Killed Two Taliban Members in Guerilla Attack In Badakhshan, Claims NRF
The National Resistance Front (NRF) led by Ahmad Massoud announced that two Taliban members have been killed in a guerilla attack in Badakhshan on Monday night.
The National Resistance Front (NRF) led by Ahmad Massoud announced that two Taliban members have been killed in a guerilla attack in Badakhshan on Monday night.
NRF stressed that it has carried out a targeted attack on the base of the "terrorist Taliban" forces in Morghzaarji area of Shuhada district of Badakhshan province.
In a statement, NRF added that one of the members of the front has also been killed in the attack.
NRF stated that in the attack a member of the Taliban has also been wounded and NRF forces confiscated three rifles too.
The Taliban has not reacted to the NRF reports so far.
NRF is one of the military fronts formed against the Taliban after the group’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, said that the Taliban attacked the Consulate General of Iran in Mazar-e-Sharif in 1998 and "committed a tragedy”.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran asked for clarification regarding the attack as a definite demand of the Islamic Republic.
On the 25th anniversary of the killing of Iranian diplomats in Mazar-e-Sharif, Amir-Abdollahian also published the photos of the Iranian diplomats and the journalist killed during the attack.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic, which issued a statement on the anniversary of the killing of Iranian diplomats, refused to name the Taliban as the perpetrators of the Mazar-e-Sharif attack.
Iranian foreign ministry stressed, "Twenty-five years ago, in the midst of the civil war of Afghanistan, following the Taliban forces’ takeover of Mazar-e-Sharif city, contrary to moral, humanitarian and international obligations, the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran was attacked, and the diplomats and the journalist of the Republic Islamic Iran were martyred."
The Taliban has not claimed responsibility for the attack on the Iranian consulate yet.
Iranian foreign ministry, while asking for clarification about the 1998 attack on the country’s consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif city, stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran believes that the way forward for Afghanistan is to form an inclusive government from all ethnic, religious, and political groups of Afghans.
However, after the Taliban’s emergence to power for the second time in Afghanistan in August 2021, the group has established close ties with the Islamic Republic. In the past months, the foreign ministers of Iran and the Taliban have met and discussed bilateral issues on several occasions.
After the Taliban regained control, the Islamic Republic was one of the few countries that kept its embassy in Kabul. This country handed over the Afghan embassy in Tehran to the Taliban despite protests from the political opponents of the group.
Iranian’s former foreign minister Javad Zarif said that the Taliban hates journalists, and diplomats.
On the anniversary of the killing of eight Iranian diplomats and one journalist, Zarif stressed that their actions (killing) on August 8, 1998 “is a symbol of connection between media and diplomacy”.
The former foreign minister of Iran delivered a brief message on a Telegram channel of Iranian journalists.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran said that after the Taliban’s attack on Mazar-e-Sharif city in 1998, “the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran was attacked, and diplomats and a journalist of the Islamic Republic of Iran were martyred”.
Taliban entered Mazar-e-Sharif city on August 8, 1998. According to reports, the Taliban fighters killed eight diplomats and one Iranian journalist after entering the Iranian consulate in the city. However, the Taliban has not taken responsibility for this attack.
Twenty-five years after this incident, ministry of foreign affairs of Iran has once again asked for clarification of the killing.
Iran's Foreign Ministry has emphasised that after years of conflict and instability in Afghanistan, Iran seeks the formation of an inclusive government with the participation of all ethnic, religious, and political groups.
The Taliban consulate in Karachi announced that 44 Afghans, including children, have been released from the prisons of Pakistan's Sindh province on Monday.
In a statement, the Taliban consulate in Karachi added that these Afghan citizens have been transferred to Afghanistan.
The Taliban diplomatic representation in Karachi has not revealed the reasons behind the imprisonment of these Afghan citizens. However, the consulate stressed that negotiations are underway to release the remaining Afghan prisoners.
After the Taliban stopped the distribution of passports in Afghanistan, many Afghans have been forced to enter Pakistan and Iran illegally. These Afghans mostly fled the country due to the Taliban’s restrictive policies.
Pakistani officials have recently said that at least 750,000 Afghans who entered the country have not returned to Afghanistan.
This is even though the Pakistani police have repeatedly arrested Afghan immigrants in this country over the past two years.
Human rights groups said that Pakistani police have deported hundreds of Afghans to Afghanistan despite being at risk of retaliation from the Taliban.
Local sources confirmed to Afghanistan International that Yama Khalidi, a former local police commander, has been killed by "unknown armed men" in Sar-e Pol province.
The armed men attacked the former police commander on Monday in front of his house in Sayyad district.
According to sources, the attackers fled the scene after shooting the former police commander.
After the fall of the previous Afghan government, Khalidi had left Afghanistan for Iran and later returned to Afghanistan in coordination with the Taliban’s commission in charge of facilitating the return of former Afghan government officials.
There is still no information about the motive behind the killing of this former police officer, but earlier, reports had indicated revenge killings of former Afghan armed forces by the Taliban.
The Taliban have also said that the former Afghan security forces have been killed due to personal enmity and revenge killing.
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson of Iran's foreign ministry, announced that an Iranian delegation is on a visit to Kabul to hold talks with the Taliban officials on various issues.
During a press conference on Monday, Kanaani added that the water rights issue from Helmand River is a major topic among the Iranian delegation’s discussions with the Taliban.
The spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry did not provide more details about the visit of this delegation to Afghanistan. However, Kanaani added, "As two neighbouring countries, there are visits at different levels between us, and these visits are not necessarily revealed to the media."
The visit of the Iranian delegation to Afghanistan takes place even as earlier Kanaani had announced that initial agreements had been reached with the Taliban regarding the water rights issues.
The tension between Iran and Afghanistan over water rights from the Helmand River have increased after Tehran’s criticisms of the Taliban not being committed to the water rights of the country based on the 1973 water treaty between Kabul and Tehran.
Officials of the Islamic Republic, including its president, have repeatedly warned the Taliban about respecting Iran's water rights. Following the escalation of tensions between the two sides, the Taliban despatched military troops to the border of the two countries.