'Return to your country' Kabul tells Afghans rebuffed by Washington
Akhund urged Afghans to return to their country, saying they would be protected even if they worked with US-led forces'You will not face abuse or trouble,' KABUL: The Taliban government on Saturday urged Afghans hoping to emigrate to the United States to instead return to Afghanistan, after Washington tightened entry conditions.US President Donald Trump this week announced a travel ban targeting 12 countries, including Afghanistan, which his proclamation said lacked 'competent' central authorities for processing passports and vetting.Commenting on the ban on Saturday, Prime Minister Hassan Akhund urged Afghans to return to their country, saying they would be protected even if they worked with US-led forces in the two-decade fight against the Taliban insurgency.'For those who are worried that America has closed its doors to Afghans... I want to tell them, 'Return to your country, even if you have served the Americans for 20 or 30 years for their ends, and ruined the Islamic system',' he said in a speech marking the Eid Al-Adha holiday, broadcast by state media.'You will not face abuse or trouble,' he said, making reassurances that the Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had 'granted amnesty for all.'After surging to power in 2021, Taliban authorities announced a general amnesty for Afghans who worked with the Western-backed forces and government. However, the United Nations has recorded reports of extrajudicial killings, detentions and abuses.In the past four years, the Taliban government has imposed a strict view of Islamic law and restrictions on women which the UN says amount to 'gender apartheid.'Afghans fled in droves to neighboring countries during decades of conflict, but the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops saw a new wave clamouring to escape Taliban government curbs and fears of reprisal for working with Washington.The United States has not had a working embassy in Afghanistan since 2021 and Afghans must apply for visas in third countries, principally Pakistan which has recently ramped up campaigns to expel Afghans.Since Trump returned to the White House in January, Afghans have gradually seen their chances of migrating to the United States or staying there shrink.Trump administration orders have disrupted refugee pathways and revoked legal protections temporarily shielding Afghans from deportation starting in July.
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Arab News
16 hours ago
- Arab News
'Return to your country' Kabul tells Afghans rebuffed by Washington
Akhund urged Afghans to return to their country, saying they would be protected even if they worked with US-led forces'You will not face abuse or trouble,' KABUL: The Taliban government on Saturday urged Afghans hoping to emigrate to the United States to instead return to Afghanistan, after Washington tightened entry President Donald Trump this week announced a travel ban targeting 12 countries, including Afghanistan, which his proclamation said lacked 'competent' central authorities for processing passports and on the ban on Saturday, Prime Minister Hassan Akhund urged Afghans to return to their country, saying they would be protected even if they worked with US-led forces in the two-decade fight against the Taliban insurgency.'For those who are worried that America has closed its doors to Afghans... I want to tell them, 'Return to your country, even if you have served the Americans for 20 or 30 years for their ends, and ruined the Islamic system',' he said in a speech marking the Eid Al-Adha holiday, broadcast by state media.'You will not face abuse or trouble,' he said, making reassurances that the Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had 'granted amnesty for all.'After surging to power in 2021, Taliban authorities announced a general amnesty for Afghans who worked with the Western-backed forces and government. However, the United Nations has recorded reports of extrajudicial killings, detentions and the past four years, the Taliban government has imposed a strict view of Islamic law and restrictions on women which the UN says amount to 'gender apartheid.'Afghans fled in droves to neighboring countries during decades of conflict, but the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops saw a new wave clamouring to escape Taliban government curbs and fears of reprisal for working with United States has not had a working embassy in Afghanistan since 2021 and Afghans must apply for visas in third countries, principally Pakistan which has recently ramped up campaigns to expel Trump returned to the White House in January, Afghans have gradually seen their chances of migrating to the United States or staying there administration orders have disrupted refugee pathways and revoked legal protections temporarily shielding Afghans from deportation starting in July.
Arab News
19 hours ago
- Arab News
A top Taliban official offers amnesty to Afghans who fled the country and urges them to return
A top Taliban official said on Saturday that all Afghans who fled the country after the collapse of the former Western-backed government are free to return home, promising they would not be harmed if they come back. Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund made the amnesty offer in his message for the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha, also known as the 'Feast of Sacrifice.' The offer comes days after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping travel ban on 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The measure largely bars Afghans hoping to resettle in the United States permanently as well as those hoping to go to the US temporarily, such as for university study. Trump also suspended a core refugee program in January, all but ending support for Afghans who had allied with the US and leaving tens of thousands of them stranded. Afghans in neighboring Pakistan who are awaiting resettlement are also dealing with a deportation drive by the Islamabad government to get them out of the country. Almost a million have left Pakistan since October 2023 to avoid arrest and expulsion. Akhund's holiday message was posted on the social platform X. 'Afghans who have left the country should return to their homeland,' he said. 'Nobody will harm them.' 'Come back to your ancestral land and live in an atmosphere of peace,' he added, and instructed officials to properly manage services for returning refugees and to ensure they were given shelter and support. He also used the occasion to criticize the media for making what he said were 'false judgments' about Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and their policies. 'We must not allow the torch of the Islamic system to be extinguished,' he said. 'The media should avoid false judgments and should not minimize the accomplishments of the system. While challenges exist, we must remain vigilant.' The Taliban swept into the capital Kabul and seized most of Afghanistan in a blitz in mid-August 2021 as the US and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. The offensive prompted a mass exodus, with tens of thousands of Afghans thronging the airport in chaotic scenes, hoping for a flight out on the US military airlift. People also fled across the border, to neighboring Iran and Pakistan. Among those escaping the new Taliban rulers were also former government officials, journalists, activists, those who had helped the US during its campaign against the Taliban.
Arab News
19 hours ago
- Arab News
Bangladesh to hold national elections in April 2026, interim leader Yunus says
DHAKA: Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Friday said that the country will hold national elections in the first half of April 2026. In a televised address to the nation on Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said that the Election Commission would roll out a detailed roadmap for the election in due course. Yunus took over three days after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a student-led mass uprising in August 2024, ending her 15-year rule. Hasina has been in exile in India since. The interim government banned Hasina's Awami League party, which is one of the country's two largest political parties. Hasina faces trial for hundreds of deaths related to the uprising in July and August last year. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, headed by Hasina's archrival and former prime minister Khaleda Zia, had been demanding the elections be held in December. The BNP is the main political party and is hoping to form the next government in the absence of Hasina's party. Salahuddin Ahmed, a spokesman for BNP, criticized Yunus for failing to 'to meet the expectation of the nation' about the polls schedule. He told Channel 24 television that April is not ideal for an election because the annual month of fasting that starts in mid-February makes campaigning challenging. He said it would also be difficult for a new government to formulate the year's budget, usually announced in June. The Jamaat-e-Islami party, the country's largest Islamist party, may also be able to take part in the elections after the country's Supreme Court on June 1 cleared the path for the party to regain its registration as a political party. Hasina's party had fiercely criticized it for its opposition to Bangladesh gaining independence from Pakistan in 1971. Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was the country's independence leader. Yunus had earlier said that the election would be held between December and next June. The relationship between Yunus and the BNP has been frosty in recent months over a disagreement about the election schedule. Zia's party accused Yunus of tactics to delay a vote. In February, a new party was formed by student leaders who led the anti-Hasina uprising. Yunus' critics say the party had backing from him, and Hasina's party calls the new National Citizen Party a 'king's party.'
