Sources in the Jibrail area of Herat said that at least six individuals from the Hazara community, comprising two clerics and two women, were tragically killed in an attack by unidentified armed assailants.
The incident, which also left three others injured, occurred around 2 PM on Friday. These individuals were ambushed while returning from a religious ceremony in the Khoshrud area of Injil district.
The attackers reportedly halted the victims' vehicle before opening fire. Among the deceased were participants in a ceremony for Eid Mohammad Etimadi, a religious scholar who himself was a victim of a similar attack on October 22.
This latest attack is part of a disturbing trend of increased violence against the Hazara community and Shia Muslims in Afghanistan. On November 23, Rajab Akhlaqi and Khadim Hussain Hedayati, members of the Herat Shia Ulema Council, were killed in a similar manner by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Jibrail. Both were originally from Lal wa Sarjangal districts in Ghor province.
The escalating attacks on Shiites and Hazaras have sparked widespread concern. Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, has called for a thorough and independent investigation into these assassinations, in line with international standards, and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
Afghan Witness (AW), a human rights group, has said that the Taliban has issued and executed Sharia punishment orders for more than 400 individuals in the span of a year.
According to the report, punishments have been issued for accusations such as illicit relationships, adultery, and theft.
AW, which monitors the human rights situation in Afghanistan, in a report on Thursday wrote that based on the declarations of the Taliban Supreme Court, in 417 cases, except for two people who were executed on charges of murder, the rest were punished in the form of flogging.
According to the Taliban, the implementation of Sharia punishments in 22 provinces of Afghanistan shows the extent of issuing sentences and their implementation by the group.
AW says that while the Taliban has often made the announced punishments publicly and has executed several sentences in public, many of these punishments are carried out under severe restrictions and in small spaces.
According to the report, due to the fact that the Taliban does not allow the photography and recording of these punishments, there is very limited visual evidence of the execution of these punishments.
Countries and human rights organisations have repeatedly reacted and criticised these punishments in Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, UNAMA called the Taliban's use of corporal punishment a violation of international law. They stated that it violated the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment.
According to the AW report, more than half of these punishments, including the first execution, were carried out in December 2022. In another instance, the Taliban publicly flogged nine people accused of sodomy and theft in a football stadium in Kandahar city.
There are more recorded cases of punishing men than women. According to AW, it documented 57 cases of punishment for women compared to 220 cases of punishment for men. Most of the punishments involved flogging.
Also, based on the findings of AW, between December 2022 and June 2023, nine cases of Qisas [retribution] were announced, which two were executed and seven others were pardoned.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has also confirmed the implementation of a stoning sentence in February.
The closure and reopening of the Afghan embassy in India has become very controversial.
Zakia Wardak and Mohammad Ebrahim Khel, the former consuls of the Afghan government in Mumbai and Hyderabad of India, officially reopened the Afghan embassy in Delhi on Thursday, in cooperation with the Taliban's foreign ministry.
The issue has been hot topic firstly because there have been two separate contradicting official statements being released- one from the former consuls and the other from the Taliban government, about its current status.
Secondly and the issue which has garnered more attention now, is the presence of a female diplomat who is now allegedly representing the Taliban government in India. Zakia Wardak is currently working along the orders of the Taliban and is involved in the reopening of the Afghan embassy in India.
The presence of this pro-Taliban female diplomat comes at a time when the Taliban has closed the doors of schools to girls above the sixth grade, opposes women's education and their participation in politics, and has compelled millions of Afghan women to remain at home.
Many are of the opinion that history is repeating itself when it comes to the case of Zakia Wardak supporting the Taliban.
A similar situation had arisen in August 1997 at the Afghan embassy in Washington when the Taliban had overthrown the Mujahideen government led by Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul and occupied 23 provinces of Afghanistan. During this period, two senior Afghan diplomats in Washington disagreed over how to represent the war-torn country.
