Afghanistan

Sono passati 25 anni dal tragico attentato alle Torri Gemelle, l’11 settembre del 2001 non ha segnato solo la morte di 2977 persone inermi ed il ferimento di più di altre 6000, ma la fine di un’epoca, di un mondo che prima non aveva mai dovuto confrontarsi con un terrorismo che diventava stato e predisponeva azioni globali e sanguinarie senza nessun freno e con eccezionale spregiudicatezza e preparazione organizzativa.

Al-Qaeda, l’organizzazione terrorista nata nel 1988 e fondata da Osama bin Laden e Abd Allāh Yūsuf al-ʿAzzām, con l’11 settembre costringe il mondo a ridisegnare il futuro, non si tratta più di attentati terroristici circoscritti ad un’area, diventa una vera guerra tra il mondo civile e gli islamisti.

Alle 8,46 il volo americano Airlines 11, decollato da Boston, si schianta contro la torre nord del World Trade Center a New York, alle 9,3 il volo 175, sempre da Boston, si schianta contro la torre sud, alle 9,37 l’americano Airlines 77, decollato da Washington, si schianta contro il Pentagono, alle 10,3 il volo 93 si schianta in Pennsylvania dopo una rivolta dei passeggeri contro i terroristi.

Mentre ci si appresta alle commemorazioni di quel terribile 11 settembre, ben consapevoli che il terrorismo è ancora vivo ed attivo con diverse sigle, dall’Isis ad al-Quaeda agli al Shabaab, e con nefaste influenze sui disadattati e criminali che vivono in tutto il mondo costituendo una perennemente minaccia, ancora una volta ci si dimentica di un evento che ha preceduto l’11 settembre.

Vogliamo ricordare l’attentato che il 9 settembre trucidò in Afghanistan il comandante Massoud, l’uomo che aveva difeso e difendeva il suo popolo prima dai russi e poi dai talebani ed integralisti.

Massoud era venuto pochi mesi prima in Europa per chiedere gli aiuti necessari a contrastare gli integralisti terroristi e aveva lanciato chiari avvertimenti su azioni eclatanti che i terroristi avrebbero potuto compiere in Occidente.

Non fu ascoltato, salvo poi piangerlo da morto dedicandogli, come fece il governo francese, anche un francobollo e molti libri.

Il non ascoltarlo ci ha portato prima alla tragedia dell’11 settembre e poi alla disastrosa guerra in Afghanistan terminata decenni dopo con l’abbandono del paese, dopo tanto dispendio di vite umane e di armi, ai talebani ed alla sharia che ormai impedisce ogni libertà e diritto, specie alle donne.

Ricordare l’11 settembre impone anche di ricordare il leone del Panshir e le persone, le donne che nel mondo sono ogni giorno sopraffatte da violenza, ingiustizia, terrore, l’integralismo dei vari califfati non si fermerà mai se non riusciremo ad integrare tra loro i nostri sistemi di intelligence e a contrastare tutti gli integralisti.

Afghanistan’s Taliban regime said they have carried out strikes on targets along the border with Pakistan, injuring several people in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province.

Pakistan’s military said it had shot down four rudimentary drones and warned any further provocation “would receive a befitting response”. The BBC has been unable to independently confirm the attack.

The strikes come after Pakistan launched its own air strikes on Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 28 civilians, according to the UN.

Tensions have reignited in the region after months of relative calm. The two countries had agreed to a ceasefire in October following weeks of deadly clashes.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harbouring terrorists who carry out attacks on its soil, a claim the Taliban government rejects.

Kabul in turn has accused Islamabad of carrying out unprovoked attacks which kill civilians. Pakistan says it only targets militants.

Afghanistan said Pakistan’s attack on Sunday hit civilian homes and put the civilian death toll at 36, with more than 160 injured.

It described the attack as a “cowardly act” and an “atrocity”.

Pakistan said it had carried out a ground operation along the border and air strikes targeting militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces.

The country’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said 29 militants had been killed in an operation responding to “recent terrorist attacks against innocent people”.

The BBC has not independently confirmed figures from either side.

