Taliban, Pakistani Foreign Ministers Head To Beijing For Trilateral Talks With China

Speaking at the Tehran Dialogue Forum on Sunday, 18 May, Muttaqi stated, “Our effort is to prevent water from being wasted and to ensure it reaches the Iranian side properly.” His remarks came amid ongoing discussions between Afghanistan and Iran regarding water rights and the management of shared resources.

Addressing the forum, which gathered senior officials from both countries and the wider region, Muttaqi highlighted the $3 billion trade volume between Afghanistan and Iran. He noted that over the past four years, the Taliban has pursued positive relations with neighbouring, regional, and international partners under what he termed a “balanced foreign policy.”

Touching on the recurring tensions between Kabul and Tehran over water rights, Muttaqi called drought a shared challenge and reiterated the Taliban’s intention to ensure a fair and consistent flow of water to Iran. “This is our religious and Islamic duty to assist,” he added. “We view this act as both virtuous and politically constructive. To the people of Iran who hear my voice, rest assured, we have no ill intentions in this matter.”

Muttaqi further stressed the Taliban’s foreign policy priorities, describing their approach as “balanced and economy-focused,” with special emphasis on neighbouring states.

He also pointed to what he characterised as the Taliban’s success in establishing stability, following years of failed governance experiments and externally imposed solutions. According to Muttaqi, Taliban officials are now working to address citizens’ needs across all 34 Afghan provinces.

Each of the accused received thirty-five lashes for offences of alcohol consumption and “illicit relationships”. In addition, all five were sentenced to custodial terms ranging from one to five years. Two defendants were handed prison terms of two years and six months alongside thirty-five lashes; one received five years’ imprisonment and thirty-nine lashes; and the remaining three were each sentenced to one year in prison with thirty-nine lashes.

On 17 April, United Nations experts reported that at least 213 people, including 44 women, had been subjected to flogging over the preceding three months, figures drawn from the Taliban Supreme Court’s own records.

UN human rights officials denounced such punishments as “inhuman” and urged the Taliban to cease practices of public corporal punishment and executions immediately.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the event commenced on Sunday, 18 May, featuring addresses by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, as well as the foreign ministers of Oman, Tajikistan, Iraq, and representatives from Armenia.

Kamal Kharazi, head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and ambassadors from various countries were also in attendance. The forum will continue into its second day on Monday, 19 May.

In his opening speech, President Pezeshkian addressed the ongoing war in Gaza, stating, “If powerful countries did not seek to invade other nations, conflicts would not arise.”

Responding to recent remarks by US President Donald Trump, who had described the Islamic Republic as a regional threat during a visit to the Middle East, Pezeshkian asserted, “It is not Tehran that creates insecurity through bombings, assassinations of scientists, and the killing of innocent people, it is those who have come to the region who are the real threat.”

He added, “We have lived with our neighbours for thousands of years, but foreign powers create hostility by fuelling divisions among regional countries.” Pezeshkian continued: “They want to create discord among us so they can take our resources at any price, portray us as threats to one another, and then claim we should invest in their countries. They want our oil, sell us weapons, and still demand our investments.”

The Omani foreign minister also addressed the forum, emphasising the significance of regional dialogue, relations with Iran, the Palestinian crisis, and the need to reconsider international approaches to resolving Middle Eastern issues. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Tajik counterpart also delivered speeches.

As of yet, Iranian media have not published any remarks from the Taliban’s foreign minister.

According to the organisation, both individuals had previously been sentenced to death by the judiciary of the Islamic Republic on charges of “premeditated murder.” The executions were carried out in the early hours of Thursday, 16 May.

The Afghan prisoner has been identified as Abdullah. The second individual, Reza Dahmardeh, was a 24-year-old Iranian of Baluch ethnicity who was reportedly sentenced to death three years ago.

To date, neither Iranian state media nor official sources have confirmed the executions.

The Iran Human Rights Organisation, which operates outside of Iran, has criticised the lack of murder classification in Iranian law, noting that death sentences are routinely issued for all types of murder, regardless of the circumstances or motives involved.

Human rights organisations based outside Iran have previously stated that executions of Afghan prisoners have increased since the Taliban assumed power in Afghanistan. According to these groups, more than 80 Afghan inmates were executed in Iran last year.

Rustam Khabibulin, head of Russia’s Trade Centre in Afghanistan, announced that the Russian company Inteco has conducted geological explorations in the country and will soon initiate drilling to extract oil. Speaking to Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti, Khabibulin noted that the construction of an oil refinery is also planned, although no specific timeline was provided.

Nooruddin Azizi, the Taliban’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, told RIA Novosti on Saturday, 18 May, that a formal contract for oil extraction had been signed with Inteco Group. The agreement was finalised on the sidelines of the Russia–Islamic World Forum in Kazan.

On Friday, the Taliban confirmed that a total of five agreements spanning multiple sectors were signed with Russia. According to an official statement, the memorandums of understanding were signed in the presence of Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, and Alexey Overchuk, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, during the 16th Kazan Economic Forum.

The agreements cover cooperation in the transport sector, the expansion of trade relations, and collaboration between private companies on oil and gas extraction.

Baradar led a high-level Taliban delegation to Tatarstan to participate in the Kazan Economic Forum on Wednesday, 14 May. Upon returning to Afghanistan, Baradar described his four-day visit to Kazan as “full of achievements.”

In a significant diplomatic development, Russia has recently suspended its classification of the Taliban as a terrorist organisation and announced its acceptance of the Taliban’s ambassador in Moscow. Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan has confirmed that the Taliban has nominated an ambassador, though the individual’s identity has not yet been disclosed.