Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL publication that unpacks the important points in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click on right here.
I am Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. Here is what I have been monitoring and what I am keeping track of within the days forward.
The Key Situation
1000’s of Afghan women and men are flocking to the central passport workplace within the Afghan capital, Kabul, after the Taliban suspended on-line functions, forcing folks to use for them in individual.
On January 10, movies circulating on social media platforms captured the desperation of Afghans looking for journey paperwork.
“The group was so massive that my father misplaced his heat scarf,” stated Haseebullah, who arrived round midnight to line up within the freezing temperatures.
“Everybody was depressing,” he advised Radio Azadi.
Shizer Samim, a college scholar from the northern Balkh Province, is looking for a passport to review overseas after the Taliban barred ladies from attending universities in December 2022.
“I utilized for a passport a 12 months in the past however I nonetheless haven’t got one,” she advised Radio Azadi.
For the reason that Taliban returned to energy in August 2021, a whole bunch of 1000’s of Afghans have tried to get passports. However the course of is marred by corruption, extreme charges, and lengthy delays.
Why It is Vital: The eagerness to acquire passports signifies that educated, expert, and well-off Afghans are voting towards the Taliban with their toes by looking for to flee the militants’ harsh rule.
Afghanistan’s in depth humanitarian and financial crises, coupled with the Taliban’s draconian restrictions and bans on schooling and work for ladies, have prompted many Afghans to hunt a standard life elsewhere.
Lots of of 1000’s of Afghans, principally educated and expert professionals, authorities staff, and middle-class entrepreneurs have fled Afghanistan because the Taliban regained energy.
Regardless of the Taliban promising amnesty for former troopers and authorities staff, human rights watchdogs have documented in depth reprisal killings, beatings, detentions, and harassment by the hard-line Islamist group.
The Taliban has established a monopoly on energy by appointing its members and leaders to authorities positions, which leaves little incentive for many Afghans to consider in a future underneath the group.
Final 12 months greater than 1 million “undocumented Afghans” had been expelled from neighboring Iran and Pakistan, and there have been additionally important deportations from Turkey.
These occasions function extra incentives for Afghans to acquire paperwork earlier than touring overseas.
What’s Subsequent: With out important enhancements within the Taliban’s governance and the nation’s economic system, the Afghan exodus will solely worsen.
The fading Afghan disaster from the worldwide agenda and the mistreatment of Afghans in neighboring nations be certain that the four-decade cycle of Afghan displacement will proceed.
What To Preserve An Eye On
A senior Pakistani Islamist politician’s go to to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to revive strained ties between the 2 neighbors has left many unanswered questions.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) occasion, has spent practically every week in Kabul to fulfill with Taliban officers, together with its reclusive chief, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, and leaders of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in any other case generally known as the Pakistani Taliban.
He went in an try to scale back tensions between erstwhile allies the Taliban and Islamabad over the group’s alleged backing for the TTP. For the reason that Taliban’s return to energy in Afghanistan, TTP assaults have killed 1000’s and threaten elections in JUI-F strongholds in northwestern Pakistan.
Rehman had claimed that whereas he was invited by the Taliban, his journey was sanctioned by Islamabad and the International Ministry briefed him on the state of relations between the 2 nations.
However on January 11, Pakistani International Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated Rehman’s journey was non-public and “was not sponsored or suggested by the federal government of Pakistan.”
Why It is Vital: Whereas Rehman would possibly acquire some respiratory house from the TTP for his election marketing campaign, his go to is unlikely to enhance bilateral ties instantly.
Islamabad stays staunchly against talks with the TTP mediated by the Taliban, which is reluctant to surrender on a key ideological and organizational ally.
That is all from me for now. Do not forget to ship me any questions, feedback, or ideas that you’ve. You’ll be able to all the time attain us at [email protected]
Till subsequent time,
Abubakar Siddique
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