Ahmad Massoud Invited To Washington For Talks On Afghanistan's Future

The 40th meeting of the Afghanistan Working Group within the framework of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) was held in Moscow on Wednesday, December 11.

According to a statement from the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, the meeting was attended by representatives of the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Commonwealth of Independent States and other international organisations.

In the past three years, the organisation has always expressed concern about the activities of terrorist groups in Afghanistan, including ISIS, as well as the infiltration of extremists from Afghanistan into the territory of member states.

The Taliban has consistently denied the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and have said that ISIS is not active in Afghanistan and cannot pose a threat to other countries.

However, ISIS continues to claim responsibility for deadly attacks in Afghanistan. In one of the most recent cases, ISIS-K claimed responsibility for an attack on Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani, the Taliban's minister of refugees. The Taliban minister was killed in a suicide attack on Wednesday, December 11.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced on Thursday that the ministry's ombudsman met with media representatives in Kabul and asked them to refrain from broadcasting music.

Previously, the Taliban had banned media outlets from broadcasting music in other provinces.

This action came as the group forced all media outlets to call the assassination of the Taliban's Minister of Refugees a "martyrdom”.

"The ombudsman of the Kabul Municipal Department, in corrective meetings with some officials of print and audio media, asked them to refrain from broadcasting music and any content that contradicts Islamic rulings and Afghan culture," the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue said on Thursday, December 12.

The Taliban had previously banned the media from broadcasting music and entertainment programmes in Khost and several other provinces.

The ban on music broadcasting in Kabul media came as Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani, the Taliban's Minister of Refugee Affairs, was killed in a suicide attack on Wednesday (December 11) and the Taliban's intelligence agency forced the media outlets to use the word "martyr" when publishing news related to the incident.

Previously, the Taliban's Ministry of Promotion of Virtue had banned Afghan media outlets from publishing images of living creatures in television programmes.

Since the Taliban came to power, the group has imposed many restrictions on the media and has severely restricted their freedom by issuing various decrees.

Recently, the Taliban's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced that it had shut down Arezoo TV in Kabul for "protecting Islamic values".

The reason for the cancellation of their activities was cited as non-compliance with academic principles and the lack of administrative staff "in accordance with principles”.

The Taliban has also accused these educational centres of having "fictitious teachers”.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education announced in a press release on Wednesday, December 11, that the activities of these educational institutions had been cancelled during a meeting of the ministry's leadership council.

The ministry did not explain which “scientific principles” the employees of these centres violated. Previously, the Taliban had asked teachers and employees of educational centres to adjust their beards, hair, and clothing according to the wishes of the group’s rules.

According to this press release, the activities of the educational institution Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi in Ghazni, Abu Nasr in Farah, Hanzalah and Hekmat in Badghis, Fajristan in Takhar, Nimr in Kunduz, Royan and Quds in Baghlan, Sadat in Balkh, Maulana Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi in Samangan, and Al-Ghayyat in Herat have been cancelled.

Problems with exams and the lack of necessary teaching facilities are other reasons that the Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education has put forward as justification for cancelling the activities of these educational institutions.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education's press release states, "It was also decided that the officials and leaders of these institutions will be introduced to the judicial institutions."

The front expressed concern over the Taliban's treatment of prisoners and said that the group's behavior is proof of their accountability in the future.

Afghanistan International's investigative report on 31 types of torture in Taliban prisons has sparked widespread reactions.

Following these reactions, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) on Wednesday, December 11, described the report as "shocking".

The front wrote, "Afghanistan International TV has recorded a corner of the mountain of the Taliban’s crimes in an investigative report that is the result of interviews with nearly 100 of our oppressed prisoners."

The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) has also expressed sympathy for the victims of the Taliban's torture in prisons.

Earlier, the Afghanistan Freedom Front also responded to the report, saying, "The walls of Taliban prisons will collapse."

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has denied Afghanistan International's investigative report on the torture of prisoners, claiming that the group takes care of prisoners.

Shaheen wrote on social media platform X that he spoke with the French diplomat about the health sector, NGOs and the technical needs of Kabul airport.

The Taliban official did not release further details about the conversation.

Earlier, sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban leader had called an emergency meeting of the Taliban government's cabinet in Kandahar and labeled foreign institutions in Afghanistan as "spies" and called for their closure.

According to sources, a number of members of the Taliban's cabinet opposed the request, saying that it is "not possible to make a decision on this issue in one day”.