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Articles by Ron Synovitz
Pakistan's Hard-Line Islamists Emboldened By Afghan Taliban's Victory
By Ron Synovitz, Daud Khattak January 31, 2022 The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan has increased the threat posed by Islamist forces in neighboring Pakistan, experts say. The Afghan militants' victory has not only bolstered Pakistani Islamist insurgents but also strengthened religious political parties that share the Taliban's extremist views.
Pakistan’s Hard-Line Islamists Emboldened By Afghan Taliban’s Victory
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has increased the threat posed by Islamist forces in neighboring Pakistan, experts say. The Afghan militants' victory has not only bolstered Pakistani Islamist insurgents but also strengthened religious political parties that share the Taliban’s extremist views. Analysts say the rising popularity of some Islamist parties could even pose an electoral threat to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ruling Tehrik-e Insaf in the 2023 general elections.
Cash-Strapped Taliban Uses Foreign Aid Intended For Starving Afghans To Pay State Employees
Like millions of other impoverished Afghans, day laborer Omaruddin and his family are facing starvation as the country’s economic crisis deepens under Taliban rule. Omaruddin, a Kabul resident, has registered over 20 times with the Taliban regime in the hope of receiving wheat that was donated as humanitarian aid by foreign countries.
The Week's Best: 12 Stories And Videos You Shouldn't Miss
Photo: Eduard Florin Niga (Copyright) Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
Video Showing Taliban Humiliating Afghan Musicians, Burning Instruments Stokes Outrage
Afghan singer Goodar Zazai says he wept as he saw a recent video of the Taliban humiliating two local musicians and burning their instruments. Filmed near the border with Pakistan in the Zazai Aryub district of Paktia Province, the musicians’ heads had been crudely shaved by members of the Taliban's feared Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. It is a common punishment imposed by the Taliban against those suspected of minor crimes.
„Nu suntem terorişti! Tokaev, nu ne împușca!” Protestatarii kazahi își fac auzite vocile
Aigerim Tuleujanova, activistă a Partidului Democrat neînregistrat din Kazahstan, se afla în mulțimea de aproximativ 200 de protestatari, în Piața Republicii din Almatî, pe 6 ianuarie, când un grup de soldați a deschis focul asupra lor. Cei mai mulți stăteau în fața primăriei din Almatî, care încă mocnea după ce fusese incendiată de o mulțime furioasă în ziua precedentă, când au început împușcăturile.
'We Are Not Terrorists!': Kazakh Protesters Try To Make Their Voices Heard Amid The Chaos
ALMATY/NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan -- Aigerim Tuleuzhanova, an activist with Kazakhstan’s unregistered Democratic Party, was in a crowd of some 200 protesters at Almaty’s Republic Square on January 6 when a group of soldiers opened fire with live ammunition. The large crowd was standing within view of the Almaty mayor’s office, which was still smoldering after being set ablaze by an angry mob the previous day, when the shooting began.
The Week's Best: 10 Stories You Shouldn't Miss
Photo: foto-memorial.org (Courtesy Image) Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
Regional Powers Seek To Fill Vacuum Left By West's Retreat From Afghanistan
The chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan and the lightning collapse of the internationally recognized government in Kabul in August spelled the end of the West’s nearly 20-year foothold in the war-torn country. Now, with the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan, other powers that have fallen out with the West or are considered its rivals are vying to fill the void.
Afghan Boxers Refuse To Return To Their Homeland For Fear Of Taliban
Silab Nouri is one of nine boxers on Afghanistan’s national team who have been stranded in Serbia since competing in an international tournament there last month. Their temporary visas to participate in the World Boxing Championships organized by the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) have expired. But they refuse to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Instead, they hope to receive humanitarian visas or asylum in any European country that will take them.
Judge, Jury, And Executioner: Taliban Brings Afghanistan’s Justice System Under Its Thumb
Dozens of Taliban gunmen stormed the offices of Afghanistan’s Independent Bar Association (AIBA) in Kabul last week and ordered its staff to stop their work. In a decree issued a day earlier on November 22, the Taliban put the AIBA under the control of its Justice Ministry, stripping the organization of its independence.
'We Are Hungry': Afghan Schools Left Without Teachers As Instructors Struggle To Survive
Like most teachers across Afghanistan, Sayed Abdul Rahman has not received a paycheck since the Taliban seized control of his district earlier this year. Rahman was initially able to feed his family in the Almar district of Faryab Province by promising shopkeepers that he would pay them back when he received his overdue salary. Shopkeepers were happy to help Rahman, who was respected in his community for helping many children learn to read and write.
