Taliban Publicly Execute A Man In Paktia
The Taliban's Supreme Court on Wednesday announced that it had executed a man at the Gardez Stadium in the capital of Paktia province in the presence of senior officials of the group.
The Taliban's Supreme Court on Wednesday announced that it had executed a man at the Gardez Stadium in the capital of Paktia province in the presence of senior officials of the group.
Sirajuddin Haqqani and Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani, the Taliban's interior and refugee ministers, were present at the public execution, the court said.
The court said that Mohammad Ayaz Asad, a resident of Mirzaki district of Paktia province, was given this sentence on charges of murder. He had killed a person named Habibullah with a rifle.
On Tuesday, the Taliban's Supreme Court had asked residents of this province to come to the stadium to watch the execution, but had asked them to refrain from taking photos and videos.
The Taliban announced that the sentence was carried out after the approval of the group's leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Some local media outlets quoted the family as saying that he had committed the crime during the previous regime.
The court said that Asad was tried in a military court and his case was thoroughly examined by three courts, and then, the verdict was issued.
The statement emphasised that the victim's family had been offered "forgiveness and peace," but the victim's family asked for the execution of the sentence.
The Taliban has not commented on how the execution was carried out.
Recently, the Taliban's Supreme Court announced that it has executed five people since the group's return to power.
The Taliban has said that about 30 more death sentences are awaiting final approval by Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah.
A source told Afghanistan International on Tuesday that the Taliban has arrested a number of the group's commanders and forces who were seeking to recruit for the Pakistani Taliban in the southeastern provinces.
According to the source, some Taliban leaders are concerned about the Pakistani Taliban's growing fighting power.
According to a source close to the Taliban, the group's intelligence agency used biometrics to identify and arrest these militants and commanders in Khost, Paktia and Paktika provinces.
A well-known Taliban commander named Sangari is among those arrested in Mandozayi district of Khost province.
Sangari is said to have played a prominent role in recruiting Taliban fighters into the ranks of the TTP and other anti-Pakistan militant groups.
Recently, many "disgruntled" Taliban fighters have joined the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Hafiz Gul Bahadur militant group through the mediation of Mufti Noor Wali.
Some Taliban fighters in Khost, Logar, Ghazni, Maidan Wardak, Paktia and Paktika provinces have joined the TTP or Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, and some have been killed.
The source added that the number of Pakistani Taliban has increased compared to before and the Afghan Taliban have resorted to identifying and arresting Afghan militants in the ranks of the TTP under pressure from the Pakistani government.
"Some Afghan Taliban leaders are also concerned about the TTP's growing fighting power, as every disgruntled Taliban goes to Mufti Noor Wali and is attracted to the TTP or Hafiz Gul Bahadur," the source said.
Earlier this year, Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah deployed the group's forces in Kandahar, Ghazni, Maidan Wardak provinces and in some border districts of Khost, Paktia and Paktika to monitor the activities of the Pakistani Taliban.
The source said that Mullah Hibatullah's plan to deploy Taliban forces on the borders did not help because the Pakistani Taliban has friends in the ranks of the Afghan Taliban in Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan.
On the contrary, "they [the Afghan Taliban] are cooperating with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other foreign fighters in crossing the border and participating in the clashes," the source added.
Analysts in Afghanistan and Pakistan believe that Islamabad's pressure on the Afghan Taliban to control the TTP has not yielded significant results, and this new move by the Taliban is not likely to convince Islamabad.
The source said that the Taliban government had hoped to see a change in Pakistan's military policy regarding negotiations with the Taliban after the end of the tenure of General Asim Munir, the chief of staff of the Pakistani army.
Munir earlier warned the Taliban that the whole of Afghanistan could be harmed to protect the security of Pakistani citizens.
US President-elect Donald Trump has named Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth as his secretary of defence.
Hegseth was deployed to Afghanistan with the US Army National Guard between 2011 and 2012 and spent 10 months at Camp Julien in Kabul.
Hegseth served as a trainer at the counterinsurgency centre at Camp Julien in Kabul, which was home to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
He graduated from Harvard and Princeton universities and served in Iraq and Guantánamo in addition to Afghanistan.
In 2019, during Donald Trump's first presidency, he called on the president to pardon veterans accused of war crimes. Hegseth spoke about the soldiers' cases and their families on his show on Fox News.
Following Hegseth's efforts, that same year, Donald Trump pardoned a former US Army commando who was to stand trial for killing an Afghan suspected bomber. Another US Army soldier who was convicted of ordering the shooting of three Afghans and killing two of them, was pardoned.
The Reuters news agency called the appointment of Hegseth as defence secretary one of Trump's most surprising choices. He has a pessimistic view of NATO and has criticised the alliance's allies for being "weak”.
Hegseth is 44 years old, and Trump has touted him as a "tough, intelligent" person and a true believer in the "America First" slogan. "With Pitt at the helm, America's enemies must be on high alert. Our military will grow again, and America will never back down," Trump noted.
Hegseth has said that he left the US military in 2021 after the force sidelined him because of his political and religious views.
Trump's nominee for defence secretary must win a vote of confidence in the Senate to win the seat.
Eskandar Momeni, the Minister of Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said that international aid for immigrants to Iran has decreased significantly.
Momeni said, "We are not anti-immigrant, but the international aid in this field is close to zero and we do not have the possibility to accept immigrants."
