Durrani Set To Visit Kabul For First Time As Pakistan’s Special Envoy

Jul 18, 2023, 09:55 GMT+1

As tensions have escalated between the Taliban and Pakistan, Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan will visit Kabul on Wednesday.

Durrani's office confirmed to Afghanistan International that he will travel to Kabul for a three-day trip to meet Taliban officials.

This is Asif Durrani's first visit to Afghanistan as Pakistan’s special envoy. Last month, he had been appointed as Pakistan's special representative for Afghanistan affairs.

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Taliban’s Prime Minister Returns to Kabul After Absence of Two Months

Jul 17, 2023, 15:06 GMT+1

After around two months of absence from office, the Taliban’s Prime Minister Mullah Hasan Akhund returned to office in Kabul.

Taliban deputy spokesperson Bilal Karimi said that Mullah Hasan Akhund returned to work on Monday after "treatment and rest in Kandahar”.

According to Karimi, the Taliban’s Prime Minister returned to office on the orders of Mullah Hibatullah Akhunzada, the group’s leader.

Karimi added that before returning to Kabul, the Taliban’s Prime Minister met Akhundzada in Kandahar and the Taliban leader "ordered" him to return to Kabul to manage the government’s affairs.

The Taliban also released a video clip, which shows Mullah Hasan Akhund at the Kabul airport being received by the Taliban officials.

Earlier, it had been reported that Mohammad Hassan Akhund was called to Kandahar due to "old age" and "illness".

The head of the Taliban cabinet was not present in the meetings of the Taliban over the last two months, and some considered it to be the result of the escalation of differences between the leaders of the Taliban.

Mohammad Hasn Akhund is one of the highly conservative leaders of the group and stands against the right to education and work of Afghan women and girls.

During the past two months and in his absence, the Taliban leader had appointed Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the deputy prime minister of the group as the acting prime minister.

Over 1000 Afghan Refugees Return from Pakistan, Says Taliban

Jul 17, 2023, 14:43 GMT+1

The Taliban's Ministry of Refugees announced that more than 1,000 Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan in the past four days.

The ministry stated on Monday that among them, 24 had been imprisoned in Pakistan and were recently released.

Taliban’s border officials in Kandahar said that these refugees have returned to Afghanistan through the Spin Boldak border crossing.

According to the reports, Pakistan and Iran have increased pressure on Afghan refugees these days. Only this week, nearly five thousand Afghan refugees have been deported from Iran.

UNAMA’s Human Rights Report on Afghanistan Recounts Recent Horrors

Jul 17, 2023, 13:36 GMT+1

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a report on the human rights situation in Afghanistan in May and June stated that at least 15 people were killed and 49 wounded as a result of IED attacks, the vast majority of them civilians.

The report stressed that majority of these casualties occurred in two attacks in Faizabad city, Badakhshan province, both claimed by self-identified Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant –Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP).

It also documented 45 civilian casualties (19 killed, 26 wounded) attributed to explosive remnants of war during the period.

According to this report, women are prevented from traveling abroad without a male guardian (sharia mahram), and in one case in June, a woman (a local employee of the United Nations in Afghanistan) was threatened with death by the forces of the Intelligence Directorate of Taliban, and after two days she resigned.

It has also been said that the forces of the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice continue to beat women, and in one case on June 19, a woman was beaten up and ordered her to leave a public park.

UNAMA also reported that the ban on women's work has affected the activities of this organization in Afghanistan, and since April 5, all UNAMA employees, including men and women, continue to work from home with this organization to prevent a discriminatory approach in the workplace.

The UN report still indicates that corporal punishment and execution of death sentences continue, and the second case of qisas punishment (death penalty) was on June 20.

The report emphasised that extra-judicial killings continue all over Afghanistan, and the UNAMA report has documented several cases of such killings, at least two of which were carried out by the Taliban forces in Takhar and Samangan provinces.

It added that arbitrary arrests and detentions of former government and military personnel – often accused of affiliation with the National Resistance Front – are also ongoing, particularly in Kabul and Panjshir provinces.

Apart from this, even killings of individuals accused of affiliation with ISIL-KP were also recorded in May and June in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, the report said.

