Mohammad Karim Khalili, leader of the Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan and former vice president, has publicly accused the Taliban of systematically hiding the killings of Hazaras and Shias in Afghanistan.
Khalili’s statement comes in the wake of a recent attack in Herat that targeted the Hazara community.
In his statement addressing the Herat incident, Khalili highlighted the Taliban's efforts to mask the ongoing violence against Hazaras to maintain their narrative of stability in the country. He strongly condemned these targeted attacks and urged the Taliban not to remain indifferent to such "brutal and targeted killings."
Khalili, with his experience as the former head of the High Peace Council in the previous Afghan government, called upon the Taliban to take decisive and effective actions to safeguard the security of all Afghan people, particularly the Hazaras. He warned of serious consequences if these killings continue to be ignored.
Khalili appealed to the United Nations to form an impartial international team to investigate the massacres targeting the Hazaras. He stressed the urgency for the UN to intervene, urging them to implement measures to halt these attacks and ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.
The context of Khalili's statement is a recent tragic incident in Jebrael township of Herat city, where unknown assailants killed at least six individuals, including two Shia clerics. This event marks another in a series of violent acts against the Hazara community in Afghanistan.
The Iranian Embassy in Kabul has expressed its hope for the Taliban to swiftly identify and bring to justice the individuals responsible for the recent heinous attack in Herat city.
This violent incident tragically claimed the lives of at least six members of the Hazara community, including two Shia clerics, in the Jebrael area of Herat.
In a statement released on social media platform X on Saturday, the embassy vehemently condemned the attack, highlighting the loss of six individuals, amongst them two respected Shia clerics. The attack occurred on Friday afternoon in the Jebrael district, specifically between Shuhada town and Kore Melli town.
Sources indicate that the victims were returning from a memorial service for a Hazara cleric when they were ambushed and fatally shot in the Khoshroud area, located in the Injil district of Herat province. The aftermath of this tragedy saw Herat's residents protesting vehemently, carrying the deceased's bodies through the streets whilst raising their voices against the continued targeting of Hazaras.
This recent incident adds to a worrying trend in Herat, where four Hazara clerics have fallen victim to armed attacks over the past six weeks. The Taliban's Ministry of Interior has publicly decried the civilian deaths in Herat, labelling the event a "terrorist" act and acknowledging the loss of six "innocent compatriots." However, there has been no official statement regarding an investigation or efforts to apprehend those responsible.
In a strong response, the Afghanistan Freedom Front condemned the Herat killings as an ongoing assault on the Hazara and Shia populations in Afghanistan. The group has appealed to the international community, including the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, urging immediate intervention to halt these crimes against humanity and prevent further acts of genocide in the country.
Mohammad Yaqoob, the Taliban’s defence minister, has warned the opponents of the group even as there have been an increase in guerrilla attacks and regional meetings of anti-Taliban figures.
The Taliban's defence minister warned that those who, according to him, are trying "to create chaos and disrupt security”, that "unnecessary propaganda will end up harming you”.
Radio Television Afghanistan, controlled by the Taliban, on Friday published a video of Yaqoob’s speech at the graduation ceremony of the group's special forces.
In the video, Yaqoob implicitly reacts to the regional meetings and statements of the Taliban’s oppositions regarding the increase in the guerrilla attacks.
Taliban’s defence minister said, "To those organising gatherings with the intent to undermine the country's security or create chaos, know that the Taliban leadership has granted you pardon, and the arms of the security forces are open to you.”
He asked the opposition groups to return to their country and take part in its development. He also asked the opposing parties to stand by the Taliban’s armed forces because according to him they are "genuine, Islamic and national forces and they will never betray you”.
Yaqoob, who is the son of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founder of the Taliban, asked the opposition forces of the group to stop "propaganda and ineffective statements". Because according to him, it will not have a good result and it will cost them.
These statements have been made even though the opposition fronts of the Taliban have increased their guerrilla attacks on Taliban outposts during the past weeks.
Over the last 10 days, Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) has announced 14 guerilla attacks on Taliban positions in the capital and various provinces of the country.
According to AFF, these attacks were carried out in Kabul, Kapisa, Balkh, Baghlan, Laghman, Takhar and Parwan provinces. The front claimed that at least 30 Taliban members were killed and 16 others were wounded as a result.
Meanwhile, during the past weeks, Moscow and Dushanbe hosted two meetings with the presence of prominent anti-Taliban figures.
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.