Water Level of Helmand River Has Drastically Declined, Says Taliban’s Deputy PM

In a letter from the ministry, authenticated by a reliable source to Afghanistan International, the Taliban announced the appointment of Faizullah as the first secretary of the Afghan embassy in Tajikistan.

Based on the letter, the Taliban has promised to pay the overdue six months’ salaries of the Afghan embassy staff in Tajikistan.

Tajikistan maintains a close relationship with the Taliban's opposition groups, and the former Afghan government's ambassador at the embassy in Tajikistan has consistently opposed the Taliban. However, the Taliban, despite not being officially recognised by Tajikistan, intends to establish its presence in the country by appointing a diplomat.

In the letter, the Taliban's foreign ministry has asked the Afghan embassy to inform the Tajik government about the appointment of a new diplomat.

Nonetheless, it remains uncertain whether the Tajik government will accept the Taliban's diplomats if the Afghan embassy in Dushanbe chooses to cooperate, like countries such as Turkey and Uzbekistan.

No country has recognised the Taliban in the last two years, and most of the Afghan embassies are in the control of ambassadors and employees of the previous government. However, the Taliban is trying to change the situation by appointing new diplomats at these embassies.

Asila Wardak, an Afghan women's rights activist, who attended the meeting, told Afghanistan International that Guterres emphasised that the Taliban will not be recognised without ensuring women's right to education and work.

According to Wardak, the UN Secretary-General said that issues related to Afghanistan are on the agenda and a priority for the United Nations.

Guterres added that he intends to engage and support more on the issues related to Afghanistan.

Habiba Sarabi, a member of the peace negotiations team of the previous Afghan government with the Taliban, and Shahrzad Akbar, the former chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, were also present in this meeting.

It has been said that this is the first meeting of the Secretary General of the United Nations with Afghan women activists after the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan.

In the past two years, the Taliban has imposed extensive restrictions on the lives of Afghan women.

Despite international pressure, the Taliban has not reversed its restrictive measures, especially regarding Afghan women's right to work and education.

Pakistan's deadline for deporting immigrants was announced on October 3 and has been implemented from November 1 this year.

According to the decree attributed to Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, a special commission has been formed for the transfer and relocation of the deported Afghan immigrants.

On Monday, on the X social media platform, the commission reported that the number of returnees since November 1 has reached 15,207 families, all of whom have returned to the country via the Torkham border crossing.

The number of immigrants who have returned to the country through the Spin Boldak crossing has not been announced so far.

Following the end of the one-month deadline, on November 1, Pakistan intensified the detention and forced deportation of Afghan immigrants without legal documentation in the country.

The country first detains undocumented immigrants and then, forcibly deports them.

Despite the repeated demands of the United Nations and several countries to stop the process of deportation of Afghan immigrants, Pakistan and Iran continue to deport them.

Taliban’s spokesperson for the ministry in a statement said that these people will be appointed as "ombudsmen".

Following the takeover of power in 2021, the Taliban formed a cabinet in which the Ministry of Women's Affairs was nullified, and the Taliban's Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice was established instead.

In the past two years, this Taliban ministry has issued a series of orders that, according to international human rights organisations, violate the fundamental rights of Afghan citizens. It has appointed ombudsmen all over Afghanistan who widely and systematically restrict the freedoms of citizens.

Despite its declaration that ombudsmen do not have the right to use violence against the people, Afghanistan International has documented numerous cases of such violence by them in the last two years.

Afghanistan International published video clips showing that Taliban ombudsmen have been subjecting people to harsh treatment in various provinces.

The UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) said that following the issuance of the decree, opium cultivation has decreased by 95 percent in Afghanistan.

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, the country was the largest exporter of opium in the world and the main source of heroin in Europe and Asia.

In April 2022, the Taliban declared a ban on the cultivation and production of narcotics. It had a severe impact on hundreds of thousands of farmers and daily wage workers who relied on the income generated from this crop to sustain their livelihoods.

The United Nations has now confirmed the decline of opium cultivation in Afghanistan, emphasising on the urgent need for more aid to the villagers and alternative cultivation for a future without opium in the country.

Ghada Waly, Executive Director of UNODC, welcomed the decrease in opium production in Afghanistan. At the same time, he said that it has important consequences and risks that should be considered.

Waly stressed that today the people of Afghanistan need urgent humanitarian aid instead of lost income to meet their needs.

The United Nations said that although growing wheat may reduce food insecurity to some extent in Afghanistan, it is far less profitable than opium.