logo
#

Latest news with #post-Taliban

Bridging worlds of human conflict and animal zen at Xposure
Bridging worlds of human conflict and animal zen at Xposure

Sharjah 24

time25-02-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Sharjah 24

Bridging worlds of human conflict and animal zen at Xposure

Madhav's unique connection with nature Being patted on the back by a mountain gorilla in Uganda or touched on the head by an African elephant in Kenya's Amboseli National Park is not every wildlife photographer's idea of a day out in the wild, but Madhav calls himself lucky to have that connect with nature despite a personal tragedy that robbed him of a leg during a rebel attack in Rwanda in 1997 that had killed three of his colleagues. Madhav, who has dedicated his career to supporting people recovering from conflict, finds refuge in photographing the tranquillity of the animal world. A Journey through memory lane Washington DC-based Madhav, who has worked in several disaster zones from Afghanistan to Rwanda primarily with USAID, walked down memory lane to trace his evolution as a photographer. The primary rule he follows as a photographer is to be respectful of others and to seek permission before clicking a picture, having worked in countries and cultures where privacy, especially of his women subjects, is important. 'I learnt it the hard way. I develop a personal rapport with the person before I ask them if I can take their photograph,' said the aid worker whose 30-year career graph has seen inspiring stories of helping young Afghan girls pursue their education in an earlier post-Taliban phase and evacuating them later to the US after the Taliban took control again. Ethics of wildlife photography Madhav, whose candid portraits dwell on the eyes of the person or the animal he photographs, said he has strict ethics emanating from his life as an aid worker which prevents him from profiting on his photographs. He channels funds from the sale of his photographs on cheetahs, elephants, lions, and rhinos for their conservation. A new chapter in photography The transition from human to wildlife photography happened during the pandemic when he opted to spend a month photographing lions in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Madhav, who is active on Instagram and YouTube, said people started buying his wildlife pictures soon, and one of them fetched him as much as US$13,000. Finding zen in nature 'Being in nature gives a whole sense of zen,' said the India-born official who had developed a mental block about photographing gorillas after the mishap in Rwanda that gave him the prosthetic left leg. A friend convinced him to take a six-hour trek to shoot Uganda's mountain gorillas, which resulted in his famous encounter with Rokundo, the male gorilla. The photographs from that expedition are on display at Xposure, which Madhav said was an incredibly nurturing experience. He plans to shoot pictures of the gorillas of Cameroon next. A connection with animals 'I don't have a lot of fear for animals; I feel I have a connection with them and they look me in the eye for some time,' he said, remembering his brush with Craig the tusker in Amboseli or the male lion in Serengeti. Experience Xposure 2025 Organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), Xposure 2025 runs until February 26. To learn more about the global celebration platform for visual storytelling, visit Xposure.

Afghanistan problem 'can be solved', says former women's affairs minister
Afghanistan problem 'can be solved', says former women's affairs minister

Khaleej Times

time20-02-2025

  • Politics
  • Khaleej Times

Afghanistan problem 'can be solved', says former women's affairs minister

Afghanistan has been cloaked in "darkness" since the return of the Taliban government three and a half years ago, but the country's former women's affairs minister insists the problem "can be solved". When the Taliban swept back to power in August 2021, "everything was lost", Massooda Jalal, a former minister and the first woman in Afghanistan's history to run for president, told AFP in an interview this week. "They brought back the darkness we had fought so hard to escape." Despite promises not to return to the brutality displayed during their first stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban authorities have imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, including the return of public floggings and executions. Women and girls have been barred from education beyond the age of 12, from holding many jobs and from many public spaces in what the United Nations has described as "gender apartheid". Jalal, a 61-year-old medical doctor who served as Afghanistan's women's affairs minister from 2004 to 2006, insisted that "there is a way to replace the darkness with the light". "It is challenging, but it is not impossible," she told AFP in Geneva, where she and her daughter Husna were being awarded a women's rights prize at the annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. "It can be solved." Light She called for an international conference, like the United Nations-backed talks held in Bonn, Germany in 2001. Those talks saw the signing of a landmark deal to create a post-Taliban leadership and usher in democracy after the militants were ousted by a US-led invasion following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. "The political regime in Kabul is not supported by the people, and it is not recognised and supported by the world," said Jalal, now an activist who lives in the Netherlands. "It has no meaning, so why continue that? Millions of people there are suffering." With a little bit of international will, she insisted that pressure could be exerted on the Taliban authorities and those propping them up to ensure they participate. The international community, she insisted, has a responsibility to bring an end to the deep suffering in Afghanistan. "The world should not just keep watching it," she said. Jalal recalled her elation in 2001 "when the international community came in and set the democratic agenda". "The light came into the country." 'Will not be erased' Jalal, who at that time was a UN aid worker, after the Taliban had chased her from her post as a professor at Kabul University, stood in the country's first presidential polls in 2004. She was surprised when she lost to Hamid Karzai, garnering just 1.1 per cent of the votes. "I thought I was going to be the winner," she said, pointing out that her opponents were all linked to armed groups, while she claims she had become very popular after travelling all over the country, handing out aid. While that loss was disappointing, Jalal rejected the idea that Afghans were not ready to see women in power. She called for the swift restoration of democracy, insisting that "of course, women should be given equal rights". And since "they suffered more than others... they should get extra... We need to bring more and more women into the process and into leadership in the country". During her speech to this week's rights summit, Jalal lamented her own "forced exile". "But exile does not mean surrender," she said. "I will continue to fight for democracy, for justice, for the dignity of every Afghan woman, because we will not be erased."

