Iran Stresses Mass Deportation of Undocumented Afghan Migrants by Year’s End

This week, an Indian foreign ministry official travelled to Kabul and met with the Taliban's foreign and defence ministers.

In the interview, Afrasiab Khattak said that the rivalry between India and Pakistan has been transferred to Afghanistan and Taliban officials have also shown their desire for relations with both countries.

JP Singh, who is in charge of the Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran section of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, visited Afghanistan on November 6.

The Taliban quoted Singh as saying that talks on Chabahar port would be held in the near future between the technical delegations of Iran, Afghanistan and India.

The Indian official also met with Taliban’s Defence Minister Mullah Yaqoob and discussed the expansion of bilateral relations.

Although India had a close relationship with the previous Afghan government, it improved its relations with the Taliban after the group came to power. New Delhi has said that regardless of the type of regime, it is willing to have good relations with Afghanistan and its people.

Despite Pakistan's sensitivity to India's activities, the Taliban has called for improved relations with New Delhi, and the Indian government has also approached the Taliban step by step. India is one of the few countries in the region that has a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.

The Taliban's Ministry of Defence wrote in a statement on Wednesday, November 6, that the two sides emphasised on their common desire to expand bilateral relations, especially in the field of humanitarian cooperation and other issues of interest.

The ministry said that the two sides expressed their interest in strengthening further interactions between the Taliban and India.

Earlier, in an interview with India's News 18 TV channel, Mullah Yaqoob had expressed his desire to send Taliban’s armed forces to India for training. He told the Indian media outlet that he sees no problem in training Taliban forces in India.

The organisation said that the prisoners had been sentenced to death on charges of murder, drug offences, and sexual assault.

Iran Human Rights wrote in a report that these prisoners were executed by the authorities of Ghezel Hesar Prison on the morning of Wednesday, November 6.

The organisation identified one of the Afghans executed in the prison as Mohammad Tajik, saying that he had been sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic's judiciary on charges of "rape”.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) stated that an Afghan prisoner named Ajmal Azizi was executed on charges of "premeditated murder" in Karaj's Ghezel Hesar Prison. The organisation did not elaborate on the identity of the third Afghan prisoner who was executed in this prison.

In recent days, Iran Human Rights has consistently reported on the execution of Afghan citizens imprisoned in Iran.

The organisation announced on November 4 that the execution of Afghans in Iran has increased since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan no, and that 90 Afghans have been executed in the country since 2022. In the past month alone, 13 Afghans have been executed in Iran on various charges, the organisation said.

Lebedev expressed hope that the plan will lead to a reduction in the activity of terrorist groups in the region.

Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Moldova are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

At a meeting of the secretaries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Security Council in Moscow, Sergey Lebedev called for expanding cooperation for regional security, TASS news agency reported on Thursday, November 7.

"We hope that the establishment of a security belt around Afghanistan will help thwart the activities of international terrorist groups and combat drug trafficking, weapons and illegal immigration," he said.

The plan to create a security belt around Afghanistan was first proposed by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in October 2022 at an extraordinary meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).

At the time, he stressed that in order to prevent dangers, it was necessary to create a security belt around Afghanistan.

Although some countries in the region have economic and diplomatic relations with the Taliban, none of them recognise the Taliban and are still concerned about the spread of extremism.

In this regard, CSTO announced about two weeks ago that it would approve a plan to strengthen Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan.

Kundi said that the reopening of these crossings will enhance trade and regional connectivity.

The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said on Wednesday, November 7, at a meeting in the city of Peshawar that the opening of these crossings will boost trade between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian countries.

Dawn newspaper quoted Kundi as saying, "The opening of all border crossings with Afghanistan will not only expand trade, but also create economic activities in the region."

He also emphasised that the process of issuing visas for Afghans should be facilitated and common border markets between Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan should be established.

Afghanistan and Pakistan share more than 2,000 kilometres of border, along which there are at least eight border crossings. Among these crossings, the movement of passengers and commercial goods is mostly through the two crossings of Torkham and Spin Boldak.

The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province did not specify which border crossings should be opened.

Other border crossings such as Angur Ada border crossing between Barmal district of Paktika and South Waziristan of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Kharlachi border crossing between Kurram tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Patan district of Paktia province; Ghulam Khan border crossing between Miranshah region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Khost; Arandu border crossing between Swat region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Barkunar district of Kunar province; Bodi border crossing between Qala Saifullah area of Balochistan and Zabul province, and Tari Mangal border crossing between Parachinar and Aryob in Zazi district.

The aid will be allocated to support development projects, especially in the agriculture sector, the statement said.

The Taliban's Ministry of Economy wrote in a statement that Veronika Boskovic Pohar, the representative of the European Union, said that the organisation will soon hold a conference on small businesses in Afghanistan.

In a statement issued by the ministry on Thursday, November 7, the ministry said that during the meeting, the Taliban's Minister of Economy, Din Mohammad Hanif, appreciated the EU's humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and called for the continuation of the EU's development cooperation in various sectors.

The European Union has not yet commented on the meeting and the promise of $100 million in aid to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Humanitarian aid from the international community is usually distributed through United Nations-owned agencies in Afghanistan. The process of distributing these aids has been the subject of much criticism over the past three years. A number of critics claim that there is no transparent monitoring body to prove that this aid actually reaches the needy and that the Taliban does not benefit from it.

According to the United Nations, more than 20 million people in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan are in need of humanitarian assistance.