Humanitarian Aid Should Not Be Conditional, Says Taliban Official

Bakhtar, the Taliban-controlled news agency, reported the details of the meeting of the UN envoy and the Taliban’s minister of higher education which took place on Saturday.

Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban officials have always described the ban on women's education as a "temporary" issue, but they have imposed more restrictions on girls and women over the past months.

The group never allowed women and girls education during their reign in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

The Taliban’s current minister of education is one of the most vocal critics of working women and women’s education among the group’s top leadership. He had previously made harsh and insulting comments about women's work, education, and sports in the previous government.

Farthing condemned these remarks on Twitter.

In his memoirs, Prince Harry said that during his military mission in Afghanistan, he killed 25 members of the Taliban and described them as "chess pieces being removed from the board".

Pen Farthing was one of the last Britons to leave Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country in August 2021. Later, he returned to Afghanistan and since then has been working in the animal welfare sector.

Farthing's tweet criticising Prince Harry received over 375,000 views, and hundreds of responses.

Pakistan recently detained many Afghan immigrants for illegal stay in the country.

Earlier, the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed concern about the situation of Afghan refugees, especially their families and children in Pakistani prisons.

The detention of Afghan citizens in Pakistan has also drawn criticism from several political figures.

In the past year, with the Taliban retaking control of Afghanistan and increasing poverty, the wave of migration of Afghans to neighbouring countries has intensified.

Potzel met with Ned Mohammad Nadim, the Taliban’s minister of higher education in Kabul.

UNAMA stressed that the Taliban ban on education for women and even stopping them from working for aid agencies will harm all Afghans.

The Taliban recently banned girls from attending universities and other higher education institutions. This decision has faced widespread national and international criticism.

Abdollahian also emphasised on the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan. He has shared his concern about the situation in Afghanistan with his Pakistani counterpart.

According to a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, the foreign ministers of the two countries discussed various issues, including the opening of the Mand-Peshin border market, the visit of Israeli cabinet minister to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the fight against terrorist activities and the publication of cartoons of the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Charlie Hebdo magazine.

Referring to the cartoon of the Iranian leader published in Charlie Hebdo magazine, Iran's foreign minister said, "Islamic countries should not allow some Western countries to insult the holy issues and spread hatred in the name of freedom."

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also wrote on Twitter, referring to the visit of the new Israeli cabinet minister to Al-Aqsa Mosque, that he condemned this "provocative visit" in a telephone conversation with Iran's foreign minister.