Afghanistan problem 'can be solved': former women's affairs minister
Afghanistan problem 'can be solved': former women's affairs minister

Yahoo

time20-02-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Afghanistan problem 'can be solved': former women's affairs minister

Afghanistan has been cloaked in "darkness" since the return of the Taliban government three and a half years ago, but the country's former women's affairs minister insists the problem "can be solved". When the Taliban swept back to power in August 2021, "everything was lost", Massooda Jalal, a former minister and the first woman in Afghanistan's history to run for president, told AFP in an interview this week. "They brought back the darkness we had fought so hard to escape." Despite promises not to return to the brutality displayed during their first stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban authorities have imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, including the return of public floggings and executions. Women and girls have been barred from education beyond the age of 12, from holding many jobs and from many public spaces in what the United Nations has described as "gender apartheid". Jalal, a 61-year-old medical doctor who served as Afghanistan's women's affairs minister from 2004 to 2006, insisted that "there is a way to replace the darkness with the light". "It is challenging, but it is not impossible," she told AFP in Geneva, where she and her daughter Husna were being awarded a women's rights prize at the annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. "It can be solved." - Light - She called for an international conference, like the United Nations-backed talks held in Bonn, Germany in 2001. Those talks saw the signing of a landmark deal to create a post-Taliban leadership and usher in democracy after the militants were ousted by a US-led invasion following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. "The political regime in Kabul is not supported by the people, and it is not recognised and supported by the world," said Jalal, now an activist who lives in the Netherlands. "It has no meaning, so why continue that? Millions of people there are suffering." With a little bit of international will, she insisted that pressure could be exerted on the Taliban authorities and those propping them up to ensure they participate. The international community, she insisted, has a responsibility to bring an end to the deep suffering in Afghanistan. "The world should not just keep watching it," she said. Jalal recalled her elation in 2001 "when the international community came in and set the democratic agenda". "The light came into the country." - 'Will not be erased' - Jalal, who at that time was a UN aid worker, after the Taliban had chased her from her post as a professor at Kabul University, stood in the country's first presidential polls in 2004. She was surprised when she lost to Hamid Karzai, garnering just 1.1 percent of the votes. "I thought I was going to be the winner," she said, pointing out that her opponents were all linked to armed groups, while she claims she had become very popular after travelling all over the country, handing out aid. While that loss was disappointing, Jalal rejected the idea that Afghans were not ready to see women in power. She called for the swift restoration of democracy, insisting that "of course, women should be given equal rights". And since "they suffered more than others... they should get extra... We need to bring more and more women into the process and into leadership in the country". During her speech to this week's rights summit, Jalal lamented her own "forced exile". "But exile does not mean surrender," she said. "I will continue to fight for democracy, for justice, for the dignity of every Afghan woman, because we will not be erased." nl/rjm/yad/rsc

Afghanistan problem 'can be solved': former women's affairs minister
Afghanistan problem 'can be solved': former women's affairs minister

Yahoo

time20-02-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Afghanistan problem 'can be solved': former women's affairs minister

Afghanistan has been cloaked in "darkness" since the return of the Taliban government three and a half years ago, but the country's former women's affairs minister insists the problem "can be solved". When the Taliban swept back to power in August 2021, "everything was lost", Massooda Jalal, a former minister and the first woman in Afghanistan's history to run for president, told AFP in an interview this week. "They brought back the darkness we had fought so hard to escape." Despite promises not to return to the brutality displayed during their first stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban authorities have imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, including the return of public floggings and executions. Women and girls have been barred from education beyond the age of 12, from holding many jobs and from many public spaces in what the United Nations has described as "gender apartheid". Jalal, a 61-year-old medical doctor who served as Afghanistan's women's affairs minister from 2004 to 2006, insisted that "there is a way to replace the darkness with the light". "It is challenging, but it is not impossible," she told AFP in Geneva, where she and her daughter Husna were being awarded a women's rights prize at the annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. "It can be solved." - Light - She called for an international conference, like the United Nations-backed talks held in Bonn, Germany in 2001. Those talks saw the signing of a landmark deal to create a post-Taliban leadership and usher in democracy after the militants were ousted by a US-led invasion following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. "The political regime in Kabul is not supported by the people, and it is not recognised and supported by the world," said Jalal, now an activist who lives in the Netherlands. "It has no meaning, so why continue that? Millions of people there are suffering." With a little bit of international will, she insisted that pressure could be exerted on the Taliban authorities and those propping them up to ensure they participate. The international community, she insisted, has a responsibility to bring an end to the deep suffering in Afghanistan. "The world should not just keep watching it," she said. Jalal recalled her elation in 2001 "when the international community came in and set the democratic agenda". "The light came into the country." - 'Will not be erased' - Jalal, who at that time was a UN aid worker, after the Taliban had chased her from her post as a professor at Kabul University, stood in the country's first presidential polls in 2004. She was surprised when she lost to Hamid Karzai, garnering just 1.1 percent of the votes. "I thought I was going to be the winner," she said, pointing out that her opponents were all linked to armed groups, while she claims she had become very popular after travelling all over the country, handing out aid. While that loss was disappointing, Jalal rejected the idea that Afghans were not ready to see women in power. She called for the swift restoration of democracy, insisting that "of course, women should be given equal rights". And since "they suffered more than others... they should get extra... We need to bring more and more women into the process and into leadership in the country". During her speech to this week's rights summit, Jalal lamented her own "forced exile". "But exile does not mean surrender," she said. "I will continue to fight for democracy, for justice, for the dignity of every Afghan woman, because we will not be erased." nl/rjm/yad/rsc

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store