Afghanistan National Movement for Peace and Justice Formed

HRW stated that with many human rights issues in the country, protections for people with disabilities have weakened.

There are 4.4 million Afghans with disabilities who are stranded in the country with limited access to services, or have fled as refugees to other countries.

"People with disabilities in Afghanistan face discrimination, limited services, and a lack of a legislative or institutional framework to ensure their fundamental rights," HRW said in its report.

Afghanistan first celebrated White Cane Safety Day in 2011.

In Afghanistan, Rahyab, an organisation of people with disabilities that has been providing education and rehabilitation for people with visual disabilities, started promoting the White Cane Day celebration to advocate for the rights of people with vision impairments.

Mahmoud Saikal, Afghanistan’s former permanent representative to the UN, who is a supporter of the NRF, without directly referring to the Massoud and Mohib meeting, said, "In dealing with the present and future of the country, it is necessary to review the developments of the past 21 years."

According to Saikal, one should learn from the big mistakes and the factors that turned unprecedented opportunities into challenges and resulted in the collapse of the political system.

Afghanistan International first reported on Friday, that Hamdullah Mohib had discussed the future of Afghanistan with Ahmad Massoud.

Later, Mohib confirmed the news on his Twitter and explained that he had a conversation with Massoud about the revival of democracy and the republic political system. Mohib also stressed on uploading the national values and flag of Afghanistan.

However, Mohiuddin Mahdi, a former member of parliament in Afghanistan, responded to Mohib, saying that a referendum is the only mechanism that would define the national values and determine the national flag in Afghanistan.

Mahdi emphasised that until the referendum is held, "there will be no national value and no national flag".

Mohib's stance has been welcomed too. Among others, a Twitter user Aminullah Ansari replied to Mohib and stated that Afghanistan will not be built by war and without national consensus.

They said that the group has published an old audio tape attributed to Ayubi in which he has been heard denying his separation from the Taliban.

Sources close to Ayubi said that he had left Kabul for Faryab province in the north. These sources confirmed to Afghanistan International that the prominent Uzbek commander cut ties with the group due to his dissatisfaction with Taliban’s polices about the participation of Uzbeks in the government.

Ayubi is one of the senior commanders of Uzbek origin of the Taliban who entered the presidential palace after Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan on August 15, 2021.

The Taliban have always denied internal differences within their group.

However, not long ago, Makhdoom Alem, another senior Uzbek Taliban in northern Afghanistan, was detained by the Taliban. At that time, the dismissal of Alem caused widespread protests in Faryab.

The Taliban defense minister’s meeting with the new recruits took place on Thursday at the group’s Joint Training Command.

Yaqoob emphasised that the group’s government doesn't believe in ethnic discrimination, including the Tajik, Pashtun, and Hazara.

Yaqoob’s stance comes at a time when many Taliban critics and citizens of Afghanistan accuse the group of "ethnic cleansing".

The group has focused on new recruits in their military from Panjshir as the National Resistance Front (NRF) forces have been fighting against the Taliban in various northern provinces.

Sources close to Mohib and Massoud confirmed to Afghanistan International that the discussion had taken place and it was the first conversation between the two sides after the fall of the Afghan government in August 15, 2021.

In February 2022, Mohib had told the BBC that he was not in contact with the resistance forces, including the NRF led by Ahmad Massoud. Mohib had emphasised that he was talking to his friends to learn "lessons" from the issues that happened in the past.

However, recently the former NSA, warned that the Taliban will be overthrown if they continue to suppress the Afghan citizens.

In an interview with Arab News, he had stressed that the question about the future of Afghanistan was ambiguous after the fall of the Taliban as he didn’t know if the country will head into a civil war.

Along with former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Mohib fled Afghanistan on August 15, 2021.

As Ashraf Ghani escaped from Kabul, Ahmad Massoud went to Panjshir province and formed the National Resistance Front against the Taliban.

The National Resistance Front (NRF) is one of the main political-military groups that has fought the Taliban for more than a year in a number of northern provinces, especially in Panjshir and Baghan.