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Stubborn Taliban (Opinion)

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3 years ago

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The manner in which the Taliban have been able to retain power in Afghanistan and their latest decisions show that to save millions of Afghanis from impoverishment and death, international community will have to adopt a new approach.

While the nearly one-year old Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) government trundles on in the absence of international recognition, financial support and faces international backlash on its mostly anti-women and minorities decisions, reminding one of its earlier harsh tenure, the IEA government has not given up on efforts to cajole the international community whilst trying to engage with its neighbours and regional powers at an equal level.

Afghan Loya Jirga

Last week, a three-day assembly of Islamic clerics and tribal elders, called Loya Jirga, was held in Kabul. The assembly pledged support for the Taliban and called on the international community to recognise the country’s Taliban-led government and freeze its assets.

It is reported that some 70 personalities representing Afghan refugees in Pakistan and 30 others from Iran participated in the Jirga. According to the state-run Bakhtar news agency, about 3,500 religious scholars and elders from across Afghanistan were invited to attend the grand assembly.

Participants of the Jirga were expected to discuss a series of issues, including reopening schools for girls from 7th grade to 12th grade, the type of government, national flag and national anthem.

However, the indications are that the overwhelming majority of attendees were Taliban officials and supporters, mostly Islamic clerics. Women were not allowed to attend, a practice that started during the US-backed government in the past.

The Jirga issued an 11-point statement at the conclusion, urging countries in the region and the world, the UN, Islamic organisations and others to recognise theIEA, remove all sanctions imposed since the Taliban takeover and unfreeze Afghan assets abroad.

The US has frozen nearly $9 billion of Afghanistan’s funds. Reportedly US officials and Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi held talks in Qatar last week to explore ways for unfreezing the money.

It also called for mutual respect and coexistence with neighbouring countries, in the region and the world at large, stressing that “the Afghan soil won’t be used against any country and Afghanistan also won’t allow anyone to interfere in its internal affairs”.

It also supported the administration’s ban on poppy plantation and drug production and its smuggling, noting that poppy cultivation, drug production and its trafficking are against Islamic teachings.

The participants also described the Islamic State terror group as “insurgent, terrorist”, noting cooperation with the group is against Islamic laws. The statement further described them as “Kharijite group of this age that spreads corruption in our Islamic country. Any help or association with them is illegal. And that any armed opposition against the Islamic establishment is a breach of Islamic laws and regarded as rebellion”.

In a surprise development, the reclusive supreme leader and spiritual chief of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhundzada reached Kabul from his base in southern Kandahar province and addressed the gathering on July 1.

His appearance added symbolic heft to the gathering. In his hour-long speech carried by state radio, Akhundzada called the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan a “victory for the Muslim world”.

The battle for coal

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Taliban have increased the price of Afghan coal from $90 per tonne to $200 per tonne, and set custom duties at 30 per cent, hours after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced import plans for the same. The move is also aimed at rejecting allegations that it’s becoming a “puppet” of Pakistan.

But now, members of the regime are seeking to alter the image of the Taliban’s relationship with the Pakistani government. On June 29, the spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals, Mufti Ismatullah Burhan, told The Independent Urdu that no coal trade agreement exists between the two countries, and that the Taliban will use coal as a “pressure point” for Pakistan.

Afghan newspaper Daily Hasht-e Subh also quoted warnings from expert Mirahmad Shakib that the real damage of any accelerated coal imports would not be to either country’s economies but to the environment in Afghanistan. “Pakistan is plundering Afghanistan’s resources in the absence of a responsible national government.” Shakib said.

Since it took over Afghanistan last year and the subsequent economic crisis, the Taliban government has been attempting to rely on natural resources for revenue as an answer to the country’s economic crisis.

The way forward

The Jirga opened in the absence of women representatives and concluded without hinting at reopening schools for girls above grade six and women’s right to work outside home.

In its reaction to the Jirga, Human Rights Watch has said that a decision-making body, such as a Jirga that excludes women and other groups is not legitimate. While human rights advocates claim they do not anticipate and expect significant improvements from the Taliban Jirga in Kabul, Heather Barr, co-director of the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, said no one in the Taliban’s Jirga could speak up and that the assembly did not reflected ethnic diversity.

Reportedly, the Taliban elders have been able to keep a complete lock on decision-making since taking over the country last August, and they touted the Jirga as a forum to hear a range of voices on issues facing Afghanistan.

Overall, it appears that Taliban are desperate for the international community to recognise the new Islamic Emirate at the earliest and unfreeze its assets, enabling it to plan for the future.

In its first budget presented in May earlier this year, the IEA government announced a deficit of 44 billion Afghanis ($501 million), the authorities didn’t elaborate or clarified how the gap between expected revenues and planned spending will be met.

The Taliban are under international pressure to be more inclusive as they struggle with Afghanistan’s humanitarian crises. The international community is determined to set its terms while the Taliban are adamant to dictate their own terms for any compromise, as they have been able to control the country for almost a year.

It remains to be seen how it all will pan out as the Taliban are a very stubborn lot and instead of pressure, to find a common ground cajoling and being empathetic will be in favour of both the Afghan people and international community.

(Asad Mirza is a political commentator based in New Delhi. He writes on Muslims, educational, international affairs, interfaith and current affairs)

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Entertainment

Andrew Garfield speaks up on his return as ‘Spider-Man’

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12 hours ago

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April 22, 2025

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Los Angeles, April 22: Hollywood actor Andrew Garfield, who has openly expressed his desire to return as Spider-Man, has said that the idea has to be very novel.

If the actor returns as the web-slinging superhero, it will be his fourth movie following 2012’s ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, 2014’s ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ and 2021’s ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, the latter of which powered to $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office on the strength of Garfield teaming up with fellow web-slingers Tom Holland and Tobey Maguire, reports ‘Variety’.

