Taliban Imposed Ban on Women’s Voice Broadcast in Logar, Say Journalists

Rafiullah Samim, the Taliban’s provincial director of information and culture, issued the warning to the local media outlets in Logar on Sunday during a meeting with journalists.

The meeting with journalists was attended by Rafiullah Samim, Hematullah Mohajer, the spokesperson of the group's provincial intelligence directorate, and Ikramullah spokesperson of the provincial directorate of promotion virtue and prevention of vice.

Media executives and journalists of Logar media outlets told Afghanistan International that these Taliban officials asked them to not broadcast women’s voices anymore.

According to our sources, when the media officials and journalists asked why women’s voices shouldn't be broadcast in Logar while it is being broadcast in Kabul, the Taliban officials argued that "the environment in Logar is different from Kabul".

Sources added that Taliban officials forced these media executives and journalists to sign a letter that if they continue to broadcast women’s voices, they will be severely punished.

However, the Taliban officials in Kabul and media support groups have not reacted to the Taliban’s latest restrictions on media in Logar province.

Over 3000 Afghans Return from Pakistan To Afghanistan In Last 3 Months, Says Taliban

Jun 26, 2023, 13:50 GMT+1

Nangarhar Directorate of Refugees and Repatriation announced that in the last three months, about 3,800 Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan.

In recent months, Pakistan has detained thousands of Afghan refugees and deported some of them to Afghanistan.

Earlier, a Taliban border official said that Pakistan has allowed Afghan refugees to cross the borders of the two countries without holding passports, and only with an Afghan identity card.

Esmatullah Yaqoob, the Taliban commissioner in Torkham, said that these Afghan refugees can return to Afghanistan till the end of June 2023.

With the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 and the influx of Afghan refugees to Pakistan, the Pakistani police have repeatedly arrested and deported these refugees in the past two years.

Pakistani authorities argue that according to Article 14 of the Foreigners' Registration Law in this country, people who stay in Pakistan without travel documents and visas are accused of violating the law.

It has been reported that the Pakistani police have detained and deported some Afghan citizens despite having documents from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan.

At the same time, reports indicate the inappropriate behaviour of the Pakistani police towards Afghan refugees.

Taliban Appoints New Governors For Badakhshan, Kunar & Zabul Provinces

Jun 26, 2023, 12:35 GMT+1

The Taliban leader has appointed Qari Mohammad Ayub Khalid, Mawlawi Qudratullah Abu Hamza, and Mawlawi Hezbollah Afghan as the new governors of Badakhshan, Kunar, and Zabul provinces, respectively.

Before their new appointments, Mohammad Ayub Khalid had been the governor of Kunar and Abu Hamza was the Taliban’s governor of Zabul.

According to the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency, Mawlawi Abdul Jamil, the former judge in Badakhshan, has been appointed as the deputy governor of the province.

Mawlawi Afghan was the former deputy commander of the Taliban's 217 Omari Corps, who has taken over as the group’s governor of Zabul province.

According to Bakhtar News Agency, Mawlawi Amanuddin Mansour, the former governor of the group in Badakhshan, has been appointed as the new commander of the 217 Omari Corps, and Mullah Agha Mohammad Ibrahim, the former commander of the Taliban’s army corps, has been demoted and appointed as deputy commander of the 217 Omari Corps.

Iran’s Interior Minister Proposes Formation of Joint Committee To Address Water Rights

Jun 26, 2023, 10:50 GMT+1

Ahmad Vahidi, Iran's interior minister, said that a joint committee comprising Iranian and Taliban representatives should be formed to address the issue of water rights of Iran from the Helmand River.

Vahidi said that the purpose of this committee is to verify the Taliban's claims about water scarcity and determine rights of Iran.

Earlier, the Taliban had said that there is not enough water in the Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan.

Vahidi added that with the formation of this committee, it will be clear if the Taliban or Iranian experts’ claims are right.

Vahidi said that the joint committee must visit the dams and assess the water level.

At the same time, Iran's interior minister has quoted the country's special envoy for Afghanistan as saying that the Taliban have agreed to the idea of forming a joint committee by the two sides.

The water rights issue between Iran and Afghanistan has escalated over the past few months.

Earlier, Feda Hossein Maliki, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament said that the water rights issue has become a military priority of the Islamic Republic.

Maliki emphasised that "no group" in Afghanistan can deprive Iran of its water rights from the Helmand River.

Maliki said that the Islamic Republic has no issue with the people of Afghanistan, but Tehran will not allow a group in the country to deprive Iran of its water rights.

On Friday, he also said that the Taliban will finally be forced to provide the water rights of Iran.

The Taliban officials have always emphasised that there is not enough water in the Helmand River.

UN’s World Drug Report 2023 States Afghanistan Produces 80% of Opium in World

Jun 26, 2023, 10:10 GMT+1

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a new report that there are increasing signs of large methamphetamine manufacture in Afghanistan and expanded trafficking through South Asia for global markets.

The World Drug Report 2023 also stated in the report that the bulk of global illicit opium production continues to take place in Afghanistan, wherein in 2022, production reached 6,200 tonnes, equivalent to 80% of the estimated global production.

It also stated that there was less opium being produced in Afghanistan (10 per cent less) as compared to last year due to droughts in early 2022.

The report emphasised that the 2023 opium harvest in Afghanistan may see a drastic drop following the 2022 national drug ban, with possible global consequences. Early reports even suggest reductions in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

The report highlighted that the recent drug ban by the Taliban may be changing the drug supply in that country. “Continued reports and seizure events involving methamphetamine originating in Afghanistan suggest that the drug economy in that country is no longer exclusively dominated by illicit cultivation and trafficking of opiates,” the report stressed.

It also stated that the increase in the use and manufacture of methamphetamine in Afghanistan is of growing concern in South-West Asia and the Gulf, where trafficking in the substance is expanding beyond this region.

Alternative cultivation for farmers in Afghanistan and other countries is a vital factor in reducing poppy cultivation, according to the report and UNODC has called the lack of alternative cultivation options as detrimental for many farmers.

The UN has called on donor countries to immediately support rural Afghans so they can earn a living without cultivation of drugs.

The Taliban banned the cultivation and sale of narcotics in Afghanistan recently.

Over 90,000 Afghan Immigrants Returned to Afghanistan This Year, Says Iranian Official

Jun 24, 2023, 14:46 GMT+1

Hossein Sharafati, Directorate of Foreign Nationals and Immigrants of Khorasan Razavi of Iran, said that more than 90,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan through the Dogharoon border crossing this year.

Sharafati said that these immigrants have returned “of their own will” to Afghanistan.

According to the Iranian official, about five million Afghan immigrants live in Iran.

Shrafati added that some migrants were also gathered by the relevant authorities from Tehran and other parts of Iran and transferred to the Mashhad camp.

According to Iranian reports, of the five million Afghan immigrants, about one million live in Khorasan Razavi province and Mashhad city.

Shrafati said that these people returned to Afghanistan through the Dogharoon border crossing after going through legal procedures.

The deportation of Afghan citizens has accelerated in recent days in Iran. Earlier, it had been reported by Iranian media outlets that more than 13,000 Afghan migrants were handed over to Taliban border guards in Iran in the past three weeks.

In the last two years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, many people have migrated to neighbouring countries including Pakistan and Iran.

At the same time, the International Organisation for Migration recently wrote in a report that in the last two years, about 3.6 million Afghans have migrated abroad.

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