Taliban’s Interior Minister Visits UAE In His First Foreign Trip
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's Minister of Interior, met with Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's Minister of Interior, met with Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi.
Khalid Zadran, the Taliban's police spokesperson in Kabul, wrote on X social media platform on Tuesday that Haqqani has traveled to the United Arab Emirates with a delegation.
The group's intelligence chief is accompanying him on this trip.
Details about this trip are not yet available.
Zamir Kabulov, the Russian President's special envoy for Afghanistan, has said that the Moscow Format Contact Group meeting on Afghanistan will be held on Saturday (June 8) in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
Kabulov stated that representatives from Russia, China, Iran, and Pakistan will participate in this meeting.
The Russian news agency, TASS, reported on Tuesday, quoting Kabulov, that Moscow Format’s Contact Group meeting on Afghanistan is scheduled to be held next Saturday in Tehran.
This media outlet wrote that the Russian President's special envoy for Afghanistan has also discussed preparations for the third Doha meeting with Taliban representatives.
The fifth regional meeting on Afghanistan, known as the 'Moscow Format,' was held in Kazan, Russia, in October 2023.
In this meeting, Iran proposed the formation of a regional contact group, which later faced a deadlock due to Pakistan's opposition.
In the fifth Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's Foreign Minister, was present.
Representatives from several regional countries emphasised on combating terrorism and forming an inclusive government in Afghanistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, refuted Tajik authorities’ concerns regarding the infiltration of extremism from Afghanistan to Central Asia.
Mujahid stated that the Taliban have repeatedly assured countries, especially Tajikistan, that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against them.
In an interview with the group-controlled Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Tuesday, Mujahid said that with the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan, security has been ensured, and no harm has been done to other countries from Afghan territory during this period. He added that Afghanistan has endured long wars and the country does not want conflicts in other countries. He emphasised that the Taliban do not allow any overseas groups to operate in Afghanistan.
Rustam Emomali, speaker of the National Assembly of Tajikistan, expressed concerns that the spread of religious extremism from Afghanistan poses a threat to members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). He stated that religious madrassas in Afghanistan are “breeding suicide jihadists.” Emomali highlighted that “more than a thousand religious madrassas have been established in Afghanistan, most of them located in the border provinces.”
On Monday, at the meeting of CSTO state member speakers of parliament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Emomali asserted that the risk of extremism infiltration from Afghanistan to the CSTO countries has increased more than ever.
On Monday, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) supported the rights of Afghan women to education and employment in a meeting in Austria and urged the world to take practical steps to address this issue.
The OSCE stated that the challenges faced by Afghan women have significant implications for regional stability and security.
The meeting, held on 3 June at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna, Austria, brought together representatives and experts from various countries to focus on the challenges faced by Afghan women. The event was organised by North Macedonia, the current chair of the OSCE.
Emphasis was placed on practical strategies to empower Afghan women and mitigate their challenges.
The OSCE expressed its support for Afghan women’s rights, particularly their right to education and employment, and called for sustained international support and cooperation.
For about three years, the Taliban have violated the fundamental rights of Afghan women by banning their access to education and employment. Despite global pressure to ensure women’s rights, the Taliban have maintained their misogynistic stance.
The OSCE highlighted that the challenges faced by Afghan women in education, healthcare, and employment will have far-reaching consequences for regional security.
The OSCE called for continued global solidarity to support the rights of Afghan women and girls.
The Taliban flogged dozens of people in public on various charges at the central Sar-e-Pul stadium in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Witnesses told Afghanistan International that the Taliban had punished more than 50 people, including men and women.
On Monday, the Taliban governor's press office in Sar-e-Pul called on the people of the province to attend the stadium to watch the punishment of 52 people.
The statement said that the Taliban's court in Sar-e-Pul is punishing 52 people on various charges. The Taliban's Supreme Court has not yet commented on the charges against the men.
Meanwhile, the Taliban's Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it had punished a man for sexual relations in Sayed Khel district of Parwan province. The court wrote that the defendant was punished with 39 lashes and sentenced to one year and six months imprisonment.
As Kazakhstan moves to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups, Rustam Emomali, speaker of Tajikistan's parliament, said that the spread of religious extremism from Afghanistan poses a threat to members of the CSTO.
Religious schools in Afghanistan "train suicide fighters", he said. According to TASS news agency, the Tajik president's son stressed that "more than 1,000 religious schools have been established in Afghanistan, most of them in Afghanistan's border provinces”.
The risk of extremism infiltrating from Afghanistan into CSTO countries has increased more than ever, the speaker of Tajikistan's parliament told a meeting of the heads of parliaments of the Collective Security Organisation (CSTO) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Monday.
Continuing the current situation in Afghanistan will have very devastating consequences for Central Asian countries in the long run, he said.
"The situation in Afghanistan remains complicated and there is no real progress there," said the son of the Tajik president.
"Afghanistan has again become a centre of terrorism. Dozens of extremist and terrorist groups have strengthened their positions on Afghan soil. The cultivation and production of narcotics in Afghanistan is increasing,” he added.
Rustam Emomali said that we cannot ignore potential threats on the southern border of the CSTO from Afghanistan. He called it important to approve the CSTO plan to strengthen the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, which is currently in the signature phase.
The comments come as Kazakhstan, which is Tajikistan’s neighbour, has removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist groups. Kazakhstan's president said on Monday that the Taliban's removal from the list of terrorist groups is important in expanding business-economic ties with the group.
The Taliban has said that it will not allow any group to attack from Afghan territory. However, Afghanistan's neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, the group's ally, have been skeptical of the Taliban's remarks.