Month: September 2021

Indian authorities cracked down on public movement and imposed a near-total communications blackout in disputed Kashmir on Thursday after the death of Syed Ali Geelani , a top separatist leader who became the emblem of the region’s defiance against New Delhi.Geelani, who died late Wednesday at age 92, was buried in a local graveyard in a quiet funeral organized by authorities under harsh restrictions, his son, Naseem Geelani, told The Associated Press. He said the family had planned to bury him at the main martyrs’ graveyard in Srinagar, the region’s main city, as specified in his will but were not allowed to do so by police.Geelani, Kashmir’s Staunchest Anti-India Leader, Dies At 92He lived the final decade of his life mostly under house arrest “They snatched his body and forcibly buried him. Nobody from the family was present for his burial. We tried to resist but they overpowered us and even scuffled with women,” Naseem Geelani said.The Press Trust of India news agency reported that officials buried Geelani’s body and prohibited any mass funeral in anticipation of anti-India protests.As most Kashmiris remained locked inside their homes, police and soldiers patrolled the tense region. Government forces placed steel barricades and razor wire across many roads, bridges and intersections and set up additional checkpoints in towns and villages in the Kashmir Valley.Authorities shut down most cellphone networks and mobile internet service in a common tactic employed by India to head off mass protests.Geelani spearheaded Kashmir’s movement for the right to self-determination and was a staunch proponent of merging Kashmir with Pakistan. He strongly opposed any dialogue with New Delhi, a position rejected by successive Indian governments who often dubbed him a hard-line politician.Geelani was also the face of Kashmir’s civilian defiance against Indian rule. He led a faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an association of various Kashmiri political and religious groups that was formed in 1993 to spearhead a movement for the region’s self-determination.The group used civil disobedience in the form of shutdowns and protests as a tactic to counter Indian rule.For many in Kashmir and beyond, Geelani was an enduring icon of defiance against India.Farmer Mohammed Akbar said Geelani’s death filled him with remorse but also anger after he learned that Geelani’s body had been buried by authorities who excluded Kashmiris and his extended family from participating in the last rites.“They are looking at ways to humiliate us,” Akbar said as he held his grandson in his arms. “They are even scared of dead Geelani.”Pakistan observed a day of official mourning and flags flew at half-staff on orders by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Its foreign ministry condemned the non-public burial by Indian authorities.“Pakistan strongly condemns the barbaric act of snatching of the mortal remains of the iconic Kashmiri leader” by Indian police, the ministry said in a statement in Islamabad.It said the Indian government was “so afraid of Syed Geelani and what he stood for that they have now resorted to this inhuman act even after his passing away. This shows the degree of callousness on part of the Occupation Forces.”Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, which both claim the region in full but rule only parts.Rebels have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.New Delhi accuses Pakistan of sponsoring Kashmiri militants, a charge Pakistan denies. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.Tensions flared in the region in 2019 after New Delhi stripped Kashmir’s semi-autonomy, scrapped its statehood and removed inherited protections on land and jobs. Authorities have since brought a slew of new laws, which many critics and Kashmiris liken to the beginning of settler colonialism.
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Syed Ali Geelani, an icon of disputed Kashmir’s resistance against Indian rule and a top separatist leader who became the emblem of the region’s defiance against New Delhi, died late Wednesday. He was 92.Geelani died surrounded by family members at his home in Srinagar, the region’s main city, an aide and his relative told The Associated Press.Shortly after the news broke, scores of Kashmiris converged at his home in the Hyderpora neighborhood of Srinagar to mourn the death of Geelani, who lived the final decade of his life mostly under house arrest and suffered from various ailments.Authorities announced a communication blockade and the restriction of public movement, a common tactic employed by Indian officials in anticipation of anti-India protests. They swiftly deployed heavy contingents of armed police and soldiers across the Kashmir valley to prevent people from participating in Geelani’s funeral.Troops with automatic rifles also blocked roads leading to Geelani’s residence, while armored vehicles patrolled the city