The Week's Best: 10 Stories You Shouldn't Miss
Photo: Artyom Leshko (Current Time) Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
‘No Water And Nothing To Eat’: Afghans Suffer Extreme Shocks From Global Climate Change
When Qudratullah lost his family’s farm in northern Afghanistan earlier this year, it was not because of war. It was due to a severe drought -- one of the extreme weather conditions in Afghanistan that is blamed on global climate change. The displaced 58-year-old once supported an extended family of 18 with the crops and cattle he raised on his land in the village of Beto in the Darzab district of Jowzjan Province.
Video Shows Taliban Using Remnants Of Bamiyan Buddhas For Target Practice
A video recorded recently in Afghanistan shows Taliban gunmen using the remnants of the Bamiyan Buddhas for target practice. The video is raising serious concerns about a pledge by the Taliban leadership to protect Afghanistan's cultural and historical treasures. Posted on social media, it shows members of the Taliban firing rocket-propelled grenades into one of the niches where giant Buddha statues had stood for more than 1,400 years until the Taliban reduced them to rubble in 2001.
‘Empty Shell’: Extreme Depression, Suicidal Thoughts Haunt Afghan Women Under Taliban Rule
Life has become a nightmare of despair for 22-year-old Maryam Rezaei since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan less than three months ago. In early August, before the Taliban stormed into her neighborhood in the western city of Herat, Rezaei was among more than 10,000 women who were studying at Herat University. She also earned money as a journalist at a local radio station.
Taliban Imposing 'Charity' Taxes On Farmers Who Need Aid
By Ron Synovitz, RFE/RL's Radio Azadi October 29, 2021 War, drought, and COVID have devastated farmers across Afghanistan. Now, Afghan farmers who've lost money trying to grow crops over the past year say the Taliban is dealing them another crippling blow. The cash-strapped regime is making them pay so-called charity taxes on their land and harvests, describing the payments as an obligation under Islamic law.
Taliban Imposing ‘Charity' Taxes On Farmers Who Need Aid
War, drought, and COVID have devastated farmers across Afghanistan. Now, Afghan farmers who've lost money trying to grow crops over the past year say the Taliban is dealing them another crippling blow. The cash-strapped regime is making them pay so-called charity taxes on their land and harvests, describing the payments as an obligation under Islamic law.
Afghan Teen, Sole Breadwinner For Family Of 30, Waits Desperately To See If Taliban Will Help
Like hundreds of families in Ghor Province who once survived on payments from Afghanistan’s former government, 14-year-old Ahmad Zia and his relatives have been devastated by the Taliban’s seizure of power. The men in Ahmad Zia’s extended family were members of an ethnic-Tajik Popular Uprising Force that fought the Taliban for years near their village of Qats on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Firuzkoh.
‘I Feel Like A Dead Fish’: Silenced By The Taliban, Afghanistan's Musicians Despair
Ahmad Gholami, a 25-year-old Afghan musician, had dedicated his life to the art of playing a sitar-like lute called the tanbur. But after nearly a decade mastering the instrument well enough to earn his living as a professional musician, the Taliban has banned music under its tribal interpretation of Islamic law.
Taliban 'Tribal Version': Shari'a Is Not The Same Everywhere
When the Taliban-led government says it is implementing Islamic law in Afghanistan, it is referring to its own strict Sunni interpretation of Shari'a. There is no universal Islamic law, because Shari'a is open to different interpretations among the five main schools of Islamic jurisprudence: four Sunni schools of thought and a Shi'ite school. Thus the Taliban's version of Islamic law differs from Shari'a in other predominantly Muslim countries, including other mostly Sunni countries.
Afghanistan's Former Prosecutors Hunted By Criminals They Helped Convict
KABUL -- Afghanistan's former prosecutors once worked to rid their country of its most dangerous criminals by building court cases to put them behind bars. Now, former prosecutors are hiding themselves from those same criminals -- the murderers and drug dealers who were freed by the Taliban when the militant group took over the country and released almost all convicted criminals from Afghanistan's prisons.
The Week's Best: Nine Stories You Need To Read (Or Watch)
Photo: Ladislav Krivan/iDNES.cz/Profimedia (©) Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
One Month In Power: Taliban Failing To Transform From Insurgency To Functional Government
It has been just a month since Taliban militants seized control of Kabul and declared Afghanistan as an "Islamic emirate" that will uphold the militant movement's interpretation of "Islamic rules and Shari'a law." But already, the new Taliban regime is struggling to deal with a series of political, social, and economic crises that are testing its ability to transform from a guerrilla insurgency into a functional government. By many accounts, the Taliban is failing the test.
