Nadene Goldfoot
"Acts of frenzied terror already are being unleashed in Taliban occupied areas and mirror the summary executions of Christians, of women and children buried alive, of people crucified, of American journalists beheaded and of the enslavement and mass rape of Yazidi women that occurred throughout Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State – all committed to the sound of the Arabic war cry, Allahu Akbar, (Allah is Greater)." Renew America
Adultery, false accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse, wine or general alcohol drinking, theft and highway robbery generally fall under hudud, meaning perpetrators can be flogged, stoned, amputated, exiled or executed.
The Taliban follows a narrow and extreme version of Sharia characterised by its public executions and amputations, banning music, television and videos and beating men who failed to pray five times a day or cut their beards. 
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban vowed Tuesday to respect women’s rights, forgive those who fought them and ensure Afghanistan does not become a haven for terrorists as part of a publicity blitz aimed at reassuring world powers and a fearful population.
The Taliban said earlier this year it wanted a “genuine Islamic system” for Afghanistan that would make provisions for women’s and minority rights, in line with cultural traditions and religious rules.
Afghan women wait to receive free wheat donated by the Afghan government during a quarantine, amid concerns about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Kabul, Afghanistan April 21, 2020. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo To do that, we see they had to don the burkha for their clothing. It does help as a huge mask, though. 
Taliban insists on only men in banks, no women working there.
Aug 15 (Reuters) - In early July, as Taliban insurgents were seizing territory from government forces across Afghanistan, fighters from the group walked into the offices of Azizi Bank in the southern city of Kandahar and ordered nine women working there to leave. "It's really strange to not be allowed to get to work, but now this is what it is," Noor Khatera, a 43-year-old woman who had worked in the accounts department of the bank told Reuters. "I taught myself English and even learned how to operate a computer, but now I will have to look for a place where I can just work with more women around."However, the group’s plans to end mixed-gender education and escorting nine women working in a bank home and telling them their male relatives could take their places earlier this month have fueled fears a return to the hardline movement will reverse the past two decades of progress. So far, the Taliban are in denial and say they will not bring that back.
Women were required to wear burqas and were prevented from accessing healthcare administered by a man under the previous Taliban rule, while girls could not attend school.
A Taliban spokesman yesterday went so far as to say, “We have reached what we were seeking, which is the freedom of our country and the independence of our people.” I say, what freedom? They will force all to live under Sharia Law even though they are all Muslims. They bring the most severe side of the religion. There is no freedom in their rigid ways. Freedom to Taliban is to be free of Russia and the USA and have their own way with their people; to impose Sharia Law at its fullest.
Yet, the dark mark of that deal and the reality facing the international community is that the Taliban, despite its political rhetoric about change and peace, continues to demonstrate its regressive policies on women’s rights, its lack of authority over diffuse factions, and, perhaps most importantly as it relates to the origin of the Taliban’s international status as a pariah organization, its continued ties with al-Qaeda.
" In 2019, the Taliban and the affiliated HQN increased terrorist attacks targeting Afghan civilians, government officials, and members of the international community.
Additionally, ISIS-K continued to attack civilians and especially targeted religious minorities. The enemy-initiated attack trend in 2019 defied its usual seasonal pattern; while in most years, such attacks decrease in cold-weather months, they remained consistently high following the summer fighting season. ISIS-K, elements of al-Qa’ida, including affiliate AQIS, and terrorist groups targeting Pakistan, such as TTP, continued to use the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region as a safe haven. Afghanistan is also the only member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS from South and Central Asia.
2019 Terrorist Incidents: Attacks attributed to terrorist activity continued to increase in 2019. While the majority of attacks occurred in Kabul, Jalalabad, cities in Afghanistan, and other major population centers, incidents also targeted Highway 1 (Afghanistan’s national Ring Road highway). Militants conducted high-profile attacks through complex assaults involving multiple attackers wearing suicide vests to target ANDSF, Afghan government buildings, foreign governments, and soft civilian targets to include international organizations. According to Resolute Support Mission reporting, between January 1 and September 30, insurgent and terrorist attacks were responsible for 1,618 civilians killed and an additional 4,958 wounded. Among the significant terrorist incidents in 2019 were:
- On May 8, the Taliban attacked USAID-funded, U.S.-based aid organization Counterpart International in Kabul, killing four civilians and a policeman, and wounding 24 others. All attackers were killed after a six-hour battle with Afghan security forces.
- On July 1, a Taliban attack against the Afghan National Army Logistic and Armory Directorate involved a VBIED and five gunmen attacking the compound. The attack killed 40 civilians and wounded more than 100, including men, women, and children, in an adjacent school.
- On August 17, ISIS-K conducted a suicide bombing that targeted Shi’ite celebrants in a wedding hall in Kabul, killing at least 80 people and injuring more than 140.
