Will Increase Army Strength to 200,000, If Required, Says Taliban Defense Ministry

He has urged for an investigation into the civilian detentions in Panjshir.

A video clip has been circulating on social media depicting Taliban officials arresting a number of people with handcuffs.

Taliban forces claim that the detained people were members of the National Resistance Front (NRF).

Many have criticised the Taliban’s behaviour after the release of the video clip. Several social media users have stated that the Taliban arrest and imprison civilians under the pretext of fostering relationship with the National Resistance Front.

After the National Resistance Front increased its attacks against the Taliban members in Panjshir, this group has appointed one of its most radical commanders as the commander of Panjshir and Andrab.

According to reports, the Taliban have also sent hundreds of additional troops to Panjshir province on Monday.

Pauwels stressed that he will be leaving Afghanistan on Tuesday and stated that it is a turbulent time.

According to Pauwels, Raffaella Iodice will soon replace him as the head of the EU delegation in Afghanistan.

The appointment of a female diplomat as the head of the EU delegation in Kabul is symbolically interpreted as the strict stance of the European Union regarding its support of women's rights in Afghanistan.

Earlier, Pauwels in his interview with TOLOnews had emphasised that the reopening of girls' schools is the priority for the European Union in Afghanistan. He listed women's right to work, human rights, media freedom, and the formation of an effective and inclusive political system as other priorities of the EU delegation.

Sibghatullah Ahmadi, the NRF spokesperson, wrote on Twitter that with the Taliban's control over Afghanistan, this country has become a house without doors and windows.

On Sunday, Afghanistan International sources from Panjshir province sent video clips which had recorded drones flying over Panjshir.

The Taliban have not yet commented on the reports of drones flying over northern Afghanistan.

According to her, "We live in a country where the colour of a girl's veil is more important than her fate and future."

However, there is a difference which has emerged between the behavior of the moral police officials and the stance of the Taliban’s Ministry of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue.

Mohammad Sadiq Akef, the spokesman of the Ministry of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue said, "A veil or a burqa is a hijab. It does not matter whether the color of the hijab is black or some other colour.”

In a press conference in Kabul, he said on Monday that the hijab should not be tight, narrow, thin, ornate, and fragrant.

At the same time, officials of the Ministry of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue on Monday presented a one-year report describing the ministry's functions.

At the press conference, Mawlawi Abdur Rahman Munir, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue said that over a thousand complaints have been filed in the ministry in the past year.

Munir did not give details about these complaints, but before this, the Taliban had established strict rules and asked the people to inform this ministry if they see any wrongdoing in the society.

Human rights organisations say that the Taliban's Ministry of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue has been practicing gender apartheid against Afghan women in the past year.

Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the ministry has imposed extensive restrictions on women's right to education, work, and freedom of movement and social activities.

Mawlawi Ahmad Taqi, Taliban’s MoHE spokesperson, stated that teaching of Islamic culture has also been increased to 24 credits in every university.

Taliban officials stressed that these changes have been implemented based on the approval of the Taliban leadership.

Afghanistan International had learned earlier that the Taliban was implementing broad changes in the curriculum of Afghan universities.

Sources of Afghanistan International had reported at that time that the Taliban planned to reduce the teaching hours of the main subjects at the colleges and instead, increase the teaching hours of Islamic culture by three times.