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 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

 United Nations - May 14, 2025
{Funding cuts in Afghanistan mean ‘lives lost and lives less lived’
In a remote village clinic in the Bamyan Province in Afghanistan last week, a group of teenage girls were given potentially life-saving reproductive
health advice, excited by the small kit of menstrual supplies they had been given. Many women came to the clinic who had walked multiple hours to
receive maternal care – some of them with their newborns and some heavily pregnant. And then there were the health workers themselves, committed to serving those in need in hard-to-reach areas of the impoverished Taliban-controlled nation. ‘Off the radar’ These were some of the scenes witnessed up close by Andrew Saberton, Deputy Executive Director with the UN’s reproductive health agency (UNFPA), on a mission to assess the impact of the recent steep funding cuts. “I saw and understood the devastating impacts that the massive cuts to UNFPA
will have in one of the world’s greatest humanitarian crises, a crisis which may be off the radar of the news but remains one of the world’s greatest
crises,” Mr. Saberton told journalists in New York on Wednesday. During his trip, the senior official visited UN-supported services in Kabul, Bamyan
and the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He hoped to understand the difference that UNFPA is making in Afghanistan while also getting a
better sense of the impact of funding cuts.
Budget slashed
The United States has recently announced cuts of approximately $330 million to UNFPA worldwide, $102 million of which will directly impact UNFPA’s
work in Afghanistan, according to Mr. Saberton. Most of this funding would have been used towards the provision of family health and mobile care,
both of which are essential in Afghanistan which already has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. This funding would also have
gone towards the providing much needed psychosocial support. He estimates that 6.9 million women and children in Afghanistan will be affected by
the cuts. Moreover, UNFPA will only be able to support approximately 400 of the current 900 health clinics that it supports in Afghanistan, each of
which provides life-saving care.
Providing aid with few resources
Despite these challenges, Saberton emphasized that UNFPA will remain in Afghanistan and will continue providing life-saving care.
“UNFPA will be staying to deliver, but we cannot sustain our response without help. We need urgent support to keep these services running and to
protect the dignity, health and lives of Afghan women and newborns,” he said.}
Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/05/1163266

And

Zantimes - May 14, 2025 - By: Khadija Haidary
{Reports
Taliban dismisses hundreds of female professors from public universities in Afghanistan
The Taliban has dismissed hundreds of female professors from public universities across Afghanistan, in a move that also affected some male staff
but primarily targeted women. The move has sent shockwaves through the academic community and extinguished remaining hopes for the restoration
of women’s roles in Afghanistan’s higher education system. The dismissals have been communicated unofficially and without written notice, according to multiple academics who spoke to Zan Times under pseudonyms for fear of retribution. Najia, a professor with two decades of experience at Balkh University in northern Afghanistan, said she learned of her termination on Monday, May 12, after sending a routine inquiry to her department head about an academic article. “I received no reply, so I called,” she said. “He told me, ‘I have bad news. You are among those dismissed.’ I couldn’t control my tears. I have taught for 23 years, never taken maternity leave, never missed a term.” Najia’s case is one of hundreds across the country. Most professors were not formally notified; instead, they found their positions eliminated by word of mouth or after being barred from entering university grounds. In Kabul University alone, over 60 positions held by women have been eliminated, according to former faculty members.
Departments such as literature, psychology, veterinary science, and foreign languages have seen the majority of their female staff dismissed. “In
many faculties, only two or three women remain, and even they have been told their posts will be reopened for male applicants,” said Shahnaz, a
professor at Kabul University. The wave of terminations is the latest blow to women academics, who have faced increasing restrictions since the
Taliban banned women from university campuses in December 2022. In the months that followed, many female professors were forced to stay at their homes and paid only a fraction of their former salaries. Since June 2024, the Taliban has slashed the salaries of female government workers who were removed from active duty, including women academics. Once earning over 40,000 Afghanis per month, many professors received a flat 5,000 Afghanis regardless of rank or experience. To protest this policy, a petition signed by more than 100 female professors from 34 provinces was submitted to Taliban leadership in September 2024. The letter emphasised the long-term harm of dismantling decades of investment in academic women, warning that “training a university lecturer takes 30 years,” and that the forced removals and decrease of salaries were causing both financial and psychological distress. The Ministry of Higher Education has not responded, and sources say the minister has refused to sign or acknowledge the letter. While the Taliban initially claimed that women’s education was only temporarily suspended pending the creation of a “safe and Islamic environment,” the subsequent two years have seen the erosion of nearly all female participation in higher education and public administration. Zarghona, a 32-year-old lecturer from Kandahar province in the south, said she has been forced into low-skilled work after being banned from her university post. “Now I register patients in a hospital,” she said. “It’s not what I studied for, but I have no choice.” Others, such as Fatima, 46, a scholar with a master’s degree and multiple academic publications, now work as tailors to support their families. “I spent ten years teaching social sciences and guiding students’ theses,” she said. “Now I sit behind a sewing machine from morning to night, just to forget the days slipping by.” Afghanistan’s academic sector has been severely undermined by Taliban policies, with nearly one in four professors at the country’s three largest universities—Kabul, Herat, and Balkh—leaving the country since the group’s return to power, according to the BBC. Those who remain say they face not only professional ruin, but growing hostility from society. “Even former male colleagues no longer greet us the same way,” said Soheila, a former lecturer in the north. “Some look away. Others say, ‘These days will pass,’ but it’s hard to believe that anymore.”
Names have been changed for security reasons. Khadija Haidary is Zan Times journalist}
Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/05/14/taliban-dismisses-hundreds-of-female-professors-from-public-universities-in-afghanistan/

