Anti-Taliban Politicians Gather in Vienna to Discuss Afghanistan

The Taliban had announced general amnesty two days after taking over Afghanistan on August 15, 2021. According to the Taliban’s amnesty, none of the Taliban members have the right to arrest, harass and torture the former employees, including members of the armed forces of the previous government.

However, so far, many people have been murdered in targeted killings, most of whom have been soldiers of the previous government.

The Taliban has always denied claims that they have killed soldiers of the previous government after taking power in Afghanistan, but it is for the first time that one of the most senior Taliban leaders has confessed to the targeted killings of Afghans by the Taliban members.

It is, however, not clear when and where the Taliban interior minister delivered the speech.

Haqqani, who according to the leaked audio clip, is speaking in an apparent meeting with some Taliban commanders, stressed, "We will reform our selves, you promise that you will reform yourself. We will not embarrass each other, and you will not bother the Muslim nation unnecessarily."

He added, "I shout that it's safe and there's amnesty, but still, someone rises up and kills someone at a checkpoint. All my words [about general amnesty] are [proven] to be lies.”

Haqqani also criticised some other aspects of Taliban commanders’ behaviour, including their demand for supplies. He said, "We used to call out during difficult times that we need to organise [get fighters] for Nangarhar, Kunduz, and Mazar-e-Sharif; how many people could be found? No one. But today, they are coming and asking for supplies for 2,000 people or 1,000 people.”

He then added, "For God's sake, I bring wheat and grains from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Iran for you to eat. So, you too have a little pity."

Haqqani’s comments about Taliban’s breaking of general amnesty comes at a time when the United Nation Assistance Mission (UNAMA) also emphasised in its first report on the human rights situation that the Taliban has not implemented the general amnesty decree of the group’s leader.

In its report, UNAMA said that it had recorded at least 160 extrajudicial killings of former government and security officials by the Taliban between August 15, 2021, and June 15, 2022.

The UNAMA’s concern about human rights violations comes a day after the Taliban published a video recording of the cold-blood killing of the National Resistance Front (NRF) captives in Panjshir province.

UNAMA stressed on Wednesday that the parties to the conflict have clear international obligations in addition to respecting the rights of prisoners.

According to published reports, the Taliban recently captured commander Mohammad Yar and seven other members of his forces and killed them in the Shaba area of Panjshir province.

The Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that at least 40 NRF forces had been killed and more than 100 were captured in a clearance operation in Panjshir.

However, Sibghatullah Ahmadi, the spokesperson of NRF, wrote on Twitter that the behaviour of the Taliban with prisoners of war is a clear violation of the Third Geneva Convention.

While stating that the United States remains committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan amidst ongoing economic and humanitarian crises, the spokesperson of the US State Department said that this policy enables usage of $3.5 billion of Afghan central bank reserves for the benefit of the people of Afghanistan while keeping them out of the hands of the Taliban and other malign actors. The Afghan Fund will protect, preserve, and make targeted disbursements of that $3.5 billion to help provide greater stability to the Afghan economy, the press release stated.

Clarifying doubts, the spokesperson added that the Taliban are not a part of the Afghan Fund, and robust safeguards have been put in place to prevent the funds from being used for illicit activity.

Giving details about the Afghan Fund, the statement from the US State Department said that the fund will maintain its account with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) based in Switzerland. An external auditor will monitor and audit the Afghan Fund as required by Swiss law.

However, some conditions too have been put in place for its usage. In the short-term, the Board of Trustees of the Afghan Fund will have the ability to authorise targeted disbursements to promote monetary and macroeconomic stability and benefit the Afghan people. This could include paying for critical imports like electricity, paying Afghanistan’s arrears at international financial institutions to preserve their eligibility for financial support, paying for essential central banking services like SWIFT payments, and others.

In the long-term, the goal is for funds not used for these limited purposes to be preserved to return to DAB. The United States in the statement has made clear that they will not support the return of these funds until DAB -demonstrates its independence from political influence and interference; demonstrates it has instituted adequate anti-money laundering and countering-the-financing-of-terrorism (AML/CFT) controls; and completes a third-party needs assessment and onboards a reputable third-party monitor.

“The people of Afghanistan face humanitarian and economic crises born of decades of conflict, severe drought, COVID-19, and endemic corruption,” said Wendy Sherman, United States Deputy Secretary of State. “Today, the United States and its partners take an important, concrete step forward in ensuring that additional resources can be brought to bear to reduce suffering and improve economic stability for the people of Afghanistan while continuing to hold the Taliban accountable."

"The Afghan Fund will help mitigate the economic challenges facing Afghanistan while protecting and preserving $3.5 billion in reserves from Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), Afghanistan’s central bank, for the benefit of the people of Afghanistan,” said Wally Adeyemo, United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.

According to the World Bank, income and economic output in Afghanistan have fallen 20-30 percent, imports have declined by approximately 40 percent, and about 70 percent of Afghan households report they are unable to fully meet basic food or non-food needs. Disbursements from the Afghan Fund could include keeping Afghanistan current on its debt payments to international financial institutions, which would preserve their eligibility for development assistance, and paying for critical imports, such as electricity.

Earlier, Feda Hossein Maliki, a member of the National Security Commission of the Iranian Parliament, had said that the Taliban were "mischievous" with regards to water rights issues of Iran.

Maliki stated that Iran is caught up in internal disputes of the Taliban regarding Iran’s water rights issues, and demanded that the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces should be engaged in the process.

Dahmarda too emphasised on the water rights of Iran and said that it must be seriously demanded by the Iranian authorities.

Last month, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's Special Representative for Afghanistan affairs, announced that the Taliban had released water based on water rights of the country. However, the Iranian authorities are not content with the current amount of water released for Tehran.

Earlier, Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during a phone call with Taliban's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had warned that if Iran's water rights issue is not resolved quickly and seriously, it will have negative impact on other areas of cooperation of Tehran with the Taliban.

According to Ahmadi, their forces were shot at when they approached Pakistani forces to discuss the issue and that’s why they exchanged fire on Tuesday.

Ahmadi stressed that the Pakistani military had tried to build a checkpoint in the Dand-e-Patan area of Paktia province.

Ahmadi added that there have been casualties inflicted to the Taliban members. He emphasized that Pakistani soldiers may have suffered casualties too.

The Taliban spokesperson did not give details about the number of casualties of the Taliban forces.

Ahmadi stated that according to the laws, military posts and facilities should not be established near the Durand Line.

He said that this issue is being investigated and the Taliban will prevent the establishment of facilities near the Durand Line.

In the past year, the Taliban have had several military clashes with the Pakistani military on the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan.