Budget 2018-19

  Australia’s SBS TV has quoted a Taliban spokesperson as saying that women’s sports and women’s cricket specifically will be banned by his group in Afghanistan Australia’s SBS TV has quoted a  Taliban  spokesperson as saying that women’s sports and women’s cricket specifically will be banned by his group in Afghanistan “In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this,” the network quoted Ahmadullah Wasiq, the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, as saying. “It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed.” Wasiq last month told SBS that the Taliban would allow men’s cricket to continue and that it has given approval for the men’s national team to travel to Australia for a test match in November. But in a state...

  However, Massoud remained defiant and said his force, drawn from the remnants of the regular Afghan army as well as local militia fighters, was still fighting The Taliban claimed victory on Monday in the last part of Afghanistan still holding out against their rule, declaring that the capture of the Panjshir valley completed their takeover of the country and they would unveil a new government soon. Pictures on social media showed Taliban members standing in front of the gate of the Panjshir provincial governor’s compound after days of fighting with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), commanded by Panjshiri leader Ahmad Massoud. “Panjshir, which was the last hideout of the escapee enemy, is captured,”  T aliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference. However, Massoud remained defiant, and said his force, drawn from the remnants of the regular Afghan army as well as local militia fighters, was still fig...

  The Taliban will be on uncertain ground as they declare legitimacy, but no pretender to Afghanistan’s troubled throne is likely to offer a national alternative Unsurprisingly, the Taliban’s rapid takeover of power across  Afghanistan  has prompted headlines about a renewed “civil war”. This is misleading, however. “Civil war” implies a situation where an insurgent movement is taking on a ruling government. But in 2001, it was not just the US-backed Northern Alliance that removed the Taliban from Kabul – other local commanders and political leaders were challenging their authority too. And in 2021, the Taliban swept to power by offering local groups incentives to cooperate or persuading them to stand aside. Now that the Taliban try to establish a government and ruling institutions, it is possible that these groups may resist being co-opted. They may bristle at a lack of autonomy, or see political and economic benefit in opposition to th...

  Efforts on to resume operations at Kabul airport Afghan crisis:  Taliban and Afghan rebels loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud claimed heavy casualties in heavy fighting in the Panjshir Valley, with some media reports suggesting 13 Taliban fighters were ambushed on Thursday. Panjshir is the last Afghan province resisting rule by the Taliban, which took control of the country two weeks ago by overthrowing the Western-backed government as the US and other foreign troops withdrew after 20 years. According to certain media reports, more than 300 fighters from both sides lost their lives during the fighting over the past few days, as the Northern Resistance Front refused to give up despite being surrounded by the Taliban from all sides. “We started operations after negotiations with the local armed group failed,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. Taliban fighters had entered Panjshir and taken control of some territory, he said. “They (the enemy)...

  In the aftermath of the  Taliban  regaining power in Afghanistan, a former senior American diploma Nikki Haley t has said there is a need to closely watch China In the aftermath of the Taliban regaining power in Afghanistan, a former senior American diplomat has said there is a need to closely watch China as it is making a move to take over the Bagram air force base that was controlled by the United States for nearly two decades. America’s former envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley told Fox News on Wednesday that it is time that President Joe Biden’s administration reaches out to its key friends and allies like India, Japan and Australia and assure them that the US will have their back. The first thing you should do is immediately start connecting with our allies, whether it’s Taiwan, whether it’s Ukraine, whether it’s Israel, whether it’s India, Australia, Japan, all of them, and reassure them that we will have their back and that we need them as well,  Nikki ...

  Twelve of the 13 US service members killed in the August 26 Kabul airport bombing were “9/11 babies”, according to media reports Twelve of the 13 US service members killed in the August 26 Kabul airport bombing were “9/11 babies”, according to media reports. The Pentagon released their names and biographies on August 28. The victims, mostly aged from 20 to 25 years old, were born within a few years of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, which led the US to launch two lengthy and painful wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Xinhua news agency reported. “They never knew a US that was not at war, never lived in the world before the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, a country without ID checks in office buildings, metal detectors at schools, shoes X-rayed at the airport,” said a Washington Post report on Sunday. “Our generation of Marines has been listening to the Iraq/Afghan vets tell their war stories for years,” Mallory Harrison, a f...

  There is no meaningful evidence that the Taliban are feeling any existential crisis, much less that they care about making money or running an economy Joe Biden doesn’t know what to make of the Taliban. Asked in an ABC News interview last week if he thought the Afghan insurgents had changed, the U.S. president gave a tortured answer that amounted to, “Yes, no and maybe.” It is worth examining his exchange with George Stephanopoulos in some detail for a full appreciation of Biden’s self-delusion: Q: What happens now in Afghanistan? Do you believe the Taliban have changed? A: No. I think… let me put it this way: I think they’re going through sort of an existential crisis about do they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government. I’m not sure they do. Q: They care about their beliefs more? B: Well, they do. But they also care about whether they have food to eat, whether they have an income that th...