Friday, December 8, 2023
Press
Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
A New Geopolitical Axis In Central Asia - Diplomatic Courier
In February 2023, the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan gathered a group of companies, including some from Iran, Russia, and Pakistan, to promote a new investment plan focused on infrastructure, mining, and power. In response to the press asking for more details, the acting minister of commerce and industry of Afghanistan...
UN Tells Afghan Staff to Stay Home Until Taliban Clarifies Ban on Female Aid Workers - Voice of America
Afghan women and men who work for the U.N. Mission in Afghanistan stayed home Thursday while the United Nations sought clarification on the Taliban’s statement ordering all local female employees to be fired because of their sex. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in New York that the Security Council was briefed on the issue Thursday and that the organization was...
Ms. Global: Protests Against Taliban Bans on Women’s Education; Iran Ousted From U.N. Panel; Increased Calls for Press Freedom in India - Ms. Magazine
When the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan almost two years ago, girls in grade six and above were banned from secondary education, while university students were able to attend gender-segregated classes. But as of December 2022, the Taliban banned women and girls from attending...
As Taliban erases women’s rights, Biden encounters limits of U.S. sway - The Washington Post
The Biden administration is contemplating actions to punish the Taliban for its treatment of women and girls, potentially including cuts to American aid, even as officials acknowledge that the U.S. withdrawal has left them with little power to stop the group’s leaders from imposing their harsh vision on Afghan society...
A year since US pullout: How Taliban 2.0 has changed Afghanistan - The Times of India
A year ago today, Taliban fighters celebrated joyously as the last American troops were boarding their flights back home. "The last American soldier left Kabul airport at 9pm Afghan time and our country gained full independence, Alhamdulillah Walmana," Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid...
How September 11 victims could claim frozen Afghan reserve funds - The National
Families of victims who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks are hoping to draw from the $10 billion in frozen Afghan reserves as payment in damages from court cases they won years ago. Should the plaintiffs succeed, they could take more than three quarters of the frozen central bank reserves as Afghanistan deals with a cash crunch and the humanitarian crisis that followed the Taliban takeover after the US withdrawal...
Looming economic crisis overshadows Afghanistan talks at U.N. - Washington Post
Talks between U.S. and global leaders this week underscored intensifying concerns about the fallout from the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, but they produced no consensus on how and when to fully resume vital financial assistance to the country as it plunges deeper into economic crisis...
Biden has few options on Afghanistan as political attacks mount - The National News
US President Joe Biden is still facing immense political blowback weeks after his chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan, but he already finds himself with even fewer options to ameliorate the crisis than...
U.S. to Evacuate Some Afghan Embassy Staff as Taliban Surges - Bloomberg
President Joe Biden is sending about 3,000 U.S. troops to Kabul to help evacuate more diplomats from the U.S. embassy, underscoring just how badly the U.S. has been caught off-guard by the speed of the Taliban’s advance across Afghanistan as American forces withdraw. The State Department is...
Biden Delivers on Trump’s Afghan Exit as Taliban Nears Control - Bloomberg
Donald Trump made the politically popular pledge to bring U.S. troops home from the nation’s longest war. Now Joe Biden is delivering on the promise -- and reaping growing criticism over the grim results that are unfolding in Afghanistan. The U.S.-trained Afghan military is shrinking back as Taliban insurgents...