Yar Mohammad Mohabbat, the former chargé d'affaires of the Afghan embassy in Washington, wanted to represent Burhanuddin Rabbani's government, which was still the legitimate and UN-approved government in Afghanistan. However, his deputy, Sirajuddin Wardak, opted to become the diplomat of the Taliban administration in Washington.
The two sides could not resolve numerous disputes and it brought the issue of Afghanistan's diplomatic representation to the attention of the American government.
According to the Washington Post, James Rubin, spokesperson for the US State Department at the time, announced that the US administration would temporarily close the Afghan embassy in Washington because the two diplomats could not reach an agreement on the representation of their country.
The embassy closure lasted till the Taliban government was overthrown and the establishment of the post-Taliban government led by Hamid Karzai.
The primary dispute between Afghan diplomats was regarding the flag. Mohabbat wanted to keep the flag of Rabbani's government in the embassy, but Wardak wanted to raise the white flag of the Taliban in Washington.
Sirajuddin Wardak was the husband of Zakia Wardak, who has now decided to become the first female diplomat working with the Taliban. The US government had later arrested Wardak and according to some reports, they tortured him. Zakia Wardak's husband later died in a traffic accident in 2011.
Zakia herself is an American citizen who returned to Afghanistan in 2009. Hailing from a family with a history of involvement in jihad against the Soviet Union, her father, General Abdul Ali Khan Wardak, fought in the war against the former Soviet Union. Zakia Wardak studied at Kabul Polytechnic University and has a master's degree in architecture. Following her return to Kabul, she had been engaged in various projects alongside her husband, taking advantage of the growing presence of non-governmental organisations.
Zakia Wardak then established a construction company and secured projects from the US military. With increased financial resources, she became interested in politics, ultimately participating in the parliamentary elections of 2018.
This attempt was unsuccessful and Wardak could not secure a seat in the House of Representatives. However, she managed to secure connections with senior government officials in Afghanistan. One of her daughters became a colleague of Hanif Atmar, the National Security Advisor, at the time. Later, Atmar helped Wardak get appointed as the consul general of Afghanistan to Mumbai, India.
Now, many allies of Hanif Atmar, the former foreign minister of the Ashraf Ghani government, have also started cooperating with the Taliban administration following the group’s return to power.
Qadir Shah, former NSA spokesperson during Atmar’s tenure as the National Security Advisor, entered into a similar conflict with Farid Mamundzay, the former Afghan ambassador to India, before Zakia Wardak. However, he could not take control of the embassy.
Asif Rahimi, the ambassador of the former government of Afghanistan in the Netherlands, also publicly announced that he is interacting with the Taliban. Several ambassadors who had connections with Atmar have also pledged allegiance to the Taliban. However, Wardak is the first woman who is publicly interacting with the Taliban.
It remains unclear how the Taliban, known for its opposition against women in politics, accepted Zakia Wardak to represent the group in India. The Indian government has not clarified how they decided to accept representatives from the Taliban either.
This development occurred following the departure of Farid Mamundzay, the Afghan ambassador to India, and the subsequent handover of the embassy to the Indian government. So far, the Taliban administration has been able to align many former officials of the previous government with themselves. This includes those individuals had previously opposed the Taliban's view.
However, it is important to note that Mamundzay, who has not agreed to hand over the Afghan embassy to the Taliban, said that India continuously encouraged the diplomats of the former government to interact with the group.
He said that Delhi supports those who have direct connections with the Taliban and Wardak is one of them. He added that many diplomats of the former government left India and those who remain in the country, support the Taliban and are in contact with the foreign ministry of the group.
India's foreign ministry declined to comment on Mamundzay's claim.
The motive behind India's rapprochement with the Taliban is unclear, but it appears that Delhi is looking for ways to engage with the Taliban to protect its investments in Afghanistan and maintain its influence in the country.
