Rabu, 06 Oktober 2021

Afghan women’s losing battle to remain visible under Taliban - Al Jazeera English

Kabul, Afghanistan – Marzia Hamidi, a 19-year-old Afghan taekwondoin, had big plans.

She used to dream of national and international championships but fears that those dreams are now dashed forever after the Taliban took control of the country in August.

By the end of September, she had to go into hiding after she heard that some members of the group had come looking for her.

Even Marzia’s Instagram account – with more than 20,000 followers – is a little bit darker now. She wears a black abaya and matching hijab, fearing Afghanistan’s new rulers.

She is not alone in her fears. Many women fear a return to enforced invisibility they lived under for five years (1996-2001) when the Taliban controlled Afghanistan last.

When the Taliban came to power, it promised to respect women and allow them to participate in public life “in accordance with Islamic law”, but secondary schools remain closed for girls, and many women are finding returning to work difficult, with the exception of some professions such as in the health sector.

Protests erupted across several cities last month, with women demanding their rights, but they were harshly suppressed.

Marzia was born in Iran to a family of Afghan refugees [Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska/Al Jazeera]

During the first Taliban regime, women virtually disappeared from the public eye as they were banned from working and were not allowed to travel without a male guardian. The violation of strict rules on women’s clothing and their behaviour in public attracted severe punishment.

Marzia worries that women like her will soon meet a similar fate.

Born in Iran

Marzia was born in Iran to a family of Afghan refugees. At 15, she went to a taekwondo class and immediately fell in love with the sport, going on to compete and earning several gold medals in the Under 57kg category national competitions.

But three years ago, Marzia’s sporting career was disrupted after her family decided to move to Afghanistan. Her father no longer wanted to be a refugee in a foreign land, where they were often subjected to racist attacks. Iran is home to more than two million undocumented Afghans, in addition to 800,000 registered refugees.

The family joined her brother, who had a profitable business in Kabul. But for the self-confident athlete, Kabul proved to be a difficult place to practice her sport.

“It’s always been hard for female fighters in Afghanistan. My male coach always stared at me, focused on my looks, which made me uncomfortable. Other girls in the taekwondo team always wore headscarves and complained that I did not,” Marzia says.

“When the Taliban came, I was thinking about destroying my medals. Shall I burn them or keep them? I asked myself. But my brother talked me out of the idea and told me to hide them in a safe place.”

Soon after, however, the medals were not the only thing she had to hide.

Went into hiding

Last month, a group of unknown men came to her family home asking for her whereabouts, likely because of her social media activity, she says. They also visited her brother’s office.

A month and a half into the Taliban rule, Marzia decided to go into hiding. She now frequently changes locations and lives in constant fear.

“I want to leave Afghanistan to resume my training because I want to prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games. But I don’t want to go back to Iran. The situation of refugees is difficult there, there is a lot of racism. Even if I’m the best, they will not let me attend the Olympics,” Marzia says.

Millions of teenage girls are still waiting for what the establishment of what the Taliban says is ’a safe learning environment’ [File: Aref Karimi/AFP]

“Everything has changed since the coming to power of the Taliban.”

A distant dream

As an employee with foreign organisations, Meena Naeemi had an opportunity to leave Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul, but she decided to stay. Now, in the final semester of her master’s in Pashto literature, she is waiting to finish her degree before looking for opportunities abroad.

But completing her studies under the Taliban may prove impossible. Classes at her university have not resumed for women and when they do, they will be segregated.

“I did not expect to face such a fate. It is still very hard for me to believe that my country is in such a state. I have no hopes for completing my education and getting a job because they do not want us to participate in society. They introduced peace at the expense of eliminating women,” Naeemi says.

“I’m afraid that from now on, the girls will be stuck at home, while boys continue their education. I look in the mirror and realise that all my plans are a distant dream. I feel like I am slowly dying.”

The past 20 years have changed Afghan women; many no longer agree with the strict rules imposed on them, gaining agency that they are unlikely to give away.

Homeira Qaderi, a women’s rights activist from Herat, believes in civil resistance against the Taliban. But she also knows that most women will be too afraid to stand up for their rights.

“When the Taliban took over Kabul, I went to the media to talk to them. They should see women who will not remain silent. I believe in the power of speech. But with each passing day, we see the Taliban abusing women on the streets again,” the 41-year-old says.

“The streets of Afghanistan are no longer a safe place for women. The resistance is a path to light. But what if women’s resistance to the Taliban will be met with whips and guns?”

Qaderi remembers the Taliban’s previous rule during the 1990s as a teenager when women had no choice but to get married and raise children. Many of them ended up marrying people they did not know or love, at an age when they could not make informed choices.

“Violence against women is systematic in the behaviour of the Taliban government. If the Taliban do not use violence against women, they will lose their identity,” she says.

