Azadi Briefing

Welcome to Gandhara's weekly newsletter. This briefing brings you the best of our reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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This week's Gandhara Briefing brings you our reporting on Afghans preparing for another brutal winter under Taliban rule, rising malnutrition among Afghan children, and Pakistan ranking first in a new index measuring Chinese influence.

Second Winter Under The Taliban

RFE/RL's Radio Azadi and I report about Afghans bracing for another brutal winter under Taliban rule. With hunger rising and food and energy prices surging, aid groups warn that many Afghans face a choice between buying firewood to warm themselves or food to feed themselves.

A growing number of Afghans have been forced to sell their possessions to survive through the winter in the mountainous country where temperatures can plunge below -25 degrees Celsius.

"I sold our carpets and kitchen utensils to buy food and fuel for the winter," said Mahmood, a father of five who lives in Parwan.

Afghanistan is already one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Aid groups warn that the situation is set to further deteriorate this winter. The UN estimates that more than 28 million Afghans, or two-thirds of the country's population of 39 million, now require humanitarian assistance. That is a 16 percent increase from last year.

"Severity levels remain at unprecedented levels, with 6 million people [in Afghanistan] a step away from famine," said Tapiwa Gomo, a spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Growing Chinese Footprint In Pakistan

Reid Standish writes about Pakistan ranking first in a new database measuring Beijing's influence around the world.

The China Index, launched by Taiwan-based research organization Doublethink Labs, says Pakistan's links to and dependency on Beijing in terms of foreign and domestic policy, technology, and the economy makes it particularly susceptible to Chinese influence.

"One can only hope that this will encourage Pakistanis to debate the pros and cons of the relationship and what it could mean for the future," said Shahzeb Jillani, a veteran journalist who helped compile research on Pakistan used for the database.

The South Asian country is home to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a centerpiece of Beijing's globe-spanning Belt and Road Initiative in which Chinese entities have funded and built hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of infrastructure projects in the last decade.

But many projects under the CPEC have run into problems or been scrapped due to financial and political concerns.

Starving Afghan Children

Radio Azadi reports on the sharp rise in malnutrition among Afghan children. In this video, the service visits a hospital in Kandahar, where around 240 undernourished children were admitted in November alone.

They are among the 875,000 Afghan children the United Nations deems to be at risk of severe acute malnutrition.

"It is because of hunger. No one can guess this child is 10 months old," said Zarmeena, whose daughter is being treated at Mirwais Hospital.

Mohammad Sediq, who administers the hospital, says mounting poverty brings hundreds of starving children to the hospital each month.

"Many people are jobless," he said. "When there are no jobs, there is no income."

Taliban Ban Hits Businesses

Radio Azadi reports on the financial impact of the Taliban banning women from entering public parks and funfairs.

"We have lost more than 80 percent of our customers," said Habibullah Zazi, the owner of a large private amusement park in Kabul.

Zazi said over 100 people working in restaurants or food stalls inside his park have lost their jobs.

Restaurants around Qargha Lake, a popular picnic spot in western Kabul, are also feeling the impact of the ban. "I could not pay the staff, rent, and electricity bills," said the owner of one restaurant, which closed last month.

That's all from me this week.

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do so here. I encourage you to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook..

You can always reach us at gandhara@rferl.org.

Welcome to Gandhara's weekly newsletter. This briefing brings you the best of our reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

If you're new to the newsletter or haven't subscribed yet, you can do so here.

This week's Gandhara Briefing provides insight into why fear of the Taliban is prompting some Afghan parents to marry off their daughters early; the questioning of Taliban corporal punishments; and the struggles of Afghan Army women.

Forced Afghan Matrimony

I write about why the forced and early marriages of teenage girls are rising across Afghanistan 15 months after the Taliban shut secondary schools for girls.

Human rights activists and teenage brides we spoke to say some parents believe that marrying off their daughters protects them from being sought by Taliban members for marriage. Some fighters and leaders of the group are even seeking their second or third wives.

"I didn't want to marry," Khatira, a 12-year-old seventh-grader in Ghor, told us. "But my father warned me that if I refused to marry, the Taliban would force him to marry me to one of their fighters."

Nicolette Waldman, a researcher for Amnesty International, said child, early, and forced marriages are a result of sweeping Taliban restrictions on Afghan women, depriving them of education, work, and any societal role.

"These policies form a system of repression that discriminates against women and girls in Afghanistan in almost every aspect of their lives," she told me.

(Watch a group of Afghan women and girls holding secret taekwondo sessions in Kabul.)

Taliban's Corporal Punishments Questioned

Radio Azadi reports on why Afghans are skeptical of the motives behind the Taliban's drive to impose Islamic Hudood punishments for what Islamic Shari'a law considers serious crimes because they encroach on the "boundaries of God."

Religious and legal experts are questioning whether the Taliban has the spiritual authority, legitimacy, and Afghanistan's best interests in mind in imposing harsh punishments such as flogging for drinking, the amputation of limbs for theft, and stoning to death for adultery.

"This is just a propaganda stunt because the Taliban lacks the capacity to implement complete justice outlined in Islam," said Salahuddin Saeedi, an Afghan religious scholar.

He argued that Hudood can only be implemented under strict conditions outlined by Islamic law.

"The Taliban government lacks the legitimacy to implement Hudood," he said.

Even the commentators sympathetic to the Taliban think that handing down Hudood punishments without securing domestic legitimacy and international recognition is not a good idea.

"It is not important to flog people," said Hatef Mukhtar, a political commentator. He added that the Taliban's first priority should be gaining international recognition and ending Afghanistan's current isolation.

(Watch the hefty price Afghan children are paying for living in a war zone where more than 100 people are maimed by unexploded ordnance every month.)

Afghan Women Soldiers

In a video report, we take you to meet some women members of the defunct Afghan National Army.

They are struggling to survive after the Taliban stopped paying their salaries following its seizure of power in August 2021.

"The children don't understand if I tell them there is no food today," said a former army major struggling to feed her four children.

"As soon as they realize that I have a military background, they turn me away," she said of her efforts to find work.

Afghanistan's Last Sikh

In a video report, we meet Charin Singh. The middle-aged shopkeeper in Jalalabad is believed to be the only Sikh remaining in Afghanistan.

"Some were taken by their relatives to Canada, some went to London, but most went to Delhi," he said of the last 300 Sikh families, who left the country after a militant attack killed more than 25 community members inside a Sikh temple.

"Everyone is afraid to return," he said of fellow Sikhs whose businesses and properties were appropriated by their Muslim neighbors.

Forbidden Lamb Testicles

Radio Azadi reports on why the Taliban authorities have banned lamb testicles in Herat restaurants. They consider the local delicacy un-Islamic.

"I'm surprised that the Taliban are focusing on small issues such as banning the sale of sheep testicles. It is a really small issue," a Herat resident said of the ban. "We have many bigger problems in Afghanistan, such as poverty and the closure of girls' schools."

Restaurants are losing a significant part of their business as they can no longer serve kalpura -- the local Kabab dish believed to improve virility in men.

"Every day, 20 to 50 customers used to eat 'sheep egg' kebabs for breakfast," said Khair Mohammad, a restaurant owner. "Now we reject all who come to buy 'sheep eggs,' and if we sell them, we will be punished."

That's all from me this week.

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do so here. I encourage you to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook..

You can always reach us at gandhara@rferl.org.