Iranian Envoy Asks for UN Cooperation To Support Afghanistan

May 8, 2023, 10:29 GMT+1

Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iranian envoy in Kabul, said that he has discussed Afghan issues with United Nations officials in Tehran. Qomi added that the two sides spoke about a roadmap for the cooperation of Iran with international organisations to support the people of Afghanistan.

The meeting was attended by the heads of UN agencies and the deputy coordinator of the organisation in Tehran.

He emphasised on the need to support the Iranian government since the country has been hosting a significant number of Afghan refugees.

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Taliban Hands Out Corporal Punishment to 300 Men, Women & Children In 6 Months, Says UN

May 8, 2023, 09:28 GMT+1

In a new report highlighting death penalty and corporal punishment under the Taliban regime, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that in the past six months, Taliban publicly executed one person, flogged 274 men, 58 women, and two boys.

UNAMA has urged the Taliban to immediately end death penalty in Afghanistan.

Fiona Frazer, chief human rights officer of UNAMA in Afghanistan said that corporal punishment is a violation of the Convention against Torture and must cease.

According to Frazer, the UN is strongly opposed to the death penalty and encourages the “Taliban to establish an immediate moratorium on executions”.

According to the new UNAMA report published on Monday between August 15, 2021, to November 12, 2022, the UN agencies have documented at least 18 cases of corporal punishment carried out by the provincial, district, and appeal courts.

The report indicated that Ghor province had the highest number of judicially documented corporal punishments in this period.

According to the UNAMA report, in 18 documented cases, 33 men and 22 women, including two children (both girls), have been punished for adultery, sex, and running away from home.

The report stated that since the Taliban returned to power on August 15, 2021, the group has considered corporal punishment and the death penalty as indispensable for their reign in Afghanistan.

On September 23, 2021, Mullah Nuruddin Torabi, the head of the Taliban Prisons Administration, told the Associated Press that "cutting off of hands is very necessary for security” as it has a deterrent effect.

The report added that after the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid's tweet on November 13 about the Taliban leader's meeting with the judges, "a significant increase in the number corporal punishments has been observed”.

According to this report, between November 13, 2022, and April 30, 2023, 43 cases of judicial corporal punishment have been documented by UNAMA, which involved 58 women, 274 men, and two male children.

UNAMA said that the crimes of these people have been stated as adultery, running away from home, theft, homosexuality, alcohol consumption, fraud, and drug trafficking.

The UNAMA report also stated that a man was sentenced to death for killing a person in 2017 and he was executed in public view and in the presence of senior Taliban leaders on December 7, 2022.

UNAMA also recorded another case of execution which was carried out on the order of non-judicial agents of the Taliban. According to the UNAMA report, on February 14, a man and a woman were stoned to death in Nasi district of Badakhshan Province on charges of adultery, based on the order of the district governor.

This report added that in March 2022, the Taliban planned to execute four people on the charge of killing a vaccination group of eight people, however, the order was not implemented.

Taliban To Build Museums for Weapons of War in 34 Provinces of Afghanistan

May 6, 2023, 12:57 GMT+1

Khairullah Khairkhwa, the Taliban’s minister of information and culture, announced that the group will build museums in 34 provinces of Afghanistan to display the weapons used in their wars. Khairkhwa stressed that these museums will be built to “protect Jihadi values”.

Earlier in Balkh province, the Taliban officials had displayed barrels containing explosives, which had been used during the Taliban insurgency, for public viewing.

The Taliban used hand-made barrel bombs and suicide bombers as part of their bloody tactics against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the foreign forces present in the country after 2001.

Human rights organisations have repeatedly criticised these attacks as the cause of massive civilian casualties in the past twenty years.

According to the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency, the minister of information and culture of this group called the use of various tools in this group's attacks in the past twenty years "values of Jihad" that should be placed in museums and displayed for the public in Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan Seizes Drug Shipment Worth 70 Million Dollars Near Afghanistan Border

May 6, 2023, 11:36 GMT+1

Uzbekistan announced the seizure of a large drug shipment worth 70 million dollars on the border with Afghanistan. Uzbek customs said that smugglers had placed the drugs inside packs of pomegranate juice for export to Uzbekistan.

According to Uzbek media outlets, an 18-tonne shipment of pomegranate juice, containing 9,000 bottles, had been stopped at the port of Termez in Surxondaryo region, for a company registered in Uzbekistan.

During the inspection process, the Uzbek customs officers noticed the letter “M” on some of the bottles with a different colour from the rest of the shipment. When they cross-checked the shipment, they found out that the bottles contained methamphetamine.

Uzbek officials said that they found 103 kilogrammes of drugs in 48 bottles in the shipment.

Uzbekistan customs said that currently one gram of methamphetamine is worth about 700 dollars in the global market and the total cost of drugs imported and seized from Afghanistan is more than 70 million dollars.

Despite Continued Ban on Afghan Female Staffers, UN To Stay in Afghanistan

May 6, 2023, 09:50 GMT+1

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced that UN agencies will stay in Afghanistan. In a statement, UNAMA stressed on its commitment to deliver on behalf of the men, women and children of Afghanistan.

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.

China Seeks To Expand Cooperation With Pakistan on Afghanistan

May 6, 2023, 08:34 GMT+1

Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang called for more cooperation between Beijing and Islamabad on Afghan affairs. In a meeting with Pakistani President Arif Alvi, Gang added that China seeks better coordination with Pakistan on Afghanistan to help maintain stability in the region.

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.