Taliban Imprison & Torture Women Under Various Pretexts, Say Afghan Activists

On Tuesday, Pakistani Geo News media reported that the negotiations between the two sides to ended in a stalemate.

On Saturday, the border authorities of Pakistan closed the Torkham crossing for the Afghan trucks.

According to the Geo News, in this meeting, the Taliban officials said that the suspension of trade activities is against social and international standards and has caused discomfort to the traders, patients, and other citizens.

As per the report, the meeting emphasised on the resumption of both vehicular and pedestrian movement at the Torkham crossing.

Under the recently implemented policy by Pakistani authorities, crossing the Torkham border is now possible only upon possessing a valid visa and passport. Drivers lacking these documents will not be permitted to traverse the crossing.

In reaction to Pakistan's measures, the Taliban has prohibited the entry of Pakistani commercial trucks into Afghanistan.

According to the Geo News report, Taliban officials stated that 90 percent of Afghan drivers and patients lack passports, citing resource constraints that hinder their ability to issue these documents.

The group officials asked Pakistan to allow entry for patients on a humanitarian basis.

Geo News, quoting Taliban officials, wrote that closing the border without prior notice would compel Afghanistan “to build a wall at the Torkham border to stop passage forever”.

Khalid added that efforts are underway to initiate the asphalt paving of this road “in the near future”.

He made these statements during an interview with the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar news agency.

On January 2, Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, announced during his trip to Kandahar that the construction of a road between Afghanistan and China is ongoing.

He added that the construction of this road will establish a direct connection between Afghanistan and China through the Wakhan corridor in Badakhshan province, fostering increased trade between the two countries.

During a news conference, they expressed their commitment to sustaining the ongoing dialogue on stability and security of Afghanistan.

The Indian foreign minister stated that he had a brief discussion with his Iranian counterpart about Afghanistan.

Both sides also discussed the expansion of India's transit route to Central Asia and Afghanistan through Chabahar port.

Iran's Foreign Minister, Amir Abdollahian, shared on the X social media platform that during the meeting, they discussed “the expanding bilateral and multilateral relations within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS, as well as the status of strategic connections, the progress of the Chabahar port, and the significance of the North-South transit route”.

During the press conference, the Indian Foreign Minister also declared that the Indian government has decided to incorporate Persian as one of the nine classical languages of India in its new educational strategy.

According to the Fars news agency, Miri said that high Customs duties and embargoes are among the factors for the trafficking of this product.

On Sunday, Fars news agency quoted him as saying that almost half of the value of Iran's annual saffron production ends up in the pockets of smugglers.

As per Miri, in the previous year, 90 tonnes of saffron, accounting for 40% of Iran's total production of 225 tonnes, were subjected to smuggling.

He said that Afghanistan and Spain hold 21% and 16% of the global saffron markets, respectively.

On January 9, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that Iranian saffron is facing a new competitor. The report highlighted the growing saffron production in Afghanistan and its increasing export to global markets, narrowing the gap between the two countries and positioning Afghanistan as a formidable competitor to Iran.

IRNA stated, "If the increasing production and export of Afghan saffron persist in the years to come, and due attention is not given to strengthening and expanding saffron cultivation and production in Iran, it will undoubtedly escalate the seriousness of the matter, bringing the competition closer and intensifying its nature."

In Afghanistan, Herat province boasts of the highest production of saffron. Afghan saffron has earned the title of "the best saffron in the world" multiple times, surpassing contenders from dozens of countries.

Bakhtar news agency, under the control of the Taliban, quoted officials of the group as saying that 441 acres of land in the central and district areas of Kandahar province had been cultivated with saffron.

This organisation called for an immediate end to the suppression of women and the release of detained women.

Amnesty International USA wrote on X social media platform on Sunday that the Taliban arrested numerous women for not following the group’s strict dress code of showing only their eyes.

In recent days, several reports have been published about the arbitrary detention of women by the Taliban forces in Kabul and Daikundi provinces, which has sparked widespread reaction inside and outside Afghanistan.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed concerns regarding the ill-treatment and detention of women, attributed to non-compliance with the Taliban's mandated hijab.

However, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the UNAMA report on the arbitrary detention of women in Kabul and Daikundi, calling it as “propaganda”.

Previously, the Taliban had introduced the burqa or a black loose dress with a mask as the "best example" of hijab for Afghan women.