The Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid announced on Wednesday that Mullah Hedayatullah Badri has been appointed as the governor of the Central Bank of Afghanistan. Most recently, Badi had served as the finance minister of the Taliban.
After the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in mid-August 2021, Badri had been appointed as the Acting Minister of Finance of the Taliban.
Earlier, there were rumours about Badri's resignation from the Ministry of Finance. He is said to have resigned due to a dispute over revenue with Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Before Badri, Abdul Qahir, was in-charge of the Taliban-controlled Central Bank of Afghanistan.
National Resistance Front (NRF) leader Ahmad Massoud reacted to the ban on the celebration of Nowroz by the Taliban and called it a desperate attempt to destroy the ancient cultures of citizens of Afghanistan. He also admired the protests by women against the Taliban policies.
In a message, on the occasion of Nowroz, Massoud added that the women's stance is a base for resistance against the Taliban's ideology.
The NRF leader stressed on the continuation of resistance against the Taliban. He said that the Taliban’s acceptance of democracy and civil liberties is the pre-condition to negotiating with the group.
Even though the NRF’s armed resistance against the Taliban has slowed down, Massoud emphasised his political achievements during the Nowroz message. He referred to his efforts to increase international pressure on the Taliban.
Massoud considered the domestic protests and the gathering of political forces outside the country as part of the general resistance of the Afghan people against the Taliban.
Ahmad Massoud asked his critics to put aside differences without referring to a specific person or group.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has called for urgent funds in order to support critical operations in Afghanistan as it is facing staggering shortfalls. It statement that WFP needed US$93 million by April and US$800 million for the next six months.
Already WFP had announced that it had to reduce its lifesaving assistance to four million Afghans in March due to the fund shortfall.
“With severe hunger hitting nearly 20 million Afghans - six million of them one step away from famine - the international community must prioritize the basic needs of the most vulnerable people of Afghanistan,” it said in a statement.
WFP had mentioned that it could only support four million Afghans as opposed to 13 million in April this year.
“The country is at the highest risk of famine in a quarter of a century and WFP’s food assistance is the last lifeline for millions of Afghans. The reduction of food assistance comes when Afghans are emerging from another freezing winter and are already worn-down from battling one crisis after another. Unless humanitarian support is sustained, hundreds of thousands more Afghans will need assistance to survive,” said Hsiao-Wei Lee, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan.
Last year, WFP supported 23 million people – 12 million of whom were women and girls and distributed more than one million metric tons of food and US$326 million in cash or vouchers to help families survive.
According to the annual World Happiness Report, Afghanistan has been ranked as the saddest country in the world. For the sixth year in a row, Finland has been named the happiest country in the report, which ranks global happiness in more than 150 countries around the world.
It is worth mentioning that after the Taliban's rise to work in Afghanistan, the human rights and economic situation of Afghan citizens has deteriorated and a large number of families are concerned about this.
The dire humanitarian situation has caused the citizens of the country to face great difficulty.
Countries around the world and aid agencies have always complained about the current situation in Afghanistan, calling it alarming.
The ranking of the countries is based on data from six key factors: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.
The report is released every year on the occasion of International Day of Happiness on March 20 by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
In July 2012, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 20 as World Happiness Day. According to the UN, a country’s success must be judged by how happy its people are.
The Council of European Union on Monday announced that the EU stands ready to impose further restrictive measures on those Taliban officials involved in human rights abuses. The EU demanded that the Taliban cease all direct and indirect ties with terrorism.
The Council of the European Union expressed concerns about the presence and operations of terrorist groups in Afghanistan, including ISKP and Al-Qaeda. The EU stressed that Afghanistan should not once again serve as a base for terrorism and violent extremism to other countries.
The Taliban officials have denied the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan. The Taliban do not agree with calling organisations such as Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban as terrorists, who, like themselves, consider armed and terrorist attacks legitimate for their victory.
The European Union emphasised that its sanctions will not harm the ordinary people of Afghanistan. However, the EU has not clarified when it plans to introduce new sanctions against the Taliban.
The EU stressed that the Taliban commits “large-scale and systematic gender-based discrimination”, and added that through their discriminatory decision to ban women from working for national and international non-governmental organisations, the Taliban are impeding the delivery of humanitarian assistance and basic needs support to the Afghan people.
On the eve of the new year and the reopening of schools, the Taliban has once again not allowed female students to return to schools and universities. However, the Taliban's interior minister has said that the ban on girls' education is temporary.
Sources from Balkh province confirmed to Afghanistan International that the Taliban have arrested a group of elders from Marmul district of the province and transferred them to an unknown location.
The sources added that these elders had to met with the Taliban’s former governor of Balkh, Dawood Muzammil, on the day when he was assassinated.
According to the sources, these elders had received an appointment to meet Muzammil for the district’s issues and had been in the waiting room when the explosion occurred.
Muzammil was the Taliban’s governor of Balkh province and was killed in a suicide attack in his office.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
The local elders returned to their district after the explosion, but the Taliban waged a night raid on their locations on Wednesday and arrested them.
According to the sources, about 15 elders have been arrested by the Taliban.
The arrested people are originally from Marmul district of Balkh province, but they live in different parts of this province.
The families of the arrested men are unaware of their whereabouts and fate.
Earlier, other sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban intelligence operatives have arrested around 30 employees who remained from the previous government in the governor’s office of Balkh after the murder of Muzammil.
According to the sources, the Taliban intelligence operatives arrested these employees on the charges of collaborating with the suicide bomber.