neighborhoods. Despite restrictions, many mosques across the region’s towns and villages blared announcements of Geelani’s death and urged people to come out on the streets.Strong stance on IndiaGeelani was an ideologue and a staunch proponent of the merger of Kashmir with Pakistan. Over the years, he had repeatedly said no to any talks with New Delhi, asserting that “India can’t be trusted unless it calls Kashmir a disputed territory, demilitarizes the region and releases political prisoners for a meaningful dialogue.”The position was rejected outright by subsequent Indian governments, and he was often dubbed as a hardline politician.Kashmir has known little but conflict since 1947, when British rule of the subcontinent divided the territory between India and Pakistan. Both countries claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.Kashmir’s fury at Indian rule has long been seething. After a series of political blunders, broken promises and a crackdown on dissent, Kashmiri activists launched a full-blown armed revolt against Indian rule in 1989.India describes the armed rebellion as Islamabad’s proxy war and state-sponsored terrorism. Most Muslim Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle and support the rebel goal that the territory be united, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.The region is one of the most heavily militarized in the world. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the raging conflict.The face of Kashmiri resistanceGeelani, an Islamist author and a fiery orator, began his career as a schoolteacher and later joined Kashmir’s biggest religious and political party Jamat-e-Islami in the 1950s. He contested elections three times for local governance but resigned as a lawmaker to join the anti-India campaign in the late 1980s, becoming the face of Kashmiri resistance until his death.He spent nearly 15 years in various Indian prisons and was also part of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of various Kashmiri political and religious groups that was formed in 1993 to spearhead a movement for the region’s right to self-determination. The group used civil disobedience in the form of shutdowns and protests as a tactic to counter Indian rule.In August 2019, when India stripped the region’s semi-autonomy, Indian authorities harshly clamped down on the group’s leaders, detaining scores of them and barring them from leading public protests.A sainted figure in Kashmir, Geelani’s popularity catapulted to near reverence after 2008, when the region witnessed mass civil uprisings and he emerged as a prominent resistance leader among the new generation of Kashmiris. In the years that followed, hundreds of youths were killed by Indian forces in street protests.As civilian defiance against Indian rule picked up, Geelani, along with two other top anti-India politicians, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who remain under detention, formed Joint Resistance Leadership in 2016. The group challenged India’s sovereignty over Kashmir and sought to give direction to people’s anger.Kashmiris venerated ‘Bub’During Kashmir’s recent years of civilian protests, the slogan “Na Jhukne Wala Geelani! Na Bikne Wala, Geelani! (Geelani, the one who doesn’t bow and can’t be bought!)” became almost a war cry on the streets. He was widely venerated by Kashmiris, who gave him a moniker of “Bub,” which means “the father.”“While his death has come from natural causes, we must remember the immense physical and psychological toll that his continuous detention and torture took on his health,” said Stand With Kashmir, a U.S.-based Kashmiri diaspora-led international solidarity group.Geelani was also widely respected by the region’s pro-India politicians.“We may not have agreed on most things, but I respect him for his steadfastness & standing by his beliefs,” Mehbooba Mufti, the region’s former top elected official, said on Twitter.Geelani’s maximalist approach forced India to court so-called moderate separatist leaders in Kashmir, though with no apparent breakthrough in resolving the dispute.Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was “deeply saddened” by Geelani’s death and the leader had “struggled all his life for his people & their right to self-determination.”Under Khan, Geelani was in 2020 awarded the Nishan-e-Pakistan,” Pakistan’s highest civilian honor, an award earlier received by the likes of Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro and Queen Elizabeth II.“We in Pakistan salute his courageous struggle & remember his words: ‘Hum Pakistani hain aur Pakistan Humara hai (We are Pakistani and Pakistani is ours),’” Khan said in a tweet.Khan said his country will observe a day of official mourning on Thursday and the Pakistan flag will fly at half-staff.“Without doubt, Geelani was emblematic of our defiance of India that began in 1990,” said Siddiq Wahid, historian and former vice chancellor of a Kashmir university. “That is his legacy.” 
