UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Visits Panjshir To Assess Ground Situation

The Minister of Interior of Tajikistan addressed the two-day conference on regional security cooperation and border management. He emphasised that Afghanistan's problems should be the focus of all stakeholders.

The International and Regional Border Security and Management Cooperation to Counter Terrorism and Prevent the Movement of Terrorists conference, kicked off on 18 October in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The conference has been held in cooperation with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Tajikistan, the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

On the first day of the conference, Emomali Rahmon, the Tajikistan president had said that to curb security risks, it is necessary to build a security belt around Afghanistan. Rahmon had stressed that terrorists try to cross the Central Asian borders.

Taliban have not reacted to these statements of Tajik officials. However, the group has launched a campaign on Twitter in the past days to promote their suicide attacks in the past twenty years in Afghanistan.

Sources added that the Taliban have tried to prevent the spread of the demonstrations to other areas.

The former soldier who has been detained by the Taliban had returned to a civilian job after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

Sources told Afghanistan International that on Monday the Taliban detained two brothers of this former soldier, tortured them, and then released them. The group, however, raided the former soldier’s home and detained him on Tuesday.

According to sources, on Wednesday morning, the Taliban delivered the former soldier back to his family, but with broken arms, because of severe torture.

The Taliban members attempted to enter the former soldier’s home when they were met with protests from the family members and other villagers.

The sources confirmed that the Taliban officials have also arrested two other residents of Paryan district.

According to sources, protesters in Paryan shouted anti-Taliban slogans. Many of the protesters were women residents of Paryan district.

The Taliban have told residents of Paryan that a delegation of Taliban officials will meet with the protesters in Paryan district.

The protests in Paryan take place at a time when, according to sources, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan is on a visit to Panjshir province. Sources said that Bennett will meet with Taliban officials during his trip to Panjshir.

Iranian foreign minister, however, didn’t elaborate on the details of the proposed meeting.

Abdollahian referred to the presence of more than four million Afghan refugees in Iran and said that Iran supports "peace and stability in Afghanistan so that the refugees are able to return to their country".

Abdollahian emphasised that Tehran uses "all its capacities to establish peace and tranquility in Afghanistan".

Recalling last year's meeting of foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbouring countries in Tehran, he urged for the implementation of the resolutions of the meeting to overcome the security threats to Afghanistan and the region.

Pakistan's representative in Afghanistan affairs, also said in a meeting, that "current developments in Afghanistan have impacted living standards of Afghans and has increased instability inside and outside the country".

Sadiq Khan emphasised on the importance of the constructive role of regional countries regarding Afghanistan affairs.

Mujahid also criticised the US policies towards the Taliban and said that pressurising and using of force against the group is not the solution. He added that such policies will create confusion among Afghans.

Mujahid told Turkish media, "Afghans know that the reason for their poverty is the United States.”

He emphasised that the solution forward is for the United States to stop exerting economic pressure on the Taliban and said that such policies have not been successful.

Mujahid is on a visit to Turkey during which he announced that the reopening of girls' schools in Afghanistan is inevitable.

According to him, since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban on August 15, 2021, 2,551 Afghan refugees have been transferred from Pakistan to the Netherlands.

Hoekstra added that those who remain in Afghanistan have been unable to travel to Pakistan or have not been able to leave the country due to financial problems.

After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, thousands of people left Afghanistan for Pakistan. Many of them have been transferred to Canada and European countries so far.

For a short time, Pakistan had facilitated the travel of Afghan citizens without passports too.

The Netherlands foreign minister expressed his regret that the route to Pakistan is closed for Afghans who don’t hold passports.

He advised Afghan families to get passports and stressed that his government will remain in touch with those left behind inside Afghanistan.

The Dutch Foreign Minister emphasised that they are trying to evacuate people with passports by November 1, 2022.