Frankly Speaking: Two years on, what lies ahead for Afghanistan under the Taliban?

Short Url
Updated 10 July 2023
Follow

Frankly Speaking: Two years on, what lies ahead for Afghanistan under the Taliban?

  • Suhail Shaheen accepts no responsibility for the deteriorating state of affairs in the country since the Taliban took over
  • He appears noncommittal and evasive and in denial while talking about restrictions on women’s education

RIYADH: A senior Taliban leader has admitted that his country is facing dire economic straits because of back-breaking sanctions and lack of recognition by the global community.

Speaking to Katie Jensen in the latest episode of the Arab News “Frankly Speaking” show, Suhail Shaheen said the Taliban had inherited a weak economy and an extremely impoverished Afghanistan when it seized power in Kabul in August 2021.

“The poverty that we are experiencing today was inherited from the past, from the past 20-year-long regime during which foreign forces had a presence in Afghanistan,” he said.

Shaheen said though it was claimed that “the occupying powers” spent billions of dollars in the country, “those dollars went into the private pockets of the warlords. The common people continued to live below the poverty line.”

That situation worsened, he claimed, with the imposition of economic sanctions on Afghanistan after the Taliban took control over the country, as the restrictions led to more poverty.

Shaheen accepted no responsibility for the deteriorating state of affairs in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over, and instead blamed Western powers — “those who imposed the sanctions and those who favored the warlords” — for the economic crisis.

“We are working to tackle these issues and there are some big projects such as road construction that generate internal revenue,” he said.

Shaheen appeared noncommittal and evasive while talking about restrictions on women’s education. At times his statements were full of contradictions and he was on the defensive.

At first, he said there was no ban on women studying. But when confronted with incontrovertible facts about women being barred from attending schools and institutions of higher learning, he attempted to justify the closures, saying: “But it (education) should be according to our rules and values.”

Reminded that all Muslim and Islamic countries around the world provide full educational opportunities for women in schools, colleges and universities, Shaheen responded: “Women should have access to education in an Islamic environment. Ours is an Islamic society (and when there is) a proper environment, they will have the right to have access to education.”

He described the country’s political relations with its neighbors as based on mutual respect, and spoke at length about the recent border clashes between Afghan and Iranian forces, as well as the country’s tense relationship with Pakistan and its evolving ties with the US under the Biden administration.

He argued that the UN needs to look at the situation on the ground, claiming that the decision by the UN and many countries not to recognize the Taliban is “politically motivated rather than based on ground realities.”

Shaheen insisted that the Taliban currently has complete control over all of Afghanistan. “We have secured all the borders. We have control of the entire country. We are able to defend our people and our country. We have the support of the people,” he said.

Turning to Pakistan’s relations with its neighbor under Taliban rule, Shaheen asserted that Afghanistan is an independent country, adding: “We liberated our country. We fought for 20 years against 54 countries.

“We are freedom-loving people. We want peaceful coexistence and ties not only with our neighbors, but with all the world.”

He said the Taliban will not allow anyone to use Afghan territory as a base for operations against neighboring countries or any other nation, including the US.

Shaheen sought to make it clear that the Taliban has no ties with Pakistan’s security forces. “Our policy is peaceful coexistence and positive relations with neighbors in other countries,” he said. “As for their policies, you must ask them.”

When the Americans occupied our country, we fought against them in order to liberate our country. If anyone’s country is occupied, would you not fight for its liberation?

Suhail Shaheen

Responding to Pakistan’s charge — a major source of friction between the two neighbors — that the Taliban is supporting and hosting the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a terror group banned in Pakistan, Shaheen said the TTP is “not in Afghanistan.”

He contended that the TTP operates out of Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, saying: “They are inside Pakistan. That is their (Pakistan’s) responsibility, not ours.”

Regarding the border clashes with Iran in May this year, Shaheen said the problem was rooted in a 1973 water-sharing treaty between the two countries, referring to an accord under which Afghanistan is committed to sharing water from the Helmand River with Iran at a certain rate.

According to Shaheen, the issue should be solved based on the 1973 treaty, as well as developments, including climate change, that have occurred since its signing.

