Countries' Interaction With Taliban Based On Tactical Interests, Says Ahmad Massoud

Gandapur had previously asked Islamabad for permission to negotiate peace with the Taliban, but Pakistan's defence minister had said he did not have such authority.

The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday asked Islamabad to allow him to negotiate peace with the Afghan Taliban.

According to Pakistani media, Ali Amin Gandapur, during a meeting with the Taliban's consul general in Peshawar, spoke of his willingness to make serious efforts to establish lasting peace in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Gandapur also stressed on the importance of forming a people's jirga to resolve security issues in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

During a meeting with the Taliban's consul general in Peshawar, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also emphasised on resolving trade problems on the border between the two countries and assured him that government officials will cooperate with Afghan refugees who have legal residency documents.

Ali Amin Gandapur had previously said that if the government did not allow him to hold peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, he would lead tribal elders to negotiate with the Taliban as a senior minister.

"Peace in the province depends on a peaceful Afghanistan," he said at a meeting with tribal leaders and party representatives, stressing that a clear policy and timetable are needed to eliminate militancy in the province.

Following the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister's remarks to negotiate with the Afghan Taliban, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that no province has the authority to negotiate with a foreign country. He accused Gandapur of endangering Pakistan's security.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is currently in jail, has backed his party colleague Gandapur's plan to negotiate with the Afghan Taliban.

The organisation said that since the Taliban came to power in August 2021, ISIS has claimed responsibility for at least 17 attacks against Hazaras, in which more than 700 people were killed and wounded.

Referring to the shooting of 14 Hazaras in Daikundi claimed by ISIS, the Human Rights Watch said that ISIS-K has killed and wounded thousands of Hazaras and other religious minorities since its emergence in Afghanistan in 2015.

In 2021, Human Rights Watch said that it concluded that ISIS-K attacks and other targeted attacks against the Hazara community amounted to crimes against humanity.
On Friday, the organisation recalled that Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, called for an investigation into ISIS attacks in Afghanistan.

"The recent attack underscores the urgent need for the Taliban to take effective measures to protect all at-risk communities in Afghanistan, including Hazaras and other Shia Muslims," Human Rights Watch wrote.

The organisation also stressed that countries with ties to the Taliban should call for better support for at-risk communities and support the establishment of a mechanism to respond to international crimes in Afghanistan.

Survivors and families of victims need support in their quest for justice, Human Rights Watch said.
The UN Human Rights Council should also heed the call of Afghan and international human rights groups to establish a comprehensive international mechanism to hold violators accountable in Afghanistan.

ISIS-K said in a statement on Thursday that it had killed 15 civilians in Daikundi.

Just a few months after the Taliban came to power, ISIS threatened to kill Shiites from Baghdad to Khorasan.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said at a press conference that António Guterres stressed on the protection of civilians in Afghanistan.

He said at the press conference on Friday that Guterres offered his condolences to the families of the victims of the attack.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also expressed sympathy with the families of the victims in a statement on Friday and called for the Taliban's investigation and accountability in this regard.

At least 14 people were killed and four others wounded in Thursday's armed attack on Hazara civilians in the village of Qarodal, an area between Ghor and Daikundi provinces.

Hours after the attack, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that 15 people were killed in the attack.

In a statement, the NRF said that they attacked a Taliban patrol in the Hodkhel area of the city. Earlier, two local sources in Kabul had reported an explosion in the area.

The NRF added that a vehicle ferrying Taliban members was also destroyed in the attack, and no NRF personnel were harmed.

Taliban officials have not yet commented on the incident.

A video clip released by media outlets associated with the National Resistance Front captures the sound of an explosion.

In order to counter the Taliban's interference, Afghanistan International has started its satellite broadcast on another frequency.

Rahmatullah Nabil, the former head of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS), wrote on the social media network X that the Taliban's jamming of Afghanistan International TV broadcasts "shows their fear of a free media" and a direct attack on freedom of expression and people's right to access information. Nabil added that the Taliban has now resorted to censorship instead of listening to criticism.

Nabil called Afghanistan International a "key voice and a vital platform" for Afghans and a platform to strengthen voices inside Afghanistan. Despite the Taliban's efforts to silence independent media, Afghans will have access to accurate information as the free media fights, he said.

In response to the Taliban's action against Afghanistan International TV's broadcasts, Daoud Naji, head of the political committee of the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF), said that the use of jamming to suppress the media is "a sign of the Taliban's extreme fear" of voices and protests that have gone beyond the level of society and ordinary people and have now reached the Taliban's inner layers.

Naji added that media outlets operating in Afghanistan under the Taliban's control cannot comply with any of the media standards due to the fear of the group.

The head of the political committee of the Afghanistan Freedom Front emphasised that the use of technology for censorship is a failed experiment that has not yielded results in other countries.

On the other hand, Abdullah Khanjani, head of the political office of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, said that the exiled media, especially Afghanistan International TV, is one of the most important achievements after Afghanistan fell into the pit of ignorance and regression.

Abdullah Khanjani stressed that the Taliban has suffered from a content crisis and their systematic attacks on Afghanistan International TV are a sign of the Taliban's psychological failure in public opinion and the group's moral decline in the public psyche.