UN Emphasises on Women's Rights In Response to Statements Attributed To Taliban Leader

According to a statement from the court, a man in Baghlan was lashed 39 times for having an "illicit relationship" and another man in Farah was lashed 30 times for "sodomy”.

The Supreme Court of the Taliban, without mentioning the identity of the first individual, wrote that he was publicly lashed in the Deh Salah district of Baghlan province. The statement added that this individual has also been sentenced to five years of imprisonment.

Additionally, the court mentioned that another man accused of "sodomy" was punished in Farah province and received 30 lashes. The Taliban stated that the group's primary court in the Khak-e-Safid district of Farah sentenced the accused to six months of imprisonment.

Human rights organisations and the international community have repeatedly called on the Taliban to stop punishing Afghan citizens with flogging, amputation, and execution.

Nevertheless, the Taliban have stated they are implementing Islamic Sharia and have urged countries and international organisations not to interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

Recently, a message attributed to the leader of the Taliban has been circulated, emphasising on the enforcement of Sharia and the corporal punishment and stoning of women.

Graham stated that the US must firmly hit ISIS-Khorasan targets in Afghanistan and disrupt their operations before it's too late.

Despite the Taliban's claims of suppressing ISIS in Afghanistan, the group continues its attacks against civilians and Taliban forces.

In the latest attack, ISIS claimed responsibility for an explosion in front of Kabul Bank in the city of Kandahar, which left at least 21 dead and 50 injured.

Central Asian countries have also consistently expressed concerns about the rise in ISIS activities in Afghanistan and its infiltration into other regional countries.

The United Nations Security Council assessed in February that ISIS remains a threat to Afghanistan and the region.

According to the report, ISIS targets in Afghanistan primarily include Shiites, followed by the Taliban, and then civilians.

The Security Council noted that there is a difference of opinion among the Taliban leadership regarding how to deal with ISIS and the "Salafists".

After ISIS-Khorasan claimed responsibility for a recent attack on a concert hall in Moscow, concerns about the group's increasing activities in the region have escalated.

Several political opponents of the Taliban have responded to the attack by stating that Afghanistan under Taliban control poses a threat to the region and serves as a haven for terrorist groups.

Al-Miraaad argued that ISIS only attacks countries opposed to the West.

On Monday, the publication published an article claiming that the ISIS Khorasan fighters who carried out attacks in Afghanistan and Russia were Tajik citizens.

Tajikistan has denied the involvement of its citizens in the Moscow attack, and its president, in a conversation with the Russian president, stated, "Terrorists do not belong to any specific country or religion."

Four suspects of the attack appeared in a Russian court on Sunday with injuries, identifying themselves as Tajik nationals.

The Taliban condemned the "terrorist attack" by ISIS in Russia, suggesting the group operates under "intelligence organisations" for "defaming Islam and creating threats in the region”.

The Taliban-linked intelligence media outlet continued, stating, "Tajikistan's intelligence acts as an intelligence unit of a Western country, aiming to export ISIS terrorism in Tajik packages to the region."

Al-Mirsaad highlighted that ISIS aims to harm the Eastern bloc, citing ISIS attacks on the Russian embassy and Chinese citizens in Kabul and a missile attack on Uzbekistan as evidence.

Russia and Iran often accuse the United States of supporting ISIS to create instability in the Middle East and Central Asia, a view the Taliban seems to share.

Citizens of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have joined ISIS more than those from other regional countries. ISIS threats against Bashar al-Assad's regime drew Iran and Russia into the conflict in Syria, linking their heavy military and economic presence there to ISIS attacks.

After the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russian and Central Asian officials repeatedly expressed concerns about the presence of foreign militant groups in Afghanistan. Some of these terrorist organisations maintain close relations with the Taliban, which has refused to expel foreign militants from Afghanistan.

A senior military official of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, comprising Russia and several Central Asian countries, had said in February that the presence of ISIS fighters and the Pakistani Taliban near the Tajik-Afghan border has increased.

Al-Mirsaad, citing Taliban security agencies' information, claims that "Tajikistan's intelligence has transferred some Afghans to Tajikistan and uses them for other purposes in the region."

ISIS attacks in Afghanistan and Russia have raised global concerns. Two prominent US senators have warned of the expansion of ISIS attacks as a danger signal for America and Europe.

Following recent ISIS attacks, some European countries, including Italy and France, have sought to elevate their security measures to the highest level. While Western and regional countries express concern about the ISIS threat in Afghanistan, the Taliban has repeatedly responded by claiming that ISIS has been suppressed in Afghanistan and poses no threat to the security of regional and Western countries.

Zadran added that in this incident two kidnappers were killed, and one fled the area.

He stated that the Taliban officials are searching for the fugitive but did not explain why the kidnappers initially shot at the Taliban personnel.

The group has also released photos showing the bloody bodies of these two men.

According to Dawn newspaper, approximately one million Afghan migrants, holders of ACC cards or temporary residence permits, will be expelled from the country.

Dawn, quoting a Pakistani official, mentioned that instructions for expediting the mapping of the residences of temporary residence cardholders have been dispatched to local offices.

Abed Majid, the senior secretary for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, stated, "We have already started the mapping process. This will accelerate after Ramadan, with its completion hopefully by April 30 of this year."

Another official, quoted by Dawn, expressed uncertainty about when the second phase of Afghan migrants’ expulsion will start, but suggested that it could commence at the beginning of summer, following federal government approval.

UN Refugee Agency statistics show that 2.18 million Afghan migrants reside in Pakistan.

This includes 1.3 million refugees holding a "POR" card or permanent residence from the UN Refugee Agency and another 880,000 refugees who received temporary residence permits after registering in 2017.

Pakistani authorities reported that between six hundred to eight hundred thousand people arrived in Pakistan following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in August 2021, and are now facing an uncertain future.

In November of the previous year, Pakistan announced the expulsion of 1.7 million undocumented migrants. Pakistani media estimated that about half a million migrants have since returned to Afghanistan.