Taliban’s Foreign Minister To Meet Turkmenistan’s FM in Herat
The Taliban announced that Amir Khan Muttaqi, the group's foreign minister, traveled to Herat to meet Turkmenistan's foreign minister.
The Taliban announced that Amir Khan Muttaqi, the group's foreign minister, traveled to Herat to meet Turkmenistan's foreign minister.
The press office of the Taliban governor in Herat said that Turkmenistan's foreign minister Raşit Meredow will travel to Herat and hold talks with Amir Khan Muttaqi regarding the TAPI project.
Earlier, the Taliban's Foreign Ministry quoted Murat Amanov, director of Turkmenistan's TAPI Project, as saying that the practical work of the TAPI project will begin soon in Afghanistan.
The Taliban have repeatedly called for the start of the TAPI project over the past three years.
The TAPI project starts in western Turkmenistan and continues through Herat and Kandahar in Afghanistan to Quetta and Multan in Pakistan, and then reaches western India.
The project was inaugurated in December 2015 in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, by the former leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Turkmenistan.
The 1,800-kilometre project worth $10 billion was expected to be completed in 2019, but due to insurgency in Afghanistan, it has so far remained only on paper.
Nineteen female Afghan students arrived in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, to continue their medical studies with the help of the Linda Norgrove Charitable Foundation.
These students had been deprived of the chance to continue their education in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.
The Linda Norgrove Charitable Foundation wrote in a statement that the students were transferred to the UK from Kabul, Maidan Wardak, Daikundi and Bamiyan provinces via Pakistan.
The foundation said that it had moved the girls to Scotland after three years of work.
Zahra Hussaini, 19, who completed her first year of medical school after the Taliban’s return to power, said that she hopes her home will be safe until she returns to Afghanistan.
The Linda Norgrove Charitable Foundation was established by the parents of an aid worker named Linda Norgrove, who was kidnapped and then killed in Kunar province in 2010, to help Afghan girls.
The Taliban have closed girls' schools above the sixth grade and have banned girls from going to university.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, criticised Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, for his reports on severe human rights violations in the country.
Mujahid stated that Bennett is no longer allowed to enter Afghanistan.
Mujahid accused Bennett of spreading "propaganda" against the Taliban and claimed that he exaggerated minor issues and provided incorrect information to other organisations.
He added, "Bennett has been banned from coming to Afghanistan. He was assigned to spread propaganda against Afghanistan. He is not someone we believe in."
In several of his reports to the UN Human Rights Council, Bennett has accused the Taliban of widespread human rights abuses in Afghanistan, including violence against women, civil society members, the media, former military personnel, and ethnic and religious minorities.
In his most recent report, Bennett described the violations of women's rights as "gender apartheid," citing human rights activists. He also called for the prosecution of Taliban officials involved in human rights violations at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
This week, the Taliban spokesperson, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, accused international organisations, including UNAMA, of engaging in "propaganda against Afghanistan”. He claimed that these organisations overlook the positive aspects of the Taliban regime and only report on its weaknesses, alleging that they have been "hired for propaganda”.
When asked why the Taliban have not fulfilled their initial commitment to include all groups in Afghanistan's political system, Mujahid stated, "Figures who have been tested in the past and faced public hatred will never return to the regime." He explained that the Taliban are avoiding "public hatred" by excluding politicians and officials of the previous government from their regime.
Mujahid also argued that the cabinet of any government is inherently political, saying that in the West, the winning party takes all leadership positions in the government. He rejected elections and the idea of the people choosing the country's leader, asserting that the Taliban are deserving of leading Afghanistan and representing its people. He stated, "Those who fought and sacrificed for 20 years are better suited to manage the ideals of jihad and the struggle of the Afghan people."
In Western countries, elections allow different parties to govern for a period, with new political figures assuming leadership roles when a new government comes to power. However, the Taliban have rejected elections, effectively ruling out any possibility of a change in government.
