Taliban Continues To Host Al-Qaeda, Claims US State Department

However, according to Sosa, the Taliban leadership encourages ordinary Afghan farmers to cultivate alternatives.

Sosa, who is also Ecuador's ambassador to the United Nations, said at Thursday's Security Council meeting on Afghanistan, citing the 15th report of the UN Sanctions Monitoring Team, that the drug trade and production in Afghanistan remains the main source of the country's GDP.

Addressing the members of the UN Security Council, he said, "A number of key Taliban officials are deeply involved in drug cartels as well as drug trafficking networks. Meanwhile, ordinary Afghan farmers have been pushed to alternative cultivation."

In his statement, Sosa also referred to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), according to which drug cultivation and production in Afghanistan has increased by 30%. The report also states that the geography of drug cultivation has changed from the southwest to the northeast of Afghanistan in 2024.

However, Sosa said the rate of drug production is lower than the level that existed in 2022, before the Taliban leadership issued a decree banning it.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) had earlier announced that opium production in Afghanistan has increased by 30% in 2024 compared to the previous year. According to the statistics of this office, contrary to the orders of the Taliban leader, 433 tons of opium were produced in Afghanistan this year.

The office said that despite a 30% increase in opium production in 2024, opium production shows a 93% decrease compared to 2022, before the Taliban leader's decree banning the cultivation and production of narcotics.

However, the Taliban's Interior Ministry rejected the UN report on the increase in opium production, calling it far from reality.

Referring to the assassination of the Taliban’s Minister of Refugees in an explosion on Wednesday (December 11), the ambassador emphasised that no one, including Taliban leaders, is immune to the threat of terrorism.

Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s representative at the United Nations, addressed the Security Council on Thursday, expressing deep concerns over Afghanistan’s deteriorating security situation.

Highlighting the recent attack, which claimed the life of the Taliban’s Minister of Refugees, Iravani urged the Taliban leadership to honour their commitments and to engage in a “comprehensive fight against terrorist networks”.

He also drew attention to the systematic violence targeting Afghanistan’s Hazara community, describing these attacks as acts of extremist brutality.

Addressing the severe humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, Iravani called upon the international community to respond with impartiality, without imposing conditions, and free from political motivations.

On the issue of Afghan refugees, Iravani stated that Iran hosts approximately six million Afghan refugees, incurring an annual expenditure of $10 billion to provide for their needs.

The ambassador criticised what he termed the “inadequate” support from the international community in addressing refugee needs. He underscored the necessity for sustained international assistance to countries like Iran and Pakistan, which bear a significant burden in hosting Afghan refugees.

Mujahid said that the decisions of this meeting without the presence of the Taliban are also "complicated". The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting on Afghanistan on Thursday, December 12.

In an interview with National Radio and Television on Thursday, Mujahid called for handing over Afghanistan's seat in the United Nations to the Taliban.

He claims that by handing over the UN seat to the Taliban, meetings on Afghanistan will be useful. According to the Taliban spokesman, without the presence of the group's representative, the Security Council meeting is "full of ambiguity”.

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative Roza Otunbayeva is scheduled to speak at the meeting on the situation in Afghanistan.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement on Wednesday, December 11, that the meeting will be held on Thursday, December 12 at 7:30pm Afghan time.

The meeting is expected to review the human rights situation and the situation of women in Afghanistan.

The UN Security Council also held a meeting on Afghanistan in September to discuss the situation in the country.

Currently, the seat of Afghanistan is held by Nasir Ahmad Faiq, a diplomat of the former Afghan government.

The Taliban's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has nominated Suhail Shaheen as its representative to the United Nations, which has not been accepted.

The court said in a statement on Thursday that the defendants were sentenced to 19 lashes and one year in prison each.

The Taliban's Supreme Court wrote that the defendants were punished on Thursday, December 12, by the group's Fourth Zone Primary Court in Kabul. Hours earlier, the court also reported that two people had been flogged in Paktia province on charges of buying and selling alcoholic beverages.

In the past week, the Taliban has punished more than 10 people across Afghanistan on various charges.

"I also invite the leaders of other groups opposed to the Taliban," he added.

Burchett had previously invited Amrullah Saleh, the former Vice President of Afghanistan, to Washington.

Saleh responded by saying that he would decide whether to travel to Washington after consulting with other political leaders.

Burchett said that inviting anti-Taliban politicians is an individual invitation and not a congressional one. He asked the US State Department to cooperate in issuing visas for Massoud. The US secretary of state did not make a specific commitment to the request at a congressional hearing, saying that he would "follow up with Burchet's office”.

Burchett did not say when he would invite Massoud and other Afghan political leaders to Washington. He told Afghanistan International that the issue is in its early stages and will provide more information to the media later.