UN Security Council to Hold Meeting On Afghanistan

This official said that the peace talks failed due to “unreasonable and unconstitutional demands” of the TTP.

The Pakistani official, who did not want to be named, said that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan sought to dominate parts of the country's tribal areas during the negotiations.

Earlier, Pakistani Senator Mushahid Hussain was quoted by the Pakistani media outlets as stating that during discussions at the Tehran conference on Palestine, Muttaqi told him that most of the issues between TTP and Pakistani government have been solved, except for the “merger of the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas”.

According to the media reports, Muttaqi claimed that while both sides were on the verge of finalising an agreement, Pakistan withdrew from negotiations.

Taliban’s foreign minister has not publicly commented on these reports yet.

In its report, Express Tribune wrote that the senior Pakistani official who didn’t to be named, called Muttaqi’s statement "absurd" and said that his narrative was not true.

The source informed The Express Tribune that the TTP aimed to establish their own “empire within the former tribal areas” under the guise of peace talks.

The parties also reached an agreement to enhance transit transportation through Afghanistan.

Ismatilla Ergashev, Uzbekistan’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan, was also present in this meeting.

On Tuesday, Hamidullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s Minister of Transportation and Aviation, arrived in Uzbekistan. According to Uzbek media reports, he and Ilhom Makhkamov, Uzbekistan’s Minister of Transport, reviewed the bilateral cooperation between both the countries.

Further details of this meeting have not yet been disclosed.

Reports indicate that the meeting discussed issues related to accelerating the implementation of the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan railway project.

Taliban, Uzbekistan and Pakistan signed an agreement on the railway route known as "Trans-Afghan" in Islamabad in July.

However, no country has recognised the Taliban regime so far, and the implementation of the project remains unclear.

The plan for the "Trans-Afghan" railway line connecting Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan was introduced in 2018 with the goal of establishing an economic corridor linking Central Asia to the Indian Ocean waters.

The construction cost of this railway is estimated to exceed USD 4.5 billion, spanning a length of 573 kilometres. Beginning from Termez, the railway traverses the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul in Afghanistan before reaching Peshawar in Pakistan.

Kakavand also announced the discovery of “500 kilograms of methamphetamine of Afghan origin” in Hormozgan province.

On Thursday, the IRIB News Agency quoted Kakavand as stating that approximately 470 tonnes of narcotics were seized in Iran over a period of nine months.

Also, the Iranian authorities have announced the arrest of 2,859 retailers and smugglers during this period.

At the same time, Ali Akbar Javidan, the police chief of Hormozgan province, said that in the last 24 hours, about two tonnes of drugs were discovered in this province.

While the Taliban in Afghanistan claim to have reduced drug cultivation and trafficking over two years, Iranian authorities consistently refute these reports, saying that the claim is not accurate.

The bomber, identified as Sifatullah from Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, reportedly traveled to Afghanistan last year via Torkham and returned covertly, lacking legal documentation for his re-entry into Pakistan.

The CTD's investigation utilized car serial numbers and SIM card tracking to identify Sifatullah. On December 12, a group of six suicide bombers, including Sifatullah, targeted a security forces’ base in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leading to the death of 23 soldiers and injuring several others. The attack, claimed by Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, began with an explosives-laden car ramming into the base.

Further investigations revealed two of the bombers, including Sifatullah, were of Afghan origin. Nine individuals, six of them Afghans, have been detained for allegedly aiding the attack. Hasan Afghani, another bomber, released a video message prior to the attack.

The CTD's findings indicate connections between the attackers and the Afghan Taliban, a claim confirmed by Sifatullah's father. However, Pakistani officials' assertions of militant activities in Afghanistan targeting Pakistani forces are denied by the Taliban.

The front said that the "battle strongholds in different parts of the country" have been "activated" against the Taliban.

In its statement, NRF emphasised that the Taliban "pulled the US and NATO troops into Afghanistan”.

In recent months, the Afghanistan Freedom Front has been able to carry out several guerrilla attacks on Taliban outposts. However, the NRF’s attacks on the Taliban has been limited.

Taliban officials have said that these two fronts’ attacks are not a serious threat to the group and they have been able to expand its rule over all parts of the country. Taliban’s foreign minister on Sunday had said that the opposition of the Taliban does not control any part of Afghanistan.

In its statement, the Resistance Front urged the people of Afghanistan to unite and collectively work towards bringing an end to the Taliban's rule.

The front has once again emphasised on the formation of the government based on the "will of the people" and according to the "ethnic and cultural diversity" of Afghanistan.