Hazara Massacre By Taliban Possible in Balkhab, Warns World Hazara Council

Travel exemptions permitting 15 Taliban officials to go abroad for negotiations were set to expire Monday.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, Abdul Salam Hanafi, Amir Khan Muttaqi and Sher Abbas Stanikzai are the prominent figures of Taliban whose travel exemption has been extended for three months. Diplomatic sources told AFP that the travel ban on two Taliban members is in response to the heavy restrictions the hardliners have imposed on Afghan women.

The diplomats told AFP that after difficult negotiations, Taliban’s sanction committee in the United Nations agreed to the travel exemption of 13 Taliban senior members. Meanwhile, some countries have been supporting cancelation of travel exemption for all Taliban leaders due to extreme violation of women’s rights, however, many objected to this move.

Economic sanctions, including trade and suspension of these individuals’ assets, military sanctions and military interaction with these Taliban officials, remains in place. The travel ban on some of the Taliban’s officials was lifted by Donald Trump, the former president of United States in 2019, to pave the way for peace negotiations between the US and the Taliban.

The travel exemption list published by the United Nations includes Shahabuddin Delawar, Taliban’s minister of mines; Khairullah Khair Khah, Taliban’s minister of information and culture; Abdul Haq Wasiq, Taliban’s chief of intelligence; Noorullah Noori, Taliban’s minister of borders and tribal affairs; Abdul Latif Mansoor, Taliban’s minister of energy and water; Mullah Fazil Mazloom, Taliban’s deputy minister of defense; Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, Taliban’s political affairs deputy prime minister; Din Mohammad Hanif, Taliban’s minister of economy and Noor Mohammad Saqib, Taliban’s minister of Hajj.

“This was a mistake”, said one of the ministry’s spokespersons.

“On behalf of the families of the British nationals, we express their apologies for any breach of Afghan culture, customs or laws, and offer their assurance of future good conduct,” the UK ministry announced.

This comes close on the heels of the announcement made by Hugo Shorter, the Chargé d’Affaires at the UK Mission to Afghanistan working from Doha, in which he said that “the UK does not support anyone, including Afghan nationals, seeking to achieve political change through violence, or any activity inciting violence for political purposes, in Afghanistan, and will not allow UK soil to be used to plan or prepare it, and we strongly discourage others from doing so”. Shorter added that there is no alternative than to “engage pragmatically” with the current administration in Afghanistan.

The invitation to Muttaqi to be part of discussions with representatives from countries across the world was extended by Kamilov during a meeting in which both sides spoke about the current situation in Afghanistan, and strengthening economical and transit relationship in Kabul.

Since the Taliban’s takeover, Uzbekistan is one of the few neighboring countries that have maintained ties with the group, and in the past 10 months, both the countries’ officials have met several times.

As per a statement of the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Uzbekistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) said that security of his country is affiliated with the security and stability in Afghanistan. The NSA said that Uzbekistan’s government is ready to work with the Taliban government to strengthen political, economic, and transit relations.

The Taliban statement then added that Muttaqi appreciated Uzbekistan’s cooperation with Afghans in political and economic fields and said that he will participate in the conference.

The NRF asked the Taliban not to start any military operation in areas controlled by them as it will endanger the life of the Taliban prisoners. The NRF assured the global community through their statement that the Taliban prisoners have been transferred to safe places and have been taken care of according to Islamic obligations and Geneva’s convention about war prisoners.

The NRF added that even though they gave immunity to two other Taliban members, however, they took up arms and lost their lives as the result of the ensuing clash. The Taliban have not yet commented on the issue.

On Thursday, June 16, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan announced that its forces have shot down a Taliban helicopter in Dara Arezo of Panjshir province, and taken into custody five individuals including two pilots, two flying engineers and one Taliban commander. Taliban had maintained that the said helicopter made an emergency landing in Dara Arezo of Panjshir province due to technical problems.

The NRF has been pushing for the prisoner swap as reports of the arrest and torture of civilians accused of being NRF members had been published by international human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The rights watchdogs have expressed deep concerns over the torture and arbitrary arrests of civilians in Panjshir province and the Andarab district of Baghlan province. HRW in a statement had said that the Taliban tortured civilians and in some cases, the detainees lost their lives due to the torture.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said, “The cowardly attack on Gurudwara Karte Parwan should be condemned in the strongest terms by all”. Meanwhile, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, an Indian politician condemned the attack in Kabul and called it a “terror attack”. “All nations must unite in condemning this violence against Sikhs”, he added. Bhagwant Mann, chief minister of Punjab in India, urged senior Indian officials “for immediate assistance to ensure the safety of minorities in Kabul”.

Anarkali Honaryar, former Afghan senator said “Afghanistan is a graveyard for religious minorities”, as many called it a “war crime” and emphasized on the protection of religious minorities in Afghanistan.

Former Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, strongly condemned the attack and emphasized on unity among people of Afghanistan. Karzai called for the start of a national dialogue to establish long-term peace and stability in the country.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban’s Ministry of Interior (MoI) said that the attackers had thrown hand grenades toward the guards, before entering the Gurudwara.

As per the Taliban official figures, two were killed and seven have been injured, however, a Sikh citizen from Kabul told Afghanistan International that “casualties are more than what Taliban announced”.

Taliban didn’t allow journalists to enter the place of the attack and interview the victims. Taliban has repeatedly restricted journalists over the past few months from accessing information on attacks and explosions in different cities of Afghanistan. Also, the public hospitals avoid providing information about the casualties due to pressure from the Taliban.

In the few past months, Afghanistan has witnessed several bloody attacks on places of worship of Sufis and Shiites in different provinces of the country, most of which has been claimed by the Islamic State- Khosran (IS-K) branch.

Earlier, the US Department of State in a report on religious freedom in the world stated that religious freedom has deteriorated in the country since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021.