And

Zantimes - May 13, 2025 - By: Mohammad Qasim Erfani
{Opinion - The objectives and consequences of Pakistan’s three decades of support for terrorism
Pakistan has long been accused by neighbours, particularly India and Afghanistan, of supporting terrorism. Officials in Islamabad have consistently
denied these allegations. Recently, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Pakistan’s defence minister, implicitly acknowledged that his country supported
terrorism for three decades by saying, “We have been doing this dirty work” for the West, in an interview with Sky News after a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people in a tourist town. This is the most explicit admission by a high-ranking Pakistani official. Subsequently, former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari added, “It’s not a secret that Pakistan has a past as far as extremist groups are concerned.” Both politicians talked about how Pakistan has suffered for its actions. The statements by Asif and Bhutto have sparked widespread reactions, including in
Afghanistan, especially amid heightened tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad following that deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir.Since its
inception in 1947, Pakistan has had tense relations with two of its neighbours: India and Afghanistan. Its main point of contention with India is over
control of Jammu and Kashmir while the disagreement over the Durand Line has been at the root of tensions with Afghanistan. India and Pakistan
have fought four wars in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. Even outside these conflicts, relations have frequently been marked by high tension. Pakistan
pursued three strategic actions in its confrontation with India: Acquire nuclear weapons: Pakistan conducted its first nuclear test in 1998, while India
had already become a nuclear power in 1974Support jihadist groups and adopt an anti-India foreign policy: Pakistan armed, funded, and trained jihadist and terrorist groupsForeign policy manoeuvres: Pakistan sought to build alliances at three levels: with global powers, within the Islamic world, and across the region, aiming to rally support against India and Afghanistan. At the same time, Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan has never been friendly, even coming close to war at times. Border clashes are considered routine — even in the past four years, during which Afghanistan has been under the control of the Taliban, which have long been allies of Pakistan. While the root of the long-term tensions between the two countries lies in the Durand Line, Afghanistan’s ties with India and Pakistan’s regional hegemony-seeking behaviour have also contributed to tensions. In July 1949, two years after Pakistan’s formation, the Afghan parliament unilaterally annulled the Durand Line agreement. Since then, successive governments in Kabul have refused to formally recognize its demarcation line as the border. For its part, Pakistan treats Afghanistan as its “younger brother” and part of its strategic sphere of influence in the region. Throughout its political history, Pakistan has tried to pressure Kabul’s governments to:
Align its foreign policy in regard to India with Pakistan’s interests
Drop any territorial claims related to the Durand Line
Give Pakistan the upper hand in training Afghanistan’s military and security forces
As successive Afghan governments — from the reign of King Zahir Shah to the fall of the Islamic Republic in 2021 — did not comply with Pakistan’s
demands, Pakistan supported insurgent, jihadist, and terrorist groups to exert pressure or destabilize successive governments in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s jihadis:
An opportunity for Pakistan With the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the early 1980s, the Western world along with Islamic and Arab countries
reacted by supporting jihadist Islamist groups who would oppose the Soviets. As the host of these jihadist groups and the main executor of the jihad
project, Pakistan strategically linked its cooperation with the West to the Islamic holy war. This allowed Pakistan to more effectively pursue its
strategic objectives regarding India and Afghanistan. Even before the jihad project, Pakistan sought to place itself at the forefront of the West’s