- On September 2, the Taliban detonated a suicide car bomb at a facility in Kabul that housed numerous international organizations, killing 16 people and injuring more than 119. Those killed included five Nepalis, two Britons, and a Romanian diplomat.
- On September 5, the Taliban detonated a suicide car bomb in Kabul killing 12 people, including an American paratrooper and a Romanian soldier. The explosion also injured more than 40.
- On December 11, the Taliban conducted an attack on a hospital adjoining Bagram Airfield killing two and wounding 80 others, mostly civilians. No Coalition fatalities were reported."
- The GOP has pulled a webpage praising Donald Trump over his administration’s “historic peace agreement with the Taliban.” The page, which has been archived here, was first instated in the midst of last year’s presidential election.
- So, by February 2, 2020 when Donald Trump was president of the USA, Trump signed a preliminary peace agreement with the Taliban. The Taliban agreed not to use Afghanistan for terrorism and in return, Trump said he'd pull out the 5,000 troops in 135 days. The Taliban and the Afghan government began peace talks as part of the deal. The talks included the subject of disarming terrorist groups, rights of women, minorities, an permanent ceasefire.
- The Taliban takeover yesterday was a forced one with the president of Afghanistan fleeing for his life , the first to leave. If he couldn't trust the Taliban, why should others?
- Yesterday, almost 20 years since the fall of the Taliban in September of 2001, the world watched in horror as the Taliban took the Presidential Palace in Kabul – the last symbol of control held by the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The news cycle has been filled with stories asking how and whether the Taliban has changed since 2001, how they have taken control so quickly, and what is next for Afghanistan and its people.
- Efforts to restore a synagogue are underway in Herat, Afghanistan, according to The Jerusalem Post. According to Ghulam Sakhi, a caretaker of heritage sites in Afghanistan, out of the six synagogues that remain standing in Herat, “one was given to be as a school, another was given to be turned into a mosque and four that were badly damaged were set to be restored.”
- Zablon Simintov, an Afghan Jew, blows the traditional shofar, or ram's horn, at a synagogue in Kabul. (file photo) Simintov is not the only one leaving his homeland, which in the mid-20th century boasted a 40,000-strong Jewish community.“If the situation in the country gets worse, I will escape,” Simintov told Reuters. He has family in Israel.
- Mindful of Afghanistan's conservative Muslim culture, Zabulon Simintov tries not to advertise his identity to protect the kebab cafe he opened four years ago. He plans to leave Afghanistan now, being the only Jew who had remained in Afghanistan to take care of his synagogue. ( https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-47885738 )
- As advisors to Pakistan's PM Imran Khan resort to antisemitic slurs to delegitimize more evidence of contacts with Israel, a strange, contradictory geopolitical quadrangle will actually decide potential recognition: the Taliban, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Israel. He's denying that he made a trip to Israel and Pakistan is in a fury. Last year’s report about the Pakistani delegation to Tel Aviv came days after reports resurfaced that Saudi Arabia was pressurizing Pakistan to formalize relations with Israel. Senior military and diplomatic officials who told me at the time that Saudi Arabia was arm-twisting Pakistan over Israel, also confirmed then that Pakistani officials had indeed visited Israel. The fact is, diplomatic and military engagements between Pakistan and Israel have been a regular occurrence, even in past decades when formalizing ties between the two countries was inconceivable." Will this also happen with the Taliban in Afghanistan?
- Medieval Bulgaria particularly the city of Sofia, was the administrative center of almost all Ottoman possessions in the Balkans also known as Rumelia.
- The one thing I have noted is that those in Taliban who were interviewed on TV stated that the goal is to spread Islam to the whole world. They mean to take over the whole world as they tried so long ago to do. "The Ottoman Empire began its expansion into Europe by taking the European portions of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries up until the 1453 capture of Constantinople, establishing Islam as the state religion in the region."
- Resource:
- https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/FMfcgzGkZsrVlpgFVMqScbVngvZkNMpj
- https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2019/afghanistan/
- https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1427018983379640323/photo/1
- https://www.justsecurity.org/77786/in-afghanistan-lest-we-forget/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Europe#:~:text=The%20Ottoman%20Empire%20began%20its,state%20religion%20in%20the%20region.
- https://inews.co.uk/news/world/sharia-law-what-meaning-countries-women-taliban-afghanistan-explained-1154160
- https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-women-bankers-forced-roles-taliban-takes-control-2021-08-13/
- https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/the-taliban-will-decide-if-pakistan-recognizes-israel-1.9953445
- https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/efforts-underway-to-restore-synagogue-in-afghanistan-in-latest-in-a-series-across-middle-east-2-2-2020
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