Taliban Embassy in Islamabad Denies Afghan Refugees’ Involvement in Pakistan Protests

According to sources, the woman has been in Taliban custody for the past eight days in the centre of Kapisa province.

Sources from Kapisa province told Afghanistan International that a group of men gang-raped Niloufar at her home in the village of Aruki in Kapisa province on Friday, November 22.

Sources claimed that the five perpetrators of the gangrape are members of Niloufar's husband's family. According to them, one of the perpetrators has been identified as "Mayel Agha" and is a member of the Taliban in Kapisa.

Local sources said that after Niloufar was sexually assaulted in her home, she started making noise, and locals heard her voice and informed the Taliban. The Taliban were able to arrest one person on charges of involvement in the rape, and four others fled the scene.

The Taliban has not yet commented on the reason for Niloufar's arrest.

‘Victims of Domestic Violence Imprisoned’

Women's rights activists said that after the Taliban’s takeover, the safe houses that sheltered women victims of domestic violence were abolished and the Taliban kept these women in prisons.

Before August 2021, the shelters operated under the umbrella of the Ministry of Women's Affairs.

Upon entering Kabul, the Taliban abolished the Ministry of Women's Affairs and replaced it with the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Earlier, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a report in December quoted some Taliban officials as saying they were imprisoning "women without a mahram" who were victims of violence.

UNAMA has said that the imprisonment of women "in order to protect them" deprives these victims of their freedom.

Chikhanchin said about 600 people have been identified who are linked to international networks involved in terror financing this year.

The EAG consists of nine members: China, Russia, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Belarus.

The regional group held its 41st plenary meeting in India on November 25. The five-day meeting concluded on Friday with a statement on the growing threat of terrorism.

The member states of this group have expressed concern about the financing of terrorism, saying that the risks related to terrorism are not limited to any country.

The chairman of the regional group, Chikhanchin, warned that "the threat of terrorism throughout the region is the most prevalent and worrisome threat".

"Afghanistan is a country where the threat of terrorism is still present. We are considering joint measures to counter this threat emanating from Afghanistan. In one of our meetings, we discussed how to strengthen relations with Afghanistan and minimise risks in that country," he said.

Previously, the countries of the region have repeatedly expressed concern about the increasing spread of "terrorism" from Afghanistan.

Earlier, the head of the Russian Security Service (FSB) considered the presence of international terrorist groups in Afghanistan as the biggest threat to Central Asian countries.

The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) has also warned that the risk of terrorism spreading in Central Asia from Afghanistan remains.

Momeni added, “regulating migrants, includes the management of borders and an agenda for their housing and employment, which is being implemented."

On Saturday, November 30, at the inauguration ceremony of the governor of Mazandaran, the Islamic Republic's Interior Minister claimed that there are currently about six million "foreign nationals" living in Iran.

Momeni added, "Iran is not really able to provide so many job opportunities to immigrants."

Iran's Interior Minister emphasised that closing the border with Afghanistan is one of the parts of the plan to organise refugees, which includes physical, electronic, and optical blockages. He added that the process of closing the border and preventing the employment of migrants without residency documents has made good progress with the cooperation of the public and employers.

This comes even as the authorities of this country have intensified the process of deporting Afghan immigrants without residency documents and have made living conditions extremely difficult for these immigrants. According to the Islamic Republic media, 4,000 Afghan refugees are deported daily from the Dogharoun border alone.

Fifteen people were arrested in Kabul, Nimroz and Sar-e-Pul and eight others were arrested in Balkh, Zabul and Daikundi on charges of violating the Law on the Promotion of Virtue.

The Taliban has accused these individuals of "moral corruption" and "witchcraft”.

The Taliban leader has authorised the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to detain individuals on charges of violating the controversial Law on the Promotion of Virtue, which was signed in September.

The Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said that the 23 arrested individuals had been handed over to judicial institutions after preliminary investigations.

The ombudsman of the Taliban's Ministry inspects people in all provinces through mobile patrols and monitors people's behavior and actions.

These ombudsmen claim that they are reforming society in accordance with the "Islamic Sharia”.

In September, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada signed the controversial law on the promotion of virtue. This law specifies the affairs related to the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice, as well as the scope of the activities of the Ministry's ombudsmen.

According to this law, women's lives outside the home are severely restricted, and women's voices and faces are prohibited too.

These laws, which are implemented under the auspices of the Taliban's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, have affected many aspects of the daily lives of the Afghan people, especially women's rights and individual freedoms.

Iran's domestic news agencies reported that Alireza Bigdeli was welcomed by the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry officials upon his arrival in Kabul.

Alireza Bigdeli has replaced Hassan Kazemi Qomi by decree of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Qomi, who initially introduced himself as the head of Iran's diplomatic mission in Kabul, over time changed this title to chargé d'affaires, a rank lower than the ambassador. However, the Taliban's Foreign Ministry addresses Qomi and Bigdeli as the ambassadors of the Islamic Republic in Kabul.

In his farewell meeting with Qomi, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s Foreign Minister, said that he was "ready to work with the new ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the expansion of bilateral relations”.

Last week, in response to a question about the appointment of a new representative, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmael Baghaei said that Bigdeli "has been appointed as the head of our country's embassy in Kabul”.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, like Pakistan and the United States, has also removed the post of special envoy for Afghanistan, which observers say means that the level of Iran's official relations with the Taliban has been reduced.

On Sunday, November 24, 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, issued a decree appointing Alireza Bigdeli as the new charge d'affaires of the Iranian embassy in Kabul.

Alireza Bigdeli was previously the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Cyprus and the chargé d'affaires in Kazakhstan.