The Taliban announced that on the anniversary of withdrawal of soviet troops from Afghanistan, Wednesday will be declared as a public holiday. The previous government of Afghanistan also celebrated February 15 every year as the anniversary of the "victory of Jihad".
Thirty-four years ago on this day, Soviet troops left Afghanistan, but the war in the country did not end.
The Taliban announced on Tuesday that the group has marshalled 28,433 beggars from all over the city of Kabul. The Taliban added that 11,169 of these people have been identified as needy, but 17,194 others have been engaged in professional begging.
The Taliban did not explain what the criteria has been for identifying the needy people.
Among those rounded up, 12,272 are women, 12,445 are children and 3,716 are men.
Among them, 5617 women, 4359 children and 1193 men have been identified as "needy people".
A statement from the office of the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs stated that 70 orphan children had been among them. The orphans have been sent to educational centers of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, and "needy beggars" will be given "permanent cash assistance" by the Taliban.
An Austrian citizen is being tried on charges of terrorism after he was arrested in the vicinity of Iran International's offices in London. The London police identified the person as Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev. His trial began on Monday in a court in central London.
The London metropolitan police protects the offices of Iran International TV station.
According to the statement published by the London Police, the suspect had been arrested by the Metropolitan Police Counterterrorism Command on Saturday.
Dovtaev has been charged with violating Section 58 of the Terrorism Act of 2000.
The court has charged him with collecting information likely to be useful for committing or preparing an act of terrorism
The Iranian authorities have repeatedly threatened Iran International and its employees. These threats have increased significantly following the coverage of the nationwide uprising of the Iranian people against the Islamic Republic in recent months by the TV station.
Abdul Salam Hanafi, Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister, said that without a strong educational system, the group cannot claim of having an independent country. During a gathering at Kabul University, Hanafi added that the duty of a religious leader is not to say what is forbidden.
Hanafi added that when the Mufti (religious leader) forbids something, he must also introduce an alternative.
Hanafi urged scholars of the Islamic world and Afghanistan to enlighten Afghanistan.
Hanafi’s sharp criticism comes at a time when the Taliban leader has banned the right to education and work of Afghan women.
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban who has not been seen in public and the Kandahar circle, is against the education of girls and has so far been able to impose his decisions on the cabinet of the group in Kabul.
Some prominent figures of the Taliban occasionally raise their voices against these decisions, but so far, they have not been able to convince the leader of the group to reverse the decision on Afghan women.
Haqqani’s criticism of monopoly of power
In addition to the criticism about closure of schools and universities for girls and banning them from work, the issue of monopoly of power within the Taliban has also been criticised by members of the group.
On Saturday, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's interior minister, criticised the current situation under the Taliban in Afghanistan and within the group.
This powerful figure of the Haqqani network openly criticised the monopoly of power by the Taliban and said that the current situation is not acceptable.
According to Haqqani, the current situation increases the rifts between the Taliban government and the Afghan people.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, many countries in the region have urged the group to form an inclusive government with the participation of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan and considered this as a way out of the current deadlock.
However, the Taliban have not even stuck to the idea of symbolic power-sharing structure and have appointed their members to all government positions across the country.
The Taliban-controlled Central Bank announced on Monday that another package of $40 million reached Afghanistan. The bank said that the "humanitarian aid" package has been transferred to a private bank.
On Sunday, the Taliban-controlled Central Bank had announced that it had received another package of 40 million dollars.
After the Taliban’s ban on Afghan women working for non-governmental organisations, the transfer of cash packages to Kabul had stopped for a while, but a few weeks ago, the process had resumed.
Before the resumption of the delivery of cash packages to Afghanistan, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) had announced that since December 2021, approximately $1.8 billion in cash had been transferred to Afghanistan to carry out the activities of the UN organisations and its partners.
UNAMA added that these funds had not been accessed by the Taliban and or the Central Bank.
Nai, a media watchdog group in Afghanistan, said that 48 percent of radio stations have stopped their operations due to economic issues and existing challenges. Nai said in a press release that of 307 radio stations, only around 170 radio outlets continue their operations.
A statement from Nai does not explicitly mention the Taliban’s restrictions on radio stations’ operations and only mentions the existing challenges as the reason for closure of the radio stations across Afghanistan.
Nai’s statement on the collapse of Afghanistan’s radio stations comes when last week, international human rights groups called on the Taliban to release French Afghan journalist, Mortaza Behboudi.
Reporters Without Borders and 14 French media groups, with whom Behboudi had worked, released a joint statement saying that the reporter was arrested by the Taliban about a month ago in Kabul and was taken to prison on charges of "espionage".
The Taliban spokesperson attributed the arrest of journalists like Behboudi to "prevent rumours and propaganda".
Mujahid said on Sunday at the Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education that the group "believes in the freedom of the press" in Afghanistan.
According to Ariana News, Mujahid said, "If we observe Islamic principles, national interests, preventing rumours and pure propaganda, the system is very strongly in favour of the press and media, and if the media operates within this framework, it will not have any problems."
In the latest attempt to censor free media, the Taliban have filtered the websites of the Voice of America (VoA) and Azadi radio in Afghanistan.