Mohammad Ayub Khalid, the Taliban’s governor in Badakhshan, announced that the construction of the Little Pamir Road from Badakhshan to the Chinese border has been completed, officially connecting Afghanistan to China through this province.
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.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar discussed the situation in Afghanistan during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, on Monday.
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.
Gholam Reza Miri, chairman of the Iranian Saffron Exporters and Sellers Union, has claimed that most of Iran's saffron is smuggled to Afghanistan and packed in Spain.
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.
On Sunday, Amnesty International said that the Taliban’s dress code crackdown and arbitrary arrests of women is a further violation of their freedom of movement and expression in Afghanistan.
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.
Diplomatic sources told Afghanistan International that talks between the Iranian and Pakistani representatives in Islamabad "will probably start on Monday".
According to the sources, both sides have common concerns about ISIS, Baloch separatists, and other "terrorist groups" using Afghan soil.
Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's special representative for Afghanistan, arrived in Islamabad on Sunday, heading a delegation. According to sources, the Iranian delegation consists of four individuals who are crucial in shaping Iran’s policy towards Afghanistan.
During his visit, Qomi will meet Jalil Abbas Jilani, Pakistan's interim Foreign Minister, and Asif Durrani, Pakistan's Special Representative for Afghanistan Affairs.
Although both countries have relatively good relations with the Taliban, however, they have reservations about Afghan soil being used against their countries.
The Iranian government has confirmed that at least one of the ISIS suicide bombers involved in the January 3 attack in Kerman was a Tajik national. According to their announcement, the individual had received training in Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban. The incident resulted in the loss of nearly a hundred civilian lives.
Following the attack in Kerman city of Iran, Qomi had a meeting with Abdul Kabir, deputy prime minister of the Taliban.
At the same time, senior Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused the Taliban of harbouring the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Baloch separatists in Afghanistan. The Taliban has denied these allegations.
Official statistics indicate a rise in violent attacks in different regions of Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan, following the Taliban's takeover of power in Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials say that the origins of the attackers and the weapons used in most of the attacks can be traced back to Afghanistan.
Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, has said that several rounds of talks between Islamabad and the Taliban have been fruitless and Pakistan's patience with the group has now exhausted.
Lodhi said that Taliban leaders assured Pakistan about restraining Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), but they did nothing in practice.
This Pakistani diplomat said that during the past few months, Pakistan's warnings to the Taliban about sheltering the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan had not been effective.
Lodhi, who previously served as Pakistan's representative to the United Nations, United Kingdom, and United States, believes that "terrorist activities in 2023 led to a significant rise in the casualties of security personnel, which hit an eight-year high”.
On Monday, in an article published by Pakistani media outlet, Dawn, she wrote that in the wake of Pakistan's disappointment with the Afghan Taliban, the country decided to deport tens of thousands of undocumented Afghan immigrants and change trade and transit regulations.
These policies led to the stoppage of thousands of containers of commercial goods.
As per the Pakistani diplomat, in response to mounting pressures, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, dispatched Mullah Sherin, the governor of Kandahar, to Pakistan in order to defuse tensions. Despite these efforts, the Pakistani side stated that the Pakistani Taliban issue holds greater significance for the country than any other concern.
Lodhi posed the question of what options Islamabad has if the Taliban persist in their unwillingness to act against the TTP. She stated, "There is no easy answer, as there are limits to the leverage Pakistan can employ in a coercive approach without risking a rupture in relations, something it would undoubtedly want to avoid”.
