Taliban Bans Women In Afghanistan From Participating In Sports

 

The Taliban government in Afghanistan announced on Wednesday that Afghan women could not participate in sports including cricket as sporting activities would “expose their bodies.”

The deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, disclosed to journalists adding that sports activities were not necessary for women.

Earlier this week, the Taliban decreed that only a woman teacher would teach female students but if that was not possible then “old men” of good character could fill in.

It also stated that women attending private Afghan universities must wear an abaya robe (full-length dress) and niqab (garment that covers the face). They said the classes must be separated by gender, or at least partitioned by a curtain.

The decree was applicable to private colleges and universities, which have mushroomed since the Taliban’s first rule ended in 2001.

Meanwhile, the Taliban on Tuesday announced the formation of a new Afghanistan government headed by Mullah Hassan Akhund.

This will be an “acting” government and not a permanent one, a Taliban spokesperson said weeks after the Islamic militant group took over the reins of power in Afghanistan.

Terrorist Wanted By US With $10million Bounty Becomes Minister In Taliban’s Afghan Government

A terrorist who the United States had placed a $10m bounty on his head has been appointed by the Taliban as Afghanistan’s interior minister following the announcement of a caretaker government filled with the movement’s old guard.

The movement’s deputy leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, had been formerly accused of overseeing some of the worst atrocities of the militants’ insurgent campaign.

He will, however, take control of a key ministry in the Taliban administration, The Telegraph reported.

His position was announced as the Taliban set out a cabinet entirely staffed by the group’s members.

Despite the group’s vows to set up a broad-based new government, the 33-strong line-up contains no women and is dominated by Taliban stalwarts from the Pashtun ethnic group.

The appointment of Haqqani, who carries a $10m State Department reward for information leading to his arrest, is most likely to cause alarm.

Being the head of the notorious Haqqani network faction for more than a decade, he is blamed for indiscriminate bombings and attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians. He reportedly oversaw a 2018 suicide bomb attack in Kabul that killed 103 people using an explosives-filled ambulance.

Analysts said it was difficult to see how the cabinet choice would reassure international donors enough to resume frozen foreign aid, which is desperately needed to keep the Afghan government running.

Weeda Mehran, from the University of Exeter, said: “It is not inclusive at all. There are only a few non-Pashtun members and also I shouldn’t be surprised but it’s still a shock to see Sirajuddin Haqqani there.”

US Spent A Trillion Dollars In Afghanistan In 20 Years Still Lost, Why Are We Complaining About Bandits, Terrorists In Nigeria – Lai Mohammed Ask

President Buhari Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said the Muhammadu Buhari-led government is winning the war against terrorism, banditry, and other forms of insecurity in the country.

This is despite the incessant attacks, killings, and kidnappings by Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgents and bandits in many parts across the country.

Mohammed, in an interview with BBC Africa on Thursday, said, “The good news is that the government is winning the war against insecurity, be it Boko Haram, be it banditry, be it the separatist, you know, movements. We are winning the war.”

But when asked how that was possible with the recent attacks on schools, Mohammed said, “I didn’t say that we stopped banditry or that we stopped. . .I said that we are winning the war against them. Even the safest country in the world will still witness crimes, you know, on a daily basis, but it is the response of that government to the crimes that makes all the difference.

“And I say, if the number of Boko Haram insurgents that have given up, their soldiers who have surrendered in the last few weeks is anything to go by, if the successes of the military (here I’m talking about both the Air Force and the ground force) is anything to go about in the war against bandits, we are winning the war.”

“Probably the world would better appreciate what Nigeria has achieved when they see that the US after 20 years, a trillion dollars down the drain, thousands of lives killed, it took the Talibans only a few weeks to come back. That is not happening in Nigeria,” he added.