No Obstacles Remain In Relations With US, Says Taliban Official

According to the report, Taliban forces have continued operations against ISKP in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.

A UN official provided Afghanistan International journalist Maryam Rahmati with a copy of the Secretary-General’s report, which details the situation in Afghanistan over the past three months.

The report noted that on 26 May, a Taliban attack on a Salafi cleric in Shuhada district, Badakhshan, killed the cleric and his guard. On 14 June, unidentified assailants shot dead a Shia imam in Nusai district, Badakhshan, decapitated him and left an ISKP flag at the scene. It further stated that on 15 June, ISKP fighters targeted Taliban forces in Dara-e-Noor district of Nangarhar, and on 8 July, armed clashes between the two groups broke out in Alingar district, Laghman province.

57 Threats and Attacks Against UN Staff

The Secretary-General reported that over the past three months, 57 security incidents and threats against UN staff were recorded.

According to the report, dozens of female UN employees received death threats from unidentified individuals in May alone. The UN said these threats forced it to adopt temporary security measures. The Taliban has denied responsibility for the threats, and the perpetrators have not yet been identified.

Five Anti-Taliban Fronts Claim Attacks

Guterres stated that five armed groups claimed responsibility for 47 anti-Taliban attacks in the past quarter. These included the Afghanistan Freedom Front, the National Resistance Front, the Afghanistan Liberation Movement, the People’s Sovereignty Front and the National Mobilisation Front.

Of these, the UN was able to independently verify 19 incidents.

Over 2,600 Security Incidents in Three Months

Guterres reported that between 1 May and 31 July 2025, a total of 2,658 security incidents were recorded in Afghanistan.

According to the report, insecurity in Afghanistan has risen by 9 percent compared with last year.

The Secretary-General’s quarterly report was prepared under UN General Assembly Resolution 79/317 (2025) and UN Security Council Resolution 2777 (2025), which mandate him to submit regular updates on the situation in Afghanistan and on the implementation of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

The position, awarded annually through a competitive process run by a civil society group, resumed this year after a three-year pause following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in August 2021.

Akrami was chosen from three finalists, Fatema Forotan, Wazhma Rahmani and Akrami, in a speech competition held on 11 September in The Hague. Previous youth representatives include Ramiz Bakhtiar, Aisha Khurram, Shukla Zadran and Ahmad Fawad Shahanyar.

Akrami is a co-founder of Empowered Circle, an organisation that has delivered health and education services to more than 8,000 women and children in underserved areas of Afghanistan since 2021.

Organisers said her work as both an entrepreneur and a human rights defender helped secure her selection for the role.

The Taliban’s deputy health minister travelled to attend a health services and pharmaceutical exhibition, according to Indian outlets. The Times of India reported that the trip took place ahead of a possible visit later this year by Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, which could further strengthen ties between India and the Taliban.

The paper said India is working to facilitate Muttaqi’s visit and has been consulting with the UN Security Council about lifting his travel ban. Unlike Muttaqi, the deputy health minister is not subject to UN sanctions and therefore did not require approval to travel.

Suhail Shaheen, head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, told the Times of India that high-level visits at the foreign minister level were necessary to pave the way for broader cooperation, including trade.

The outreach comes as tensions rise between the Taliban and Pakistan. Islamabad has accused both the Taliban and India of backing Baloch separatists and the Pakistani Taliban to destabilise the country.

Meanwhile, on Friday, sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban had expelled an Indian diplomat accused of meeting opposition groups abroad. A Taliban spokesperson denied the claim, saying the diplomat’s assignment had simply ended and that no expulsion had taken place.

The newspaper Junge Freiheit said more than 600 Afghans slated for relocation to Germany had been detained in Pakistan, with about 250 of them already sent back to Afghanistan.

According to the report, Pakistan has detained 661 Afghans since mid-August, deporting 248 of them. Among those affected were 51 former local employees of Germany, 124 people accepted under Germany’s special admission programme, and 73 others in separate resettlement schemes.

Germany’s Interior and Foreign Ministries said deportations had been stopped in more than 300 cases, with those individuals still in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, more than 200 deported Afghans who had previously received guarantees of entry to Germany have appealed to Berlin in a letter, urging immediate action to protect their lives. They said they are living in fear of the Taliban after being returned to Afghanistan.

A spokesperson for Germany’s Foreign Ministry stressed that each case is subject to an “individual review,” adding that entry would not be granted if there were security concerns.

At present, more than 2,000 Afghans approved under official German relocation programmes remain in Pakistan, awaiting flights to Germany.

The ministry said Harish Kumar, a senior Indian diplomat, was not declared “persona non grata,” contradicting earlier reports that he had been forced out over alleged contacts with Taliban opponents.

India’s Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions states that diplomatic postings abroad are typically for three years and may be extended. Records reviewed by Afghanistan International show Kumar’s diplomatic passport, number D1156181, was issued on 15 September 2023. His visa indicated that his first entry into Afghanistan was on 24 May 2025, meaning his stay lasted less than three months, around 85 days, before his departure.

Sources in Kabul earlier told Afghanistan International that the Taliban expelled Kumar on 17 August for meeting with anti-Taliban figures and attempting to organise them. They said the Taliban labelled him “persona non grata” and forced him to leave the country.

Kumar had been posted to Kabul after the fall of Afghanistan’s previous government, serving as both a diplomat and an officer with India’s external intelligence agency.

According to the sources, he had held talks with opposition leaders during trips to Delhi and Qatar about convening a meeting in Islamabad. They added that Kumar also explored the possibility of organising a similar gathering in Qatar or Dubai, noting that Delhi was dissatisfied with the prospect of such a meeting being held in Islamabad.