Taliban Spokesperson Asks Muslim World For Support

Noori, in a post on his Facebook account, had written that “whoever is against our children’s education is our main enemy”.

Sources told Afghanistan International that despite efforts and repeated demands of journalists and his family, the Taliban haven’t released Noori.

In his Facebook post, Noori had pointed to the Friday prayer speech of an Imam and had written that “Mullah Saheb with courage and a loud voice said that girls’ education is haram [forbidden]”.

This journalist had emphasised that “no one had the zeal and courage to stand in front of the mosque and throw out the mullah”.

Sources told Afghanistan International that after this Facebook post, Taliban forces detained the journalist and according to this source he had been warned by the Taliban earlier as well.

According to the Taliban, this is the second gas deposit that has been discovered in Badghis province.

According to Bakhtar News Agency, the new gas deposit has been discovered after a recent earthquake in the province.

On Wednesday, the Taliban announced the discovery of a gas field in the Bala Murghab district of Badghis province.

Although the Taliban has announced the discovery of these gas deposits, local residents said that they had noticed signs of presence of gas deposits in some parts of Badghis earlier.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said that a special technical group will work on the exploration of these gas deposits in the province.

Based on the latest joint assessment of Afghanistan and the United States in 2019, the capacity of Afghanistan's oil field is estimated at 1.6 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan is estimated to have nearly 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 500 million barrels of other gaseous liquids.

The financial value of these natural fossil resources is estimated at 107 billion dollars.

UNICEF added that Denmark and South Korea have donated 5 million dollars each to the organisation.

For more than four hundred days, girls’ secondary and high schools have been closed by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

During this time, schoolteachers have also complained that they haven’t received their salaries.

Earlier, the US embassy’s Chargé d'Affaires had announced that she will visit Turkey to meet Afghan activists to find out how they relate to the situation inside Afghanistan.

The US diplomat met Afghan businesswomen outside Afghanistan at a time when most Afghan women activists have left the country due to the Taliban imposed restrictions or have left their jobs and businesses.

The Taliban have been accused of excluding women from social, political, and educational environments in Afghanistan, and despite the pressure of human rights groups, the Taliban remains restrictive regarding women and girls of Afghanistan.

According to the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency, the Taliban’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum added that a new team will be sent to Helmand to work on the exploration of mining sites.

Delawar considers Helmand a mineral-rich province and said that effective measures should be in place for extraction of the province’s mining sites.

Delawar had earlier said that the Taliban government will start the extraction of 150 new mining sites across Afghanistan.