Latest news with #Taleban
Kuwait Times
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
Afghans show solidarity as migrants return from Iran
More than 1.6 million Afghans have returned after being driven out of Iran ISLAM QALA, Afghanistan: At the border with Iran, Fatima Rezaei distributes food and hygiene products to Afghans forced to return, unable to passively stand by as the deportation crisis grows. The 22-year-old is one of many Afghan volunteers rallying to help their compatriots, despite having little themselves. Since the beginning of the year, more than 1.6 million Afghans, including many children, have returned after being deported or driven out of Iran, which accuses them of pushing up unemployment and crime. 'It doesn't matter whether you have a lot of money or not. I don't have much, but with the help of Afghans here and abroad, we manage,' said Rezaei. The number of crossings at the Islam Qala border has reached 30,000 on several days, peaking at 50,000 on July 4, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In response, residents of the western region have mobilized, partly thanks to donations sent by Afghans living in Europe or North America. A journalist for a local television channel, Rezaei travels over 100 kilometers (62 miles) to reach the border from her hometown of Herat. From a stack of cardboard boxes, she distributes baby wipes and sanitary towels to women gathered under a tent and surrounded by around a dozen children. 'It is our responsibility to stand by their side,' she said. 'The government tries to help, but it's not enough.' International organizations are helping to register migrants but face massive budget cuts. Meanwhile, Taleban authorities struggle to support the influx of Afghans who have often left everything behind and returned to a country mired in poverty. Unemployed Hosna Salehi volunteers with her parents' charitable organization, Khan-e-Meher, to distribute aid, such as infant formula. 'Some women with young children tried to breastfeed but didn't have enough milk due to stress,' she told AFP. 'Our fellow Afghans need our support right now. We have a duty to give what we can, no matter if it is a little or a lot.' The show of solidarity 'makes us proud', said Ahmadullah Wassiq, director of Afghanistan's High Commission for Refugees. 'The government cannot solve these problems alone,' he acknowledged, 'and the efforts of citizens must be applauded'. The Taleban government says it provides money upon arrival and is establishing towns dedicated to returning Afghans, though it does not specify when they will be ready. In Herat, the nearest major city to the border, some in the most precarious circumstances have been living in parks in tents donated by residents. Some said they were having to rebuild their lives after returning home. 'The only thing we're worried about is finding work,' said Hussein, 33, who spent more than 10 years in Iran. 'There, they told us our papers were no longer valid. We had good jobs, now we need to find work and start from scratch,' said the father-of-two, who was moved by the support he encountered on the Afghan side of the border. 'They really helped us and extended a hand,' he said as he waited for a free bus to take him the nearly 1,000 kilometers to the capital Kabul. In Afghanistan, where half the population of around 48 million lives below the poverty line according to the World Bank, 'there isn't much of a culture of volunteering', said 27-year-old Omid Haqjoo, as he prepared food in vast cooking pots. 'But we are trying to promote it... to provide the support that is missing,' he added. After a day of heat in the humanitarian tents at Islam Qala, Salehi felt strengthened by a 'life lesson'. 'If I was able to help volunteer, I think everyone can,' she said. 'And when I go home and think of all the fellow Afghans who smiled at me and prayed for me, that's enough for me.' – AFP
Kuwait Times
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
UK launched secret scheme to relocate Afghans after data leak
LONDON: Britain's Defence Secretary John Healey making a statement to MPs on the in the House of Commons in London on July 15, 2025, following the lifting on reporting restrictions relating to the relocation of Afghans who worked with the UK government.-- AFP LONDON: Britain set up a secret scheme to relocate thousands of Afghans to the UK after people's personal details were disclosed in a data leak, risking reprisals from the Taleban after their return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, court documents showed on Tuesday. Concerns that individuals named could be targeted by the Taleban led the previous Conservative government to set up the relocation scheme, involving thousands of people and estimated to cost the government 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion). British defense minister John Healey apologized for the data leak, which included details about members of parliament and senior military officers who supported applications to help soldiers who worked with the British military and their families relocate to the UK from Afghanistan. 