Taliban Announces Reshuffle Of Group's Officials In Several Provinces

The financial package is dedicated to the provision of basic services, including health, education and food security, and focuses on protecting the rights of women and girls.

The European Commission on Wednesday announced that the financial package focuses on the rights of women, girls, children and vulnerable populations, including internally displaced persons and migrants.

This financial support was pledged on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
"The EU stands firmly in support of the people of Afghanistan. "The more the Taliban government restricts the freedoms of women and girls, the greater the need for our presence."

The European Commission's statement said that the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, has also signed three other programmes to support livelihoods and access to health services for the people of Afghanistan.

These include €15 million to the United Nations Development Programme, €16 million to the World Health Organisation and €15 million to the United Nations Population Fund.

Since 2021, the European Union has allocated at least €900 million to meet basic needs and livelihoods in Afghanistan.

In June this year, the commission also announced that it had allocated 150 million euros in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

Hospital sources said on Wednesday that two weeks have passed since the outbreak of the mystery illness and two people have died so far due to it.

According to the details given to Afghanistan International by hospital sources, diarrhoea, fever, vomiting, and lethargy are among the symptoms of the disease.

Hekmat Shamim, the spokesman for the Taliban’s governor in Parwan, confirmed the outbreak of the disease and the death of two people.

The Taliban's Ministry of Public Health has not yet commented on the matter.

According to sources, about 500 residents of Dara-e-Kafshan in Shinwari district have been infected with the disease and the health condition of some of them is critical. Some of the patients have been transferred to Kabul's Antani Hospital.

Afghanistan's health system relies mainly on foreign aid, and with the return of the Taliban and the subsequent developments, it has suffered from a lack of financial and human resources.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in May expressed concern over the shortage of professional health workers in Afghanistan, saying the lack of health facilities in remote areas of Afghanistan has put many lives at risk.

The Taliban has asked Russia to invite the group to the BRICS meeting, but Moscow has not responded to this request so far.

Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported last week that the Taliban had sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov requesting him that they want to attend the BRICS leaders' meeting.

The letter stated that Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's deputy prime minister, is interested in attending the BRICS summit in Kazan.

The letter was sent by the Taliban's Minister of Industry and Trade Nooruddin Azizi. The BRICS summit is scheduled to be held from October 22 to 24 in the Russian city of Kazan.

Zabihullah Mujahid told the Taliban-controlled National Radio and Television on Wednesday, that powerful countries in the economic arena are members of the BRICS, and that is why Taliban representatives want to participate in the upcoming meeting. The move could provide more economic opportunities for Afghanistan, he said.

So far, no country has recognised the Taliban. Despite its diplomatic relations with the Taliban, Russia has not yet responded to the Taliban's request.

The main members of the BRICS group are Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The group expanded with the membership of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Ethiopia at the beginning of this year.

Russia has announced that the upcoming meeting will focus on developing cooperation in three key areas: political and security, economic and financial, and cultural.

The Taliban's prime minister office on Tuesday released an audio file of Hibatullah's speech during a visit to Kunduz province.

According to the audio file, Mullah Hibatullah said that he had been told that prisoners had been killed in one of the prisons.

After learning about this, he called the prison official and asked whether the killings were carried out with or without a court order. The prison official replied that he was not aware of these events and that his colleagues killed the prisoners, as per the audio recording.

The Taliban leader said that the negligence of the prison official was unjustifiable, and he was permanently expelled from the ranks of the Taliban and retired. Akhundzada said that they will lose their system due to the negligence of Taliban officials.

Earlier, sources confirmed to Afghanistan International that over the past three years, 87 people have died as a result of torture in the Taliban's intelligence prisons. The sources said that the individuals were killed by methods such as electric shocks, suffocation, drowning and torture of sexual organs.

Most of these prisoners were former military personnel, members of the National Resistance Front, and anti-Taliban activists.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also published a report on the conditions of Taliban prisons last year. In a report on September 20 last year, UNAMA reported on widespread human rights violations in Taliban prisons, stressing that nearly 50% of these violations include torture and other treatment or "cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment”.

On September 10, the Taliban announced that Hibatullah Akhundzada had travelled to several northern provinces, including Kunduz.

In another part of his speech, Mullah Hibatullah addressed the difficulty in taking responsibility for the Taliban forces and said that their success is in danger.

He warned his forces that "many heroes have failed in this field”. He prayed that God would not fail or embarrass them.

The Taliban leader also referred to the mujahideen's war against the former Soviet Union, saying that the mujahideen had made many sacrifices, but the leaders had been sold.

Mullah Hibatullah also expressed concern over the increase in the number of Taliban members not praying. He said that he has received reports that lack of observing prayer among the Taliban and the public has increased.

He emphasised that the duty of the Islamic system is to educate people to pray. He also emphasised on the preservation and care of mosques.

Referring to the protests over the Law of Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the Taliban leader said that the Taliban will not fail to implement this law and will not give concessions to anyone.

He stressed that "the promotion of virtue is the main duty of the Islamic system," accusing the West of "promoting democracy and corruption and prostitution in Afghanistan for 20 years”.

The debate over the hijab and the implementation of religious rulings has become a sensitive issue, he said, adding that today, people, especially young people, are attracted to issues such as obscenity and watching television.

When a young Muslim woman's hijab is discussed, it is quickly criticised on social media, he said.

Mullah Hibatullah stressed that the Taliban is determined to fight vice and reform laws, and that "Sharia must be realised by any means, whether by force or forgiveness”.

According to the Taliban, the Iranian delegation also committed to holding training courses on standard mining for engineers from the group's Ministry of Mines.

Mullah Hidayatullah Badri, the Taliban's Minister of Mines and Petroleum, met with Ahmad Mohseni, a representative of the Iranian government, and representatives of six mining companies on Tuesday, to discuss investment in Afghanistan's mineral resources.

According to the Taliban, representatives of Iranian companies are interested in investing in Afghanistan's iron, coal and oil mines.

Earlier, the Taliban's Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced the visit of a delegation from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Kabul and said that the delegation had proposed investment for "the establishment of a special economic and mineral zone between Iran and Afghanistan" and the extraction of Afghanistan's iron mines.