Queen's University Belfast - Taliban Turbans and The Smartphone.

Эпизоды

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  SERIES 2, EPISODE 3 “Emirate versus Khilafat –the ISKP critique of the Taliban” 06.03.2023 34мин

  Podcast series on Afghanistan, presented by Prof. Michael Semple with Tamim Asey. For researchers of the Taliban, the ISKP campaign is significant not just because of the horrendous violence, but because it deploys Islamist rhetoric and reasoning against the Taliban. Perhaps much of the Taliban leadership worries more about what ISKP says about them than they would worry about any number of Security Council resolutions. Taliban have always invested heavily in maintaining the unity of the movement and the authority of their Amir. So, in ideological rather than military terms, the most obvious threat to the Taliban and their unity is if ISKP jihadist rhetoric finds resonance with disillusioned Taliban fighters. In this episode we take a look at what ISKP is saying about the Taliban.
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  Series 3, Episode 2– “How inclusive is the Islamic Emirate? - Who are the men running the Taliban’s administration?” 14.03.2024 1ч 7мин

  The report submitted to the UN Security Council by Special Coordinator Feridun Sinirlioghlu laid out a plan for national dialogue and talks to achieve an inclusive national administration, as well as restoring women’s rights. The plan thus doubles down on inclusivity as one of the prerequisites for normalising Afghanistan’s relations with the international community. But the Taliban have denied the need for any such political process. They again asserted that their administration is inclusive, because, they say, they have appointed officials from all ethnic groups. This episode considers this Taliban claim in the light of our analysis of the top rank office holders in the Islamic Emirate. We consider the extent to which the Taliban’s administration is unrepresentative of Afghanistan’s diverse society. We find that in its third year the Emirate remains a men-only one-party regime, with a narrow ethnic base, in which power is still concentrated in the hands of first generation Kandahari Taliban and clerics, now in their fifties.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 3, Episode 6 17.06.2024 42мин

  Doha 3 Conference – Opportunity or distraction”. In this episode, we discuss the manoeuvring around the UN-led Doha 3 conference planned for 30 June and 1 July, exploring the challenges of advancing political dialogue while the Emirate leadership rules out compromise on rights and political participation.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 4, Episode 1 24.01.2025 49мин

  Season 4, Episode 1 - “Emirate Studies – what every Talib is meant to know about their movement”. We discuss a new book, entitled Emirate Studies and published in Pashto. It is written by a Taliban member of the insurgency-era Culture Commission. Emirate Studies presents the latest official Taliban’s perspective of Afghan history, the anti-Soviet jihad, the post-2001 insurgency, the Taliban’s periods in power and their worldview. We examine what the text tells us about Taliban attitudes and domestic and foreign policies.
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  Taliban Turbans and smart phones - Episode 7, Series 3 26.08.2024 44мин

  “Speaking up and pushing back – is there space for civic resistance in Afghanistan?” The episode considers recent examples of Afghans in the country who have criticised Taliban policies and their Islamic Emirate or protested against them. We have assumed for a while that engaging in public criticism is well nigh impossible under Taliban authoritarianism. Do recent signs of unrest force us to reconsider how tight a lid the Taliban are able to keep on the population?
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones 31.05.2023 38мин

  Series 2, Episode 8. Do the Taliban have an economic policy and if so, what is it? We try to make sense of what the Taliban have been doing to the Afghan economy, piecing together their economic policy. They aspire to a form of self-reliance, which they have pursued through revenue collection. But they are more focused on rewarding members for their jihad than growing the economy.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones 11.05.2023 42мин

  Series 2, Episode 7. Is there internal dissent in the Taliban Movement and does it matter? We address the Islamic Emirate’s internal politics, considering the factional tussles and differences over ideology and tactics within the movement. What does these differences and perspectives between the Taliban factions tell us about the prospects for a change in the Emirate’s hard-line policies?
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones 28.04.2023 49мин

  Series 2, Episode 6 - The evolving role of the Taliban's Amir, from state capture to state transformation? Starting with a look at Haibatollah's Eid message, we reflect on the Amir's increasing direct involvement in appointments and decisions and ask whether the Taliban have progressed from capturing the Afghan state to transforming it.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones 06.04.2023 35мин

  Season 2, Episode 5. In this episode, Michael and Tamim discuss the implications of the Islamic Emirate extending its ban on women's work to the United Nations' Afghan employees
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones 23.02.2023 28мин

