EU Parliament Condemns Taliban’s Gender Apartheid Policies In Resolution

Pakistan’s spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Jilani emphasised on Pakistan's commitment to enhance bilateral relations with the Taliban during his meeting with Muttaqi.

On Thursday, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on social media platform X that Jilani also emphasised the importance of addressing challenges that threaten regional peace and stability.

The Taliban's foreign minister travelled to China on Tuesday leading a delegation to participate in the third meeting of the Trans-Himalaya Forum.

Pakistan and Taliban foreign ministers held a meeting amidst rising tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban over the deportation of Afghan refugees.

The Pakistani government has set November 1 as the deadline for all the immigrants living "illegally" to voluntarily leave the country; otherwise, they will face forced repatriation.

Furthermore, Pakistan's interior minister said that of the 24 suicide bombers involved in attacks in Pakistan since January 2023, 14 were of Afghan origin.

Earlier, Yaqoob called Pakistan's treatment of Afghan immigrants "horror and barbaric".

He stated that the expulsion of Afghan immigrants strains and damages the relations between the two countries.

He also called the decision of Islamabad "unfair" and asked international organisations as well as the people and scholars of Pakistan to prevent the deportation of Afghan immigrants.

The Taliban’s Defence Minister expressed these remarks on Thursday at the graduation ceremony of the group’s police academy.

Simultaneously, Mullah Yaqoob asked the immigrants to return to Afghanistan and claimed that security has been provided in the country.

Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, also called Pakistan's treatment of Afghan immigrants "inappropriate" and said, "This situation is not acceptable." He called Pakistan's decision to deport Afghan refugees unilateral.

The Pakistani government has set November 1 as the deadline for all the immigrants living "illegally" to voluntarily leave the country; otherwise, they will face forced repatriation.

During a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, October 3, Pakistan's Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said that Afghans were involved in terrorist attacks in various areas of Pakistan.

He has emphasised that the property of illegal immigrants in this country will be confiscated after the deadline.

According to the Pakistani government, 4.4 million Afghans are currently living in Pakistan.

The organisation has said that these refugees will face Taliban’s persecution in Afghanistan.

Nadia Rahman, Amnesty International’s Interim Deputy Regional Director for research in South Asia, in a statement said that the organisation wants the Pakistani government to allow Afghan refugees to live in Pakistan with dignity and without fear of being deported to Afghanistan.

The organisation also called on the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to expedite the process of registration and review of applications of Afghans seeking protection in Pakistan.

"The international community must act immediately to keep up their initial promises of providing protection to those fleeing persecution in Afghanistan,” Rahman said.

According to UNHCR, more than 3.7 million Afghans live in Pakistan, and only 1.4 million of them are registered.

On Tuesday, the UNHCR said that Afghan refugees in Pakistan should be allowed to leave the country voluntarily.

Qaiser Khan Afridi, the UNHCR spokesperson in Pakistan, expressed concern regarding the plan to deport Afghan immigrants from Pakistan. He stated that the United Nations is seeking further clarification from relevant Pakistani authorities regarding the government's recent decision in this regard.

Recently, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also reacted to the decision of the government and demanded immediate cancellation of the move. The commission stated that the deportation of over one million immigrants, due to their alleged links to terrorist and criminal groups, not only demonstrates a lack of compassion, but also a short-sighted and narrow view of national security.

However, Tajikistan had a different stance on the issue. Zamir Kabulov said that according to the Tajik authorities, the Taliban had done nothing praiseworthy.

During a press conference held in Moscow on Wednesday, Kabulov supplied insights into Tajikistan's opposing viewpoint, in addition to addressing the joint statement of the recent Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan.

Kabulov said, “Tajikistan requested to be excluded from the list of countries that endorsed the final statement of the Moscow format meeting, and we accepted their request."

The Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan was held on September 29 in the presence of representatives from ten countries in Kazan city of Russia.

Special representatives and senior officials of Tajikistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan attended the meeting. The Taliban’s foreign minister also participated as a guest.

According to Kabulov, the joint statement of the summit was issued with the agreement of nine participating countries, except Tajikistan.

Kabulov explained, “Tajikistan has a different viewpoint and strongly criticises the Taliban.”

On Tuesday, the Afghan embassy in The Hague announced that it is "engaging" with the Taliban's foreign ministry.

An official of the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry has also confirmed that the group has been in contact with the embassy of Afghanistan in the Netherlands.

In a statement, the embassy called the purpose of communication with the Taliban as "the need to provide consular services" to Afghan citizens.

However, two former diplomats who are familiar with the affairs of the Afghan embassy in the Netherlands, told Afghanistan International that Rahimi had been in contact with Taliban officials in Kabul since a long time for the purpose of transferring the Afghan embassy in The Hague to this group and continue his work as the group’s ambassador.

Rahimi did not respond to Afghanistan International's calls for comment.

So far, several Afghan embassies in countries that mainly support the Taliban group have been transferred to the representatives of the Taliban.

However, unlike the countries that support the Taliban around Afghanistan, the Netherlands does not have a relationship with the Taliban, and the group will not have a space to operate in the Netherlands. The Dutch government had allowed the embassy of the former Afghan government to continue providing consular services to Afghan citizens, but not to engage in political activities.

Sources of Afghanistan International said that by joining the Taliban, Rahimi has tried to ensure the continuation of his position as an ambassador, and at the same time, unlike other Afghan representatives in the West, he receives a salary and financial support from the Taliban government.

Afghan embassies and consular missions abroad, which are still under the management of diplomats of the former Afghan government, do not receive salaries and services from the Taliban's foreign ministry in Kabul, and their source of income is providing consular services to Afghan clients.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands has not yet responded to Afghanistan International's call about the fate of the Afghan embassy in The Hague.

Asif Rahimi, one of the political figures close to Hanif Atmar, the former foreign minister of Afghanistan, has also worked as the governor of Herat and the minister of agriculture of the country.