Intermittent border clashes and air strikes in the area have killed dozens of people in recent months, according to officials in both countries.

In February, clashes between the two countries left dozens of people dead. In March, a Pakistani strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul killed hundreds.

Earlier in June, Pakistan launched deadly air strikes that killed 26 militants. Afghanistan’s Taliban government said 13 people, mostly children, were also killed in the strikes.

Taliban police used live fire to disperse a rare protest against the detention of women accused of violating strict Islamic dress codes in the western Afghan city of Herat, witnesses and protesters said.

Medics told the BBC two people died, but did not specify how. A number of others at the protest were injured.

Both men and women had taken to the streets days after local Taliban government officials reportedly began arresting women perceived to be “improperly wearing the hijab”.

Police in Herat denied there had been any deaths, but have acknowledged they responded to the protest, telling the BBC that officers had “taken action to ensure security and maintain public order”.

It is unclear what methods police used to break up the protest. Witnesses say the police opened fire, but the police did not confirm this when asked directly by the BBC.

One protester told AFP that the security forces “used sticks, whips and firearms to disperse the crowd. They even fired shots into the air”.

He told the news agency he saw people wounded. “People are extremely frightened,” he said. AFP also quoted a photographer who said he had seen security forces “striking protesters and firing weapons in the direction of the crowd”.

“Based on what I personally witnessed, a significant number of people were injured,” the photographer said.

The BBC could not independently verify the accounts.

Gunfire can be clearly heard in videos circulating online, while women can be heard screaming “don’t beat [them]”.

Sayed Masoud Hosseini, spokesperson for the Herat Police Command, said the protesters “acted in a manner that disturbed public order”.

He added they were trying to “create tension under the pretext of protesting issues related to the observance of hijab and opposing Islamic hijab, which is considered a divine obligation”.

In one clip, some protesters can be heard chanting “education, work, freedom”, the BBC’s Afghan service reported.

Richard Bennett, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, said on social media site X he was “alarmed by excessive use of force against seemingly peaceful protesters in Herat today”, calling on those responsible to be “held accountable”.

Protests against the Taliban, especially by women, have been rare in Afghanistan since they retook power in August 2021.

Initial attempts by women to defy the strict new rules brought in to control everything from their clothes to their education petered out, with women telling the BBC they were cowed by officials’ response to their protests – including being beaten, abused, jailed and even threatened with death by stoning.

The wearing of a hijab is one of many rules brought in by the Taliban, who made it mandatory in May 2022.

However, this latest crackdown in Herat was reportedly only announced on Friday.

A number of eyewitnesses told BBC Afghan that since Saturday they had “seen with their own eyes women being arrested for not wearing the hijab”.

One woman said the markets had since been “deserted”, while another told BBC Afghan that officers from the Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the so-called morality police, were checking cars and rickshaws for women wearing the hijab improperly.

City officials have given conflicting accounts on whether or not women were being detained, with the Herat Provincial Information and Culture Department saying reports of dozens of arrests were “incorrect and rumoured”.

Beijing has demanded the Taliban government protect its citizens after an explosion at a Chinese restaurant in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least seven people.

Six Afghans and one Chinese national were killed, and several more injured, in the blast at a Chinese restaurant in a heavily-guarded part of the city centre on Monday, officials told the media.

The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) said it was behind the attack – although police in Kabul said the “nature of the explosion is unknown so far and is being investigated”.

China has urged its citizens not to travel to Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized control in 2021. Islamic State has claimed numerous bombings since then.

Speaking on Tuesday, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun added that China had “made urgent representations with the Afghan side, demanding that the Afghan side spare no effort to treat the injured, further take effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens”.

City police spokesman Khalid Zadran said the explosion took place near the kitchen of the Chinese Noodle restaurant, which is located under a guesthouse in the capital’s Shahr-e-Naw area.

Dejan Panic, the Afghanistan director of humanitarian group EMERGENCY, said they received “20 people” at their hospital, seven of whom were dead on arrival. Four women and a child were also among the injured.

Footage circulating on social media of the aftermath of the explosion showed a large hole torn in the side of the building, Reuters news agency said.

