Mullah Baradar Visits Quake-hit Paktika, Khost Provinces After a Week

As the Taliban launched their offensive in Balkhab district of Sar-e-Pol province, hundreds of locals reportedly fled from their homes to the mountains or to neighboring districts and provinces.

Local sources in Bamyan confirmed to Afghanistan International that the displaced from the Balkhab war are now living in the province without shelter, water, or food.

Social media campaign organizers have emphasised that the affected citizens of Balkhab war need food, medicine, and shelter.

Over the past few days, Taliban has sent thousands of troops to Balkhab district in Sar-e-Pol province to suppress Mawlawi Mahdi, the group’s only Hazara commander. After three days of fighting, Taliban officials said that the group took control of the Balkhab district and the offensive was over.

However, a number of human rights groups have expressed concern about the possibility of civilians being killed by the Taliban in Balkhab district. Amnesty International had said that it is deeply concerned about the summary executions and civilian casualties by the Taliban forces in the district.

As the clashes began, there were reports of Taliban killing civilians in Balkhab. However, a Taliban spokesman said that no one had been "oppressed" and that "propaganda about civilian casualties in Balkhab was untrue".

Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesperson, said that in Balkhab, "people live in peace and security".

He also added that the visa issuance process will soon resume for Afghan businessmen.

Yi also expressed condolences for the deadly earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan. China had earlier announced that they will provide humanitarian aid worth USD 7.5 million for victims of the earthquake in Khost and Paktika provinces.

Even though China has not recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan, it has still maintained good relations with the group's officials at the highest level.

Taliban’s foreign ministry quoted Wang Yi as saying, “China is against sanctions on Afghanistan". Yi was also quoted appreciating the role of the Taliban’s embassy in Beijing for strengthening the relation between both the countries.

The United Nations Security Council, of which China is a member, has imposed sanctions against the group due to it being included in the terrorist groups' list of this organization. Recently, this council decided to extend the travel exemption of Taliban leaders temporarily.

Some of these employees said that the Taliban suspended them from their jobs instead of firing them to prevent them from protesting. According to the Taliban’s written decree, due to organizational shortcomings, 517 positions in the kindergarten directorate are on hold. Of these, 311 suspended positions were of teachers.

The date on the document shows that it had been sent three weeks ago on June 6 from the hiring directorate of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to the Directorate of Kindergarten.

One of these employees told Afghanistan International that they have been suspended without any notice. According to the source, most of the employees that have been suspended are women and the only breadwinners of their families and are now facing a difficult situation.

Earlier, the Taliban had fired or suspended employees of former government in different departments too. However, the group says that instead of firing them, their employment has only been put on hold and if needed, they will be absorbed into the system again.

At the same time, these employees said that the Taliban uses this method to prevent them from protesting.

Rahmatullah Nabil, who published a Twitter thread on Monday with a video from a Taliban seminary in which the group’s flag is displayed, emphasized that the man, Mullah Hamdullah, is the same person who spoke to the people on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr on May 1, 2022, and appeared as the supreme Taliban leader at the Hakimiyah seminary in Kandahar on October 30, 2021.

According to the former spy chief of Afghanistan, the same person may appear in the Taliban Ulema Assembly, a grand assembly that is scheduled to take place in Kabul, as Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. Only one old photo of the Taliban supreme leader has been released so far, but the group has not been able to prove that he is alive, after more than 10 months in power in Afghanistan.

The Taliban occasionally issue decrees in the name of their supreme leader. In the first months after the fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021, the Taliban's major policies and appointment of senior government officials, including the group’s cabinet members, were attributed to decrees by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, but later the group attributed minor issues such as devotion of funding for a road to decrees by the Taliban leader.

Last week, Taliban-controlled media and news agencies reported that about 30 businessmen had met with Mullah Hibatullah in Kandahar. A few photos were published of this meeting; however, the Taliban leader was not visible in any one. Pictures released by the Taliban of the alleged meeting with their leader showed a row of men sitting in a relatively luxurious room, without their leader in the frame. The next day, the same men discussed, what they called their meeting with Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, with Amir Khan Mottaqi, the Taliban's acting foreign minister.

Bakhtar News Agency and Afghan National Television, both controlled by the Taliban, then released videos of conversations with a number of men who claimed to have met with Mullah Hibatullah.

The Taliban also released a video showing Sirajuddin Haqqani, the group's acting interior minister, visiting the quake-hit areas of Paktika and attending a telephone call. The Taliban claim that the conversation of Haqqani took place with Mullah Hibatullah.

There was only one blurry image of Mullah Omar, the first Taliban leader when he was alive, which was a screenshot of a video of a ceremony in Kandahar.
Unlike now, during their reign of Afghanistan in the 1990s, the Taliban did not allow the publishing of photos and videos that show the faces of living beings. But it was in 2015 and after confirming the news of their leader's death, the Taliban introduced Mullah Akhtar Mansour as their leader and published a photo of him.

After Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed on his way back to Pakistan from Iran, a man named Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada was introduced as the new leader of the Taliban, who has not been seen since, except for in a portrait.

Foreign intelligence agencies have ruled out the possibility of Akhundzada being alive, but the Taliban continue to insist that he is alive and in charge of the group's affairs, without publishing a photo or video of him.

The rights watchdog called on the Taliban to end the attacks against civilians, and to ensure justice and accountability as the ruling group in Afghanistan.

Amnesty International has called upon both the parties in the conflict to abide by the laws of war and to refrain from harming civilians. It also called on the international community not to ignore the escalation of human rights abuses in Afghanistan, but instead to press for accountability.

The group has expressed concern about the Taliban blocking the transport route and the closure of telecommunications networks in Balkhab, stating that blocking the transport route and essential needs of the people is a war crime.

According to the organization, the free flow of information from the conflict zone should be respected.

The concerns come as the Taliban attacked a disgruntled Hazara commander in the Balkhab district of Sar-e-Pul province, blocking the district's roads and disrupting telecommunications networks.

Five days have passed since the Taliban invaded Balkhab, but details of the war have not been released due to a lack of communication.

The Taliban have reportedly shot dead a number of civilians since capturing the center of Balkhab district. According to the latest reports, the group's fighters shot dead seven of Mawlawi Mahdi's men who had surrendered on Sunday in the Glorz area near Darah Sof district.