Foreign Ministers of Iran, Russia, China & Pakistan Worried About Terrorism in Afghanistan

This meeting kicks off today, but it was not clear whether the Taliban had been invited to participate in the meeting or not.

The foreign ministers of Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have been invited to the Samarkand meeting.

Ahead of the meeting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, announced that the participants will focus on regional economic integration and the implementation of transportation and energy projects in Afghanistan.

At the same time, the National Resistance Council for Salvation of Afghanistan has urged participants of Samarkand meeting to pressurise the Taliban.

In an open letter, the Council has called the Taliban a global threat and urged regional countries to support Afghans to overthrow the group.

Media outlets and people close to the Taliban reported that the Wednesday evening attack had been carried out on an ISIS hideout in Kabul. According to them, two ISIS suicide bombers had been killed in the operation.

Al-Mersad, a media outlet aligned to the Taliban, reported that the group’s forces have arrested a suspect during the operation too. However, the Taliban spokesperson did not mention ISIS as the target of the group’s operation in Kabul.

The Taliban said that none of their forces have been injured or killed in last night’s operation. However, it is not possible to confirm the Taliban's claims due to restrictions on independent media reporting in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Afghan social media users have also reported that the Taliban conducted house-to-house search operations in several districts of Kabul.

They claimed that the Taliban have been looking for Akmal Amir, the commander of the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF), who has been reportedly killed by the Taliban in an operation in Parwan province, but no independent sources have confirmed his death.

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.