Taliban’s Interior Minister Asks Group Members to Not Treat Afghans Harshly

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.

According to Mujahid, Samiullah Hezbollah, has been appointed as the Kandahar Police Chief of the Taliban.

The Taliban spokesperson said that Mullah Shirin has been appointed as acting governor of Kandahar province, while Qari Mohammad Ayub will take charge as governor of Kunar; Bashir Ahmad Haqqani will be the new governor of Nuristan; Gul Haidar Shafiq has been appointed as governor of Jawzjan and Abdul Rahman Haqqani as governor of Baghlan provinces.

In a statement Mujahid stressed that Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader has also appointed Rahmatullah Mohammad as the commander of the 209 Al-Fath Corps; Nasrullah Moote as the commander of the 207 Al-Farooq Corps, and Mohammad Ismail Rasekh as the commander of the 203 Mansoori Corps.

The spokesperson of the Taliban said that Ahmad Taha has been appointed as the deputy minister of the Borders and Tribal Affairs and Mohammad Mohsen Hashemi as the Director General of the Supreme Audit Authority.

Before being appointed as Taliban acting governor of Kandahar, Mullah Shirin, was the deputy minister of defence for Intelligence affairs; Qari Mohammad Ayub was the commander of the 207 Al-Farooq Corps; Bashir Ahmad Haqqani was the deputy governor of the Taliban for Wardak province; Gul Haidar Shafiq was the deputy governor of the Taliban for Ghazni, and Abdul Rahman Haqqani was the deputy minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs of the Taliban.

In the Taliban statement, only Mullah Shirin was mentioned as the acting governor of Kandahar province.

He enjoys close relations with the Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. He also had close ties with Taliban’s first leader Mullah Omar.

Before Shirin, Yusoof Wafa had been the Taliban’s governor in Kandahar.

According to Haji Zaid, Mullah Shirin will be introduced as the governor of Kandahar on Thursday.

He said that along with several other senior Taliban officials, Sirajuddin Haqqani the group’s interior minister will also participate in the ceremony which is to be held for the introduction of the new Taliban governor.

The UN body said that the journalists have been forced to work in a climate of intimidation and fear amid increased restrictions by the Taliban.

UNAMA stressed that since August 2021, large number of media professionals have fled Afghanistan, and the sector has been hit by the country’s economic crisis.

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva said that the World Press Freedom Day was a moment to show solidarity with the Afghan journalists still attempting to maintain independent reporting in the country.

She added, “Journalists are being forced to make editorial decisions based on fear, not public interest. Its sadly part of a wider trend of declining freedom of expression and access to information.”

Otunbayeva called the "persistent intimidation, threats, and attacks" on journalists unacceptable and urged the Taliban authorities to guarantee the freedom and independence of the media, and the safety of male and female journalists alike.

The UN body said that although the Taliban have re-activated a national Media Violations Commission to liaise with journalists, its lack of independence and scant effectiveness need to be addressed.

According to UNAMA, the legal framework for the media also remains unclear, and journalists are forced to navigate unclear and often arbitrary boundaries of reporting against an ever-present threat of repression and closure.