Afghanistan

Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the landscape of Afghan civil society has dramatically changed. Understanding these conditions and constraints is crucial for external actors, especially as they attempt to engage with local organizations.

The unexpected ban of secondary school education of girls on 23 March 2022 by the Taliban authority was condemned by the international community. Professor Michael Daxner, who has been actively involved in the higher education sector in Afghanistan for the last several years, gives an overview of challenges currently faced.

The story narrates ordeal of artist community of Afghanistan who are in deep crisis after toppling of Afghan government by Taliban. Almost all musicians and melody performers in Afghanistan abandoned their profession and went into hiding to escape Taliban’s wrath.

The Taliban takeover in Kabul, the frantic evacuation efforts of foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans, and the fear among those left behind of being targeted by the new regime are shining a spotlight on the double-edged nature of government data collection as well as digital communication tools in times of crisis.

In recent days, there has been a lot of talk in the EU about an emerging “wave of refugees” or “migration disaster”. However, the real disaster is the failure of Western governments to rescue people from Afghanistan who deserve our protection, the Director of our office in Brussels, Eva van de Rakt, comments.

Just days after Taliban violently seized control of Afghanistan, the Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, has warned of a repeat of the situation in 2015 and announced that Greece will not be the “gateway to Europe for illegal Afghan migrants”.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in recent days has brought new dimensions of  human suffering and political crisis to what is arguably the most protracted refugee crisis of modern times.

Turkish President Erdogan, usually a friend of many and often harsh words, needed almost a week before he took a stand on the Taliban takeover in Kabul.

What is needed now is a special programme to resettle people living in danger in Afghanistan and to give Afghan nationals already living in Germany the right to remain and prospects for their futures!

Emergence of diverse and inclusive Civil Society organizations, such as NGOs and associations are among the mentionable gains during the last two decades of Afghanistan history. Nevertheless, beside increasing threats of insecurity, NGOs are constantly faced with challenges of laws and policies. 

Interview with Rahmatullah Amiri on the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan and the increasing challenges for the peace process and civil society.

Much has been achieved at international level in the critical field of women, peace and security in recent years. Yet women are still woefully underrepresented in the Afghan peace process. The basic rights for which they fought so hard are at stake in the country’s internal negotiations with the Taliban.

Summary of the online debate „The peace process in Afghanistan: Perceptions of the people“ of 11 November 2020 with representatives of Afghan civil society, Afghan media, the Afghan government delegation to the peace negotiations in Doha and the German Foreign Office.

From December 4-6, 2019 the International Criminal Court organized a series of hearings on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. In April 2019, the pre-Trial Chamber II of the court unprecedentedly denied the request of the court’s prosecutor for authorising an investigation.

Omaid Sharifi is a pioneer Afghan activist and one of the co-founders of ArtLords, an artist association which has been attracting widespread international attention in recent years.