“But the period of slavery is over and any attempt to enslave us will sooner or later fail. I hope the world does not turn its back on Afghan women again.”

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2021-10-06 08:25:36Z
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Tensions with China worst in 40 years, says Taiwan - BBC News - BBC News

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2021-10-06 07:44:22Z
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Taipei warns that China will be able to invade Taiwan by 2025 - Financial Times

Taiwan’s defence minister has warned that China will be fully capable of invading the island by 2025, in the government’s first clear message to the public that the country faces a threat of war.

Chiu Kuo-cheng issued the warning after almost 150 Chinese warplanes operated in international airspace near Taiwan between Friday and Monday.

“The current situation is really the most dangerous I have seen in my more than 40 years in the military,” Chiu said in a question-and-answer session with lawmakers about a NT$240bn ($8.6bn) special defence budget for anti-ship missiles and warships.

“If they want to attack now, they are already capable. But they have to calculate at what cost it would come and what results it would have,” Chiu said. “From 2025, they will already have lowered the cost and the losses to the lowest possible level, so we call it they will have the complete capability.”

The remarks follow appeals by Taipei to the international community to support the country against Chinese aggression.

On Tuesday, Tsai Ing-wen, the president, issued an urgent appeal to stand with Taiwan. Other democracies “should remember that if Taiwan were to fall, the consequences would be catastrophic for regional peace and the democratic alliance system. It would signal that in today’s global contest of values, authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy,” she wrote in Foreign Affairs.

Over the past year, Beijing has dramatically increased air and naval operations close to Taiwan. According to Taiwan’s defence ministry, 672 Chinese warplanes have flown into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone this year, far outpacing the 380 recorded in 2020.

Some US officials and many experts have played down the significance of the People’s Liberation Army flights, saying that they were not the prelude to war but aimed instead at intimidating Taiwan and wearing down its air force, which scrambles fighters in response.

General Mark Milley, chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, in June said the probability of a Chinese attack on Taiwan was “probably low, in the immediate, near-term future”.

Tiffany Ma, a Taiwan expert at Bower Group Asia, a consultancy, said it was too early to sound alarm bells.

“The fact that China may have the capability under specific scenarios and conditions doesn’t necessarily mean that the intention is there,” said Ma. “For the PLA to militarily take Taiwan, it is going to be very costly. And China is developing a huge toolbox of ways to pressure Taiwan before taking a shot and raising it to the kinetic level.”

However there are concerns in Washington. In March, Admiral Philip Davidson, then head of US Indo-Pacific command, told Congress that China might attack Taiwan within six years. Other commanders have also privately expressed concern that China may act more quickly than most experts on the Chinese military believe.

But Taiwan’s government has long feared that discussions about preparing for a Chinese attack would undermine public morale. US officials and experts have repeatedly criticised Taipei for being complacent and doing too little to strengthen its defences.

Chiu indicated that Taiwan’s military was not ready for full-scale conflict. “Our ability to deal with normal situations daily is absolutely there — having prepared for war for so many years, we are combat-ready,” he said. “But now the situation is extremely severe, so we must strengthen our capabilities quickly.”

The concerns about Taiwan come as Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, prepares to meet Yang Jiechi, China’s top foreign policy official, in Switzerland on Wednesday. People familiar with the situation said the two sides were exploring the possibility of Joe Biden and Xi holding a virtual summit in the coming months.

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2021-10-06 04:16:21Z
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Selasa, 05 Oktober 2021

British PM’s envoy holds talks with Taliban in Afghanistan - Al Jazeera English

UK says the two sides discussed Afghanistan’s deepening humanitarian crisis and ‘terrorism’, among other subjects.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s special envoy has held talks with senior members of Afghanistan’s new Taliban government in Kabul, officials said.

Senior civil servant Simon Gass met Deputy Prime Ministers Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi on Tuesday, the British foreign office said.

They discussed how the United Kingdom could help Afghanistan address a deepening humanitarian crisis, “terrorism” and the need for safe passage for those who want to leave the country.

“They also raised the treatment of minorities and the rights of women and girls,” a British government spokesman said.

“The [UK] government continues to do all it can to ensure safe passage for those who wish to leave, and is committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan.”

Gass was accompanied by the charge d’affaires of the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the Taliban’s foreign ministry spokesman, said the meeting “focused on detailed discussions about reviving diplomatic relations between both countries”.

He added that Afghanistan’s foreign minister wanted the UK to “begin a new chapter of constructive relations”.

Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Kabul, said the visit is “significant” because there is now an “open line of communication” between the UK and the Taliban.

“I think this is what the international community is doing, it’s using this fact of international recognition of the Taliban as the legal official governing body of this country, to try and put pressure on the group to adhere to certain norms that they’d like to see,” Dekker said.

“We are in a time when the Taliban is seeking this international legitimacy, they need the millions … of dollars in funds to help get this country forward,” she added, citing Afghanistan’s dire economic situation, and concerns about drought and famine.

