Haalvsh News Agency Claims That Taliban Killed An Iranian Border Guard

In a statement on Friday, the Coalition added that the UN has allowed its agencies in Afghanistan to abide by the Taliban’s orders in the name of aid distribution and humanitarian assistance.

The statement of the Coalition stressed that the United Nations’ compliance and acceptance of the Taliban’s restrictions imposed on women has given the Taliban the courage to continue violating women’s rights.

However, the Coalition of Afghan Women Protest Movements urged the United Nations and other humanitarian organisations to stand in defence of Afghan women’s rights.

The Coalition said that the United Nations and other aid agencies in Afghanistan must suspend their activities until Afghan women are allowed to work. In the statement, it is emphasised that these agencies should use any means and pressurise Taliban and hold them accountable in cases of human rights violations.

The coalition of Afghan Women Protest Movements consists of the Justice and Freedom Movement, the Spontaneous Movement of Protesting Women, the Unity and Solidarity Team, the Main Movement of Powerful Women, the Takhar Women's Movement, and the Afghan Women's Revolutionary Movement.

After the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan in August 2021, these movements repeatedly appeared on the streets of Kabul and some provinces and protested against the group’s policies.

Mahami added that Iran must use all pressure tools on the Taliban to achieve its goals.

According to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), in a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Energy of Iran, Mahami said that there have been many delays, mismanagement, and indecision while pursuing the water rights of Iran from Helmand River.

He said, "At the beginning of my tenure as [Ali] Khamenei's representative in Sistan and Baluchistan, I had warned about the water rights issue, but the officials at the time had peace of mind that the supply of water from Afghanistan will continue according to the water treaty, which didn’t happen.”

The Iranian government has announced that the water rights issue from the Helmand River is a priority of Iran in 2023.

However, Mahami said, "We have been facing a lack of rainfall for many years, but the authorities are just now following up on the water rights issue.”

Earlier, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the foreign minister of the Taliban, conveyed a clear message to Iran that whenever the rainfall increases, Iran will receive more share of its water rights from the Helmand River.

According to Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, during the meeting with Mullah Hasan Akhund, the Taliban’s Prime Minister, the Qatari delegation discussed cooperation in education, health, and economic sectors.

In September 2021, Abdulrahman al-Thani visited Kabul as Qatar's foreign minister and met with Taliban officials.

Mujahid on Friday said that the Prime Minister of the Taliban asked the Qatari authorities to play a bigger role in bridging the gap between Afghanistan and the international community.

This is the first visit of the Prime Minister of Qatar to the city of Kandahar. The Taliban’s cabinet and senior officials are stationed in Kabul while Kandahar is considered the main base of the Taliban. Sources said that Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, lives in Kandahar city.

Qatar enjoys close relations with the Taliban. Since 2013, the country allowed the Taliban to open its political office in Doha.

The Doha agreement between the US and the Taliban was signed in Qatar in 2020. Also, Doha hosted intra-Afghan peace talks between the Taliban and the previous government of Afghanistan.

Despite Qatar's close relationship with the Taliban, Qatari officials, including the country's foreign minister, have repeatedly criticised the Taliban's policies on women's education and work.

The Taliban also stressed that they decided that expert groups from the two sides should determine the joint border areas of Iran and Afghanistan.

The Taliban said that the meeting took place after the Iranian side started the construction of a road on the zero points of the border with Afghanistan and the Taliban forces prevented the construction.

The Taliban statement didn’t elaborate on the location of today’s meeting with Iranian border guards, but in the photos released by the Taliban officials, only the Islamic Republic’s flag can be seen in the meeting room.

The Iranian officials have not reacted to the issue so far.

Recently, a video clip has been circulating on social media platforms which shows verbal tension between the Taliban and Iranian forces at the border areas. In the video clip, a Taliban fighter tells the Iranian soldier that if they want war, the Taliban will fight it.

The border forces of Iran and the Taliban have engaged in gun battles several times over the past two years since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

Even Afghans have not been left out of the consequences of trends and developments inside Pakistan.

There is a general belief in Afghanistan that Pakistan has benefited more from the turmoil and transitional nature of circumstances in Afghanistan. Perhaps for this reason, Afghan citizens pay special attention to domestic trends in Pakistan, and sometimes in their hearts, they do not seem to be sad with the negative developments in Pakistan.

The arrest of Pakistan’s former prime minister, Imran Khan, and the mass protests across Pakistan, which in many cases has turned violent particularly with the protesters storming the Pakistan army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, one can easily understand the depth of the political crisis in Pakistan. Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US special envoy for Afghanistan, has warned about Pakistan’s fundamental state institutions falling into a deep chaos.

The developments and unrest unfolding in Pakistan seem to have at least five major impacts on Afghanistan:

Firstly, the consequence of Pakistan's unrest for Afghanistan is economic. As the protests and violence mainly have taken place in areas that border Afghanistan, the export and import chain between the two countries might be impacted severely.

Secondly, the unrest and political crisis in Pakistan might increase instability on the Afghan side of the border. Most of the protesters who have appeared on the streets against Shehbaz Sharif's government and the Pakistani army and in support of Imran Khan are Pashtuns, mainly from tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. This wave of instability on the bordering areas, could significantly increase the movement of armed groups across the border into Afghanistan.

These armed groups consider the Taliban as their strategic supporter and ally, and they expect that, as they helped the Taliban during the twenty years of their insurgency against the western coalition and the Afghan government, the group will also actively and seriously support these militants in these difficult days instead of adopting a neutral policy.

Thirdly, the current instability in Pakistan will probably impact China's economic and political calculations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

China, in cooperation with Pakistan, has been pushing for ambitious economic initiatives in Afghanistan and through that to other countries in the region, especially into Central Asia. If Pakistan's unrest is not contained quickly, China will face political and even strategic uncertainty in Afghanistan too.

Fourthly, the current unrest in Pakistan might have huge impacts on Afghan refugees particularly those who are on their way towards resettlement to third countries in the West. If Western embassies reduce or suspend consular services in Pakistan due to security concerns, the processing of Afghan asylum applications will be disrupted.

Finally, Pakistan’s army and the two traditional parties in power that represents the interests of Punjab and Sindh elites approach to eliminate Khan from the political spectrum of Pakistan, and this might strengthen the separatist tendencies among the Pashtuns who support Imran Khan.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the traditional base of Pakistan’s Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The failed ruling class and ruling institutions have oppressed and deprived the Pashtuns since the formation of Pakistan.

It seems that the widespread support of Imran Khan in Pakistan is rooted in the deep problems of the country and the failure of Islamabad’s elite in the past decades. Imran Khan's supporters see in him the face of a saviour who can probably save them from the current dire situation.

The strengthening of separatist tendencies can also affect a part of Afghan Pashtuns, who have hoped for separatist movements and challenging the Punjabi and Sindhi elite in Pakistan after the emergence of the Pashtun Tahafoz Movement (PTM) led by people like Manzoor Pashteen.