Taliban Deputy FM Criticises Media Restrictions

More than 1.1 million people have entered the country from Iran, 80,500 from Pakistan, and 100,000 through the airport.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) published a report on Wednesday, December 18, on the occasion of World Migration Day, saying that in 2024, more than 1.1 million Afghans returned to Afghanistan from Iran without documentation, 66% of whom were forcibly deported. The organisation said that many of them reached the Afghan border with limited financial and material resources and went to areas of the country that are struggling with challenging economic conditions and high unemployment.

In its report, the organisation did not mention the number of migrants who left Afghanistan during this year.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) had announced in August this year that nearly eight million Afghan citizens have left their homeland between 2020 and 2024. The organisation said that one million Afghans have taken refuge in European countries and 85 percent have gone to neighbouring countries.

In addition to political and economic issues, Afghanistan is grappling with the devastating effects of climate change. In fact, climate change has replaced conflict as the main driver of displacement, the UN said.

Flash floods swept through five provinces in eastern and central Afghanistan in August this year. The homes of thousands of families were damaged, hundreds of people lost their lives, and the destruction of agricultural land led to increased food insecurity among the affected populations.

Four 6.3-magnitude earthquakes last year in Herat province affected more than half a million people, according to IOM humanitarian teams. A recent report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) surveyed almost 240 households affected by last year's disaster in Herat and found that more than 80 percent of them still do not have access to toilets, decent living spaces and clean drinking water.

Across Afghanistan, communities have made the difficult decision to leave their homes and migrate inside and outside Afghanistan in search of better economic opportunities, stability and security to overcome disasters, economic instability and the lasting effects of decades of conflict, the UN said.

According to the organisation, after the Taliban takeover in 2021, the Afghan people have faced ongoing political and economic insecurity, along with a decline in freedom, especially for women. According to the World Bank, almost half of Afghans live in poverty, and women are disproportionately affected. Millions of families rely on remittances or humanitarian aid to survive.

Matthew Miller said that the US has engaged with various groups, including the Taliban and Tahrir al-Sham, to advance its interests.

Asked at a news conference on Tuesday (December 17) whether Washington has interacted with groups such as the Taliban, ISIS and al-Qaeda in the past, Miller said, "We have that capability. But I am not aware of any interaction with al-Qaeda."

The US State Department spokesperson added, "We are engaging with the Taliban to advance the interests of the United States, and we are also interacting with Tahrir al-Sham, to find and bring back Austin Tice, an American journalist."

The US State Department had previously said that Washington continues to designate the Taliban as a "global terrorist organisation”. The ministry also stressed that it would not hesitate to engage with the Taliban for the benefit of the United States.

While the US and UN officials have repeatedly emphasised on engagement with the Taliban government, the policy remains controversial among Afghans.

Many Afghan human rights activists and politicians find it unacceptable to engage with a group that systematically violates the rights of citizens, especially women.

According to sources, Rahm Dil Hanafi was from Panjshir and was previously one of Ahmad Shah Massoud's commandos.

According to informed sources, the Taliban’s intelligence agency was trying to arrest Rahm Dil Hanafi, and when they failed to find him, they took his wife with them. Rahm Dil Hanafi has nine children.

Sources say that Rahmdel Hanafi had gone to Iran after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, but had returned to Afghanistan with the guarantee of Nooruddin Azizi, the Taliban's minister of commerce, and Qudratullah Amini, the former governor of Panjshir.

Sources said that the fate of Hanafi's wife is still unknown, and it is not clear where she was transferred.

The Taliban has not yet commented on the matter, but the group has so far arbitrarily detained a large number of former Afghan military personnel and officials or their family members.

The two groups harshly criticised ISIS, saying that instead of fighting Israel, it is fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani, a prominent leader of the Haqqani Network, was killed last week at the Ministry of Refugees in Kabul in a suicide attack. The assassination of Haqqani was claimed by ISIS-K.

In a message in Pashto on Tuesday, al-Qaeda al-Jihad called Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani a "great mujahid". In its statement, the group expressed its condolences to the Taliban leader over the killing of Haqqani.

In a separate statement, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), another branch of al-Qaeda, called Khalil ur-Rahman Haqqani "one of the strong mountains of jihad" and said, "He came from a noble jihadi family that was a stronghold and comrade of Sheikh Jalaluddin Haqqani on the path of jihad. Today, his life ended well and he was martyred after decades of jihad and perseverance against the occupiers."

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is an offshoot of Al-Qaeda which operates specifically in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The al-Qaeda statement said that ISIS had been heavily attacked, saying it had "undertaken a task that the Americans were unable to perform after their withdrawal".

"The religious duty against ISIS is to kill and destroy them, because they are a great evil and a great calamity," it added.

The statement expressed sympathy with the Haqqani family.

The Haqqani Network has long had close ties with al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in 2022 at the guest house of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's interior minister, in Kabul.

According to the United Nations Security Council report, the Taliban have continued their alliance and cooperation with al-Qaeda. According to the report, al-Qaeda has rehabilitated eight of its bases in Afghanistan and is in the process of rebuilding.

The office said that poverty and unemployment have seriously affected almost half of the Afghan population, especially women.

OCHA said in a statement on Tuesday, December 17, that in 2025, 21 million people will face water and health shortages, 14.8 million people will face acute food insecurity, 14.3 million people will face limited access to health services, and 7.8 million women and children will need food assistance.

"Unemployment, family debt and poverty remain widespread, affecting almost half of the population, and are even more pronounced for women, especially female-headed households," OCHA said in a statement.

The UN office also said that in addition to the economic crisis, the Afghan people are exposed to increasing legal restrictions imposed by the Taliban. According to OCHA, these restrictions increase protection risks for all people, especially women, girls and other vulnerable groups.

The UN agency has warned that political developments in Afghanistan's neighbouring countries increase the risk of a crisis of repatriation of Afghan refugees.