Tag Archives: Afghanistan

Gender, Ideology + Affiliation, Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief, Sexual + Gender Minorities

Global Event: The Afghanistan Exodus

The International Situation of Afghan Asylum-Seekers

The pullout of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the subsequent collapse of the Afghan government has generated a wave of Afghan people fleeing incoming Taliban rule. With the Taliban committed to governing according to fundamentalist interpretations of Islamic law, concerns are particularly heightened for women, ethnic and religious minorities, LGBTQ+ people, journalists, and those who supported the fight against the Taliban. Abroad, governments have debated whether and to what degree to accept asylum-seekers, with many seeking to either offshore asylum processing or contain refugees to the immediate region of southwest and Central Asia. For refugees who do make it out, the intensification of anti-immigrant sentiment across the world’s regions in recent years—including the increasing political power of far-right nativist movements—has created new threats for asylum-seekers in their destination countries.

While politicians and analysts around the world bicker over responsibility and blame, Afghans scramble to exit before the full weight of the new Taliban regime comes down. Here is a collection of reporting on the conditions in Afghanistan for those needing refuge, which countries are offering haven, and reactions from the Afghan diaspora.

Continue reading Global Event: The Afghanistan Exodus →
Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Sikh

Suicide bombing targets Sikhs in Jalalabad, leaving more than a dozen dead and 20 wounded
  • The attack targeted a vehicle traveling through the Mukhaberat district, with at least 10 of the dead members of the Sikh community.
  • The vehicle’s occupants had been traveling to meet with President Ashraf Ghani, who was on tour in Jalalabad and had recently attended the inauguration a new hospital.
  • Sikhs account for less than 1% of the Afghan population, their numbers having been drastically reduced in the last few decades as a result of death and displacement from war and institutionalized oppression and neglect.
Read

“Suicide Attack Targets Sikhs in Jalalabad, 19 Killed” (TOLOnews | July 2018)

“Deadly blast hits eastern Afghan city, targeting Sikh minority” (Reuters | July 2018)

Additional

“The decline of Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh communities” (Al Jazeera | January 2017)

 

Gender

Afghanistan Feature | Women

The Invasive “Virginity Tests” of Afghanistan

Despite its condemnation by international medical experts as scientifically unsound and official promises to ban the procedure, healthcare and judicial systems in Afghanistan have continued to rely on abusive assessments of sexual activity in women accused or suspected of extramarital sex. The potential social catastrophe that could result from a positive result has led to the development of a black market of so-called hymen reconstruction, which has led to further health insecurity for women who undergo the procedure. Even the administration of the test can bring social shame to those subjected to it, leading to poor outcomes in education and employment as well as a contracting social network. Afghanistan is far from the only country in which the tests continues, and globalized efforts to end the gender-discriminatory practice have encountered mixed success in changing deeply rooted cultural norms.

Read

“The shame of Afghanistan’s virginity tests” (BBC News | December 2017)

“Despite Ban, Invasive Virginity Tests Remain Prevalent in Afghanistan” (The New York Times | January 2017)

Additional

“Here’s Everything You Need To Know About ‘Virginity Tests’” (BuzzFeed News | November 2017)

Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Shiite Muslim

Suicide bombing attack on Shia cultural center in Kabul kills dozens
  • A single suicide bomber infiltrated the Tabian Social and Culture Centre in Kabul’s Dasht-e Barchi neighborhood, leaving more than 40 dead and at least 80 injured.
  • The attack took place as a crowd of more than 100 gathered to mark the 38th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
  • The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of more than a dozen since 2016 targeting Shiites that have left more than 700 dead.
Read

“Suicide bombers kill dozens at Shi’ite center in Afghan capital” (Reuters | December 2017)

“ISIS suicide bombing in Kabul kills dozens” (CNN | December 2017)

“Why is ‘Islamic State’ targeting Shiites in Afghanistan?” (Deutsche Welle | December 2017)

Ideology + Affiliation

Afghanistan News | Religious Scholars

Religious scholars in Afghanistan one of Taliban’s most frequent targets
  • Over the last 16 years of war in the country, hundreds and perhaps thousands of ulema have been killed, although official numbers are difficult to track.
  • Taliban members surveil sermons to monitor adherence to Taliban interpretations of sharia, both courting and threatening scholars to buttress their power across the nation’s provinces.
  • Religious leaders note that the targeting of scholars is driven by anxiety over scholars’ influence on communities, a desire for ideological control, and the suppression of criticism.
Read

“Taliban Target: Scholars of Islam” (The New York Times | May 2017)

“Religious scholar shot dead in eastern Afghanistan” (Andalou Agency | May 2017)

(Image Credit: Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)

Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Shiite Muslims

Attack on Shiite mosque in Kabul kills more than 30, injures dozens more
  • A suicide attacker entered the Baqir-ul-Olum mosque during a gathering for Arbaeen, a devotional ritual.
  • Among the dead were a number of children, and reports put the number of injured at at least 35.
  • The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series targeting Shiite Muslims in the Sunni-majority country.

Read more:
“IS claims attack that kills dozens at Shi’ite mosque in Kabul” (Reuters)
“Afghanistan Kabul mosque suicide attack kills dozens” (BBC)
“Afghanistan mosque attack: 30 dead, ISIS claims responsibility” (CNN)

(Image Credit: Reuters, via BBC)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Hazaras

Bombing during protest in Kabul devastates Afghanistan’s Hazara community
  • A triple suicide attack left at least 80 dead and 231 wounded at a protest in the Afghan capital, with the Islamic State claiming responsibility for one of the deadliest attacks in the country since 2001.
  • The demonstration had been organized to protest an electricity route in the country and the perceived abandonment of the Hazara community by political leaders.
  • Afghanistan’s Shiite Hazaras have long been targeted in the country, including in recent decades by the Taliban and now the Islamic State.

