UN Special Coordinator Meets Taliban’s Interior & Foreign Ministers

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan, said, “Pakistan will not negotiate with individuals who are responsible for the killing of Pakistani civilians and law enforcement officials.”

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, in an interview with TOLOnews, had said that the Taliban will mediate between the TTP and Pakistan, if Islamabad asks them.

Mujahid stressed that mediation between the two is in the interest of the region.

Baloch also stressed on the recent statements of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the foreign minister of this country, regarding negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

In an interview with the Washington Post in January, Zardari had said that Pakistan's leadership will not negotiate with terrorist organisations that do not respect the constitution and other laws of the country.

In April, the spokesperson of the Pakistan Army criticised the country’s previous government's initiative to talk with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Earlier, reliable sources told Afghanistan International that a new round of talks between Pakistan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) had begun with the mediation of Waziristan tribal elders.

Sources told Afghanistan International that over the past few weeks, a delegation of Waziristan tribal elders travelled to Afghanistan and met with Noor Wali Mehsud, the TTP leader.

NRF added that the Taliban’s relocation efforts will be the last strike to the peaceful coexistence of ethnic groups in Afghanistan.

In a statement on Thursday, NRF said, “These actions of the Taliban have alarmed neighbouring countries and the region and will destabilise Central Asia, Russia, Iran, and China."

According to NRF, these relocations to the border regions of North-East, North, and West of Afghanistan are destabilising the region and disrupting the political, social, and economic order in the regional countries.

In the statement, NRF stressed that the Taliban has no support base among the people, and therefore, the group has been relocating its allies such as the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Jamaat-e-Islami Ansarullah, ISIS, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jaish Mohammad, and several other groups led by Al-Qaeda and ISI" to northern Afghanistan to transform the geopolitics of the region.

The National Resistance Front emphasised that resistance against the Taliban is necessary to "prevent the relocation of terrorists and end the occupation" of Afghanistan.

NRF has urged the international community, especially regional countries, to fulfil their responsibility towards Afghanistan and stop engagement with the Taliban.

Earlier, 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 these were Pakistani citizens, but others said that they were Afghans who had been displaced by war during the previous years.

Last week, the Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that refugees from North Waziristan region of Pakistan are being transferred to some parts of Afghanistan.

Over the past few days, reports had been published about the agreement between the Taliban and the government of Pakistan regarding the relocation of members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to northern Afghanistan.

However, this week, the foreign ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation also asked for the prevention of forced ethnic and religious displacement in Afghanistan.

According to the Taliban’s Supreme Court, the man had been punished in the presence of the public and the group’s officials.

The Taliban’s statement stressed that this man had been sentenced to two months and twenty days of imprisonment and 25 lashes.

The Taliban has not revealed the identity of the man.

Meanwhile, earlier the Taliban had executed a man in Mehtarlam city of Laghman province on the charge of murder.

The Taliban officials have confirmed that the group has ordered the execution of 175 people and the stoning of 37 people throughout Afghanistan since taking power in the country.

The courts of this group have ordered four people to be buried alive and Sharia laws have been implemented on 103 other people.

Human rights groups have repeatedly called on the Taliban to stop the public punishment of Afghan citizens and have stressed that those accused by the Taliban don’t have access to due procedures and justice.

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.