Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Jeff Rigsby Profile picture
Jeff Rigsby
@JeffRigsby2
"August And Everything After" on the 'stack
Aug 22 • 45 tweets • 9 min read
Afghanistan has one of the world's highest rates of childhood lead exposure, which causes permanent brain damage.

افغانستان در جهان دارای یکی از بلندترین سطوح مواجهت اطفال با سرب است، که این امر باعث آسیب دایمی مغزی میشود. Image Nearly all children here have significant lead poisoning.

تقریبا تمام اطفال افغانستان مواجه با مسمومیت جدی سربی هستند.
Aug 21 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
I said the other day that nobody knows whether kohl in Afghanistan is contaminated with lead. That was wrong.

Thread.
Image
Image Lead in Afghan kohl (𝘬𝘢𝘫𝘢𝘭 or 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘮𝘢) was confirmed in 2013 by public health officials in the US.

Two Afghan immigrant children, siblings aged 20 months and 4 months, were diagnosed with high blood lead: 27.0 µg/dL in the older child and 33.5 µg/dL in the younger one.
Image
Image
Aug 18 • 27 tweets • 9 min read
Afghanistan has one of the world's highest rates of childhood lead exposure, which causes permanent brain damage.

Nearly all children here have significant lead poisoning.

Researchers in the US have found the source of the lead. But nobody has told the Afghan public.

Thread.
Image
Image A worldwide survey in 2020 found that one in three children had blood lead above 5 micrograms per deciliter (μg/dL). That's considered the threshold for lead poisoning.

Children in Afghanistan have an 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 blood lead level of 14.2 μg/dL, nearly three times the cutoff. Image
Aug 14 • 29 tweets • 7 min read
I said I'd write something about SIGAR's new report on cash shipments to Afghanistan, which you can read here:



But I've been hesitating, because people who should understand this subject better than me seem to be getting it wrong.

So here goes.

Thread. sigar.mil/pdf/evaluation…
Image What's especially odd is that SIGAR published another report on this topic in January, which at least showed a grasp of the basic concepts involved:



But the new report is fundamentally confused. And the confusion seems to originate from the World Bank.
Aug 9 • 30 tweets • 7 min read
I've been down with some kind of virus but I did promise Obaidullah Baheer I'd write a thread about US aid to Afghanistan.

The claim that the US gives the Taliban "$40 million per week" popped up again a few days ago, I think because of some recent Shawn Ryan podcasts.

Thread. The main people involved in spreading these allegations are all sniping at each other just now, but the mysterious "CIA tracker" Sarah Adams does make an important point that's often obscured.

There are two distinct claims being made about US financial support for the Taliban. Image
Aug 2 • 21 tweets • 6 min read
School of Leadership-Afghanistan has just done something unusual with its accounting.

They've changed their year-end from December to June, which required them to submit a one-off IRS filing for the first six months of 2023.

Their new Form 990 deserves a closer look.

Thread.
Image
Image SOLA has also made changes to its "governing documents", which I don't think are publicly available.

There's nothing wrong with a charity's changing its fiscal year, of course. In fact it's nice to see the school's mandatory financial disclosures coming earlier than expected. Image
Jul 19 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
Melinda French Gates is apparently still doing this. She's decided that Shabana Basij-Rasikh is among the "philanthropic leaders" who deserve a $20 million unrestricted grant.

Thread.
Image What's baffling about this is not just French Gates's choice of recipients—although Basij-Rasikh isn't the only one with a dubious track record—but the underlying logic of the gifts.

If she thinks certain projects or organizations are deserving, she can donate to them directly.
May 30 • 17 tweets • 5 min read
Melinda French Gates plans to give $20 million to each of twelve "thought leaders" in women's philanthropy.

I mustn't link to her op-ed in the 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘈𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 so here's an excerpt, along with the list of beneficiaries.

Do you see a problem here?

Thread.
Image
Image I don't know who most of these people are. But I do know something about Shabana Basij-Rasikh, the founder of School of Leadership-Afghanistan (SOLA).

She inspired my most popular tweetstorm:

I didn't expect there'd be any need to return to this topic.
May 16 • 24 tweets • 7 min read
For the second Abbey Gate investigation, CENTCOM interviewed a number of Marines and soldiers who hadn't been contacted the first time around.

It's usually not possible to identify the interview subjects, whose names are redacted.

But for Tyler Vargas-Andrews, it is.

Thread. Image It was Vargas-Andrews's testimony in March 2023 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, at which he said he'd spotted the ISKP bomber on the morning of the attack and been denied permission to engage, that led to the second inquiry.

But he'd already spoken out elsewhere. Image
May 12 • 37 tweets • 8 min read
After my back-and-forth with Scott Richards last week, I realized there were things I didn't understand about the UN's shipments of dollars to Kabul.

But since no one else seems to understand either, I've tried to walk myself through this issue.

Thread.

It's become a standard talking point that the UN ships $40 million to Afghanistan each week. But that claim is misleading in several ways.

For one thing, people don't always understand that this isn't "extra" money over and above the official aid figures.

It just 𝘪𝘴 the aid.
May 11 • 37 tweets • 8 min read
After my back-and-forth with Scott Richards last week, I realized there were things I didn't understand about the UN's shipments of dollars to Kabul.