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They beat the odds and won a chance to legally immigrate to the United States under a lottery visa program for nationals from countries with low numbers of immigrants to the U.S.But after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan followed by the American military withdrawal completed on Monday, these once-lucky Afghans fear they may never be able to leave their country.After 20 years of war in Afghanistan spanning four American presidencies, the U.S. government slammed the door on the last evacuation flights of civilian Afghans last weekend, leaving behind hundreds of these diversity visa winners.S., a 27-year-old former women’s rights advocate living in Kabul, is among them.Due to safety concerns, she asked VOA not to share her full name.She was first informed by the U.S. government in 2020 that she had won a spot in the diversity visa program, commonly known as the green card lottery. Under the Immigration Act of 1990, Congress approved the program to increase the diversity among immigrants to the United States.At first, she was excited.S. said she was excited when she learned she was among the 55,000 randomly selected people chosen annually from around the world. But there was plenty of paperwork and documentation to provide, and interviews and background checks conducted by U.S. Embassy officials.S. told VOA she filed all the required paperwork and was waiting for an interview at the U.S. Embassy, a process that usually took a few months.“When I received the letter [from the U.S. government], I was very, very happy. And I was a master’s degree student,” she explained.Because of her advocacy work, and fear the Taliban might go after her, S. decided to move in with her brother. And then her hopes for final approval were dashed.“Unfortunately, the [U.S.] embassy in Kabul closed [on Aug. 31] … We don’t know where to go for interviews or where to get our visas. … In Afghanistan, we’re at risk. … And it’s really worrying us about our lives. … But I will keep trying to leave Afghanistan,” she said in an audio message.Program’s turbulent track recordLong before S. and others suffered this major setback, the diversity visa program had a turbulent track record.In 2017, then-President Donald Trump announced a series of actions that blocked people from Muslim-majority countries from coming to the United States. Then in March 2020, Trump shut down consulates around the world because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Trump administration followed that by announcing a ban on certain immigrant visas, arguing that it was needed to protect the American economy.As a result, hundreds of Afghan winners of the visa lottery were prevented from coming to the U.S. at that time.According to a U.S. government document, once consulates began to reopen in the summer of 2020, officials were ordered to process diversity visas last.Immigrant advocates sued. Earlier this month, a federal judge decided the U.S. government must keep on processing lottery visa winners. On Aug. 17, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the Biden administration to issue 9,095 diversity visas from Fiscal Year 2020.Yet, Biden administration lawyers said in court the administration would not be able to deal with applications until the fall of 2022, at the earliest.Lottery visasWhile the 1990 immigration law was designed to increase diversity among immigrants to the United States, those interested in applying to the program had to have at least a high school degree or two years of work experience in a profession that required a minimum of two years of training.Winners usually receive an email or letter in July notifying them they won. Then they submit a complete application and must attend an interview at the beginning of the federal fiscal year, by Oct. 1, at the closest U.S. consulate. And because visa eligibility does not transfer to the following year, the entire process must be done in a year.According to the latest figures from the U.S. State Department, more than 13 million people applied last year.The unluckiest ones of allBut in the program’s 30-year history, winners in the last few years may have been the unluckiest of all.H., a 33-year-old Afghan diversity visa winner, said despite sending all documents necessary he and his family have been waiting for a visa interview for a year.“There is no hope for life in this country anymore,” he told VOA in a text message.A State Department spokesperson told VOA by email Wednesday that although the U.S. government is “currently” unable to provide consular services for immigrant visas in Afghanistan, they are developing alternative ways so officials can continue to “deliver this important service for the people of Afghanistan.”“Immigrant visa applicants should continue monitoring official U.S. government websites, including travel.state.gov, for updated information,” the spokesperson said.H. said because of the work he did assisting U.S. officials and the former Afghan government prosecuting criminals, his whole family is currently in hiding. He said only his wife or mother-in-law goes out to buy food when the family needs basic supplies.“I have written [you] the reality of my life. … I wish the visa interview would be online and electronically, so that we can travel comfortably to our new life and home,” H. said in a text message. 
