Taliban Holds Gathering to Garner People’s Support in Nangarhar

WHO warned that with limitations imposed on door-to-door campaigns in Kandahar, children in this province are facing a significant risk of widespread outbreak of poliovirus.

According to the lastest report of the Poliovirus Emergency Committee meeting in May, five positive poliovirus cases had been registered in Nangarhar province.

The Poliovirus Emergency Committee stressed that during this year, 32 positive poliovirus cases were reported, most of them in the eastern regions, one case in the southern region, and one case in northern Balkh province.

WHO expressed hope that the number of poliovirus victims in Afghanistan is declining and population safety has been increasing, but it emphasised that health programmes need to be continued regularly to fully control the spread of the virus in the region.

The report added that the dire situation arose due to lack of funding and with the closure of such healthcare centers services to nine million Afghans is on the precipice of being stopped.

The global health body stated that Health System Transitional Strategy for Afghanistan is in final stages of completion.

The report added that even the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health confirmed the lack of funds and called for aid to cover salaries, operation costs and medicines.

WHO in its report stated that there has also been a reduction in the number of health and nutrition teams to 453 in June as compared to 513 in May 2023.

The report added that the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health has established a technical committee representing the Ministry, WHO and other partners to develop the National Health Policy for Afghanistan.

According to the Taliban’s Ministry of Agriculture, a delegation from this ministry has travelled to Iran and met officials of Iran’s Plant Protection Organisation (PPO).

In a statement on Thursday, the ministry added that during the visit of Mawlawi Attaullah Omari, the Minister of Agriculture of the Taliban to Iran, Atiqullah Muslim, the director of the plant protection directorate, and Mirwais Khogiani, the minister’s technical advisor, held meeting with officials of PPO.

According to the statement, among other issues, the two sides discussed cooperation on the activation of devices to control plant diseases and pests, joint control of desert locusts, import and export of fertilisers, and improving the capacity of employees of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Taliban.

The Taliban delegation announced its readiness for more engagement and cooperation with the Islamic Republic based on the group’s policies.

Earlier, the Taliban had also arrested the student's brother and cousin.

Sources close to Murshid's family said that the Kabul University student had not committed any crime and the Taliban did not explain why they had arrested him.

Less than three months ago, the Taliban had arrested Shams-ur-Rahman Raheeq, Murshid's brother, and Atta-ur-Rahman, his cousin, in Kabul.

According to sources close to this family, Shams ur-Rahman Raheeq was an employee of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) who cooperated with the UN agency in humanitarian activities and the distribution of humanitarian aid. His uncle's son, Atta-ur-Rahman, was also a university student.

UNAMA has not yet commented on the arrest of Raheeq.

The source said that the Taliban had killed Seyed Faqir Rahmani, the father of Murshid, and another one of their relatives in Panjshir last year.

So far, the Taliban has not commented on the arrest of members of this family.

In an interview with TOLOnews, Stanekzai said that if the United States recognises the government of the Taliban, all other countries will follow.

However, a spokesperson of the US State Department had previously said that the recognition of the Taliban is not possible.

Two years have passed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, so far, no country, even the countries that oppose the US or those with close relations with the Taliban, have recognised the group’s government.

The formation of an inclusive government, respect for human rights, and the Taliban's commitment to international laws are among the issues that many countries have mentioned as conditions for the recognition of the Taliban.

Despite the repeated demands of the Taliban for recognition, the international community said that the recognition of the Taliban depends on ensuring the fundamental rights of women and other human rights values in Afghanistan.

However, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister described the current US-Taliban ties as "normal" relations between the two sides and said that "interactions and mutual negotiations between the United States and the Taliban are ongoing”.

Stanekzai mentioned the appointment of the Charge d'Affaires of the US embassy for Afghanistan in Doha and the meeting of the Taliban delegation with the diplomats of the Western countries as an example of the engagement of the United States with the Taliban.

Stanekzai added that the US had no relationship with the previous Taliban regime, but Washington has now maintained ties with the Taliban government.

He claimed that the US supports the current government of the Taliban and does not cooperate financially and militarily with the opponents of the group.