Afghanistan To Be Reclaimed by Its Citizens, Says Iranian Assistant FM

The message from Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, was conveyed to Pakistani authorities by the leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, during his recent visit to Afghanistan where he met Taliban leaders, including Hibatullah in Kandahar.

Express Tribune in its report stated that Pakistani authorities are currently assessing the message from the Taliban leader, but initial reactions do not seem very positive. A source informed the newspaper that the message from the Taliban leader to end violence is not effective, and added, “What we want is a permanent solution.”

In his message to Pakistani authorities, the Taliban leader stated that the only solution to issues is dialogue and that the group is ready to establish an office for resuming talks.

Since the Taliban's return to power in 2021, Pakistan initiated negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) facilitated by the Afghan Taliban. This newspaper reported that as a result of these negotiations, the Pakistani government released several TTP members from prisons. However, this action backfired, and TTP members resumed armed conflict against the nation.

The newspaper added that the Pakistani government's negotiations with TTP failed, and with the change in the army's command in November 2022, TTP unilaterally called off the ceasefire. Since then, attacks in Pakistan have increased, and the Pakistani government says it is no longer willing to negotiate with the TTP.

Sources told Express Tribune that despite the Afghan Taliban leader's request for mediation to revive talks with the Pakistani Taliban, the Pakistani government has shown no interest in continuing these discussions.

However, sources mentioned that Maulana Fazlur Rehman's trip to Afghanistan was not without impact and has somewhat thawed relations between the two sides.

In recent months, credible sources confirmed to Afghanistan International that an order from Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, has been issued, declaring war in Pakistan as forbidden and “haram”.

The Directorate, in a statement on Tuesday, also noted that over 30,000 Afghan refugees in Turkey have been granted short-term residency documents.

The latest figures show that in the new year, the total number of foreign nationals living legally in Turkey has reached 1,107,032.

Afghan citizens are the ninth largest group of residency permit recipients in Turkey, according to the Directorate's data.

The highest numbers of residency permits were issued to nationals from Turkmenistan, Russia, and Iraq, in that order.

The Directorate also shared statistics on the detention of migrants lacking legal documentation in 2023 and the current year.

In 2024, the highest number of detentions involved Afghan nationals, with 2,480 cases reported.

Similarly, in 2023, Afghans accounted for the majority of migrants detained without residency permits, totaling 68,687. Some of these individuals were later deported.

Turkey serves as a primary migration route for thousands of Afghan refugees seeking to reach Europe.

They claimed that a madrassa called “Talim ul-Islam”, belonging to an adviser of the Taliban leader, is one of them.

The videos and pictures forwarded by these families to the Pashto section of Afghanistan International indicate that the children attending this madrassa range from eight to 14 years of age.

Afghanistan International's findings show that Talim ul-Islam madrassa has been active in Kandahar for the past 17 years and started teaching in Urdu following the takeover of power by the Taliban.

Mohammad Omar Khattabi, the head of this madrassa, has other madrassas in Uruzgan and Helmand provinces, where hundreds of children are engaged in religious education.

Afghanistan International has acquired videos in which a mullah from Tailm ul-Islam madrassa imparts teachings to students about Jihad, non-Muslim countries, and urges them to engage in a fight against these nations.

He suggests that in the event of losses from non-Islamic countries, they should undertake “practical jihad”.

With the seizure of power in Afghanistan, the proliferation of such madrassas has remarkably increased, particularly in the southern region—the historical stronghold of the Taliban. According to statistics from the Taliban’s Ministry of Education, there are currently nearly 20,000 madrassas and religious centres in Afghanistan, predominantly operated by the Taliban and their supporters.

Sources in Kandahar said that a number of high-ranking officials of the Taliban in this province, including Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs; Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the chief justice of the group and Mullah Fazil, the deputy of the Ministry of Defence of the Taliban, have started to establish new madrassas to expand and consolidate their influence.

In a resolution, they protested against the detention of women by the Taliban for their clothing and said that the Taliban imprison and torture women under various pretexts.

The activists emphasised that the intense pressures and restrictions imposed by the Taliban have had severe consequences on the well-being of women and girls in Afghanistan, leading some to resort to suicide.

Paryani and the activists participating in the sit-in tent condemned the Taliban's treatment of women as a “crime against humanity”. They said that the group has deprived women of all political, civil, and social rights and freedoms by issuing numerous decrees.

In their resolution, they raised concerns about Afghanistan becoming a hub for international terrorism. They urged countries worldwide to cease their relations and financial aid to Afghanistan.

Last year, Paryani and several other activists initiated a sit-in and hunger strike for the first time, advocating for the recognition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan by Germany and other countries worldwide.

Following the conclusion of their first hunger strike, they declared their intention to establish protest tents in various cities worldwide to raise awareness and international support for the acknowledgment of gender apartheid.

The activists in Bochum voiced their opposition to the UN Secretary-General convening a meeting of special representatives for Afghanistan. They aim to convey their dissatisfaction about the engagement with the Taliban by physically being present at the meeting venue.

The United Nations has not yet specified the date and location of the meeting. However, they have stated that the UN Secretary-General will soon convene with the special representatives to discuss matters concerning Afghanistan and strategies for engaging with the Taliban.

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”.