Russia-Taliban Working Group To Be Formed, Says Zamir Kabulov

Blinken stressed that the United States will always abide by its commitment to support its partners.

On Wednesday, January 8, Blinken announced on his account on social media platform X the extension of the US State Department's memorandum of understanding with Afghan Evac.

It is a coalition of organisations that assist the United States in the relocation and resettlement of Afghans.

The US Secretary of State said that the United States will continue its vital cooperation with the organisation to transfer people who have been with the United States for 20 years.

The US State Department has announced the extension of the transfer process of its Afghan colleagues while in recent days, Afghan refugees eligible for transfer to the United States have faced arrest and deportation in Pakistan.

In the past few days, a number of Afghan refugees who are waiting to go to Western countries have been detained by Pakistani police. According to reports, Pakistani police have deported a large number of these refugees to Afghanistan after conducting biometric tests at the Haji Camp on the outskirts of Rawalpindi.

Earlier, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to support efforts to transfer Washington's Afghan partners to the United States, and called for the appointment of a coordinator in the US State Department to address these efforts.

According to the text of the 2024 Afghan Relocation Efforts Authorisation Act, which was published on the congressional website, the coordinator will be responsible for "relocating eligible Afghan allies, facilitating the exit from Afghanistan for US citizens and permanent US residents."

In addition, according to the bill, the State Department coordinator will support the efforts of the department and the US government to resettle and relocate Afghans.

The US State Department announced last month that it had relocated 183,000 Afghan citizens, including their local colleagues, to the United States in the past three years.

According to the report, the meeting discussed border protection, prevention of smuggling, and protection of Afghanistan's territorial integrity.

The report, published on Wednesday, January 8, said that the protection of Afghanistan's borders was discussed during a meeting of the Central Commission for Security and Clearance Affairs, led by the Taliban's defence minister.

The details of the talks have not yet been announced, but the meeting follows Pakistan's recent airstrike on Paktika province.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had claimed that at least 46 people, including several women and children, were killed in Pakistani airstrikes in December in Barmal district of Paktika.

After these attacks, tensions on the border increased, and the Afghan Taliban attacked the border posts of Pakistani forces.

According to the centre, Nuristan is the sixth province to announce and implement this ban.

So far, the ban on the publication of live pictures has been officially announced in five provinces, including Kandahar, Takhar, Badghis, Helmand and Nangarhar.

The Afghanistan Journalists Centre (AFJC) has expressed serious concern over the expansion of the restriction and warned of "negative consequences on the work of the media and people's access to information".

The centre said that the Nuristan Office for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced in a statement on Monday, January 6, that the order was communicated by Din Mohammad Mostaghni, the head of Nuristan’s Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Office, in the presence of the governor and other Taliban officials.

Mostaghni said that this order was issued based on Article 17 of the Law on the Promotion of Virtue and must be strictly observed.

According to the statement of the Afghanistan Journalists Centre in Nuristan province, in addition to the provincial representative of the National Radio and Television and the state-run Bakhtar News Agency, there are three private radio stations, Elena, Soleh Sahar, and Paron Ghag.

Local sources told the centre, "The national television does not have a local programme in Nuristan, and before the ban on the publication of live images was announced, its reports were broadcast through the national television in Kabul. In addition, video reports from the provincial section of Bakhtar News Agency were also sent to Kabul."

The report of the Afghanistan Journalists Centre states that after the publication of this order, the governor's office in Nuristan has no longer published pictures of living beings on the organisation's Facebook page and instead uses pictures of office buildings.

The Afghanistan Journalists Centre (AFJC) said that although the ban has been officially announced only in Kandahar, Takhar, Badghis, Helmand, Nangarhar provinces, and recently Nuristan, the centre's findings show that the ban is spreading to other provinces and some local administrations are implementing it.

The number of Afghans holding this ID card in Pakistan is about 1.3 million.

As the Constitutional Court resumes hearing of petitions against the mass deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan on Tuesday, the federal government has assured the country's Supreme Court that the validity of the PoR registration certificate cards has been extended until June 30, 2025, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.

Following the Pakistani government's decision to deport Afghan refugees en masse in October 2023, several lawsuits have been filed by the coalition of civil society activists, human rights activists, and former senators.

According to the Dawn newspaper, the federal government has assured the Supreme Court that all Afghan refugees who register themselves in Pakistan, including holders of Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC), will enjoy full legal protection and will not be detained or deported.

According to a July 22, 2024, announcement by Pakistan's Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, the deadline for Certificate of Registration or POR or ICC cards will be extended until June 30, 2025.

According to the Dawn newspaper, the total number of PoR and ACC card holders residing in Pakistan is estimated at 1.3 million and 700,000, respectively.

In recent weeks, following the escalation of tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban in Kabul, Pakistani security forces have launched extensive efforts to arrest and deport Afghan refugees, especially from the capital, Islamabad. In the past few days, many pictures have been published of house-to-house search operations in Islamabad and some other areas.

The ministry added that these individuals were released on bail.

The Taliban's Ministry of Promotion of Virtue reported on Tuesday, January 7, that these individuals were briefly detained in the third and fifth districts of Kabul city and released on bail.

"We are committed to preventing such acts while preserving Islamic and social values," the ministry's statement said.

The Taliban's Law for the Promotion of Virtue has given extensive powers to the group's Ministry of Virtue, whose ombudsman also has the right to arrest individuals.

Human rights organisations say that the Taliban's judicial system is not standardised and that defendants do not have access to due process, including a defence lawyer.