security belt by joining alliances such as SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization, which operated from 1954 to 1977) and the Baghdad Pact
(1955-1979). But the jihad in Afghanistan created an opportunity to deepen these partnerships — and gave them a religious dimension. Within this
framework, religious schools (madrasas) promoting religious extremism expanded rapidly across Pakistan. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) took
control of distributing financial resources from the West and Arab countries to jihadist groups. In 1975, around 100,000 students were enrolled in
madrasas across Pakistan. By 1998, more than 540,000 students in Punjab province alone were studying in these religious schools. In the polarized
climate of the Cold War — where Afghanistan was absorbed into the Soviet bloc and India was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement —
Pakistan forged strategic partnerships with the Soviet rivals of United States and China as well as India, to some extent. Simultaneously, it used
funding from Arab states to promote religious extremism, seeing the jihad project as potentially useful in the Kashmir conflict as well. With support
from America’s CIA and Pakistan’s ISI, the mujahedeen eventually defeated the Soviet-installed Afghan government of Mohammad Najibullah.
However, they failed to establish a stable replacement government . Amid the chaos of the mujahedeen’s internal civil wars, al-Qaeda — composed
mainly of Afghan Arabs — was formed, and the Taliban emerged from mid-level commanders of jihadist groups such as Harakat-e-Inqilab. A wide
range of students from Pakistan’s religious schools joined the Taliban. With promises of security and rule of law, the Taliban took control of
Afghanistan and ruled for four years. Up to that point, Pakistan had achieved remarkable success against its neighbours.
The difficulty of containing a fire of one’s own makingPakistan’s ability to continue to reap the benefits of the jihad project was not guaranteed. The September 11, 2001 attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States and the Taliban’s refusal to hand over al-Qaeda leaders to the Bush administration placed Pakistan in a difficult position of having to choose between the West or the very jihadist protégés it had nurtured. In 2001, Pakistan sided with the United States, but by 2003 it had resumed support for its jihadist partners. The withdrawal of U.S. and NATO-led forces from Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban’s return to power were seen as another strategic victory for Pakistan. Yet, the increase in terrorist attacks within Pakistan, the Taliban’s refusal to suppress Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ongoing border clashes, and the Taliban’s growing ties with India have once again placed Pakistan in a challenging position. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, there are currently 45 active terrorist and insurgent groups operating in Pakistan — most of which emerged after the 1980s as a result of the global jihad project. The U.S. Department of Defense’s annual report estimated that terrorist attacks in Pakistan increased by more than 50 percent in 2023, compared to the previous year. Data from the portal also shows that at least 754 members of the Pakistani security forces were killed in 2024 — the highest number in more than a decade. Moreover, the report confirms that in the first five months of 2025, the casualties among security forces in Pakistan have already exceeded the total number recorded in all of 2021.
Pakistan finds itself facing three irreparable consequences by its long-term support of terrorism:
Its international image has become inseparably tied to terrorism, and repairing this it will require a new approach and time. The terrorist and
extremist groups nurtured within Pakistan’s own institutions have slipped beyond its control and brought the flames of violence back home. The
Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan has inspired Pakistan’s most powerful terrorist group, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to pursue the establishment of
an Islamic Emirate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Mohammad Qasim Erfani was a former university professor in Kabul and an international relations researcher and writer.}
Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/05/13/the-objectives-and-consequences-of-pakistans-three-decades-of-support-for-terrorism/

