Latest news with #post-Taliban
Business Recorder
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Terrorism and drug trade
'The black market, the informal financial system, porous borders, a permissive security environment, and under-resourced Pakistani law enforcement, investigative, and prosecutorial agencies all contribute to the substantial demand for and facilitation of money laundering and illicit financial services in Pakistan—'—International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR March 2025) Terrorism, drugs-for-arms and money laundering, intrinsically linked, pose considerable threats to global peace and security besides destabilizing political and financial stability of many nation States. The militancy and fundamentalism has clear nexus with criminal networks involved in drug and arms. The critics allege that in the aftermath of 9/11, United States and its allies' military actions against innocent civilians are more than concentrated attacks on the terrorists. All the terrorist networks in the world enjoy close ties with many criminal groups. These militant outfits enjoy free flow of legal and illegal funds and no serious effort has been made until today to attack their financial lifeline. June 26, 2024 marked the International Day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking. The worldwide observance was decided by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987 to raise the level of awareness in the international community about the dangers of drug abuse, to prevent its spread and to encourage all efforts to combat the menace at international level. Each year the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) selects theme for the day and this year the theme is 'Breaking the Chains: Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery for All!'. The drug trade in the post-Taliban Afghanistan was institutionalized. Opium was processed into morphine and heroin inside Afghanistan as it meant a lot more money for commanders on the ground, something made apparent by the switch to ever more expensive jeeps. Controlled democracy in Afghanistan was playing into the hands of more sophisticated narco-enriched commanders. The United States and allies were in negotiation with Taliban and they never thought about ways to buy or muscle a vote that will protect their opium interests in the next election. Even the neighbours of Afghanistan were making profits from the windfall: 'criminal groups from Central Asia', revealed the UN reports, 'made profits of US$8.2 billion from the trafficking of opiates in 2012'. Tajikistan was at time remained the worst affected by the drug plague, thanked to a combination of history, poverty and geography. In the late 1990s, drug trade was believed to be a source of finance for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a terrorist group that had bases in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. After the war in Afghanistan, the IMU lost most of its influence, but the drugs trade continues, with organized criminals taking the place of political or religious activists. In a survey conducted by the Open Society Institute, eight out of ten of those polled said, hardly surprisingly, that the main reason to turn to drug trafficking was to make big money. Geography also contributes to Tajikistan's drugs problem: at 1,400km, the country's border with Afghanistan is longer than its Central Asian neighbours', and commensurately more difficult to guard. Afghanistan's north-eastern province of Badakhshan, an important poppy-growing area, is close to the border with Tajikistan. From there, most narcotics move to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan (where Osh has become a hub of trafficking) before continuing to Kazakhstan and onwards to Russia. Three of Afghanistan's five big drug-producing provinces – Helmand, Uruzgan, and Kandhar – are spreading to new areas, and with it insecurity. The nightmare is a new Colombia: a place where drug lords capture and wreck governments and the economy alike. The Afghan government has made no progress against poppy-growing, except declaring it illegal and establishing a new policy body, the Counter-Narcotics Department (CND). Its goal is 100% elimination by 2013, whereas in reality production has increased. The continuing instability in Afghanistan remained an important risk factor for Central Asia. However, the spectre of the Talibanisation of the whole region probably never had much substance. Poverty, lack of political freedom, ignorance about Islam was, and still, exploited by ruthless outsiders, and money from the drug trade make up an explosive cocktail. Most of the region's economies have still not fully recovered from the collapse of the Soviet system. Poverty is widespread in all the countries, especially in rural areas, and the gap between rich and poor is widening. For many local politicians, such economic factors, along with natural disasters and border problems, constitute far bigger headaches than Islamic radicalism. Opposition forces in Central Asia, together with human-rights activists, argue that the Islamic redicalism threat is being exaggerated to crush all forms of dissent, religious or otherwise. But even those who think that Islamic radicalism and terrorism are real dangers criticise the governments' heavy-handed methods of controlling religion. Central Asia has become a main transit route for opium and heroin from Afghanistan to the streets of Europe. The UN reckons that about a quarter of all heroin coming out of Afghanistan passes through the region. Traditionally, Afghan opium was trafficked through Pakistan and Iran. Both countries remain important export routes, but a northern alternative via Central Asia developed rapidly in the early 1990s, partly because of Pakistan's and Iran's efforts to crack down on the traffic and partly because Russian border guards were withdrawn from most of the region when the Soviet Union collapsed. The civil war in Tajikistan in 1992-97 also proved beneficial to the drugs trade. America could have played a useful role by acknowledging and supporting the efforts of Iran – whose policy on drugs is in many ways more intelligent – and by cracking down on (rather than supporting) warlords and commanders, its special forces know to be, trafficking opium. However, the American stance is diametrically opposite. It has been levelling baseless allegations against Iran. It unveiled the hidden agenda of the United States of America in Afghanistan and elsewhere to promote drug trade, religious fundamentalism and mass acceptance of its policies of fascism for its own self-interests and economic benefits. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Sharjah 24
25-02-2025
- 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.
Khaleej Times
20-02-2025
- 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."
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- 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
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- 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