The report also focused on freedom of media in Afghanistan and stated that the de facto authorities continue to arbitrarily arrest and detain journalists.

In fact, UNAMA stated that Taliban’s Departments of Information and Culture took steps to establish committees aimed at monitoring activities of the media in their respective provinces. UNAMA questioned the presence of such bodies and said that no announcement has been made explaining the exact mandate of these committees.

However, the report added that UNAMA has recorded at least one instance where a committee conducted an unannounced inspection at a private radio station in May and although the committee reportedly did not identify any concerns regarding the station’s activities, the unexpected nature of the visit led journalists to believe these committees may further jeopardise media independence.

The report also touched upon the activities of the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of the Taliban and said that the ministry continues to both enforce existing instructions and issue new directives, many of which interfere with the fundamental freedoms and daily lives of women and girls.

It said that UNAMA continues to record instances of Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice personnel arbitrarily arresting and ill-treating individuals who they view as not following their decrees, particularly those pertaining to hijab (for women) and beard length (for men).

Movement of Terror Groups in Afghanistan Will Impact Region & World, Says Iranian FM

Jul 17, 2023, 12:23 GMT+1

Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, urged the international community to focus on the movement of the terror groups in Afghanistan and said that if attention is not paid to the issue, the world and the region will face negative consequences impacts of it.

During a meeting with Feridun Sinirlioğlu, the UN Coordinator for Afghanistan, he said that immediate solutions are needed to address the terror issue in Afghanistan.

On Monday, in a statement, the Iranian foreign ministry highlighted that during the meeting with the UN special coordinator, Amir Abdollahian stressed on the formation of an inclusive government and the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan.

The Iranian foreign minister and UN special coordinator for Afghanistan met on Sunday in Tehran, during which Amir Abdollahian also emphasised on supporting regional initiatives to help solve Afghanistan's challenges.

Iran’s Foreign Minister described Feridun Sinirlioğlu’s mission as a challenging one considering the current situation and expressed hope that the UN special coordinator would have a thorough assessment of the realities of Afghanistan.

According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry's statement, Sinirlioğlu has emphasised on the will of the United Nations in supporting regional initiatives in order to help form an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

During his trip to Tehran, this UN official also met with Hassan Kazemi Qomi, the special representative of the Iranian president in Afghanistan.

Qomi warned the UN envoy that Taliban policies increase instability and drug production in Afghanistan.

Pakistan Will Uproot TTP Even Without Taliban’s Cooperation, Says Pak Defence Minister

Jul 17, 2023, 11:02 GMT+1

Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Pakistan’s defence minister, said that Pakistan will "uproot" the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) without the cooperation of the Afghan Taliban.

He stressed that Islamabad will not look to the will of the Taliban on countering militant groups inside Afghanistan.

Earlier, he criticised the Taliban and said that the group does not prevent the activities of the TTP within the framework of the Doha Agreement.

The increase in attacks of TTP on the Pakistani security forces has escalated tension between the Taliban and Pakistan and Asif has been a vocal critic of the Taliban’s hosting of TTP inside Afghanistan.

However, the Taliban have repeatedly reacted to Asif’s comments saying that they consider the TTP, Pakistan's "internal issue" and have urged Pakistan to talk with this militant group that wants to form a government like the Afghan Taliban in Pakistan.

On Saturday, Khawaja Asif said that the Taliban have ignored their commitments in the Doha Agreement and has not taken action to prevent the use of Afghan soil for terrorist activities.

In response, the Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, told the BBC that the Taliban adheres to the Doha Agreement only in relation to the United States. He added that the Taliban has signed this "agreement with the United States and treats Pakistan not within the framework of the Doha Agreement, but as a friendly country”.

These statements of Mujahid provoked Pakistan's Defence Minister who said that "irrespective of Afghanistan’s stance, Pakistan stands resolute in uprooting terrorism from its soil, whatever the source. This is regardless of whether or not Kabul has the will to reign in militants from within its borders”.

The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban have supported one another for the past two decades.

However, in order to address Pakistan's criticisms, the Afghan Taliban has stressed that the group has implemented a plan to transfer TTP fighters from near the border of Pakistan to northern Afghanistan.