Border Skirmish Not Based on Policies & Will of Taliban, Says Iranian Envoy in Kabul

According to Tasnim, Mohammad Hossein Velayati was in Kabul for 10 days and was detained when he wanted to return to Iran.

Tasnim News Agency added that despite follow-ups with the Taliban, the group has not explained the reasons behind the detention of this photojournalist.

According to the media reports, the Taliban detained Velayati while he was on a 10-day non-business visit to Kabul and had official permission to stay in Afghanistan.

This is the first case of detention of a media worker affiliated with Islamic Republic organisations by the Taliban in the last two years.

The most targeted groups affiliated with the former government were Afghan National Army (ANA) members, Afghan National Police (ANP), National Directorate of Security (NDS) officials, and Afghan Local Police (ALP), the report stated.

The report, covering the period from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021 to 30 June 2023, documented at least 800 instances of extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and ill-treatment and enforced disappearance carried out against individuals affiliated with the former government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its security forces.

“UNAMA’s report presents a sobering picture of the treatment of individuals affiliated with the former government and security forces of Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of the country,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged stakeholders to uphold their obligations under international human rights law by preventing further violations.

Human rights violations against former government officials and ANDSF members have been recorded across all 34 provinces; with the greatest number of violations recorded in Kabul, Kandahar and Balkh provinces.

The report stated that there had been recorded instances of torture and ill-treatment carried out by Taliban security force members, including beatings with pipes, cables, verbal threats and abuse. UNAMA also heard from family members whose relatives had been arrested or gone missing, their bodies found days or even months later.

UNAMA has documented at least 14 instances of enforced disappearance of former government officials and ANDSF members and also documented more than 424 arbitrary arrests and detentions of former government officials and ANDSF members since the Taliban takeover.

Apart from this, more than 144 instances of torture and ill treatment of former government officials and ANDSF members by de facto security force members have been documented in the UNAMA report.

The UNAMA report called on the Taliban to clarify the terms of the general amnesty, to ensure that it is upheld and to conduct credible, transparent criminal investigations into alleged human rights violations against former government officials and ANDSF members.

When the Taliban had seized power in Kabul on 15 August 2021, its spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had tweeted that they would not “seek revenge from anyone, those who had jobs in the military and civilian departments of Kabul administration are pardoned and at peace”, basically announcing their general amnesty.

Khawaja Mohammad Asif, the former defence minister of Pakistan, had described the Afghan Taliban as "freedom fighters". So, in response, Dawar said that Asif should also consider TTP the same.

The former defence minister of Pakistan, who is a prominent member of the Pakistan Muslim League Party, had criticised former Afghan vice-president Amrullah Saleh for his comments on the possibility of the collapse of Pakistan like the Soviet Union.

Asif wrote that Saleh lost his position in Afghanistan to "a group of freedom fighters". He described the Afghan Taliban as "fearless fighters equipped only with fearless spirit of taking on the mighty NATO”.

Meanwhile, Khawaja Asif and other Pakistani officials consider the TTP group, which has the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban, to be a terrorist organisation.

In this case, Mohsin Dawar, a member of Pakistan's House of Representatives, wrote on social media platform X, “If one considers the Taliban in Afghanistan as "freedom fighters", then by these standards, you'd consider the TTP as the same.”

He added, "The reason Pakistan suffers from terrorism is because of this apologist attitude and confusion of mainstream politicians towards the Taliban."

Hafiz Zia Ahmad, a spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs of the group, said on social media platform X that priority has been given to newborn Afghan children.

Zia Ahmad emphasised that these children should have electronic Afghan identity cards.

However, he added that the baby's birth certificate, electronic ID cards of the child's father, passport, and residence card of the host country are also acceptable for issuing passports to the newborn Afghan children.

The Islamic Republic of Iran handed over the Afghan embassy in Tehran to the Taliban earlier in 2023. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic has kept its embassy active in Kabul. However, Tehran has not recognised the Taliban yet.

Taliban shut down the operations of the broadcast network about three weeks ago and had also insulted the employees of the TV and radio stations.

According to Afghanistan Journalists Center, Atal Stanekzai, the director of Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV, confirmed the reopening of the stations and said that the Taliban’s directorate of information and culture allowed the resumption of the broadcast network’s operations at around 4pm local time on Sunday.

Sediqullah Qureshi Bedloon, the head of the directorate of information and culture in Nangarhar, said that the operations had been temporarily shut down due to “violations".