The rise, fall and rise anew of Taliban commanders who ricocheted back and forth between Iran and Afghanistan amid decades of war tells the story of a bond strengthened in the shadows.
Sources told Afghanistan International that Najib Faryad, a local reporter for a private TV channel, was beaten up by gunmen in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday morning, January 9.
Najib Faryad is a local correspondent for the private Ariana News TV in Balkh. According to sources, he was beaten up while he was going to cover the opening ceremony of an oil facility.
The sources did not mention the reason for the attack on the journalist or the identity of the perpetrators of the attack.
The incident comes even as the Taliban has recently intensified pressure on the media and journalists.
The Afghanistan Journalists Support Organisation had announced on Wednesday, January 8, that the Taliban had sentenced Mehdi Ansari, a reporter for the Afghan News Agency, to one and a half years in prison.
Amnesty International has said that Pakistan has arbitrarily detained and harassed hundreds of Afghan refugees, including women and children, in Islamabad in recent days.
Babu Ram Pant, Deputy Regional Director for South Asia at Amnesty International, said that the arbitrary and night-time arrests of Afghan migrants by Islamabad police were part of Pakistan's "larger discriminatory policy" against Afghans inside the country.
Pant also said that making the No Objection Certificate (NOC) mandatory for Afghan refugees in Islamabad would impose heavy obligations on them along with the existing documents.
According to Amnesty International, Pakistan has repeatedly and "arbitrarily" implemented policies that have exacerbated the fragility of Afghan refugees and caused thousands of people to return to Afghanistan.
Amnesty International has confirmed that Pakistan has taken steps to detain asylum seekers with valid residency documents and visas.
According to the organisation, the actions of Pakistani authorities have put Afghan refugees at greater risk.
The organisation stressed that asylum seekers have the right to a fair trial and protection against forcible return under international law, regardless of what documents they have.
Amnesty International called on Pakistan to abide by its obligations under international law and take immediate action to secure the release of detained migrants.
The statement quoted the Joint Action Committee for Refugees as saying that Pakistan has detained more than 800 Afghan refugees in Islamabad since January 1.
In the past week or so, Afghans in various parts of Islamabad have reported that police are searching and detaining migrants "house by house".
The migrants have sent several images to Afghanistan International showing the presence of police forces around the Afghan refugees' residences in Islamabad.
In recent months, Pakistan has increased the pressure on Afghan refugees in an unprecedented way.
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Wednesday without the group's official flag.
The meeting was held without official formalities. The Taliban and the UAE have not commented on the location of the meeting.
The UAE Foreign Ministry has released pictures of Al Nahyan's meeting with Amir Khan Muttaqi, in which no flag can be seen. The presence of the flag of countries in official meetings is one of the basic diplomatic protocols of countries.
After returning to power, the Taliban replaced the historic tricolor of Afghanistan with its white flag. However, countries have not yet allowed the Taliban flag to be placed in official meetings.
According to a statement from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan stressed on support for the Afghan people, stability, development and progress of the country.
The Taliban's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that bilateral relations, expanding economic cooperation, and regional issues were discussed during the meeting. The ministry also added that the two sides exchanged views on increasing trade between Afghanistan and the UAE and marketing Afghan products in the UAE.
The UAE has close ties with the Taliban regime. However, despite handing over Afghanistan's embassy and consulates to the Taliban, it has not yet recognised the regime.
The UAE was one of the few countries that had recognised the Taliban regime in its previous rule, but this time it has refused to recognise the Taliban.
In the past three years, most Taliban officials have visited the UAE. Mullah Hassan, Mullah Yaqoob, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Abdul Haq Wasiq were among the senior Taliban officials who visited the UAE.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's foreign minister, arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday on an official visit.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met with Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai on Wednesday.
According to a statement from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, during the meeting, the two sides discussed regional developments and the expansion of humanitarian cooperation.
Referring to the historical friendship between the two countries and strong people-to-people contacts, the Indian Foreign Secretary announced India's readiness to respond to the immediate development needs of the Afghan people.
This is the first meeting between a senior Indian official and the Taliban's foreign minister.
During the meeting, the two sides agreed that in addition to the current humanitarian assistance, India will also participate in development projects in Afghanistan in the future.
India said that it has so far delivered 50,000 tonnes of wheat, 300 tonnes of medicine, 27 tonnes of earthquake aid, 100 million doses of polio vaccine and other essential items to Afghanistan.
The statement added that based on the Taliban's request, India will provide more assistance in the health sector and support for refugees.
The Indian Foreign Secretary and Muttaqi agreed on strengthening sports cooperation, especially in the field of cricket, and the use of Chabahar port to support trade and humanitarian aid.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said that during the meeting, Amir Khan Muttaqi mentioned India's security sensitivities and it was agreed that contacts and talks will continue at various levels.
Ehsan Jahanian, the political, security, and social deputy of the governor of Bushehr in Iran announced that the employment and residence of Afghans in the 5-kilometre radius of the nuclear power plant is prohibited.
Jahanian said that Afghans are not allowed to live and work in the cities of Genaveh, Deylam and Assaluyeh in Bushehr.
ILNA news agency reported on Wednesday, January 8, that Ehsan Jahanian said that all Afghans should leave the cities of Genaveh, Deylam and Assaluyeh as soon as possible.
Ehsan Jahanian has threatened that if Afghans are not deported from these areas, their residency documents will be revoked and they will be expelled from Iran.
Stating that the plan for the detention and expulsion of unauthorised foreign nationals in Bushehr is continuous, he stated, "Nationals who do not have identity documents will be identified, detained, and transferred to a border camp for deportation from the country."
At the same time, he emphasised that proper planning should be done by the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs of Bushehr Governorate in order to attract investment through the UNHCR and other supporting organisations for the construction of housing units for such migrants.
The political, security, and social deputy of the governor of Bushehr has said that international organisations have provided little support for refugees to the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past years.
He called for increased financial support from international organisations, saying, "We hope that more support will be provided in 2025."
The director general of the country's divisions of the Iranian Interior Ministry said in December this year, more than 1.5 million Afghans have been arrested and deported to Afghanistan without documents in one year. To prevent the re-entry of Afghans, fingerprinting has been started, Abbas Alipour said.
