Heavy Snowfall Forces Closure of Herat-Torghundi Highway

The total value of these exports reportedly exceeds $605 million.

In November 2023, the Taliban administration stated that 1,000 tonnes of coal are extracted daily in northern Afghanistan and sold to traders.

However, critics have denounced the unregulated and excessive extraction of coal, along with its low-cost export, as a form of “plundering” Afghanistan’s valuable underground resources.

Bakhshi underscored that employing undocumented Afghans in Kerman is deemed a “crime.” The deportations were carried out as part of a plan titled “Enhancing Social Security,” which aims to bolster public safety, according to a report by the IRNA news agency on Sunday.

The judicial official reiterated that residency in Iran must be obtained through legal means, warning that violators would face punitive action and deportation.

While Iran receives international assistance, particularly from the United Nations, for hosting Afghan migrants, Iranian officials assert that the aid is insufficient. They have called for increased foreign funding to address the growing burden.

In recent months, Iran has intensified the deportation of Afghan migrants, with reports suggesting that thousands of Afghans are expelled from the country every week. According to Afghanistan International, some Afghans with valid visas and residency permits have also been detained and deported by Iranian authorities.

Iran has announced plans to deport two million Afghan migrants by the end of the current year, marking a significant escalation in its immigration enforcement efforts.

On the previous day, members of the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to extend the mission of the committee overseeing sanctions on the Taliban for another 14 months.

According to the Bakhtar News Agency, under Taliban control, Hamdullah Fitrat said on Saturday that the continuation of sanctions against the Taliban is “contrary to the principles of human rights.” He added that the Taliban seeks positive engagement with the United Nations.

On Friday, the Security Council, with the unanimous agreement of its 15 members, passed a resolution to extend the 1988 sanctions against the Taliban. As a result, the Taliban will remain subject to UN sanctions for over another year.

In Friday’s session of the Security Council, the sanctions against the Taliban—including the freezing of assets, travel bans, and targeted arms embargoes—were reaffirmed.

No further details regarding the identities of the arrested individuals have been disclosed.

It remains unclear what roles the detainees held within the ministry and whether they were employees from Afghanistan’s previous government or recruited by the Taliban.

Sources revealed on Saturday, December 14, that the attacker waited for hours within the Ministry of Refugees compound, targeting Khalil Haqqani before detonating the explosives he was carrying.

According to these sources, Haqqani often met visitors to the ministry in person. The suicide bomber reportedly detonated the explosives upon approaching Haqqani at close range.

The attack, which occurred on Wednesday, December 11, claimed the lives of Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani and at least six others.

The Taliban is yet to provide any information about the arrests or clarify whether additional individuals beyond the two ministry employees have been detained in connection with the incident.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the assassination. Taliban officials reported that the attacker had hidden the explosives in a plastered arm.

Barakzai is also charged with importing heroin into New York and forging documents. He was found guilty after a two-week trial that ended in August.

According to court documents and evidence presented at the trial, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Barakzai in June 2012 for storing and transferring money to the Taliban.

The Treasury Department said that Barakzai “provided thousands of dollars to the Taliban to support their activities in Afghanistan and the war against coalition forces”.

In this announcement, the US Department of Justice referred to the Haqqani Network as "one of the violent Taliban groups" and accused Barakzai of financing the network.

According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, beginning in January 2018, Barakzai attempted to import large quantities of heroin into the United States; paid the Taliban to support his heroin trafficking; and attempted to provide financial support to the Haqqani Network, a violent Taliban faction. Barakzai participated in face-to-face meetings, recorded phone calls, and electronic communications with five individuals he believed were affiliated with an international drug trafficking organisation.

“Gathering Evidence”

In August 2018, Barakzai sold 10 kilograms of heroin to an undercover US Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Afghanistan. He told the agent at the time that the heroin would be brought into the United States for sale in New York. Barakzai also told the undercover US agent that the Taliban would be involved in the production and transportation of the heroin.

According to an official statement from the Ministry of Justice, Barakzai was arrested abroad and then transferred to the United States.

It is not known in which country the US detained him.

After his arrest, Barakzai ordered his family in Afghanistan to kidnap witnesses to his crimes and threaten them into silence.

According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, in recorded calls in February and March 2019, Barakzai had asked his brothers to kidnap the witness and threaten him with death to prevent him from providing information.

In addition to the 30 years in prison, Barakzai was sentenced to five years of supervised release. In addition, he lost the assets he earned from drug trafficking.