Category Archives: Afghanistan

Minister tells of anger at Ben Wallace over Afghanistan death squad claims

Posted on by

Johnny Mercer tells inquiry defence secretary did not say he knew of allegations before Commons told they were untrue

A minister has told an inquiry that he was angry with the former defence secretary Ben Wallace after discovering that UK special forces officers knew about Afghanistan death squad allegations before he described them as untrue in the House of Commons.

Johnny Mercer wrote to Wallace in August 2020 shortly after emails surfaced in the Sunday Times that showed senior special forces officers expressed serious concerns about the killings of 33 people in 11 night raids in the war-torn nation in 2011.

Continue reading...

UK minister says he ‘cannot disprove’ claims Afghans were unlawfully killed

Posted on by

Johnny Mercer tells UK inquiry of reports SAS had killed civilians between 2010 and 2013

The UK’s minister for veterans, Johnny Mercer, has effectively admitted in front of a public inquiry that he believed members of the SAS had engaged in dozens of unlawful killings of Afghan civilians between 2010 and 2013.

Mercer told the inquiry on Tuesday that at one point, shortly after first becoming a minister in 2019, Mercer said he told the then defence secretary, Ben Wallace, that “something stinks”. His boss replied: “There is no new evidence, Johnny,” and the cabinet minster chose not to take any further action.

Continue reading...

UK special forces blocked resettlement applications from elite Afghan troops

Posted on by

MoD conducts review but stands accused of conflict of interest while public inquiry investigates conduct of SAS in Afghanistan

Elite Afghan commandos who fought alongside the British military have had their applications to relocate blocked by UK special forces despite evidence that they had served alongside them in dangerous missions against the Taliban.

Documents leaked and shared with BBC Panorama show that Britain’s secretive special forces were given a veto power over resettlement, prompting claims that hundreds of Afghan veterans have been left in limbo or danger in their native country.

Continue reading...

Biden ‘privately defiant’ over chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, book says

Posted on by

The Internationalists details how the president was determined to leave a country in which 2,324 US troops were killed since 2001

Joe Biden is “privately defiant” that he made the right calls on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in summer 2021, a new book reportedly says, even as the chaos and carnage that unfolded continues to be investigated in Congress.

“No one offered to resign” over the withdrawal, writes Alexander Ward, a Politico reporter, “in large part because the president didn’t believe anyone had made a mistake. Ending the war was always going to be messy.”

Continue reading...

Ben Roberts-Smith defamation appeal: news companies argue ex-SAS corporal’s case ‘fundamentally flawed’

Posted on by

Roberts-Smith, 45, is seeking to overturn June defamation trial judgment that found he engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan

News companies defending a defamation appeal launched by Ben Roberts-Smith over reports he engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan have told a court the ex-SAS corporal’s case is “fundamentally flawed”.

The appeal by Roberts-Smith, 45, seeks to overturn his June defamation loss against Nine newspapers and the Canberra Times over 2018 reports on war crimes during the Victoria Cross-recipient’s Afghanistan deployments.

Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter

Continue reading...

Italian court jails people smuggler over shipwreck that killed at least 94 migrants

Posted on by

Gun Ufuk, 29, sentenced to 20 years in prison over deadly sinking that occurred metres from shore

An Italian court has sentenced a people smuggler to 20 years in prison for involvement in a shipwreck last year that killed at least 94 migrants.

The court in the southern city of Crotone found Gun Ufuk, a 29-year-old Turkish national, guilty of crimes including causing a shipwreck and aiding illegal immigration. It also ordered him to pay a €3m fine and pay damages to civil plaintiffs.

Continue reading...

War crime accused seeks bail change to fly across Australia

Posted on by

Oliver Jordan Schulz, who is accused of murder over the shooting of a young Afghan, applied for his bail conditions to be loosened

A former SAS soldier and accused war criminal requires assessment by police checking in on him while on bail because his military training presents a physical danger, a court has heard.

Oliver Jordan Schulz, 42, is expected to be able to fly to Perth to visit his lawyers after a bail variation hearing at Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Monday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Four of six aboard private jet survive crash in Afghanistan

Posted on by

Rescue teams find charter ambulance flight from Thailand to Moscow after it disappeared from radar screens

Four people are reported to have survived after a private jet carrying out a medical evacuation from Thailand to Russia disappeared from radar screens and crashed in a remote and mountainous area of north-eastern Afghanistan on Saturday.

Russian aviation authorities said two passengers and four crew members were onboard the charter ambulance flight, which was travelling from Utapao airport, near Pattaya, to Moscow via India and Uzbekistan.

Continue reading...

Australia urged to speed up visas for Afghan women who fear being sent back to Taliban rule

Posted on by

Many waiting for a ticket to Australia are in Pakistan, where local authorities are undertaking a mass deportation

Afghan women’s rights defenders who have fled the Taliban’s rule say they are at risk of imminent return to Afghanistan by Pakistani authorities, prompting calls for the Australian government to step in and expedite their protection visas.

The federal government has received more than 215,000 humanitarian visa requests from Afghan nationals since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021, granting 15,852 visas so far as of December 2023.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Human rights in decline globally as leaders fail to uphold laws, report warns

Posted on by

Human Rights Watch’s annual report highlights politicians’ double standards and ‘transactional diplomacy’ amid escalating crises

Human rights across the world are in a parlous state as leaders shun their obligations to uphold international law, according to the annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In its 2024 world report, HRW warns grimly of escalating human rights crises around the globe, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the rise, and universal human rights principles and laws being attacked and undermined by governments.