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Senior American officials are painting a very different picture of the United States’ last days in Afghanistan and the rushed evacuation of more than 124,000 civilians, described by U.S. President Joe Biden as an “extraordinary success.”While describing the 18-day airlift as “heroic” and the largest in U.S. history, the officials also talked about their pain, anger and regret over the Afghans left behind, including many who had qualified for U.S. Special Immigrant Visas.”I would say it’s the majority of them,” a senior State Department official involved in the evacuation operation said Wednesday, when asked how many SIV applicants had not made it out.”Everybody is haunted by the choices we had to make and by the people we were not able to help,” the official said. “It involves some really painful trade-offs and choices.””We unfortunately had to start prioritizing the people to whom we had a legal obligation first and foremost, and that was our fellow American citizens,” the official added.Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, answers a question during a briefing with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley at the Pentagon in Washington, Sept. 1, 2021, about the end of the war in Afghanistan.U.S. defense officials also expressed their frustration, despite praise from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for the heroism of the troops overseeing the evacuation.”No operation is ever perfect,” Austin told reporters in his first public remarks since the U.S. war in Afghanistan officially ended.”The SIV program is obviously not designed to accommodate what we just did,” he added. “For the type of operation that we just conducted, I think we need a different type of capability.”The highest-ranking U.S. military officer was equally blunt.”When we see what has unfolded over the last 20 years and over the last 20 days, that creates pain and anger,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.Taliban soldiers are seen at one of the main city squares of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 1, 2021. (West Asia News Agency)”War is hard. It’s vicious, it’s brutal, it’s unforgiving. And yes, we all have pain and anger,” he said.The Pentagon said Wednesday that by the time the last U.S. plane took off from Kabul airport, the U.S. and its coalition partners had evacuated 124,334 civilians from Afghanistan, including almost 6,000 Americans.Evacuees from Afghanistan wait with other evacuees to fly to the United States or an other safe location in a makeshift departure gate inside a hangar at the U.S. airbase in Ramstein, Germany, Sept. 1, 2021.According to officials, about 43,000 of the evacuees are currently at 14 staging bases across nine countries, with another 20,000 Afghans at various bases in the United States.”Our counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan and the region over 20 years has protected the American people from terrorist attack,” Milley said, adding, “It was not in vain.””The men and women and children who were just evacuated will ultimately be the legacy to prove the value of our sacrifice,” he said.”These have been incredibly emotionally trying days” per FILE – Taliban members walk in front of a military airplane a day after the U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 31, 2021.The White House also defended its overall effort, pushing back against claims that many Afghans were left in the lurch as U.S. troops pulled out for the final time.At a briefing with reporters, press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the State Department official’s belief that fewer than half of the at-risk Afghans had been evacuated.While not directly answering the question, she said that “77 percent of the people who were evacuated were Afghans at risk.””Are there more people who want to leave Afghanistan? Absolutely,” she continued. “Our commitment to people who want to evacuate, want to leave — American citizens, journalists, Afghan partners who have stood by our side — is enduring and remains.”State Department officials said Wednesday that the 77% figure referred not to the total number of people evacuated from Afghanistan but only to some 31,000 evacuees who are already in the United States.Just in: White House clarifies 77% refers to percentage of Afghans “who have arrived in the US as part of Operation Allies Welcome since August 17 … including SIV and other visa holders, SIV applicants, P-1 and P-2 referrals, and others”via @pwidakuswara— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) September 1, 2021The total number of at-risk Afghans who got out is still unknown, State Department officials said. VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara, Anita Powell and Nike Ching contributed to this report.
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Torie Fisher offered her cavernous Backward Flag Brewing Co. in the Jersey Shore community of Forked River as a collection center for donations to Afghan refugees, who had arrived at the nearby U.S. air base.  “It’s just the human thing to do. They are humans like us,” said Fisher, an Army veteran who served in Iraq as a Black Hawk crew chief and door gunner, and an “Army brat” who was born in Fort Polk, Louisiana. Brett Behrens, a police officer for Little Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, and a former counterintelligence contractor in Afghanistan, was one of the first to help out after seeing a post by a fellow police officer.  “A lot of the people there are really decent people,” Behrens told VOA, describing the Afghans he met during his 27-month tour. “They weren’t able to pack. They don’t have jobs. They don’t have homes. They don’t have anything.”  After word got out on social media that donations were being accepted at New Jersey’s Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, one of seven domestic U.S. bases housing Afghan refugees, many residents offered up clothing, water and household goods. They said they wanted to provide anything to help the refugees, many of whom had arrived with only the clothes they were wearing.  “I think it’s the humane thing to do. I don’t know how to say this, but it wasn’t right what was done. I don’t believe in the way we are pulling out of Afghanistan,” said Roselinda Brown, who, along with her husband, Thomas Brown, came to the brewery with donations of winter clothes. She told VOA she was also motivated because her nephew had served in Afghanistan.  Thomas and Roselinda Brown donated winter clothes to Afghan refugees, who had arrived at the nearby U.S. air base.”We are a very fortunate country to have the freedoms that we have. The people who were helping us in Afghanistan were kind of thrown under the bus by our administration,” said Thomas Brown, who described himself as a conservative Republican. “They are looking for the freedoms that we have here in this country. I feel like if you can help, you should.”  