Afghanistan marks a year since the West’s withdrawal from country
Young Afghan girls read the Koran at a mosque outside Kabul. Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
David Millward
August 15 2022
The Taliban was condemned yesterday for beating women at a demonstration on the eve of the anniversary of their seizure of power.
As Afghanistan marks a year since the West’s withdrawal from Kabul, fears that the Taliban would roll back women’s rights gained during two decades of Western intervention appear justified.
On Saturday, a group of 40 women marched in front of the education building in Kabul chanting “bread, work and freedom”. Some defied the strict dress code by refusing to wear face veils.
Taliban militants dispersed the crowd by firing into the air before chasing after the protesters and beating them with rifle butts.
The fighters seized phones and banners as they cracked down on the first women’s rally in months.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said: “The EU is particularly concerned by the fate of Afghan women and girls who have seen their freedoms, rights and access to basic services such as education systematically denied.”
Meanwhile, US Republicans warned last night that former Afghan security personnel with sensitive knowledge of US operations left behind by the American evacuation operation were vulnerable to recruitment or coercion by Russia, China and Iran.
“This is especially true given reports that some former Afghan military personnel have fled to Iran,” minority Republicans of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a report.
The Biden administration, the report said, failed to prioritise evacuating US-trained Afghan commandos and other elite units in the shambolic troop pull out and evacuation operation at Kabul international airport.
Thirteen US soldiers died and hundreds of US citizens and tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans were left behind during the operation.
The administration calls the operation an “extraordinary success” that flew more than 124,000 Americans and Afghans to safety and wound up an “endless” war in which 3,500 US and allied troops, and hundreds of thousands of Afghans died.
But hundreds of US-trained commandos and other former security personnel and their families remain in Afghanistan amid reports the Taliban have been killing and torturing former Afghan officials, allegations the militants deny.
Also yesterday, the US was accused of failing to share secret documents that formed part of the peace deal the Trump administration signed with the Taliban.
Although Joe Biden was in the White House when the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan took place, much of the preparatory work had been done by his predecessor.
According to The Sunday Times, the agreement, which was part of Mr Trump’s pledge to end “forever wars”, included detailed arrangements for how the Taliban and Nato troops would end the fighting. (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2022)
David Millward
August 15 2022
The Taliban was condemned yesterday for beating women at a demonstration on the eve of the anniversary of their seizure of power.
As Afghanistan marks a year since the West’s withdrawal from Kabul, fears that the Taliban would roll back women’s rights gained during two decades of Western intervention appear justified.
On Saturday, a group of 40 women marched in front of the education building in Kabul chanting “bread, work and freedom”. Some defied the strict dress code by refusing to wear face veils.
Taliban militants dispersed the crowd by firing into the air before chasing after the protesters and beating them with rifle butts.
The fighters seized phones and banners as they cracked down on the first women’s rally in months.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said: “The EU is particularly concerned by the fate of Afghan women and girls who have seen their freedoms, rights and access to basic services such as education systematically denied.”
Meanwhile, US Republicans warned last night that former Afghan security personnel with sensitive knowledge of US operations left behind by the American evacuation operation were vulnerable to recruitment or coercion by Russia, China and Iran.
“This is especially true given reports that some former Afghan military personnel have fled to Iran,” minority Republicans of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a report.
The Biden administration, the report said, failed to prioritise evacuating US-trained Afghan commandos and other elite units in the shambolic troop pull out and evacuation operation at Kabul international airport.
Thirteen US soldiers died and hundreds of US citizens and tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans were left behind during the operation.
The administration calls the operation an “extraordinary success” that flew more than 124,000 Americans and Afghans to safety and wound up an “endless” war in which 3,500 US and allied troops, and hundreds of thousands of Afghans died.
But hundreds of US-trained commandos and other former security personnel and their families remain in Afghanistan amid reports the Taliban have been killing and torturing former Afghan officials, allegations the militants deny.
Also yesterday, the US was accused of failing to share secret documents that formed part of the peace deal the Trump administration signed with the Taliban.
Although Joe Biden was in the White House when the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan took place, much of the preparatory work had been done by his predecessor.
According to The Sunday Times, the agreement, which was part of Mr Trump’s pledge to end “forever wars”, included detailed arrangements for how the Taliban and Nato troops would end the fighting. (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2022)
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