Taliban Suffers More Casualties As NRF Launches Frequent Attacks Against Group

On Monday, Bakhtar reported that during the meeting Taliban officials discussed how to divert water from Panjshir to Kabul and emphasised on speeding up the work for this project.

The Taliban cabinet has approved the formation of a water regulation committee, which among other objectives, has the mission to implement the project of diversion of water from the Panjshir River to Kabul.

Taliban has stressed that Afghanistan’s capital city is recently facing a water shortage.

Earlier, Attaullah Omari, the Minister of Agriculture of the Taliban, announced that the underground water level in Kabul is also declining sharply.

The Taliban had said that they want to reduce the water shortage in Kabul by diverting water from the Panjshir river.

Sources said that Taliban members opened fire at the convoy as they were playing music in the vehicles.

Sources said on Monday that the dead man was a student of Nangarhar University's Faculty of Agriculture.

The local Taliban authorities in Laghman have not yet reacted to the shootout at the wedding convoy.

Earlier in 2021, the Taliban officials had opened fire at two wedding ceremonies in Jalalabad city for playing music, as a result of which three people were killed and several others were injured.

After this incident, the Taliban said that the members of the group were not the perpetrators of the murder, but that unknown armed persons had misused the name of the Taliban.

After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has banned music broadcasts across Afghanistan. In the latest case, the Taliban's Ministry of Vice and Virtue announced on Saturday, that the officials of the ministry, while monitoring wedding parties in Parwan province prevented playing of music there, which the group considers as forbidden.

On Sunday, Qomi discussed international support for Afghan refugees with Stefan Priesner, the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Iran.

Iran’s special envoy said on social media platform X wrote that diplomacy with the United Nations within the framework of the national development plan and defining a specific roadmap, in order to attract international support for Afghan refugees, is one of the important issues pursued by Iran.

Qomi also announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the training of Afghans in the health sector.

According to him, this memorandum had been signed between Sathya Doraiswamy, the UNFPA Representative in Tehran, and Abolfazl Bagherifard, Deputy Minister of Health of Iran.

The Iranian special envoy said that based on this memorandum, the skill level of a number of Afghan nurses and midwives will be improved.

After the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, thousands of Afghans fled to neighbouring countries, including Iran. According to the statements of some officials of the Islamic Republic, around five million Afghan refugees are currently based in Iran. However, every week, the Islamic Republic forcibly deports many of them and hands them over to the Taliban.

Maliki, who is also a member of the National Security Commission of the Iranian Parliament, suggested that Iran should use the resources it provides to the provinces of Afghanistan that border with Iran, namely water and electricity, as a pressure tool against the Taliban.

Herat is one of the provinces bordering Iran which uses electricity imported from the country.

Maliki did not refer to the recent statements of the Iranian authorities, who said that the lack of water in Iran is due to the drought in Afghanistan.

According to Asr Iran Daily, Maliki said, "The Taliban did not even allow the Iranian experts. Certainly, the Islamic Republic of Iran will put retaliatory measures on the agenda. Retaliation does not mean war with the Taliban. However, we have to reconsider our relations with them."

Maliki added, "We have different solutions to deal with the Taliban because we provide both water and electricity to our neighbouring provinces in Afghanistan. The Afghan embassy was opened in Iran in a situation where a wave of opposition was formed in the country. We have no choice and we have to implement some options against the Taliban."

Both the resistance fronts said that they waged separate operations against the Taliban.

The Taliban has not yet reacted to the claims of the NRF and AFF.

NRF announced that the front’s forces attacked the police command and intelligence office of the Taliban in Guldara district of Kabul province on Saturday night.

According to NRF, during the exchange of gunfire between the two sides, one Taliban fighter had been killed and another member of this group had been wounded.

NRF also confirmed that a fighter of their own group had been wounded in the attack.

In a statement, NRF stressed on continuing "targeted attacks" against the Taliban.

Meanwhile, AFF announced that the front’s forces targeted a Taliban outpost in Dawlat Shah district of Laghman province, because of which two Taliban fighters were killed and three other members of the group were injured.

In recent months, anti-Taliban resistance fronts have increased attacks on the Taliban across Afghanistan.