Owner of Private TV Station Lambasts Taliban’s Affiliation With Pakistan

The Taliban leader’s response to Al-Thani during the meeting has not been clear yet.

A Qatari official, who is aware of the discussions of the bilateral meeting between the Taliban and Qatar, said on the condition of anonymity, that the meeting with the Taliban leader has been considered highly important.

The exact number of foreign and American hostages in Afghanistan is not known, but American officials have previously said that "several American citizens" are in detention in Afghanistan.

The situation of Afghan women under the Taliban has been highly deteriorating with severe restrictions imposed by the group on Afghan women’s right to work, education, and social life.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has also carried out deadly attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban has taken power in August 2021, which has left heavy casualties. Most of ISIS' attacks have been focused on the Hazara-Shia community, Sufis, diplomatic missions, and the Taliban forces.

Our sources said that in the meeting between the Prime Minister of Qatar and the leader of the Taliban last month, the two leaders discussed amending the Doha agreement and adding new points to it.

Earlier, it had been reported that the Qatari Prime Minister conveyed a message from the US officials to the Taliban leader.

Based on our source, the Qatari Prime Minister suggested that the issue of women’s rights and the fight against terrorism had to be added to the Doha Agreement. However, in the Doha Agreement, it is stated that "It [the Taliban] will prevent any group or individual from threatening the security of the United States and its allies, will prevent their recruitment, training, and financing, and in accordance with its obligations in this agreement, will not host them." However, there are no details about the proposed counter-terrorism issues that has been discussed with the Taliban leader to be added to the Doha agreement

In the meantime, the Prime Minister of Qatar did not discuss the Taliban recognition with Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s leader. The Qatari official said that in the meeting with the Taliban leader, the stance of Al-Thani regarding the issue of recognition of the Taliban was very similar to the position of the United States and the international community, which repeatedly said the precondition for recognition of the group is that the Taliban should respect the fundamental rights of women and minorities.

The mood of the meeting between the leader of the Taliban and the Prime Minister of Qatar has been evaluated as positive, and Akhundzada has said that he is open to negotiations with the international community.

The United States has already officially negotiated with the Taliban group in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, at least twice, in which representatives of the US State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the United States International Development Agency were present.

The first meeting between the representatives of the US and the Taliban was held on June 29 and 30, 2022 in Doha, where Thomas West, the US special representative for Afghanistan, expressed concern about the continued activities of Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan. In this meeting, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the foreign minister of the Taliban headed the Taliban delegation.

The US officials, including West met, with the Taliban defence minister, Mullah Yaqub Mujahid, on December 7, 2022, in the United Arab Emirates. In the meeting, the two sides discussed financial aid to Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban and the fight against terrorist groups.

Apparently, Al-Thani’s meeting was not the first meeting of the Taliban leader with a foreign delegation. According to reports, he has already met the senior representatives of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who discussed the establishment of the 40,000-man army based on the advice of the Iranian delegation. On the other hand, it is said that the Taliban leader also regularly meets four senior officers of Pakistan intelligence services.

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.

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.

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.

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.