On Tuesday, November 12, Eskandar Momeni emphasised on the importance of closing the borders to prevent the entry of undocumented immigrants at the ceremony of introducing the new governor of Kerman.
He said, "Kerman province is suffering from this situation and we are not anti-immigrant, but the international aid in this field is close to zero and it is not possible for us to accept immigrants."
The Minister of Interior of Iran also emphasised that Iranian citizens work in hard jobs, including mines, and with proper planning, more job opportunities will be provided to them.
Earlier, referring to the increase in unemployment in Iran, he asked Afghan immigrants to leave the country.
With the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of Afghan citizens have migrated to neighbouring countries, especially Iran and Pakistan.
Over the past three years, both countries have deported hundreds of thousands of Afghan migrants.
Iranian authorities have announced that nearly two million illegal Afghan immigrants will be deported from Iran by the end of this year.
The Indian media outlet India Today has reported that the remaining US M4 rifles in Afghanistan have fallen into the hands of militants in Jammu and Kashmir.
The newspaper quoted sources as saying that Pakistan's intelligence agency (ISI) has been supplying the weapons to militants entering India from the border.
The discovery of M4 weapons from three militants in clashes in Akhnoor, Jammu and Kashmir, has sparked a wave of concern among security forces, India Today reported on Tuesday, November 12. "Almost all the terrorists who cross the border carry AK-47 and M4 rifles," sources told the outlet.
Indian security forces are now investigating how US weapons left in Afghanistan ended up in the hands of militants in Jammu and Kashmir.
Experts also told India Today that the continued use of the assault rifle by militants in Jammu and Kashmir is a serious concern and may be a result of the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021.
The Indian media outlet stressed in the report that these weapons are capable of penetrating bulletproof vehicles and damaging solid infrastructure.
So far, Pakistan has not commented on the allegations.
Earlier, Pakistani officials had expressed concern about the threat of US equipment remaining in Afghanistan to the countries of the region.
According to a Pentagon report, the US Department of Defence provided $18.6 billion worth of military equipment to the Afghan National Army and Security Forces between 2005 and August 2021. The US Department of Defence has announced the value of the remaining US equipment in Afghanistan at $7.12 billion.
Diplomatic sources told Afghanistan International that UNAMA has facilitated the Taliban's participation in the annual United Nations climate change summit in Baku.
After the fall of the previous government, the United Nations Climate Change Convention suspended Afghanistan's participation.
Afghanistan's mission in Geneva had nominated Nasir Ahmad Andisha, the head of the mission, to participate in the 29th United Nations Climate Summit, COP29.
"Given the current difficult situation in Afghanistan and our commitment to participate in international environmental dialogues, Nasir Andisha, as Afghanistan's official representative, is a very suitable choice to participate in the COP29 summit to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan," said a letter written by Afghanistan's mission in Geneva to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan on October 16.
The letter expressed the hope that Azerbaijan's mission to the United Nations would convey the letter to the relevant authorities in Baku.
It seems that the request of the Afghan representative in Geneva has not been accepted by Azerbaijan, and the Taliban has sent its representative to this international meeting instead.
Diplomatic sources told Afghanistan International that Afghanistan was absent from the previous three UN summits in Cairo, Abu Dhabi and Scotland, but "this year Baku took a different approach, and we are sure that UNAMA played a role (in Baku's decision to invite the Taliban)".
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan has not yet responded to a question from Afghanistan International about UNAMA's role in introducing the Taliban delegation to the Baku meeting.
‘UNAMA Chief Meets Taliban Official’
According to a note from the Taliban's Environment Department published on November 4 on the agency's page on social media platform X, Roza Otunbayeva, the head of UNAMA, met with Matiul Haq Khalis, the head of the National Environmental Protection Agency in Afghanistan.
"There was a comprehensive discussion on the nature and scope of the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP29)," the note said.
The Taliban did not say that Otunbayeva had invited the Taliban to attend the meeting. However, a diplomatic source told Reuters that Azerbaijan invited officials from the Taliban's Environment Department as observers to enable them to "potentially participate in peripheral discussions and have the opportunity to have bilateral meetings".
According to the source, since the Taliban government is not officially recognised by the United Nations, the group's officials cannot receive accreditation to participate in the proceedings of the member states.
AFP also reported on Tuesday that the Taliban delegation that attended the meeting was not involved in the main talks.
A three-member Taliban delegation led by Matiul Haq Khalis, travelled to Azerbaijan on Monday, November 12, to attend the international meeting.
The UN's annual climate summit kicked off on Monday, November 11. Fundraising for developing countries is the main topic of discussion at the conference so that they can adapt to these changes.
Afghanistan is one of the countries which has suffered the worst due to climate change. This year's flash floods claimed hundreds of lives. Meanwhile, the heavily dependent country is suffering from one of the worst droughts in decades.
With the fall of the previous Afghan government, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change postponed Afghanistan's participation after 2021, effectively pulling the country out of the negotiations.
After three years, the Taliban delegation has participated in this important international meeting, which was hosted by the United Nations, for the first time.
Taliban officials have so far participated in United Nations meetings on Afghanistan in Doha, as well as in meetings in China and Central Asia.
The United Nations has refused to hand over Afghanistan's seat in the General Assembly to the Taliban, and the Taliban government has not been recognized by any country so far, mainly due to the restrictions it has imposed on women's education and work.