All Pashtuns Will Pay For Taliban’s Actions, Says Famous Pashto Author

In an open letter to the Taliban leaders, Jahani stressed that due to the monopoly of power by the Taliban, especially the Kandahari Taliban, all other ethnic groups in Afghanistan, including non-Kandahari Pashtuns, have become pessimists towards every Pashtun.

Abdul Bari Jahani is a famous Pashto poet and writer. Jahani emphasised in this letter that neither the Pashtuns nor any other ethnic group in Afghanistan have the right to monopolise power and exclude other ethnic groups, who live in Afghanistan just like the Pashtuns, for centuries.

This well-known Pashto poet wrote in his letter to the Taliban leaders that history of Afghanistan has proven that one can take power by force, but it is impossible to maintain it forcefully.

Jahani, who is from Kandahar province, said that due to the monopoly of power by the Taliban, all ethnic groups in the country, including Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Turkmens, and other smaller ethnic groups and even non-Kandahari Pashtuns, are disappointed with the Taliban and all Pashtuns.

He has emphasised that educated Afghans inside and outside the country have been disappointed due to the closure of schools and universities and the ban on women's work.

CSTO Warns of Terrorist Infiltration From Afghanistan To Central Asia

Mar 31, 2023, 13:30 GMT+1

Imangali Tasmagambetov, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) warned that the risk of "terrorists" infiltrating from Afghanistan to Central Asia has increased. Tasmagambetov added that drug trafficking from Afghanistan too has been on the rise.

The Secretary General of CSTO discussed the threats from Afghanistan at the meeting of leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation in Moscow on Friday.

According to Tasmagambetov, terrorist groups infiltrate from Afghanistan into the territories of CSTO member states.

Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.

Tasmagambatov urged the members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation to seriously consider the threats originating from Afghanistan.

The Collective Security Treaty Organisation had previously said that 4,000 ISIS fighters were stationed on the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.

Taliban Must Be Recognised, Says Group’s Deputy PM to UN

Mar 31, 2023, 11:38 GMT+1

In a meeting with Roza Otunbayeva, the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for political affairs, said that the Taliban has met the conditions for recognition and must be recognised.

The meeting was attended by Khairullah Khairkhah, Minister of Information and Culture of the Taliban, members of the Political Commission, and Anas Haqqani, brother of the Taliban’s interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.

Along with seeking recognition, there are reports that the Taliban have sought to take over Afghanistan’s permanent representation in the United Nations.

In the Taliban’s statement about the meeting of the group’s senior leaders with the UN special envoy, the issue of reopening girls’ schools and education for women and girls have not been discussed.

However, Abdul Kabir has asked the UN special envoy not to link humanitarian aid to political issues in the country.

Abdul Kabir stressed, "Afghanistan is an active member of the United Nations and hopes that it will remain an active member of the international community."

Mawlawi Abdul Kabir has also stressed that the Taliban believes in dialogue and an all-inclusive political system, and has implemented a general amnesty, however, the United Nations, believes that it does not seem that the Taliban’s amnesty has been implemented.

Attacked Taliban’s Kabul Police Command, Says Afghanistan Freedom Front

Mar 31, 2023, 10:00 GMT+1

Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) claimed that the group has attacked the Kabul Police Command of the Taliban. According to the AFF, two Taliban members have been killed and one has been injured in the grenade attack.

Independent sources have not yet confirmed the authenticity of the AFF attack and the casualties of the Taliban.

Apparently, the attack took place on Thursday evening.

The AFF attack takes place a day after the National Resistance Front (NRF) led by Ahmad Massoud claimed that the group attacked the "training center and outposts of the Taliban's Special Forces" in Pule Charkhi area of Kabul.

On Wednesday, the NRF announced that as part of their new year’s strategy they have begun conducting guerrilla operations against the Taliban. The NRF’s announcement was welcomed by the AFF which said that the group is ready to conduct joint operations against the Taliban.

The Taliban has not yet reacted to the announcement of the NRF’s spring operations.

Taliban Shuts Down Broadcast of Women-Centered Radio Station In Badakhshan

Mar 31, 2023, 09:08 GMT+1

The Taliban has shut down the operation of Radio Banowan in Faizabad city of Badakhshan province. Sources from the radio station told Afghanistan International that the Taliban officials stopped the radio station’s operation due to the broadcast of religious music.

The owners of Radio Banowan have tried to resume broadcasts, but Taliban officials have not responded to them.

Sources also told Afghanistan International that the director of information and culture and the representative of the directorate of promotion of virtue and prevention of vice in Badakhshan sealed the radio offices and stopped its broadcast operation.

Taliban officials have not yet commented on the issue.

Afghanistan’s Air Space Remains Occupied By US, Says Taliban Chief of Staff of Army

Mar 30, 2023, 14:41 GMT+1

Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Chief of Staff of the Taliban army, said that despite the US’ commitments in the Doha Agreement, Washington has repeatedly violated Afghanistan's airspace.

In an interview with the Taliban-controlled Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), the Taliban’s Chief of Staff of Army stressed that the group will try to end the "occupation of Afghanistan" by controlling the country’s airspace.

In 2022, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Taliban, had asked the US to adhere to the Doha Agreement and stop violating Afghanistan's airspace.

Fitrat also said that the Taliban has built an army of 150,000 forces and added the majority of these forces have been trained and are well-versed with all military formations.

He stressed that the Taliban will increase these forces to two hundred thousand people.

This Taliban official also denied the reports about the extra-judicial killing of former Afghan soldiers by the group’s forces and said that the Taliban uses a number of security forces personnel of the previous government who have proven their loyalty to this group as part of their forces.

Fitrat said that the defense minister of the Taliban recently met with several generals of the previous government of Afghanistan.

Referring to the Taliban's border issues with Afghanistan's neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, the Chief of Staff of the Taliban army said that the gunfights emerged when the Pakistani military built barbed wire near the border areas.

He said that the Taliban has formed a military committee to address the border tensions with neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, the senior Taliban military official said that there is no armed resistance against the group inside Afghanistan.

Fitrat emphasised that the Taliban is in control of the situation in Afghanistan and has a powerful military force. He said that the Taliban suppresses those who disrupt security across the country.

The Taliban Chief of Staff Army also rejected the recent statements of US military officials regarding the increase in the number of ISIS fighters in Afghanistan and said that ISIS has been suppressed.

Fitrat also spoke about the fall of the previous Afghan government and said that widespread corruption and weak morale of the former government’s security forces against the Taliban had been the reasons for the fall of the republic order in Afghanistan.

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