Taliban Flogs Man in Public in Eastern Afghanistan

Patel pointed to the Taliban’s restriction on girls’ education and said that by violating women’s and girls’ rights, this group is holding back Afghanistan’s future.

On Wednesday, during a press conference, Patel added that equal access of half of the population of Afghanistan to their rights is a key issue regarding international recognition of the Taliban government.

He emphasised that Washington still has tools to hold the Taliban accountable.

In more the 20 months since taking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed severe restrictions on women and girls’ activities.

Most regional and global players and organisations have stressed that the recognition of the Taliban should be dependent on the group’s performance and respect towards the rights of all Afghan citizens.

During the press conference on Wednesday, Patel also pointed to the temporary settlement of Afghan refugees in the Philippines and said that the US is committed to the Afghans who have supported the country for two decades.

Iravani addressed the UN Security Council and said that the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan and the region feel threatened by the terror and drug issues.

According to Shargh Daily, Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, added that drug trafficking in Afghanistan has not been fully countered and illegal drug trade continues in the country. He expressed concerns about the expansion of laboratories for the production and smuggling of industrial substances, such as methamphetamine in Afghanistan.

Iravani also touched upon the Taliban’s policies against Afghan women and said that the group has refused to form an inclusive government from various ethnic and political groups in Afghanistan too.

According to Shargh Daily, in an unprecedented statement, Iravani stressed that the Taliban "are deliberately trying to destroy the cultural, linguistic and historical ties of Afghans with the Persian language and to impose the Pashtun culture on other ethnic groups”.

The Iranian representative also accused the Taliban of working to "change the demographic structure of the provinces with Hazara and Tajik [ethnic] members”.

However, Iravani also urged the international community to continue "constructive engagement" with the Taliban.

He added that the isolation of the Taliban is not in the interest of the Afghan people.

Iran's representative in the United Nations expressed optimism about the management of Afghanistan's economy by the Taliban and called the "seizure of assets and unilateral sanctions" as the cause of the worsening economic situation of Afghan citizens.

Noting the latest in a string of decisions the Taliban that violate every aspect of the rights of women and girls, HRW sought support for the local voices of Afghan women inside the country who are still bravely chanting "Bread, Work, Freedom."

In its statement, it said that there is no country in the world in which the basic human rights of women and girls are more restricted than Afghanistan and that in 2023, Afghanistan remains the only country where women and girls do not have access to secondary and higher education.

The rights watchdog stressed that women are being dismissed from all leadership posts and need to be accompanied by a male guardian while traveling in most provinces of Afghanistan.

It also emphasised how women also do not have the right to most employment and are barred from working with international NGOs.

The statement said that these restrictions are a key contributing factor to Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, which affects the entire population, and has the greatest impact on women and girls due to countries cutting aid to Afghanistan.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, these foreign ministers stressed on mutual respect for the fundamental rights of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan.

The joint statement was issued by the foreign ministers of Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Armenia.

After the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, reports show that members of the Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, and Turkmen ethnic groups have been forcefully displaced to different regions of Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, many local sources reported that dozens of families have been transferred to Takhar province from border areas and Pakistan in recent days. Some sources said that these families were Pakistani nationals, but other sources said that these people were Afghans who had been displaced by war in recent years.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed about a week ago that refugees from the North Waziristan region of Pakistan are being transferred to some parts of Afghanistan.

Recently, there were reports about an agreement being reached between the Taliban and the government of Pakistan regarding the relocation of members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to northern Afghanistan.

The anti-Taliban armed groups have warned that relocation of these TTP members to northern Afghanistan will push the country towards partition.

Northern Afghanistan shares a border with several member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.

This is the first visit of the UN special coordinator for Afghanistan to Kabul.

According to the Taliban’s Ministry of Economy, during his meeting with Sinirlioğlu, Hanif discussed "strengthening Afghanistan’s ties with the international community and development programmes to improve the economic situation".

The statement of the Taliban’s Ministry of Economy claimed that Sinirlioğlu and his accompanying delegation welcomed the Taliban’s "major achievements in the economic sector".

According to the statement, the UN delegation said that the solution to the current economic situation in Afghanistan is to have mutual cooperation between the Taliban and the United Nations.

On April 25, the United Nations Secretary-General appointed Feridun Sinirlioğlu as the UN special coordinator for Afghanistan.

Sinirlioglu was Türkiye’s foreign minister in 2015 and later became the country's representative to the United Nations.

Over the last two months, little was known about his activities as the UN special coordinator.

Last Saturday, sources confirmed Sinirlioğlu’s meeting with Batur Dostum, the Chairperson of the Central Council of the National Islamic Movement Party of Afghanistan. Dostum had expressed concern about the land grabbing of Uzbek and Turkmen lands by the Taliban and the relocation of the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members in northern Afghanistan.

During his meeting with Sinirlioğlu, Batur Dostum had stressed that the settlement of TTP members and extremist groups in northern Afghanistan has increased concerns of people inside Afghanistan and the regional countries and has affected their will to engage with the Taliban.