willing to support their troops.

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An Unholy Alliance Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Iran after drone strike eliminates Al-Qaeda Leader

Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • How Iran is Partnering With Al-Qaeda to Expand its Terror Network, And What That Means for the US
  • The US drone strike that eliminated al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri could also have put into motion an even more dangerous phase in the global war on terror – one with Iran at the helm.
  • “One might not expect that the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, that’s a Shia revolutionary regime, would partner with a Sunni terrorist group,” says Amb. Nathan Sales, former ambassador-at-large and coordinator for counterterrorism under the Trump administration.
  • Iran’s connection to al-Qaeda dates back to the early 1990s when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard helped Osama bin Laden run jihadist training camps in Sudan.
  • The regime also offered safe haven to al-Qaeda leadership fleeing Afghanistan in the wake of 9-11.
  • “Al-Qaeda and Iran have common enemies. They both hate the United States. They both hate Israel. They both hate Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni Gulf monarchies. If al-Qaeda is mounting terrorist attacks against all or any of those organizations, that advances Iran strategic objectives, and it does so in a way that’s deniable,” Sales explains.
  • “Now that the Taliban is back in business and providing safe haven to senior al-Qaeda figures as we saw with Ayman al Zawahiri, who was living in the heart of downtown Kabul, presumably under Taliban protection

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Humanitarian Aid after Afghanistan Earthquake becomes complicated since Taliban takeover

Luke 21:11 “There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Afghanistan Quake Kills 1,000 People, Deadliest in Decades
  • A powerful earthquake struck a rural, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, killing 1,000 people and injuring 1,500 more in one of the deadliest quakes in decades, the state-run news agency reported. Officials warned that the already grim toll may still rise.
  • Information remained scarce on the magnitude 6.1 temblor near the Pakistani border, but quakes of that strength can cause serious damage
  • Experts put the depth at just 10 kilometers (6 miles) – another factor that could lead to severe destruction.
  • Rescuers rushed to the area by helicopter Wednesday, but the response is likely to be complicated since many international aid agencies left Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.
  • The Taliban are still trying to reconstitute government ministries abandoned by staff loyal to its previous Western-backed government, and it was not clear how officials arrived at the casualty tolls reported by Bakhtar.
  • The Italian medical aid group Emergency, which still operates in Afghanistan, said it sent seven ambulances and staff to the areas closest to the quake zone.
  • Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said his nation would provide help

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Pandemic Becomes Tool to Persecute Christians

Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Important Takeaways:

  • The Ignored Pandemic: 360 Million Christians Persecuted Worldwide
  • “When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, they tried to appear moderate—but there’s no sign that Christianity will be anything other than a death sentence.” — World Watch List-2022.
  • “The persecution of Christians in India has intensified, as Hindu extremists aim to cleanse the country of their presence and influence. The extremists disregard Indian Christians and other religious minorities as true Indians, and think the country should be purified of non-Hindus…..” — World Watch List-2022.
  • In Qatar, “Violence against Christians rose sharply ….” — World Watch List-2022.
  • “The COVID-19 pandemic has offered a new weapon to persecutors. In some areas, Christians have been deliberately overlooked in the local distribution of government aid and have even been accused of spreading the virus.” — World Watch List-2022.
  • In the Central African Republic, which was “hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic … Christians were denied government aid and told to convert to Islam if they wanted to eat.”
  • In short, the persecution of Christians, which was already horrific, has increased by nearly 70% over the last five years, with no signs of abating.

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From Kabul to Kentucky: Afghans put down roots in refugee haven

By Amira Karaoud and Mary Milliken

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (Reuters) – After exhausting journeys that took them from Kabul to Qatar to European cities to U.S. military bases, Afghan families fleeing the Taliban alighted in Kentucky, in a small city well versed in receiving refugees.

Bowling Green has welcomed waves of refugees over four decades, beginning with the Cambodians in the 1980’s and then Bosnians in the 1990’s, plus Iraqis, Burmese, Rwandese and Congolese and others, who have helped make the city of 72,000 a diverse and economically thriving place.

Wazir Khan Zadran was a tribal leader who fought 20 years ago against the Haqqani network, a powerful faction within the Taliban. Although he more recently worked with a non-governmental organization, he knew the Taliban would come for him.

Zadran said the Americans saved him and his family by picking them up in a Chinook helicopter in August and taking them to the Kabul airport. After a spell at a New Mexico military base, they were sent to Bowling Green and quickly realized they had lucked out in their new American lives.

“We are so happy in Bowling Green,” said the 41-year-old father, who has secured a comfortable house and sent his children to school with the assistance of the local resettlement agency, the International Center, founded in 1981.