“What you’re seeing is a political dance,” Dekker said. “I don’t think it means they are any close to officially recognising them as the government, but a dialogue is in place.”

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2021-10-05 15:36:56Z
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Afghanistan: Former British soldier who was arrested by Taliban as it seized control in country flown out of country - Sky News

A former British soldier who was arrested by the Taliban has been flown out of Afghanistan with a visiting UK delegation, Sky News understands.

Ben Slater, who ran his business Nomad Concepts Group from the Afghan capital, was detained by the Taliban last month while trying to help hundreds of Afghans to leave the country.

However, he was allowed to fly out of Kabul to the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday on a special flight that was arranged by the Qatari government to transport two senior British diplomats in and out of the country, according to a UK government source.

Ben Slater doing some last minute administrative work for Home Office near border
Image: Ben Slater had claimed the Foreign Office failed to approve visas for the evacuation of himself and his staff from Kabul airport

The precise details of how his exit was arranged were not immediately clear.

Sir Simon Gass, the Prime Minister's High Representative for Afghan Transition, and Dr Martin Longden, Chargé d'Affaires of the UK Mission to Afghanistan, based in Doha, formed the first UK delegation to Afghanistan to meet with the Taliban since the collapse of the previous UK-backed Afghan government and withdrawal of British and other NATO forces.

The diplomats spoke with Taliban Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi and Deputy Prime Ministers Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund and Mawlawi Abdul-Salam Hanafi.

They "discussed how the UK could help Afghanistan to address the humanitarian crisis, the importance of preventing the country from becoming an incubator for terrorism, and the need for continued safe passage for those who want to leave the country", a UK government spokesperson said.

More on Afghanistan

"They also raised the treatment of minorities and the rights of women and girls," the spokesperson said.

Sir Simon Gass, the Prime Minister's High Representative for Afghan Transition meets Taliban Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi
Image: Sir Simon Gass, the Prime Minister's High Representative for Afghan Transition meets Taliban Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi

A statement on Twitter which appeared to be from a Taliban foreign affairs spokesman said: "The meeting focused on detailed discussions about reviving diplomatic relations between both countries, assurance of security by IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) for all citizens entering legally, and humanitarian assistance by UK for the Afghans."

Abdul Qahar Balkhi claimed the UK delegation had said Boris Johnson was "seeking to build relations with IEA while taking into account prevailing circumstances" while the Afghan side said the UK "must take positive steps regarding relations and co-operation, and begin a new chapter of constructive relations".

Sir Simon Gass, the Prime Minister's High Representative for Afghan Transition meets Taliban Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi
Image: The UK diplomats 'raised the treatment of minorities and the rights of women and girls'

He added: "We expect others to also not work towards weakening our government."

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan after the western-backed government fell in August.

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2021-10-05 13:52:30Z
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Record number of Chinese planes enter Taiwan air defence zone - BBC News - BBC News

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2021-10-05 09:33:36Z
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Facebook down: Zuckerberg apologises for six-hour outage - BBC News

Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, U.S., October 23, 2019.
Reuters

Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg has apologised for the "disruption" caused after its social media services went down for almost six hours - impacting more than 3.5bn users worldwide.

The billionaire said sorry after an internal technical issue took Facebook, Messenger, Whatsapp and Instagram offline at about 16:00 GMT on Monday.

The scramble to bring it back online eventually succeeded at around 22:00.

But it is likely to increase scrutiny of the social media giant's reach.

For hours, potentially billions of people found themselves without the social media tools they relied upon to keep in touch with friends and family. Others reportedly found they could not access services which required a Facebook login.

Meanwhile, small businesses around the world, which use social media to connect with customers, were faced with the prospect of an unexpected financial hit.

Mr Zuckerberg himself was thought to have lost an estimated $6bn (£4.4bn) from his personal fortune at one point as Facebook shares plummeted, according to the business website Fortune's tracking software.

Downdetector, which tracks outages, said some 10.6 million problems were reported around the world - the largest number it had ever recorded.

Those tools included Facebook's internal email and even employee work passes.

Some reports suggest that Facebook headquarters was in "meltdown". Even "the people trying to figure out what this problem was" couldn't access the building, New York Times technology reporter Sheera Frenkel told the BBC.

Facebook has said it is working to understand what happened so it can "make our infrastructure more resilient". Tech experts have described the issue as being akin to the social media giant falling off the internet's map, so it could not be found.

The company said there was "no evidence that user data was compromised".

The outage comes at a particularly difficult time for the company, which is finding itself increasingly under pressure over its reach and impact on society.

On Sunday, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen told CBS news the company had prioritised "growth over safety".

On Tuesday she will testify before a Senate subcommittee in a hearing titled "Protecting Kids Online", about the company's research into Instagram's effect on the mental health of young users.

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2021-10-05 10:31:33Z
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