Journals Wave

  Some Afghans who fled the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan say they have been stuck in limbo in the UAE for a year. Hundreds of Afghans living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since being evacuated from Afghanistan in the wake of the August 2021 Taliban takeover have held protests, demanding that what they call a slow and opaque resettlement process be sped up. The Afghan demonstrators carried banners and shouted for reprieve on Monday and Tuesday during demonstrations inside the Abu Dhabi facility housing them, according to Reuters, which cited two Afghans living there. They estimated that thousands of Afghans were still living in the temporary housing, awaiting resettlement to the United States or other countries. “Nearly one year, we have been here in detention and the camp is like a modern prison. No one is allowed to go out, they don’t know when (we) will be settled permanently to any country,” one Afghan who declined to be identified, told Reuters. Pictures and video showe...

This week’s passage of the National Defense Authorization Act will end U.S. humanitarian aid delivered to Afghanistan using Defense Department resources. Ahead of a contentious final vote on the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., introduced an eleventh-hour amendment seeking to prevent a collapse of U.S. humanitarian aid to millions of Afghans. The amendment came in response to language in the military spending bill that prohibits Defense Department funds from being used to “transport currency or other items of value to the Taliban, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, or any subsidiary, agent, or instrumentality of either the Taliban or the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” effectively halting American aid to the Taliban-controlled country. While the bill’s language places emphasis on banning the transport of currency, it will also block Defense Department planes from transporting nearly every conceivable good — inclu...