Eyewitnesses told BBC Afghan that a car outside the restaurant had been completely destroyed, and that locals had helped rush people in “critical condition” to hospital. Large sheets were later put up to cover the damaged building.

Police spokesman Zadran said the restaurant mainly served Chinese Muslims, and was run by a Chinese Muslim man from the Chinese region of Xinjiang, his wife and his Afghan business partner.

In its statement, the local branch of IS said that China was on “the list” of its targets, especially given China’s “increasing crimes against the oppressed Uyghur Muslims”.

China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity against the Uyghur population and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in the north-western region of Xinjiang.

The Chinese government has denied all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

IS has previously said it was behind an attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in Kabul back in 2022, in which three of the attackers died and at least two other people were injured.

More recently, Chinese nationals just over the border in Tajikistan have been targeted by unknown attackers. In November, six Chinese nationals were killed in three separate incidents. Beijing has told its citizens to leave the Tajik-Afghan border.

The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have ordered female patients, caretakers and staff to wear a burka – a full Islamic veil – to enter public health facilities in the western city of Herat, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says.

MSF said the restrictions came into effect from 5 November.

“These restrictions further impede women’s lives and limit women’s access to health care,” Sarah Chateau, the agency’s programme manager in Afghanistan, told the BBC. She said even those “in need of urgent medical care” had been affected.

A spokesman for the Taliban government has denied MSF’s account. Reports say restrictions have been partially relaxed since the alarm was raised.

MSF, which supports paediatric services at Herat Regional Hospital, said it had observed a 28% drop in admissions of patients whose conditions were urgent during the first few days of the new enforcement.

Ms Chateau said Taliban members had been denying entry to women without the burka by standing at the entrance of the health facilities. A burka is a one-piece veil that covers the face and body, often leaving just a mesh screen to see through.

A Taliban spokesperson for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Ministry, which enforces strict religious doctrines, dismissed reports that women were being forced to wear the burka.

“This is totally false. The position of the vice and virtue ministry is generally on the wearing of hijab,” Saif-ul-Islam Khyber said.

Hijab means covering up generally but also describes the headscarves worn by Muslim women.

The Taliban official also rejected reports that women were banned from medical centres for not wearing the burka.

At the same time, the Taliban official said: “Hijab is interpreted differently in different parts of the country, most of which are in conflict with Sharia [law].”

Activists have also alleged that Taliban guards have been enforcing the wearing of burkas for women to enter key facilities for the past week.

One female activist from Herat province told the BBC that the dress code was applicable for those who want to enter hospitals, schools and government offices.

There has also been criticism on social media over the Taliban’s reported decision to impose the burka in Herat.

An Afghan activist posted a video on X showing some women setting fire to the garments in protest at the Taliban’s rule. The BBC has not independently verified the video.

The Taliban enforced the burka during their first stint in power in the 1990s.

Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban government has imposed numerous restrictions, particularly for women, in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

In 2022, the Taliban issued a decree ordering women to wear an all-covering Islamic face veil in public. Taliban officials then described the face veil edict as “advice”.

“Even though the veil edit was announced earlier, this is the first time we are seeing the enforcement of the burka in Herat. In the past few days more and more women are coming to the hospital with burkas,” Ms Chateau said.

Since returning to power, the Taliban have barred women from most workplaces and universities and girls from secondary schools. The UN has repeatedly urged the Taliban to end what it describes as “gender apartheid”.

Last week, the UN said it had suspended operations at a key border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran because of restrictions on Afghan women staff working at the border.

Islam Qala, in Herat province, has been the main crossing point for hundreds of thousands of Afghans forced to leave Iran in the past year.

Restrictions have been placed on content on some social media platforms in Afghanistan, Taliban government sources told BBC Afghan.

Filters have been applied to restrict certain types of content on sites including Facebook, Instagram and X, the sources at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said.

It is not clear exactly what sort of posts are subject to filtering. Some social media users in Kabul told the BBC that videos on their Facebook accounts are no longer viewable, while access to Instagram has also been restricted.

These restrictions on social media content come a week after internet and telecommunications services were cut off across the country for two days.

