Daily News Brief

August 15, 2023

Top of the Agenda

Taliban parades are planned for today (Reuters) in the capital, Kabul, as the group marks the two-year anniversary of its takeover of the country. Their entrenched control of Afghanistan in the time since has left them financially and politically isolated (AP) from Western and international funders as they have imposed harsh restrictions on women’s participation in society. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Afghans who aided the Western coalition over the war’s twenty-year period are waiting for responses (AP) to U.S. visa applications.

The Taliban’s second year in power was marked by a series of bans on women’s entrance into parks, universities, and jobs at nongovernmental organizations following a previous ban on girls’ schooling beyond sixth grade. The country is also struggling with its third consecutive year of water insecurity and widespread poverty.

Analysis

“Sanctions, asset freezes, and other economic restrictions that isolate Afghanistan have crippled its chances of recovering from an economic crisis that, for the last two years, the United Nations has called the world’s largest humanitarian disaster,” the International Crisis Group’s Graeme Smith and Ibraheem Bahiss write for Foreign Affairs. “For the sake of millions of Afghans, regional actors as well as Western governments and institutions must work to establish more functional relationships with the Taliban.”

“We must counter radical Taliban ideology by defending Afghanistan’s shrinking civic space,” Rawadari’s Shaharzad Akbar and Georgetown University’s Melanne Verveer write for Foreign Policy. “When civil society organizations are strengthened with financial and political support, their ability to negotiate with the authorities grows, and combined with regional and international pressure, they can create more possibilities for change on the ground.”

This Backgrounder by Lindsay Maizland looks at how the Taliban have ruled Afghanistan.

Pacific Rim

The number of jobless sixteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds has been steadily climbing (WSJ), reaching a rate of 21.3 percent in June. Withholding the unemployment statistics expands Beijing’s data restrictions to prevent external criticism of its economy, which is growing increasingly distressed. China also cut a range of interest rates.

Thailand: The pro-democracy Move Forward party, which won in Thailand’s May election, decided not to back a coalition (Bloomberg) that is being formed by its former ally the Pheu Thai party to bid for the country’s prime minister position. The move makes it likely that Pheu Thai will seek out more conservative parties instead.

South and Central Asia

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the central and state governments were working to bring peace (Indian Express) to the state of Manipur. In recent weeks, Modi has been heavily criticized in India’s Congress for his silence on ethnic violence in the area. 

Middle East and North Africa

U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking is visiting the Gulf (Reuters) in order to meet with Emirati, Omani, Saudi, Yemeni, and other international envoys about a UN-mediated peace process for the country, the State Department said.  

This Backgrounder by CFR’s Kali Robinson details the crisis in Yemen. 

Iraq/Syria: UN experts monitoring sanctions against the self-declared Islamic State said in a new report that the group still commands (AP) between five and seven thousand fighters across Iraq and Syria, and that the risk of a resurgence remains.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Gabon will refinance (AP) $500 million of its foreign debt in an arrangement that is designed to free up an estimated $163 million for environmental conservation efforts. It is the first so-called debt-for-nature swap in continental Africa.

Ethiopia: An explosion on Sunday in the Amhara region killed at least twenty-six people (CNN) and injured fifty, an official said. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast; the region has been rife with clashes between government forces and a local militia known as Fano in recent months.

For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR expert Michelle Gavin explains the conflict in Ethiopia amid Africa’s multiple security crises. 

Europe

The country’s benchmark interest rate is now at 12 percent (The Guardian), while inflation is currently running at 7 percent, above the bank’s target rate of 4 percent. Inflation has risen and the Russian ruble has fallen as Moscow has spent to pay for the war in Ukraine.

U.S./Russia: U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy met with jailed Wall Street Journal reporter (NYT) Evan Gershkovich in Moscow yesterday for the third time since he was arrested in March on espionage charges. The United States has not been granted regular consular access to Gershkovich. 

Americas

Several former and current regional heads of state, Taiwan’s vice president, and other global leaders are attending (MercoPress) the inauguration of Santiago Peña today. Paraguay is the only South American country to maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Ecuador: A local political organizer from the left-wing Citizen Revolution Movement was killed yesterday (Reuters). His assassination comes ahead of the country’s August 20 election and days after a presidential candidate was shot and killed.

United States

A Montana district court judge ruled that the state’s development of fossil fuels violates a guarantee in its constitution (CNN) of the right to a “clean and healthful environment.” The ruling will reverse a state law that prohibits state agencies from considering pollution when permitting new fossil fuel projects. Analysts say the case, the country’s first constitutional climate trial, could set a precedent for climate litigation elsewhere.

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