Local militias have sprung up across Afghanistan to defend against Taliban advances. EPA
Local militias have sprung up across Afghanistan to defend against Taliban advances. EPA
Local militias have sprung up across Afghanistan to defend against Taliban advances. EPA
Local militias have sprung up across Afghanistan to defend against Taliban advances. EPA


Contrary to US hopes, the Taliban have not changed


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  • Arabic

August 05, 2021

When the Taliban were last in power, girls above the age of 10 were banned from school, men were forced to grow beards, criminal punishments included amputation and public execution and international terrorist organisations found a safe haven in one of the most oppressed countries on the planet. In 2001, and only after the situation led to an attack on American soil, a US-led coalition had enough, launching a campaign that quickly deposed the group.

Twenty years later, America has a different approach, withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and entering into negotiations with the Taliban, hoping that since the 1990s they, too, have changed.

Today, as the organisation tears through the Afghan countryside and besieges provincial capitals, such hope diminishes by the day.

The Taliban negotiating team in Qatar's capital, Doha. AFP
The Taliban negotiating team in Qatar's capital, Doha. AFP

People who have fought the group predict impending catastrophe. Speaking to The National, British military officials have criticised US President Joe Biden's foreign policy, warning that the country will once again become a safe haven for terrorists, and that Kabul, the capital, will be overrun by "September or October at the latest".

Those facing the prospect of living under the Taliban also doubt that the group is any less dangerous. Since the start of 2021, about 330,000 people have been displaced fleeing fighting and the organisation's advances.

There are good grounds for this fear. Western embassies in the country are claiming that the Taliban might already have committed war crimes by carrying out revenge murders on civilians. There are also reports that the terror organisation is closing women's schools and medical facilities, forcing them to wear conservative clothing and even making girls as young as 13 marry fighters. On Wednesday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack on the residence of the Minister of Defence, and vowed to carry out more attacks.

Since the Taliban were ousted, women have come to make up more than a quarter of parliamentarians. Now, the international community faces criticism for squandering this progress and abandoning Afghan women. Pashtana Durrani, an activist from Kandahar province, has criticised how gender rights in the country were used to justify war, only to be abandoned when countries wanted to pull out. “We were used as business cards," she says.

Some are more optimistic. Nicholas Kay, Britain’s former ambassador to the country, makes the case that Afghanistan itself is different from two decades ago, now being a "urbanised, youthful, modern, connected, Facebook Afghanistan”, and, he claims, potentially harder for the Taliban to control.

But even if those in the country are better able to resist, the wavering commitment of the country's western allies emboldens the Taliban even more. In its negotiations with the US in Doha, the group continues to assert that it deserves international recognition, denying any of the atrocities attributed to it on the ground. The group's negotiators have even gone as far to say that they are not in full control of fighters affiliated to them. If that is the case, US talking with powerless representatives would surely be pointless.

Today, the West has a different approach to the Afghanistan, and Afghan society has changed since the 1990s. But in a country where chaos makes the headlines every day, only one thing seems certain: the Taliban are committed to their old ways.


From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Pad Man

Dir: R Balki

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte

Three-and-a-half stars

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Electoral College Victory

Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate. 

 

Popular Vote Tally

The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.

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Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

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  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations
Edited by Sarah Cleave, Comma Press

Updated: August 05, 2021, 3:00 AM`