Taliban Issued Nearly 400 Directives Directly Affecting Humanitarian Operations, Says UN

"China will provide Afghanistan with zero percent tariffs for 100 percent tariff lines," Zhao Xing wrote on social media platform X on Thursday.

China has sought to expand its ties with the Taliban since the group took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, but like all countries, it has refused to formally recognise the group's government.

Under Taliban control, Afghanistan offers abundant mineral resources to Chinese companies.

Meanwhile, the sale of Afghanistan's lithium, copper and iron reserves to the world's largest commodity buyer will help the Taliban bolster its weak economy and provide a much-needed revenue stream.

Late Thursday, China's ambassador to Afghanistan, Zhao Xing, posted a photo of his meeting with Abdul Kabir, the Taliban's deputy prime minister, on his official X account, saying, "China will provide zero percent tariffs to Afghanistan for 100 percent tariff lines."

According to Chinese customs data, Afghanistan exported $64 million worth of goods to China last year, nearly 90 percent of which was pine nuts. The Taliban has said that they are looking to attract foreign investors willing to help diversify Afghanistan's economy and exploit the country's mineral wealth.

Afghanistan did not export any goods to China last year, but since his appointment last September, China's ambassador to Kabul has regularly posted photos of meetings with Taliban officials in charge of mining, oil, trade and regional communications.

Several Chinese companies operate in Afghanistan, including China Metallurgical Co. Ltd. which has held talks with the Taliban government about a large copper mine in Logar.

At a September summit in Beijing attended by more than 50 African leaders, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that goods entering his country's $19 trillion economy from "less developed countries that have diplomatic relations with China" from December 1 would not be subject to import tariffs.

The Taliban's embassy in China has not commented on the Chinese ambassador's remarks in Kabul.

Last October, Afghanistan's acting commerce minister told Reuters that the Taliban wanted to formally join China's Belt and Road Infrastructure Initiative.

The Taliban has also called on China to allow the group to be part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $62 billion connectivity project that connects China's resource-rich Xinjiang region to Pakistan's Gwadar port.

The Taliban intelligence agency had arrested Wafa more than three months ago for no apparent reason.

Wafa's family allege that he was tortured by the Taliban intelligence officials.

Meanwhile, a source from Nangarhar National Radio and Television told Afghanistan International's Pashto section that Aziz Ahmad Wafa had been dismissed from his job by the TV department.

In the past four months, the Taliban has arrested about nine journalists without clear reasons and then released some while others are still in the group's custody.

The Taliban's arbitrary detention and torture of journalists has repeatedly drawn widespread reactions from human rights organisations.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said that journalists in Afghanistan continue to face arbitrary arrests.

In a separate development, the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) also said that it had attacked a Taliban battalion on the outskirts of Maimana city, the capital of Faryab province.

The Afghanistan Freedom Front said that two Taliban fighters had been killed and two others were wounded in the attack.

A spokesman for the Taliban's police command in Faryab indirectly confirmed the attack in response to reporters. The Maimana explosion was caused by a car tyre burst, he said, and called on journalists to dismiss the "rumours of an attack".

The Afghanistan Freedom Front has also released a video of its attack on the Taliban's base in the city of Maimana. The video shows what appears to be a Taliban stronghold, its gate and the group's flag above it, the passage of vehicles and citizens, as well as the sound of a relatively large explosion.

Attack in Kabul

In Kabul, the National Resistance Front (NRF) announced that its forces attacked a Taliban patrol on Thursday evening, October 24, in which three Taliban members were killed.

The NRF said in a statement that the attack was carried out at 6:30 pm on Thursday in the area of the Kart-e-Naw bakery station, which is related to the 8th security district of Kabul city, on the Taliban's intelligence forces.

The statement said that as a result, the weapons of the Taliban members were also captured by the forces of this front.

Earlier, local sources told Afghanistan International that they heard a loud explosion. According to them, the site of the explosion was Karte-e-Naw.

The Taliban has not yet commented on the attack.

The organisation wrote in its report that the two men were named Ayub Sangar and Abdul Raqib Maliki.

The Hengaw report states that the two men were executed on charges of "premeditated murder”.

The Hengaw Human Rights Organisation wrote that the authorities of the Central Prison in the city of Qom executed these prisoners on Tuesday morning.

On Wednesday, October 23, Hengaw also announced the execution of an Afghan citizen in Iran. The organisation did not provide details about the identity of the Afghan.

So far, the Taliban has not commented on the incident and no detailed information about the perpetrator of the murder has been published.

According to locals, one of Hasna's brothers-in-law, Yaqoob, was also killed during a "family dispute”.

Locals said that the Taliban had arrested Hasna's uncle, Bismillah, on charges of murder, but Bismillah denied involvement in the murder.

Haji Darwish, Hosna's father-in-law, has also been accused of shooting during the family dispute that led to the murder of his son Yaqoob and his daughter-in-law.

Previously, in Afghanistan and the tribal areas, claims about the girl “not being a virgin” have led to catastrophic consequences such as femicide. Experts say that women suffer from anxiety and worry due to these issues.

The virginity of a woman has been a controversial topic and concern for many societies for centuries.