'This serious data incident should never have happened,' Healey told lawmakers in the House of Commons.? 'It may have occurred three years ago under the previous government, but to all whose data was compromised I offer a sincere apology.' Healey said that around 4,500 affected people 'are in Britain or in transit ... at a cost of around 400 million pounds'. But he added that no-one else from Afghanistan will be offered asylum because of the data leak. News of the leak comes as Britain's public finances are tight and the right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK political party leads in the opinion polls. British forces were first deployed to Afghanistan in 2001 following the September 11 attacks on the United States, and they played a major role in combat operations there until 2014. The government is facing lawsuits from those affected by the breach, further adding to the ultimate cost of the incident. A Ministry of Defense-commissioned review of the data breach, a summary of which was also published on Tuesday, said more than 16,000 people affected by it had been relocated to the UK as of May this year. The details emerged on Tuesday after a legal ruling known as a superinjunction was lifted. The injunction had been granted in 2023 after the MoD argued that a public disclosure of the breach could put people at risk of extra-judicial killing or serious violence by the Taleban. The dataset contained personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to be relocated to Britain and their families. A High Court said in a summary of its ruling to lift the injunction that the data 'contained personal information about more than 33,000 applicants'. It was released in error in early 2022, before the MoD spotted the breach in August 2023, when part of the dataset was published on Facebook. The former Conservative government obtained the injunction the following month. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's centre-left government, which was elected last July, launched a review into the injunction, the breach and the relocation scheme, which found that although Afghanistan remains dangerous, there was little evidence of intent by the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution. – Reuters
Arab Times
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab Times
UN adopts resolution on Afghanistan's Taleban rule over US objections
UNITED NATIONS, July 8, (AP): The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution Monday over US objections calling on Afghanistan's Taleban rulers to reverse their worsening oppression of women and girls and eliminate all terrorist organizations. The 11-page resolution also emphasizes "the importance of creating opportunities for economic recovery, development and prosperity in Afghanistan,' and urges donors to address the country's dire humanitarian and economic crisis. The resolution is not legally binding but is seen as a reflection of world opinion. The vote was 116 in favor, with two - the United States and close ally Israel - opposed and 12 abstentions, including Russia, China, India and Iran. Since returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures, banning women from public places and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. Last week, Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban's government. Germany's UN Ambassador Antje Leendertse, whose country sponsored the resolution, told the assembly before the vote that her country and many others remain gravely concerned about the dire human rights situation in Afghanistan, especially the Taliban's "near-total erasure' of the rights of women and girls. The core message of the resolution, she said, is to tell Afghan mothers holding sick and underfed children or mourning victims of terrorist attacks, as well as the millions of Afghan women and girls locked up at home, that they have not been forgotten. US minister-counselor Jonathan Shrier was critical of the resolution, which he said rewards "the Taleban's failure with more engagement and more resources." He said the Trump administration doubts they will ever pursue policies "in accordance with the expectations of the international community.' "For decades we shouldered the burden of supporting the Afghan people with time, money and, most important, American lives,' he said. "It is the time for the Taliban to step up. The United States will no longer enable their heinous behavior.' Last month, the Trump administration banned Afghans hoping to resettle in the US permanently and those seeking to come temporarily, with exceptions.
