war, fear, and bloodshed around the world

Just as the title reads, things are urgent and we’re in a critical moment where we need to provide sufficient aid now or see much of the population die due to starvation or malnutrition. Just to continue off my last post, it really is a question of how much country’s can hold off foreign aid in fear of what the Taliban can do with those funds and risk endangering Afghans even more. Unfortunately, there are some problems that don’t have loopholes and the only solution is to go through what was initially being avoided.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/norway-urges-world-banks-afghanistan-donors-channel-funds-un-2021-12-06/

-Yasmine

Afghanistan has a serious humanitarian crisis and what could have aided it was the $5 billion foreign aid that has now been suspended. The US froze $9 billion of Afghanistan’s central bank assets. The Taliban now has control of the central banks and foreign aid would land directly in the hands of the Taliban which foreign governments are not sure if the group would even handle it properly which makes this situation very tricky. The Taliban will most likely not bend too much nor give up their power to aid the Afghan people and foreign countries will maintain the upper hand and use it as leverage to ensure security and their interests and so I wonder how long this can go on for before the issue worsens.

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/06/1061896242/afghanistan-is-struggling-without-aid-but-unfreezing-funds-to-the-country-is-tri

-Yasmine

It seems that the EU is considering establishing a common ground for their collaboration in Kabul with a representative that they would select. Their presence there however would mean no recognition or political dialogue with the Taliban. France is in the lead or organizing this and it would be interesting to see what exactly are France’s intentions with an Islamic fundamentalist led government. I’m interested to see how much effort in aiding the situation can be made with no recognition or dialogue with that government. Country’s are however taking action in how to be involved to any degree with the Taliban and its only a matter of time before other country’s get more involved.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/4/macron-eu-afghanistan

-Yasmine

Malala’s discussion with the Secretary of State was to call on the US to take action for the educational rights of women in Afghanistan. Until now, schools and universities remain unavailable for girls and women and the Taliban has remained silent about the future of education for women in Afghanistan. Women’s activists groups have been pushing for educational rights of women and girls in Afghanistan with the understanding that barring girls and women from the right to learn will only harm the already suffering nation more. Its clear that even when the United States ended its 20 year long occupation, it still will remain involved in Afghanistan to some level and as we wait for the US to navigate ideas of how possible relations or interactions with the Taliban led government will look like, we can be sure that their involvement will still be there to some degree.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/06/politics/malala-yousafzai-antony-blinken-meeting/index.html

-Yasmine

Qatar and Turkey have strong relations and are not letting Afghanistan out of site in the pursuit of enhancing the current humanitarian and economic issues of the country. Turkey and Qatar are also invested in the issues of Syria and Libya. Both countries recognize the government in the Western end of Libya that also happens to be recognized by the United Nations. When it comes to Syria however, they are unwilling to normalize relations with the country until it is able to produce effective political solutions to the current crisis at hand. These two nations are more invested in the welfare of those affected and are urging international efforts to ease stress on Afghans effected by all that has happened in the past few months and the ongoing humanitarian crisis that had pre existed. They call on the international community to engage with the Taliban moving forward but of course a lot of countries are cautious and wary of doing so. Having other countries invested in attempting to aid in the crisis may be comforting to the US to get involved again because it won’t be as involved nor as responsible as last time. A collective effort may be what solves/aids the crisis as well as facilitate relations with the Taliban that will not pose security threats nor be an encroachment on ideals.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/6/qatar-turkey-to-work-with-taliban-on-keeping-kabul-airport-open

-Yasmine

The Taliban has banned forced marriages and the use of coercion, especially towards women, to marry them off. This is a big step forward for the Taliban and as the article said, it is a smart one to appease the international community and from what it seems, to have countries like the US alleviate some of the restrictions they have placed on them. Afghanistan’s economy is very dependent on humanitarian aid and the only means that the Taliban has for accumulating wealth is illegal and already under negotiation with countries that seek relations with the Taliban governed Afghan government. It does seem that the Taliban does have to start making changes in order to be formally recognized and resume relations with the international community and the first step forward is securing human security. Under Islamic law, no one is ever supposed to be forced or coerced into doing anything, especially when it comes to marriage because of all the problems that come out of forcing it and so this shouldn’t have even been a thing that the Taliban, if they are at all religiously motivated, had wanted to against. Unfortunately, it will take some time for them to separate from their misogynist and unreligious practices. The article raises the concern of women’s education and right to work and how that will be resolved in the future. This is the first step for women in Afghanistan but much more effort needs to be made in order to appease Afghans and the international community.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/3/taliban-bans-forced-marriage-calls-for-equal-rights-for-women

-Yasmine

In northern Iraq, there was an attacked carried out by an Islamic State group which resulted in thirteen people being killed. These thirteen included ten of them being Kurdish soldiers and three of them being villagers. The Kurdistan’s prime minister is now calling for more security measures within the region. Officials from Iraq explained that a lack of coordination and inability to set territory is a major reason this attack by the Islamic State group was successful. Despite United States efforts of efficiently cleaning up the area, members of this Islamic State group remain intact. It is estimated that about ten thousand of the islamic state members still are in Syria and Iraq. In the next coming weeks, they will look to clean up security measures in order to reduce the chances of an attack like this reoccurring.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/islamic-state-attack-on-village-in-northern-iraq-kills-13-1.4745749