Taliban Forces Shia Community in Daikundi To Break Fast, Says Former MP

Earlier, Amina Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, expressed hope that in the upcoming meeting of the UN Secretary-General with the special envoys of various countries, initial steps for recognition of the Taliban will be discussed.

The statement of Mohammed has been met with wide-ranging reactions from political groups, activists, and Afghan women.

The political and military groups opposed to the Taliban have also called any discussion on the recognition of the Taliban a "betrayal of the Afghan people".

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission asked Amina Mohammed to apologise to the people of Afghanistan for her recent remarks about the recognition of the Taliban.

The meeting of the Secretary General of the United Nations with the special representatives of countries for Afghanistan is scheduled to be held in Doha on May 1 and 2.

The UN spokesperson has also said that the meeting will not be focused on the international recognition of the Taliban.

In recent years, due to differences among the senior leaders of the Jamiat-e-Islami Party, Noor established a splinter group.

Noor also asked other political forces opposing the Taliban to stand together to save Afghanistan.

In an Eid message, Noor said that over the past two years, "the cruel and ignorant Taliban has taken away people's happiness”.

He emphasised that the Taliban have deprived Afghan citizens of democratic governance and fundamental rights, eliminated political groups, and tortured and killed former security forces.

After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, several Afghan political leaders established the National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan. They include Atta Mohammad Noor, Mohammad Ismail Khan, Yunos Qanooni, Ahmad Massoud, and Salahuddin Rabbani.

However, AFF and NRF in separate statements emphasised that currently, they are not in favour of engagement with the Taliban.

The two military anti-Taliban fronts have also condemned the statement of the UN deputy secretary general about the recognition of the Taliban.

NRF said, "Lobbying for the Taliban is a futile task and against the interests of the people of Afghanistan.”

According to NRF, "The path to freedom and the return of peace to Afghanistan will come from standing up, fighting and sacrificing, not from engaging [and] dealings with the Taliban."

The Afghanistan Liberation Front, which has lost seven of its prominent forces in a recent clash with the Taliban, has said that political talks with the Taliban have no results and considers "armed struggles against the group as the most effective solution”.

In a statement on Thursday, AIHRC stressed that the Taliban oppress the people of Afghanistan and has an autocratic government.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, which operates outside of Afghanistan after the fall of the former government, has described the official recognition of the Taliban as "reckless and insulting" to the victims of the Taliban.

On Monday, Amina Mohammed, the UN deputy secretary general said that the recognition of the Taliban is necessary to make the group responsible and prevent the deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan.

However, on Thursday, a UN spokesman, Farhan Haq admitted that the remarks of Mohammed had "caused confusion". He emphasised that only member states of the UN can recognise the Taliban.

During Raisi’s speech, the Taliban’s diplomat in charge of the Afghan embassy in Tehran was also present.

Raisi stressed that good relations with Islamic countries and neighbouring countries is one of the priorities of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He called Afghanistan a member of the Islamic world and added that it is time to realise the will of the people of this country to determine their destiny.

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly asked the Taliban to form an inclusive government. The Taliban, however, considers the Iranian official’s call for the formation of an inclusive government to be an interference in their internal affairs.

However, last week, in response to the call of the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, for an inclusive government at the Samarkand meeting, the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi replied that he has not witnessed any inclusive government too.