Afghanistan

Afghanistan before Taliban: http://www.businessinsider.com/astonishing-photos-of-prewar-afghanistan-show-everyday-life-in-peaceful-kabul-2013-2?op=1

Afghan university students protest against women's rights: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Afghan-university-students-protest-against-women%27s-rights-27996.html

Within the Taliban there is growing dissention over the drug connection and the increasing unpopularity of the Taliban among Afghans. This has reached the point where many villages and tribes form militias (an expensive and time-consuming effort that is usually only done in emergencies) to keep the Taliban out of their valleys. For a long time the Taliban was at least tolerated, but over the last decade the Taliban have become harsher in how their gunmen demand aid from rural Afghans. These demands are backed up by violence, starting with a tongue lashing and escalating to beatings, kidnappings and murder. Villagers are also angry at the growing tendency of Taliban to force families to marry daughters to young Taliban. Marriages are normally arranged by negotiations between families. These Taliban marriages often end up with the husband either getting killed or divorcing his wife so he can enter into a more permanent union in his own village. This leaves the widow/divorcee to be cared for by her family, who will not be able to marry her off again. source: http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/20130617.aspx

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s only about 900,000 children were in school. These were all religious schools where instruction was in Arabic and curriculum (and textbooks) constantly stressed violence against the hated non-Moslems. All the students were male and little besides religion was taught. source: http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htun/articles/20130719.aspx

Two months after Malala was shot Taliban gunmen launched a widespread attack on female health workers who were trying to vaccinate children against polio. This began on December 18th, and nine health workers were killed over the next few days. Just as with the attack on Malala Yousufzai, the murder of nine young Pakistani women working on a vaccination program horrified most Pakistanis. This time senior Moslem clerics were compelled to join together in condemning the Islamic radicals for such barbaric behavior. Clergy speak out against the Taliban at great risk. The Taliban regularly kill, or try to kill, Islamic clergy who criticize Islamic radicalism. But there is some safety in numbers, for this time clerics representing 24,000 Mosques are speaking out. If the Taliban start killing or threatening any of these clerics there would be even more support for destroying the Pakistani Taliban and other Islamic radical groups allied with them. It’s not just the Moslem clerics who are speaking out. Many former supporters of Islamic radicalism are now openly against these groups. These critics like to point out that these extremist movements have achieved nothing beneficial and have gotten a lot of innocent Moslems killed in the process. But much of the Taliban support is rooted in tradition and faith and has proved very resistant to logic and reality. source: http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20130724.aspx

The “fighting season” begins in April or May when the snow melts in the highlands. Fighting ends in November when the snows return. The snow makes cross-country travel, and survival out in the open, much more difficult... Western trainers and advisors report that the Afghan security forces are more effective than their opponents (gangsters and the Taliban) but still less effective than their foreign counterparts. Then there is the problem with corruption and bad attitudes by many Afghan leaders (civilian and military) who seem more interested in stealing foreign aid than in using such assistance to improve the security forces or Afghanistan in general... For Afghans security is much improved, but foreigners (of all types) are always prime victims for robbers and kidnappers. The law of the jungle still prevails in much of Afghanistan, with local warlords and tribal chiefs having their own private armies and the ability to do as they please. Often these armed groups belong to drug gangs or the Taliban (which is basically a political organization allied with many drug gangs to limit the reach of national or provincial law enforcement). For most of Afghanistan there is no law in the Western sense, just local traditions and customs backed by armed locals. Afghans see the foreign aid as a gift, not an attempt to build a stronger national economy. For most Afghans there is no “national economy” just local opportunities. Thus the high incidence of theft from economic development projects paid for by foreigners... Taking down the Taliban nationwide is not an option because the drug gangs employ most Taliban groups at least some of the time and the drug gangs have most of the senior government officials (or members of their families) on the payroll. This does not get the Taliban complete protection from the security forces because in most parts of the country the population is hostile to the drugs and those who deal in them... The corruption is everywhere and even foreign aid organizations are constantly confronted by thieves, kidnappers and liars who make threats and demand bribes... source: http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/20131102.aspx

