565 People Arrested by Taliban in Balkh in One Year

According to the Taliban ministry, Iran has also stopped sending pilgrimage caravans to Iraq due to the security situation in that country.

In recent years, thousands of Shia citizens of Afghanistan who are mainly from the Hazara ethnic group have travelled to Iraq in pilgrimage caravans.

The Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stressed that the security situation in Iraq is not favourable for Afghan pilgrims, and in the absence of security guarantees for the pilgrims, sending Afghan nationals to Iraq will be risky.

The Iraqi capital city of Baghdad has recently witnessed a political deadlock and the city even witnessed armed conflict between supporters of the Sadr movement and groups affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Meanwhile, the Union of Travel agencies and pilgrimage companies in Kabul have told the media outlets that based on the Taliban travel ban for Shia pilgrims, they are not allowed to transport Shia citizens of Afghanistan to Karbala city in Iraq.

Muttaqi asked the international community to put pressure on the US, so that Afghanistan's airspace is not violated.

He stressed that no terrorist group has been able to use Afghanistan's soil against other countries since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s foreign minister claimed that while around 50 countries had failed to defeat the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, the Taliban has defeated IS-K and now, it doesn’t have any territorial presence in Afghanistan.

He added that the Taliban has not only cut ties with these terrorist groups, but has also fought against these terrorist groups.

Muttaqi also stressed that the world should see the performance of the Taliban government.

The talk about violation of Afghanistan airspace by the US comes as reports state an increased presence of drones in the skies of country.

In early August, a US drone strike killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the heart of Kabul.

Following Zawahiri's death, concerns about the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Taliban’s continued ties with these groups have increased.

However, the foreign minister of the Taliban said that so far, the US has not provided any document regarding the death of al-Zawahiri in Kabul, but emphasised that the group’s investigation of the incident continues.

The Taliban had previously said that they could not find the body of the al-Qaeda leader in Kabul.

Muttaqi also added that in contrast to the Doha agreement wherein the US had committed to participate in the construction of Afghanistan, Washington has put sanctions against the Taliban.

The Taliban's foreign minister said that US has failed to put pressure on the Taliban over the past 20 years and instead urged Washington to establish political and economic relations with the Taliban.

On the question about Taliban government’s recognition, he said that while the group has not officially been recognised as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, Taliban officials have participated in official visits outside of Afghanistan.

He added that the Taliban officials were officially invited to the Islamic Organisation conference in Islamabad and to the meetings in Antalya, Moscow and Beijing.

Although Muttaqi did not name a specific country, he said that the Taliban has supporters in the world, and according to him, if "harm" is caused to the Taliban, the countries which support this group, will raise their voices.

He added that the Taliban had conducted productive diplomacy with many countries and had no issues with regional players.

However, he added that he has no expectations from countries that have been at war with this group for the past twenty years.

Stressing that millions of Afghans have been deprived of literacy, McPhillips added, "We have an opportunity to increase the literacy rate of Afghans. To educate Afghans, everyone's efforts is needed.”

In a conference held in Kabul and attended by Taliban officials, the UNESCO representative emphasised that a literate population reduces poverty in society.

UNESCO commemorated the International Literacy Day in Kabul even as schools for secondary education for Afghan girls remain closed across Afghanistan.

During the UNESCO conference, Sadruddin Sadr, the director of Monitoring and Evaluation of the Ministry of Education of the Taliban, claimed that the group values education. However, he did not comment on the closure of girls’ schools for secondary education.

Sadr claimed that many schools have been destroyed in Afghanistan and asked the international community to support Afghanistan's educational system.

HRW added that it was troubled by the fact that none of the 14 men and 2 women appointed as commissioners are experts on women’s rights, and none are Afghan or from the Afghan diaspora. IT asked the commission to include women in its fold.

HRW stated that the Taliban, after seizing power in August 2021, dismantled the system which had been developed with the US support to respond to gender-based violence. “The dreams of Afghan girls and women have been shattered with the Taliban ban on girls from attending secondary schools and women from most jobs. Women’s and girls’ rights to free movement, association, and expression have been severely curbed,” the report said.

It also accused the US of leaving women and activists out in the cold during the evacuation process. Only 7 to 10 percent of Afghan applicants for US special immigrant visas are women, it stated. The rights watchdog urged the commission to investigate and document the US government’s failure to deliver most of its promises to Afghan women and set out what can still be salvaged to help protect those living under the Taliban’s brutal rule and assist those who managed to flee abroad.

The commission had been created in December 2021 to examine “key strategic, diplomatic, and operational decisions” the US made in Afghanistan, and to develop “lessons learned and recommendations for the way forward”. The Commission’s executive director is not appointed yet, providing an opportunity to seek someone with women’s rights expertise, HRW said.

The health official stressed that around 30 infected people are also being hospitalised on a daily basis.

This health official warned that without support from the Samangan Public Health Directorate, the death toll due to cholera will increase.

Meanwhile, Mullah Mohibullah Bahari, director of the Public Health Directorate in Samangan province, said that a team of health workers along with representatives from the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has been dispatched to the district to take samples of drinking water and support the treatment of the local residents.

He added that this team is responsible for informing the people about the dangers of cholera and providing basic medical aid.