The Federalist:

The worst perpetrator of religious persecution is no longer North Korea or China. The most difficult and dangerous place to be a Christian is now Afghanistan, according to a recent report by Open Doors USA. Afghanistan takes the lead thanks to its recent seizure by the Islamic militant group, the Taliban, which violently enforces its peculiar brand of Muslim extremism.

The total number of Christians in Afghanistan is estimated to be between 10,000 and 12,000, and almost all are converts from Islam. The Taliban forbid the conversion of Muslims to Christianity. Those who do risk being tried and convicted of apostasy, the punishment for which is death according to their interpretation of sharia law. Given widespread reports that the Taliban are already responsible for a hundred extrajudicial killings since their capture of the country last summer, it’s also very possible that Afghan Christians will be murdered prior to trial.

See also: As Afghanistan Starves, The Pundit Class Turns Away

The Wall Street Journal:

Afghanistan’s Taliban are battling a rebellion by ethnic minority fighters in their own ranks in the country’s north, a sign that ties are fraying within the alliance built by the Islamist group that seized control of the country in August.

Some Uzbeks who joined the Taliban, which is dominated by Pashtuns from the country’s south and east, along with other Uzbeks, fought Taliban forces in Faryab province this week.

Stars And Stripes:

The country’s new rulers, cut off from most international aid as well as Afghan government assets held in U.S. accounts, have scant resources to protect millions of vulnerable people against another harsh winter. Aid groups estimate that nearly 23 million Afghans, out of a total population of 39 million, already do not have enough to eat. Many also lack solid shelter and money to heat their homes at night, forcing them to choose between food and fuel, and creating additional potential for a full-fledged humanitarian disaster, aid officials said.

The New Yorker:

Pregnant women across Afghanistan are increasingly malnourished, and their bodies, unable to carry their babies to full term, give birth prematurely. Meagre diets then leave new mothers unable to breast-feed. “A lot of babies are premature,” Abdul Jabad, a pediatrician in his late twenties, told me. “Some survive. Some not.”

NPR:

The aid-dependent country’s economy was already teetering when the Taliban seized power in mid-August amid a chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops. The international community froze Afghanistan’s assets abroad and halted all funding, unwilling to work with a Taliban government given its reputation for brutality during its previous rule 20 years ago.

The consequences have been devastating for a country battered by four decades of war, a punishing drought and the coronavirus pandemic. Legions of state employees, including doctors, haven’t been paid in months. Malnutrition and poverty stalk the most vulnerable, and aid groups say more than half the population faces acute food shortages.

Al Jazeera:

The Taliban has dissolved Afghanistan’s election commission, a panel that supervised polls during the previous Western-backed administration, says a spokesman for the government.

“There is no need for these commissions to exist and operate,” spokesman Bilal Karimi said on Saturday, referring to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission.

“If we ever feel a need, the Islamic Emirate will revive these commissions.”

See also: For Afghanistan, 2021 Brought An End To One Horror—And The Beginning Of Another

Washington Examiner:

Tens of millions of Afghans do not have access to food, and that number is expected to increase during the winter months as the economic situation exacerbates the crisis.

Roughly 22.8 million Afghans, more than half the country’s population, are expected to face “acute food insecurity” from last month through March 2022, according to projections from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. That would mark a 35% increase from the same time period a year earlier, It would also be the highest ever for the country, with 8.7 million people facing emergency-level food insecurity.

Within that population, more than 3 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year, with a million of them at risk of death, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization projected last month, according to Reuters.

See also: Taliban Welcomes US Decision To Facilitate Humanitarian Assistance To Afghanistan

NBC News:

A State Department official involved in relocation efforts confirmed that flights have stopped. “We are hopeful that flights will resume shortly, though as usual, winter weather conditions and airport operations remain additional factors to be aware of.”

At issue are U.S.-chartered Qatar Airways flights that had been running between Kabul and Doha. The Taliban began demanding several seats on the flights for Taliban fighters and sympathizers to leave the country so they can work in other countries and send desperately needed money back to Afghanistan, according to a congressional official and the source familiar with the matter. The country’s economy is in tatters, and millions of Afghans are short of food as temperatures drop.

The Taliban’s argument is that they run the country and that it is their airspace and airport the Qataris are using, so they should get a certain number of seats on the flights.

See also: Taliban Top Leader Orders Orientation For Those Looking To Leave Afghanistan

Reuters:

Islamic countries pledged on Sunday to set up a humanitarian trust fund for Afghanistan as, with millions facing hunger and a harsh winter setting in, Pakistan’s prime minister warned of chaos if the worsening emergency was not urgently addressed.

The crisis is causing mounting alarm but the international response has been muted, given Western reluctance to help the Taliban government, which seized power in August.

See also:
–I Just Returned From Afghanistan – Few Words Can Describe The Humanitarian Catastrophe Unfurling
–India, Central Asian Nations Vow To Fight Afghanistan Terror
–The Americans Stuck In Afghanistan

CNN:

The Taliban have rejected the UN’s findings, saying there was “no proof” of the allegations. The group announced a general amnesty from August 15 and insisted that no one had been harmed after that.

The Taliban’s deputy spokesman, Bilal Karimi, told CNN that they did not punish anyone who had worked with the former government nor with ISIS without a court judgment. “All personnel of [the] former government are living normally in Afghanistan, no one hurts them,” he said, adding that people only “get killed when they are in direct fights with the Islamic Emirate.”

La Prensa Latina:

Taliban supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered officials in Afghanistan on Wednesday to provide the necessary guidance to dissuade those trying to leave the country, allegedly putting Islam at risk.

“The Afghans who leave the country for western countries will face moral and humanitarian problems there, such as bad situations on their way, and camps, and biased programs endangering their beliefs, morals, and spiritual values,” Akhundzada said in a statement.

In this context, the Taliban’s supreme leader ordered provincial governors, relevant officials, and religious scholars to meet directly with Afghans trying to leave and listen to their problems and help them find solutions.

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.