  Season 2, Episode 2: The Qosh Tippa canal project – threat to ethnic harmony or doomed vanity project?” The Taliban Movement is basically famous for two things – for waging armed jihad and for imposing an austere moral code. Today we try to explain how this Islamist Movement has involved itself in digging a canal across the plains of northern Afghanistan. The Qosh Tippa Canal is a mega project – it is like digging a ditch wider than a football field, stretching from London to Liverpool. It has been championed by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Emirate’s Deputy Prime Minister who heads the National Economic Council. You may remember his name from the first series. Today Tamim and Michael try to work out why the Taliban are throwing so many resources at digging a ditch in the desert.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones 24.01.2023 30мин

  EPISODE 6 – The peace process In seizing Kabul, the Taliban collapsed the Islamic republic under which Afghanistan has been governed for twenty years. They also collapsed the peace process, abruptly ending three years of intense efforts by the US to broker a settlement between the Afghan conflicting parties. But the conflict in Afghanistan is not over and all the key questions around the country’s future remain unresolved. This episode asks what is happening on peace-making, over a year after the last formal process was aborted. Features guest interview with Mawlvi Atta ur Rahman Saleem, Deputy Chairman of the Republic’s High Commission for National Reconcoliation.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones 23.01.2023 28мин

  EPISODE 5 – The armed conflict The Taliban’s uncontested capture of Kabul did not end armed conflict in Afghanistan. A year on, the Taliban find themselves fighting two insurgencies. In the mountains of the north a “National Resistance Front” is fighting against the Taliban’s Islamic authoritarianism. In Kabul and the cities Daesh, is waging a bloody campaign, accusing the Taliban of being worldly western stooges. This episode looks at why violence continues despite the decision by the US and others to sit out this round of the Afghan war. Features guest interview with the Republic’s Minister for Refugees, Nur Rahman Akhlaqi.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones 23.01.2023 25мин

  EPISODE 4 Humanitarian assistance, the state of the media and the Taliban’s quest for recognition. The Taliban leaders expected that the international community would soon accept the reality of the change of rulers in Kabul. They counted on prompt diplomatic recognition to open up access to the international finance needed to run Afghanistan. Instead, no country has recognised the Islamic Emirate and official development assistance remains cut off. Episode 4 asks what Afghanistan’s new isolation has meant for all those struggling with the country’s humanitarian crisis. Features guest interview with an Afghan journalist and civil rights activist.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones 19.01.2023 44мин

  Episode 3: In this episode, we again take a pair of issues – firstly the state of human rights under the Taliban and secondly the exodus of Afghans from their country triggered by the Taliban takeover. The human rights crisis and the mass exodus from the country are each significant aspects of Afghan experience. They are also intricately related. Egregious human rights abuses conducted by Taliban forces with impunity have helped to drive Afghans across the borders. Features guest interview with Shaharzad Akbar, Chairperson of the Republic’s Independent Human Rights Commission.
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  Taliban Turbans and Smartphones 19.01.2023 33мин

  In forcing their way into Kabul on the 15th of August 2021, the Taliban took control of the Afghan state. In this episode we consider what the Taliban have done with the state; the extent to which they have pursued radical transformation or continuity. And what has Taliban statecraft meant for Afghans living under Taliban rule and for the Afghan economy. Features guest interview with a veteran Taliban commander.
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  Taliban Turbans and Smartphones 30.09.2022 1ч 18мин

  Episode 1: Victory and Collapse. Prof Michael Semple of Queen’s University, Belfast, explores how Afghan perspectives have been shaped by the Taliban being in power for a year. Prof Semple speaks with analyst Tamim Asey and also social media analyst Wahdat Wassel.
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  Taliban Turbans and Smartphones - Season 2 Episode 12 19.03.2024 41мин

  Season 2 - Episode 12. This episode considers the effectiveness of the Amir’s April 2022 decree banning the narcotics trade in the light of the latest international reports on Afghan opiates and crystal meth.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 2 Episode 14 19.03.2024 51мин

  “A cultural counter-revolution - Haibatollah’s flagship jihadi madrassahs?” This episode considers the Taliban leader’s initiative to establish and fund new madrassahs in all of Afghanistan’s provinces. It sets out the differences between designated jihadi madrassahs and the many other madrassahs operating in Afghanistan. Describes the Taliban leaders’ ambition to train a whole new generation of young Afghans to be loyal to the Taliban’s jihad and unquestioningly so to their Amir.
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 2 Episode 15 19.03.2024 1ч

  “Afghanistan after the Americans, an overview of the Emirate and Afghan responses to it.” In the final episode of series 2, we stock-take on the Taliban’s progress in building their Islamic Emirate and Afghan responses to it, based on a lecture at Queen’s University Belfast in December 2023
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  Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 2 Episode 9 19.03.2024 43мин

  Season 2, Episode 9: "Emirate Land - what have the Taliban achieved through all their decrees about land and property rights? - a discussion on the Emirate’s efforts to reform land ownership".