On Thursday, the Taliban's Ministry of Energy and Water announced the signing of three agreements for solar power generation projects valued at $25 million with a private company.
According to the Taliban, these projects will generate eight megawatts of electricity in Paktika, Uruzgan, and Farah.
Abdul Latif Mansour, the Taliban's Minister of Energy and Water, and Haji Pahlawan, the head of the private company "Awfi Bahram Mining" signed these agreements on Thursday.
Due to a lack of access to electrical energy, Afghanistan relies heavily on fossil fuels and generators, and it is significantly dependent on neighbouring countries for its energy needs.
The country meets 75% of its electricity needs from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran, spending millions of dollars annually.
In late 2023, the United Nations announced that Afghanistan is facing a major energy crisis, with only 40% of households in the country having access to electricity.
Abdullah Mobini, the head of Iran's National Migration Organisation, announced the launch of a "comprehensive system" for migrants.
Mobini stated that this system was established to facilitate access to comprehensive and complete statistics on foreign nationals and migrants.
According to Iranian media, this Iranian official announced the launch of this system during a meeting in Kerman on Thursday.
He mentioned that alongside launching this system, the Islamic Republic of Iran is simultaneously advancing several important initiatives, including border control, visa reform, job atlas, stricter penalties, a bail plan, smart traffic plan, student and school initiatives, micro-deposits, large-scale investments, and organising smart cards.
Afghans constitute the largest population of foreign migrants in Iran.
Previously, the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs in Kermanshah province announced the prohibition of accommodation, and employment of Afghan migrants in 16 provinces.
East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Lorestan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Gilan, Mazandaran, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hormozgan, and Hamedan are the provinces where the settlement and employment of Afghans have been banned.
In October 2023, over 540 artists, lawyers, doctors, journalists, and civil and social activists in Iran called for an end to the harassment of Afghan migrants in Iran.
They stated that Iran's legal system in recent years has created the most significant obstacles and challenges to the integration of migrants into the host society.
A source from the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) told Afghanistan International that the United States rejected a visa request from Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the front, to appease the Taliban.
Meanwhile, Massoud stated in a recent interview that the United States opposes his presence in the country.
On Tuesday, July 16, in an interview with Shawn Ryan on YouTube, Massoud mentioned that he believes the US government does not want him to go to the US, stating that he had not observed any indication from them to invite him there and listen to his words.
Ryan, who published the interview with Massoud on his YouTube channel, said that the US placed the NRF leader on its blacklist to prevent his travel to the country.
So far, the US State Department has not reacted in this regard.
He stated that his initial strategy had been to fight until the last moment in Panjshir, aiming to die in a painful way so that, through this tragedy and sacrifice, he might provide his people with a reason to rise up.
The leader of the NRF said that in the past year and a half, none of their members have been killed nor taken prisoner, and their operations against the Taliban have been very successful.
Massoud continued to warn of the dangerous consequences of US financial aid to Afghanistan under Taliban rule. He said that the Taliban have created 900 non-governmental organisations to use US financial aid.
The US government and other donor countries have said that their financial aid, which amounts to more than $2 billion over the past three years, has been provided through humanitarian organisations solely to meet humanitarian needs.
However, the United Nations has warned that global aid to Afghanistan has decreased.
Massoud claimed that the Taliban are building jihadist madrassas with US money. This group has been able to obtain about two and a half billion dollars a year from Afghanistan's legitimate revenues without income from drug trafficking.
He also cautioned about the presence of foreign fighters in Afghanistan, noting that foreign mercenaries enter the country, receive training, and subsequently depart Afghanistan again.
The Taliban have denied the presence of foreign fighters in Afghanistan and stated that they do not allow any group to attack other countries from Afghan soil.
US media reported that Washington is considering cooperation with the Taliban to combat ISIS as an option. Washington sees ISIS as a major threat to its security, and the Taliban also have the necessary motivation to suppress ISIS.
The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) announced that the US State Department has failed to review the activities of organisations that spent $293 million in US aid in Afghanistan.
SIGAR suggested that the Taliban might have benefited from this situation.
In its latest report, SIGAR emphasised on the importance of the government knowing who is benefiting from the aid to prevent it from being diverted to the Taliban and other sanctioned parties.
The report added that the Taliban has attempted to obtain US aid through various methods, including establishing humanitarian organisations.
According to SIGAR, this indicates that the State Department needs to conduct comprehensive and continuous assessments of the risks faced by its implementing partners.
According to Reuters, the State Department has not yet responded to a request for comment on this matter.
SIGAR's report also highlighted that three out of five State Department offices reviewed the activities of aid-receiving organizations in compliance with internal regulations.
However, it noted that the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour, along with the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, failed to obtain sufficient documentation regarding the use of this aid in Afghanistan.
SIGAR added that the government has been unable to conduct necessary evaluations for at least $293 million allocated for aid in Afghanistan.
This organisation warned that the situation increases the risk of terrorist groups and their affiliates exploiting these funds.
SIGAR stated that the State Department agrees with the report's conclusions and is working to ensure that necessary evaluations are conducted.
According to Reuters, the US has provided over $17.9 billion in aid to Afghanistan since the withdrawal on August 30, 2021.
Mahdi Shirdel, the governor of Taybad county in Iran, announced that the level of trade between Iran and Afghanistan through the Dogharoun border exceeds USD three billion annually.
He stated that this figure reflects the increased level of economic relations between Iran and the Taliban.
According to IRNA news agency, on Thursday, Shirdel during a meeting with a group of Iranian officials said that Dogharoun is Iran's most important economic hub with Afghanistan.
He noted that Iranian export goods, along with those from Khorasan Razavi province, "supply the market of 30 million people" in Afghanistan.
This Iranian official added that the removal of economic barriers at Dogharoun has led to the satisfaction of the Taliban. According to him, currently, 1,200 trucks traverse daily between Iran and Afghanistan through Dogharoun.
Meanwhile, Iranian media have reported over the past few days that 400 Iranian trucks are stranded inside Afghanistan due to their cargo not being accepted. IRIB news agency reported that these trucks have been stranded inside Afghanistan since the last 23 days, facing numerous problems.
The National Resistance Front (NRF) has claimed that in two attacks on Taliban forces in Parwan and Kapisa, three Taliban fighters had been killed and three others were wounded.
So far, Taliban members have not commented on this claim by the NRF.
On Wednesday (July 17), the NRF in a statement said that the first attack took place on a Taliban checkpoint on the outskirts of Charikar city, resulting in the death of one Taliban member and injuries to two others.
The front added that the second attack occurred in the Hesa Duwum district of Kapisa province on a Taliban base, resulting in the deaths of two fighters and the wounding of one Taliban fighter.
NRF stated that no harm came to their forces in these attacks.
The front is one of two armed groups that occasionally attack Taliban forces in various central and northern provinces.
The Freedom Front is another armed group opposing the Taliban, which occasionally reports attacks on Taliban military centres.
Taliban officials have repeatedly stated that these groups have not succeeded in capturing any territory so far.