According to a recent
report
from the United Nations, the
Taliban
“maintain links to al-Qaida” and “ties to most regional terrorist entities.” The report names top Taliban leaders, including two provincial governors and the director of intelligence, as al-Qaida affiliates, and estimates that 400 al-Qaida fighters are operating in southern, central, and eastern
Afghanistan
. The report is further
proof
that the Taliban are not fulfilling
promises
that Afghanistan would not play host to terror groups that threaten U.S. security.
The report is accompanied by increasingly dire news of the Taliban’s crimes against Afghans. Journalist and human rights defender Natiq Malikzada told the Washington Examiner that “targeted killings in Afghanistan remain rampant.” Malikzada says that forced abductions in
Panjshir
have been common in the last few days, as has the
killing
of former government employees and Western allies.
DESPITE LEFT’S HYSTERIA, THE SUPREME COURT IS WORKING AS IT SHOULD
Among the latest Taliban reprisal victims are
Bibi Zahra
and
Hamidullah Bahlol
. Zahra was a female employee of the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s former intelligence agency. She was taken from her home by the Taliban last week and was found dead two days later. Bahlol worked for a German company prior to the Taliban’s takeover and had been evacuated to Germany. When the Taliban arrested his son and brothers, Bahlol returned to Kabul to secure their release. The Taliban shot Bahlol twice, killing him.
Though the Taliban’s supreme leader recently claimed that his government has taken “
necessary steps
” to ensure “the betterment of women” by protecting their rights under Shariah law, in reality, Afghan women maintain few basic human rights. The Taliban have
vacated
judgments of divorce granted by the previous government for abuse survivors and wives of addicts. Women must
cover
themselves fully in public, are
banned
from school above the sixth grade, and cannot work, travel, or appear outside the home without a male relative. Further restrictions may yet be in the works. A social media
video
now shows one Talib recommending that women cover one of their eyes in public, as only one eye is necessary for a woman to see where she is walking.
Though this horrifying state of affairs emanated from the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the U.S. government has avoided addressing its failures. The State Department, USAID, and the Department of Treasury have even
failed
to answer inquiries from the congressionally mandated Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction about ongoing financial support to Afghanistan through the Taliban.
A growing number of local governments, however, are vocal about the continued importance of achieving peace in Afghanistan. On June 6, McKinney, Texas, joined California’s Orange County
Board of Education
,
San Diego County
, and the
city of Westminster
in publicly proclaiming a day honoring Ahmad Shah Massoud, the late hero of the Afghan resistance to the Taliban’s first regime in Afghanistan. Local proclamations applaud Massoud’s son, National Resistance Front Commander Ahmad Massoud, who continues his father’s efforts to create a “free Afghanistan that is an ally of the United States of America and the free world.”
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Two other local governments, in
Irvine
and the
city of Newport Beach
in California, have proclaimed “Legend Day,” honoring Afghan American U.S. Army veteran Legend, who founded Vets4NRF and continues the resistance against Taliban forces.
Legend Group Foundation and Vets4NRF senior adviser Jazz Cannon told the Washington Examiner that these proclamations show that local governments “know the war is not over and … America as a whole will pay” for the Biden administration “bending facts to fit the current narrative” that Afghanistan is of little concern to the U.S.
Beth Bailey (
@BWBailey85
) is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the co-host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
