End Harassment, Deportation Of Afghan Journalists, CPJ Tells Pakistani Authorities

The German government has also accepted the Taliban's order to end the work of these diplomats.

The Taliban's Foreign Ministry letter states that the mission of these diplomats had already ended, but they continue their work.

According to the letters, which were written on December 18, 2024, the Afghan embassy in Berlin has been instructed not to allow the six diplomats to work again starting from the end of December 2024.

The letters mention Noor Ahmad Salangi, first secretary of the Afghan embassy in Berlin; Farid Khan, second secretary, and Mohammad Nasim Faqirzada, third secretary of the embassy, as well as Bijan Paya Taheri and Karamuddin Bayazidi as consuls and Mohammad Zahir Yaftali as attaché at the Afghan consulate in Bonn.

The Taliban's Foreign Ministry has asked the Afghan embassy in Berlin to share the matter with the host country and report to the ministry.

In a letter sent to the Afghan embassy in Berlin on December 20, two days after the letters were sent, the German Foreign Ministry said that it would officially announce the termination of the official mission of the six diplomats.

The ministry's letter, a copy of which was provided to Afghanistan International, emphasises that accepting the Taliban's request does not mean that the Taliban regime is officially recognised as the official government of Afghanistan, but is based on international law.

The German Foreign Ministry note states that "a reasonable deadline for the departure of diplomats and consular officers, as well as their family members, has been set at January 30, 2025," and that their diplomatic privileges and immunities will expire on the same date.

With the removal of the six diplomats, only two of them, Abdul Baqi Popal and Mohammad Asif Abdullah, who have "long-standing ties with the Taliban regime", will take control of the Afghan embassy and consulate in Berlin and Bonn, diplomatic sources told Afghanistan International.

On November 19, 2024, Afghanistan's ambassador to Germany, Yama Yari, announced that he had stepped down from his position at the request of the host country.

Diplomatic sources told Afghanistan International at the time that Abdul Baqi Popal had taken over as the head of the Afghan embassy in Germany instead of Yari.

Omari also called for a suitable market for Afghan agricultural products in Russia.

The Taliban's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that Mullah Abdul Manan Omari met with Russian Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov and a delegation led by Nikolai Sazhnov, the government's economic and trade adviser.

In this meeting, he said, "The Taliban want good interaction and mutual respect with the countries of the region and the world. Fortunately, this approach has strengthened political relations and established economic and trade relations with some countries."

Referring to Russia's "importance and position in the region," he called for expanding economic relations with Russia. The Taliban's Minister of Labour once again proposed sending Afghan workers to the Russian Federation.

This request comes as Omari had earlier proposed the issue of sending Afghan workers to the country in a meeting with Russian Labour Minister Anton Kotyakov in June this year.

Russian Ambassador to Kabul Dmitry Zhirnov announced significant progress in trade relations between Afghanistan and Russia and stressed that his country is committed to further developing economic relations with Afghanistan.

In the past three years, economic cooperation between Russia, Central Asian countries, and Afghanistan has gained significant momentum. In addition to expanding economic relations, these countries have also taken the lead in political interactions with the Taliban.

Russia recently removed the Taliban from its list of banned groups. Earlier, Kazakhstan had also removed the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups.

Falconer said that the UK would continue to hold the Taliban accountable for their actions against women and girls.

The British Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday, January 22, said in a video posted on the social media platform X that the country will not allow Afghan women and girls to be forgotten.

In the video at the UN headquarters in New York, Falconer stressed that he raised the UK's concerns about the "appalling" situation of Afghan women and girls with key representatives, regional partners and the UN.

"Afghanistan is the only country in the world that has banned secondary education for girls," he said. "The UK condemns in the strongest terms the Taliban's decision to ban women's medical education and their renewed efforts to ban women from working in non-governmental organisations."

The British official stressed that his country will continue to work to hold the Taliban accountable for their actions and support a better future for the Afghan people together with its partners.

"The Taliban can never expect support or engagement from the international community unless they change their position," Falconer stressed.

According to the organisation, more than 983,000 people from the two neighbouring countries, Iran and Pakistan, returned to the country voluntarily and forcibly.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) quarterly report, which covers the entry and exit of Afghans from October 1 to January 1, was released on Wednesday, January 22.