“But if anyone is using force, we know the history and we will defend our people. That is our right. We are defending. We are not violating anyone’s rights,” he said.

Insisting that the Iranians “attacked our forces,” he said: “Our forces have to defend themselves and that is what has happened. Defending ourselves was our right and no one can impose agreements on us based on the use of force.”

He said that “the seniors” from the Iranian and Afghan sides “came together to resolve the issue through talks.”

Asked whether the Afghans have the means, the army and the resolve to stand up to Iran, Shaheen made a telling comment: “(What happened in the last) 20 years is good evidence and proof of how we defend our country.”

When he said that Afghan territory would not be used to train foreign terrorists, he was reminded of the presence of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who was in Kabul when he was killed in a US drone strike in July last year. However, Shaheen dismissed that as a mere allegation.

“If journalists say there are training centers, then they should tell us where the centers are located,” he said. “If someone is sitting 10,000 km away behind a desk and writing reports based merely on what is in the media, how can that reflect the realities in Afghanistan?

“These reports are not based on the realities in Afghanistan; rather, they are only politically motivated reports. They are mere allegations.”

The Taliban recently welcomed comments US President Joe Biden made on the sidelines of a press conference on June 30 about the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in 2021. Biden denied mistakes had been made during the withdrawal, saying: “Do you remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said Al-Qaeda would not be there. I said it wouldn’t be there. I said we’d get help from the Taliban. What’s happening now? What’s going on? Read your press. I was right.”

Nevertheless, Shaheen rejected the idea that Taliban is cooperating with the US. “We have the Doha Agreement. Based on that agreement, the Americans agreed to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan, and we agreed not to allow anyone to use Afghanistan against the US,” he said.

“That is our commitment and we honor that commitment. We are operating independently, not with any government — neighboring ones, regional ones or those anywhere in the world — including the US.”

However, Shaheen did indicate that the Taliban’s relationship with the US has changed since “the occupation.”

“When they occupied our country, we fought against them in order to liberate our country. If anyone’s country is occupied, would you not fight for its liberation?” he said.

“That’s what we did, and now we are building our country. We aim to eradicate poverty and to provide job opportunities for our people. For that we need cooperation from all countries, and if they are willing, we welcome them.”

Shaheen made an appeal to the global community to come to the rescue of Afghan farmers who have given up the cultivation of poppies.

“In the past 20 years, they (the foreign forces) spent, according to them, billions of dollars in order to eradicate poppy cultivation, but they failed. They were also trying to prevent drug trafficking, but they failed,” he said.

“Now we have a total ban on poppy cultivation according to the (April 2022) decree by our supreme leader (Hibatullah Akhundzada). And we have succeeded. Independent reports say poppy cultivation is down by 80 percent, but we say it is down more than that. We have achieved this by our own ways and means.”

A report published last month by the geospatial analytics firm Alcis said recent satellite images showed an “unprecedented” decrease in the cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan, with cultivation in the largest-producing southern provinces down by at least 80 percent compared with last year.

“It is now an obligation for the international community to come forward and help (Afghan) farmers and provide them with substitute crops in order to make the ban sustainable,” Shaheen said.

“In Afghanistan, farmers have two or three acres of land, which is not enough to feed their families. There should be something from the international community for those farmers who are abiding by the ban and who have stopped cultivating poppies.”

 


Talks underway between Thai and Cambodian leaders, Malaysian official says

Updated 8 sec ago
Follow

Talks underway between Thai and Cambodian leaders, Malaysian official says

  • Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim invited leaders of the two feuding ASEAN members to a dialogue to resolve their dispute
  • Earlier, President Trump warned that the hostilities could hamper implementation of US trade pacts with either country

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: The leaders of Cambodia and Thailand arrived in Malaysia on Monday for talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in their fierce border conflict, a Malaysian official said, amid an international effort to halt the fighting which entered a fifth day.

The ambassadors to Malaysia of the United States and China were also present at the meeting in Malaysia’s administrative capital of Putrajaya, the official said. It is being hosted at the residence of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the chair of the regional bloc ASEAN.

