Taliban Minister Tells Indonesian Diplomat Islamic Law Underpins Group’s Legislation

The female candidates are Shakiba Dawod, Sayara Rahmani and Fatema Haidari. The male candidates include Rohullah Sidiqullah, Inamullah Samoon, Wasel Esaqzai and Mahdi Mawodi.

Shakiba Dawod, an artist living in Paris since 2009, has entered the race in alliance with Iranian journalist Sina Entesari. In an interview with Afghanistan International, Dawod said her candidacy is grounded in personal experience and civic activism. She said she aims to represent those often silenced, women, asylum seekers, exiles and marginalised minorities.

Dawod added that her objective is to serve as a bridge between the lived realities of refugees and the decision-making structures of French society.

Another candidate, Sayara Rahmani, who has lived in France since 2016, is running alongside Rohullah Sidiqullah, a migrants’ rights advocate. Rahmani told Afghanistan International she would prioritise language education, access to housing and mental health support, particularly for women and mothers.

She also pledged to support job-seeking migrants, improve access to the labour market for women, and advocate for the inclusion of the Uzbek language within France’s immigration system.

Currently, 25 candidates from countries including Iran, Syria, Russia, Palestine, Türkiye, Tunisia, Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are contesting seats in the Exile Parliament.

Only individuals with official asylum-seeker status in France are eligible to vote. Voting is conducted online via the Parliament’s official website. Each voter may cast one vote for a male candidate and one for a female candidate.

Voting will remain open until Friday, 18 July, with results expected the following day.

The Parliament of Exiled People (Le Parlement des Exilés) is a non-governmental civil body created to provide a platform for advocacy and participation by those who have fled their countries due to political, social or security threats. The institution seeks to bring the voices and demands of refugees, exiles and migrants into France’s national conversation and to the attention of policymakers.

In a meeting on Monday with Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs, Otunbayeva said the return of Afghan migrants from Iran had surged at an alarming rate. She called for urgent international cooperation to respond to the growing needs of returnees.

Despite limited funding for humanitarian relief, Otunbayeva reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to supporting the Afghan people, especially those forcibly returned from abroad. She noted that the UN had convened multiple meetings urging neighbouring countries to pause deportations and voiced hope for outcomes that benefit Afghan nationals.

Also attending the meeting was Arafat Jamal, head of the UNHCR office in Afghanistan, who commended the Afghan public’s willingness to welcome returnees despite ongoing economic hardship.

In response, Hanafi outlined new measures taken by the Taliban at the Islam Qala and Pul-e-Abrisham border crossings, including expanding personnel, providing food and clean water, improving coordination between assigned committees, and setting up additional shelters for deportees.

Over the past two weeks, Iran has expelled hundreds of thousands of Afghan migrants, a move widely criticised by international observers, who warn it is exacerbating a growing humanitarian crisis inside Afghanistan. Despite repeated calls from the international community to halt the deportations, Iran has continued with mass expulsions.

Hundreds of users, including activists, have taken to social media platforms in recent weeks, urging a boycott under the hashtag “Boycotting Iranian Goods Is a National Demand,” countering the popular Iranian slogan “Expelling Afghan Migrants Is a National Demand.”

Afghanistan is one of the largest importers of Iranian goods.

Natiq Malekzada, an Afghan activist based in London, wrote on X on Sunday: “We were supposed to meet friends for lunch in London. When I arrived at the location, I saw it was an Iranian restaurant. I made everyone leave.”

He added: “I don’t understand why we have no pride. An Iranian extremist slaps our compatriots, and we still go to their restaurants just because the food is tasty.”

Niloufar Yousefi, another user, wrote using the hashtag “Boycott Iranian Goods for the Oppression of Refugees” that Afghans should not support a regime that humiliates, tortures, and discriminates against Afghan migrants by purchasing its products.

“Until this injustice ends, we will raise our voices through boycotts,” she added, urging Afghan merchants not to import Iranian goods.

Habiba Salehi wrote that boycotting Iranian goods and cutting off water from the Helmand River to Iran would be a justified response to the repeated mistreatment and systemic humiliation of Afghan refugees by the Iranian state. She called the boycott a “defence of national dignity” and encouraged more Afghans to join the campaign.

Ali Reza Hashemi, a doctor in Herat, said in protest that he would stop prescribing Iranian medicines and instead recommend domestic alternatives.

Nasim Kamgar shared a video showing a young Afghan child describing mistreatment by Iranian authorities. “This is not our fate,” he wrote. “We must preserve this in our collective memory, that when we excluded each other, closed schools, committed corruption, and divided by ethnicity, we were all eventually humiliated and had our dignity crushed.”

Using the hashtag “Boycotting Iranian Goods Is a National Demand,” he added that “in difficult days, Afghans only have each other.”

How Much Does Afghanistan Import from Iran?

Afghan activists are calling for a boycott despite Afghanistan being one of the largest buyers of Iranian goods.

The Tehran Times reported on July 11, that in the first three months of the current Iranian year (starting March 2025), Iran exported $520 million worth of non-oil goods to Afghanistan, making Afghanistan Iran’s fifth-largest export market.

Previously, Hossein Roustaei, Iran’s commercial attaché in Kabul, announced that Iran exported over $3.14 billion in non-oil goods to Afghanistan in 2024.

By contrast, Tasnim News Agency quoted an Iranian official in January stating that Afghanistan exported only $54 million worth of goods to Iran in the same year.

This boycott campaign follows growing anger in Afghanistan over Iran’s treatment of Afghan migrants. Following Iran’s ceasefire with Israel, mass deportations of Afghans resumed with increasing intensity. The Taliban reported that more than half a million Afghan migrants were expelled from Iran within 19 days, with tens of thousands returning daily via the Islam Qala border crossing.

Despite Iranian authorities insisting they are only expelling undocumented migrants, Afghan returnees say even those with valid visas and residency documents have been forcibly removed. In some cases, Iranian officers reportedly tore up Afghan migrants' passports and identity papers.

In a statement shared Monday on social media, Karzai said he met with Ambassador Takayoshi Kuromiya and thanked Japan for its continued support to Afghanistan, particularly in the health and education sectors.

Karzai described Japan as a “historic friend” of Afghanistan and praised its longstanding contributions to the country’s development.

The former president, who has occasionally criticised Taliban policies in indirect terms, again underscored the importance of inclusive governance, girls’ education, and unity among all ethnic groups.

In a statement issued Monday, July 15, the rights organisation released a list of 29 human rights wins recorded in the first half of 2025 across countries including Afghanistan, Chile, Cameroon, Türkiye, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Greece.

Topping the list was the ICC’s arrest warrants for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the group's chief justice. The two are accused of crimes against humanity.

“These are the first public arrest warrants sought by the ICC in Afghanistan since the country became a member of the court in 2003,” Amnesty International said in the statement.

Despite the ongoing global challenges marked by “fear, division and hatred,” Amnesty noted that activists around the world continued to fight for justice and preserve hope.

The report also highlighted other key developments, including the release of several human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, US sanctions on companies supplying weapons to Sudan, and new measures to combat violence against women in Algeria.

The ICC announced on July 8 that it had issued arrest warrants for Akhundzada and Haqqani. The move was welcomed by Western governments, Afghan women’s rights activists, and international human rights groups.

The Taliban, however, rejected the court’s legitimacy, stating they do not recognise the ICC and that its decisions would not affect their policies or behaviour.