Taliban Leader Appoints Over 150 Of His Close Associates To Important Positions In A Year

The newspaper quoted a Taliban official as saying that Yue Xiaoyong had proposed a trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of the Taliban, Pakistan and China in Beijing.

Pakistani and Taliban officials told Hum News that following the visits of the Chinese special envoy to Kabul and Islamabad, Beijing is trying to reduce tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban government.

According to the newspaper, the dispute between the Taliban and Pakistan over armed groups opposed to Pakistan, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has caused relations between the two sides to fall to the lowest level.

A Taliban official told the newspaper that the focus of the Chinese special envoy's meetings with senior Taliban and Pakistani officials shows China's concern about the tensions between the Taliban and Islamabad. According to the Taliban official, China's special envoy came up with the idea of holding a meeting of the foreign ministers of this group, Pakistan and China in Beijing.

The official said that China had previously proposed to hold a trilateral meeting in Ashgabat on the sidelines of the meeting of foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbouring countries, but the meeting was postponed.

Mushahid Hussain, head of the Pakistan-China Institute, told the newspaper that China actively sees the trilateral meeting between Pakistan, the Taliban and China as a bridge to normalise relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

"China has a tripartite strategy towards Afghanistan, which for the first time in 40 years, differs from Pakistan's policy in Afghanistan, which is a flawed and failed policy," Mushahid said.

"Beijing now has more influence in Kabul than Islamabad," the Pakistani expert added.

After accepting the Taliban's representative earlier this year, China is pursuing a three-pronged approach of engagement, reconstruction and peace through a counter-terrorism strategy to curb terrorist groups operating inside Afghanistan, he said.

Mansoor Ahmad Khan, Pakistan's former ambassador to Afghanistan, also said that the growing rift between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban is widespread and has now reached a point where it has affected Pakistan's relations with China.

"The border conflict and the lack of interaction between Afghanistan (the Taliban) and Pakistan on cross-border issues undermine the prospects for lasting peace and stability, while hindering China's efforts to expand its economic influence in Afghanistan and the region," the former Pakistani diplomat in Kabul said.

Better relations between the Taliban and Pakistan are of vital importance to China's interests, he said.

Pakistan, which has been accused of supporting the armed opposition in Kabul during the Taliban's 20 wars against the Afghan government and international forces, hoped that attacks by militant groups in the country would decrease as the Taliban came to power.

Islamabad, in particular, had counted on the Afghan Taliban's cooperation in containing the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is considered an ally of the group. But over the past three years, not only has the Taliban not prevented TTP attacks in Pakistan, but senior Pakistani officials have accused the Taliban of harbouring TTP members and in some cases supporting the group to launch attacks inside Pakistan.

The Taliban in Kabul has always denied the allegations.

During his visit to China, he called for the country's cooperation with the Taliban in the field of "traditional medicine”.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada on Monday banned girls' education in medical institutes. Taliban officials have not provided any explanation for the move.

In the past three years, the Taliban has banned girls from studying above the sixth grade and attending universities.

The closure of medical institutions for girls has been met with sharp criticism from international organisations, and the Taliban has been asked to immediately lift the restrictions.

The European Union has warned that banning women's education in medical institutes is a "terrible violation" of human rights.

Coinciding with these restrictions, the Taliban's Ministry of Public Health announced on Wednesday, December 4, that Noor Jalal Jalali had traveled to China and delivered a speech at the International Conference on Traditional Medicine.

The Taliban's health minister said, "In Afghanistan, traditional medicine should be standardised and include a modern medicine section, and a standard curriculum should be prepared for those interested in it."

The statement said that the Department of Traditional Medicine has also been established in the organisation of the Taliban's Ministry of Public Health.

According to the statement, the department "works on improving and reforming the work of doctors, policies and guidelines in the department”.

According to estimates by the World Food Programme (WFP) and Save the Children, Afghan children will suffer from poor conditions for survival in the next three months.

