US Senators Call for Travel Ban, No Diplomatic Seat at UN for Taliban

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson had announced in February, that this group fully accepts Iran's claim of water rights.

Iran's Crisis Management Organisation had previously said that the country is vulnerable in the water sector and there is no safe water in Iran, except the sea.

Iran's water rights have always been a source of tension between Tehran and Kabul. Under the Taliban’s reign in the past year, the two countries have even witnessed armed clashes over water issues.

The Iranian Crisis Management Organisation said that according to the 1973 water rights treaty between the two countries, Afghanistan must send 50 cubic meters of water per second from the Helmand River to Iran, but so far not even a single cubic meter of water has been given.

Taliban and Iran recently formed a committee to resolve border issues, including water rights.

The Taliban police in Herat claim that they have killed an "armed robber". However, texts plastered across the body of the man read “the assassin of Mujahedin was punished for his deeds”.

A statement from the Taliban in Herat stated that the group’s forces encountered armed robbers during patrol operations in Herat city.

After taking control of Afghanistan, the Taliban has displayed the bodies of several executed men in a number of provinces including Herat, Nimroz, and Nangarhar.

The Taliban’s act has garnered criticism and that’s why, the group's cabinet decided that Taliban members should avoid displaying the faces of "criminals" and the bodies of executed people without a court order.

Despite this decision of the Taliban cabinet, the members of this group have indulged in displaying the bodies of the people they had executed on charges of being members of the Islamic State-Khurasan (IS-K) and kidnapping.

Earlier, human rights groups criticized the Taliban for punishing the accused without due process and free and fair trails.

It has been reported that China and Pakistan have expressed their desire to include Afghanistan in the biggest joint infrastructure and economic project of the two countries in the region.

India considers the CPEC project a violation of its territorial integrity.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project is part of China's One Belt One Road project, which focuses on building infrastructure and macroeconomic activities, such as mining. The development of Gwadar port in Pakistan's Baluchistan is part of this ambitious and strategic Chinese project.

The move to expand CEPC to Afghanistan seems to be a part of China's plans to expand influence in the region. At the Tashkent conference on Tuesday, Yue Xiaoyong, Chinese Special Envoy for Afghanistan, supported the railway project between Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, which he said would "connect western China to Central Asia”.

India's objection to the CPEC project is not only because it expands the economic and political influence of the two traditional rivals of New Delhi, but also because CPEC is partially designed to be implemented in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, where India claims ownership in principle.

India's foreign ministry said in a statement that the country "firmly and consistently opposes projects in the so-called CPEC, which are in Indian territory that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan”.

India has also threatened to "treat accordingly" to economic activities in Kashmir.

This means that the Taliban will face a strong reaction from New Delhi if they want to join the CPEC project. The new development happens even as in recent months, the Taliban have sought diplomatic relations with India.

The conversation on economic stability of Afghanistan continues when there are differences between the Taliban and the US about access to the national reserve of the Central Bank of the country.

With winter approaching and Afghanistan's economic situation worsening, West urged the Taliban to improve the country's economic situation. This comment by West refers to the negotiations between the US and the Taliban regarding Afghanistan's access to frozen funds.

In a series of tweets about the Tashkent conference, West seemed positive about the Taliban's fight against the Islamic State-Khurasan (IS-K), but he also expressed concerns about the presence of Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

At the Tashkent meeting, several regional governments also expressed similar concerns about terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan. These concerns seemed legitimate as in at least two cases, rocket attacks had been launched towards Uzbekistan and Tajikistan from Afghanistan and recently a new terrorist group of Tajik militias has been formed in northern Afghanistan.

As discussions were also focused on the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan during the Tashkent conference, West also expressed the US government's desire to "support the intra-Afghan dialogues”. Taliban has never expressed interest or taken any practical steps regarding this issue despite it being raised by stakeholders at the Tashkent conference.

During his speech at the international conference in Tashkent, Zamir Kabulov, spoke about the dire situation of the people of Afghanistan and said that the US has "robbed" Afghanistan by blocking its funds.

Kabulov said that in Afghanistan the average income of a person is less than a dollar per day and blocking the Afghanistan funds, which could be used for the growth of the country’s economy, is a "theft".

The Russian Special Envoy stressed that the government supported by the US and its allies in Afghanistan, which was in office for 20 years, was a government that was based on corruption.

He said that the senior officials of the previous government fled Afghanistan and the damages caused by the actions of that government should be compensated by the US and its allies.