But other Americans are vexed about the government bringing refugees to the U.S.  “We have veterans living on sidewalks, we have homeless areas where even children are living in tents. Who is rescuing them?” asked local resident Marena Agnoli in a social media message.  FILE – Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, leaves the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 5, 2021.Some politicians and lawmakers are asking the same questions. Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and others assert that some of the refugees are going off base, a fear echoed by some Americans living near U.S. bases where refugees have been housed since being airlifted from Afghanistan.  Some Americans who opposed bringing the refugees to the U.S. said they were concerned about the spread of the coronavirus and whether the refugees were vetted well enough to guarantee that no Taliban terrorists would be mixed among the genuinely needy. Others worried about U.S. tax dollars being spent on international rather than domestic needs.  “Now we have hundreds of homeless people in Louisiana due to the hurricane,” Agnoli, who lives in New Jersey, the state that pays the third-highest taxes on earnings in the U.S., wrote to VOA. “Shouldn’t we rescue our homeless and poor before we take on foreigners? We have hundreds of illegal immigrants pouring into our country, can we support all of them? Will higher taxes make us homeless?” White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Sept. 1, 2021.In a press conference on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki addressed some of these concerns: “There is a process that includes not just a thorough background check and vetting process, but as individuals come to the United States, some will end up going to military bases, where they will have access to a range of resources, including vaccines.”  Psaki said about 120,000 people had been airlifted from Afghanistan in the past few weeks, including 5,500 U.S. citizens.  “We are leveraging and working with all of the incredible refugee resettlement organizations around the country who are eager and open to helping these Afghan refugees. Also to veterans’ organizations who are eager and open to helping these Afghan refugees resettle in the United States and work through as orderly a process, using every lever of government — from the U.S. military, the Department of Homeland Security — to move this process as rapidly as we can,” Psaki said.  “I’m sorry, but I do not trust that a good portion of (bad actors) are among the refugees,” said Samantha Keane, who lives within an hour from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and supports the airlifting of Afghan women and children. She fears for the future of the female refugees, she said, who will be responsible for themselves and their children once they leave the base and will be treated poorly in Afghan enclaves — or by Americans who see only a backwards culture in relation to women’s rights. “They will be discriminated against once in the communities. People have zero clue about the history these women and children have endured,” said Keane, who wrote her college thesis about Afghan women.  Behrens said he understands the skepticism and resentment among Americans. “If you can’t do something to help, you can’t. You can’t donate to every single charity that’s out there,” he said. “Some people have mixed feelings. There’s homeless people here. But if people don’t do it strictly because they are Afghans …” he said, trailing off.  “There are plenty of Afghan nationals that have done more for the United States military than most Americans, who have literally never done anything besides post something on social media or complain about something and do nothing about it,” Behrens said.  “They have all these opinions about a region that they’ve never been to, about people they’ve never seen or talked to, or they have legitimately no idea what they’re talking about.”  The owner of Backward Flag Brewing Co. in New Jersey received a mixed response to her offer the space be used as a collection center for donations for Afghan refugees.Fisher, the Backward Flag Brewing Co. founder, admits to receiving hate mail along with an inbox full of offers to donate.  “The response has been mixed. Some people have this idea that they are coming here to leech off our country,” Fisher told VOA.  But the brewery has been filled with and emptied of donations several times, and they continue to roll in. “A lot of those people are our allies,” Fisher said. “They helped our soldiers, our military, to complete their mission. And the people that have come here are those people and their families. … We should say ‘thank you’ to them, not ‘send them back’ or ‘kick them out.'”  “Some people say, ‘There’s a risk. Some of them might be terrorists,'” she said. “It’s possible. But you know what? We also have that living in our country amongst us every day. The human thing to do is give these people sanctuary if we have the ability to do that.” Fisher emphasized the service that many Afghans had provided to the U.S. during the 20 years the country fought in Afghanistan.  “In my opinion, many of those people probably served our country a hell of a lot more than most people that actually live in this country,” she said.  
 
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Schools in Indian have begun to reopen after being closed for more than a year as cases of COVID-19 have started to decline. The government gave the go-ahead for schools to reopen Tuesday in at least five states and union territories, including Delhi and Tamil Nadu. Schools did so cautiously, with strict COVID-19 protocols in place, including wearing masks, frequent hand washing, staggered lunch breaks, and limited seating capacity for social distancing in classrooms.India closed most schools, colleges, and other educational institutions in March of 2020, as the pandemic began in an effort to curb the spread of the deadly virus. While many schools in urban or high-income areas moved to online learning, that was not an option to students in rural and low-income areas. The U.N. children’s fund, UNICEF, says only one in four children in India have access to the internet and digital devices. Several reports and studies about Indian children during the pandemic found thousands of Indian children suffered learning loss, and they say a continued lack of in-person learning could create irreversible learning gaps.The government now says the recent dramatic overall decline in COVID-19 cases made it safe to begin reopening schools. India’s health ministry Wednesday reported 41,965 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours. In May, the daily rate peaked at more than 400,000.But some parents remain concerned about recent surges, and they fear a third wave of infections could hold back their children. Likewise, some private schools are waiting until October to begin in-person learning. 
