Taliban’s Foreign Minister In Islamabad To Participate at Tripartite Meeting

Both Haqbin and Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada belong to the Noorzai tribe in southern Afghanistan.

Taliban sees adultery as a crime and has severely punished ordinary Afghan citizens accused of similar cases in the past.

On Thursday, Abdul Malik Haqqani, the deputy chief justice in the Taliban’s Supreme Court, announced that since taking power in Afghanistan the group had sentenced hundreds of people to “Qisas [retribution] and stoning”.

Haqqani said that the Taliban has ordered the execution of 175 people and the stoning of 37 people throughout Afghanistan since taking power in the country. He emphasised that the courts of this group have ordered four people to be put under the wall and Sharia laws have been implemented on 103 other people.

The images obtained by Afghanistan International show that a number of Taliban members have visited Kandahar prison to welcome the release of Abdul Ghani Haqbin.

Over the past few months, this group has arrested and tortured dozens of people on morality charges and extramarital affairs, including adultery. During this time, the Taliban have flogged many people in public.

However, in a new report, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) stressed that the US State Department and SIGAR don’t know how much revenue the Taliban gathers from the United Nations and non-governmental organisations’ aid.

However, in response to Aref Yaqubi of Afghanistan International, Patel said that the US has confidence in the aid distribution mechanism in Afghanistan and is sure that the US aid will reach the Afghan people.

The US Congress tasked SIGAR in March to determine how much US money the Taliban receive through paying taxes, fees, import duties, purchasing or receiving licenses, or public services. The new report of SIGAR has not been able to give a definitive answer to this question.

John Sopko, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, had previously told the US Congress that due to a lack of cooperation from the US Department of State and aid organisations, there is no clear information about whether the Taliban is benefitting from the US in Afghanistan or not. However, Sopko had not ruled out the possibility of the Taliban taking advantage of the US aid.

The Associated Press (AP) in a report on Wednesday said that the Taliban have been interfering in the work of non-governmental and relief organisations in various ways and harassing them in Afghanistan.

According to the AP report, Taliban officials seek to influence the decision-making about projects and the implementation process.

Recently, a Taliban member launched aerial shooting during the process of food distribution, which is one of the cases of harassment of non-governmental organisation workers during aid delivery.

AP reported that Taliban members enter the offices of non-governmental organisations without prior notice and ask them to provide information about their project plans, budget, relief operations, and employees.

However, during the introduction ceremony of the new governor of the Taliban for Kandahar province, he emphasised on unity among the Taliban and stressed on “obedience” to the Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.

The Taliban leader has appointed Mohammad Ali Hanafi, known as Mullah Shirin, as the governor of Kandahar. Mullah Shirin, who was previously the deputy defence minister for intelligence affairs of the Taliban, has close relations with Akhundzada.

Haqqani said that he had attended the introduction ceremony on the orders of the Taliban leader and asked the new Kandahar governor to serve the people of the province.

The Taliban’s interior affairs minister pointed out various issues facing the Taliban to an audience that was mainly Taliban officials and fighters, and according to him, several of them have been dissatisfied with the current situation among the group.

Haqqani also tried to paint a public-centered image of the Taliban and defended the shortcomings of the Taliban regime led by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, whom he referred to as “Sheikh Sahib” during his speech.

Without referring to any specific cases, Haqqani indirectly asked the Taliban to stop behaving harshly with the people. According to him, the Taliban should not rush to implement the Sharia orders of their regime on the people in Afghanistan, because he thinks that people will build hatred towards religion.

Some observers believe that Haqqani has differences with the Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada on Taliban policies. Hassan Abbas, a professor at the National Defence University in Washington, has described Haqqani as a pragmatic leader of the Taliban.

In his newly published book on the Taliban, Abbas has spoken about the internal differences of the Taliban and said that some within the group believe that radical policies of Akhundzada will lead to more isolation of the Taliban.

Haqqani, without referring to the statements of observers such as Abbas, said that "the Taliban did not fight for position and power”.

He stressed that Mullah Hibatullah did not differentiate between the Taliban of different provinces and provided support to all Taliban members.

Rahimi and other jury members will support Ruben Ostlund, the president of the jury for this year’s competition.

The Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 16 to 27.

It has been unveiled that along with Rahimi, the jury will comprise Moroccan director Maryam Touzani; French actor Denis Ménochet; British-Zambian screenwriter and director Rungano Nyoni; American actress and director Brie Larson; American Actor and director Paul Dano; Argentinian director and screenwriter Damián Szifrón and French director Julia Ducournau.

This is the first time that an Afghan filmmaker has been selected as a member of the jury of this prestigious film festival.

The jury will award the Palme d'Or to one of the 21 nominated films on May 27.

Ning called the tripartite meeting important for cooperation related to Afghanistan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson added that Gang will visit Pakistan for two days.

It will be the first visit of Gang as the Chinese foreign minister to Pakistan.

Earlier, Reuters had reported, citing foreign diplomats, that the UN Security Council's sanctions committee had agreed that the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi could travel to Pakistan to participate in the tripartite meeting of Pakistan and Chinese foreign ministers.

The foreign minister of the Taliban is on the UN blacklist and can’t make a foreign visit without an agreement from the UN Security Council.

Pakistan has not yet explained what issues will be discussed in the meeting between the three sides in Islamabad.