Taliban Appoints New Police Chief for Panjshir Province

These refugees have been transferred to Ankara and await deportation to Afghanistan.

The Ankara police arrested these refugees after they received information about the arrival of a group of "illegal" immigrants from the borders with Iran. The Ankara police announced that these asylum seekers entered Türkiye without passports and identity documents.

The arrest and deportation of Afghan immigrants in Türkiye has increased in recent months.

In the latest case on Monday, 38 "illegal Afghan immigrants" has been arrested from a boat off the coast of Ayvacik in the Turkish city of Çanakkale.

Following the announcement of the new immigration policy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the arrest and deportation of Afghan immigrants in the country has increased significantly.

It has been reported that more than three thousand Afghan refugees have been arrested and forcibly deported from Turkiye this year.

Turkiye confirmed that more than three hundred thousand Afghan immigrants live in the country.

The Taliban has not revealed details of the discussions or visit of the group’s senior officials to Herat province.

According to reports, the senior Taliban officials arrived at Herat province on Monday.

Media sources reported that senior military and intelligence officials of the Taliban have visited Herat province due to concerns arising from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

According to Durrani, the two also discussed the rights of Afghan women and the presence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan.

The senior Pakistani official did not provide further details about the discussion regarding the recognition of the Taliban. Earlier, the United Nations had said that only the member states of the United Nations would decide whether to recognise the Taliban government or not.

Earlier, the Taliban had also announced that the United Nations will invite the representative of the group to participate in the next UN conference on Afghanistan at the end of 2023.

Durrani and Sinirlioglu also talked about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, an issue that the United Nations had warned about many times. United Nations relief agencies have said that millions of Afghans are at risk of starvation and famine.

The Taliban has called concerns of the United Nations about the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as "negative propaganda". Despite the warning of the United Nations, this group has stopped or limited the activities of non-governmental organisations such as the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.

Shahabuddin Delawar, Minister of Mines and Petroleum of the Taliban, said that these six mines can lead Afghanistan towards a self-sustaining economy.

According to Delawar, these oil, gas and gold mines are located in Herat, Ghor, Kandahar, Logar, Jawzjan, and Samangan provinces, however, no extraction contract for these mining sites have been signed.

The Taliban’s minister added that companies from China, Qatar, UAE, Turkey, Iran and some European and American countries are ready to invest in these mines.

Delawar added that the Amu Darya oilfield contract has been signed with a Chinese company and there will be 540 million dollars investment on this major mining site in the next three years.

According to Delawar, currently 150 to 200 tonnes of oil is being extracted daily in the Qashgari oilfield, and the group expects that the daily extraction from this site will increase to 1000 tonnes per day.

He mentioned Afghanistan's lithium mines as the main wealth of Afghanistan and said that some Chinese companies have expressed willingness to invest in lithium mining sites of the country.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has talked about the importance and development of Afghanistan’s mining sites to the country’s economy, while millions of Afghans seek refuge in other countries for security and lack of employment issues.

The Taliban officials have started appearing in a programme called "Government Accountability to the Nation" at the government media and information center since Sunday.

The "Government Accountability to the Nation" programme had started during the previous government of Afghanistan.

Earlier, the United Nations had reported that 94% of non-governmental organisations in Afghanistan had stopped their operations after the Taliban seized power in the country.

Taliban’s Ministry of Economy also claimed that currently 273 foreign non-governmental organisations and 2,121 domestic NGOs are registered with the ministry.

This ministry has also announced the dissolution of more than 216 non-governmental organisations.

Meanwhile on July 21, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a report announced that the activities of nearly 94% of non-government organisations in Afghanistan have stopped or they continue activities with limited operations.

In a new UNDP report, it has also been stated that in the past year, it has helped more than ten million people in need in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Sayed Masoud, a former professor of economics at Kabul University, told Afghanistan International that limited operations of NGOs in Afghanistan will increase poverty across the country.

Referring to 97 percent of the poor people in Afghanistan, he said that the UN humanitarian aid to the needy people is actually a kind of "compensation for the lack of economic policy” of the Taliban.

He considered the suspension and reduction of these humanitarian aid organisations as the reason behind the increase in severe poverty.