In bad faith – 3 parts

Hinduism, Weaponised: A Secular India Under Threat | In Bad Faith – Part 1 | CNA Documentary

CNA – Insider 9-4-2022

We investigate the reasons behind the weaponisation of Hinduism by the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing, paramilitary volunteer organisation that aims to create a Hindu Rashtra – a subcontinent only for the Hindus.

From supporting cow vigilantes in Rajasthan attacking Muslim cattle traders to spreading Islamophobia across RSS-backed television stations, why understand why India’s secular fabric is under threat. Tiếp tục đọc “In bad faith – 3 parts”

Another major earthquake shakes Afghanistan days after thousands killed

Quake strikes same area where Saturday’s tremors left over 2,400 dead

Independent. co.uk https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/UM9dIJ53

Another strong earthquake shook parts of western Afghanistan where a temblor on Saturday killed more than 2,400 people.

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake was recorded early morning on Wednesday near Herat province, according to the US Geological Survey.

The epicentre of the quake was about 28km outside Herat city – the capital of Herat province – at a depth of 10km.

No information was immediately available about damage from Wednesday’s earthquake.

The epicentre of Saturday’s deadly quake was also about 40km northwest of the provincial capital and several aftershocks were recorded.

Taliban officials said more than 2,400 people had died across Herat after the earlier quakes that laid entire villages to waste with many people trapped in rubble.

With little to no international help and resources, Afghans have been struggling to dig through the rubble even after days. The city of Herat just has one hospital, as survivors struggled to get medical care with many left homeless ahead of a harsh winter.

In Naib Rafi, a village that previously had about 2,500 residents, the Associated Press reported that “almost no one was still alive” besides men who were working outside when the quake struck. Survivors worked all day with excavators to dig long trenches for mass burials.

“It is very difficult to find a family member from a destroyed house and a few minutes to later bury him or her in a nearby grave, again under the ground,” Mir Agha, a resident from the city of Herat who had joined hundreds of volunteers to help the locals, told the news agency.

Nearly 2,000 houses in 20 villages were destroyed, the Taliban have said. The area hit by the quake has just one government-run hospital.

According to a WHO report, an estimated 12,110 people (1,730 families) in five districts Zindajan, Injil, Gulran, Injil and Khosan in Herat province have been impacted by the earthquake.

This devastation comes a year after an earthquake killed over 1,000 people in Afghanistan.

 

Taliban edicts suffocating women and girls in Afghanistan: UN experts

UN Human rights

GENEVA (19 June 2023) – Relentless edicts issued by the Taliban since taking power in Afghanistan in August 2021 have severely restricted the rights of women and girls and suffocated every dimension of their lives, UN experts* said today.

“Women and girls in Afghanistan are experiencing severe discrimination that may amount to gender persecution – a crime against humanity – and be characterised as gender apartheid, as the de facto authorities appear to be governing by systemic discrimination with the intention to subject women and girls to total domination,” the experts said.

Tiếp tục đọc “Taliban edicts suffocating women and girls in Afghanistan: UN experts”

The Chinese entrepreneurs chasing an Afghan ‘gold rush’

Al Jazeera English – 24 thg 11, 2022

When the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, most foreigners and multinational companies had already packed up and left Afghanistan.

Going against the stream of foreigners fleeing the country was a group looking for “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunities: Chinese entrepreneurs.

Despite the ongoing unrest, an economic crisis and United Nations’ concerns over human rights, more Chinese citizens are joining the country’s “gold rush”. Once a small minority, Chinese nationals now make up Afghanistan’s biggest group of expatriates.

With exclusive access to leading Chinese investors, 101 East investigates their growing influence across Afghanistan’s business and media sectors.

The Chinese entrepreneurs chasing an Afghan ‘gold rush’ | 101 East Documentary

Afghan aid at risk from Taliban ban on women, warns United Nations

theguardian.com

Standoff between UN and Taliban may lead loss of billions in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan

A Taliban fighter stands guard in Kabul
A Taliban fighter stands guard in Kabul. UN flights carrying cash for humanitarian aid into Kabul have already been suspended. Photograph: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editorFri 6 Jan 2023 09.44 GMT

The UN’s lead humanitarian coordinator has said UN-supplied aid cannot continue if the Taliban do not lift their ban on women working for humanitarian aid agencies in Afghanistan.

Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is due to visit Kabul shortly to discuss the impasse.

Although he said he did not want to pre-empt talks and was willing to examine workarounds on the ban, his remarks suggest a standoff is developing between the UN and the Taliban that could lead to billions in aid being cut off in the long term.

Tiếp tục đọc “Afghan aid at risk from Taliban ban on women, warns United Nations”

The Chinese entrepreneurs chasing an Afghan ‘gold rush’

The Chinese entrepreneurs chasing an Afghan ‘gold rush’ | 101 East Documentary

Al Jazeera English – 24 thg 11, 2022

When the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, most foreigners and multinational companies had already packed up and left Afghanistan.

Going against the stream of foreigners fleeing the country was a group looking for “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunities: Chinese entrepreneurs.

Despite the ongoing unrest, an economic crisis and United Nations’ concerns over human rights, more Chinese citizens are joining the country’s “gold rush”. Once a small minority, Chinese nationals now make up Afghanistan’s biggest group of expatriates.

With exclusive access to leading Chinese investors, 101 East investigates their growing influence across Afghanistan’s business and media sectors.

