UN Calls On Taliban To Immediately Halt Death Penalty

The participation of this delegation was finalised after the visit of a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India to Kabul.

The purpose of the participation of the Taliban delegation at the 25th meeting of administrative regulations of South Asian countries is to exchange experiences in the development and expansion of the telecommunications and information technology sector.

This meeting was held in New Delhi from Monday, November 11 to Wednesday, November 13, and in addition to the Taliban, representatives of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and some other countries were also present.

JP Singh, the head of the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran department at the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recently visited Kabul and met with senior Taliban officials, including the Taliban's foreign and defence ministers.

The officials of Taliban and India have discussed the expansion of relations in these meetings.

Sources said that the sentence was implemented after efforts by the Taliban's interior minister to prevent the "execution".

The Supreme Court of the Taliban announced on Wednesday that it had executed a man at the Gardez Stadium in the capital of Paktia province, on the charge of intentional murder in the presence of senior officials of the group.

On Tuesday, this court had asked the residents of this province to come to the stadium to watch "execution", but refrain from taking photos and videos.

The Taliban had announced that the sentence was executed after the approval of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of this group, in the presence of high-ranking officials, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Minister of Interior and Khalil ur-Rahman Haqqani, the Minister of Refugee Affairs.

The Taliban court said that Mohammad Ayaz Asad, a resident of Paktia province, killed a person named Habibullah with a Kalashnikov.

Some local media reported that the crime was committed during the previous regime.

Sources close to the Taliban’s Interior Minister said that Sirajuddin Haqqani tried to convince the victim's family to forgive the killer, but the family did not accept this request. The Taliban’s Supreme Court has also said that the family of the victim has not forgiven the killer.

The Supreme Court of the Taliban said that Mohammad Ayaz Asad was tried in a military court and his case was thoroughly examined by three military courts, and then this verdict was issued.

In the newsletter, it is emphasised that the victim's family was offered "forgiveness and peace", but the victim's family asked for the execution of the sentence.

The Taliban has not explained the nature of the order.

Recently, the Taliban’s Supreme Court had announced that it has executed five people since the group's return to power.

The Taliban said that about 30 more death sentences are awaiting the final approval of Mullah Hibatullah, the leader of the Taliban.

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.

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.

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.