Afghan Refugees Face Arbitrary Arrest, Deportation in Pakistan, Says Amnesty International

Zia Ahmad Takal, Taliban’s deputy spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said that Muttaqi travelled to China at the official invitation of Beijing.

Takal said that the countries around the Himalayas will discuss economic, regional and climate change issues in the meeting.

According to the Taliban, Muttaqi will meet his Chinese counterpart and some representatives of the participating countries on the sidelines of this meeting.

The meeting will be held on October 4 and 5 in the Tibet Region.

During the past week, it is the second trip of the Taliban’s foreign minister to the regional countries. Muttaqi had visited Kazan city of Russia last week to participate in the Moscow Format meeting.

Despite China's close relations with the Taliban, the country has not recognised the Taliban. Beijing recently introduced a new ambassador to Afghanistan and the Taliban welcomed him in a special ceremony.

Last week, at the Moscow Format meeting, Muttaqi called on the countries of the region to follow China’s model of engagement with the Taliban.

The Chinese companies have signed many contracts with the Taliban in the field of mining in Afghanistan in the last two years. Critics of the Taliban said that the group does not have national and international legitimacy and any kind of contract with them is illegal.

Afghans make up the largest immigrant population in Iran, and they have repeatedly complained about the behaviour of the Iranian government.

At the 11th regional meeting of the Tehran Cultural Council on Sunday, Jowhari said that the issue of the presence of immigrants, especially in the field of education, requires financial resources.

According to reports, Afghan immigrants in Iran are facing many problems. One of them is the education of Afghan immigrant children, who encounter difficulties when trying to enroll in schools.

The issue of Afghan immigrants has also been discussed in the Iranian parliament. Mohammad Taghi Naghd, representative of Khomeinishahr, claimed that Iranian citizens are unhappy with the increasing presence of foreign nationals and consider it an "invasion".

He said, "The presence of foreign nationals in the cities, particularly in the realm of education, has had an impact on the security of the localities”.

Naghd asked for the explanation of the parliament’s speaker in this regard.

According to the statistics of Iran’s Ministry of Interior, more than five million Afghan immigrants live in Iran.

So far, more than 4,500 people have signed the petition and asked France to provide the opportunity for Afghan women and girls to enter the country.

Amnesty International had launched this online petition to collect signatures in support of the request on September 12. It even held an event in Paris last week in support of the campaign.

In the petition, it has been stated that the Taliban is persecuting girls and women in a systematic, widespread and organised manner. According to Amnesty International's legal analysis, the behaviour of the group can be described as a "crime against humanity".

This international human rights organisation said that women who flee from the persecution of the Taliban to neighbouring countries, such as Iran and Pakistan, face other harassment in those countries as well.

As an example, Amnesty International has mentioned the arbitrary arrest of Afghan women by the local authorities of Iran and Pakistan and the risk of their forced return to Afghanistan.

The organisation wrote that French visas are sparsely issued in these countries, and the wait times for securing an appointment at consulates are long.

On Monday, the organisation warned that without immediate funding, the situation of women in Afghanistan will worsen.

On social media platform X, the organisation wrote that Afghan women are currently paying the highest price of the assistance cut.

According to WFP, four million mothers and children are suffering malnutrition in Afghanistan.

The organisation recently said that in Afghanistan, they have to choose between those who are hungry and those who are suffering from severe hunger.

According to this newspaper, Afghan immigrants in Iran use over one trillion Toman (1 toman is equivalent to 10 Iranian rials) worth of water annually, but the Taliban is currently not willing to provide Iran's water rights from the Helmand River.

In recent weeks, the presence of Afghan refugees in Iran has become controversial.

In recent days, certain Iranian media outlets have discussed the presence of Afghan refugees in Iran in a "discriminatory" and "racist" manner.

However, in an article published by the Jomhouri-e-Eslami Newspaper on Sunday, it wrote, "It is even more strange that inside [Iran], those who criticise the refugee issues are called anti-Afghans."

After the takeover of power by the Taliban in August 2021, Afghan citizens' migration to neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan and Iran, has increased dramatically.

There have been several factors for these migrations, including concerns about potential reprisals by the Taliban against former government employees, human rights activists, and political opponents, as well as the ban on girls' education and a substantial rise in unemployment and poverty.