Collective Security Treaty Organisation Announces Military Drills Near Afghanistan

Without naming anyone, Saif Khyber said that these people were taking advantage of the "compulsions of the Pashtun people".

In a note on social media platform X, he wrote that these people attend jirgas, assemblies and demonstrations and "carry out the mission entrusted to them”.

The Taliban official said that these individuals achieve “facilities, and false heroic titles" in exchange for being the Pakistan intelligence agency, the "ISI's agent”.

Saif Khyber said that "deceiving the people with unnecessary words and baseless criticism in exchange for practical action" is what ISI operatives do.

Khyber is the first Taliban official to make such accusations against Pakistan's Pashtun tribal jirga. The organisers of the Pashtun Jirga in Pakistan have not yet responded to the remarks.

The Taliban official's harsh remarks came after participants of the Pashtun Jirga in Khyber supported the right of Afghan girls and women to education and the formation of an inclusive government in the country.

The three-day Jirga of Pakistan's Pashtuns ended on Sunday with the issuance of the final statement of the meeting.

The tribal jirga officially called on the Pakistani army and militants in the Pashtun tribal areas to withdraw from these areas within the next two months.

Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of the Pashtun Protection Movement, read out the final statement of the National Justice Jirga in the presence of thousands of participants on Sunday evening local time.

In his speech, Pashteen called on the participants of the Pashtun Jirga to ask the Afghan Taliban to open schools to girls and form an inclusive government.

The Taliban representative accused some Afghans living in Pakistan of not respecting the principle of neutrality with "false feelings”.

The Taliban's Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation wrote in a statement on Sunday, October 13, that the Taliban's deputy chief of refugee affairs in Islamabad made the announcement during a meeting with a number of Afghans living in Pakistan.

According to the statement, Pakistani security agencies have recently arrested a number of Afghan refugees in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The Taliban did not provide details about the number of people detained.

However, Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced on October 10, 2024, that the recent protests in Islamabad involving Imran Khan's supporters in Islamabad, had the presence of Afghan citizens, and that 120 of them were arrested. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has denied the allegations that Afghans are participating in the protests.

These centres were constructed with financial assistance from the European Union, but European officials have allegedly ignored the conditions within them.

The findings indicate that Türkiye, using resources and equipment provided by the EU, has deported hundreds of thousands of Afghan and Syrian refugees.

According to these reports, at least €213 million of EU funds were spent on the construction and refurbishment of 30 deportation centres in Türkiye. Refugees in these centres face overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, abuse, and torture.

Afghan and Syrian refugees are often coerced through violence and force into signing documents for their “voluntary” return.

These refugees have reported being beaten and held in cold rooms for up to 12 hours in the deportation centres. They claim that Turkish authorities ignored their basic rights.

The investigations also revealed that these refugees find it extremely difficult to contact a lawyer or family members.

Despite extensive evidence of human rights violations in Turkish deportation centres, senior EU officials have repeatedly overlooked the issue.

They emphasised that visual media should be converted into radio stations.
This action is taking place within the framework of the implementation of the Taliban's new law for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice, which has been implemented recently. According to this law, photography and filming of living creatures is forbidden.

The meeting was held on Sunday, October 13, in the presence of intelligence and morality officials at the office of the Taliban's director of information and culture in Takhar, sources said.

According to sources, some representatives of the visual media said in response to the order that they needed to produce and broadcast their programmes in visual form, but the Taliban insisted on converting television content to radio or stopping their activities altogether.

Barkatullah Barakat, press affairs manager at the Taliban's intelligence department, warned at the meeting that anyone who disobeyed the order would be dealt with. He emphasised that they will use all means to implement the decree of the Taliban leader.

Also, the Taliban has announced that they will soon publish advertisements in the city of Taloqan and Takhar districts, and people are asked not to use smartphones.
The Taliban has warned that violators will be dealt with harshly.

About two weeks ago, the Taliban also informed journalists and visual media personnel in Takhar that filming and photography were no longer allowed.

The Taliban has previously stopped the broadcast of some local television stations, including in Kandahar, and required media outlets to broadcast audio instead of images. Earlier, women's voices were stopped in Kandahar and some southern provinces.

He further noted that the number of women in the ministry could increase in the future if necessary.

Since their return to power in 2021, the Taliban have prohibited women from working in most government offices and private sectors. Women are now restricted to limited roles in the police force, education, and healthcare sectors.

The ban on women’s employment and education has drawn widespread criticism from countries, political groups, and civil society organisations both within Afghanistan and internationally.

The Taliban claim that the conditions for women’s employment and education are not yet conducive. However, critics argue that the group has enforced these restrictions for religious and political reasons.