Taliban Claims To Conduct Operations Against IS-K in Balkh & Nirmoz Provinces

According to the sources, several employees of the Taliban’s governor office in Balkh province, who had worked with the previous government of Afghanistan too, had been detained due to suspicions of regarding the killing of Dawood Muzammil, the former Taliban governor for Balkh province.

However, on Sunday, the Taliban intelligence agency released the "confessions" of a man who is said to have been involved in the assassination of Muzammil.

Even after the arrest of the suspect by the Taliban, these employees who were arrested on March 9 haven’t been released.

Sources close to the families of the arrested people said that they have repeatedly visited the government offices of the Taliban, but haven’t been able to meet these arrested individuals.

These sources said that over the past 24 days, the families of the detainees have not been given any information about their health condition and whereabouts.

Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the former governor of the Taliban in Balkh, was killed in a suicide attack in his office on March 9. The Islamic State – Khorasan (IS-K) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Following the attack on Muzammil, sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban intelligence operatives had arrested more than 30 employees of the governor’s office.

The sources had stressed that some of the detainees had been injured in the explosion too.

According to a statement by the Taliban Central Bank, the limit of withdrawing funds from corporate accounts has changed from 40 thousand dollars per week to five percent of the total bank deposit.

The Central Bank announced the increase in the limit of withdrawal of funds from bank accounts as an improvement in the performance of Afghan banks.

After their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban reduced the limit of withdrawal of funds from personal accounts to 200 dollars on a weekly basis.

This restriction had been imposed to prevent the outflow of cash from the country and the bankruptcy of private banks.

After the Taliban’s return to power, many were concerned about the future of Afghan banks and the security of bank deposits, and most bank deposit holders rushed to banks to withdraw their funds.

The Taliban has not yet reacted to the detention of this Badakhshani civil activist.

According to the sources, the 34-year-old activist had been arrested on Thursday and transferred to an unknown location.

On Thursday, Osmani's family received a short call in which the activist informed them about his detention by the Taliban.

However, his family has not been able to contact him again since the past four days.

Sources close to Osmani's family said that the family members of the activist have contacted the Taliban offices regarding their son, but have been mistreated by the Taliban members.

The Taliban did not provide any details about the charges against Osmani.

The Taliban-controlled news agency which first reported the news has not provided further details about the number of unemployed Taliban members.

Following the collapse of the previous Afghan government's army and police, the Taliban announced that the group is forming a new army of 110,000 soldiers.

The group has quickly trained its fighters to form the new army and from time to time announces the training of various units of their army.

Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban has gradually removed employees of the previous Afghan government from government institutions and appointed their own members.

The Taliban ministry of information and culture also asked the General Directorate of Intelligence and other organisations of the group not to interfere in media affairs without knowledge of the Commission on Media Violations.

Khairullah Khairkhah, the Minister of information and culture of the Taliban, said that they have drafted a new strategy for the development of the ministry's activities. No further details were provided about this strategy.

The Taliban has announced this new strategy with a focus on the media sector even though the group has been accused of persecuting journalists and members of the press in Afghanistan.

Earlier, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) had announced that in 2022 alone, more than 200 Afghan journalists had been threatened by the Taliban.

The Taliban intelligence agency, the ministry of promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, and the ministry of interior affairs of the Taliban have been involved in detentions and threats against journalists in Afghanistan.

However, the ministry of information and culture of the Taliban has announced an agreement with these ministries as part of its new strategy.

It has been said that the relevant security agencies of the Taliban should inform the Commission on Media Violations and the ministry of information and culture of any decision they take regarding media personnel and journalists in Afghanistan.