Continue reading...

Afghan girls detained and lashed by Taliban for violating hijab rules

Posted on by

Girls as young as 16 arrested in shops, classes and markets in Kabul by the Taliban, who labelled them ‘infidels’ for wearing ‘bad hijab’

Girls as young as 16 have been arrested across the Afghan capital, Kabul, in the past week for violating the Taliban’s hijab rules.

The girls – who were detained in shopping centres, classes and street markets – were accused of “spreading and encouraging others to wear a bad hijab” and wearing makeup.

Continue reading...

Islamic State claims responsibility for Iran bombings that killed at least 84

Posted on by

Afghan affiliate of IS claims responsibility for blasts in memorial crowd as Tehran tightens security on its eastern borders

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on a crowd in southern Iran marking the anniversary of the death of the senior Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Suleimani.

At least 84 people died when two blasts ripped through the crowd near Suleimani’s tomb in the city of Kerman, four years after he was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad. Suleimani had been a staunch enemy of IS, which resents the damage he did to its cause in Iraq and Syria.

Continue reading...

Myanmar becomes world’s biggest producer of opium, overtaking Afghanistan

Posted on by

Opium production in Afghanistan slumped an estimated 95%, according to a UN report

Myanmar became the world’s biggest producer of opium in 2023, overtaking Afghanistan after the Taliban government’s crackdown on the trade, according to a United Nations report.

Myanmar produced an estimated 1,080 metric tonnes of opium – essential for producing heroin – this year, according to the latest report by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Continue reading...

‘I need mum and dad here’: the charity helping young Afghan footballers reunite with relatives

Posted on by

The Refugee Council is welcoming those who fled the Taliban and providing legal advice on resettlement in the UK

• Donate to our charity appeal here

Two years on from their arrival in South Yorkshire, young footballers Elaha Safdari, Najma Arifi and Narges Mayeli are still baffled by the array of regional accents in the UK. “I’m always like, ‘Pardon? Can you please repeat? What did you say?’” laughs Arifi, now 20.

This barrier is only a minor hurdle for the trio, who were forced to flee for their lives when the west pulled out of Afghanistan and the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

Continue reading...

Taliban causing ‘irreversible damage’ to whole education system in Afghanistan

Posted on by

Human Rights Watch warns bar on women means unqualified men now teach boys, fewer subjects are taught and beatings are routine

The Taliban is causing “irreversible damage” to Afghanistan’s education system through the reintroduction of corporal punishment, curriculum changes and the use of unqualified teachers to replace women, most of whom have been barred from schools, Human Rights Watch has warned.

After taking power in 2021, the Taliban banned girls from secondary schools. A new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW), published on Wednesday, warns that boys’ education has also suffered under the Taliban, although this has gone largely unreported.

Continue reading...

Heavily pregnant Afghan women eligible to come to UK stuck in Pakistan

Posted on by

People who worked for or were affiliated with the British Council may lose babies as government delays relocation to UK

Pregnant Afghan women who are eligible for resettlement in the UK have been told their babies may not survive unless they are urgently evacuated.

The women, who worked for or are affiliated with the British Council, should be entitled to relocation through the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme (ACRS). Despite Foreign Office and Home Office instructions to move to Pakistan and await relocation, they are stuck in hotels with limited access to medical care nearly two years after the scheme launched.

Continue reading...

Taliban could be convinced to open girls’ schools, says Afghanistan ex-education minister

Posted on by

Global governments should engage with the Taliban because some in the regime support reversing the ban, says Rangina Hamidi

There are many Taliban officials who would support reversing the ban on schooling for girls in Afghanistan, according to the country’s last education minister before the takeover.

Under Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become the only country in the world where girls are banned from schooling beyond the age of 11. The group has also imposed what has been described as a policy of “gender apartheid”, banning women from most work and public spaces.

Continue reading...

Pakistan under fire for ‘shocking’ $830 exit fee for refugees who fled Taliban

Posted on by

Afghans waiting to be resettled in the UK and other western countries face steep charge in ‘unprecedented’ move

Pakistan’s decision to impose hundreds of dollars in exit fees for every Afghan refugee who fled the persecution by the Taliban has been condemned as “shocking and frustrating” by western diplomats and the UN.

The “unprecedented” move targets refugees who are waiting to leave Pakistan for western countries under resettlement schemes, and charges about $830 (£660) for each person.

Continue reading...

Whistleblower David McBride loses bid to stave off trial over public interest defence

Posted on by

ACT supreme court says law provides no duty to members of the military to act in the public interest

David McBride has lost a bid to stave off his trial after again failing to convince a court that soldiers have a duty to act in the public interest.

On Wednesday, the ACT supreme court delivered a blow to McBride as he prepared for his jury trial over the alleged leaking of confidential military information to journalists.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Afghan former interpreter with British army resettles in UK after legal battle

Posted on by

Ahmad* was approved for relocation to UK before Home Office refusal meant he missed evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021

An Afghan former interpreter with the British army has resettled in the UK with his family after a lengthy legal battle with the government, more than two years after being initially approved for relocation.

Prior to the Taliban takeover, Ahmad* worked as an interpreter in Helmand province. In late 2020 he was approved for relocation to the UK before later facing a Home Office refusal, and missing the opportunity to evacuate as Britain and international allies withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.

Continue reading...