However, Andrew Garfield said at Middle East Film & Comic Con that coming back as Spider-Man hinges on an offbeat story idea.

He said (via Entertainment Tonight), “It would have to be very weird. I would like to do something very strange. Something very unique, and offbeat and surprising, kind of like the creative freedom they have with the animated ‘Spider-Verse’ movies”.

In an interview with Esquire magazine last year, the two-time Oscar nominee said he was “left dangling” when his Spider-Man role came to such an abrupt end after ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ disappointed at the box office.

As per ‘Variety’, that film’s lackluster performance resulted in Sony coming to an agreement with Disney to share ‘Spider-Man’ so that the superhero could officially enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Tom Holland took over the role with 2017’s ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’. But the success of ‘No Way Home’ proved there’s still a lot of love for Garfield’s iteration of the comic book hero.

“For sure, I would 100% come back if it was the right thing, if it’s additive to the culture, if there’s a great concept or something that hasn’t been done before that’s unique and odd and exciting and that you can sink your teeth into”, Garfield told Esquire.

“I love that character, and it brings joy. If part of what I bring is joy, then I’m joyful in return”, he added.

Tom Holland’s next ‘Spider-Man’ movie is officially titled ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and is set to hit theaters July 31, 2026.

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disaster

US: Three killed in severe storms in Oklahoma

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1 day ago

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April 21, 2025

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Houston, April 21: Three people were killed as heavy storms hit the central US state of Oklahoma over the weekend, authorities said.

A 12-year-old boy and his mother died in Moore, about 10 miles (about 16 km) south of Oklahoma City, on Sunday after floodwaters washed away their vehicle, said local police.

“This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and resulted in dozens of high-water incidents across the city,” Moore police said in a statement.

Another person was killed on Saturday night after a tornado hit Spaulding, a town in Hughes County, the county wrote on Facebook, Xinhua news agency reported.

Several homes and structures were destroyed, and there were “numerous washouts” of county roads, it said.

On April 20, the National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings across several states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, and Louisiana. According to AccuWeather, regions of Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois faced a high risk of severe thunderstorms.

The Storm Prediction Centre warned that strong, damaging winds, hail, and thunderstorms were likely to persist throughout the night. Severe weather was expected to continue across parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, extending into the Ozark Mountains and the mid-Mississippi Valley.

By late evening, local news outlets in Arkansas and Montana confirmed at least two tornado touchdowns. In Illinois, the National Weather Service issued alerts for severe storms capable of producing tornadoes.

Around 9 p.m. local time, a tornado was detected east of East Moline, a city in northwestern Illinois that’s part of the Quad Cities. At the time, no injuries or damages were reported.

Looking ahead, forecasters predicted ongoing showers and thunderstorms along and ahead of a front stretching from the Great Lakes down through the Tennessee and Lower Mississippi Valleys to the Gulf Coast on Monday. While heavy rainfall could lead to flooding, the severe weather threat was expected to diminish throughout the day.

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International

Death toll from US airstrikes on Yemeni fuel port rises to 38: Houthis

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4 days ago

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April 18, 2025

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Sanaa, April 18: The death toll from US overnight airstrikes on the Yemeni fuel port of Ras Isa has increased to 38, with 102 others wounded, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported on Friday, citing Houthi-controlled local health authorities.

According to al-Masirah, the casualties include five paramedics who were killed upon arriving at the scene, when the US military launched another wave of airstrikes on the port just minutes after the first on Thursday night.

More than 14 airstrikes on the fuel port were reported during the two waves, igniting massive fires in tanks storing imported fuel. The fires were extinguished within hours, said the report.

The US Central Command said earlier in a statement that it struck and destroyed the Ras Isa port on Thursday to “eliminate this source of fuel for” and “degrade the economic source of power of” the Houthis, Xinhua news agency reported.

In mid-March, US President Donald Trump ordered “decisive and powerful military action” against the Houthis after the group announced plans to resume attacks on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea, citing Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza as the reason.

Earlier on April 17, Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi had said his group had launched 26 attacks against Israel and 33 strikes on the US aircraft carrier and warships in the Red Sea since March 15.

In a televised speech aired by the group’s al-Masirah TV on Thursday, the Houthi leader said the attacks on Israel were carried out using “30 ballistic missiles and drones,” while those targeting the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and its escorts involved “122 ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones”.

However, the Israeli military has reportedly intercepted many of the Houthi projectiles before they reached targets, Xinhua news agency reported.

The US Central Command dismissed the Houthi claims of daily attacks on the US aircraft carrier as “outlandish” in a post on the social media platform X.

Meanwhile, the Houthi leader noted that the US military had conducted more than 900 airstrikes against his group’s positions across northern Yemen during the past 30 days.

Tensions between the Houthi group and the US military have escalated since Washington resumed airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15 to deter the group from attacking Israel and US warships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis, which control much of northern Yemen, said their attacks aim to press US-backed Israel to stop the offensive against the Gaza Strip and allow humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.

Israel’s Channel 12 News reported last Saturday that a Yemeni drone was intercepted near the Dead Sea within the Jordanian airspace before it could reach Israel.

The Jordanian army confirmed later last week that an unidentified drone entered Jordanian airspace and crashed in the Ma’in area of Madaba governorate, near the Dead Sea, and no casualties were reported.

Even since Israel renewed its intensive strikes in March across the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have been launching frequent attacks against Israeli and US targets.

Earlier last week, the Houthi military spokesperson claimed fresh attacks against the US aircraft carrier, USS Harry S Truman, and other US warships in the northern Red Sea.

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