Sibghatullah Ahmadi, National Resistance Front of Afghanistan spokesperson announced that following clashes on Tuesday night in Pul-e-Hesar of Andarab district, two brothers who were members of this front, and eight Taliban members were killed.
Ahmadi said that the Taliban fighters intended to search people’s houses in one of the villages, but they faced resistance from two of the NRF forces.
Local sources confirmed the clash on Tuesday night in Andarab district of Baghlan province to Afghanistan International. However, sources didn’t provide precise information regarding the casualties of the incident.
Ahmadi said that these two members who clashed with the Taliban fighters were brothers and former members of Afghanistan national police and army.
Taliban officials didn’t comment in this regard.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has raised concern over the status of arbitrarily detained Afghans in United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a new report, HRW urged UAE to urgently release those arbitrarily detained and provide access for determining their status and protection needs.
As per the report, UAE authorities have arbitrarily detained between 2,400 and 2,700 Afghans for over 15 months in the “Emirates Humanitarian City,” a humanitarian logistics hub in Abu Dhabi.
“Emirati authorities have kept thousands of Afghan asylum seekers locked up for over 15 months in cramped, miserable conditions with no hope of progress on their cases,” said Joey Shea, United Arab Emirates researcher at Human Rights Watch. “After enduring significant trauma fleeing Afghanistan, they are facing further trauma now, after spending well over a year in limbo in the UAE.”
Afghans, staying at the camp who have been interviewed by HRW, reported constraints on their freedom of movement, lack of access to fair and effective refugee status determination and safe and legal pathways for onward movement, lack of adequate access to legal counsel, and inadequate education services for children.
Living conditions have also deteriorated significantly, with detainees describing overcrowding, decay of infrastructure, and insect infestations, the report added.
The Afghans also stated that they are not allowed to freely leave the housing complex and are only permitted essential hospital visits under close supervision by security guards or minders from the camp.
The only other occasion when Afghans are allowed to leave the camp is when authorities took a group to a shopping mall, but they are accompanied and supervised by guards throughout the visit.
The rights organisation stated that the UAE should ensure that Afghans have access to counsel and legal services as many Afghans had been trying to apply for US resettlement but had not had fair and effective refugee status determination or other international protection procedures, or opportunities for onward movement.
The continued detention of the Afghans is unnecessary and arbitrary, Human Rights Watch said.
HRW urged the UAE government to investigate human rights violations that have occurred in Humanitarian City. It asked the UAE authorities to urgently identify and release children, pregnant and nursing women. It also stated that adequate healthcare should be provided to those detained.
It stated that the US government should leverage its influence with UAE authorities to urge the UAE to release detained Afghan evacuees, ensure they all have access to fair and individualized processes for assessing their legal status and protection needs.
In the weeks and months after the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15, 2021, the United States, NATO, UAE, and other governments evacuated tens of thousands of Afghans to locations around the world. The UAE government took thousands of Afghans on private chartered flights to Abu Dhabi, and then transferred them to the Emirates Humanitarian City and Tasameem Workers City (TWC), another housing facility, pending onward movement. While many were later resettled in the US, Canada, and elsewhere, between 2,400 and 2,700 Afghans remain arbitrarily detained in the UAE as of early January 2023.
Institute of Economics and Peace announced that Afghanistan is among the top 10 countries affected by terrorist activities since four consecutive years. The Australian think-tank added that terrorist attacks have declined by 58 percent after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The Institute of Economics and Peace stressed that casualties caused by terrorist attacks in Afghanistan have also decreased by 75 percent.
The Taliban were using terrorist attacks in their war against foreign forces and the previous government. According to the reports of reliable authorities, civilian casualties in the past decade were mainly caused by Taliban terrorist attacks.
Sirajuddin Haqqani admitted in a speech in 2022 in Kandahar that only 1,050 members of the Haqqani network were involved in suicide attacks in the last decade.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for some of the bloody terrorist attacks, including a suicide attack near the Ministry of Interior in 2018. In this attack, more than 100 people were killed and more than 150 people were injured.
Coupled with the above, the Australian think-tank said that ISIS is now the most important threat to the security and safety of the people of Afghanistan.
The "Global Terrorism Index" report of the Australian think tank shows that 22 provinces of Afghanistan witnessed terrorist activities in 2022. Most of the terrorist attacks were mainly conducted by ISIS that took place in Kabul city, and claimed the lives of 217 people.
Pajhwok News Agency reporter Sirat Noori, who had been injured in the explosion at the Tebyan Cultural Center in Mazar-e-Sharif, said that the local Taliban officials and doctors expelled him from the Balkh hospital.
Noori added that an armed man entered the room where he was being treated and said, "I wish they were all dead."
Noori criticised the Taliban members and said that their comments were tougher to bear than the sound of the explosion which injured him.
Earlier, it was also reported that after the explosion in Mazar-e-Sharif, the Taliban had searched the journalists injured at the scene.
Noori stressed that he has suffered injuries on his leg and his hearing has been damaged in the explosion.
Pajhwok News Agency has not commented on Noori’s criticisms about the explosion and the Taliban’s treatment of him.
Following the explosion, the local Taliban officials said that one person was killed and eight people were injured, but the Tebyan Cultural Center reported three dead and 30 wounded.
Local sources confirmed to Afghanistan International that the Taliban officials have arrested Rahatullah Qiam, a former spokesperson of the Ministry of Borders and Tribal Affairs. According to the sources, Qiam had been arrested three weeks ago in Zabul province.
His family is not aware of his fate. They claimed that the Taliban members stormed his house and arrested him.
This former Afghan government official was in Zabul to visit his family members. In 2018, he worked as the director of strategic communication and spokesperson of the Ministry of Borders and Tribal Affairs.
Despite numerous reports about the arrest of members of the previous Afghan government including members of the security forces, the Taliban officials have remained silent and have insisted on the implementation of the general amnesty announced by the group’s leaders.
In the latest case, last week, local sources confirmed that the Taliban have killed Badurddin Haidari, the police chief of Bakakheil district of Paktia province in the previous Afghan government.
The former police officer had returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan and was arrested by the Taliban in Khost city.
The Taliban-controlled central bank announced on Tuesday that another $40 million package of humanitarian aid has been received in Kabul. The bank also announced that the group will auction $17 million on Wednesday in Kabul.
The Taliban-controlled central bank added that it welcomes any move to bring foreign currency into Afghanistan. This is while, the central bank reports receiving similar cash packages on a weekly basis.
Critics believe that the aid money of the international community reaches the Taliban and this group uses the funds to strengthen their government.
However, the United Nations has stressed that these funds have been received by the UN agencies and humanitarian organisations in Afghanistan.