Radio Station Stops Its Broadcast in Balkh, Media Support Group Confirms Development

The station is based in Balkh province and has stopped its broadcast due to economic problems.

Nai emphasised that after the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, almost half of Afghan media outlets have collapsed.

The broadcast operation of the radio station had also stopped last year due to a fire incident. According to the owners of the radio, the media group had been established 16 years ago in the Balkh province.

Nai stressed that mass media has been one of the major achievements of the past two decades in Afghanistan and said that the media ecosystem is in a decline.

Nai added that more than 65 percent of journalists and media workers have lost their jobs in the last two years.

Islamic Republic of Iran Hands Over 18000 Afghans To Taliban

Jul 13, 2023, 09:19 GMT+1

Majid Shoja, Khorasan Razavi Border Guard Commander, announced that 17,926 Afghan refugees have been deported by the Taibad Border Regiment to Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, Shoja told Iran’s state news agency that the border guards handed over these "illegal" immigrants to the Taliban over the past 10 days.

After the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, thousands of Afghan citizens have fled to neighbouring countries, including Iran. However, the Islamic Republic has deported thousands of these Afghans back to Afghanistan.

Shoja said that decisive action will be taken against immigrants who enter Iran illegally.

Khorasan Razavi province of Iran has about 302 kilometers of joint border with Afghanistan.

50% of Zahedan Makki Mosque Students, Teachers Are Foreigners & Afghans

Jul 12, 2023, 16:31 GMT+1

Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that more than 50 percent of seminary students and some of the teachers of Zahedan Makki Mosque are foreigners and Afghans.

This news agency wrote that over the past few months, 132 of these seminary students have been deported.

In May, the Taliban’s foreign ministry announced that 23 Afghan Sunni seminary students had been released from Zahedan prison and returned to Nimroz province of Afghanistan.

Tasnim stressed that these individuals have been “identified and within the framework of the regulations, after preliminary detention, had been deported and handed over to the authorities of their country”.

This news agency published a confession video of some of these seminary students and officials of the mosque. It is still unclear under what conditions their confessions were made.

After the death of university student, Mahsa Amini, by the Iranian police, Sistan and Baluchistan province turned into the center of protests against the Iranian government.

The Iranian regime considers some of the religious movements belonging to the Sunnis of Zahedan, who support Mawlawi Abdul Hamid, the Sunni preacher of Zahedan, to be involved in these protests.

Mawlawi Abdul Hamid has continuously criticised the Iranian government in his Friday prayer sermons in recent months.

According to reports, the Iranian government has increased pressure on Mawlawi Abdul Hamid and Makki Mosque officials to restrain the protests.

In the video published by Fars news agency, one of the Makki madrassa officials said that this madrassa has nearly a thousand seminary students and half of them are Afghans.

Khaf-Herat Rail Line Raises Iran’s Export to China & Central Asia, Says Iranian Official

Jul 12, 2023, 12:04 GMT+1

Yaqoob Ali Nazari, governor of Iran's Khorasan Razavi, during the inauguration ceremony of the Khaf-Herat railway line, said that the annual capacity of this railway line is to carry six million tonnes of cargo between Afghanistan and Iran.

According to Nazari, Iran will use this railway line to increase exports and trade with China and Central Asian countries.

He stressed that the Iranian government plans to launch a passenger train on the Khaf-Herat railway route too.

Nazari said that this line connects Afghanistan to the southern ports of Iran and accelerates the transit between Afghanistan and open waters through Iran.

He added that Afghanistan will have access to Turkey and Western countries through the development of this railway.

Nazari added that Iran expects an increase in its exports to Afghanistan after the inauguration of the railway line.

This railway line was opened on Tuesday morning, in the presence of officials of the Islamic Republic and the Taliban.

The Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid conveyed a message of "brotherhood" to the Islamic Republic of Iran at the opening ceremony of this railway line and said, "We are brothers to you, brothers cooperate more, they have more rights.”

This Taliban official also expressed hope to expand cooperation with the Islamic Republic.

Taliban Flogs Four People on Charges of Adultery in Kabul

Jul 12, 2023, 10:42 GMT+1

The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that the group has flogged four people, including a woman, on charges of "debauchery” in the Paghman district of Kabul province.

According to the Taliban statement, these people were detained in the Qargha area of Kabul city. The Taliban have sentenced them to three months in prison.

According to the Taliban’s supreme court, these people had been flogged in the presence of the group’s officials and the public.

Shortly after taking over Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban started rolling out corporal punishment for Afghan citizens.

Human rights groups have expressed concerns that under the Taliban reign, those detained have no access to due processes.

These groups have condemned the corporal punishment of Afghan citizens.

Taliban’s Interior Ministry Warns of ISIS Attack on Group’s Officials

Jul 12, 2023, 09:42 GMT+1

The Taliban's Ministry of Interior (MoI) has warned that ISIS plans to attack officials of the group who have returned from the Hajj pilgrimage, according to a letter obtained by Afghanistan International.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Interior has issued the letter to the group’s police chiefs across 34 provinces of Afghanistan and warned about “suicide attacks” by ISIS.

On Tuesday, Abdul Matin Qane, the Taliban’s interior ministry spokesperson, confirmed that the letter had been issued by the ministry, but refused to provide further information about the potential threats against senior Taliban officials.

In the letter, the Taliban's Ministry of Interior said that ISIS wants to carry out suicide and hand grenade attacks against Taliban governors, police chiefs, and other civil officials inside their "homes and offices".

Several high-ranking Taliban officials, including Mullah Yaqoob, the group’s defence minister, have been on the Hajj pilgrimage.

Earlier, a letter from the Taliban's Ministry of Interior had been circulating on social media, in which it had been stressed that a group connected to the ISIS wants to enter Afghanistan from Pakistan.

However, the Taliban have repeatedly tried to neglect the security threats posed by ISIS across Afghanistan. Taliban intelligence sources told Afghanistan International that currently, the Taliban considers ISIS a bigger threat than any other armed opposition groups in Afghanistan.

In 2023, ISIS has proved capable of killing senior Taliban officials, including the group’s former governor of Balkh, and Badakhshan provinces.

In the last 20 years, the Taliban used similar tactics to the ISIS to kill officials and political leaders of the previous government.

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