Will Respond To Pakistan's Air Strike, Announces Taliban

According to Mujahid, Pakistan targeted four locations in the Barmal district, with the majority of the casualties being women and children.

Speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday, 25th December, Mujahid stated: “Last night, 46 people were killed in airstrikes carried out by Pakistan.”

The Pakistani military launched these strikes on Tuesday evening, 24th December, targeting what it described as “Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) centres” in the Barmal district of Paktika. The Taliban, however, has vowed to retaliate against the assault.

Pakistani military-aligned media outlets reported that the strikes successfully eliminated several militants and destroyed four operational centres belonging to TTP. Conversely, the Taliban’s Ministry of Defence claimed the airstrikes targeted “Waziristani refugees” residing in the area.

This is not the first instance of such actions; the Pakistani military has previously conducted operations against TTP strongholds in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, and Kunar. Pakistan has consistently accused the Afghan Taliban of supporting TTP by providing them with sanctuary and weaponry. These allegations have been categorically denied by the Taliban.

The airstrikes coincided with a visit to Kabul by Muhammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan.

Hamid Karzai, the former President of Afghanistan, strongly condemned the airstrikes, labelling them as a “blatant act of aggression and a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.” Karzai described the attacks as an “open act of invasion.”

Nasir Ahmad Andisha, Afghanistan’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva, also reacted to the strikes, accusing Pakistan of employing coercive diplomacy towards the Taliban. Andisha further remarked that the Taliban lacks the capability to respond to Pakistan militarily.

Meanwhile, some former Afghan officials have criticised the Taliban, alleging that their actions and policies have facilitated Pakistan’s ability to conduct such operations within Afghanistan.

The Taliban official said that girls' education above the sixth grade is prohibited by Mullah Hibatullah's decree until "further notice”.

The Taliban's education chief in Herat wrote in a letter to the Herat Education Department on Tuesday, December 24, that according to the order of the leader of this group, the education of girls above the sixth grade in public and private schools and educational centres will be "closed" until further notice.

Rahmatullah Jaber has asked the Herat Education Department to act in accordance with the ban. The letter was sent to the department for teacher training, district education offices in Injil and Guzara, the Taliban’s intelligence directorate, and the union of private educational centres in Herat.

With the closure of girls' schools above the sixth grade, girls in a number of provinces, including Herat, went to private educational centres to continue their studies. In the letter, the Taliban's education chief said that the teaching of girls above the sixth grade in public and private schools and educational centres is prohibited.

In the past few months, the Taliban had closed a number of educational centres for girls' education in Herat.

According to the organisation, 31% of returnees are female-headed households who are vulnerable.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a report on Tuesday, December 24, that "among the returnees, 2.5% are people with disabilities and 31% are families with female heads”.

The UN office said that it had provided vital assistance to only 116,600 of the more than 783,000 migrants. Nearly half of those helped were said to be women.

According to the report, a donor delegation including representatives from the European Union, Norway and Sweden traveled to Kabul from November 24 to 27, 2024, and visited UNHCR-supported centres.

After meeting with the refugees, the delegation reiterated its support for the empowerment of women and girls and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan has been widely criticised inside and outside Afghanistan.

In April 2024, Amnesty International had called on Pakistan not to ignore international calls and stop deporting Afghan refugees.

The Taliban's Interior Ministry wrote in a statement that Mohammad Sadiq said, "We are committed to resolving the existing problems between Afghanistan and Pakistan through joint efforts."

On Tuesday, December 24, the Taliban's Interior Ministry published pictures of the meeting on social media platform X.

In a meeting with Mohammad Sadiq, Sirajuddin Haqqani stressed that "the current time requires that joint efforts be accelerated to resolve security and political problems in order to protect the relations between the two nations from damage and ensure the stability and development of the region”.

The Taliban's Interior Ministry has not released the details of the conversation.

The ministry added in its statement that Mohammad Sadiq also expressed his condolences on behalf of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the assassination of Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani, the Taliban's Minister for Refugees. Sirajuddin Haqqani is the nephew of Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani and the Taliban's interior minister.

Pakistan's special envoy for Afghanistan arrived in Kabul on Monday, December 23. This is Sadiq's first visit to Kabul after his election for the second time as Pakistan's special envoy for Afghanistan. About 20 days ago, on December 5, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Sadiq Khan as Pakistan's special envoy for Afghanistan for the second time.

Mohammad Sadiq's visit to Kabul comes amid an increase in attacks on Pakistani security forces. In one of the most recent cases, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on an army checkpoint in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The TTP said that they killed 35 Pakistani soldiers in the attack.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly emphasised that TTP sanctuaries are located on Afghan soil.

Islamabad has consistently called on the Taliban to prevent the use of Afghan soil for TTP activities. However, the Afghan Taliban has denied these claims and has stated that Pakistan should not blame Afghanistan for its problems.

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.