Kabul To Host Regional Meeting Next Week, Says Iranian Official

The Taliban's Foreign Ministry said that economic relations between Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan were discussed in this meeting.

In a statement released by the Taliban's Foreign Ministry, Muttaqi expressed appreciation for Kyrgyzstan's policy towards Afghanistan and conveyed their desire to enhance trade relations between the two nations.

Muttaqi said that there is a capacity to increase export and import between Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

According to the Taliban's statement, Amangeldiev said that he got a group of individuals from his country to engage in business negotiations with Afghanistan's private sector.

This delegation had been invited by the Taliban’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the members also met the Taliban’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, separately.

Kyrgyzstan, like other nations, has not officially recognised the Taliban, and still, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubayev had urged Central Asian countries to enhance cooperation and coordination regarding Afghanistan.

As reported by Express Tribune, in a session with university students, General Munir stated, "When it comes to the safety and security of every single Pakistani, the whole of Afghanistan can be damned."

General Munir highlighted that the well-being of Pakistani citizens takes precedence over Afghanistan's situation. He claimed that Pakistan had been providing sustenance for five million Afghan citizens for over 50 years.

The General asserted the Pakistani Army's commitment to pursuing anyone who threatens Pakistanis. He accused Afghanistan of long-standing support for the Balochistan insurgency and lack of amicable relations with Pakistan. General Munir criticised the general public's ignorance of history, referring to Afghanistan's opposition to Pakistan joining the United Nations after its independence from India.

These comments indicate Pakistani officials' deep-seated dissatisfaction with the Taliban. The relationship between Islamabad and the Taliban-led Kabul has soured due to increasing security concerns in Pakistan.

Official figures show a marked increase in insecurity in Pakistan since the Taliban's ascent in Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities allege that the Taliban provides sanctuary and resources to militant groups opposed to the Pakistani government, like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and implicate them in recent attacks on Pakistani security forces.

Taliban spokespersons have consistently refuted these accusations, suggesting that Islamabad is blaming the Taliban for its own security lapses.

Notable international bodies, such as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, are leading these inquiries.

These investigations are centred on the number of girls detained, their arrest methods and conditions, where they are being held, and the events following their detention. The Taliban's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has recently arrested a significant number of girls and women in various cities, including Kabul and Daikundi, for not adhering to the group's dress standards.

The Taliban's actions have met widespread international criticism. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) highlighted that the Taliban's arrests have primarily targeted women and girls in Hazara and Tajik-populated areas of Kabul.

Earlier the Taliban issued a directive warning that failure to comply with its dress code would result in punishment and potential imprisonment of female relatives. Human Rights Watch has underscored the continued violations of women's and girls' rights into 2023, with Afghanistan being the only country where they are denied access to secondary and higher education and barred from most jobs in both the public and private sectors.

According to these human rights organisations, the pattern of abuse against women and girls in Afghanistan constitutes gender-based crimes against humanity.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan stated that both sides discussed transportation projects and expanding cooperation with Afghanistan in the meeting.

In a statement, Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry wrote that the meeting took place on Tuesday.

Based on the statement, both countries are interested in developing cooperation to solve the humanitarian crisis and promote the development of peace in Afghanistan.

As per the statement, the meeting addressed the progress of ongoing transportation projects in Afghanistan, with a focus on the construction of the Termez-Mazar-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway.

This project begins from Termez in Uzbekistan and continues through Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul in Afghanistan to Peshawar, Pakistan.

The construction roadmap for this railway route was signed in Tashkent in February 2021 by officials representing the three countries at that time.

According to this statement, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and the international community have always emphasised on improving the current situation in Afghanistan and expanding cooperation.

According to the Front, the operation resulted in the death of one Taliban fighter, with three others wounded.

In a statement on Wednesday, NRF stated that the forces of the front remained unharmed in this operation.

So far, the Taliban has not responded to the NRF’s claim.

As per the NRF statement, the forces of the front are planning and implementing targeted operations in different regions of the country to liberate the people and the country from the rule of the Taliban.

Recently, in response to the UNAMA report on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, NRF had said that the actions of the Taliban against the people of Afghanistan, especially women, will not go unanswered.

Earlier, on January 21, the front reported the killing and wounding of nine Taliban members in Nuristan province.

Recently, NRF published a report claiming that it has killed 128 Taliban members over a span of six months through a series of 90 attacks.