Taliban Now A Threat To Pakistan’s National Security, Says Former Pak Diplomat

The letter specifically points to a plot to poison the food of Taliban fighters during Iftar, which is the evening meal which one consumes when fasting ends.

Dated Thursday and endorsed by the coordination commander of the 201 Khalid bin Walid Corps in Nangarhar, this communication was directed to the leadership of the corps' third infantry brigade.

Information shared with Afghanistan International highlights the Taliban's apprehensions regarding the National Resistance Front's strategy to leverage toxic substances against their forces throughout Afghanistan.

Further details from the letter reveal that an NRF member based in Tajikistan has reportedly called upon their comrades to engage in the poisoning scheme targeting the Taliban.

Originating from the Taliban's 201 Corps intelligence division, the directive calls for heightened vigilance within the brigade's ranks, urging commanders to steer clear of food offerings from unverified sources.

Till date, the National Resistance Front has not issued a response to these warnings of the Taliban.

Metsola unequivocally condemned the gender apartheid prevailing in Afghanistan. Her remarks came in the wake of discussions with European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday.

Metsola was responding to questions from Musadiq Parsa, a journalist with Afghanistan International.

Describing the plight of Afghan women as a stark form of gender apartheid, Metsola expressed her condemnation and recounted encounters with courageous Afghan women who sought refuge in Portugal to escape the Taliban's oppression.

She underscored the EU's responsibility to ensure that the dire circumstances in Afghanistan, especially the severe breach of women's rights by the Taliban, are not overshadowed by other global crises.

Human rights advocates have long characterised the Taliban's systematic curtailing of Afghan women's fundamental rights as gender apartheid, advocating for its formal acknowledgments.

Throughout their dominion over Afghanistan, extending beyond two and a half years, the Taliban have systematically stripped women of essential liberties, spanning education, employment, sports, travel, and the freedom to engage in public life, through comprehensive restrictions and prohibitions.

Advocates for women's rights assert that beyond recognising gender apartheid, there should be international legal action against the Taliban for their role as perpetrators of women's rights violations. Yet, concrete measures for the official recognition and accountability of gender apartheid in Afghanistan and globally remain to be enacted.

Mawlawi Abdul Rahman, the spokesperson for the Taliban's police force in Ghor, confirmed the incident, revealing that the victim was Mohammad Juma Amini. Amini held the positions of a civil court judge and head of the appellate court in the region.

Till date, the attack remains unclaimed, with no individual or group stepping forward to accept responsibility.

The reports suggest that Amini's daughter was not even 10 years old at the time of the attack.

Furthermore, recent accounts from Ghor residents have surfaced, stating that in the Pasaband district, two additional Taliban members were murdered with axes and hatchets by unknown attackers.

It wrote that the explosion is a message from Pakistan to the Taliban, which portrays how they can use ISIS to create instability in Afghanistan.

Sources from Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar province informed Afghanistan International that in this explosion at least 21 people had been killed, and 50 others got injured.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) also reported that the explosion’s death toll reached 20.

However, the Taliban's Interior Ministry on Friday confirmed that the explosion left three dead and 12 injured.

Al-Mirsaad, affiliated with the Taliban's intelligence, accused Pakistan and ISI of orchestrating Friday’s attack in Kandahar. It stated that the attack is part of Pakistan's military and proxy strategy in Afghanistan.

Earlier, the Taliban had stated that ISIS in Afghanistan had been suppressed and posed no threat to the group.

Al-Mirsaad has predicted that Pakistan would likely take additional actions in the near future to sow instability in Afghanistan, and urged Taliban forces to be ready to counter this development.

At least 21 people had been killed in the incident. The suicide bomber has been identified by ISIS as "Moawia Al-Panjshiri”.

The group claimed to have attacked "a gathering of Taliban militants who had come to the bank to receive their salaries”.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Interior had earlier announced that in a suicide bombing in front of Kabul Bank in Kandahar, "several citizens" were killed and injured. So far, the ministry has refrained from disclosing any accurate casualty figures.

However, sources from Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar province informed Afghanistan International that in the explosion, at least 21 people had been killed, and 50 others got injured.

Also, sources in the Taliban police command in Kandahar stated that the explosion occurred in a heavily guarded area.

According to them, the suicide attacker passed through checkpoints and detonated explosives among Taliban members.