UNAMA Urges Taliban To Take Concrete Steps Against All Forms of Terrorism

On Thursday, the Taliban announced that a major gathering of the group has kicked off in southern Kandahar province.

According to the Taliban, more than 3,000 tribal elders, religious scholars, and Taliban officials participated in the meeting.

The Taliban foreign minister announced at the Kandahar meeting that the group is working on formulating a foreign policy and claimed that they have reached important achievements in foreign affairs.

Muttaqi once again emphasised that the Taliban seeks good relations with the world and urged the international community to allow Afghans to live a prosperous life.

Muttaqi claimed that the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in eleven days with the support of the people and stressed that it shows the popular legitimacy of the group.

According to the Taliban officials, the Kandahar gathering is being held to discuss the current situation of Afghanistan.

China is concerned about Uyghur and Turkistan Islamic Movement militias’ activities at the Afghanistan borders.

With Taliban’s need for recognition and development of economic relations, the group has promised Chinese officials during meetings in the past months, that they will drive out Uyghurs from the borders and will fight against the Turkistan Islamic Movement.

It has been reported earlier that Chinese officials in a meeting with Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani network and Taliban minister of interior, have discussed these matters.

China considers Turkistan Islamic Movement a threat to their national security. According to the Chinese media, China’s ambassador in Kabul in a press conference, confirmed that they will cooperate in various sectors and will expand their relations with the current Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Earlier, Al-Jazeera had reported that 20 people had been killed and 40 others got wounded.

Sources said that the attack on Sediqiya mosque in Khairkhana area had been caused by planted explosives.

Meanwhile, Emergency Hospital in Kabul said that 27 injured had arrived at the hospital following the explosion, of which five were children. The hospital confirmed the death of three people to AFP.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Despite the Taliban’s claim of providing security across the country, Afghanistan has witnessed regular attacks by armed groups. In recent months, Islamic State- Khurasan (IS-K) has taken responsibility of most attacks on civilians.

Taliban, Hamid Karzai, the former president, and Abdullah Abdullah, former chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation condemned the attack.

Despite an increase in explosive and suicide attacks, Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Taliban’s minister of promotion of virtues and prevention of vice in the group’s meeting in Kandahar said that after Taliban’s takeover, security situation has improved in Afghanistan, administrative corruption has ended and the economy is getting better. Bakhtar News Agency reported that he said, “After faith, security is very important”.

According to the agency, “general issues of the country” will be discussed in this meeting.

It has been reported that Hibatullah Akhundzada, supreme leader of the Taliban, will also participate in this one-day meeting.

On Wednesday, Hafiz Noor Ahmad Saeed, head of information and culture of Taliban in Kandahar, said that the purpose of holding this meeting is to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan.

The meeting is currently underway, and no more details have been published about it.

It is the second major meeting of the Taliban that has been held this year. Earlier, the group held a three-day meeting in Kabul in which supporters of the group announced their allegiance to Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Recently, an Iranian government-affiliated media outlet quoted Qomi as saying that the United States pushes for chaos in Afghanistan through the formation of the NRF. However, Iran’s special envoy in a presser said that he was misinterpreted.

According to the Iranian media, Qomi recently called the national resistance in Afghanistan a lie. Iran's special envoy at that time also accused America of seeking to create sectarian and ethnic clashes in Afghanistan.

After Qomi’s statement on NRF, Mohammad Reza Bahrami, former ambassador of Iran to Afghanistan, in Tehran, said that there are no signs that the National Resistance Front (NRF) is getting the support of Western countries.

According to Bahrami, who was speaking on the anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, he has not yet seen any signs amidst the approach and operations of the NRF which depicts that it is being influenced by Western countries.

Explaining his viewpoint Qomi said, "The Americans are seeking to create a stage for civil war in the name of the resistance. This issue has nothing to do with the resistance front.”

Iran's special representative for Afghanistan said that after the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic hosted a meeting between Taliban officials and resistance front officials in order to support the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

Iran's special representative for Afghanistan stated that the current Afghan crisis can be solved through political means.

Officials of the National Resistance Front have not commented on the statements of the Iranian authorities yet.

Recently, Ahmad Masoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front, said that there is no other option, but to fight the Taliban. In an interview with the Atlantic Council, Massoud said that the Taliban are not interested in dialogue.