The move caused widespread problems for citizens and its end was greeted with celebration.

The 48-hour blackout disrupted businesses and flights, limited access to emergency services and raised fears about further isolating women and girls whose rights have been severely eroded since the hardline Islamist group swept back to power in 2021.

Social media users in Afghanistan have been complaining about limited access to different platforms in various provinces since Tuesday.

A Taliban government source said: “Some sort of controls have been applied to restrict certain types of content on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X.

“We hope this time there wouldn’t be any full ban on internet.

“The filtering is almost applied for the whole county and most provinces are covered now.”

There is no formal explanation from Taliban government officials for the restrictions.

Cybersecurity organisation NetBlocks said “restrictions are now confirmed on multiple providers, the pattern shows an intentional restriction”. Social sites have been intermittently accessible on smartphones, according to news agency AFP.

A man who works in a government office in eastern Nangarhar province told the BBC he could open Facebook but could not see pictures or play videos.

He said the “internet is very slow as a whole”.

Another user in southern Kandahar province, who runs a private business, said his fibre optic internet had been cut off since Tuesday but mobile phone data was working, with Facebook and Instagram being “severely slow”.

The Taliban government has not given an explanation for the total shutdown last week. However, last month, a spokesperson for the Taliban governor in the northern province of Balkh said internet access was being blocked “for the prevention of vices”.

Since returning to power, the Taliban have imposed numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

Afghan women have told the BBC that the internet was a lifeline to the outside world since the Taliban banned girls over the age of 12 from receiving an education.

Women’s job options have also been severely restricted and in September, books written by women were removed from universities.

La Camera preliminare II della Corte penale internazionale (Cpi) ha emesso mandati di arresto nei confronti di Haibatullah Akhundzada, leader supremo dei talebani, e di Abdul Hakim Haqqani, capo della giustizia dei talebani, che esercitano de facto l’autorità in Afghanistan dal 15 agosto 2021. Lo annuncia la Cpi in una nota ufficiale.

La Camera ha rilevato che sussistono fondati motivi per ritenere che Akhundzada e Haqqani abbiano commesso, ordinato, indotto o istigato il crimine contro l’umanità di persecuzione per motivi di genere nei confronti di ragazze, donne e altre persone non conformi alla politica dei talebani in materia di genere, identità o espressione di genere; e per motivi politici contro persone percepite come “alleate di ragazze e donne”.

La Corte ritiene che tali crimini siano stati commessi sul territorio afgano a partire dalla presa del potere da parte dei talebani, il 15 agosto 2021, e siano proseguiti almeno fino al 20 gennaio 2025, continua la nota. Secondo la Corte penale internazionale, i talebani hanno attuato una politica governativa “che ha portato a gravi violazioni dei diritti e delle libertà fondamentali della popolazione civile afgana, in relazione a condotte quali omicidio, detenzione arbitraria, tortura, stupro e sparizione forzata”. Sebbene i talebani abbiano imposto alcune regole e divieti all’intera popolazione, hanno colpito in modo specifico ragazze e donne per motivi legati al genere, privandole dei diritti fondamentali, prosegue la nota. In particolare, mediante decreti e ordinanze, i Talebani hanno privato in modo grave ragazze e donne dei diritti all’istruzione, alla privacy e alla vita familiare, nonché delle libertà di movimento, espressione, pensiero, coscienza e religione. Sono state inoltre colpite altre persone in quanto alcune espressioni della sessualità e/o dell’identità di genere sono state considerate incompatibili con la politica dei talebani in materia di genere.

La Camera ha inoltre riscontrato che anche individui percepiti come oppositori di tali politiche, anche in modo passivo o per omissione, sono stati presi di mira dai talebani. Ciò include persone descritte come “alleate di ragazze e donne”, considerate oppositori politici. Infine, la Cpi ha stabilito che i mandati di arresto resteranno sotto sigillo in questa fase, al fine di proteggere vittime e testimoni e salvaguardare il corretto svolgimento del procedimento. Tuttavia, considerata la natura continuativa delle condotte contestate, la Camera ha ritenuto che la divulgazione pubblica dell’esistenza dei mandati sia nell’interesse della giustizia, in quanto può contribuire a prevenire la commissione di ulteriori crimini.

