Lack of Funding Forces WFP To Cut Off 8 Million People from Assistance in Afghanistan

At least three sources from the teacher training centers also confirmed the news of the closure of the directorate of teacher training.

These sources, who spoke to Afghanistan International on the condition of anonymity fearing reprisal from the Taliban, provided a copy of the “Appointment Guideline" of the Taliban’s Ministry of Education.

Apparently, the “guideline” has been revised and approved by the Taliban’s directorates of education in Kabul and the provinces. Along with other issues, the document stated that the teacher training centers have been removed from the organisational structure of the Taliban’s Ministry of Education.

The “guideline”, however, stated that the staff members of these centers could be appointed to vacant positions in the schools and religious seminaries of the Taliban.

However, sources who spoke to Afghanistan International said that the staff members of the teacher training centers are concerned that with the closure of the directorate, more than 4,000 professional and experienced teachers and staff members of the directorate will lose their jobs.

According to Shaheen, both sides talked about the importance of engagement and humanitarian aid.

Earlier, Dickson had said on Twitter that Doha remains an important hub for engagement with Afghanistan.

The meeting between Shaheen and the UK Charge d’Affairs for Afghanistan was held on Sunday after Dickson returned from his visit to Kabul.

During his visit to Kabul, Robert Dickson had met with the Taliban’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, and the group’s higher education minister Nada Mohammad Nadim.

During the meeting with Dickson, Muttaqi had asked for the UK’s engagement with the Taliban.

However, London has repeatedly said that the policies of the Taliban, especially the violation of women's rights, have isolated the group.

Muhibullah Tayeb, a human rights advisor in the Afghan delegation in Geneva, addressed the UN Human Rights Council, about the forced displacement in northern and western Afghanistan and said that the oppressive environment in Afghanistan has forced many Afghans to flee the country.

On Sunday, Tayeb warned that after fleeing, the victims of forced displacements remain without protection.

He stressed that the Taliban have shut down shelters for victims of human trafficking and called for measures to protect those who have been forcefully displaced.

Since taking power in Afghanistan in August 2021, numerous reports have been published that the Taliban have forcibly displaced local residents in various provinces, including Daikundi, Takhar, Baghlan, Faryab, Panjshir, and Sar-e Pul provinces.

In addition, many local sources said that dozens of families have been relocated to Takhar province from border areas and Pakistan in the past weeks. Some sources said that the families were Pakistani citizens, but others said that they were Afghans who had been displaced by war during the previous years.

Earlier, the Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, had confirmed that refugees from the North Waziristan region of Pakistan have been transferred to areas in western and northern parts of Afghanistan.

Shahabuddin Delawar, the Taliban’s minister of Mines and Petroleum, said that these oilfields are one of the most important economic resources of Afghanistan.

Delawar said that the Taliban will utilise the revenue generated from the oil extracted from these fields to implement other projects of the group in Afghanistan.

On April 8, 2022, the Taliban initiated the plan to extract oilfields in Sar-e-Pul province. Zabihullah Mujahid, the group’s spokesperson had said that 200 tonnes of oil would be extracted from the Qashqari mine in Sar-e Pul daily.

There are three oilfields in Sar-e Pul and Faryab provinces with an estimated 87 million barrels of oil reserves.

The ministry stressed that these people, who had been imprisoned for illegal stay in Pakistan, entered Afghanistan through the Spin Boldak border crossing.

The Taliban's Ministry of Refugees has also said that more than 550 Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan from the Spin Boldak border in the past week.

Following the Taliban’s takeover of power in Afghanistan in 2021, many Afghan citizens including human rights activists, journalists, and people at risk, fled to neighbouring countries. Recently, many Afghans who sought refuge in Pakistan "fearing persecution” have faced a wave of "arbitrary arrests and threats of deportation".

Earlier, refugee rights groups asked Islamabad to stop the wave of arrests of these Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

On World Refugee Day this year, Amnesty International called on the government of Pakistan to stop harassing and arbitrary arrests of Afghan refugees and migrants.