Widespread Anti-Taliban Protests Erupt in Argo District, Badakhshan

According to The Times of India, Indian officials allege that Wardak intended to "smuggle" this gold from Dubai into India. The incident took place on April 25.

Indian authorities have seized the gold and initiated a "smuggling" case against Wardak. However, due to her diplomatic immunity, she has not been arrested. The Indian law mandates detention and criminal prosecution for suspects involved in smuggling gold valued over USD 100,000.

It is unclear where Wardak obtained the gold from.

In response to The Times of India, Wardak expressed surprise at the allegations and awaits further investigation. She mentioned facing personal challenges during her tenure at the embassy and consulate and quoted her absence from Mumbai for medical treatment.

This incident marks the first instance of a senior foreign diplomat being accused of smuggling in Mumbai in recent times, according to Indian officials.

The DRI had received specific information regarding Wardak and deployed personnel at Mumbai airport.

On April 25, Wardak, accompanied by her son, arrived in Mumbai from Dubai. The police stopped them at the airport exit for customs inspection, during which they initially denied carrying any items. Subsequent searches revealed the hidden gold in Wardak's customised jacket, knee caps, and waist belt. Nothing was found with the diplomat's son.

Indian officials valued the confiscated gold at 18.6 crore Indian rupees, equivalent to over USD 2.23 million.

Wardak and Mohammad Ibrahimkhil, another Afghan Consul in India, also oversee the Afghan Embassy in Delhi in cooperation with the Taliban government.

Wardak has not responded to inquiries from Afghanistan International regarding these allegations.

Abbasi wrote that like the previous government, the Taliban government has not taken adequate measures to protect the Hazaras and other vulnerable communities.

She stated that following the ISIS attack in Dashte Barchi, a predominantly Hazara neighbourhood in western Kabul, which resulted in the deaths of at least 143 people, global attention was once again drawn to ISIS.

According to Abbasi, ISIS has been carrying out bloody campaigns targeting mosques, schools, and other facilities in Shia and Hazara neighbourhood since 2015.

Recently, armed individuals opened fire on Hazara worshippers in Herat province, resulting in the deaths of at least six people, including a child. ISIS claimed responsibility for this attack.

On April 20, a magnetic bomb exploded in a passenger bus in a Hazara-populated area in western Kabul. In this incident, one person was killed, and 10 were wounded.

In her article, Abbasi stated that on January 6, in a similar attack on a bus in Dashte Barchi, five people were killed.

Western Kabul has been repeatedly targeted by ISIS and other quasi-militant groups.

According to HRW, following multiple ISIS attacks from 2015 to 2021, over 2,000 civilians have been killed in Kabul, Jalalabad, and Kandahar.

After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, ISIS continued its attacks, and the group has killed and wounded more than 700 people since August 2021.

However, ISIS, in addition to Hazaras and Shias in Afghanistan, also targeted Taliban personnel on March 21, in front of a bank in Kandahar, resulting in 21 deaths and 50 injuries.

This is while sources told Afghanistan International that more than 40 people were killed in this attack.

Many of the victims were reportedly employees of the Taliban's Ministry of Interior who went to receive their salaries.

According to Abbasi, attacks on Hazaras and other religious minorities violate international humanitarian laws. She called the deliberate attacks on civilians as war crimes and highlighted the grave physical, psychological, economic, educational, and public life consequences.

“Beyond the immediate loss of life, such attacks incur lasting damage to physical and mental health, cause long-term economic hardship, and result in new barriers to education and public life,” she wrote.

The Front emphasised that the Taliban uses domestic media to propagate "terrorism and extremism”.

In a statement released on Friday, AFF wrote that the Taliban imposed severe restrictions on media activities.

According to AFF, over the past two and a half years, the Taliban have dismantled all the progress made during the 20-year tenure of the republic government in fostering freedom of expression and media engagement.

AFF said that the Taliban disregards access to information as a fundamental human right.

Furthermore, AFF expressed concerns over the Taliban's restructuring of Afghanistan's educational system, fearing it may jeopardise the nation's future.

The "Talibanisation" of the education system, as per AFF, fosters extremism and violence, enticing the younger generation into the fold of terrorist organisations.

Local residents reported that the Taliban have taken five local elders in detention under the pretext of discussing the demands of the protesters, but their fate remains unknown.

Residents express concern over the detention of these five community elders.

These protests began on Friday. According to Badakhshan residents, after initial protests, Taliban members resorted to shooting at the people to suppress the protesters, resulting in at least one casualty.

Protesters stated that after the death of this individual, residents of the Darayim district continued their demonstration.

Informed sources told Afghanistan International that the protests began when Taliban members, under the pretext of destroying poppy fields, entered the houses and violated women’s dignity.

Local Taliban officials have confirmed one casualty in these protests.

In videos received by Afghanistan International, protesters in Badakhshan state that they no longer want the Taliban in their province.

One protester said that the Taliban violated "the honour, religion, and privacy" of the people.

The protesters accused the Taliban of demolishing property and oppressing locals.

This assistance includes humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan under Taliban control and the expenses of evacuating and accommodating former Afghan colleagues of the United States.

According to SIGAR's latest report released on Friday, over USD 2.8 billion has been allocated for humanitarian and developmental aid to Afghanistan.

Additionally, USD 5.36 billion of this assistance has been designated for the evacuation, accommodation, and expenses of former US colleagues in Afghanistan.

Apart from this, USD 5.53 billion has been spent on hosting Afghan refugees in the United States. SIGAR also noted the allocation of USD 3.5 billion from the Afghan Central Bank's assets to the Afghan Trust Fund in Switzerland among the US aid to Afghanistan.

The report emphasises that the United States remains the largest donor to Afghanistan under Taliban control.

ISIS

SIGAR stated in its report that ISIS-Khorasan continues to recruit forces in Afghanistan and the region.

The US Special Inspector for Afghanistan highlighted ISIS' focus on involving foreign citizens in its attacks and recruiting non-Salafists.

Despite the Taliban's claim that no terrorist groups are active in Afghanistan, reports suggest that organisers of deadly attacks in Iran and Pakistan received training in Afghanistan. Both Al-Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are also active in the country.

The SIGAR report states that the Taliban's fight against ISIS-Khorasan is more focused on internal threats posed by the group than its external operations.