Taliban - The African Mirror

Jul

2021

As Taliban advance, Afghan businesswomen fear return of ‘dark era’

SHADI KHAN SAIF AS the Taliban rapidly advance across Afghanistan, designer Marzia Hafizi is worried about the survival of her fashion business and of the gains women have made in the last 20 years. Hafizi, 29, opened her clothing store Lora in the capital Kabul in 2018, fulfilling a long-held dream of becoming a businesswoman in her conservative, male-dominated country - an unthinkable feat during Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001. "If the Taliban come back to power and impose their old, dark mentality, I might be forced to leave," Hafizi said, over whirring machines as men and women tailors…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Taliban surround central Afghan city of Ghazni

WORLD

TALIBAN fighters have surrounded the city of Ghazni in central Afghanistan, taking over civilians' homes to fight security forces, officials have said, the latest urban centre under threat from the insurgents. The offensive was the latest on a provincial capital as the Taliban make a fresh push to surround cities and gain territory, emboldened by the departure of foreign forces. "The situation in Ghazni city is very critical...the Taliban use civilian houses as hideouts and fire upon the ANDSF (Afghan security forces), this makes the situation very difficult for the ANDSF to operate against the Taliban," said Hassan Rezayi, a…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Taliban say they control 85% of Afghanistan, humanitarian concerns mount

WORLD

TALIBAN officials have claimed that the Sunni Muslim insurgent group had taken control of 85% of territory in Afghanistan, and international concern mounted over problems getting medicines and supplies into the country. Afghan government officials dismissed the assertion that the Taliban controlled most of the country as part of a propaganda campaign launched as foreign forces, including the United States, withdrew after almost 20 years of fighting. But local Afghan officials said Taliban fighters, emboldened by the withdrawal, had captured an important district in Herat province, home to tens of thousands of minority Shi'ite Hazaras. Torghundi, a northern town on…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Servicemen who fled Taliban to Tajikistan being brought back to fight

WORLD

AFGHAN security personnel who fled into Tajikistan are being brought back to rejoin the fight against Taliban insurgents, Afghanistan's national security adviser said, and some 2,300 who abandoned positions across the country had returned to service. Hundreds of Afghan security personnel retreated across the Tajik-Afghan border in response to Taliban advances in northern Afghanistan, underlining a rapidly deteriorating situation as foreign troops near a complete withdrawal after 20 years of war and with peace negotiations stalled. "Those that went to Tajikistan are coming back and are once again going to be in the service of the people and in the…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Safe in Germany, Afghan translators fears for colleagues left behind

WORLD

ALEXANDER RATZ ALI, a former translator for the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan, still lives in fear of the Taliban, seven years after coming to Germany under a protection scheme for military's civilian employees. The 29-year-old, who would not give his full name for fear of militant reprisals, is even more concerned about the fate of his former colleagues still at home. "In Afghanistan, it doesn't matter what you do, if you are with NATO soldiers, then you are in danger," Ali told Reuters in Berlin. As NATO wraps up its mission in Afghanistan after two decades, it leaves behind tens of…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

EXCLUSIVE – Foreign troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond May deadline

WORLD

RUPAM JAIN and CHARLOTTE GREENFIELD INTERNATIONAL troops plan to stay in Afghanistan beyond the May deadline envisaged by the insurgent Taliban's deal with the United States, four senior NATO officials said, a move that could escalate tensions with the Taliban demanding full withdrawal. "There will be no full withdrawal by allies by April-end," one of the officials told Reuters. "Conditions have not been met," he said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. "And with the new U.S. administration, there will be tweaks in the policy, the sense of hasty withdrawal which was prevalent will be…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Gunmen kill two female Supreme Court judges in Afghanistan

WORLD

ABDUL QADIR SEDIQI UNIDENTIFIED gunmen killed two female judges from Afghanistan's Supreme Court on Sunday morning, police said, adding to a wave of assassinations in Kabul and other cities while government and Taliban representatives have been holding peace talks in Qatar. The two judges, who have not yet been named, were killed and their driver wounded, in an attack at around 8:30 am, police said, adding the case was being investigated by security forces. A spokesman for the Taliban said its fighters were not involved. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement condemning attacks on civilians by the Taliban and…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Afghan govt, Taliban announce breakthrough deal to pursue peace talks

WORLD

HAMID SHALIZI and ABDU QADIR SEDIQI AFGHAN government and Taliban representatives have reached a preliminary deal to press on with peace talks, their first written agreement in 19 years of war and welcomed by the United Nations and Washington. The agreement lays out the way forward for further discussion but is considered a breakthrough because it will allow negotiators to move on to more substantive issues, including talks on a ceasefire. "The procedure including its preamble of the negotiation has been finalised and from now on, the negotiation will begin on the agenda," Nader Nadery, a member of the Afghan…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. military defends air strikes as Taliban warns of ‘consequences’

WORLD

THE U.S. military has defended its air strikes against Taliban fighters as the insurgent group accused Washington of violating their signed agreement and warned of consequences if such actions continued. The Taliban launched a major offensive in the southern province of Helmand in a bid to take the provincial capital, prompting U.S. air strikes in support of Afghan security forces, which were being overrun. "American forces have violated the Doha agreement in various forms by carrying out excessive air strikes following the new developments in Helmand province," Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi said in a statement on Sunday. The…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Shooting fails to deter Afghan woman on Taliban talks team

WORLD

SHADI KHAN SAIF AFGHAN women's rights advocate Fawzia Koofi had nightmares for days after a volley of bullets was fired at her car as she travelled with her daughter in the restive province of Parwan. Just two weeks later and with her arm still in a cast, Koofi, one of the few female members of the Afghan team negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban, is planning to return to the area, where floods have killed more than 150 people. It is a sign of the determination of a woman who has survived two apparent assassination attempts to keep fighting…