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

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.

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.

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.

Under the Taliban, extrajudicial executions of people associated with the former government, members of armed groups such as the National Resistance Front (NRF), Islamic State of Khorasan Province (IS-KP) and those allegedly not following the Taliban’s rules appeared to be widespread and systematic, the report stated.

The rights watchdog stressed that even peaceful protesters faced arrests, torture and enforced disappearances which has created an atmosphere of fear in the country.

The report also touched upon the fact that restrictions on women’s rights, freedom of the media, and freedom of expression increased exponentially and institutions designed to support human rights were severely limited or shut down completely.

It gave examples of mass killings of civilians and former government officials and political opponents and called it a “war crime”.

The report highlighted that between August 2021 and June 2022, UNAMA recorded 2,106 civilian casualties and stated that the Taliban is yet to investigate these matters thoroughly.

The report also touched upon how the Taliban began publicly executing and flogging people for crimes such as murder, theft, “illegitimate” relationships or violations of social norms.

The report lamented the fact that independent human rights groups were unable to work freely in the country and Afghanistan’s own national human rights institution remains closed.

Mark Adams, the spokesperson of the Olympic Committee, said that Afghan sports officials have discussed with the governing authorities the issue of access of women and girls to sports and are waiting for the Taliban’s decision.

The committee had previously expressed concern about the banning of women and girls' access to sports and urged the Taliban to lift the restrictions.

It is not yet clear what the committee's next steps will be if the situation for female athletes in Afghanistan does not change.