Uzbekistan Seizes Drug Shipment Worth 70 Million Dollars Near Afghanistan Border

The UN reiterated on staying in Afghanistan while the deadline for the review of United Nations’ activities in Afghanistan ended on Friday and the Taliban didn’t change its position on the ban of female staffers of the UN agencies in Afghanistan.

UNAMA stressed that after the ban had been imposed on the work of female staffers of the UN missions in Afghanistan, the organisation spoke to various parties including civil society, women groups, and aid workers in Afghanistan.

UNAMA added that the UN agencies continue focused, principled, and constructive engagement with all Taliban authorities to lift the ban on the right to work of its female staffers and ensure the safety of all UN staff and aid workers.

The UN in Afghanistan said that the United Nations relevant entities on the ground in Afghanistan continue to discuss appropriate working modalities and emphasised that humanitarian operations continue to be undertaken across the country.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China said that the two sides have met in Islamabad on Friday and the Pakistani President welcomed the move to expand cooperation between the two countries.

According to the statement, Pakistan has been cooperating with China to support peace and reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Pakistan and China have close relations with the Taliban and have accepted representatives of the group in the Afghan embassies in Islamabad and Beijing.

According to the Taliban’s foreign ministry, the delegation led by Muttaqi will discuss bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan during their Islamabad visit.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan had said on Thursday that the Taliban’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi; the group’s minister of commerce Nooruddin Azizi, and several other officials of the Taliban will visit Islamabad.

Taliban’s foreign ministry stressed that among others, the group’s delegation will discuss political, and commercial relations, regional stability, and transit during the Islamabad visit.

The Chinese Foreign Minister is also due to land in Islamabad for the two-day 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.