Afghan Political Activists Convene Behind Closed Doors in Istanbul

According to a statement from the embassy, this new route originates in the city of Nantong, China, and is intended to facilitate the transportation of goods between China and the Hairatan port in northern Afghanistan.

On Thursday, the Taliban embassy in Beijing released a statement declaring that the Nantong-Hairatan railway line was inaugurated in the presence of Bilal Karimi, the Taliban’s representative in China; Yue Xiaoyong, China’s representative for Afghanistan; and several Nantong officials, including the city’s mayor and the heads of transportation and foreign relations.

According to the statement, the first journey of the freight train to the Hairatan port has commenced, with an initial shipment of 50 containers expected to reach its destination within the next 20 days.

During his address at the ceremony, Karimi emphasised the Taliban’s prioritisation of economic ties with neighbouring countries, noting that this project could help strengthen economic and trade relations between Kabul and Beijing. He remarked, “As we view China through the Nantong railway line as a gateway to the broader world, we believe that the Wakhan Corridor can also serve as an efficient and cost-effective link between Afghanistan and China.”

The Wakhan Corridor, located in the Pamir mountains of Badakhshan, connects Afghanistan from the northeast to China, Tajikistan, and Pakistan, and provides the only direct route between Afghanistan and China’s Xinjiang or Kashgar region.

The statement also quoted Nantong city officials, who indicated that the process of goods transportation between the two countries will continue.

The Taliban highlighted that this freight railway line was executed under China’s “Belt and Road Initiative.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the medal was awarded in accordance with Russian President Vladimir Putin's Decree No. 892, issued on October 16.

The Russian Foreign Ministry wrote on social media platform Telegram that the medal was given to Juma Khan in recognition of his role in strengthening friendship and cooperation between the people of Russia and Afghanistan.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced in its statement that Sergey Lavrov presented the medal to Mohammad Nadir Shah Juma Khan on Wednesday, October 30.

Earlier, in June 2019, Sergey Lavrov had also awarded the "friendship" medal to Mohammad Nadir Shah.

According to Russian media reports, Mohammad Nadir Shah Juma Khan, the director of Alokozay Company in Russia, was involved in organising the first intra-Afghan meeting between the Taliban and Afghan political leaders in 2019.

The ministry said on Thursday that the men had been arrested on charges of extramarital affairs and "promoting moral corruption".

The Taliban's Ministry of Virtue reported on Thursday, that the arrested individuals have been referred to judicial authorities after thorough investigation.

Earlier, on October 30, the ministry announced the arrest of seven people in Kabul on charges of "moral corruption”.

The Taliban's Law for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has given extensive powers to the group's Ministry of Virtue, whose officials also have the right to arrest individuals.

"Over time, I realised that supporters of women's education have remained silent out of fear [of the Taliban] or have agreed to this repression," one woman told the UN.

The report, released on Wednesday, is a joint survey by UNAMA, UN Women and the UN Migration Agency, which interviewed 776 women in 34 provinces of Afghanistan.

"Nearly half (47 percent) of these women feel that the community support for primary education for girls has declined, and this figure rises to 65 percent for secondary education for girls," the United Nations wrote in its report.

The women interviewed "stated that they feel a change in society's attitude towards women's rights, which stems from the fear of punishment from the ruling authorities and the strengthening of patriarchal norms throughout the country”.

The Taliban has been isolated internationally due to the ban on girls' education, but they have been able to reduce the importance of modern primary education for girls in the eyes of families. The United Nations says that due to the ban on girls' education in secondary and high school levels, many families feel that primary education is not beneficial for their daughters.

Also, some families have coped with this situation and want their daughters to learn a trade, go to religious school, or get married. The United Nations has said that due to the ban on education, early marriage of girls has increased in Afghanistan.

However, the United Nations says a number of families have continued to educate their daughters in secret.

‘Exclusion from society’

In the new study, 70 percent of women said that they had been deprived of going to public places such as parks and health centres in the past 12 months.

The Taliban has banned women from entering recreational areas and historical sites, they said, despite being accompanied by a male relative. Women said that Taliban agents tell them that these places are only for men.

Meanwhile, 69 percent of women said that they did not feel safe when they left the house. This feeling has caused them to isolate themselves from society and suffer from psychological problems such as depression.

The Taliban insists that they have made society safe for Afghan women, but at the same time, they call on women not to leave the house for no reason. It seems that the Taliban's violent treatment of women, mainly due to the type of clothing and the lack of a male companion, has exacerbated women's sense of insecurity on the streets.

‘Closed Door of Justice’

The report of three UN agencies shows that women have been deprived of the support and services of legal and justice authorities in Afghanistan and are not able to go to these institutions due to gender barriers.

Nearly 80 percent of the women interviewed told the organisation that Taliban government agents refuse to investigate their legal cases. Meanwhile, 79 percent of Afghan women have not referred to any official judicial institution in the past year to resolve their legal disputes and problems.

In the first step, they said that the Taliban do not allow women to go to courts or offices of justices without a male guardian, and that the group's administrations close or ignore their cases without investigation due to gender discrimination.

‘Women's Demands’

These social restrictions for women have led 57 percent of women respondents to describe their economic situation as worse than in the past. In their view, restrictions, including having a mahram, have kept them out of the economy.

They called on the Taliban to open girls' schools at all levels, respect international human rights standards, including women's rights, and remove obstacles to women's work, including the mandatory mahram.

The women told the United Nations that the world should increase pressure on the Taliban to realise women's rights, especially women's right to education and work.

Posting a video of the persecution of Afghan refugees in the country, he said that such behaviour is "unjustifiable" and "painful". According to the video, a number of Iranian men harass and use violence against Afghan women.

Masoud Pezeshkian's aide wrote on the social media network X on Wednesday, "The ugly racist acts towards immigrants are unjustifiable and are not compatible with Iranian culture and spirit. Just as it saddens us to see an Iranian girl suffering, it should also cause us pain and regret to see Afghan girls being slapped.”

Rabiei stressed that "the issue of refugees should only be addressed and resolved within a logical, planned and policy-oriented framework”.

He also stressed on the need to preserve the human dignity of Afghan refugees, saying, "Human dignity must be preserved for everyone, anywhere in the world."

Over the past few months, in addition to physical violence against migrants, there has been a campaign of anti-Afghan and deportation of migrants on social media in Iran.

With the advent of Iran's new government, living conditions have become more difficult for immigrants. Iran plans to deport hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants by the end of this year. This process is accompanied by arrests, harassment and violence by government agents and ordinary citizens against Afghan refugees.

To discourage immigrants from coming to Iran, the Iranian government has increased restrictions on work and life in Iran. The government has banned the entry of Afghan refugees into some cities and provinces and warned employers against hiring them.

Authorities have threatened that hiring Afghan refugees could lead to up to a year in prison. Also, in some areas, immigrants are denied the right to rent a house.