Both Thailand and Cambodia accuse the other of starting the fighting last week and then escalating the clashes with heavy artillery bombardment at multiple locations along their 817km land border, the deadliest conflict in more than a decade between the Southeast Asian neighbors.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet had earlier said the talks were co-organized by Malaysia and the United States, and that China would also take part in them.

“The purpose of this meeting is to achieve an immediate ‘ceasefire’, initiated by President Donald Trump and agreed to by the Prime Ministers of Cambodia and Thailand,” Hun Manet said in a post on X as he departed for the talks. Trump said on Sunday he believed both Thailand and Cambodia wanted to settle their differences after he told the leaders of both countries that he would not conclude trade deals with them unless they ended their fighting.

Thailand’s leader said there were doubts about Cambodia’s sincerity ahead of the negotiations in Malaysia.

“We are not confident in Cambodia, their actions so far have reflected insincerity in solving the problem,” acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters ahead of his departure for Malaysia.

“Cambodia has violated international law, but everybody wants to see peace. Nobody wants to see violence that affects civilians.”

Cambodia has strongly denied Thai accusations it has fired at civilian targets, and has instead said that Thailand has put innocent lives at risk. It has called for the international community to condemn Thailand’s aggression against it. The tensions between Thailand and Cambodia have intensified since the killing in late May of a Cambodian soldier during a brief skirmish. Border troops on both sides were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand’s fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had proposed ceasefire talks soon after the border dispute erupted into conflict on Thursday, and China and the United States also offered to assist in negotiations.


At least six killed in shooting incident in Bangkok

Updated 29 min 53 sec ago
Follow

At least six killed in shooting incident in Bangkok

  • At least six killed in shooting incident in Bangkok

BANGKOK: At least six people were killed at a market in a shooting incident in the Thai capital Bangkok on Monday, a police official said, adding that the attacker had also taken his own life. 


Overflowing sewer tied to deadly Germany train derailment: authorities

Updated 51 min 32 sec ago
Follow

Overflowing sewer tied to deadly Germany train derailment: authorities

  • A train derailment in a wooded area of southwestern Germany that killed three people on Sunday may have been caused by an overflowing sewer, local police and prosecutors said Monday

FRANKFURT: A train derailment in a wooded area of southwestern Germany that killed three people on Sunday may have been caused by an overflowing sewer, local police and prosecutors said Monday.
“It is believed that heavy rain in the area of the accident caused a sewage shaft to overflow,” Ulm police and Ravensburg prosecutors said in a joint statement.
“The water triggered a landslide on the embankment next to the tracks, which in turn caused the derailment,” they added.
About 100 passengers were aboard the train when the accident occurred at around 6:10 p.m. (1610 GMT) near the town of Riedlingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg state.
Severe storms swept through the region at the time of the accident, according to weather services.
Three people died in the accident, police and prosecutors said, including the train’s driver and a member of staff onboard.
At least 41 people were injured, some of them severely, they added.
Traffic is still suspended on the affected railway line and cleanup work will begin tomorrow, the statement said.
The investigation is still ongoing and there is no indication of any foul play or interference with the line, authorities said.


Colombian ex-president to learn fate in witness tampering case

Updated 55 min 48 sec ago
Follow

Colombian ex-president to learn fate in witness tampering case

  • Alvaro Uribe, who was president from 2002 to 2010, is charged with ‘bribery of witnesses’ in a separate investigation against him
  • Uribe on Sunday gave an hourlong speech in his native Medellin in which he criticized the left-leaning Petro administration

BOGOTA: Colombian ex-president Alvaro Uribe will learn his fate Monday in a witness tampering case that saw him become the South American country’s first-ever former head of state to be put on trial.

The 73-year-old, who was president from 2002 to 2010, is charged with “bribery of witnesses” in a separate investigation against him, and risks a 12-year prison sentence in the highly politicized case.

The matter dates to 2012, when Uribe accused leftist senator Ivan Cepeda before the Supreme Court of hatching a plot to falsely link him to right-wing paramilitary groups involved in Colombia’s long-standing armed conflict.

The court decided against prosecuting Cepeda and turned its sights on his claims against Uribe instead.

Paramilitary groups emerged in the 1980s in Colombia to fight Marxist guerrillas that had taken up arms against the state two decades earlier with the stated goal of combating poverty and political marginalization, especially in rural areas.

