The European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev discussed Afghanistan during a meet. Borrell said that during his meeting with the Uzbek president they discussed the European Union's concerns about Afghanistan.
After the takeover of Afghanistan, border clashes between forces of the Taliban in Afghanistan and forces of its neighbouring countries, including Uzbekistan, have been reported.
In one incident, the president of Uzbekistan had confirmed the death of an Uzbek soldier due to a gunbattle on the Afghanistan-Uzbekistan border.
The Central Asian countries have also expressed grave concerns about the emergence of Islamic State-Khurasan (IS-K) terror outfit on their borders with Afghanistan.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement on Friday said that Turkey is routinely pushing tens of thousands of Afghans back at its land border with Iran or deporting them directly to Afghanistan with little or no examination of their claims for international protection.
HRW in its report also stated that Afghans facing imminent deportation are often given no opportunity to make refugee claims. The rights organisation urged Turkey to immediately halt pushbacks of Afghans from its borders and give all Afghans facing removal the opportunity to make refugee claims
The report claimed that HRW had written to the Turkish authorities on October 18 seeking a response to the alleged pushbacks and deportations. “The Presidency of Migration Management in Turkey’s Interior Ministry reported 238,448 “irregular migrants whose entrance to our country has been prevented” in 2022, most of them Afghans. Turkey reported deporting 44,768 Afghans by air to Kabul in the first eight months of 2022, a 150 percent increase over the first eight months of 2021,” the report stated.
“Although Turkey has rightly earned international acclaim and support for hosting the largest number of refugees of any country in the world, it is simultaneously pushing many Afghans back at its borders or deporting them to Afghanistan with little or no examination of their claims for international protection,” said Bill Frelick, refugee and migrant rights director at Human Rights Watch.
Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees of any country in the world, an estimated 3.9 million people, 3.6 million Syrians with temporary protection and 320,000 others, mostly Afghans.
Since taking power, the Taliban have imposed severe restrictions across Afghanistan, carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former government officials and security force personnel, detained and beaten journalists, summarily executed alleged Islamic State fighters, and failed to protect groups targeted for attack by the Islamic State, such as ethnic Hazaras.
HRW stated that pushbacks violate multiple human rights norms, including the prohibition of collective expulsion under the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to due process in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the principle of nonrefoulement under the 1951 Refugee Convention, which prohibits the return of refugees to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened.
Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, said that two-thirds of people in Afghanistan will need humanitarian aid in 2023. Alakbarov said that currently 25 million Afghans live in poverty.
The participants in an informal meeting of the UN Security Council expressed their concerns about the situation in Afghanistan.
In addition to representatives of several countries, members of civil society and regional experts were also present in this meeting.
Alakbarov said, “65 percent of the population of Afghanistan needs humanitarian aid. This year, we expect a 35-40 percent decrease in the country’s GDP."
According to him, the financial system of Afghanistan has collapsed and the cost of food has become unbearable for the people of Afghanistan, leaving families in debt.
He added that with the current situation in Afghanistan, more than 700,000 people have lost their jobs.
According to Alakbarov, three-quarters of the income of the Afghan people has been spent on preparing food.
Vladimir Norov, Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister, urged the Taliban to meet the demands of the international community. Norov added that they want the Taliban to build an inclusive government, respect women and minorities’ rights, and severe ties with terrorists in Afghanistan.
Norov was addressing the European Union and Central Asia meeting, which was held on Thursday in Uzbekistan. The foreign ministers of regional countries and Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, were present in the meeting.
Uzbekistan’s foreign minister also stated that the formation of an international negotiations group to coordinate and talk with the Taliban officials was discussed in the meeting with the EU officials.
Norov also emphasised that Afghanistan should not be isolated from the world.
The Uzbek foreign minister called on the international community to make coordinated efforts and provide practical assistance to the Afghan people.
A decree attributed to Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, has abolished five anti-corruption offices in Afghanistan. The three-article decree obtained by Afghanistan International has assigned the responsibilities of these dissolved bodies to military institutions.
The dissolved bodies include the General Directorate for Combating Major Crimes of Administrative Corruption in the Ministry of Interior Affairs; the Directorate for Combating Major Crimes of Administrative Corruption in the General Directorate of Intelligence and Attorney General Office; the Court for Combating Serious Crimes of Administrative Corruption within the Supreme Court, and the Judicial Center for Combating Major Crimes.
The Taliban leadership has assigned the duties and responsibilities of the abolished institutions to the General Directorate of Criminal Investigations of the Ministry of Interior Affairs and the Military Court.
The Taliban dissolved the institutions related to major crimes of administrative corruption while many reports have been published in the past year of corruption within the Taliban.
Despite the widespread complaints about corruption by the Taliban members, the group has not responded to these reports.
The United Nations Human Rights Office has urged the Taliban to release women rights activist Zarifa Yaqoobi and her colleagues. The office said on Friday that “silencing women and constraining their work does not affect them alone, and it impacts all of society".
Earlier, Human Rights Watch had emphasised that all Afghans have the right to freedom of assembly, speech, and opinion.
The Taliban arrested Zarifa Yaqoobi, a women’s rights activist, and four of her colleagues during a press conference in Dasht-e-Barchi area of Kabul last month.
The activists were on the verge of announcing the formation of the "Afghan Women Movement for Equality".
Earlier, Amnesty International had also asked the Taliban to release these activists.
After the Taliban's military takeover of Afghanistan, women have continuously held protest rallies against the strict laws and policies of the group, but the Taliban’s response has been arbitrary arrests and detentions.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, had recently said that these activists receive orders from outside Afghanistan.