Read more:
“Kabul Bombing Adds New Layers of Agony for Afghanistan’s Hazaras” (The New York Times)
“ISIS Claims Suicide Attack On Kabul Protest By Hazara Minority, Dozens Killed” (The Huffington Post)
“Kabul explosion: Islamic State ‘admits attack on Hazara protest’” (BBC)

(Image Credit: Adam Ferguson/The New York Times)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Hazara

Hazara communities in Afghanistan protest changes to new electricity line route
  • Thousands from Hazara communities in the country are expected to protest after officials outlined a new route away from provinces with large Hazara populations for what they argue are technical and economic reasons.
  • The electricity project is a part of the Asian Development Bank’s plan to connect energy-rich Central Asia with the energy-deprived countries of the western subcontinent.
  • The resource row comes as the government has pledged increased protection for the Shiite Hazara minority, who have faced kidnapping and murder at the hands of militants in the Sunni-majority country.

Read more:
“Afghan minority Hazaras plan protest over power line route” (Reuters)
“Afghan Kidnappers Prey on Hazaras” (The New York Times, November 2015)
“Hazara killings: Thousands protest in Afghanistan blaming militants for murder of seven villagers” (AFP/Reuters, via ABC, November 2015)

Religion + Belief

Afghanistan Feature | Sikhs & Hindus

The Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan

Afghanistan has seen millions uprooted as local communities have found themselves caught in the middle of the conflict between the Taliban and a coalition of Afghan and U.S. forces. After the Taliban took control of the country in the mid-1990s, two of the country’s religious minorities–Hindus and Sikhs–saw their insecurity skyrocket, with land seizures, open harassment, and economic exclusion causing most of the tens of thousands in their ranks to flee for asylum elsewhere. Anadolu Agency, a state-run media outlet in Turkey, provides a glimpse of the outlook Afghan Hindus and Sikhs have on their prospects today.

Read more:
“Afghan Sikhs, Hindus fear violence but long for home” (Anadolu Agency)

Other coverage:
“Feeling alienated, Sikhs choose to leave Afghanistan” (The Hindu)
“Oppressed by Taliban, Afghan Sikh families seek help from DSGMC” (The Times of India)
“Facing Intolerance, Many Sikhs and Hindus Leave Afghanistan” (Wall Street Journal)

(Image Credit: via Anadolu Agency)

Gender

Afghanistan News | Women

Taliban destroys popular women’s broadcasting station during Kunduz battle
  • Roshani, a women-run radio and television station in Kunduz, was burned to the ground by Taliban fighters as they took the city of Kunduz from Afghan and U.S. forces.
  • Roshani had begun its television broadcasting only two months earlier, offering women-focused sports, entertainment, and cultural programming.
  • In addition to broadcasting, Roshani station director Sediqa Sherzai had been in the final stages of preparing to launch a production training program for women focused on video recording and editing.

“The Taliban erased many years of our efforts to build women’s media in Kunduz. … When things get back to normal in the city, we have to start all over again from zero.”

Read more:
“Taliban Flips The Switch On Women’s Radio, TV In Kunduz” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
“Taliban target media during Kunduz takeover” (Reporters Without Borders)

(Image Credit: via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Gender

Afghanistan News | Girls

Afghan police investigate gas poisoning at girls’ school in Herat province
  • More than 100 girls were taken to the hospital in Herat province for toxic gas poisoning at their school in the village of Enjil.
  • While police investigate whether the incident was intentional, politicians suspect it was the work of conservative factions who oppose education for girls in the country.
  • Most of the girls were discharged the same day as their hospitalization.

Read the full story at Reuters.

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Hazara Shias

Taliban suspected in kidnapping of 12 ethnic Hazaras and murder of 3 in Afghanistan
  • The kidnappings took place in the eastern province of Ghazni at the hands of unidentified gunmen, the latest kidnapping following the abduction of 30 Hazaras in February.
  • Around the same time four bodies were discovered, three of which were Hazara and the fourth Pashtun.
  • The Taliban are suspected of being behind the events as the community was a frequent target of anti-Shia campaigns during Taliban rule prior to the 2001 U.S. invasion.

Read the full story at the Daily Times.

Ideology + Affiliation

Afghanistan Feature | Artist-Dissidents

Video

A Protest in Color

A group of artists convened at the presidential palace in Kabul to paint a mural in protest against government corruption.

View the AFP feature on YouTube (in French).

Gender

Afghanistan Feature | Women

Video

Making Bricks of Molehills

An estimated 2 million widows in Afghanistan struggle to hold together their families and forge a future for themselves following the death of their husbands. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty profiles a group of un-remarried women who, living independently, have built a community from the ground up with the few resources they have.

View the full feature at Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe.

Gender

Afghanistan News | Women

Afghanistan’s first female nominee to Supreme Court rejected by Parliament
  • Beyond a capitulation to conservative opposition, the rejection signals a deepening challenge to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s political agenda.
  • While women’s rights advocates hope for another female nomination, others fear more general rollbacks of rights and protections for women following the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

Read the full story at Reuters.