Anti-Taliban Opposition Meets For Second Round of Talks in Vienna

Fathullah Mansour, the elder son of Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, has been in-charge of airports in the southwestern zone since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.

The new appointment of a family member of the former Taliban leader comes at a time when a recent decree attributed to Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered that family members of the Taliban officials can’t be employed in the group’s government offices.

The decree of the Taliban leader stressed, "Ministries and independent directorates have been directed to refrain from hiring individuals for their duties, based on kinship ties and personal relationships."

This is even though the Taliban had dismissed most of the professional employees of the government offices and replaced them with their own members since taking power in August 2021.

Many of the people appointed by the Taliban in government positions have not pursued higher education.

In an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Abdollahian added that all options are on the table to get the water rights.

He did not give details about these options, but said that the Iranian president has ordered receiving the water rights of Iran from the Helmand river of Afghanistan.

The Iranian foreign minister said that in his recent meeting with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s foreign minister in Samarkand, he also discussed the issue of water rights of Iran.

Earlier after meeting with Muttaqi in Samarkand, Abdollahian said on Twitter, "We will not fall short of Iran's water rights."

However, the Iranian foreign minister implicitly rejected any pressure on the Taliban by Tehran and said, "We continue our efforts through the diplomatic path."

Previously, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament had said that they consider the water rights issue as a matter of national security.

On February 2022, the Taliban had announced that the group fully accepts Iran's claim of water rights, but despite Iranian official’s repeated statements that the water rights of Iran from the Helmand river have not been given, the Taliban have not reacted so far.

Kakar, who is also a member of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, has released videos showing a group of handcuffed men.

Kakar stressed that the court released some of these detained refugees on bail.

Agha Mir, one of the detainees shown in the video, said that he had been arrested twice before. According to him, "The police attack at night, they demand money from us, we don't have money, they take us first to the police station and then to the court."

In the last two months, Pakistani police have arrested nearly 1,400 Afghan citizens on the charges of "not having legal stay permit in Pakistan”.

Hashemi told worshipers at the Soltania mosque, “We have a document that our friends in different areas forced Shia clerics to perform Eid prayers; they interrogated those who didn’t pray as the Taliban wanted.”

He added, "One of our clerics, Seyyed Qasim Zahedi, who is present here, was summoned by the brothers of the Islamic Emirate yesterday evening because he did not offer the [Eid] prayer."

Hashemi stressed that Shia believers have minor differences with the Sunni followers of Islam and the Taliban must respect it.

Hashemi also said that Shia community members held Eid prayers in Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul, and Herat on Saturday.

The Supreme Court of the Taliban announced on Thursday evening that Friday is Eid al-Fitr, but most Shia did not celebrate Eid on Friday.

There were reports from various parts of Afghanistan on Friday that the Taliban forced Shia Muslims to break their fast or participate in Eid prayers.

Mehdi Rasakh, a former member of the Afghan House of Representatives, said that the Taliban set up checkpoints in Nili city, the capital of Daikundi province, to force people to break their fast on Friday.

The former MP added, "The shopkeepers of Nili Bazaar were forcibly taken to the headquarters of the brigade by Haji Rashid, the commander of the Taliban brigade, and all of them were forced to drink water and break their fast."

Rasikh criticised the Taliban and said that the group has targeted religious beliefs, culture, and most private issues of the people and abolished religious diversity.

Earlier, the Taliban officials in Balkh had ordered the Shia community members in the province to celebrate Eid according to the fatwa of the Taliban leaders.

The Supreme Court of the Taliban announced on Tuesday that the head of the Taliban court for Balkh province has conveyed this message to the Shia community representatives.

Shia-Hazara communities of Afghanistan usually follow their religious leaders and celebrate religious ceremonies including Eid, sometimes a day apart from Sunni Hanafi citizens of Afghanistan.

Taliban announced Eid in Afghanistan on Friday, but it seems that most Shiites celebrate Eid on Saturday.