Public Executions, Floggings ‘Inevitable’ Under Taliban Court Rulings, Says Scholar
A return to lurid public executions and floggings is inevitable in Afghanistan as the Taliban transforms the country’s court system under its strict interpretation of Islamic law, an Afghan legal scholar says. “We’re going to go back,” says Haroun Rahimi, an assistant law professor for the Kabul-based American University of Afghanistan.
The Week's Best: 9 Stories You Need To Read (Or Watch)
Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
Will The Taliban Stay United To Govern, Or Splinter Into Regional Fiefdoms?
As the Taliban transforms its military chain of command into a governing structure for Afghanistan, alliances and tribal configurations that kept two rival Taliban factions together in recent years are now being tested. "Conquering a country is always the easy part. Ruling it, in Afghanistan's case, is the difficult bit," says historian William Dalrymple, an expert on Pashtun tribal rivalries.
The Soviet Coup: News And Views As It Happened 30 Years Ago
1 A column of Soviet tanks in Moscow on August 20 was commanded by officers who backed the Kremlin coup leaders. 2 News of a change in power in the U.S.S.R. emerged early on August 19 when the state-run TASS news agency announced that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was unable to fulfill his duties for "health reasons." In fact, Gorbachev had been detained the day before while vacationing in Crimea and was being held there as a prisoner. 3 Portent from nature?
Who's Who In The Taliban? The Men Who Run The Extremist Group And How They Operate
With the Taliban in control of more than half of all districts in Afghanistan, promises made by Taliban political negotiators in Doha appear to be falling by the wayside. The movement’s so-called Political Affairs Commission in Doha had vowed in a February 2020 peace deal with the United States that the Taliban would respect human rights and keep foreign fighters out of the territory it controls.
How Top Officials, Relatives Scooped Up Kazakhstan's Higher-Education Sector
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Most of Kazakhstan’s 130 colleges and universities are owned either by high-level officials or their relatives, an investigation by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service has revealed. It’s a scenario that has developed since 1993 when post-Soviet reforms in the country’s higher-education sector first allowed private schools.
Pashinian's Surprising Landslide Victory Defies Armenian Opinion Polls
https://www.rferl.org – By Ron Synovitz Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s party has defied opinion polls ahead of Armenia’s June 20 snap elections in a landslide victory that gives it a parliamentary majority. Pashinian’s Civil Contract party won about 54 percent of the vote compared to about 21 percent for the opposition Armenia Alliance of former President Robert Kocharian.
Pashinian's Surprising Landslide Victory Defies Armenian Opinion Polls
Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s party has defied opinion polls ahead of Armenia's June 20 snap elections in a landslide victory that gives it a parliamentary majority. Pashinian’s Civil Contract party won about 54 percent of the vote compared to about 21 percent for the opposition Armenia Alliance of former President Robert Kocharian.
Armenia Votes For New Parliament, Braces For Possible Violence After 'Toxic' Campaign
YEREVAN -- Armenia's snap elections are aimed at resolving a political crisis that has engulfed the country since fighting last autumn in the war against Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, analysts warn that the results on June 20 could spark renewed political violence in the streets of Yerevan.
Report Warns Of 'Fragile' Prospects For Postwar Nagorno-Karabakh
When a Russian-brokered cease-fire brought an end to fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenian forces over the territory in November 2020, advancing Azerbaijani troops had gotten as far as her apple orchard. Now her backyard is cut in half by the new “line of contact” established under the truce. Soldiers from each side have dug trenches across her orchard within 40 meters of each other. An Azerbaijani flag flies on the hilltop overlooking her home.
Report Warns Of 'Fragile' Prospects For Postwar Nagorno-Karabakh
Elmira is the only woman who stays overnight in her neighborhood in the southern part of Nagorno-Karabakh. When a Russian-brokered cease-fire brought an end to fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenian forces over the territory in November 2020, advancing Azerbaijani troops had gotten as far as her apple orchard. Now her backyard is cut in half by the new "line of contact" established under the truce. Soldiers from each side have dug trenches across her orchard within 40 meters of each other.
Amazing Rise And Fall Of Century-Old Afghan Box Cameras
Seventy-year-old Haji Mirzaman laments as he fiddles with the wooden door on a beloved box camera he has used for 55 years.
Rights Abuses Imperil Pakistan's Exports To EU
When a Pakistani court sentenced a Christian couple in Punjab Province to death in 2014 over a blasphemous text message that they denied sending, the case caused an international outcry. Police never recovered the mobile phone or SIM card used to send the blasphemous remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.
The Week's Best: 9 RFE/RL Stories You Need To Read (Or Watch)
Photo: TOBIAS MARSCHALL (Courtesy Photo) Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days. Will Pamir Kyrgyz Leave The 'Roof Of The World'?
Will Pamir Kyrgyz Leave The 'Roof Of The World'?
