Will Continue Supporting Pakistan’s Counterterrorism Operations, Says US State Department

Aug 10, 2023, 13:15 GMT+1

In response to a journalist's question about the role of the US in the fight against terrorism in the region after leaving Afghanistan, Matthew Miller, US State Department spokesperson, said that his country will continue to support Pakistan's counterterrorism operations.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Miller also said that the United States deeply values its relations with Pakistan, including on the issue of counterterrorism.

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US Wants To Send Back Afghan Special Forces For Certain Situations, Says Kazemi Qomi

Aug 10, 2023, 12:08 GMT+1

Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s Special Representative for Afghanistan accused Washington of trying to turn Afghanistan into a geographical region critical for its neighbours.

In an interview with the IRNA news agency, Qomi claimed that the United States has been trying to send back Afghan special forces to Afghanistan for certain situations.

He said, "They [US] organised terrorist groups, like the ISIS, as a replacement for their military forces in Afghanistan or they try to call back the special forces which they trained during their presence, to send them to Afghanistan under certain conditions."

This Iranian official stressed that the US is trying to use Afghanistan as a leverage against "rival and hostile" countries.

Iranian officials have frequently attributed the unrest, and protests in the countries of the region to the "US conspiracy". Together with the Russian officials, they have repeatedly accused the US of establishing and supporting ISIS.

This Iranian diplomat claimed that the US does not want to improve Afghanistan's economic and security situation because they feel that stability in this country will lead to investment by rival countries like China.

According to him, the US is trying to hinder Afghanistan's engagement with other countries.

He said that by blacklisting Taliban officials, engagement between Kabul and other countries will be affected.

Taliban leaders are on the UN Security Council sanctions list due to their participation in terrorist activities and cooperation with Al-Qaeda in the 1990s. Members of the Security Council, including Russia, consider the Taliban as a terrorist group. Although Russia has a good relationship with the Taliban, it has not yet supported the lifting of sanctions on the Taliban in the Security Council.

Qomi also claimed that "the Americans use the frozen funds of Afghanistan as a pressure tool, or they take measures to manage Afghanistan under the cover of the United Nations”.

Qomi also accused the US of increasing the pressure on the people of Afghanistan with the "gesture of human rights" and "supporting women".

The US has said that the Taliban is far from gaining international recognition due to the suppression of Afghan women. In a meeting with Taliban officials, Iran also asked the group to respect the rights of Afghan women and agree to the formation of an inclusive government.

Western and regional countries are worried that the Taliban's policy to exclude other ethnic and political groups will lead to tensions and instability in Afghanistan.

Despite the criticism of US sanctions policies against the Taliban, Qomi did not mention human rights violations and the group's restrictive laws against women as the main cause of international sanctions.

Taliban Forcefully Taking Over Our Homes, Allege Relatives of Former Govt Security Forces

Aug 10, 2023, 10:58 GMT+1

On Wednesday, several women belonging to the families of members of the previous government’s security forces protested against their forced expulsion from their homes by the Taliban, in Herat city.

Residents living in the "Ghond 11" residential area said that the Taliban wants to take over their houses by "harassing and imprisoning" the residents.

The Taliban dispersed the protestors who had gathered in front of the Herat province governor’s building with aerial shooting.

The protestors are family members of the soldiers from the previous Afghan government, who have lived in Ghond 11 government-owned lands since "the last 40-50 years" and built houses and welfare facilities at their own expense.

A source close to the protestors told Afghanistan International that Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban's defence minister, had previously promised that these families would not be evicted from their homes in the area which is owned by the Ministry of Defence.

One of the protestors accused the Taliban military officials in Herat of imprisoning "his father and four other retired officers" to put pressure on the families.

A source told Afghanistan International, "They have built a private prison at the headquarters of the Army Corps [Herat] facility. They imprison people without a court order to force them to evict the area."

Based on the document received by Afghanistan International, which has been signed by the Taliban’s defence minister, the "Directorate of Construction and Property Affairs of the Ministry of Defence" of the Taliban said that the houses have been built by the order of the Ministry of Defence, at the personal expense of the residents. This Directorate has denied the usurpation of the properties.

