LONDON: A former US military commander has warned that the Taliban has allowed al-Qaeda to return and let Daesh become “very dangerous” amid a devastating situation in Afghanistan in the 12 months since US troops withdrew.
“Gen. David Petraeus said that since the departure of Western forces, the country was back in the 8th or 9th century, with the new regime applying an ‘ultra-Orthodox’ view of Islam,” a report in The Guardian newspaper According to which was cited. He gave an interview to Times Radio.
The report said the West “left behind hundreds of thousands of people whose safety was put at risk because of their service in the Afghan government or work with Western troops.”
“I think it is still a sad, heartbreaking and frankly disastrous situation. Clearly the Taliban have allowed al-Qaeda to return. The Islamic State appears to be very dangerous,” Petraeus told the terrorist organization Daesh. Said using an alternate name for.
“The economy has collapsed, many people are literally starving and the Taliban regime has implemented an ultra-Orthodox vision of Islam that dates the country back to the 8th or 9th century … and in which women There is little opportunity to contribute to the economy, the business world, even to society.
He added: “The vast majority of coalition forces that were training and aiding in the country until last summer wanted to stay.”
The Guardian said intelligence chiefs had “previously warned that withdrawing from the country could undermine the ability of Britain and the United States to obtain an accurate picture of terrorist activity on the ground.”
The Guardian said that since the departure of US-led Western troops on August 31 last year and the resultant Taliban takeover, warnings and threats from the West about its actions have been ignored, and British security agencies has great concern that it will continue to allow a resurgence of extremist groups, particularly al-Qaeda “who may exploit a security void.”
Petraeus also said that a number of resources were used to launch attacks against men who pose a threat, including al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was killed this month in a US drone strike on his base in the Afghan capital, Kabul. it was done. ,
Nearly 60 percent of journalists in Afghanistan have lost their jobs or fled the country since the Taliban takeover, according to a survey published Friday by Reporters Without Borders.
The France-based non-governmental organization said that 219 of the country’s 547 media organizations have closed in the past year and women are the worst affected, 76 percent of whom have lost their jobs. The survey found that only 656 women journalists are still working in the country, most of whom are in Kabul, up from 2,756 a year ago.
“Journalism has been wiped out in Afghanistan over the past year,” said Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders. “The authorities must pledge to end the violence and harassment inflicted on media personnel, and let them do their jobs without tampering.”
Women working in the media are often accused of immorality to be removed from their posts.
“The living and working conditions of women journalists in Afghanistan have always been difficult, but today we are facing an unprecedented situation,” journalist Mina Habib told Reporters Without Borders in Kabul. “They work in violent and exhausting conditions, physically and mentally without any protection.”
Some media outlets were forced by Taliban rules to ban the broadcast of music and other content, while others have been unable to continue without international funding.
In addition, a decree issued last month by Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada warned against “defaming and criticizing government officials without evidence”. It was the latest in a series of measures aimed at curbing the freedom of the press.
Reporters Without Borders said at least 80 journalists have been detained by Taliban security forces for different periods over the past year, with three currently imprisoned. The organization ranked Afghanistan 156th out of 179 countries in its 2022 Press Freedom Index.
(with additional reporting by AFP)