“Also, the local community is helping us and introducing the culture to us,” Zadran added.

His six children are learning songs in English, sending “Dear Santa” letters off, going to the library and lapping up ice cream at Baskin-Robbins.

In the aftermath of rising anti-immigrant and refugee sentiment during the Trump administration, the United States government is now handling its biggest refugee evacuation since Vietnam. Of the nearly 75,000 expected to settle in America, Bowling Green will receive 350 Afghans in fiscal year 2022.

There are plenty of jobs for new residents of Bowling Green, an agricultural and manufacturing hub, perhaps best known for the assembly plant that makes the coveted Corvette sports car. The Bosnians, who now number around 10,000 and own several companies, attest to the good job prospects when the Afghans’ expedited work permits arrive in coming months.

“In 2000 when I came here, I arrived with a couple of suitcases and two infant children and my wife,” said Tahir Zukic, a Bosnian from Srebrenica who owns Taz Trucking, employing 100 people and 140 trucks.

“It’s absolutely an amazing place to be, with a lot of opportunity and you can just do what you like to do.”

For those who did not work with the Americans in Afghanistan, learning the language could be the toughest part of adapting to their new home, Zukic said. But they also must learn how America works, how to drive, how to get a credit card. And what to do when tornadoes approach.

The twisters that tore through Kentucky this month jolted the Afghans’ sense of security. They were confounded by the 1 a.m. sirens that reminded them of Kabul and shocked by the uprooted trees, roofs ripped off houses and deaths in one neighborhood home to many immigrants.

“We never saw a storm like this before in our life in Afghanistan, so we felt maybe we were going to another war,” Zadran said. “But God saved us.”

‘THIS IS MY PLACE’

Firas Majeed arrived in Bowling Green from Baghdad via Brooklyn, New York, in 2016. The Iraqi refugee came to visit a friend and decided “this is my place.” He now co-owns a grocery store stocked with Middle Eastern and European foods after working as a welder.

“The quality of life is higher than in the big cities,” said Majeed, who appreciates the big skies and verdant farms around Bowling Green, strong job market, low rents and medical care.

Majeed said the Afghans will get a lot of support because everyone saw the images of the chaotic evacuation from Kabul. The Iraqis can teach them things, like how to get a driver’s license.

Bowling Green is also a place that allows refugees to hold onto their identities while becoming Americans – offering a socially conservative environment to raise families and practice religions.

At the Forest Park Baptist Church, Congolese refugees have breathed new life into the community. Worship services and Bible study are translated into Swahili and sometimes held in that language.

“We love their gospel singing,” said church leader Mike Givens, and the church translates their songs so everyone hears the message.

“Our community has changed, so if we do not seek or go after the immigrant population, our church will not survive,” added Givens.

Back at the Zadran house, the children make quick progress with their new culture. The eldest, Zuleikha, teaches her siblings a song in English with the lyrics “What are you thankful for?”

As they applaud their own performance, Zuleikha declares “Finished!” and flashes a wide grin.

(Reporting by Amira Karaoud and Mary Milliken; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

U.S. authorizes certain transactions with Taliban to ease flow of aid to Afghanistan

By Daphne Psaledakis and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday formally exempted U.S. and U.N. officials doing official business with the Taliban from U.S. sanctions, clearing the way for proposed U.N. payments next year of some $6 million to the Islamists for security.

The U.S. Treasury Department announcement came a day after Reuters exclusively reported a U.N. plan to subsidize the monthly wages of Taliban-run Interior Ministry personnel who guard U.N. facilities and pay them monthly food allowances.

Some experts said the proposal raised questions about whether such payments would violate U.N. and U.S. sanctions on the Taliban and on many of their leaders, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Interior Ministry chief and head of the Haqqani network.

The Treasury Department issued two general licenses allowing U.S. officials and those of certain international organizations, like the United Nations, to engage in transactions involving the Taliban or Haqqani network as long as they are official business.

A third general license gives nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) protection from U.S. sanctions on the Taliban and the Haqqani network for work on certain kinds of projects, including humanitarian programs for “basic human needs,” rule of law and education.

A senior U.S. administration official emphasized that while the United States was issuing the licenses, the Taliban would have to make decisions about how they operate the government to prevent a complete economic collapse.

“What we can attempt to do, what we’re going to work to do, is to mitigate the humanitarian crisis by getting resources to the Afghan people, and these general licenses will allow us to allow organizations that are doing this work to do exactly that,” the official told reporters.

The Treasury, however, warned the new general licenses do not allow financial transfers to the Taliban or the Haqqani network “other than for the purpose of effecting the payment of taxes, fees, or import duties, or the purchase or receipt of permits, licenses, or public utility services.”