The plethora of armed groups adopted cocaine as their main source of income, the genesis of a rivalry for resources and trafficking that continues to pit them against each other and the state.

Uribe was a politician on the right of the political spectrum – like all Colombian presidents before current leader Gustavo Petro, who unseated Uribe’s Centro Democratico party in 2022 elections.

Uribe on Sunday gave an hourlong speech in his native Medellin in which he criticized the left-leaning Petro administration.

“We need an enormous victory in the coming year,” Uribe said, in reference to presidential elections that will be held in 2026.

During his tenure, Uribe led a relentless military campaign against drug cartels and the FARC guerrilla army that signed a peace deal with his successor Juan Manuel Santos in 2016.

After Cepeda accused him of having had ties to paramilitary groups responsible for human rights violations, Uribe is alleged to have contacted jailed ex-fighters to lie for him.

He claims he only wanted to convince them to tell the truth.

In 2019, thousands protested in Bogota and Medellin when Uribe – who remains a prominent voice on the right – was indicted in the case.

More than 90 witnesses testified in his trial, which opened in May 2024.

The investigation against Uribe began in 2018 and has had numerous twists and turns, with several attorneys general seeking to close the case.

It gained new impetus under Attorney General Luz Camargo, picked by Petro – himself a former guerrilla and a political arch-foe of Uribe.

Prosecutors claim to have evidence from at least one paramilitary ex-fighter who claims to have been contacted by Uribe to change his story.

The former president is also under investigation in other matters.

He has testified before prosecutors in a preliminary probe into a 1997 paramilitary massacre of small-scale farmers when he was governor of the western Antioquia department.

A complaint has also been filed against him in Argentina, where universal jurisdiction allows for the prosecution of crimes committed anywhere in the world.

That complaint stems from Uribe’s alleged involvement in the more than 6,000 executions and forced disappearances of civilians by the military when he was president.

Uribe insists his trial is a product of “political vengeance.”


2 volunteers die fighting Turkiye wildfires, raising deaths to 17 since late June

Updated 28 July 2025
Follow

2 volunteers die fighting Turkiye wildfires, raising deaths to 17 since late June

  • Turkiye battled at least 44 separate fires Sunday, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said late Sunday
  • While firefighting teams have contained the damage to a limited number of homes, vast tracts of forest have been turned to ash

ISTANBUL: The death toll from wildfires outside the city of Bursa in northwest Turkiye rose to four late Sunday after two volunteer firefighters died.
The pair died in hospital after they were pulled from a water tanker that rolled while heading to a forest fire, news agency IHA reported. Another worker died earlier at the scene of the accident and a firefighter died Sunday after suffering a heart attack.
Their deaths raised Turkiye’s wildfire fatalities to 17 since late June, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir, western Turkiye.
Huge fires around Bursa, Turkiye’s fourth-largest city, broke out over the weekend, leading to more than 3,500 people fleeing their homes. On Monday morning, fog-like smoke from ongoing fires and smoldering foliage hung over the city.
Unseasonably high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds have been fueling the wildfires, with Turkiye and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean experiencing record-breaking heatwaves.
The fires around Bursa were among hundreds to have hit Turkiye over the past month. While firefighting teams have contained the damage to a limited number of homes, vast tracts of forest have been turned to ash.
The water tanker crew comprised volunteers from nearby Bolu province heading to the village of Aglasan, northeast of Bursa, to combat a blaze when the vehicle fell into a ditch while negotiating a rough forest track, IHA reported.
Turkiye battled at least 44 separate fires Sunday, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said late Sunday. He identified two fires in Bursa province, as well as blazes in Karabuk, northwest Turkiye, and Kahramanmaras in the south, as the most serious.
The government declared disaster areas in two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik. Prosecutions have been launched against 97 people in 33 of Turkiye’s 81 provinces in relation to the fires, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said.
A crowd of people gathered Sunday evening outside a police station in the village of Harmancik, 57 kilometers (35 miles) south of Bursa, after learning a suspected arsonist was detained there. The angry crowd demanded for the suspect to be handed over to them. The crowd dispersed after police assured them a thorough investigation would be undertaken.