Taliban Urges Female Health Workers In Kandahar To Not Go To Work Without Male Relative

These sources said that stricter implementation of the Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Virtue is on the agenda of the meeting between the Taliban leader and the cabinet.

Taliban sources told Afghanistan International that members of the Taliban's cabinet arrived in Kandahar on Monday, November 4.

According to these sources, one of the main topics of the meeting between Hibatullah Akhundzada and his cabinet members will be the implementation of the law on the promotion of virtue throughout the country, and Akhundzada will issue instructions to the ministers.

Sources among the Taliban said that Hibatullah Akhundzada has banned Taliban members from taking photos and videos at the meeting.

‘Serious Warning About Law On Promotion of Virtue’

Sources close to the Taliban in Kandahar told Afghanistan International that Hibatullah Akhundzada is very serious about implementing the new law on the promotion of virtue and has warned some cabinet members who oppose these decrees.

These sources said that some members of the Taliban cabinet are opposed to the law on the promotion of virtue, but they are "hiding" their opposition from the Taliban leader.

According to the provisions of the Law on the Promotion of Virtue, there is currently an increase in the strictures in about 10 provinces of Afghanistan to prevent the dissemination of images of living beings. For example, Taliban officials in Kandahar are not allowed to post their photos and videos on social media.

‘Signs of Discontent’

Members of the Taliban's Haqqani Network on Sunday (November 3) posted videos on social media of Taliban’s Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani visiting a madrassa in Paktika Province. On the same day, pictures of Haqqani during his visit to Ghazni were also circulated on social media.

Some social media users reposted the images and said that Sirajuddin Haqqani was refusing Hibatullah Akhundzada's orders and the Law for the Promotion of Virtue by circulating these videos and photos.

On October 25, The New York Times published a report calling Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's interior minister, "the only voice of dissent" among the Taliban.
Some Afghan politicians said that The New York Times interview was an attempt to heroize Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is known to be responsible for the killing of civilians in Afghanistan.

Others, however, said the article was another sign that Sirajuddin Haqqani wanted to replace Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

About 10 days after the publication of this interview, sources within the Taliban said that the interview of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's interior minister, has also become controversial among the group members.

Some sources among the Taliban said that Hibatullah Akhundzada is dissatisfied with this interview and Sirajuddin Haqqani's statements, and believes that this interview has fueled the Taliban's internal disputes.

Sources said that the Taliban had accused Abbasi of "cooperating with the National Resistance Front" even though he was doing business after the fall of the previous government.

Sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban first arrested Abbasi in April 2023 on unknown charges and released him on bail after two months. The group arrested Abbasi again in February of the same year and was given a military trial after months of imprisonment.

According to sources, Abdul Karim Abbasi is currently in Taliban custody at the Bagram Prison.

According to sources, after the fall of the previous Afghan government, Abbasi did not leave the country, trusting the Taliban's announcement of a "general amnesty," despite the existing pressures.

Sources said that Abbasi owned a lapis lazuli stone shop in Kabul's Share Naw area and was "busy with personal business".

Afghanistan International has seen a copy of the verdict of the Taliban's military intelligence court in Kabul, in which Abbasi was accused of joining "evil and corruption”. The text states that Abbasi was invited by a person named Nasser to commit to "evil and corruption," and he accepted this invitation two years ago. The verdict was issued at the end of June this year.

The text of the decree states that Abbasi paid 35,000 Afghanis to another person named Abdul Qahar to organise an attack on a Taliban outpost in the Baharistan area of Kabul.

In this ruling, the Taliban judge claimed that Abdul Karim Abbasi had "confessed" to these charges.

However, sources said that Abbasi's trial took place without access to his lawyer.

Human rights organisations claim that the Taliban's judicial system does not meet legal standards, and that defendants often lack access to a lawyer and other legal procedures.

