An injured US marine broke down in tears as he describing in harrowing detail how his warnings of an imminent bomb were ignored before it tore through a crowd and killed his colleagues.
Afghanistan
In Ukraine, it appears America will soon be arming both side’s combatants
I happen to be one who believes that the escalating war in Ukraine is entirely Biden’s fault, that the current Ukraine government is completely corrupt, and that the entire thing, which has seen tens of thousands of Ukrainian deaths and the destruction of large swaths of that country, has become a profitable boondoggle for politicians and military contractors. Call me cynical or naïve, but that’s where I am. I also think the whole enterprise has taken on a truly hallucinatory quality, exacerbated by the news today: Putin is negotiating to buy abandoned American weapons from Afghanistan while Biden is sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. We will have armed both sides to the battle.
The Taliban — Not as Poor as Meets the Eye
After the chaotic and deadly pullout of US forces from Afghanistan last year, and with no country recognising the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (better known as the Taliban), it was thought that with bank freezes and sanctions from the international community the Islamic regime would not be able to financially survive. But that is not what happened. As it is believed that up to two-thirds of Afghans live in extreme poverty, to alleviate the problem, in September 2022 the Biden administration announced it would create a fund to assist the people of Afghanistan, apart from the country’s central bank.
‘The Afghan Fund will help mitigate the economic challenges facing Afghanistan while protecting and preserving $3.5 billion in reserves from Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), Afghanistan’s central bank, for the benefit of the people of Afghanistan,’ Wally Adeyemo, U.S. deputy secretary of the Treasury, said at the time. The central bank of Afghanistan has recently said it received another injection of $40 million in cash in December.
Yet most of the country still remains poverty stricken. This is because the jihadists have been economically doing quite well through the fleecing of international humanitarian aid and making deals with draconian countries like China.
There has been a steady flow of articles in the western press highlighting the plight of the Afghan people since the Taliban were handed the reins of power marking the end of a 20 year con job.
Everyone on the gravy train during the Great Afghan Grift naturally wants to go back to pretending they “make a difference.”
Let the Afghans sort it out and the western grifters be brought to justice.
h/t VV
Taliban hails Afghanistan’s first ‘supercar’
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have hailed the unveiling of the country’s first ‘supercar’.
A sleek, black sports car took to the snowy streets of the capital after a five-year building project by engineers at a Kabul technical and vocational training institute.
Video clips showed former insurgents gathered around the vehicle as it purred through potholed streets more often graced by pick-up trucks full of armed men.
Nope not April Fools.
Canada urges Taliban to reverse decision on banning women from NGO work
OTTAWA – Canada’s international development minister is calling on the Taliban to reverse its decision to bar women from working at non-governmental organizations in Afghanistan.
Harjit Sajjan’s comments come as several major international aid groups announce plans to suspend operations in the country taken over by the Taliban, a listed terrorist entity, in August 2021.
Millions have been thrown into poverty since then and and are now facing hunger, with the United Nations estimating as many as six million Afghans are currently at risk of famine. The International Committee of the Red Cross has also reported an increase in malnutrition and pneumonia among children, with concerns only mounting given the onset of winter.
Afghanistan protests: Taliban use water cannon on women opposing university ban
The Taliban have used a water cannon to disperse a group of women protesting against the ban on female students in Afghanistan attending university.
Videos on social media showed the women taking cover in a lane in the city of Herat to escape a powerful stream of water.
Dozens of women holding a protest march could be heard shouting slogans including: “Education is our right”.
In one clip, women could be heard shouting: “The Taliban are cowards.”
#Breaking Afghan girls take onto the streets in western Herat city to protest education ban. Taliban targets them with water cannon. The ongoing Herat is one of the largest protests. Many small groups like this one v come out. @AFIntlBrk #LetHerLearn pic.twitter.com/XEgMy89kfQ
— Harun Najafizada (@HNajafizada) December 24, 2022
Millions in Hundred Dollar Bills Flown to the Taliban for “Humanitarian Aid”
As the Taliban were taking over Afghanistan, I predicted that Biden would fund the Taliban using “humanitarian aid” as a pretext. Since then, Biden has provided $1.1 billion in Afghan aid.
