Pak Special Envoy, Taliban’s Interior Minister Discuss Ways To Improve Bilateral Relations

Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian president, said that the meeting will discuss technical-military cooperation and the situation in Afghanistan.

Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Monday, December 23, quoted Yuri Ushakov as saying that the issue of migration, the development of political, trade, economic and cultural relations are other topics of discussion between the leaders of Russia and Tajikistan.

The meeting comes as Tajikistan will hold the presidency of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) from January 2025. The presidency of this union in 2024 was held by Russia.

The CIS secretary-general announced in November this year that the bloc supports the plan to create a security belt around Afghanistan. Sergey Lebedev expressed hope that the plan will lead to a reduction in the activity of terrorist groups in the region.

The plan to create a security belt around Afghanistan was first proposed by Emomali Rahmon in October 2022 at the extraordinary meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).

At the time, he stressed that in order to prevent dangers, it was necessary to create a security belt around Afghanistan.

Although some countries in the region have economic and diplomatic relations with the Taliban, none of them recognise the Taliban and are still concerned about the spread of extremism.

In this meeting, Bigdeli described Afghanistan as a "good friend" of the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian ambassador said that Afghanistan has been a good friend of Iran for many years, adding that the rotation of the economies of countries depends on trade as well as joint investments.

Bigdeli assured of his comprehensive cooperation in addressing the problems of traders, further development of trade, economic, transit and political relations between the Islamic Republic and the Taliban, and considered the holding of trade exhibitions and meetings important in order to increase exports and imports between the two countries.

According to Tasnim News Agency, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) held an introductory meeting with Iran's new ambassador to Kabul in order to address the problems of businessmen, strengthen trade-economic relations, create trade facilities, and attract joint investments between Afghanistan and Iran.

The meeting was attended by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, Mohammad Younis Mohmand, the deputy head of Afghanistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Investment, and a number of other Afghan business officials.

According to the report, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister also called the appointment of Iran's new ambassador to Afghanistan a good step in the development of political and trade relations between the two countries, and called Iran a good friend with religious, cultural, commercial and transit commonalities with Afghanistan.

The Taliban's Supreme Court announced on Monday, December 23, that a woman in Faryab province has been "punished" with 39 lashes and one year in prison for running away from home. The Taliban's statement said that the woman's flogging sentence was carried out in public.

In another statement, the court announced the execution of flogging sentences on two individuals in Janikhel district of Paktika province and wrote that these individuals were sentenced to two years in prison and 35 lashes on charges of robbery.

Another statement issued by the court shows that the group in Kabul has sentenced one person to 15 lashes and one year in prison on charges of "forgery and deception”.

The published statements emphasised that these sentences were carried out after the approval of the Taliban's Supreme Court. The Taliban continues to carry out corporal punishment across the country, and on Sunday (December 22) they had flogged a man in Kunduz for allegedly having a same-sex relationship.

The Taliban's Ministry of Public Health announced that the campaign will continue for three days. Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, the ministry's spokesman, called on the people to cooperate in the implementation of the campaign.

"Vaccinate all your children, including babies and sick children," the organisation “Polio-Free Afghanistan" wrote on the social media platform X.

Afghanistan is one of only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated.

In December this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported a 283% increase in polio cases in Afghanistan. According to the organisation's statistics, 25 cases of the disease have been recorded in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year.

However, the Taliban had previously claimed that no positive cases of polio had been reported in Afghanistan.

According to a statement from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN delegation, including the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Roza Otunbayeva, the Under-Secretary-General for Support Operations and a representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), visited the centre on Sunday, December 22.

"Decades of conflict and instability have left many Afghans vulnerable to mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, which have led to a widespread drug use crisis affecting a third of families," according to the statement.

"I was deeply touched by the resistance of women and children here," said Roza Otunbayeva. The centre is a testament to the power of hope and international solidarity. Cooperation between different organisations gives women and children the opportunity to heal,” she added.

According to the World Health Organisation, this year, 640 women and children have been admitted to the centre and 602 people have been treated.

The World Health Organisation also announced that in the past two years, 170,000 people have benefited from extensive education and support programmes for the recovery and treatment of people with drug abuse.

Recently, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 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.