Former Afghan Military Officer Arrested by Taliban After Returning from Iran

He also emphasised that the Taliban must ensure that Afghan soil is not used for attacks against Pakistan.

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported on Saturday, August 24, that Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman supports dialogue between Pakistan and the Taliban.

During a press conference, he said, "Both sides should always keep the doors of dialogue open."
He added that the strained relations between

Pakistan and Afghanistan are due to the actions of their rulers, not the people of the two countries, who have supported each other for nearly 45 years.

The leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan stated that the current tension between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban is a sensitive issue, and meaningful dialogue could help find a solution.

Earlier this year, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, Pakistan's former ambassador to Kabul, announced that relations between Islamabad and Afghanistan under Taliban rule have deteriorated significantly.

The main source of tension between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani government is the activities of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which, according to Pakistani officials, carries out attacks on Pakistan's security forces from Afghan soil.

Amiri urged the international community to refrain from normalising relations with the Taliban until they improve their human rights practices.

In a post on the social media platform X on Friday, Amiri wrote that the Taliban's decision to ban Richard Bennett's travel and the enactment of the "Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" law clearly demonstrates that the group is doubling down on the extremist policies they had imposed in the 1990s.

The US Special Envoy advised the global community to maintain distance from the Taliban until there is significant improvement in their human rights record. She added that this is crucial for the international community in terms of norms, economics, and security.

On Tuesday, August 21, the Taliban banned the UN Special Rapporteur from entering Afghanistan. A day later, on August 22, they announced that the group's leader had enacted the "Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" law.

Human rights organisations and women's rights activists have strongly condemned the recent actions of the Taliban.

Of these, seven ISIS members were arrested in Fars province and seven others in Tehran, Alborz and Khuzestan provinces, the ministry said.

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence said in a statement on Friday, “Fourteen elements directed by the American-Zionist group known as ISIS-K have been identified and arrested on the orders of judicial authorities."

According to a statement by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, members of ISIS-K had entered Iran illegally in recent days with the aim of carrying out "terrorist operations”. It is not clear from which country these individuals entered Iran.

The ministry has not released any information about the identities of the arrested individuals.

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence also called on citizens and those involved in mosques, and religious centres to act with full vigilance as there is an upcoming Shia religious ceremony and to report suspicious movements to the security forces.

This comes as deadly ISIS-K attacks have also increased in Afghanistan and Pakistan's border areas. Earlier, ISIS-K claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack on a Taliban vehicle in Dara-e-Noor district of Nangarhar Province.

ISIS also claimed responsibility for two more attacks on Pakistani troops in the Khyber and Bajaur areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which are located near the Afghan border in the past week.

Previously, Shia religious scholars have repeatedly called on the Taliban to recognise the Shia sect as another official sect in Afghanistan.

The official recognition of the Ja'fari sect in the Taliban regime, the teaching of Ja'fari jurisprudence in universities and schools for Shiite students, and the meaningful participation of Shiites in government agencies are among the primary demands of the Shiite Ulema Council from the Taliban.

The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported on Friday, August 23, that the group's justice minister met with Dr Selim Argun, Vice-President of Turkiye’s Religious Affairs.

According to the report, the Taliban's justice minister called Afghanistan and Turkey two countries with religious commonalities.

The remarks come as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year strongly criticised the Taliban's ban on girls' education, saying it was neither humane nor Islamic.

According to Bakhtar, the Turkish delegation during a meeting with the Taliban's justice minister stated that the country is ready to cooperate and present its experiences in the legal and judicial sectors.

Safaei, director of aliens and foreign immigrants of South Khorasan Governorate, said that Afghans are prohibited from staying in 10 other districts of the province.

In an interview with Mehr News Agency published on Thursday, he added, "There are more than 10,000 foreign nationals residing in South Khorasan."

According to him, most of the foreign citizens in South Khorasan are Afghans.
Safaei also reported that about 1,700 students and 600 foreign students are studying in South Khorasan.

Safaei added that buying and selling real estate to "unauthorised Afghans" is prohibited.

The official warned that "unauthorised Afghans" will not be given any kind of assistance and that they will be dealt with and deported from Iran as soon as they are identified.

Iranian officials have recently said that they are closing the country's borders to prevent the illegal entry of migrants, the movement of terrorists and drug traffickers.
About a week ago, Sirous Amanollahi, a commander of the Iranian army's ground forces, said that the closure of borders in Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan and Sistan and Baluchestan would be completed in three years.