Freedom of Press Acceptable Only Within Taliban Framework, Says Group’s Deputy PM

It reported a 73 percent increase in militants and a 138 percent increase in casualties in Pakistan in the past two years, with Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa states most affected.

Since the Taliban took over Kabul, the Baloch separatist insurgency in the southwestern province of Baluchistan has taken on a more "dangerous" form, the foundation said.

Pakistan is once again experiencing a wave of killings, bombings, suicide attacks and targeted attacks on police, military and government officials, the report stated.

Pakistan's southwestern and northern provinces, which border Afghanistan, have repeatedly been subjected to devastating militant attacks, it added. As the Foundation put it, 2022 was "one of the bloodiest years”. There have been more than 376 terrorist attacks in Pakistan this year.

However, militant groups have increased their operations in 2023. A deadly militant attack on June 30 this year killed 101 Pakistani officers. According to the Jamestown Foundation research paper, at least 389 people were killed and 656 injured in the first half of this year by terrorist and suicide attacks in Pakistan.

Separatist violence has increased dramatically, and women have also been involved in suicide bombings, the foundation added.

Jamestown Foundation has called the rise in the number of female suicide bombers alarming.

The foundation said that the capital of Baluchistan provided many opportunities for the Taliban, criminals, drug traffickers and human traffickers during the US-led war in Afghanistan.

In addition, the Jamestown Foundation in the article also noted Pakistan's shift in view of the Taliban. The foundation added that Pakistan, at the beginning of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, interpreted the incident as a "positive development for Pakistan's security environment”.

However, two years after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the security situation in the country has worsened, contrary to what Pakistani officials thought.

The increased activity of militant groups in Pakistan has increased the rhetorical tension between the Pakistani authorities and the Taliban, it added.

Stanikzai stressed that these countries had utilised various kinds of weapons in Afghanistan.

During a ceremony, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of private airlines, KamAir, in Afghanistan, he said that according to the Doha Agreement, the countries that had military troops in Afghanistan are "obliged" to return to the country and participate in the reconstruction of it.

According to the Taliban-controlled Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), Stanikzai said that the group has fulfilled the responsibility of safely evacuating foreign forces, and now it is the West's responsibility to fulfil its promises regarding the revival of institutions in Afghanistan.

Stanikzai was the Taliban's chief negotiator during the group's peace talks with the United States in Doha.

Months after the Taliban's takeover of power in Afghanistan in 2021, Stanikzai had said that he hoped that the US will reopen its Embassy in Kabul.

In 2021, Stanikzai had also announced that based on the Doha agreement, the US had committed that the country's embassy would remain open and active in Kabul.

At that time, he had added, "It is the responsibility of the world, especially the United States, to take an active part in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. As they destroyed our economy in the last twenty years, now it is their duty to return and take an active part in the reconstruction of the country's economy."

Stanikzai had also said that when US returns to Afghanistan, European countries will also open its embassies in Kabul.

However, despite repeated requests by the Taliban over the past two years, no government in the world has officially recognised the group's government in Afghanistan.

The European Union has a representative in Afghanistan to provide humanitarian aid, but the embassies of the European countries and the United States remain closed in Afghanistan.

The Taliban media claimed that these people are key members of ISIS-K and were involved in attacks in Badakhshan province over the last two years.

According to the reports, the Taliban operation against ISIS-K forces in Badakhshan had been completed in four days.

The report quoted Taliban officials as saying that as the result of the operation, 12 ISIS-K members had been arrested and two AK-47 and 2,865 ammunitions, bombs, explosives and other technical equipment were seized.

The identity of the arrested persons and the exact location of the alleged operation against ISIS-K have not been announced.

Tajikistan, which shares the border with Badakhshan, has repeatedly announced that ISIS-K has thousands of members in Afghanistan and that terrorist groups in Afghanistan are a threat to the security of the region.

Last week, the National Security Committee of Tajikistan had announced that three members of an international terrorist organisation had entered Tajikistan from Afghanistan and were killed by the country's forces.

Ruslan Seissembayev, Deputy of National Security Committee of Kazakhstan, on Friday said that ISIS-K has around 6000 ISIS members in Afghanistan.

This Kazakh official stressed that Taliban has failed to provide security and that Afghanistan is still the hub for international terrorist groups.

According to their statement, women activists have started hunger strikes in Germany, United States, Norway and Pakistan.

On social media platform X, AFF wrote that western countries and international media outlets have adopted a "policy of ignoring" these women.

According to the statement, this policy of countries which claim to protect human rights is not only contrary to their international obligations and global standards of human rights, but also, according to the front, it is "cooperation with the Taliban”.

The front believes that the indifference of the host countries to the health condition of the protestors, endangers the lives of the activists.

The Freedom Front, formed in response to the Taliban's rise to power and which initiated an armed resistance against the Taliban, has declared its strong backing for the women activists engaged in the hunger strike.

The front has considered women’s “political and civil struggle” as a "complement" of its armed resistance against the Taliban group.

Recently, a number of Afghan women activists in Germany and some other countries started a hunger strike against the Taliban's policies towards women and demanded the recognition of the Taliban's "gender apartheid" against women.

Even though almost a week has passed since their hunger strike, the host countries and international organisations have not paid attention to their hunger strike.

The Taliban has completely removed women from public life. This group has banned women's employment, girls' education and their going to parks, cinemas, clubs and stadiums.

The UN member states are expected to discuss the fate of Afghanistan's seat in New York.

Suhail Shaheen, head of the political office of the Taliban in Qatar, said that based on the Taliban leader's order he is working for the recognition of the group.

The UN Credentials Committee is supposed to hold a meeting regarding the fate of Afghanistan's permanent representation at the UN in the near future. The committee had previously refused to hand over Afghanistan's seat in the United Nations to the Taliban.

Currently, Nasir Ahmad Faiq is the representative of the former government of Afghanistan in the United Nations.

In an interview with the Taliban-controlled Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), Shaheen said that he has had meetings with the representatives of different countries and that the Taliban is trying to improve relations with the international community.

The head of the political office of the Taliban in Qatar did not name a specific country, but added that he had met with officials from European Union, Arab and Asian countries.

Shaheen, who is also the Taliban's candidate for the permanent mission of Afghanistan to the UN, said that during the meeting with the representatives of various countries, he discussed important issues which Afghanistan is currently facing.

Shaheen did not provide details of these talks, but the international community has repeatedly asked the Taliban to form an inclusive government and lift restrictions on Afghan women and girls.

So far, no country has recognised the Taliban.