In the past three years, the Taliban has arrested, tortured, and in some cases killed many people, mainly residents of Panjshir, on charges of "cooperating with the National Resistance Front”.

The Taliban has not yet officially commented on the arrest and trial of the former head of the Panjshir Provincial Council.

Esmail Baghaei once again called the shooting of Afghans on the Iranian border as "baseless news".

During a press conference on Monday, November 4, the official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced, "The Afghan authorities issued a statement on this matter. "We are surprised and unhappy that there was an absence of news and that some Afghan officials have taken this baseless news seriously."

Haalvsh, a human rights organisation that reports on Sistan and Baluchestan region, first reported the shooting of Afghan migrants on Sunday evening, October 13, in the Kalgan-Saravan area. The news sparked global reactions.

According to the organisation, Iranian border forces in Saravan opened fire on a group of 300 Afghan migrants who were trying to enter Iran, killing and wounding dozens.

Two weeks after the publication of these reports, the Taliban confirmed the incident, announcing that two dead bodies and 34 injured in the deadly shooting and explosion of mines on the Iranian border had been transferred to Afghanistan.

The Taliban also noted that a number of other victims of the incident are in Iran and Pakistan, and that the group is trying to transfer them to Afghanistan.

According to sources, Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azimi had previously protested against the Taliban's restrictions on Ashura ceremonies.

Sources said that Mohammad Akbari, the former head of the Ulema Council of the town of al-Mahdi Jibril and the head of the Al-Yasin Seminary, and Hossein Azimi, the former head of the relations between the Council of Ulema Jibril and the Imam of the Sayyid al-Shuhada Mosque.

Sources said that the Taliban summoned the two Shia clerics to the police headquarters in Herat on Saturday evening, November 2, but halfway through the road, they got Akbari and Azimi out of the car and arrested them.

According to sources, it is not clear where the Taliban transferred the two clerics and their fate is not known.

Sources said that a number of clerics went to the office of the Taliban governor on Sunday to demand the release of the two clerics, but the Taliban governor replied that the group's Office for the Promotion of Virtue had filed a complaint against Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azmi for disobeying the orders of this office.

According to sources, the clerics then approached the Taliban's Office for the Promotion of Virtue in Herat, but Taliban officials there said that they had not filed a complaint against the two clerics.

Sources said that it is not clear which Taliban administration has the custody of Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azimi.

‘Disputes Over Celebration of Ashura In Jibril’

Some sources from Herat said that the two clerics are influential figures in Herat. According to the information received, this year, Akbari and Azimi took a "serious and decisive" stance and asked the Taliban's Office for the Promotion of Virtue not to prevent the holding of Ashura in Herat.

In July of this year, during the Ashura celebrations, the Taliban suppressed mourning gatherings in various cities of Afghanistan, especially in Herat.

During the dispute over the celebration of Ashura, at least one Shiite youth was killed by Taliban forces in the town of Jibril and a number of others were arrested.

Meanwhile, the Taliban governor's press office in Herat said in a statement on Monday that a number of Shia clerics had met with Noor Mohammad Islam Jar, the Taliban's governor in Herat. The statement said that the clerics shared their "challenges and problems" with the Taliban governor.

Our sources said that one of the main topics of the meeting was the attempt to free Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azimi from the Taliban's prison.

The court said in a statement Monday that the individuals had been convicted of extramarital sex.

In a statement issued on Monday, November 4, the court said that a woman and a man were flogged in the courtyard of the municipality of Farkhar district of Takhar province.

On Monday morning, the Taliban's Supreme Court also announced the execution of another woman in the Kuz Kunar district of Nangarhar province on charges of "running away from home”.

A recent UNAMA report shows that the group has flogged 95 men and 16 women across Afghanistan on various charges in the past three months.

Corporal punishment carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan is not limited to flogging.

Recently, the Taliban's Supreme Court announced that since August 2021, five people have been executed in the country, and 30 more death sentences are awaiting final approval by the group's leader.