Closely Monitoring & Maintaining American Weapons, Says Taliban

Akram did not provide details of the talks, but described them as constructive.

Munir Akram wrote on social media platform X on Thursday, January 30, "We had a constructive discussion on various issues, including the future of peacekeeping and the situation in Afghanistan."

The Pakistani diplomat's discussion with the UN Secretary-General and representatives of Security Council members about Afghanistan took place at a time when Islamabad has repeatedly announced that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters have a safe haven in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has consistently accused the Afghan Taliban of supporting, harbouring, and arming the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). However, the Taliban has denied any support for the TTP.

Following an increase in attacks in Pakistan, the country's army attacked "Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan" centres in Barmal district of Paktika province on Tuesday evening, December 24. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid later announced that at least 46 people had been killed in the attacks.

Earlier, local sources told Afghanistan International that a number of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members along with their families have been relocated to different areas of Kandahar. These areas include Karizgi, Kata Sang, Tanawcha, Qasim Kali and Surkh Bid in Shawali Kot district, which are more than 100 kilometres from the Pakistani border.

Other sources had previously said that Stanekzai was supposed to be tried in a military court.

According to sources, the purpose of the trial was to send a warning message to other officials who are dissatisfied with Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada's decrees, especially regarding the ban on women's education.

Many Kabul-based Taliban officials oppose dozens of Kandahar decrees.

According to information provided by these sources to Afghanistan International, Mullah Baradar, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and Mawlawi Yaqoob asked Hibatullah Akhundzada to pardon Stanekzai, but the Taliban leader strongly opposed this request and insisted that he should be imprisoned.

However, after extensive consultations and indirect interventions by some senior Taliban officials, Stanekzai finally boarded the plane and left Afghanistan for the United Arab Emirates for the time being, the sources said.

However, he and his supporters within the Taliban government are trying to pave the way for a return and reconciliation, sources say.

In an audio file provided to Afghanistan International on Monday, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister said that he had been "infected with a coronavirus-like disease" and that was why he had "gone to recuperate".

In the audio file, he did not mention that he left Afghanistan and went to Dubai for fear of arrest, but accused the media of spreading "false propaganda" in this regard.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai is one of the few officials in the Taliban government who openly criticised Hibatullah Akhundzada's policies. He had repeatedly taken a position on the Taliban's severe restrictions on Afghan women and girls.

In his last speech, he accused the Taliban of violating all women's rights and said that the group has committed oppression and injustice against 20 million women and girls in Afghanistan.

Stanekzai's departure comes as tensions and internal disagreements within the Taliban leadership over key issues, including women's education, have risen to an unprecedented level.

Some political analysts believe that these differences may lead to deeper fissures in the Taliban's structure, especially as some of the group's leaders try to adopt a more moderate approach to international pressure. However, it is said that the hardline faction led by Hibatullah Akhundzada is not ready to back down.

They also called for the continuation of services to Afghan refugees in the United States.

On his first day in office, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending the programme for accepting asylum seekers and foreign aid.

With the suspension of the programme, thousands of Afghans awaiting hearing in various countries, including Pakistan and Albania, are left without a fate.

In addition, government services, such as financial and food assistance, to Afghans who have been transferred to the United States have also been affected by the order.

The US secretary of state has ordered resettlement agencies to halt their programmes, and federal funding to these organisations has been suspended. This comes as Trump said at the signing of the new immigration deportation law that he is quite serious about getting illegal immigrants out of the country.

Democratic members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on Wednesday sent a letter to their former Senate colleague Marco Rubio urging him to use his influence to lift the suspension of resettlement services for Afghan refugees. The lawmakers argued that these services would help refugees live in the United States.

In addition, they said that this type of assistance to eligible refugees does not fall into the category of foreign assistance because it is provided to people inside the United States, not outside the country.

They also pointed to the 32,000 Afghan refugees who will be transferred to the United States in 2025 through the Refugee Admissions Programme who are still eligible for government assistance.

"The cease-and-desist order violates the legal obligations that the State Department has fulfilled under its contracts with US-based organisations," the Democratic lawmakers said.

The suspension of government aid "exposes Afghan refugees to homelessness and food insecurity", they said with concern.

The Trump administration is reviewing all federal loans and assistance to domestic agencies, including resettlement agencies.

The US government has also said that Afghan refugees who were former US government partners in Afghanistan have not been properly screened. Therefore, Washington has "temporarily" suspended their transfer programme.

According to the migrants, police have arrested Afghan migrants since Tuesday in different areas of Islamabad, including Barakahu.

Sources from Islamabad's Barakahu area said on Thursday, January 30, that Pakistani police "intensified" searches of migrant homes at 9am and arrested a number of undocumented migrants, including women and children.

An Afghan refugee who was held in police custody for an hour told Afghanistan International that police had "beaten up" the arrested women. A female migrant who was trying to contact her family was seized by the police officials and severely beaten after a verbal altercation, she said.

Another refugee sent videos to Afghanistan International and said that the Islamabad police arrested a number of migrants, including his brother, from the Mandi Mor area of the city on Wednesday evening and transferred them to Haji Camp in Rawalpindi.

He said that the Pakistani police slapped him because of the filming. According to the woman, Pakistani police have also arrested migrants who had UNHCR cards with them.

Pakistani police have intensified arrests of Afghan refugees in the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi for the past month. These arrests had decreased in the past week and have intensified again in the last two days.

Martinon added that he is not optimistic about a change in the situation in Taliban-dominated Afghanistan in the short term.

In an interview with a newspaper about the documentary "The Collapse of Kabul", Martinon said that the Taliban is in full control of Afghanistan today and there is no serious internal opposition against it except for ISIS-K, which is a bloodthirsty group.

The documentary is an adaptation of David Martinon's book titled "The 15 Days That Transformed Kabul".

The French diplomat, who is now France's ambassador to South Africa, added that the Taliban's opponents, including Ahmad Massoud, are facing difficulties.

In a part of the interview, he said, "The Taliban has created fear inside the country. They are cruel and have made women's living conditions even more difficult. Women no longer have access to public spaces, education and medical education. Even in their homes, they are not allowed to have windows facing out. There is no better description of this situation of women and girls as domestic slavery."

He considered the fall of Kabul not only a defeat for the democratic international community, but also for the Afghan political class, adding, "After 20 years of efforts and investment, Afghanistan has not been able to achieve independence and stability."

Martinon also recalled the difficult days before the withdrawal from Kabul and said that the French embassy team had carried out the evacuation operations accurately and quickly in anticipation of the fall of the government.

He described tough decisions, such as opening the embassy doors to rescue hundreds of Afghans at risk, as one of the most critical moments of his mission.

The French-titled documentary "Kabul Chaos", written and directed by Thomas Brémond, David Périssère, Nils Montel & Myriam Weil, recounts the events of Martinon and his team's three-year mission in Kabul until their departure in August 2021.

The documentary, which was made using various archives and interviews, is scheduled to be broadcast on January 31.

David Martinon said that Afghanistan has been plunged into darkness under Taliban rule and has an uncertain future, but he still hopes that one day the French diplomatic mission in Afghanistan will be resumed.