Azad-ul-Haq Naibzada, a wrestler from Baghlan Province, has been kidnapped by unknown armed people on Wednesday evening. Family members of Naibzada claim that Taliban may be responsible for his kidnapping.
However, Taliban officials have said that they have not arrested Naibzada.
Qalandar Ebad, the Taliban’s Minister of Public Health, asked Iran to establish a serum production factory in Afghanistan. Ebad discussed the Taliban’s need in the health sector with the director of Iran’s Export Authority.
According to the Taliban’s Public Health Ministry, on Sunday, the two sides discussed how to develop ties in the medicine and medical technologies sector.
During the meeting, Ebad emphasised on strengthening business deals between Afghanistan and Iran.
According to a statement of the Ministry of Public Health of the Taliban, the director of Iran's export Authority stressed on the commercial relations between the two countries and said that the Islamic Republic is ready to cooperate in establishing a serum production factory after the necessary assessments.
Earlier, Majid Sadeghi Dolatabadi, Iran's Consul General in Nangarhar had promised that the Islamic Republic will build a diabetes treatment center in Jalalabad.
The Islamic Republic does not recognise the Taliban, and despite the tensions and border skirmish between Iran and the Taliban forces, Tehran has continued ties with the Taliban.
Qasim Rezaei, the Deputy Chief of Police of Iran, said that Iran is ready to train to Taliban border forces in lessons of border protocols. Rezaei added that Tehran has announced its readiness for the training, but the Taliban forces have not shown up for it so far.
In an interview with Mehr news agency, Rezaei also criticised the Taliban member’s unofficial clothing and said, "Taliban border guards must wear uniforms and adhere to international laws."
To prevent border tension between Iran and the Taliban, Rezaei demanded meetings, negotiations, and even simultaneous and joint patrols between the forces of the group and the Iranian border guards.
The deputy chief of Iranian police said that the forces of this country have good relations with Pakistani border guards on the joint border with Pakistan, but they are facing problems on the borders with Afghanistan.
He also said, "Before the Taliban came to power, we had communication with the border guards of the previous government, and we almost jointly managed the border. Although there were problems, they [Afghan border forces] were responsive."
Rezaei added that after the Taliban came to power, despite holding meetings with the officials of this group in Tehran, Kabul, and at the borders, there are still problems because according to him, the Taliban forces are not responsible at the border.
"Their people change, they're inexperienced and they've taken unconventional actions and they shoot without purpose," he said.
The senior police official of Iran expressed these statements after the tension between the Taliban and Iranian forces in Kang district of Nimroz province, as a result of which a Taliban fighter and two Iranian border guards had been killed.
After the Kang border skirmish, both sides deployed forces on the Islam Qala border, however, there has not been any further conflict.
Local sources said that Mujib Zia, a civil activist, has been released from Taliban detention on Saturday. Zia has been released after the mediation of Abdullah Abdullah, former chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation.
According to the sources, Abdul Haq Wasiq, the director of the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) has ordered the release of Zia.
The Taliban had arrested this civil activist last month from the Kabul airport.
Hedayatullah Hedayat, deputy director of the Taliban-controlled National Radio and Television of Afghanistan at the time, accused Zia of being a member of the National Resistance Front and said that he was arrested when he "wanted to flee the country”.
Sources close to Zia previously told Afghanistan International that he had a background of work in the Ministry of Interior Affairs but had left the ministry in 2014.
Zia had been working with the Rahmani Foundation in Kabul in recent years. Sources close to the civil activist have denied his membership with anti-Taliban armed resistance groups.
The Taliban Railway Authority claimed that the Turkish Steel producer Kardemir has offered to produce rails for Afghanistan in exchange for minerals. The Taliban has not mentioned what type of minerals Kardemir has asked to produce rails.
Kardemir has not reacted to the Taliban’s claim of such a proposal too.
The Twitter page of the Taliban Railway Authority has published photos of the visit of the Taliban delegation to Kardemir company, claiming that the company’s senior executives have come up with the offer. The Taliban delegation said that they will present Kardemir’s proposal to the Taliban officials in Kabul.
On Friday, Istanbul hosted the meeting of the Middle East section of the International Union of Railways and a delegation of the Taliban Railway Authority was also among the participants.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the President of Uzbekistan, said on Friday that the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has been rapidly deteriorating and millions of Afghans have been struggling to survive.
The Uzbek president addressed the second meeting of the leaders of Central Asia and the European Union, which was held in Kyrgyzstan.
According to Gazeta daily, Mirziyoyev called on European countries to continue their humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan.
He emphasised that for this purpose, Uzbekistan is ready to provide the logistics hub in Termez for aid to Afghanistan.
The President of Uzbekistan suggested that special envoys of relevant countries should continue to consult to build a common approach to address the Afghan issue.
The first meeting of the heads of state of Central Asian countries and the European Union had been held in Kazakhstan in 2022.
The presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, the deputy prime minister of Turkmenistan, and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, participated at the second meeting of Central Asia and the European Union.
Ahead of the meeting of the heads of these countries, the special representatives of Central Asia and the European Union discussed Afghanistan in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan.
In the joint statement that was published on Friday at the end of this meeting, the participants emphasised on the formation of an inclusive government, ensuring the rights of Afghan women, and fighting terrorism in Afghanistan.