‘We tried to be joyful enough to deserve our new lives’: What it’s really like to be a refugee in Britain – podcast

As a child, I fled Afghanistan with my family. When we arrived in Britain after a harrowing journey, we thought we could start our new life in safety. But the reality was very different.

Photograph of Zarlasht Halaimzai. Photograph: Sarah Lee/ The Guardian
 Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

The Guardian – By Zarlasht Halaimzai – Fri 21 Jan 2022 09.00 GMT

Written by Zarlasht Halaimzai, read by Serena Manteghi, and produced by Hattie Moir.

Listen here

• Read the text version here

Tiếp tục đọc “‘We tried to be joyful enough to deserve our new lives’: What it’s really like to be a refugee in Britain – podcast”

This is the real story of the Afghan biometric databases abandoned to the Taliban

technologyreview.com

By capturing 40 pieces of data per person—from iris scans and family links to their favorite fruit—a system meant to cut fraud in the Afghan security forces may actually aid the Taliban.By 

August 30, 2021

afghans targeted by biometric data

ANDREA DAQUINO

As the Taliban swept through Afghanistan in mid-August, declaring the end of two decades of war, reports quickly circulated that they had also captured US military biometric devices used to collect data such as iris scans, fingerprints, and facial images. Some feared that the machines, known as HIIDE, could be used to help identify Afghans who had supported coalition forces.

According to experts speaking to MIT Technology Review, however, these devices actually provide only limited access to biometric data, which is held remotely on secure servers. But our reporting shows that there is a greater threat from Afghan government databases containing sensitive personal information that could be used to identify millions of people around the country. 

MIT Technology Review spoke to two individuals familiar with one of these systems, a US-funded database known as APPS, the Afghan Personnel and Pay System. Used by both the Afghan Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense to pay the national army and police, it is arguably the most sensitive system of its kind in the country, going into extreme levels of detail about security personnel and their extended networks. We granted the sources anonymity to protect them against potential reprisals. 

Related Story

Tiếp tục đọc “This is the real story of the Afghan biometric databases abandoned to the Taliban”

Chủ nghĩa khủng bố được nuôi dưỡng bởi điều gì?

ND – Thứ Bảy, 11-09-2021, 10:08

Khi không hiểu đối thủ, phương Tây “không có chiến lược” hữu hiệu nào. Ảnh: Lowy Institute

Ted Kaczynski, một cựu giáo viên ở Mỹ, từ năm 1978 đến 1995, đã tiến hành hàng loạt vụ đánh bom thư khủng bố khắp nước Mỹ đúng theo kiểu “sói đơn độc” cổ điển, đã dùng nguồn tài trợ nào để chế tạo bom? Anders Behring Breivik, kẻ thủ ác ngày 22/7/2011 ở Oslo – Na Uy, cũng chỉ là một nhân viên “cà là èng” ở một công ty vô danh, thì lấy đâu ra tiền để tiến hành khủng bố? Hai câu hỏi này đủ để trả lời cho vấn đề lớn hơn rất nhiều: “Tài chính có phải nền tảng nuôi dưỡng khủng bố tiên quyết nhất?”.

Tiếp tục đọc “Chủ nghĩa khủng bố được nuôi dưỡng bởi điều gì?”

Call Afghanistan What It Is: The Worst Hostage Crisis in American History

August 21st, 2021 Heritage Foundation

COMMENTARY BY

James Jay Carafano@JJCarafano

Vice President, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis InstituteJames Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges.

The chaos in Kabul doesn’t match the madness in Washington.Marcus Yam / Contributor / Getty Images

KEY TAKEAWAYS

On Nov. 4, 1979, militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages. It was hell for the captured Americans.

In rushing the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Biden, in stunning dereliction of duty, didn’t pause to ask about how many Americans remain at risk in Afghanistan.

Biden, America, and tens of thousands of desperate people still in the Afghanistan cauldron who are owed safe passage out are their hostages.

Tiếp tục đọc “Call Afghanistan What It Is: The Worst Hostage Crisis in American History”

Afghanistan: Đằng sau cuộc tháo chạy tán loạn

SÁNG ÁNH 24/8/2021 6:00 GMT+7

TTCTCuộc chiến của Mỹ ở Afghanistan đã đi tới một kết cục xấu xí, ở một vùng đất dữ bất trị với các thế lực ngoại bang.

Đại úy Mitch Nelson leo lên ngựa, giật dây cương, hô tiến lên, và biệt đội 595 của Lực lương đặc biệt Mỹ 12 người do ông chỉ huy băng suối, râu phất phơ trước gió, súng bắn đì đoàng. 

Sau khi xâm nhập Afghanistan chỉ 23 ngày, họ đánh bại Taliban và giải phóng thành phố lớn thứ 3 đất nước Mazar-i-Sharif, nơi có nửa triệu dân. 

Người dân Afghanistan leo qua tường rào sân bay Hamid Karzai để chạy trốn Taliban. Ảnh: Getty Images

Họ mang an vui đến mọi nhà, các bé gái được đến trường và trẻ con lần đầu được nếm kẹo sôcôla. Đó là năm 2001, và Afghanistan bước vào một kỷ nguyên phát triển hoan ca kèn trống thay vì bị cấm nghe nhạc như thời Taliban. Đèn bật trong rạp.

Tiếc thay, “Thập nhị dũng sĩ” (12 Strong, đạo diễn Nicolai Fuglsig, 2018) chỉ là một bộ phim hư cấu. 

Tiếp tục đọc “Afghanistan: Đằng sau cuộc tháo chạy tán loạn”