Taliban FM Calls For Enhanced Cooperation In Meet With Iranian FM

Haqshenas added that the contract was signed by the Taliban's deputy railway director in Uzbekistan.

Mohammad Ashraf Haqshenas, spokesman for the Taliban Ministry of Public Works, announced on Saturday, January 25, that 4,200 containers had been transported through this rail corridor last year. He explained that the rail corridor passes through China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan and connects to the Hairatan crossing in Balkh province.

Haqshenas added that it is expected that with the extension of this contract, the amount of rail transportation on this route will increase significantly.

The contract to transport commercial goods through this rail corridor was first signed in 2022 between the Taliban and these three countries.

Abdul Kabir said that the Security Council could not reach a definitive decision on the Taliban's law on the promotion of virtue because China and Russia said that it was an internal issue of Afghanistan.

Abdul Kabir, the Taliban's Minister of Refugees, said on Friday, January 25, at a ceremony for the students of a religious school in Khost province that the Taliban administration did not have extensive diplomatic and political relations with the countries of the world before, and if a resolution was taken against the group in the United Nations Security Council, it would not have been supported by the members of the council.

Abdul Kabir is implicitly referencing the UN Security Council Resolution 1368, which in 2001 authorised the US-led international coalition to take military action to combat terrorism in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. At that time, the members of the Security Council voted decisively (15) in favour of the resolution, with none voting against or abstaining.

Abdul Kabir, however, said that now the Taliban's political relations have expanded to such an extent that there are countries in the UN Security Council that can veto decisions against the group.

Abdul Kabir specifically mentioned Russia and China, which did not vote against the Taliban's law on the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, calling it an "internal matter of Afghanistan".

Abdul Kabir, who was previously the Taliban's deputy prime minister, said that some people have shown sensitivity to the law on the promotion of virtue, but the UN Security Council has not been able to make a final decision on this law.

The United States, Britain, and France are among the permanent members of the Security Council who are critical of the Taliban's Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

These statements by Abdul Kabir, the Taliban's Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, indicate that after the inauguration of the Donald Trump administration, concerns about international efforts to overthrow the Taliban have increased among the group, and Taliban officials are trying to curb these concerns.

He said that the cement production capacity will increase from 7,000 tons to 10,000 tons per day.

Afghanistan's National Radio-Television, which is under the control of the Taliban, on Saturday quoted a spokesman for the group's Ministry of Mines and Petroleum as announcing the signing of contracts worth millions of dollars.

According to the ministry's spokesman, the implementation of these projects will provide employment for thousands of citizens and Afghanistan will become self-sufficient in the field of cement production.

Earlier, in November this year, the Taliban's deputy prime minister announced the start of mining work on 21 large mines in different parts of Afghanistan.

According to the Taliban's statement, these mines include resources such as gold, rubies, lead, zinc, iron, chromite, barite, coal, and cement raw materials.

The Taliban has announced that the extraction of cement raw materials is planned in the districts of Jabal al-Saraj in Parwan province, and Shurandam districts of Kandahar.

This movement of protesting women has also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pave the way for the trial of the leaders of the Taliban group.

The Purple Saturdays Movement in a statement said, "Due to the ban on the travel of the Taliban leader and the head of the Supreme Court abroad, we are very concerned that the request for the issuance of an arrest warrant for Taliban officials will not be implemented and will only be symbolic."

These protesting women have stressed that the leaders of the Taliban group should be prosecuted without distinction into "good" and "bad".

They also called for the arrest warrants for Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani; Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadeem; Virtue Promotion Minister Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, and Justice Minister Abdul Hakim Shari.

The Purple Saturdays Movement said that these individuals "are contaminated with the blood of thousands of innocent people, including women and children, by planning and executing hundreds of suicide and explosive attacks, in addition to committing widespread crimes against humanity".

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, previously announced that he had sent a request for the arrest of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the Taliban's chief justice, to the International Criminal Court.

He said that Afghanistan's mineral products will be transported through this corridor.

The member of the Industries and Mines Commission of the Islamic Republic of Iran told Tasnim News Agency, "Afghanistan has rich mines which can be processed and turned into final products by using Iran's technical know-how."

According to him, this corridor has access to Iran's Bandar Abbas, and recently about 10,000 tons of cargo from China have been transported through this route.

A member of the Industries and Mines Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly announced plans to hold an economic conference in Iran and said that Afghan businessmen are also invited to form more trade cooperation.

"Our goal is to create common economic capacities and strengthen the development-oriented outlook in this region," he said.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, like other countries, does not recognise the Taliban, but it has diplomatic and economic relations with the group and has handed over the Afghan embassy in Tehran to the Taliban.

In November 2024, the Taliban administration announced that the value of trade with Iran had reached more than $1.8 billion.