We Want Order & Stability In Region, Says Taliban's Deputy PM

Abdul Kabir also said that they are trying to make Afghanistan self-sufficient in the field of electricity production.

"The group wants stability and order in the region and will fight against groups that disrupt security," the Taliban's deputy prime minister was quoted as saying on Monday, according to a Taliban statement.

It seems that the Taliban’s deputy prime minister reacted to the statement of the countries of the region about the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan. Munir Akram Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations announced at a Security Council meeting last week that the Afghan Taliban are facilitating the activities and attacks of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

TTP militants use Afghan territory to carry out attacks inside Pakistan on a daily basis, Akram added.

Abdul Kabir said at a conference on investment opportunities in the energy production sector in Kabul that for the Taliban, "the management of water resources is a priority, and the Islamic Emirate intends to pave the way for the implementation of regional projects”.

The Taliban's deputy prime minister added that Afghanistan will soon become a regional trade and transit hub, and Afghanistan's domestic products will enter international markets.

The Taliban has been able to improve their trade relations with some Central Asian countries in the past three years. However, due to sanctions and the inclusion of the group on the UN list of terrorist organisations, the group has failed to improve political and economic relations with other countries.

However, Abdul Kabir also called for the lifting of restrictions on the Taliban's banking system.

Afghan Citizen Executed In Iran

Sep 30, 2024, 16:45 GMT+1

The Haalvsh Human Rights Organisation reported that the Islamic Republic of Iran has executed an Afghan prisoner in Mashhad's Vakilabad Public Prison.

The organisation said on Monday that the man's death sentence was carried out in secret without the knowledge of his family.

The Afghan prisoner was arrested in 2019 on drug-related charges, the Haalvsh Human Rights Organisation said in the statement.

The Afghan man has been identified as "Nesar Ahmad Rahmati" and had been transferred from the general ward to solitary confinement on Sunday.

No information has yet been released about the trial and prison conditions of these Afghans, and so far, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iranian state media have not commented on the execution.

On Sunday, the Iran Human Rights Organisation (IHR) announced the execution of 14 prisoners, including two Afghans, in Shiraz Central Prison.

Hundreds Of Books In Herat Libraries Deemed As 'Undesirable' By Taliban & Sealed

Sep 30, 2024, 15:23 GMT+1

The Taliban in Herat has called hundreds of books in various fields in the province's libraries "undesirable" and sealed them.

According to a list compiled by the Taliban, these books are mainly written in the fields of literature, history, human rights, constitution, democracy, and the Shia sect.

A copy of these lists has been obtained by Afghanistan International.

The Taliban has called books "undesirable" in the library of the Ahmad Shah Massoud Cultural Foundation, the library of Amir Ali Sher Nawai Women's High School, and the library of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Ghori High School.

It is said that these libraries belong to the education department of Herat province.

These books in various fields such as politics, human rights, history, literature, culture, religion, and Shiite sect are mainly written in Persian.

According to the lists prepared by the Taliban, the group's officials, under the name of the "Supervisory Board of Libraries of Schools in Herat Province", have deemed these books "undesirable".

At the end of the lists, the Taliban delegation wrote that the books have been handed over to the head of the libraries "until further notice”.

The Taliban has also attached pictures to the list that show that the bookshelves in these libraries have been sealed.

According to the list, the Taliban have sealed 667 titles of books in only three libraries in Herat. Sources said that the Taliban's surveillance and censorship goes beyond public libraries.

In the list published by the Taliban, at least three books by Abdul Latif Nazari, the Taliban's deputy minister of economy, can also be seen.

These books have been written by Nazari under the titles of "Citizenship Rights in Afghanistan", "The Concept of Democracy", and "Globalisation and Security in the Middle East". The Taliban has also called the Pashto translations of Nazari's works "undesirable" and sealed them.

After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban began efforts to censor and remove books containing content that contradicts the group's ideology and strict interpretation of religion.

The Taliban's actions to restrict citizens' access to books come as a result of increasing restrictions on publishers, sellers, and importers of books.

In May this year, the Taliban's Ministry of Information and Culture announced that the "Book Evaluation Commission" had reviewed 20 books in a meeting and had not granted publication licences to some of them.

Mahajer Farahi, the Taliban's deputy minister of information and culture, also said that the group would prevent the publication of books that are against "Islamic values and traditions of Afghan society”.

UN Wants To Recognise Gender Apartheid In Afghanistan, Says Gordon Brown

Sep 30, 2024, 12:48 GMT+1

Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education announced that the United Nations intends to recognise gender apartheid in Afghanistan.

Brown called the Taliban's restrictions on women and girls the most severe violation of girls' rights in the world.

"Adolescent girls are deprived of education and basic freedoms of life, and the United Nations intends to recognize it as gender apartheid," he said at a news conference.

The former British prime minister and UN special envoy for global education continued that many organisations are currently supporting Afghan girls by providing online education and scholarships.

The UN official also called on all countries, especially Muslim countries, to unite and call for an end to the oppression of girls in Afghanistan.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has banned girls' education in schools and universities.

Taliban Publicly Flogs Woman in Faryab

Sep 30, 2024, 11:34 GMT+1

The Taliban's Supreme Court in Faryab announced that a woman was flogged in public on charges of extramarital affairs and running away from home.

The Taliban’s court said in a statement on Monday that the woman had been sentenced to 30 lashes and six months in prison.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Taliban's Supreme Court said that the flogging sentence was carried out based on the decision of the Faryab Province Court of Appeal.

It is said that this woman was punished in the presence of Taliban officials and a large number of people.

After regaining control of Afghanistan, the Taliban has repeatedly punished individuals on various charges in public.

Human rights organisations consider corporal punishment of individuals to be contrary to international law and human dignity and call for an end to it.

ISIS Leadership Transferred To Pakistan With Help Of Intelligence Agencies, Claims Taliban

Sep 30, 2024, 10:16 GMT+1

The Taliban spokesman announced that the leaders and members of ISIS-K have been transferred from Afghanistan to Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan with the help of intelligence agencies.

Zabihullah Mujahid said that ISIS-K has training centres in these provinces of Pakistan.

Mujahid said in a statement on Monday, that the group's special unit arrested the perpetrators of the attack on the employees of the General Directorate of Prosecution and Supervision of Orders and Judgments (formerly the Prosecutor's Office) by launching operations in Kabul and Nangarhar.

"After ISIS was eliminated by special units," Mujahid said, the group's leaders and remaining members of ISIS-K were transferred to Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa "with the help of some intelligence agencies", where they have training centres.

The Taliban spokesman said that ISIS-K "carries out attacks from these new centres both in Afghanistan and other countries, as well as target religious scholars and members of religious, and political groups in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and in some cases, use them for their sinister purposes”.

Previously, Pakistan has always accused the Taliban government of harbouring terrorist groups such as ISIS and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), but this time the Taliban has accused Pakistan.

The Taliban spokesman's statement said that the detained ISIS members were also involved in other attacks, including attacks on foreign tourists in Bamiyan. Among them was a Tajik citizen who was planning a suicide attack, the statement said.

The Taliban spokesman said that the group's forces also killed two ISIS members in Faryab and Kabul.

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