The organisation has announced that Afghans have left or returned to Afghanistan through the main crossings of Islam Qala, Spin Boldak and Torkham, and the secondary crossings of Abu Nasr Farahi, Bahram Chah, Angur Ada, Ghulam Khan and Pattan.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has also spoken to more than 75,000 people at the borders. According to the report, 50 percent of respondents cited deportation or forced return as the reason for crossing the border.

The report shows that 39% of respondents cited voluntary return as the reason for crossing borders. Also, 21 percent cited economic reasons and 20 percent cited insecurity in the Islamic Republic of Iran as the reason for their return.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the total number of Afghans entering the country during 2024 has reached more than 3,386,000, and the number of people who have left Afghanistan has been reported to be more than 2,469,000.

Accordingly, the number of people who have returned to Afghanistan is about 900,000 more than those who have left the country.

In the report, the Taliban claimed that the attacks were "mainly designed outside Afghanistan".

The Taliban's Security and Clearance Commission said that "evil projects" have been completely destroyed in Afghanistan in the past three years. The Taliban call their opposition groups "mischievous".

The commission has claimed that many commanders, heads of key branches, masterminds and perpetrators of high-profile attacks, and hundreds of its members have been killed and detained in Afghanistan.

This comes as following the Taliban's rise to power, there have been reports of the arrest and torture of the members of security forces of the former Afghan government by the Taliban.

In the past three years, the Taliban has killed or arrested a large number of people on charges of collaborating with ISIS, the National Resistance Front, performing their duties in the security agencies of the former regime, and disobeying orders.

Afghanistan International's findings show that these individuals are being tortured in various ways in the detention centres of the Taliban's intelligence directorates in Kabul and other provinces of Afghanistan.

Announcing that there are a large number of foreign nationals among them, the Taliban's Security and Clearance Commission said, "Some of the leaders and members of this project, who fled to Afghanistan's neighbouring countries after the crackdown, started their organisation with impunity, and indirect support from some factions."

According to the report, these groups deployed in Balochistan and some tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have been provided with training camps, fundraising facilities, and conditions for propaganda and recruitment from different countries of the world.

The Taliban's Security and Clearance Commission has claimed to have reliable information that these individuals transfer new recruits from some Asian and European countries to their bases in Balochistan and the tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through the airports of Karachi and Islamabad.

The Taliban has not provided any evidence for their claim.

"The attacks are mainly planned outside Afghanistan, and the perpetrators came to Afghanistan from abroad under various guises, many of which were carried out by foreign nationals, especially citizens of Tajikistan and Pakistan," the commission's annual report said.

This comes as Tajikistan has repeatedly expressed concern over the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan and has called for the creation of a security belt around Afghanistan. In October 2022, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon proposed the plan at an extraordinary meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which has been welcomed by countries in the region. At the time, he stressed that in order to prevent danger, it was necessary to create a security belt around Afghanistan.

Pakistan also blames Afghanistan for the increase in attacks on its soil. Officials in this country have repeatedly announced that members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have safe havens in Afghanistan and plan and carry out their attacks from this country.

Asif Durrani, Pakistan's former envoy to Afghanistan, announced in January that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is operating in eastern Afghanistan with the support of the Haqqani Network. Referring to the history of the Haqqani Network's closeness to Pakistan's intelligence, Asif Durrani said, "This network plays the role of friend and foe at the same time.

Following the increase in insecurity in Pakistan, the country's army bombed targets in Paktika province in airstrikes.

‘Expulsion of corrupt people from Taliban ranks’

In another part of the report, the Taliban's Security and Clearance Commission announced the expulsion of "undesirable and corrupt individuals" from the ranks of its security and defence forces.

In its annual report on Wednesday, January 22, the Taliban's Security and Clearance Commission wrote, "In the past twelve months, undesirable and corrupt individuals who have been involved in harassing people or committing various crimes have been identified and expelled from the ranks."

The Taliban's Security and Clearance Commission did not provide details about the fate of these individuals.

In the report, the Taliban claimed that all factors of insecurity in Afghanistan have been eliminated and a safe environment has been provided for work.

At the same time, the commission claimed that it has made significant achievements in strengthening borders and security monitoring, reducing crimes, drugs, and training and strengthening its security forces.