Berliner Boersenzeitung - Taliban declare Soviet exit holiday, six months after seizing power

EUR -
AED 3.824989
AFN 71.402285
ALL 97.627614
AMD 406.436125
ANG 1.885525
AOA 951.312422
ARS 1045.555022
AUD 1.601982
AWG 1.877095
AZN 1.792548
BAM 1.944948
BBD 2.112314
BDT 125.022417
BGN 1.95415
BHD 0.392523
BIF 3090.415867
BMD 1.041384
BND 1.405883
BOB 7.228735
BRL 6.044613
BSD 1.046163
BTN 88.392
BWP 14.28265
BYN 3.423796
BYR 20411.134706
BZD 2.108833
CAD 1.457595
CDF 2988.773459
CHF 0.925666
CLF 0.036821
CLP 1015.74547
CNY 7.547747
CNH 7.560467
COP 4570.896582
CRC 531.832553
CUC 1.041384
CUP 27.596687
CVE 109.654219
CZK 25.355594
DJF 186.300506
DKK 7.457947
DOP 63.038268
DZD 139.856872
EGP 51.722338
ERN 15.620766
ETB 130.374134
FJD 2.369514
FKP 0.821982
GBP 0.832337
GEL 2.83779
GGP 0.821982
GHS 16.634346
GIP 0.821982
GMD 73.938043
GNF 9017.770456
GTQ 8.076016
GYD 218.88082
HKD 8.106803
HNL 26.437866
HRK 7.428465
HTG 137.356236
HUF 410.848543
IDR 16577.798642
ILS 3.868967
IMP 0.821982
INR 87.938151
IQD 1370.572407
IRR 43847.491348
ISK 145.460334
JEP 0.821982
JMD 166.150118
JOD 0.73844
JPY 160.751742
KES 134.855838
KGS 90.075475
KHR 4219.537432
KMF 489.086083
KPW 937.245587
KRW 1464.275008
KWD 0.320534
KYD 0.871848
KZT 518.822617
LAK 22916.13564
LBP 93689.742622
LKR 304.391597
LRD 188.840865
LSL 18.930456
LTL 3.074937
LVL 0.629923
LYD 5.110485
MAD 10.46312
MDL 19.050703
MGA 4898.784029
MKD 61.522855
MMK 3382.375986
MNT 3538.624216
MOP 8.387422
MRU 41.607245
MUR 48.78866
MVR 16.089607
MWK 1814.121361
MXN 21.290157
MYR 4.652385
MZN 66.542097
NAD 18.930547
NGN 1761.064649
NIO 38.291823
NOK 11.553218
NPR 141.426922
NZD 1.783773
OMR 0.400907
PAB 1.046163
PEN 3.973927
PGK 4.211541
PHP 61.381801
PKR 290.794744
PLN 4.336537
PYG 8211.184342
QAR 3.814254
RON 4.975319
RSD 117.003721
RUB 107.225744
RWF 1437.513665
SAR 3.909599
SBD 8.715887
SCR 14.183524
SDG 626.39872
SEK 11.548105
SGD 1.403286
SHP 0.821982
SLE 23.519696
SLL 21837.315606
SOS 597.889811
SRD 36.870228
STD 21554.555025
SVC 9.154055
SYP 2616.509459
SZL 18.938783
THB 35.940782
TJS 11.142091
TMT 3.655259
TND 3.309764
TOP 2.439029
TRY 35.987528
TTD 7.101478
TWD 33.93278
TZS 2767.332256
UAH 43.193134
UGX 3865.469096
USD 1.041384
UYU 44.582103
UZS 13386.996842
VES 48.187714
VND 26482.405897
VUV 123.635251
WST 2.907119
XAF 652.332861
XAG 0.033321
XAU 0.000386
XCD 2.814394
XDR 0.798066
XOF 652.317288
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.243298
ZAR 18.792105
ZMK 9373.707307
ZMW 28.849032
ZWL 335.32536
  • RYCEF

