Pakistan Planning For Possible ‘Regime Change’ In Kabul, Says New Lines

The organisation said the mandatory hijab is part of a broader Taliban strategy to control women’s bodies and exclude them from public life.

In a report published on Wednesday the international rights group said each new restriction imposed by the Taliban further isolates Afghan women and removes them from public spaces. It noted that women in Herat and across Afghanistan have continued to resist the Taliban’s decrees.

Human Rights Watch urged the international community to listen to Afghan women and take urgent steps to hold the Taliban accountable and restore their rights and freedoms. Afghan women and UN experts have increasingly described the Taliban’s restrictions as a form of “gender apartheid.”

The organisation said the repression of women in Herat reflects a wider pattern across the country. The Taliban have ordered women to wear clothing that fully covers their bodies and faces, while the group’s “morality law” classifies a woman’s voice as awrah and requires women to be accompanied by a male guardian in public spaces.

On 4 November, Taliban officials in Herat blocked women without burqas from entering the provincial hospital and other government offices, with several women beaten. Since then, women who are not wearing the chadari, the specific garment mandated by the Taliban, have reportedly been denied government services and barred from public places throughout the province.

The enforcement of the chadari in Herat has drawn widespread condemnation from international organisations and human rights advocates. Doctors Without Borders earlier reported a 28 percent drop in female patients at health facilities in the first days after the ban. Amnesty International has said the Taliban are excluding women and girls from every sphere of life and making their existence “unbearable.”

Jaishankar said the meeting also focused on India’s support for Afghanistan’s development and welfare.

Azizi arrived in India on Wednesday at the head of a Taliban delegation. He said the visit followed an invitation from New Delhi and was aimed at activating and effectively using the capacities of Iran’s Chabahar Port while encouraging Indian investment in the project.

This is the second Taliban ministerial visit to India in less than a month. Earlier, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi travelled to New Delhi, where he and Indian officials agreed to strengthen diplomatic and economic cooperation.

Muttaqi’s visit significantly increased tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan, triggering more than a week of clashes along the border. In response, Pakistan closed key border crossings, prompting the Taliban to announce they would seek alternative trade and transit routes.

Before his departure for New Delhi, Azizi said India offered a suitable market for Afghan goods and that Chabahar Port was the safest route for trade. Indian diplomatic sources said Azizi’s visit provided an opportunity for both sides to explore potential Indian investment in Afghanistan’s mining and hydropower sectors.

The sources also confirmed that Afghanistan has shifted a substantial share of its foreign trade to Iran’s Chabahar Port in recent months in an effort to reduce dependence on Pakistan’s Karachi Port.

He said a broad national consensus must be built through extensive internal and external discussions.

Ghani said he is prepared to play a role in helping Afghanistan move out of its current crisis if the Afghan people desire it. He described the country as being in an extremely sensitive historical moment, marked by both dangers and opportunities.

In a post on X on Thursday, Ghani said Afghans were caught between hope and despair, trust and mistrust, and competing paths forward. He said the public was calling for an urgent and fundamental dialogue to clarify the boundaries of national interest and pave the way for consensus.

He argued that Afghanistan needs a serious national discourse to define its goals, including how the country should re-establish its relations with the international community.

Ghani described Afghanistan’s situation as dire, citing mass deportations of Afghan refugees, devastating earthquakes and natural disasters, and Pakistani military strikes on Afghan territory. He said Afghans must take immediate steps to address the crisis.

He wrote that if Afghans choose to build a shared future, they must prepare the ground for broad participation and consensus. He said the country’s survival depends on mutual acceptance, lasting peace and a balance between transformation and continuity.

Ghani said Afghans must also decide whether their focus will be on the future or the past, asking how both should be balanced and whether the country will move forward or remain “stuck looking backward.”

He argued that sustainable peace is essential for national sovereignty and future legitimacy, saying lasting peace and legitimate governance are prerequisites for stability, security, economic development, public welfare and international recognition. He noted that Afghans have been deprived of these rights for 47 years.

Ghani has previously called for a national Loya Jirga to discuss Afghanistan’s political future, arguing that the country cannot progress in isolation. Without naming the Taliban, he has said their reliance on international aid shows they cannot govern the country alone.

He expressed hope that he would one day be able to transfer the “trust of legitimacy” given to him by the Afghan people to a rightful and capable political system.

Ghani added that he seeks nothing for himself, and said that if the Afghan people require it, he is ready to contribute to overcoming the crisis and offering constructive solutions.

Karzai said Afghan children would only secure a bright future and contribute to the country’s progress if they were given the chance to gain knowledge, expertise and essential skills. In a post on X on Thursday, he said education was not only the right of every child but a necessity for society.

He added that meaningful national growth and development would only be achieved if serious attention were given to educating children and preparing them as a skilled and knowledgeable workforce for Afghanistan’s future.

Since returning to power, the Taliban have barred girls from attending schools above the sixth grade and have closed universities to female students, measures that have drawn widespread national and international condemnation.

Karzai has repeatedly called on the Taliban to lift the bans and reopen educational institutions for girls.

He also stressed the importance of resolving internal disputes and ensuring clerics and officials adhere to organisational regulations.

Hamidullah Fitrat, the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, said on Wednesday that a two-day seminar for officials, members and clerics from Sharia councils across the country had been held in Kandahar.

According to the Taliban statement, Akhundzada told participants that responsibility for guiding the public now rested with clerics and that they were expected to lead society in accordance with Sharia principles.

He urged Taliban members to avoid internal disagreements and to prioritise resolving people’s problems. He also instructed clerics to explain religious rulings and their significance to the public.

Addressing the gathering, Akhundzada reportedly said clerics and officials were expected to serve as role models for ordinary people and to promote reform within society and government. He told them that they must first implement the decrees in their own lives so that the public could follow their example.