Taliban Confirms Mass Expulsion of Hazara Female Students

Earlier, the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice had said that Afghanistan does not need a constitution. The Taliban spokesperson, however, said, “Formation of the official cabinet needs time, the constitution has not been settled, the parliament has not been formed, Afghans who live outside the country have not returned until now. These are the pillars of the system, whenever they are settled, the interim government will end."

Taliban officials have usually said that they need more time to decide on some issues that they have opposed in the past. Among other things, the reopening of secondary and high schools for girls has been constantly postponed during the first year of the group’s reign in Afghanistan.

During their rule in Afghanistan in the 1990s, the Taliban had banned education for girls across Afghanistan.

Mujahid did not explain more about the formation of the new constitution and parliament. Previously, however, the Taliban officials were less willing to express their opinion on important issues such as holding elections and forming the parliament.

Abdul Karim Haidar, the deputy minister of justice of the Taliban, had said in a press conference that Afghanistan does not need a constitution. He had also denied the grounds for political parties under the Taliban regime.

The sixth conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) which kicked off in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday, will last for two days and is being attended by heads of state of member countries.

Mirzayev added, "In order to achieve a broad consensus on Afghanistan and take practical measures at the global level, we suggest the United Nations to form a high-level international negotiating group to prepare and agree with the Taliban authorities.”

He said that a coordinated and joint approach is needed to engage with the Taliban.

The President of Uzbekistan stressed, "We cannot allow the repeat of the sad experience of the past when Afghanistan had become an international terrorist center."

CICA is an organisation that has 27 countries as members and eight other countries with five organisations as observer members. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam are permanent members of CICA.

However, Afghanistan’s representative was not present at the sixth summit of CICA.

CICA observer member countries are Indonesia, Ukraine, the United States, Belarus, Japan, Philippines, Laos, and Malaysia.

The United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Organisation for Migration, the Arab League, and the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries are the observers’ organisations in CICA.

The US National Security Strategy document, which was published on Wednesday, stated that since the threats have evolved, the US counterterrorism approaches have transformed too. The document states that this is the reason why the US ended its longest war in Afghanistan, while the country had long ago achieved its objective of delivering justice to the 9/11 victim families by assassinating Osama Bin Laden and other key leadership of the al-Qaeda.

The strategy document stressed that the US is confident in its ability to maintain the fight against al-Qaeda, ISIS, and associated forces from over the horizon, a strategy that the US utilised to eliminate al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawhiri in Kabul.

The new strategy suggested that the terrorist threat today is more ideologically diverse and geographically dispersed than it was two decades ago when Washington started the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.

The US believes that al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other affiliated forces have spread from Afghanistan and other countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

According to the new US National Security Strategy document, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia are havens for terrorists, and their local affiliates have become entrenched actors in regional conflicts.

These students had been dismissed last week for what the Taliban has called disorder and revelation of the poisoning incident of the dormitory of Kabul University.

Among the expelled students are several Hazara girls who had participated in a demonstration against Hazara killings and the suicide attack at the Kaj educational center in Western Kabul.

After the demonstrations in a couple of universities across Afghanistan, several girls had been poisoned in the dormitory of Kabul University. Sources had said that the Taliban members served poisoned food to the dormitory students to prevent the protest of Kabul University female students.

Taliban officials had denied that the girls had food poisoning and had said that they were sick. So far, Taliban officials have not commented on the expulsion of Hazara female students from Kabul University.

The Russian President discussed Afghanistan at the sixth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Astana Kazakhstan on Thursday.

Putin also discussed the terrorist attack that targeted the Russian Embassy in Kabul on September 5 and said that such terrorist attacks in Afghanistan confirm that terrorism remains a major challenge in Afghanistan.

Addressing the participants, the Russian president noted that to normalise the situation in Afghanistan, joint support to improve the economic situation of the country is needed.

He added, "We want reparation for the losses caused to Afghans during the years of occupation and the release of illegally frozen reserves of Afghanistan."

CICA is an organisation that has 27 countries as members and eight other countries with five organisations as observer members. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam are permanent members of CICA.

However, Afghanistan’s representative was not present at the sixth summit of CICA.

CICA observer member countries are Indonesia, Ukraine, the United States, Belarus, Japan, Philippines, Laos, and Malaysia.

The United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Organisation for Migration, the Arab League, and the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries are the observers’ organisations in CICA.