International

Obama’s Defense Secretary says ‘our national security is threatened by what has happened in Afghanistan’

Published

2 years ago

August 18, 2021

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By Jenny Goldsberry

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta railed against President Biden for botching the Afghanistan withdrawal. According to him, it could translate directly into a national security threat on American soil. Panetta appeared on MSNBC Tuesday to share his predictions.

“I don’t think there’s any question that our national security is threatened by what has happened in Afghanistan,” Panetta told host Andrea Mitchell. “We went there for two missions. One, to go after al-Qaeda and the leadership of al-Qaeda and bin Laden because of what they did in attacking our country on 9/11. And we were successful at going after al-Qaeda, and obviously I’m very proud of the mission to go after bin Laden. But there was a second mission, which was to prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a safe haven for terrorism again.”

'We have failed': Leon Panetta says there is 'no question' the Taliban will provide safe haven for terrorists @MSNBC https://t.co/sV8f2k2EMN
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) August 17, 2021

Biden echoed this statement during his address on Afghanistan earlier this week. Then, he explained the mission from the beginning was “never supposed to be nation-building,” or “unifying.” Instead, he said it was about “preventing another terrorist attack on American homeland.”

“Unfortunately, we have failed at that mission,” Panetta said. “And with the Taliban now controlling Afghanistan, there is no question that they will provide a safe haven for al-Qaeda and for ISIS and for other terrorists to be able to reorganize, strengthen themselves again and potentially use Afghanistan as a base for attacking not just the United States, but other countries as well.”

During his speech, Biden was proud to be the ending the war that lasted five presidencies. But Panetta, who served under the Obama administration, said claimed the U.S. has lost all cooperation from the Afghans.

“This is a national security threat and it’s not going to be easy to go into Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban,” he said. “When we were there, we had the cooperation of the Afghans. We worked with the military. There were a lot of partnerships involved. We had good intelligence on where the targets were. We’ll have none of that with Taliban control.”

You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism.

International

Mental health crisis spikes among Afghan women after Taliban regained control two years ago

Published

2 days ago

September 21, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

The women of Afghanistan are suffering a mental health crisis since the Taliban regained power two years ago. According to a joint report from three U.N. agencies released Tuesday, approximately 70% of women experience feelings of anxiety, isolation and depression.

The numbers continue to rise, as there has already been a significant jump between April and June of this year alone, with an increase from 57% the preceding quarter.

The report, conducted by U.N. Women, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, interviewed women online, in-person and in group consultations as well as individual telesurveys.

592 Afghan women in 22 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces took part in the study. The Associated Press reports:

They have barred women from most areas of public life and work and banned girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade. They have prohibited Afghan women from working at local and non-governmental organizations. The ban was extended to employees of the United Nations in April.

Opportunities to study continued to shrink as community-based education by international organizations was banned and home-based schooling initiatives were regularly shut down by the de facto authorities — a term use by the U.N. for the Taliban government.

Afghanistan is the only country in the world with restrictions on female education and the rights of Afghan women and children are on the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The report also served as a vessel for Afghan women to send a message to the rest of the world: do not validate the Taliban government. Forty-six percent of women said international recognition of the Taliban government should not happen under any circumstances, while 50% warned that recognition should only occur under specific conditions contingent on improving women’s rights.

The report notes that the women expressed concern that recognition would only encourage the Taliban government to continue becoming stricter in their policies and practices against women and girls.

Afghan women had specific ideas and suggestions: they “urged the international community to continue political and economic sanctions against the Taliban, including by not granting exemptions to a travel ban. They urged an increase in engagement with the Taliban on gender equality and women’s rights, including by engaging community and religious leaders in awareness and advocacy efforts” writes the Associated Press.