"Hunger in Afghanistan is getting worse in the winter, and the WFP predicts that nearly 15 million people, or nearly a third of the Afghan population, will need food assistance to survive," WFP spokesperson Philippe Kropf told the British publication The Independent.

Another 570,000 Afghan children are expected to be malnourished next year, compared to this year.

Philippe Kropf said that in 2025, a total of 3.45 million children are likely to be malnourished.

According to another assessment conducted by Save the Children, more than half of Afghanistan's population, about 24 million people, will be in dire need of humanitarian assistance such as cash and food to avoid poverty and food insecurity in the coming months.

"As winter approaches, families in some parts of Afghanistan are forced to make painful choices about what to prioritise: food, heating the house or warm clothes for children," said Arshad Malik, Country Director (Afghanistan) at Save the Children

Malik said that nearly 6.5 million children, or 30 percent, are facing crisis or emergency levels of hunger. "One of the children told us he had no warm clothes – until they were provided by Save the Children," he told The Independent.

The World Food Programme (WFP) needs $787 million across all of its programmes over the next six months to ensure that vulnerable families in Afghanistan are safe from the risk of hunger and poverty, according to the figures provided.

As food prices rise during the winter, millions of Afghans, especially children, will face a shortage of nutritious food and thus, the risk of acute malnutrition, according to aid agencies.

The problem is exacerbated by the Taliban's lack of an efficient economy, blocked roads by snowfall, and cut off communication routes to remote areas.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the country needs at least $1 billion in aid to enable vulnerable Afghans to get through this winter.

However, according to Save the Children's data, the international community has yet to meet the needs of humanitarian funding.

Meanwhile, the Taliban government has not taken any steps to deal with the challenges in the winter season.

The EU called on the Taliban to abandon this "discriminatory policy" and adhere to its commitments.

In a statement on Wednesday, the European Union expressed grave concern over the Taliban's decision and its far-reaching consequences, including the deepening of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the exacerbation of the suffering of the people.

The statement said in part that the Taliban had ordered all private and public educational institutions in Afghanistan to suspend medical education for women and girls.

"We call on the Taliban to reverse this discriminatory policy and abide by their obligations under international law, including ensuring equal access to education and basic health care for all Afghans," the EU said.

The EU has stressed that it is committed to supporting women and girls and all those whose rights are constantly violated in Afghanistan.

Women's participation in education and the workforce is not just an issue of equality, but essential for the self-sufficiency, development and prosperity of any nation, the union statement said.

The Taliban's ban on the education of women and girls in medical institutions has sparked widespread reactions.

Human rights organisations and human rights defenders have condemned the Taliban's move and called on the group to provide education for women and girls.

The Taliban has not yet officially commented on the reason for the ban.

The Taliban has imposed severe restrictions on women over the past three years. The Taliban has closed girls' schools above the sixth grade and banned girls from going to university. The group also prohibits women from going to parks and restaurants, traveling, exercising, as well as working in non-governmental organisations.

International human rights organisations say that the Taliban has established "gender apartheid" by excluding women from society.

Karzai emphasised that education is the only factor of Afghanistan's growth and development in different dimensions.

The former president of Afghanistan said that this country will overcome the need for outsiders, salvation, and internal problems when it has specialised and trained human resources.

He published a statement on Wednesday and said that Afghanistan will be saved from external needs when the field of education and learning of sciences is available for all young people - for both boys and girls.

Hamid Karzai wrote, "It is very sad to hear the news that the doors of medical science institutions are closed to girls, at a time when women and mothers are facing many health problems in all parts of the country."

He asked the Taliban to immediately reverse the decision to ban girls from studying in medical institutions and to open the gates of schools and universities to them as soon as possible.

Karzai said that banning the education of girls and women wastes the talent of Afghanistan's youth as national capital.

He emphasised that Afghanistan will be on the path of settlement and prosperity only in the light of education.