India reopened its embassy in Kabul last year to provide humanitarian aid such as food and medicine. However, consular services, including visa issuance for Afghan citizens, have not resumed.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported ongoing incidents of the Taliban detaining, threatening, and torturing female protesters in Afghanistan.
The organisation noted that many families are holding onto the hope that these activists will either be released or face reduced harassment while in custody.
Heather Barr, Associate Director at HRW, and Sahar Fetrat, a HRW researcher, highlighted on Thursday the increasing number of protesting women in Taliban detention centres. They pointed out that the families of these women, as well as the public, are largely kept in the dark about their conditions.
Barr and Fetrat raised particular concerns about the continued detention and wellbeing of Zhulia Parsi, Neda Parwani, Manizha Sediqi, and Parisa Azada in Taliban prisons. They further revealed that the Taliban's crackdown extends beyond protesters, targeting individuals running underground schools for girls.
The report alleges that the Taliban subject these women to abusive conditions, including torture. An activist cited by HRW stated that women protesters, initially forced off the streets, now find it impossible to organise protests even indoors.
HRW has urged the international community to intensify their efforts in supporting Afghan women, who are currently facing significant risks.
According to a Taliban military source, four individuals, including a commander, believed to be associated with the National Resistance Front (NRF), were detained in Kabul.
The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, informed Afghanistan International that the apprehended commander, identified as Bismillah Zahid, previously served in Afghanistan's special security forces under the former Afghan government.
In contrast to this claim, the NRF's Public Relations office asserted that those arrested by the Taliban are not affiliated with their organisation. They suggest that the Taliban's arrests are primarily targeting individuals with connections to the defence and security forces of the past government or those hailing from Panjshir.
An NRF representative stated that the Taliban recently apprehended five residents from the Tawakh area in Panjshir. These individuals were allegedly detained upon their return to Afghanistan from Iran, near the Nimroz province border.
The Taliban, maintaining their stance, denies any allegations of detaining or persecuting ex-military personnel. They emphasise their commitment to a general amnesty for all former members of the previous Afghan government.
Despite the Taliban's assurance of amnesty, the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner has raised concerns. Recent reports from the UN official highlight ongoing issues in Afghanistan, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary arrests, contradicting the Taliban's claims of amnesty.
Mohammad Ismail Khan, a notable figure in Afghanistan's Jamiat-e-Islami party, declared that the party currently lacks a leader.
In an interview with Afghanistan International, Ismail Khan, known for his anti-Taliban stance, remarked that the leadership phase of Atta Mohammad Noor, former Balkh governor, and Salahuddin Rabbani, former foreign minister, has concluded.
Despite this, Ismail Khan asserted that there are no internal disputes among Jamiat-e-Islami members. He attributed the Taliban's return to power to a deal with the US and commented on the diplomatic relations between Iran and the Taliban, noting that Tehran, like other countries, maintains connections with the group.
Khan also highlighted the significance of the recent Moscow meeting, which he sees as the beginning of a unifying effort among Taliban opponents to address Afghanistan's challenges. This meeting, which took place on 23 November, saw the attendance of various anti-Taliban figures, including Ahmad Massoud leader of the National Resistance Front, and Russian officials.
Reflecting on the fall of Herat city to the Taliban, Ismail Khan provided insights into its collapse. In the days leading to the Afghan government's downfall, he led an anti-Taliban resistance front in western Afghanistan until his capture by the Taliban, after which he moved to Iran under an agreement with the group.
Khan has seldom spoken about the reasons behind Herat's fall in the past two years. He accused key government officials, such as the Deputy Interior Minister, the Herat police chief, the Army Corps commander, and the provincial Intelligence Director, of surrendering Herat to the Taliban.
He recalled requesting support from government and military leaders to defend the city, only to find them lacking the will to fight and prepared to surrender. Khan recounted calling for an operation against the Taliban advance, but senior security officials, he claimed, chose to abandon their military duties in readiness for surrender.