Taliban Announces Operation on Rebel Hideout in Kabul

The National Resistance Council for Salvation of Afghanistan includes prominent political figures such as Atta Mohammad Noor, General Dostum, and Yunos Qanooni, who reside outside Afghanistan ever since the fall of the country to the Taliban in 2021.

In its letter, the Council stressed that powerful countries of the region are optimistic about the Taliban.

The Taliban opponents at the Salvation Council added that the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan has been destabilising Afghanistan and regional countries and said that “extremism and increasing violence in Pakistan is also rooted in the current situation in Afghanistan”.

The Samarkand meeting will be held today in Uzbekistan and is the fourth round of meetings of foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbours, including China and Russia, most of whom have good relations with the Taliban.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday that Beijing seeks to strengthen the consensus of neighbouring countries on the situation in Afghanistan at the fourth meeting of foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbours in Uzbekistan.

The foreign ministers of Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan will participate in the Samarkand meeting.

Earlier, sources had told Afghanistan International that the Taliban had tortured Sangin. The university professor is a member of the Ismaili Hazara community and a resident of Baghlan province.

He has been one of the opponents of the Taliban's restrictions on women, especially the ban on girls' education.

According to sources close to Sangin’s family, charges regarding his detention have not been revealed by the Taliban.

This is the second time that the university professor has been detained by the Taliban.

According to the sources, the Taliban officials stormed Sangin’s room in 2022 during which they searched his room, beat him up, and confiscated his mobile phone and computer.

The sources also added that the Taliban had access to information about Sangin through his electronic devices.

It has been said that the Taliban had access to Sangin's mobile phone and used his social media accounts to contact his friends.

On Wednesday, the Taliban spokesperson said in a statement that the group does not create any obstacles to the activities of the United Nations in Afghanistan.

He emphasised that banning female staffers of the United Nations to work does not mean that there will be discrimination against the United Nations’ activities in Afghanistan.

The Taliban spokesperson stated that the group is committed to the rights of all Afghan citizens taking into consideration the religious and cultural values of the Taliban.

Zabihullah Mujahid added, "Given the emergency situation in Afghanistan, it is necessary for the member states of the United Nations to resolve the issue of freezing Afghan assets, banking, travel restrictions, and other restrictions so that Afghanistan can progress in the economic, and political and security areas.”

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a statement on Tuesday said that it has initiated an operational review period in Afghanistan till May 5 following the Taliban’s ban on women working at UN offices.

It stated that the review will be done under the supervision of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA Roza Otunbayeva.

During the review period, the UN in Afghanistan will conduct the necessary consultations, make required operational adjustments, and accelerate contingency planning for all possible outcomes.

UNAMA added that it will, however, try to maintain principled and constructive engagement with all possible levels of the Taliban even during this review period.

Employees working at UN offices, both men and women, have been instructed not to report to work, except for some emergency tasks.

The United Nations has warned that millions of Afghan citizens will face famine, death, and disease if funds are not provided immediately.

OCHA had previously too warned about the lack of sufficient funding to support humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.

The organisation also said that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is likely to worsen in 2023.

OCHA had previously announced that it had prepared a 4.6-billion-dollar humanitarian aid plan for Afghanistan.

According to the UN agency, Afghanistan is the largest humanitarian activity of OCHA in the world.

On the other hand, the Taliban's recent decision to ban Afghan women from working in the United Nations has made it difficult for these agencies to operate in Afghanistan.

The statement of the US State Department said, "West is conducting outreach in the region to secure input as the international community seeks solutions to Afghanistan’s compounding challenges, made worse by the Taliban’s recent decisions to limit women’s participation in humanitarian operations and ban them from their vital work for the UN.”

According to the US state department, in Istanbul, West will hold consultations with Afghan political leaders, journalists, humanitarian professionals, and human rights activists.

There is no further explanation of the details of these consultations with the Afghan political leaders in particular.