Several Wounded Following Explosion in Kabul
On Monday, an explosion occurred in City Park area of the first police district in Kabul, and left several injured.
On Monday, an explosion occurred in City Park area of the first police district in Kabul, and left several injured.
The Emergency Hospital in Kabul, wrote on X social media network platform, that three injured individuals had been transferred to the hospital.
A source told Afghanistan International that several more wounded individuals had been transferred to Ibn Sina hospital.
The Emergency Hospital said that all of the injured individuals are currently in a stable condition.
No individual or group has claimed responsibility for this incident.
The Taliban has not commented on the matter yet.
During a meeting with the employees of the Afghan embassy in Tehran, Taliban's foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, stated that the group's relations with Iran are in the “best state”.
Muttaqi added that numerous agreements were reached during the recent visit of Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister of the Taliban, to Tehran.
The Taliban's foreign minister expressed hope that all of these agreements will be implemented, without providing specific details about them.
Describing the relationship between the Taliban and Iran, this Taliban official mentioned the activity of the Iranian embassy and consulates in Kabul and various provinces of Afghanistan, along with the Afghan embassy in Tehran and consulates in Mashhad and Zahedan. Additionally, he announced plans for the expansion of economic relations with Tehran.
Muttaqi, attending a pro-Palestine conference in Tehran, held discussions with Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Hossein Abdollahian and Special Representative for Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi.
Prior to him, Baradar visited Tehran on November 4, leading a 30-person delegation at the invitation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The objective of the trip was to enhance commercial and economic cooperation between Iran and Afghanistan, fostering bilateral relations in trade, transportation, transit, investment, and customs cooperation.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) has claimed that one Taliban member has been killed and four others had been injured in an attack on a Taliban intelligence guesthouse near the police headquarters in Pol-e-Khomri, Baghlan province.
The Taliban has not commented on the matter yet.
Afghanistan Freedom Front, comprising former military personnel from the previous government of the country, was established alongside the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan following the takeover of power by Taliban in August 2021. The front engages in armed struggle against the Taliban.
In its quarterly report covering the situation in Afghanistan from August to September this year, the United Nations reported that the Afghanistan Freedom Front has been the most active group against the Taliban during this period.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) stated that, despite carrying out small-scale attacks, the Afghanistan Freedom Front has been the most active armed opposition group against the Taliban.
During a meeting on Sunday, Iran's Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, told the Taliban's Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, that the group should address “unresolved issues, including water issues and borders disputes” with Iran.
Amir Abdollahian expressed hope that the Taliban would take “practical steps” to resolve differences with his country.
However, the Taliban's foreign ministry did not mention the demands of the Iranian side in its statement regarding the meeting. Instead, the group stated that both sides discussed the promotion of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Iran does not recognise the Taliban, and the country's foreign ministry refused to display the Taliban flag at the meeting.
Muttaqi participated in an international meeting on Palestine in Tehran last Saturday. During the trip, he has only met with the Iranian foreign minister and the special representative of Iran. The Taliban's Foreign Ministry has not released any news about Muttaqi's meetings with officials from other participating countries.
Iran has consistently criticised the absence of an inclusive government in the Taliban regime, but the Taliban have not accepted this critique.
It has also criticised the Taliban for not fulfilling Iran's water rights, but the Taliban has postponed addressing the water rights issue citing a decrease in rainfall.
According to sources who spoke to Afghanistan International, Taliban leaders in Kabul have reportedly assembled a team to disseminate propaganda and target adversaries on social media platforms.
High-ranking officials, including the Ministers of Defence and Interior, as well as the Intelligence Chief, are said to be spearheading this digital initiative.
The report identifies three key cyber groups operating under Taliban leadership: “Badri Virtual Devotees,” “Ababil Emarati,” and “Omari Defenders.” These groups are linked to prominent Taliban figures, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, Minister of Interior, Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid, Minister of Defence, and Abdul Haq Wasiq, Taliban’s head of intelligence.
Badri Virtual Devotees
Led by Anas Haqqani, brother of the Taliban interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, and Saeed Khosty, a former spokesperson to the Taliban’s interior ministry, this faction reportedly operates from three locations in Kabul, coordinating the activities of 150 individuals across 15 subgroups. They focus on promoting Taliban achievements and engaging in online confrontations with critics. This group is believed to manage around 500 anonymous Facebook entities and 800 accounts on social platform X, another popular platform among Afghans.
Ababil Emarati
Functioning with the Taliban's intelligence funding, this group, led by Abdul Haq Wasiq, is said to monitor and attack the Taliban's political opponents on social networks. This includes hacking attempts against prominent dissenters, with reported assistance from contracted hackers based in Pakistan.
Omari Defenders
Associated with Mullah Yaqub, the Taliban’s defence minister, this team works on enhancing his public image and targeting those who speak negatively about key Taliban figures. With offices in various parts of Kabul, the group includes about 100 employees and is led by a former Afghan radio and television journalist.
The report also highlights the extensive use of anonymous accounts by Taliban supporters to attack critics with abusive language. These social media operations are part of a broader strategy by the Taliban to control narratives and suppress opposition voices in the digital realm.
The Municipality of Mashhad, the capital of Iran's Khorasan Razavi province, has issued an order prohibiting the activities of Afghans in the city's mobile markets.
Pictures published by local media outlets in Mashhad indicate that the new ban has been implemented at the entrance of Mashhad's Friday market.
On Saturday, Shahrara newspaper, owned by the Mashhad municipality, quoted Hasan Kilidari, a senior executive in the municipality, as stating that, according to the approval of the city's municipal social commission, “from now on, the activities of foreigners, under any title, in all of Mashhad's mobile markets are prohibited”.
Official statistics from the Iranian immigration authorities reveal that approximately half a million Afghans in Mashhad are registered with a residence permit.
This figure constitutes 95% of the total population of immigrants in Mashhad.
The decision to prohibit the activity of Afghans in mobile markets has sparked a reaction from cultural activists among Afghan immigrants in Iran.
Zainab Bayat, an Afghan poet and cultural activist residing in Mashhad, reacted to this move by questioning the move on her Instagram handle, “How can Afghans provide income for their families when all doors closed?”