CSTO Must Focus on Afghanistan, Says Kyrgyz Senior Security Official

“We pulled back the India-based diplomats and staff after the Taliban took control of Kabul. At that time we had legitimate security concerns. With the passage of time, we have sent back a technical team to the Embassy. Their job is essentially to monitor the situation and to see how we can support the Afghan people,” Jaishankar said.

He added that right now India is not stressing on the “political issues” there and instead on the humanitarian crisis prevailing in the country as it had faced a vaccine shortage, wheat shortage and even medicine shortage recently.

Commenting on India's relationship with the Taliban, Jaishankar said that our priority is to help the Afghan people because "we have historical relations with the people of Afghanistan”.

India had deployed a technical team at their embassy in Kabul in June this year, however, their stance on recognition of the Taliban still remains the same.

Mohammad Nabi Mullahworor, a Taliban military official, said that the purpose of these exercises was to for more “military experience" of the Taliban forces.

Mullahworor stressed that these trainings have been conducted by “professional” trainers in Zaranj city of Nimroz province.

These trainings are conducted by the Taliban as there was a border skirmish that took place between Iranian and Taliban border guards in Nimroz province and Iranian border guards used heavy weapons and artillery in attacking Taliban positions.

Nimroz, which is on the border with Iran, has witnessed several armed clashes between the Taliban and Iran.

He said that it would be another horrendous step backward for the people of Afghanistan. The UN spokesperson emphasised that the Taliban’s ban will have negative impacts on Afghan women, girls, youth, and for the future of Afghanistan.

The Taliban has not officially announced the ban on the educational activities of non-governmental organisations. However, Wahidullah Hashemi, head of international relations of the Taliban Ministry of Education, said in an audio tape that was provided to Afghanistan International, that foreign organisations have been issued a one-month timeline to stop their projects in the education sector.

According to him, this order has been communicated verbally to these organisations.

Dujarric too said in a news conference in New York that the Taliban has not yet officially informed the United Nations about imposing a ban on the operations of the UN agencies in the education sector.

He added that the UN officials in Afghanistan are in contact with the Taliban to ascertain what is being planned by the group.

Mohammad Ershad Ahmadi, a Taliban official in the electricity department of Kandahar, said that due to the increase in the water level and capacity of turbines in the Kajaki dam, the department supplies 24 hours electricity to Kandahar city now.

Recently, amid tensions between the Taliban and the Islamic Republic over the water rights issue from the Helmand River, Taliban officials had claimed that the Kamal Khan Dam does not have enough water to cross a distance of over 600 kilometers to reach Iran.

Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban’s foreign minister, on May 22, said that the group is committed to providing Iran’s water right according to the 1973 agreement, but the drought in the region must be considered too.

In response, Iranian officials had asked the Taliban to let an Iranian expert team assess the water levels inside Afghanistan.

Some of the Taliban officials, including Sher Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister, had responded that dams are considered sensitive sites in Afghanistan and the Taliban will not allow Iranian experts to visit these sites.

Samantha Mort, UNICEF’s Afghanistan spokesperson, said that the agency will seek clarification from the Taliban.

On Thursday, Reuters reported that UNICEF was following up with the Taliban over whether international organisations would be excluded from education projects, which could affect hundreds of thousands of students.

UNICEF has warned that if international non-governmental organisations are not allowed to operate in the education sector, it may impact thousands of Afghan students.

In May, UNICEF announced that the organisation holds 21,000 education classes across Afghanistan. UNICEF had also announced that it will hold short-term educational courses for girls in Bamiyan province of Afghanistan.

UNICEF’s Afghanistan spokesperson has stated that if the international organisations are not allowed to operate, more than 300,000 girls may “lose out on quality learning”.

The Taliban has not commented on the matter yet. However, an audio file from Wahidullah Hashemi, the group’s director of international relations of the Ministry of Education, has been reviewed by Afghanistan International in which he said that foreign organisations have one month to stop their projects in the education sector in Afghanistan. According to him, currently, the verbal order has been conveyed to these organisations.