And

pic
Being a refugee in a rapidly changing world
Zantimes - May 12, 2025 - By: Younus Negah
{Opinion
Being a refugee in a rapidly changing world
No one knows exactly how many Afghans are refugees. International organizations and host countries offer different figures, and at times, those
numbers are more political statements than accurate data. For example, the estimates of the Afghan migrant population in Iran range from four
million to eight or even 10 million, depending on the source. What is clear is that a large segment of Afghanistan’s population is living in exile.
Millions of Afghans live around the world. If they were to form a country, their population would surpass that of influential countries such Qatar, the
United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, or Israel. Some migrants have been fortunate to find refuge in safer corners of the world and have rebuilt their lives
with new jobs and homes. Others struggle for survival. Given that our homeland has been turned into a prison by the Taliban, migration — even to
Iran or Pakistan — is considered a privilege. Though fleeing the Taliban emirate is seen as liberation and progress, the burden of deprivation does not easily let go. Most refugees must face death multiple times before finally reaching a safe destination. Many others are wounded, killed or disappear during their attempts. According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 72,000 people – including 5,000 Afghans – have died or gone missing on migration routes in the past decade. When these migrants reach a place safer than Afghanistan, the immediate threat of hunger and death may subside but their fear of deportation and the exhausting struggle for integration is only beginning. Even arrival in Western countries does not mean the end of the fight for survival as Afghan migrants must often spend years trying to gain acceptance. The recent (and later denied) rumours of a Swiss plan to deport Pashtun migrants, and the recurring tensions among Afghans themselves — about who is truly deserving of asylum and who is “faking victimhood” — offer a glimpse of the psychological pressures that Afghan migrants endure. Given the current situation in Afghanistan, people will continue to leave, even if a normal government were to replace the Taliban. Establishing the political and economic stability needed to make staying in Afghanistan more appealing than leaving will take time. Therefore, the fate of migrants will remain a national issue for years to come. Of course, migration is a global issue, and the conditions of migrants have a significant impact on the world economy as a whole. According to estimates published last year by international labour organizations, there were 284.5 million migrants around the world in 2022 — equivalent to 3 percent of the global population. Of this number, 255.7 million were of working age, and 167.7 million were considered part of the active labour force. To understand the significance of this workforce, consider that the total labour force of the world’s largest economy, the United States, was slightly under 170 million people in 2022. In that year, 155.6 million migrants were employed, and only 12.3 million were either unemployed, working in informal jobs, or actively searching for work. This massive population plays a crucial role in the global economy. In terms of skills and capabilities, migrants are among the most diverse and active labour forces in the world. They contribute to the global economy by working across all sectors — from universities, research centers, and government offices to physically demanding and often underpaid labor in mines, municipalities, and farms — all while often enduring harsh conditions and low expectations. While working as hard as possible, a large portion of migrants live without legal protections. Even in advanced societies — where politicians understand the vital role that migrants play in keeping the economic machine running, and where laws have been eased to attract this wandering workforce — the threat of xenophobia and deportation always looms migrants. The fate of migrants is especially grim for those who have taken refuge in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. Sadly, a sizable portion of the millions-strong migrant labour force in those regions is treated like modern-day slaves. In addition, the overall conditions being endured by migrants around the world may become even more turbulent in the years ahead. This upheaval stems from the rapidly changing global landscape and depends on how individual countries and societies manage technological transformations and massive market shifts. Some experts argue that today’s world is undergoing a transition comparable to the shift from agricultural to industrial economies — except this time, the transformation is unfolding far more rapidly and with potentially more startling consequences. In parts of the world where governments control markets and technology, societies are in a process of reconstruction, preparing to enter a new and uncertain era. As tools of labour and capital evolve in the years ahead, so do values and social relationships. Some migrant-receiving societies feel these changes more acutely than others because they are more advanced and more dependent on technology. Change can bring tension and anxiety, and politicians often seek scapegoats to channel public frustration — targeting minorities, “foreigners,” and those perceived to be “outsiders.” Migrants, especially those who have significant cultural differences from host communities, can become the easiest and most defenseless targets during election seasons, economic downturns, or periods of rising unemployment. In such situations, solidarity among Afghan migrants — and a commitment to supporting each other rather than creating obstacles or false accusations — is not just desirable but is urgently needed.
Younus Negah is a researcher and writer from Afghanistan who is currently in exile in Turkey.}
Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/05/12/being-a-refugee-in-a-rapidly-changing-world/

And

Jinha - Womens News Center - May 9, 2025 - By BAHARIN LEHIB
{Afghans living in fear of being deported from Pakistan
Nearly one million Afghan migrants have been deported from Pakistan and returned to Afghanistan over the past 18 months. The challenges faced by
Afghan nationals living in Pakistan have become a humanitarian tragedy.
Pakistan- The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1978 started a wave of migration from Afghanistan to European countries, the USA and neighboring
countries, especially Pakistan and Iran. Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have fled
to their country and sought refuge in Pakistan and Iran in fear of death. More than 3.5 million Afghans have been living in Pakistan, including around
700,000 people who came after the Taliban takeover in 2021, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN estimates that
half are undocumented. The government of Pakistan launched the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP) in September 2023. Nearly one million
Afghan migrants have been deported from Pakistan and returned to Afghanistan over the past 18 months, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Nearly 60,000 Afghans have been forced to leave Pakistan since the start of April, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Some experts think that the reason for the deportation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan is the tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 while some think that the reason is the Taliban’s relations with India. Pakistan blames Afghan nationals living in Pakistan for helping the Taliban. Soniya Karimi, an Afghan children’s rights defender, fled from Afghanistan to Pakistan for “security reasons”. “We passed through the Torkham border crossing by giving money to a smuggler who had a good relationship both with the Taliban and Pakistani police. We left Afghanistan because we were no longer safe there. We came to Pakistan in hope of having a free and safe life. But now, we live in Pakistan as if we are in a prison,” said Soniya Karimi, an undocumented Afghan migrant living in Pakistan. Soniya Karimi also commented on the recent deportation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan. “Pakistani police raid homes of Afghans, arrest them and send them back to Afghanistan or release them after taking a large sum of money.” The documented Afghans living in Pakistan cannot easily find housing or jobs, Soniya Karimi told NuJINHA. “Afghans nationals live in fear of being deported.” The story of Soniya is only one of the stories of Afghan nationals living in Pakistan. They have no safety and face threats of being deported at any time while the international community remains silent against this humanitarian crisis.}
Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/afghans-living-in-fear-of-being-deported-from-pakistan-36993?page=1

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