Afghan Women on Hunger Strike in Oslo Call For Recognition of Taliban’s Gender Apartheid

Kirby added that the US handed over military equipment to the Afghan security forces and those forces abandoned the equipment.

Earlier, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, the interim Prime Minister of Pakistan, said that the weapons left by US in Afghanistan are used against Pakistan, China, Iran and other countries in the region.

In a press conference on Tuesday, responding to a Pakistani journalist, Kirby said that the United States had left extremely limited technical equipment and unusable aircraft, including firefighting equipment, in Kabul.

Last year, the Pentagon in a report to the US Congress had said that after the US ended its presence in Afghanistan, military equipment worth approximately USD 7 billion was left in Afghanistan.

The remaining equipment includes air munitions, military vehicles, weapons and communication devices.

Kirby also added that the United States had provided military equipment to the Afghan National Security Forces to increase their capacity so that they could take responsibility for Afghanistan's security.

Kirby further emphasised that it was the Afghan forces who abandoned the military equipment.

During a meeting with Ubaid Ur Rehman Nizamani, Charge d'Affaires of the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul, Azizi stressed that Afghan businessmen's goods at the Karachi port has also been processed with delay.

Taliban’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry in a statement added that Azizi asked the Pakistani authorities to cooperate with them to resolve these transit issues.

The Taliban ministry did not provide details about the goods which were included in Pakistan's sensitive list.

In the statement, it has stated that Nizamani stressed on developing trade relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan and assured that he would discuss with the Pakistani authorities on how to address the Taliban’s concerns.

In July, the State Bank of Pakistan had reported that Pakistan's exports to Afghanistan had increased by 32% this year, but imports from Afghanistan to Pakistan decreased by 76%.

Taliban officials in the Ministry of Commerce also said that exports to Pakistan have decreased by $66 million compared to last year.

Massoud, during the memorial ceremony at the British Parliament of Ahmad Shah Massoud, former Afghan jihadi commander, warned that the international community should not ignore the threat of terrorism in Afghanistan.

The British Parliament recently held a programme to honour Ahmad Shah Masoud, a former anti-Taliban commander.

In a virtual address, Massoud repeated his father, Ahmad Shah Masoud’s, warning of terror attacks emanating from Afghanistan.

According to the NRF leader, his father in the French Parliament had warned about the impending threat of terrorism from Afghanistan and stressed that the September 11 attack proved his predictions about terror threats.

He added that a similar threat stemming from terrorism and extremism once again endangers the world, and the international community should not ignore it.

Massoud added that this threat is not limited to the borders of Afghanistan and will penetrate the entire world.

In another part of his speech, the NRF leader said that Ahmad Shah Massoud believed that political legitimacy comes from the people and his suggestion for Afghanistan as a country that is religiously, ethnically and linguistically diverse, was to establish a pluralistic and decentralised system; where power is distributed among citizens in a fair and equal manner.

According to Massoud, the lack of such a vision and approach has once again turned Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban, into a ticking time bomb for bigger conflicts in the future.

He added that Ahmad Shah Masoud had the ability to unite all the people of Afghanistan against the Taliban and other terrorist groups. The country needs such a leader now, he said.

During the commemoration of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a number of British Parliament members and Afghans in this country asked the international community to stop supporting the "misogynist Taliban".

Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated on September 9, 2001, by two Arab suicide bombers who portrayed themselves as journalists.

During a meeting in South Khorasan province, Raisi said that barriers preventing trade with Afghanistan must be removed.

According to Iranian media outlets, he called the exchange of goods between Iran and Afghanistan an opportunity for both countries and said that "the shared border is an opportunity for both sides”.

The Iranian president pointed to the activation of border markets and ordered the governor of South Khorasan and Iranian officials to not miss the opportunity.

At the same time, Raisi stressed that the Iranian government should facilitate the country's private sector to work in the mining field.

Iran, like other countries, officially does not recognise the Taliban. Nevertheless, it has hosted Taliban diplomats within the Afghan embassy in Tehran and maintains economic relations with the group.

In July, Iran’s Customs agency announced that since the Taliban’s takeover of power in Afghanistan, the total value of trade between the two countries has reached $1.6 billion.

Muttaqi added that so far, no definition or example of an inclusive government has been provided.

Ahmad Zia Takal, deputy spokesperson of the Taliban’s foreign ministry quoted Muttaqi on social media platform X and wrote, "In the last 20 years, the occupiers, martyred and imprisoned Afghans who opposed the occupation in the name of terrorism."

Taliban’s FM said that so far, no specific definition and example of terrorism and inclusive government has been provided.

It is not clear where Muttaqi made these statements.

In the past two years, the Taliban has not complied to the repeated demands of the international community and neighbouring countries to form an inclusive government.

No country recognises the Taliban government yet. Formation of an inclusive government and ensuring the rights of citizens are among the prerequisites of the international community for the recognition of the Taliban.

Earlier, Muttaqi indirectly criticised the Iranian government for insisting on formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan. Without mentioning Iran, he sarcastically said that the Taliban has fewer prisoners than the number of executions carried out in those countries. He added, "Do you have an inclusive government?"

In response to his remarks, Rasoul Mousavi, Iran’s assistant foreign minister, told the group not to run away from its international responsibilities. On his X social media platform, Mousavi wrote, "An inclusive government in Afghanistan guarantees peace, stability, security and sustainable development.”

He added that the formation of an inclusive government was sought in the UN Security Council’s Resolutions 2513 and 2593 and the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbouring countries including Iran, Pakistan, China, and Turkmenistan called for the same.