Resettling an entire ethnic group in another country is a monumental task fraught with legal, political, and logistical complications. But that’s what Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov wants to do with 1,500 nomadic Pamir Kyrgyz who eke out a pastoral existence in the most remote corner of northeast Afghanistan. A century of isolation in the panhandle of Badakhshan Province has insulated the Pamir Kyrgyz from the decades of war that have ravaged Afghanistan.
Can Afghan Forces Hold Back The Taliban Without U.S., NATO Troops?
A powerful presence in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, the withdrawal of the last 2,500 U.S. troops from the war-torn country has U.S. intelligence chiefs and policy advisers concerned the Afghan military will be unable to hold off extremist Taliban forces by itself. And it won't just be U.S. forces that will be leaving.
Can New Election Laws Pull Armenia Out Of Its Political Crisis?
YEREVAN -- When Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian signed a Russian-brokered cease-fire in November to end the war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, it created a tumultuous postwar crisis that has eroded public confidence in Yerevan's political establishment. Opinion polls show the approval rating of Pashinian's government has fallen from about 60 percent in September 2020 to around 30 percent today.
Bulgaria's Powerful 'Potbelly' Vanishes From Political Scene Ahead Of Elections
SOFIA -- A controversial oligarch and media mogul in Bulgaria's parliament has disappeared from the forefront of the country's political scene ahead of general elections on April 4. Delyan Peevski -- known in Bulgaria by the nickname "Shishi" or "Potbelly" -- has been removed from the list of party candidates from his Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which is mostly made up of ethnic Turks.
Discovery Of Old Bones Raises Fresh Questions About Pakistani Journalist's Death
When Pakistani road workers discovered human remains on their construction site in North Waziristan in early March, they unearthed more than the bones of an elderly teacher who was abducted and killed 13 years ago. The victim, Muhammad Salam, was also a potential witness to the 2006 killing of Hayatullah Khan -- a journalist who had been reporting details of a military operation against Al-Qaeda militants sheltering in the area.
Blinding Blast Can’t Stop Former Afghan Policeman From Defusing Bombs
TARIN KOWT, Afghanistan -- Naqibullah lost his sight and his job as an Afghan policeman when an improvised explosive device (IED) he was defusing exploded in his face eight years ago. But being blind hasn't stopped the 39-year-old former police commander from sharing his expertise with police on demining work at the frontline checkpoints around his hometown of Tarin Kowt, the capital of the southern province of Uruzgan.
Purported Uzbek Crime Boss Takes Family Feud To Social Media
A reputed crime boss from Uzbekistan has spoken out on social media about a violent family feud that involves the former head of international amateur boxing who is reputed to be one of the world's leading drug kingpins.
Bulgarian Taxpayers Paying For Officials' Cheap Vacations
SOFIA -- Remnants of a communist-era hotel and resort network that once provided subsidized vacations for millions of Bulgarian workers still exist. But more than three decades after the collapse of communism, the legacy of Bulgaria's Soviet-style "recreation stations" is a perk enjoyed only by public officials and civil service employees. The rest of the country -- Bulgaria's taxpayers -- must pick up the tab for maintaining what is left of the system at a cost of more than $11 million a year.
Dying To Go Home: Displaced Azerbaijanis Risk Mines, Munitions To See Homeland
By Ron Synovitz –RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service Shakir Hajiyev was in his 30s when war forced him to flee his village, southeast of Nagorno-Karabakh, in the early 1990s. The arrival of ethnic Armenian forces in Asagi Seyidhamadli, in Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district, cost Hajiyev his home and his job with the local government.
Dying To Go Home: Displaced Azerbaijanis Risk Mines, Munitions To See Homeland
Shakir Hajiyev was in his 30s when war forced him to flee his village, southeast of Nagorno-Karabakh, in the early 1990s. The arrival of ethnic Armenian forces in Asagi Seyidhamadli, in Azerbaijan's Fuzuli district, cost Hajiyev his home and his job with the local government.
The Week's Best: 10 RFE/RL Stories You Need To Read (Or Watch)
Hungary -- Photos of the rooftop creatures of Budapest Photo: Amos Chapple (RFE/RL) Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
Fear And Loathing Vs. Trade Across The Armenian-Azerbaijani Border
https://www.rferl.org-By Ron Synovitz–Susan Badaliian The Armenian flag flies over part of the border village of Shurnukh — except for 12 houses. SHURNUKH, Armenia — As a shop owner in Armenia’s southern province of Syunik, Lusine Aleksanian sells produce, bread, cheese, juice, cigarettes, and alcohol. Just a few meters from her shop in the village of Shurnukh is the border with Azerbaijan.
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