Afghan political groups in exile since the fall of the previous government have warned against the Taliban's monopolisation of power. Despite this, the Taliban have dismissed these groups' requests, as well as calls from powerful foreign countries, to form an inclusive government.
Over 13,000 people had been arrested by the Taliban's Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the past year for "immoral acts".
The ministry said that during this period, it has also dismissed more than 280 members of its security forces for not keeping beards.
Officials of the Taliban's Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said in a press conference on Tuesday that the arrest of citizens is one of the achievements of the ministry over the past year.
According to the ministry, about half of those arrested in the past year have not been detained for more than 24 hours and had been released.
The Taliban's Ministry has not specified the type of violations and the gender of the 13,000 people it had detained.
The Taliban's Ministry plays a pivotal role in violating the rights of Afghan citizens, especially women.
Last year, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the minister of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as well as Fariduddin Mahmood, the head of the group's Academy of Sciences, for human rights violations.
Mohibullah Mukhlis, an official at the Taliban's Ministry of Virtue and Vice, said that 281 members of the group's security forces have been identified and expelled from the ranks of the Taliban for not growing beards.
In addition to employees of government agencies (civilian and military), the Taliban have also asked ordinary citizens of Afghanistan to grow beards.
From time to time, the Taliban's officers visit men's barbers and order them to be closed in cases of violation.
The Taliban's Ministry of Propagation of Virtue is one of the key ministries of the Taliban. After returning to power, the group abolished the Ministry of Women's Affairs and established the ministry.
The Taliban's Ministry of Virtue’s treatment of women and the severe restrictions it has imposed on women's work, education, and freedom of expression have been strongly criticised by human rights organisations and the United Nations.
However, the ministry said that it had prevented more than 200 cases of trafficking of women and more than 260 cases of violence against women last year.
This comes as the Taliban's takeover has halted the activities of the Independent Human Rights Commission and many women's organisations in Afghanistan.
The book "Emirate Studies" had been distributed to students of 95 schools and 21 religious schools in Spin Boldak district as per an announcement made by the Taliban's governor's office in Kandahar.
As per the statement, the aim of the book distribution by the group's Information and Culture Department in Kandahar is to take an examination of the school and school students.
The Taliban have already held an exam in some provinces of Afghanistan. The book "Emirate Studies" contains manipulated and propaganda information about leaders and past issues in Afghanistan.
By publishing and distributing this book, the Taliban is trying to change the public opinion about this group and give people morphed information.
This comes at a time when Afghan schools are facing a shortage of textbooks.
Since taking control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban government has closed girls' schools above the sixth grade, banned girls from going to university, and imposed severe restrictions on women.
Officials of the Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Virtue announced that the group destroyed 21,328 musical instruments across Afghanistan last year.
Mohibullah Mokhlis, Director of the Ministry's Planning and Audit, said that the authorities also destroyed 30,000 "immoral films".
The one-year report of the ministry was presented by officials during a press conference on Tuesday, August 21.
Mokhlis said that the activities of 25,647 IT (informational technology) workers have been suspended due to the distribution of "vulgar movies" that were active in cities.
The ministry officials said that they had reformed the broadcast of print, audio, and other media by 90 percent. They did not elaborate on the process of reformation.
They announced the seizure of 13,250 psychedelic pills last year and said that the ministry had also closed 25 shops which sold alcoholic drinks.
The announcement of the destruction of musical instruments in the country comes even as the group has banned music across the country. The Taliban have declared playing, listening and producing music illegal and forbidden in Afghanistan.
The Taliban's Directorate of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Parwan Province announced on Monday that it had set fire to "hundreds of musical instruments" that it had collected over the past year . The Taliban's governor's office in Parwan urged people not to use musical instruments at weddings.
The Taliban's Directorate of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Nimroz province had also announced on July 29 that it had set fire to 700 musical instruments and hookahs in the province.