In one of these documents, it has been stated that the officers who renovated their houses at their own expense and are no longer working in the Ministry of Defence or have retired can stay in these houses until further notice.

The protesters added that the Taliban have "whipped and imprisoned the men of the families who are protesting against the forceful eviction from their homes”. Also, they said that the Taliban forcefully entered their houses and threw out their belongings on the street.

It seems that the pressure on these families started last year. In one of the video clips that was published on social media on June 2022, a resident of Ghond 11 area of Herat said that the Taliban evicted some families from their homes and told them that these homes will be handed over to their forces.

Families of Many Taliban Leaders Live In Pakistan, Says Former Pak Ambassador

Aug 10, 2023, 09:32 GMT+1

In an exclusive interview with Afghanistan International, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, former Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan, said that despite the Taliban's takeover of Kabul, families of many of the group’s leaders still live in Pakistan.

He said that he heard that the family of Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban's defence minister, has been living in Pakistan too.

During the war with the former government and NATO forces, families of the Taliban leaders and commanders were living in different countries in the region, including Pakistan and Qatar. The former government in Afghanistan had pointed to the presence of families of Taliban leaders in Pakistan and considered it as a sign of Pakistan's support for terrorist groups.

Despite the Taliban's control over Afghanistan, it is not clear why the families of several Taliban leaders live in Pakistan now.

The former Pakistan ambassador also said that the international community had been eager to work with the Taliban for the "first seven months" of the group's rule in Afghanistan. According to him, when the Taliban closed girls' schools, the level of engagement with the group also declined.

The Taliban ignored the two major demands of the international community, the education of girls and the formation of an inclusive government. Taliban said that these are internal issues of Afghanistan. However, the international community, especially Western governments, have continuously emphasised that the violation of women's rights is the main obstacle to the world's engagement with this group.

Although Pakistan has played a major role in the return of the Taliban to power, it has not yet recognised the Taliban government.

Mansoor Ahmad Khan emphasised that Afghanistan's neighbours and the world prefer an inclusive government to be formed in Afghanistan.

Mansoor Ahmad Khan had been appointed as Pakistan's ambassador in Kabul during the last year of Ashraf Ghani's government, and his mission coincided with the Taliban's return to power. In 2022, he resigned from the Pakistan embassy, and Islamabad appointed Obaid Ur Rehman Nizamani as the charge d'affaires of the Pakistan embassy in Kabul.

98% of Telephone SIM Cards Registered in Afghanistan, Says Taliban Communications Minister

Aug 9, 2023, 14:55 GMT+1

Najibulllah Haqqani, the Taliban’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, announced that 98 percent of telephone SIM cards have been registered in Afghanistan.

Haqqani added that effective steps have been taken to prevent the sale of illegal and unregistered SIM cards too.

Haqqani stated that currently 23 million telephone SIM cards are active in Afghanistan.

The previous government of Afghanistan had declared the sale of unregistered SIM cards illegal and considered it one of the factors for the instability in the country.

The Minister of Communications of the Taliban said during a press conference on Wednesday, that for the first time in Afghanistan, mobile quality measuring devices have been active to determine the quality of telecommunication services.

Officials of the Taliban Ministry of Communications claimed that the price of internet services has decreased by 40-60 percent and the price of telephone calls has decreased by 30 percent.

According to these officials, in order to improve the quality of Internet services, the services of 641 Internet sites have been upgraded from 2 GB to 3 GB.

Taliban’s Central Bank Officials Report 6 Percent Decline in Inflation Rates

Aug 9, 2023, 13:25 GMT+1

The Taliban-controlled Central Bank of Afghanistan announced that the inflation rate has decreased by six percent as compared to the previous two years.

Hidayatullah Badri, Taliban’s governor of the Central Bank, said on Wednesday that the inflation rate this year is 2.4 percent, while this figure reached 15.4 percent in 2021.

Recently, the World Bank reported that the annual inflation rate in Afghanistan was 2.83 percent until May 2023.

Taliban officials also claimed that there are currently no restrictions on newly opened bank accounts and that customers can withdraw their money without any limitation.

However, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction reported to the US Congress on Tuesday that the evaluations show that the Central Bank of Afghanistan is not independent of the Taliban and does not have the ability to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.