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Heavy fighting has started between Taliban fighters and anti-Taliban resistance forces based in the Panjshir valley after talks between the two sides failed to resolve their differences. A resistance spokesman claims a Taliban offensive was repulsed with the Taliban suffering heavy losses.The resistance is led by Ahmad Masood, son of well-known anti-Taliban resistance leader from the 1990s, Ahmad Shah Masood. The elder Masood, who led the Northern Alliance against the Taliban, was killed by al-Qaida militants posing as journalists just before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.  After the fall of Kabul last month, members of the Afghan security forces from across the country who felt betrayed by the surrender of their military leaders made their way to Panjshir to join the resistance. Among them were some of the special forces famous for their battlefield victories against the Taliban over the years as well as the first vice president in the deposed regime, Amrullah Saleh.Masood’s spokesman, Fahim Dashty, said the Taliban were running offensive operations in the northeast of the valley, in particular from a mountain pass named Khawak, as well as from the southwest from Parwan province. He claimed the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), as the Panjshir-based group calls itself, had repulsed them inflicting several hundred casualties.“They have been defeated heavily. The figures that we already have, 150 of them have been killed, around 200 of them have been wounded, 35 of them have been detained, their four convoys have been destroyed as well as two heavy weaponry,” he claimed.Taliban followers on social media shared video of the group traveling to Panjshir in a caravan of security vehicles with Taliban flags. They claimed the Taliban had taken over several areas previously controlled by the resistance forces.On Wednesday the Taliban had blocked all traffic on the main road linking Panjshir to neighboring Gulbahar.Each side blamed the other for the failure of the talks between the two sides.“We tried very hard that this issue be resolved through talks. We held multiple meetings with the stakeholders of Panjshir. We are also in touch via telephone. However, until now, we have not reached a resolution,” said senior Taliban leader Maulawi Amir Khan Muttaqi in an audio message to the people of Panjshir province circulated by their followers and spokesmen on social media.Dashty told VOA Tuesday night that the negotiations were intended to result in an inclusive arrangement acceptable to all Afghans, and in which there were guarantees for human rights, including women rights.The ball is in the Taliban’s court, he said. “The other side, if they want to announce their government, an un-inclusive government, it’s up to them. It will not affect our stance.”FILE – Ahmad Masood, son of Afghanistan’s anti-Soviet resistance hero Ahmad Shah Masood, speaks to supporters in Bazarak, Panjshir province, Afghanistan, Sept. 5, 2019.The Taliban have indicated they are close to announcing their new government. A three-day meeting of the Taliban Rahbari Shura, or leadership council, led by Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, concluded in Kandahar Monday, said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Taliban sources also said Mullah Abdul Ghani Brather, the head of the Taliban political team and a deputy of Akhundzada, returned to Kabul after attending the three-day meeting in Kandahar.While the group has promised inclusivity, so far there are no indications that it has made a power sharing deal with any of the rival political factions in the country.  Muttaqi encouraged the people of Panjshir province to convince their fighters and leaders to lay down their arms and join the Taliban, promising them peace and security.“We are sending you this message so you can take advantage and join the Emirate. We promise that the Islamic Emirate will be like your home. Under our govt your life, honor, and property will be safe,” he said.  He added that the Taliban had announced a general amnesty and Panjshir did not need to fight.Dashty, meanwhile, said on a WhatsApp group recently set up by NRFA, “the war is going on … and our forces are fully prepared.”  A former head of the Taliban political office based in Doha, Qatar, Sayed Mohammad Tayeb Agha, called on the Taliban to avoid a monopoly on power.In a letter to the Taliban leadership, Agha said an isolationist policy could have negative consequences for the group.He also encouraged the Taliban to prioritize professionalism in the new government and hire professionally sound employees of the former government. Agha called on the Taliban to accept all international norms not in conflict with Islam.Taliban forces swept into Kabul on August 15 after running an offensive across the country in which all provincial capitals fell to them within 10 days. Since then, the group has repeatedly announced a general amnesty for former enemies, including members of Afghan security forces who fought against them for decades.However, sporadic reports of Taliban fighters searching for former government or intelligence officials, coupled with a trust deficit accumulated over decades of war, led to a panic among the population, especially women’s rights activists, journalists, and those who were part of the former government.
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