But since no one else seems to understand either, I've tried to walk myself through this issue.

Thread.

It's become a standard talking point that the UN ships $40 million to Afghanistan each week. But that claim is misleading in several ways.

For one thing, people don't always understand that this isn't "extra" money over and above the official aid figures.

It just 𝘪𝘴 the aid.
May 8 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
I don't usually tag people in tweets. It seems self-important, like tapping someone on the shoulder when you want to join the conversation at a party. But for this thread I will.

Congress has some questions for the Defense Department, and I think I may be able to help.

Thread. Image None of the eight Republicans who signed the letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has put a press release up on his website.

And CNN didn't release the text of the letter, which makes you wonder if they're worried about an electronic watermark that could identify its source.
Mar 5 • 29 tweets • 7 min read
The US election will probably be very close. I don't think it's 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 that Trump will win, but it's possible.

(He's been ahead of Biden in the polls for a while. Many people expect that to change soon, but it's already March and the numbers haven't really moved.)

Thread. Image People who still remember Afghanistan are already making contingency plans for that outcome.

Albert Torres, of the George W. Bush Institute, published a set of proposals in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘭 on Sunday that probably won't get a hearing from President Biden.

thehill.com/opinion/450529…
Image
Sep 8, 2023 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
The other day I wrote about Muhammadiyah's recent proposal to open girls' schools in Afghanistan.

I should have read their website more carefully. The group's work here—which has US government backing—has flown under the radar for over a year.

[link removed; see below]

Thread. Image Rina Amiri visited the organization's Jakarta headquarters on 26 August 2022 to discuss educational options for Afghan women and girls. One idea at that point was that they might study at Muhammadiyah schools overseas.

The meeting wasn't secret, but it wasn't well publicized.
Aug 31, 2023 • 35 tweets • 10 min read
I wrote almost two months ago about a serious legal error that seems to have been made by the directors of the Afghan Fund:



I haven't seen any sign that the issue has been resolved yet, so I think I should explain my concerns in more detail.

Thread. I realize the people involved aren't free to talk about this—two of them have told me as much—and that's fine.

But I want to make sure the problem is understood, and Twitter is my only platform for publicizing it.

(Although I intend to write something in a longer format soon.)
Jul 7, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
More cryptic news about Chinese investment in Afghanistan:



This time the potential investor is "Fan China Afghan Mining Processing and Trading", a company I don't think anyone has ever heard of before.

But in fact, this all looks very familiar.

Thread.khaama.com/chinese-mining… Khaama says FAMPTC is "a partnership between Afghanistan’s Watan Group and China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co (CAPEIC)".

Remember CAPEIC?

They announced back in January that they were taking a lease on the Amu Darya oilfield in Jowzjan and Sar-e Pul provinces.
Jul 7, 2023 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
Strange things are happening at the Fund for the Afghan People.

I don't think it's anything very sinister, but it confirms my suspicion that the US government is making a mess of the Fund's legal technicalities.

Thread. If you open you'll see three new items.

They've issued a revision to the Fund's charter (𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘴) and a "Statement", both dated 23 June. It seems a third Board meeting was held that day.

They've also posted the minutes of the second Board meeting.afghanfund.ch
May 29, 2023 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
I was going to save these until someone answered an email I sent, but I think I'll put them out now.

The Iranian government seems to be trying to deescalate. Two hours ago the interior ministry said the "brief conflict" with the IEA was over:

iranintl.com/202305293266

Thread. But both sides need to look at reconnaissance data the United States collected in 2021 and 2022.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (nga.mil), which specializes in mapping and satellite photography, operates a website where it posts open-source research.
May 27, 2023 • 59 tweets • 14 min read
Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists have put out a new report on Afghan women's rights:

amnesty.org/en/documents/a…

It doesn't make the Taliban look good, to say the least. But there are reasons even the IEA should be pleased to see it.

Thread (1/58). I'll get my usual hobbyhorse out of the way first.

Unlike Amnesty's previous report on this subject, which came out in July, the new report acknowledges that most women's shelters (they say "some") shut down preemptively when the Taliban seized power.

They even cite Rozina Ali!
Apr 20, 2023 • 26 tweets • 7 min read
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric has made two "clarifications" in two days.

On Tuesday he explained what the head of the UNDP had meant about Afghanistan, and on Wednesday he explained what the Deputy Secretary General had meant.

I'm not sure much clarity was added.

Thread. The press briefings for 18 and 19 April are available here:

press.un.org/en/2023/db2304…
press.un.org/en/2023/db2304…

On the 18th, Dujarric seemed to push back against the remarks of Achim Steiner, who said the UN might leave Afghanistan if no agreement was reached on women's employment.
Apr 19, 2023 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
Amina Mohammed, the UN deputy secretary general, announced Monday that an upcoming conference will "discuss granting recognition" to the Taliban:

voanews.com/a/top-un-offic…

On Tuesday, Zalmay Khalilzad confirmed on Twitter that the meeting is scheduled for 1 May in Doha.

Thread. A couple of other things also happened on Tuesday.

The UNDP released its latest report on the Afghan economy, 𝘈𝘧𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘰-𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 2023:

undp.org/afghanistan/pu…

But it's not actually the full report, just the executive summary.