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Last Afghan Jew prepares to leave his homeland amid political uncertainty
Afghanistan’s last remaining Jew, Zablon Simintov, has decided to leave his homeland, citing concerns of the Taliban’s return to government as his primary reason.
In an interview with Radio Free Afghanistan, Siminto said he has lived apart from his wife and two daughters for more than two decades.
The 61-year-old said: “After our important festivals [Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in September], I will leave Afghanistan.”
He told Radio Free Afghanistan: “If you decide to leave then it is difficult to stay,” adding “if the Taliban return, they are going to push us out with a slap in the face.”
He said his increasing worries over the past two years have convinced him to leave.
According to Radio Free Afghanistan, Simintov, whose wife and daughters live in Israel, used to say it was God’s will that he lived in Afghanistan. But he said he has worried about his future since Washington began negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban in 2018.
“Peace talks are making people worried that if the Taliban come and if they behave the same as they used to during their regime [in the 1990s] then people will be worried,” he told the BBC in 2019.
Simintov is not the only one leaving his homeland, which in the mid-20th century boasted a 40,000-strong Jewish community.
Raja Ram, an Afghan Sikh, told Radio Free Afghanistan he is staying behind to look after the Hindu temple in Ghazni.
Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh minority has shrunk from more than 200,000 in the 1980s to a few hundred families today. Most members of Afghanistan’s tiny Hindu and Sikh minority have already left while others plan to join exiled members of their community in India.
A string of attacks against the community has seen a steady exodus of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus over the past three years.
Afghanistan’s religious minorities claim the face discrimination despite the country’s current constitution guaranteeing protections against discrimination.
However, Afghan clerics and Islamic scholars insist that discrimination against non-Muslims has no place in Islam.
“If religious minorities live in an Islamic country, its government is obliged to protect them,” Mufti Bilal Ahmed Safir, a religious scholar in Kabul, told Radio Free Afghanistan.
“Their lives and properties should be protected, and they should be granted all the rights given by Allah.”
Officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) say 7,000 incomplete projects of the World Bank are at risk of destruction in Afghanistan. They call on the World Bank to resume the work of these projects.
According to them, discussions have been held with the World Bank about these projects, but there has been no result yet.
“7,000 incomplete projects are being destroyed, and if the work is not started, these projects will be destroyed. We ask the World Bank to resume the work of these projects as soon as possible,” said Noorul Hadi Adel, the spokesperson of MRRD.
Meanwhile, members of the private sector also ask international institutions to resume their work in Afghanistan.
According to the officials of this sector, with the start of these projects, job opportunities will be provided for thousands of people in the country.
“These projects create employment for our people and the country will grow a lot,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, a member of the private sector.
However, economic experts stated if the work of these projects does not start soon, they will be destroyed and the investments made in them will be wasted.
Ten people have been killed and six others injured by floods in Helmand province in the past week, local officials said on Friday.
According to officials, seven of those were members of the same family, and they were killed in Kajaki district last night.
“Most of the people moved from vulnerable areas to high lands and mountains, and thanks Allah the number of casualties is low,” Sher Mohammad Vahdat, the head of information of the Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand, said adding rescue teams and security forces have been dispatched to help people.
It is said that the telecommunication system has also been disrupted due to the effect of floods in Kajaki district. Floods have also destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land.
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met with the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Afghanistan, it was announced on Thursday.
During the meeting, Otunbayeva thanked India for “its critical humanitarian support and longstanding friendship for the Afghan people” and discussed the importance of regional and international cooperation to address prevailing challenges in Afghanistan, UNAMA said on X.
Jaishankar also said on X that the sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan.
“Underlined that India has provided wheat, medicines, pesticides and school supplies. Appreciate the role of UN agencies as partners in these endeavors,” he said.
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