The economic crisis in Afghanistan accelerated when the Taliban seized power in August, as the former Western-backed government collapsed and the last U.S. troops withdrew.

The United States and other donors cut financial assistance on which the country became dependent during two decades of war with the Islamist militants, and more than $9 billion in Afghanistan’s hard currency assets were frozen.

The United Nations is warning that nearly 23 million people – about 55% of the population – are facing extreme levels of hunger, with nearly 9 million at risk of famine as winter takes hold in the impoverished landlocked country.

While the U.S. Treasury has provided “comfort letters” assuring banks that they can process humanitarian transactions, concern about U.S. sanctions continues to prevent passage of even basic supplies, including food and medicine.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Exclusive-World Bank works to redirect frozen funds to Afghanistan for humanitarian aid only: sources

By Jonathan Landay and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank is finalizing a proposal to deliver up to $500 million from a frozen Afghanistan aid fund to humanitarian agencies, people familiar with the plans told Reuters, but it leaves out tens of thousands of public sector workers and remains complicated by U.S. sanctions.

Board members will meet informally on Tuesday to discuss the proposal, hammered out in recent weeks with U.S. and U.N. officials, to redirect the funds from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), which has a total of $1.5 billion.

Afghanistan’s 39 million people face a cratering economy, a winter of food shortages and growing poverty three months after the Taliban seized power as the last U.S. troops withdrew from 20 years of war.

Afghan experts said the aid will help, but big gaps remain, including how to get the funds into Afghanistan without exposing the financial institutions involved to U.S. sanctions, and the lack of focus on state workers, the sources said.

The money will go mainly to addressing urgent health care needs in Afghanistan, where less than 7% of the population has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, they said.

For now, it will not cover salaries for teachers and other government workers, a policy that the experts say could hasten the collapse of Afghanistan’s public education, healthcare and social services systems. They warn that hundreds of thousands of workers, who have been unpaid for months, could stop showing up for their jobs and join a massive exodus from the country.

The World Bank will have no oversight of the funds once transferred into Afghanistan, said one of the sources familiar with the plans.

“The proposal calls for the World Bank to transfer the money to the U.N. and other humanitarian agencies, without any oversight or reporting, but it says nothing about the financial sector, or how the money will get into the country,” the source said, calling U.S. sanctions a major constraint.

‘NOT A SILVER BULLET’

While the U.S. Treasury has provided “comfort letters” assuring banks that they can process humanitarian transactions, concern about sanctions continues to prevent passage of even basic supplies, including food and medicine, the source added.

“It’s a scorched earth approach. We’re driving the country into the dust,” said the source. Crippling sanctions and failure to take care of public sector workers will “create more refugees, more desperation and more extremism.”

Any decision to redirect ARTF money requires the approval of all its donors, of which the United States has been the largest.

A State Department spokesperson confirmed that Washington is working with the World Bank and other donors on how to use the funds, including potentially paying those who work in “critical positions such as healthcare workers and teachers.”

The spokesperson said the U.S. government remains committed to meeting the  critical needs of the  Afghan people, “especially across health, nutrition, education, and food security sectors … but international aid is not a silver bullet.”

BYPASSING TALIBAN

Established in 2002 and administered by the World Bank, the ARTF was the largest financing source for Afghanistan’s civilian budget, which was more than 70% funded by foreign aid.

The World Bank suspended disbursements after the Taliban takeover. At the same time, Washington stopping supplying U.S. dollars to the country and joined in freezing some $9 billion in Afghan central bank assets and halting financial assistance.

A World Bank spokesperson confirmed that staff and executive board members are exploring redirecting ARTF funds to U.N. agencies “to support humanitarian efforts,” but gave no further details. The United Nations declined to comment.

Initial work has also been done on a potential swap of U.S. dollars for Afghanis to deliver the funds into the country, but those plans are “basically just a few PowerPoint slides at this point,” one of the sources said. That approach would deposit ARTF funds in the international accounts of Afghan private institutions, who would disburse Afghanis from their Afghan bank accounts to humanitarian groups in Afghanistan, two sources said.

This would bypass the Taliban, thereby avoiding entanglement with the U.S. and U.N. sanctions, but the plan is complex and untested, and could take time to implement.

One major problem is the lack of a mechanism to monitor disbursements of funds in Afghanistan to ensure Taliban leaders and fighters do not access them, a third source said.

Two former U.S. officials familiar with internal administration deliberations said that some U.S. officials contend that U.S. and U.N. sanctions on Taliban leaders bar financial aid to anyone affiliated with their government.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool)