Latest news with #Taliban
Euronews
37 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Terror to tourism? Hostage-style video invites visitors to Afghanistan
Two men kneel on the ground — hands seemingly bound behind their backs and heads covered with black plastic bags — as the armed men looming over them stare into the camera and issue a chilling demand. "Ciao Italia. If you want your two citizens safely back in Italy, you must send us $5 billion via bitcoin," the men wielding a rifle say in a video widely shared on X, including by many Taliban-linked accounts. The supposed hostage video takes a twist when the captors remove the black bags to reveal two smiling young men, give a thumbs-up and say: "Welcome to Afghanistan!" The rest of the 30-second clip — which is in fact a promotional video made by a tour agency — shows the visitors visiting communities with their Afghan hosts, playing with children, photographing nature, eating local food and trying on clothes at a market. A previous video produced by Raza Afghanistan follows the same template, but with an ominous "Message for America" threatened before the purported victims are revealed to be US tourists, and an ensuing montage shows them enjoying a tour of the country. The video further shows the men examining a US-made assault rifle, laughing that the safety is not on, eating large watermelons and their Afghan hosts doing pullups on the barrel of a tank gun, among other scenes. The social media stunts are reminiscent of hostage execution videos such as the 2002 beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan and the 2014 decapitation of James Foley, also a reporter from the US, by the so-called Islamic State group in Syria. Reactions to Raza Afghanistan's videos on X have ranged from praise for the "great promotion and unique concept" to criticism over a lack of women in the footage and an unwillingness to visit a country where women's and girls' rights are so severely curtailed. In a recent post on Instagram, the tour agency's founder Yosaf Aryubi explained how he wanted to challenge stereotypes — and said he had "no affiliation with any government". "You also understand that the media and Hollywood painted the mountains of Afghanistan and those who protect them, to be merciless and wicked," wrote Aryubi, 28, who grew up in the US and now splits his time between California and Kabul. "Such a blessing to share experiences in the country I couldn't travel much in due to the situation during the 20-year occupation." Taliban eye tourism boom Nearly four years after seizing control of Afghanistan, the Taliban is increasingly eager to attract tourists to the country and boost revenue for the fledgling industry. Afghanistan's isolation on the global stage, largely because of the Taliban's restrictions on women and girls, has left much of its 41 million people mired in poverty. As it struggles to attract foreign investment, the potential of tourism is far from lost on the government. "The Afghan people are warm and welcoming and wish to host tourists from other countries and engage with them," Deputy Minister of Tourism Qudratullah Jamal said in an interview last month. "Tourism brings many benefits to a country. We have considered those benefits and aim for our nation to take full advantage of them," he added. Nearly 9,000 foreign tourists visited Afghanistan last year, while some 3,000 people arrived in the first three months of this year, according to the tourism ministry. Four decades of near-continuous conflict kept nearly all tourists away from the landlocked country of towering mountains, deep gorges and millennia of history. The Taliban's takeover from a US-backed government in August 2021 stunned the world and sent thousands of Afghans fleeing. While the previous bloodshed from frequent bombings and suicide attacks is largely over, sporadic attacks do still occur — as do kidnappings and detentions of foreigners. IS gunmen killed six people, including three Spanish tourists, in a May 2024 attack in Bamiyan, one of the country's main tourist attractions where centuries-old giant Buddhas carved into the cliffs were blown up by the Taliban in 2001. In February this year, a British couple in their 70s who ran education programmes in Afghanistan were arrested by the Taliban. In April, a Taliban interior ministry spokesperson said Peter and Barbie Reynolds were being investigated over a "small matter" and that they would soon face a court's judgement based on Islamic law. Meanwhile, George Glezmann, a US tourist who had been detained by the Taliban while visiting Kabul in 2022, was freed in March after being held for more than two years.
South Wales Guardian
41 minutes ago
- Politics
- South Wales Guardian
Healey: Accountability starts now over Afghan data leak and injunction
His Tory predecessor, Sir Ben Wallace, has said he makes 'no apology' for applying for the initial injunction and insisted it was 'not a cover-up'. Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a secret £850 million scheme set up after the breach. Mr Healey was informed of the breach, which dates back to 2022, while in his shadow role in opposition and earlier this year, he commissioned a review that led to the injunction being lifted. 'Accountability starts now, doesn't it, because it allows the proper scrutiny of what went on, the decisions that Ben Wallace took, the decisions I've taken, and the judgments… and any action or accountability that may be appropriate can follow now,' he told BBC Breakfast. A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the breach when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a super-injunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. Sir Ben said he had applied for a four-month injunction and did not know why it was converted into a super-injunction in September 2023, by which time Grant Shapps had taken over as defence secretary. 'But nevertheless, I think the point here is I took a decision that the most important priority was to protect those people who could have been or were exposed by this data leak in Afghanistan, living amongst the Taliban who had no regard for their safety, or indeed potentially could torture them or murder them,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He had defended his decision in an article in the Telegraph. 'I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up,' he said. The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million. A total of around 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. It is understood that the unnamed official emailed the data outside a secure government system while attempting to verify information, believing the dataset to only have around 150 rows. However, more than 33,000 rows of information were inadvertently sent. Downing Street declined to say on Tuesday whether the official involved had faced disciplinary action or was still employed by the Government. Asked if they had faced any sanctions, Mr Healey said he was not going to 'lead a witch hunt after a defence official'. 'This is much bigger than the mistake of an individual,' he told the BBC. He had confirmed the previous day that they were no longer doing the same job on the Afghan brief. The injunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments. Mr Healey said he was 'comfortable' he had not misled people but that parliamentary committees would now have a chance to scrutinise the decision he and other ministers before him had made, in remarks to Times Radio. He had offered a 'sincere apology' on behalf of the Government in the Commons on Tuesday, and said he had been 'deeply uncomfortable' being unable to speak about it in Parliament. Kemi Badenoch has said sorry on behalf of the Conservatives for the leak. 'On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people, yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there… and we are sorry for that,' she told LBC. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'.
North Wales Chronicle
44 minutes ago
- Politics
- North Wales Chronicle
Healey: Accountability starts now over Afghan data leak and injunction
His Tory predecessor, Sir Ben Wallace, has said he makes 'no apology' for applying for the initial injunction and insisted it was 'not a cover-up'. Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a secret £850 million scheme set up after the breach. Mr Healey was informed of the breach, which dates back to 2022, while in his shadow role in opposition and earlier this year, he commissioned a review that led to the injunction being lifted. 'Accountability starts now, doesn't it, because it allows the proper scrutiny of what went on, the decisions that Ben Wallace took, the decisions I've taken, and the judgments… and any action or accountability that may be appropriate can follow now,' he told BBC Breakfast. A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the breach when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a super-injunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. Sir Ben said he had applied for a four-month injunction and did not know why it was converted into a super-injunction in September 2023, by which time Grant Shapps had taken over as defence secretary. 'But nevertheless, I think the point here is I took a decision that the most important priority was to protect those people who could have been or were exposed by this data leak in Afghanistan, living amongst the Taliban who had no regard for their safety, or indeed potentially could torture them or murder them,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He had defended his decision in an article in the Telegraph. 'I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up,' he said. The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million. A total of around 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. It is understood that the unnamed official emailed the data outside a secure government system while attempting to verify information, believing the dataset to only have around 150 rows. However, more than 33,000 rows of information were inadvertently sent. Downing Street declined to say on Tuesday whether the official involved had faced disciplinary action or was still employed by the Government. Asked if they had faced any sanctions, Mr Healey said he was not going to 'lead a witch hunt after a defence official'. 'This is much bigger than the mistake of an individual,' he told the BBC. He had confirmed the previous day that they were no longer doing the same job on the Afghan brief. The injunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments. Mr Healey said he was 'comfortable' he had not misled people but that parliamentary committees would now have a chance to scrutinise the decision he and other ministers before him had made, in remarks to Times Radio. He had offered a 'sincere apology' on behalf of the Government in the Commons on Tuesday, and said he had been 'deeply uncomfortable' being unable to speak about it in Parliament. Kemi Badenoch has said sorry on behalf of the Conservatives for the leak. 'On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people, yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there… and we are sorry for that,' she told LBC. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'.
STV News
an hour ago
- Politics
- STV News
Former Defence Secretary makes 'no apology' for Afghan injunction
The personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in 2022 The former Conservative defence secretary, Sir Ben Wallace, said he makes 'no apology' for applying for an injunction to block reporting about a data leak which revealed the details of Afghans who supported British forces. Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a scheme set up after the data breach. Writing in The Telegraph, Wallace said the decision to appeal for the injunction was 'not a cover-up'. He added that if the leak had been reported, it would have 'put in peril those we needed to help out'. A dataset that contained the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. It is understood that the official emailed the data outside a secure government system whilst attempting to verify information. They believed the dataset to only have 150 rows, but more than 33,000 rows of data were inadvertently sent. The government did not comment to say whether the officials involved had faced disciplinary action or were still employed by the MoD. The current Defence Secretary, John Healey, said the person involved in the leak is no longer 'doing the same job'. Defence Secretary: We should be 'deeply cautious' about secret superinjunctions in future The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the breach after excerpts of the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023. A superinjunction was then granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. Sir Ben said that when he was informed of the 'error', he was 'determined that the first priority was to protect all those that might be at risk'. 'I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up,' he said. 'I took the view that if this leak was reported at the time, the existence of the list would put in peril those we needed to help out. 'Some may disagree but imagine if the Taliban had been alerted to the existence of this list. I would dread to think what would have happened.' The injunction was in place for almost two years, covering both Labour and Conservative governments. The data leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme in April 2024. The Afghanistan Response Route is understood to have cost around £400 million, with a projected final cost of roughly £850 million. Around 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. Both Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Defence Secretary John Healey have apologised for the data leak. / Credit: PA Mr Healey offered a 'sincere apology' on behalf of the Government in the Commons on Tuesday and said he had felt 'deeply uncomfortable' not being able to speak about it in Parliament. The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch also apologised on her party's behalf. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Healey: Accountability starts now over Afghan data leak and injunction
Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a secret £850 million scheme set up after the breach. Mr Healey was informed of the breach, which dates back to 2022, while in his shadow role in opposition and earlier this year, he commissioned a review that led to the injunction being lifted. 'Accountability starts now, doesn't it, because it allows the proper scrutiny of what went on, the decisions that Ben Wallace took, the decisions I've taken, and the judgments… and any action or accountability that may be appropriate can follow now,' he told BBC Breakfast. A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the breach when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a super-injunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. Sir Ben said he had applied for a four-month injunction and did not know why it was converted into a super-injunction in September 2023, by which time Grant Shapps had taken over as defence secretary. 'But nevertheless, I think the point here is I took a decision that the most important priority was to protect those people who could have been or were exposed by this data leak in Afghanistan, living amongst the Taliban who had no regard for their safety, or indeed potentially could torture them or murder them,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He had defended his decision in an article in the Telegraph. The injunction was first sought by then defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace (James Manning/PA) 'I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up,' he said. The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million. A total of around 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. It is understood that the unnamed official emailed the data outside a secure government system while attempting to verify information, believing the dataset to only have around 150 rows. However, more than 33,000 rows of information were inadvertently sent. Downing Street declined to say on Tuesday whether the official involved had faced disciplinary action or was still employed by the Government. Asked if they had faced any sanctions, Mr Healey said he was not going to 'lead a witch hunt after a defence official'. 'This is much bigger than the mistake of an individual,' he told the BBC. He had confirmed the previous day that they were no longer doing the same job on the Afghan brief. The injunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments. Mr Healey said he was 'comfortable' he had not misled people but that parliamentary committees would now have a chance to scrutinise the decision he and other ministers before him had made, in remarks to Times Radio. He had offered a 'sincere apology' on behalf of the Government in the Commons on Tuesday, and said he had been 'deeply uncomfortable' being unable to speak about it in Parliament. Kemi Badenoch has said sorry on behalf of the Conservatives for the leak. 'On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people, yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there… and we are sorry for that,' she told LBC. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'.