At least 15 senior Taliban commanders were killed on Tuesday in Ghazni province by a suicide bomber reportedly attempting to keep them from carrying out plans to disrupt Saturday's elections, according to Afghan officials. In addition to the 15 confirmed dead, nine other militants were wounded by the blast, which occurred in the Gelan district of Ghazni, according to the National Directorate of Security (NDS). source: http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/14413-taliban-suicide-bomber-turns-on-his-own-commanders-kills-15

An Afghan police commander opened fire Friday on two Associated Press journalists, killing Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Anja Niedringhaus and wounding veteran correspondent Kathy Gannon — the first known case of a security insider attacking journalists in Afghanistan. source: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20140404-pulitzer-winning-ap-photographer-killed-in-attack-by-police-commander-in-afghanistan.ece

Despite strenuous efforts the Taliban once again failed to keep many people from voting... Afghan police said they foiled 65 suicide bomb attacks (and even more non-suicide attacks) and arrested 262 Islamic terrorists since early March and this was the main reason the Taliban terror campaign against the election failed. The police raids also seized over 250 rifles, machine-guns and rocket launchers, lots of ammo, radios, over 3,000 mines, 19 suicide vests and over eight tons of explosives... Afghanistan is no longer the poorest country in Eurasia... Most Afghans blame the Pakistanis for any successes the Taliban have... Officially Pakistan still denies that they sheltered Osama bin Laden, but it’s no secret that Pakistan still tolerates sanctuaries for all manner of Islamic terrorists who operate inside Afghanistan... American efforts to shut down the Pakistani sanctuaries were made more difficult after 2011, when Americans flew into Pakistan to raid Osama bin Laden's hideout in a military town. Since then the Pakistanis have been even more reluctant to shut down the sanctuaries or even allow American UAVs to find and kill terrorist leaders there... In Afghanistan the increased civilian hostility towards the Taliban and Islamic terrorists in general has forced the Taliban to depend more on bases and support from Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban are particularly dependent on the Islamic terrorist sanctuary in North Waziristan, where many of the bombs used in Afghanistan are made and many of the suicide bombers are trained. source: http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/20140415.aspx

Brishna, a 10-year old girl from Kunduz province in Afghanistan, was raped by a local mullah in May 2014. While she was recovering in the hospital, her family and community members threatened to kill her and “dump her in the river.” source: http://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign.id=32505

An Afghan woman has killed at least 25 Taliban militants to avenge the murder of her son who was a police officer in western Farah province. According to reports, Reza Gul was forced to pick up arms after her son was shot dead by Taliban militants in front of her eyes. Her son was leading a small group of police forces in a check post located in a village of Farah province. She was supported by her daughter and daughter-in-law during the gun battle which lasted for almost 7 hours that left at least 25 Taliban militants dead and five others injured. Sediq Sediq, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said the armed campaign by women against the Taliban militants is a symbol of a major revolution and public uprising against the group. source: http://www.khaama.com/afghan-woman-kills-25-taliban-rebels-to-avenge-her-sons-murder-8794

pledges of allegiance to Hibatullah Akhundzada (new leader of Afghan Taliban): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASF6OV_WEIc

In 2016, the international community had ranked Afghanistan as the most dangerous country for women... According to an Afghan NGO, RAWA, 90 percent of Afghan women are abused by their parents, relatives and husbands... Director of an Afghan NGO, Women Rights, Sabrina Hamidi said that women are being sold like animals in different parts of Shinwari area of Jalalabad province. Mrs. Hamidi said that the price of a woman depends on her beauty and can range anywhere from around $1,147 to $2,000... In Kabul and Wardak provinces, young women can be purchased for $12,000. In Jalalabad, the price of a young woman is $17,400 in Paktia and Khost provinces, $21,500 in Farah province, and $43,000 in Kandahar... More than 60 percent of gang raped children are unable to survive the abuse. To feed their families, young children are sold into male prostitution... Education for girls in Paktika and Paktia provinces is considered to be a great sin while sports and other hobbies are not allowed. The majority of Afghan girls become pregnant before they reach physical maturity because they do not know about the law of the country. source: http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2016/11/22/horrific-cases-of-women-abuse-in-afghanistan.html

A woman has reportedly been beheaded by a group of armed men in Afghanistan after she entered a city without her husband... The 30-year-old woman was targeted because she went out alone without her husband, who is in Iran. The... woman had gone to the market to shop. Under Taliban rule women are prohibited from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative. They are also banned from working or education and are forced to wear the burqa. source: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4070100/