Taliban Calls for Lifting of International Sanctions Against the Group

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.

Sirajuddin Haqqani posted pictures of himself with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and wrote that the Hezb-e-Islami leader had expressed his condolences and sympathy following the killing of his uncle.

n images released on Friday, December 13, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan, is seen next to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's interior minister.

These images were simultaneously released by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's Minister of Interior; Abdul Matin Qane, the group's spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, and Habib-ur-Rahman Hekmatyar, the son of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

The leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan has gone to Paktia to attend the funeral of Khalil-ur- Rehman Haqqani, at a time when many Taliban leaders are said to be on bad terms with him due to his past positions and actions.

After 2001, the Hezb-e-Islami, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, fought alongside the Taliban against the republican regime in Afghanistan, and like the Taliban, members of this party even carried out suicide attacks. Until, in 2017, after the signing of the peace agreement, he came out of hiding and came to Kabul.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was optimistic about the Taliban regaining control of Afghanistan, but gradually became critical of the group's performance. The Taliban had previously accused him of usurping government land.

With the resumption of Taliban rule in Afghanistan and the ban on political parties in the country, the activities of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's party have also been banned.

The organisation described 2024 as a “brutal” year for Afghan children.

It published a video on the X social media platform calling for support for Afghan children.

The organisation wrote, "The economic crisis, repeated droughts and floods have left children in a dire nutritional situation. Help us give hope to Afghan children."

It had previously warned of a humanitarian crisis caused by climate change in Afghanistan, saying that earlier this year alone, 38,000 people, half of whom were children, were displaced due to weather conditions in the country.

Children in Afghanistan face numerous problems. According to a ranking, Afghanistan was among the three worst countries for children in 2023.

Save the Children previously said that Afghan babies will be five times more likely to be affected by the effects of drought over their lifetime than today's 60-year-olds.

The four men were trying to pass through passport control with fake Kazakh passports when they were identified and detained.

The office released a picture of the four detained and said that they were arrested on December 10 at 8:50am local time.

According to a statement from the Immigration Office at Phuket International Airport, all four people have been handed over to the police for legal formalities.

In August this year, officers from the Phuket Immigration Department had arrested another Afghan on similar charges.