Despite assurances that the money would not go to the terrorists, the Biden administration issued global licenses authorizing financial transactions with the Taliban and the Al Qaeda allied Haqqani Network that include the “delivery and provision of humanitarian aid”.
h/t Ingenui
Afghan ‘murderer’ is put to death in front of hundreds at sports stadium
An Afghan man convicted of murder was executed in public Wednesday, the Taliban said, the first confirmation of such a sentence since the hardline Islamists returned to power.
Last month Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges to fully enforce aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stonings and floggings, and the amputation of limbs from thieves.
NATO trained them. Now these Afghan soldiers are joining the Russian army to help attack Ukraine
A former Afghan platoon commander says he was doing manual labour on the Iranian island of Kish when he received a phone call. He says he listened carefully as a former comrade made a proposal: Join a new army and fight for a new cause.
That army was Russia’s, and the cause was the war against Ukraine.
The offer was for six months of training in Russia, $1,500 to $3,000 (U.S.) a month (three to six times what he’s been making in Iran) and Russian citizenship for him and his immediate family members.
Afghan supreme leader orders full implementation of sharia law
Public executions and amputations some of the punishments for crimes including adultery and theft
Afghanistan’s supreme leader has ordered judges to fully implement aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stonings, floggings and the amputation of limbs for thieves, the Taliban’s chief spokesman said.
Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted on Sunday that the “obligatory” command by Haibatullah Akhundzada came after the secretive leader met with a group of judges.
Akhundzada, who has not been filmed or photographed in public since the Taliban returned to power in August last year, rules by decree from Kandahar, the movement’s birthplace and spiritual heartland.
Afghan woman hangs herself to avoid being stoned to death in public by Taliban
An Afghan woman has hanged herself to avoid being stoned to death in public by Taliban forces after she was accused of running off with a married man.
The 24-year-old woman, named locally as Salima, was caught with the married man by the Taliban after she ran away from her home in Ghor Province, central Afghanistan, on October 10.
Salima, who was also married, was sentenced to death for adultery and was due to be stoned on Friday, while her lover, identified locally as Sirajuddin, was shot dead by the Taliban.
Canadian officials have met with Taliban more than a dozen times to discuss women’s rights: documents
Ottawa has been pressing the Taliban for months on women’s rights, fighting terrorism
Canadian government officials have met with representatives of the Taliban on at least 13 occasions in Qatar since it swept to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, documents obtained by CBC News reveal.
The documents, obtained through access to information law, show David Sproule, Canada’s senior official for Afghanistan, has been — along with various Global Affairs Canada (GAC) officials and representatives of allied countries — pressing the Taliban for commitments on extending the right to an education to women, fighting terrorism and granting safe passage to Afghans who want to leave the country.
Afghan Man, Brought to U.S. by Biden, Accused of Sexually Assaulting 12-Year-Old Boy
An Afghan national, brought to the United States as part of President Joe Biden’s massive resettlement operation over the last year, has been charged with violently attacking and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Canada must loosen Taliban sanctions amid multiple Afghanistan crises: aid groups
Major humanitarian groups are urging the Trudeau government to loosen its restrictions on working with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Canadian Red Cross, Oxfam Canada and Amnesty International are among 18 groups arguing that Ottawa has fallen behind its peers in finding loopholes for humanitarian aid while isolating the Taliban regime.
They say the Canadian sanctions are blocking their response to a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan.
Mark Frerichs: US hostage swapped for Afghan leader linked to Taliban
The Taliban have released a US engineer they had held hostage since 2020 in exchange for an Afghan tribal leader held in US custody since 2005.
Mark Frerichs was handed over at Kabul airport on Monday, the Taliban said.
In return they received Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban ally serving a life sentence for drug trafficking.
US President Joe Biden said that the swap required “difficult decisions” that he did not take lightly.