A seguito della serie di terremoti che hanno colpito l’Afghanistan occidentale all’inizio di questo mese, è atterrato a Herat un ponte aereo umanitario dell’UE con un carico di 92 tonnellate di beni essenziali per la popolazione colpita. Sul totale, l’UE ha donato 57 tonnellate provenienti dalle sue scorte custodite a Dubai, costituite da coperte e dispositivi per la preparazione delle tende all’inverno. 20 tonnellate di medicinali sono state inviate dall’Organizzazione mondiale della sanità e 15 tonnellate di prodotti alimentari dal Programma alimentare mondiale.

Un secondo e un terzo volo sono previsti a breve da Brindisi e Dubai per Herat e Kabul. Nella stiva trasporteranno contributi in natura dall’Irlanda e dall’Italia e forniture di soccorso da parte dei partner umanitari dell’UE. La Francia sta inoltre rafforzando la capacità di trasporto e di deposito degli aiuti.

L’Unione europea ha acconsentito all’erogazione di un sostegno di 140 milioni di euro per le esigenze essenziali e i mezzi di sussistenza nei settori dell’istruzione, della sanità, dell’agricoltura e dell’emancipazione economica delle donne in Afghanistan. La decisione di liberare i fondi, congelati da dicembre 2022 in risposta alla decisione dei talebani di vietare alle donne di lavorare nelle ONG, arriva dopo sei mesi di monitoraggio e valutazione del principio “dalle donne per le donne”. Il principio garantisce che le ragazze e le donne afghane siano coinvolte in tutti gli aspetti della catena di erogazione degli aiuti.

I fondi dell’UE continueranno a essere erogati mediante le agenzie delle Nazioni Unite, la Banca mondiale e le organizzazioni non governative internazionali che operano sul campo. Il sostegno finanziario mira a fornire assistenza di base al popolo afghano a seguito delle preoccupanti sfide che deve affrontare nel paese.

The United Nations head has strongly condemned a Taliban ban on Afghan women working for the organisation.

Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded Afghanistan’s rulers immediately revoke the order, saying it was discriminatory and breached international human rights law.

Female staff were “essential for UN operations” in the country, he said.

The Taliban have increasingly restricted women’s freedoms since seizing power in 2021.

There was no immediate word from their government on why the order had been issued. Foreign female UN workers are exempt.

The UN has been working to bring humanitarian aid to 23 million people in Afghanistan, which is reeling from a severe economic and humanitarian crisis. Female workers play a vital role in on-the-ground aid operations, particularly in identifying other women in need.

“Female staff members are essential for the United Nations operations, including in the delivery of life-saving assistance,” Secretary General Mr Guterres said in a statement.

“The enforcement of this decision will harm the Afghan people, millions of whom are in need of this assistance.”

He called on the Taliban to “reverse all measures that restrict women’s and girls’ rights to work, education and freedom of movement”.

Earlier, the UN told its Afghan staff – men and women – not to report to work while it sought clarity from the Taliban. Local women had been stopped from going to work at UN facilities in eastern Nangarhar province on Tuesday.

The UN mission had been exempt from a previous Taliban ban issued in December that stopped all NGOs using women staff unless they were health workers.

How health programmes in the country will be affected by the ban on UN staff remains unclear.

The ban is being seen as the most significant test of the future of UN operations in Afghanistan, and the relationship between the organisation and the Taliban government, which is not recognised anywhere in the world.

Since the Taliban’s return to power, teenage girls and women have been barred from schools, colleges and universities. Women are required to be dressed in a way that only reveals their eyes, and must be accompanied by a male relative if they are travelling more than 72km (48 miles).

And last November, women were banned from parks, gyms and swimming pools, stripping away the simplest of freedoms.

The Taliban have also cracked down on advocates for female education. Last month, Matiullah Wesa, a prominent Afghan campaigner for female education, was arrested for unknown reasons.

In February Professor Ismail Mashal, an outspoken critic of the Taliban government’s ban on education for women, was also arrested in Kabul while handing out free books.