5 Taliban Members, Including A Commander, Killed In Kabul & Baghlan, Claims NRF

The Taliban, citing Paul Klouman Bekken, Norway's charge d’Affaires in Afghanistan, wrote that ISIS has been suppressed in Afghanistan and has lost its power.

This media outlet affiliated with the Taliban, quoting Bekken, reported that Norway does not support the group's adversaries.

However, amidst the Taliban's control in Afghanistan, political and military opponents of the group have initiated their resistance efforts, occasionally convening meetings in various countries to discuss the Afghan situation, while guerrilla attacks persist in some provinces.

The Taliban, citing a foreign official, made this statement even though just a few days ago, an ISIS branch operating from Afghanistan executed a deadly attack in Moscow, resulting in 139 casualties.

The active presence of ISIS in Afghanistan and its orchestration of attacks from Afghan territory against neighbouring countries have raised significant global and regional concerns.

Earlier, the United Nations Security Council called the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan a major threat to the region. Additionally, the Chief of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation warned that the growing presence of ISIS in northern Afghanistan poses a primary threat to stability in Central Asia.

Nevertheless, during a meeting with the Norwegian ambassador, Abdul Kabir, the Taliban's deputy prime minister for political affairs highlighted the group's "balanced policy" and expressed support for "positive interaction with all parties”.

This Taliban official also mentioned the employment of "thousands of women" in government and private sectors. This is while for the past two and a half years, the group has deprived women and girls of education and prohibited women's employment, even with non-governmental organisations.

These female activists who protested against the Taliban warned that the group might "stone" her on charges of burning a picture of the group’s leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.

They also said that Seddiqi does not have access to a lawyer or family visitors in prison.

This women's movement called the "Window of Hope," based in Pakistan, criticised human rights activists for their indifference toward Seddiqi’s fate, and said that the Taliban leader recently emphasised "stoning and flogging women in public under the pretext of enforcing Sharia law”.

These women highlighted that the Taliban deprive Afghan citizens, especially women, of their rights, and actively suppress, detain, and torture women activists. They underscored that the group has effectively established "gender apartheid" in Afghanistan through systematic gender discrimination.

In a statement, they emphasised that the Taliban are unfamiliar with the human rights values and will not align with the people of Afghanistan and the international community.

These women said that the international community, including the United States, provides financial support to the Taliban. According to the movement, Afghan women have tragically become "victims of wrong policies of the international community and gender apartheid”.

This movement urged the international community and human rights organisations to exert pressure on the Taliban for the release of Manizha Seddiqi from their prison.

Taliban intelligence detained Seddiqi on October 9, 2023, and subsequently transferred her to Pul-e-Charkhi prison.

These attacks, according to the NRF, occurred in the Khairkhana area of Kabul and Shahrak district of Ghor province. The Taliban has not yet commented on these attacks.

In a statement, the NRF reported that around 7am on Tuesday, their forces eliminated a Taliban member who was on a motorcycle in the village of Jorya in Shahrak district. They seized two AK-47 rifles and the motorcycle from the scene.

Additionally, the NRF stated that the second attack targeted a Taliban checkpoint in the Sare Kotal area of Khairkhana, located in the 17th police district of Kabul city. Two Taliban members had been killed and four got injured in this attack.

The NRF emphasised that their forces did not suffer any casualties in these operations.

During this meeting, Muttaqi called for the resolution of trade and transit issues between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He also emphasised on the strengthening of economic relations between the two countries.

Zia Ahmad, the Taliban’s foreign ministry deputy spokesperson, wrote on X social media network that during the Tuesday meeting, both sides discussed enhancing trade, transit, and economic relations.

According to him, Khurram promised to find a solution to the transit problems as soon as possible.

This Pakistani delegation traveled to Kabul at the invitation of the Taliban following Pakistan's airstrikes on two eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

About a week ago, Pakistan announced that it had targeted members of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, one of the leaders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Pakistan also accused the Taliban of supporting terrorism and the Pakistani Taliban.

In response, the Taliban stated that they retaliated to these attacks with artillery attacks on several Pakistani military border posts. The group added that the casualties of the Pakistani airstrikes were civilians.

Haq stressed that the UN would continue its efforts to ensure equal rights for women in Afghanistan.

On Monday, during a press conference in New York, he expressed "disappointment" over the newly released speech attributed to Hibatullah Akhundzada.

The UN official stated, "We’ve… as you know, we’ve been expressing our concerns consistently about the mistreatment of women under many of the rulings by the Taliban, and we’ve called for those edicts to be revoked."

The Deputy Spokesperson for the United Nations emphasised that the organisation would persist in its efforts to lift restrictions against women in Afghanistan.

The recent statements by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, about the implementation of "Sharia-based punishments in Afghanistan" have sparked significant reactions.

The Taliban leader recently said, "We will stone women in public." Hibatullah Akhundzada added that the Taliban's work did not end with their takeover of Kabul, but it has only just begun.