Women’s Human Rights Defender at Risk of Torture in Taliban Detention

According to sources, Reza Mujahidzada was the police commander of Pato district and Reza Hekmatyar was the acting police commander of the Shahristan district in Daikundi.

According to sources, on Thursday in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Maidan Wardak province, the Taliban forcibly removed Mujahidzada from his car. Additionally, two days prior, in the vicinity of Jalriz area in Maidan Wardak province, Taliban apprehended Hikmatyar.

Sources said that following the Taliban’s takeover of power in Afghanistan, Mujahidzada maintained collaboration with the group in Miramor district of Daikundi province as per the local Taliban's request. However, he was later relieved of his duties. It has been reported that following the cessation of his affiliation with the Taliban, Mujahidzada was transporting passengers on routes between Daikundi Province and Kabul.

According to local sources, Hekmatyar served as the head of the police command in Shahristan district for a period. Prior to the collapse of the previous government, he held the position of a criminal officer in the same district. Following the Taliban's takeover of power, Hekmatyar has been working as an ordinary person.

Taliban officials have not commented on the detention of these two former police officers.

Despite the Taliban's declaration of a general amnesty, there have been reports over the past two years indicating the detention of hundreds of security forces members and former government employees. Some reports suggest instances of torture and killings.

The United Nations has consistently criticised the Taliban's killing of former security forces.

The website of the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran has published pictures from this meeting that took place on Thursday.

As per the report, Khamenei spoke about the situation in Gaza and Israel's policy in this meeting.

Addressing the ambassadors, Khamenei said, "Governments are responsible for ceasing political and propaganda aid, as well as weapons and consumer goods to the Zionist regime; this is their responsibility. It is the duty of the nations to exert pressure on their respective governments to fulfil this significant obligation.”

Taliban participated in this meeting while earlier, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, the Special Representative of Iran for Afghanistan, called Taliban as part of the "Axis of Resistance" in the region.

Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's Special Representative for Afghanistan, had stated in an interview with a state-controlled Iranian media outlet that, if necessary, “more than one army of suicide bombers will be deployed from Afghanistan to support Gaza”.

The Taliban officials did not officially respond to this statement of the Iranian diplomat, however, Al-Mirsaad, a media outlet affiliated with group’s intelligence wrote that Iran should direct Hezbollah of Lebanon to engage in war or themselves should take direct action against Israel.

Muttaqi refuted the Western countries' criticism of the detention and torture of human rights activists by the Taliban and accused the West of double standards with regards to human rights.

He made this statement on Thursday during the graduation ceremony of a three-month course at the Institute of Diplomacy of the group’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He pointed to the killing of thousands of Palestinian lives and said that nothing is being said about Israel's actions. Muttaqi emphasised that there is still no definition of human rights, criticising the imposition of sanctions under the name of human rights on certain nations and governments.

Senior Taliban officials are not allowed to travel due to UN sanctions and the group is under severe international sanctions due to terrorist activities.

The Taliban government has not been recognised and has been isolated for not respecting human rights and having a relationship with terrorist groups.

The Taliban's foreign minister further accused Afghan civil activists of collaborating with Western countries. In justifying their detention, he stated, "Five individuals in Afghanistan, in contact with the West and working for them, have been imprisoned and it is been said that their rights have been violated. If the prisons worldwide are filled with the oppressed, it is not necessarily a violation of human rights."

In the last two years, the Taliban has closed girls' schools and barred women and girls from attending universities. The group has detained and subjected hundreds of civil activists and women's rights defenders to torture.

Experts and human rights organisations said that the Taliban's regressive policies and exclusion of women from societal participation constitute a form of gender apartheid.

On her X social media platform, she wrote that they emphasised on the importance of the role of regional countries in Afghanistan “including maintaining a principled position towards an inclusive government that upholds the rights of Afghan women and men”.

From time to time, the US Special Representative holds meetings with officials from different countries to discuss Afghan issues, particularly the rights of Afghan women. Unfortunately, these efforts have proven fruitless, as the Taliban continues to disregard international calls to respect human rights.

Uzbekistan, similar to other nations, has not recognised the Taliban regime, yet maintains close relations with them.

The Uzbekistan ambassador is based in Kabul, and the Taliban has recently designated its diplomat as the head of the Afghan embassy in Tashkent.

This message stated that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban is a posing serious threat to the national security of the US.

Biden informed that the Executive Order of February 11, 2022, must continue in effect beyond February 14.

“The widespread humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan — including the urgent needs of the people of Afghanistan for food security, livelihoods support, water, sanitation, health, hygiene, shelter, and settlement assistance, among other basic human needs — and the potential for a deepening economic collapse in Afghanistan continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United State," said Biden in his message.

Following the takeover of power in Afghanistan by the Taliban, more than USD 9 billion of Afghan assets were frozen in European and American banks, of which seven billion dollars are kept in American banks.

On November 21, 2022, the United States established a trust fund in Switzerland to protect this asset and transferred USD 3.5 billion of Afghanistan's foreign exchange reserves to this fund.

The establishment of this fund aims to enhance financial and monetary stability amidst the extensive economic crisis in Afghanistan.

The White House emphasised on the significance of safeguarding Afghanistan's foreign exchange reserves within the financial institutions of the United States, as a crucial step in addressing the national emergency and ensuring the well-being of the Afghan people.

Following the collapse of the previous government in Afghanistan, US is the largest provider of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. The US government said that it has provided Afghanistan more than USD 2 billion in these two years.