    0.1800

    6.79

    +2.65%

  • RBGPF

    59.6900

    59.69

    +100%

  • GSK

    0.3500

    33.7

    +1.04%

  • BTI

    -0.1000

    36.98

    -0.27%

  • VOD

    -0.1000

    8.84

    -1.13%

  • AZN

    1.0600

    64.26

    +1.65%

  • CMSC

    0.1200

    24.64

    +0.49%

  • BP

    0.4400

    29.52

    +1.49%

  • NGG

    -0.1700

    63.1

    -0.27%

  • RIO

    0.1800

    62.57

    +0.29%

  • RELX

    0.6500

    45.76

    +1.42%

  • CMSD

    0.1850

    24.445

    +0.76%

  • BCC

    2.9500

    140.36

    +2.1%

  • JRI

    0.0000

    13.23

    0%

  • SCS

    -0.0300

    13.04

    -0.23%

  • BCE

    -0.3200

    26.68

    -1.2%

Taliban declare Soviet exit holiday, six months after seizing power
Taliban declare Soviet exit holiday, six months after seizing power

Taliban declare Soviet exit holiday, six months after seizing power

The Taliban on Tuesday declared February 15 a national holiday to mark the anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan -- six months after they stormed into Kabul to topple the US-backed government.

Text size:

After invading on Christmas Eve in 1979, the Red Army pulled out a decade later having lost nearly 15,000 troops fighting Western-backed Mujahideen forces, precipitating a civil war that gave rise to the Taliban and their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.

Forty years of conflict has left Afghanistan one of the world's most impoverished nations, and the Taliban's return on August 15 plunged the country deeper into a humanitarian crisis the United Nations says threatens more than half its 38 million population.

Thousands marched through Afghan cities on Tuesday to protest against President Joe Biden's decision last week to seize almost half the country's overseas assets -- about $3.5 billion -- as compensation for victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda that prompted the US-led invasion later that year.

"If someone wants compensation, it should be Afghans," said Mir Afghan Safi, the chairman of the country's forex traders association, as he marched in Kabul.

"Their two towers have been destroyed, but all our districts and all of our country have been destroyed."

The Taliban, who said they wanted good relations with Washington after the US withdrawal in August, called the asset seizure "theft".

Many Afghans have agreed, including those in exile after fleeing the country to avoid the Taliban's hardline rule.

Some in the crowd chanted "death to America", and "death to Joe Biden".

The Taliban warned late Monday they would be forced to reconsider their policy towards the United States unless Washington releases the assets.

"The 9/11 attacks had nothing to do with Afghanistan," the group's deputy spokesman said in a statement.

- Rights eroded -

It is not clear what action the Taliban could take, but they have previously said they would allow thousands of Afghans who worked for the United States and other Western powers to leave the country for promised sanctuary abroad.

The Soviets introduced laws giving women rights in education, work and marriage, benefiting mainly those in cities. The United States introduced similar measures over the last 20 years, but these have been drastically eroded since the hardline Islamists' return.

Women are effectively barred from most government employment, while schools for teenaged girls are shut across much of the country.

The Taliban have also cracked down hard on protests against their rule, including detaining women activists, prompting strong protests from the United Nations and rights groups.

"The Soviet withdrawal was not an achievement but only the start of crises," said exiled Afghan analyst Ahmad Saeedi.

"Afghanistan is again at the brink of failure with challenges only increasing," he told AFP.

He said the Taliban had "lost a lot of time" in the six months since taking power.

"Because of this situation they are also not able to form an inclusive government... and that is expected to increase pressure on them from within the country and outside."

While signs of the US-led occupation are still starkly apparent on the streets of Kabul -- from the weapons the Taliban plundered as they swept to victory, to the concrete barriers erected to try to stop their 20-year insurgency -- there is little evidence of the Soviet era.

Still, veteran Hayatullah Ahmadzai, who fought with the Mujahideen against Moscow's might, says the Taliban are a direct consequence.

After the Soviets left, the 74-year-old told AFP, the situation "ended up in disorder, giving birth to the Taliban".

(T.Burkhard--BBZ)