Kuwait Times
06-07-2025
- General
- Kuwait Times
‘Emergency' at Afghan border as migrant returns from Iran surge
Afghanistan faces chronic returnee crisis with 1.4m Afghans returning from Iran, Pakistan ISLAM QALA, Afghanistan: Tens of thousands of Afghans streamed over the border from Iran in the days before a return deadline set for Sunday, the United Nations said, sparking an 'emergency' situation at border points. In late May, Iran said undocumented Afghans must leave the country by July 6, potentially impacting four million people, out of the six million Afghans Tehran says live in the country. Numbers of people crossing the border have surged since mid-June, with a peak of more than 43,000 people crossing at Islam Qala in western Herat province on July 1, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday. The UN migration agency IOM said more than 250,000 Afghans returned from Iran in June. UNICEF country representative Tajudeen Oyewale said this was an 'emergency' situation in a country already facing a 'chronic returnee crisis', with 1.4 million Afghans returning from traditional hosts Iran and Pakistan this year. 'What is concerning is that 25 percent of all these returnees are children... because the demographics have shifted' from individual men to whole families, crossing the border with scant belongings and money, he told AFP on Thursday. He noted Islam Qala could accommodate the vast numbers but was inadequately equipped in terms of services, saying, 'When you start hitting more than 20,000 people (a day) that is completely beyond the planning scenario that we have'. The agency has engaged emergency processes to ramp up water and sanitation systems built for 7-10,000 people a day, along with vaccinations, nutrition and child-friendly spaces. Many people crossing reported pressure from authorities or even arrest and deportation. 'Some people are so afraid that they don't leave the house themselves... They send their young children out just for a piece of bread, and even those children get arrested sometimes,' said 38-year-old Aref Atayi of the pressures Afghans face in Iran. 'Even if I have to beg in my own country, it's still better than staying in a place where we're treated like this,' he told AFP on Saturday, as he waited at the IOM-run reception center for some support to help his family resettle. Massive foreign aid cuts have impacted the response to the crisis, with the UN, international non-governmental groups and Taleban officials calling for more funding to support the returnees. The UN has warned the influx could destabilize the country already grappling with entrenched poverty, unemployment and climate change-related shocks and urged countries not to forcibly return Afghans. – AFP
Kuwait Times
06-07-2025
- Business
- Kuwait Times
Russia first country to recognize Taleban govt of Afghanistan
MOSCOW: Russia said on Thursday it had accepted the credentials of a new ambassador of Afghanistan, making it the first nation to recognize the Taleban government of the country. In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow saw good prospects to develop ties and would continue to support Kabul in security, counterterrorism and combating drug crime. It also saw significant trade and economic opportunities, especially in energy, transport, agriculture and infrastructure. 'We believe that the act of official recognition of the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will give impetus to the development of productive bilateral cooperation between our countries in various fields,' the ministry said. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said in a statement: 'We value this courageous step taken by Russia, and, God willing, it will serve as an example for others as well.' The announcement was made after Muttaqi met Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov in Kabul on Thursday. No other country has formally recognized the Taleban government that seized power in Aug 2021 as US-led forces staged a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. However, China, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Pakistan have all designated ambassadors to Kabul, in a step towards recognition. The Russian move represents a major milestone for the Taleban administration as it seeks to ease its international isolation. It is likely to be closely watched by Washington, which has frozen billions in Afghanistan's central bank assets and enforced sanctions on some senior leaders in the Taleban that contributed to Afghanistan's banking sector being largely cut off from the international financial system. Russia has been gradually building relations with the Taliban, which President Vladimir Putin said last year was now an ally in fighting terrorism. Since 2022, Afghanistan has imported gas, oil and wheat from Russia. The Taleban was outlawed by Russia as a terrorist movement in 2003, but the ban was lifted in April this year. Russia sees a need to work with Kabul as it faces a major security threat from Islamist militant groups based in a string of countries from Afghanistan to the Middle East. In March 2024, gunmen killed 149 people at a concert hall outside Moscow in an attack claimed by Islamic State. US officials said they had intelligence indicating it was the Afghan branch of the group, Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), that was responsible. The Taleban says it is working to wipe out the presence of Islamic State in Afghanistan. Western diplomats say the Taleban's path towards wider international recognition is blocked until it changes course on women's rights. The Taleban has closed high schools and universities to girls and women and placed restrictions on their movement without a male guardian. It says it respects women's rights in line with its strict interpretation of Islamic law. Russia has a complex and bloodstained history in Afghanistan. Soviet troops invaded the country in Dec 1979 to prop up a Communist government, but became bogged down in a long war against mujahideen fighters armed by the United States. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pulled his army out in 1989, by which time some 15,000 Soviet soldiers had been killed. – Reuters
