Taliban, India Agree To Appoint Trade Attachés To Boost Economic Cooperation

He added that they are seeking to establish “sleeper cells” in Central Asia.

He made the remarks at the 11th International Conference of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, held on 20–21 November in Tashkent.

Representatives from the United Nations, the OSCE, INTERPOL, the CIS Anti-Terrorism Centre and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation took part in the conference. Participants discussed preventing citizens from joining radical networks and addressed rising cyber-security threats.

Sharshiyev said leaders of global terrorist organisations had not abandoned plans to deploy militants to Central Asian states using forged documents via third countries. He warned that these networks aim to carry out attacks, establish sleeper cells, collect funds and conduct recruitment campaigns to expand their ranks.

Yevgeny Sysoyev, head of the CIS Anti-Terrorism Centre, told the conference that international terrorist groups based in the Middle East are increasing the movement of fighters into Afghanistan to extend their regional influence.

He said “aggressive recruitment efforts” were under way among Central Asian migrants and noted a rise in online propaganda in Tajik, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and, for the first time, Kazakh.

According to the Uzbek outlet Gazeta.uz, conference participants said the establishment of a Global Centre in Tashkent to address growing security challenges facing SCO member states would be a practical response to emerging threats.

Speaking at a meeting in New Delhi on Friday, Azizi said the Taliban would support members of both communities if they chose to come back.

Addressing a trade forum with Indian officials, Azizi said the Taliban had included support for Sikh and Hindu citizens in their programmes and would continue to do so upon their return. He urged those working in sectors such as healthcare and trade to resume their contributions inside Afghanistan.

Azizi also encouraged India’s private sector to invest in Afghanistan and expand its role in import–export activities.

Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan fled in large numbers after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, citing rising threats and fear of property seizures. Community representatives have told Taliban officials that much of their property in Kabul has been taken over.

A 2024 US State Department report found that Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan feared persecution and mistreatment under Taliban rule.

Earlier, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met senior Sikh and Hindu community members in New Delhi and said the Taliban would guarantee the safety of religious minorities and rebuild their places of worship. Several Sikh gurdwaras in Kabul have been attacked in recent years. Following the deadly 2022 attack on a Sikh temple, the Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee in Delhi urged the Indian government to evacuate remaining Sikh families from Afghanistan.

Anand Prakash, joint secretary for Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, said cargo flights on the Kabul–Delhi and Kabul–Amritsar routes would restart shortly. He said the air freight corridors on both sectors had been activated and that flights would follow “very soon.”

Prakash said the decision is expected to boost the flow of goods and strengthen commercial relations between the two countries. He noted that all formalities on India’s side have been completed and that New Delhi is now waiting for the required documentation from the Afghan side. Cargo flights will resume once the process is finalised, he said.

The announcement came during the visit of Nooruddin Azizi, the Taliban’s minister of industry and commerce, to New Delhi. India’s Ministry of External Affairs welcomed the visit, saying it formed part of India’s continued support for the development and welfare of the Afghan people.

The move comes at a time when Afghanistan’s trade with Pakistan has been disrupted by recent border clashes. In recent months, the Taliban have shifted a significant share of Afghanistan’s imports and exports from Pakistan to Iran and Central Asian countries.

Television broadcasting in Afghanistan began in 1978 with the establishment of National Radio and Television under the Soviet-backed government, an institution now fully controlled by the Taliban.

Over the past four years, the Taliban, acting on Akhundzada’s orders, have sought to restrict or eliminate visual media. The group’s “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law bans the broadcast of images of living beings. Ratified by Akhundzada in July last year, the law imposes sweeping media restrictions and violates numerous civil rights, particularly those of women.

This June, a member of the Taliban’s Qatar office told Afghanistan International that Akhundzada had “never listened to the radio in his life, never watched television, and never engaged with modern digital media.” Other Taliban sources have said he occasionally listens to the radio but only rarely.

According to the Afghanistan Journalists Center, the Taliban have banned the broadcast of images of living beings in more than 20 provinces as part of enforcing the “virtue” law, a move widely condemned as a violation of free expression and an extension of the Taliban’s ongoing media crackdown.

In addition to banning imagery, the Taliban have imposed extensive censorship nationwide. All media outlets operate under Taliban surveillance and directives, and authorities in Kabul do not tolerate even slight criticism.

Human Rights Watch reported earlier this month that the Taliban have dismantled media and speech freedoms over the past four years. The organisation said Afghan journalists have faced waves of arbitrary detention, censorship, torture and forced self-censorship since the Taliban returned to power.

According to the report, the Taliban’s intelligence agency and the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue monitor nearly all media content, and even minor criticism of Taliban officials can lead to arrest or torture.

In an interview with Geo News, he claimed that “95 percent” of Afghans are tired of the Taliban and reject their system of government.

Criticising the Taliban’s response to the recent earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, Hussain said women were left calling for help while the authorities prevented others from assisting them. He alleged that Taliban members prioritised saving livestock over helping victims, saying this reflected “a medieval government in the 21st century.”

Hussain also commented on what he described as a shift in Pakistan’s military and security establishment, saying that for the first time in four decades, institutions had moved away from an ideological approach to Afghanistan. He said the conflict was no longer framed as a religious struggle but understood simply as a contest for power.

He argued that the Taliban have no real connection with the Afghan population, describing the group as “installed by the United States.” He claimed that when former ISI chief Faiz Hameed travelled to Kabul in 2021 and was given significant influence, Pakistan “became a viceroy implementing the policies of others.”

Hussain said Afghanistan’s current crisis dates back half a century to the overthrow of King Mohammad Zahir Shah. He argued that Zahir Shah had been the “axis of stability” in the country and said the Bonn Conference’s failure to restore him to power was a major historical mistake.

He further criticised Pakistan’s security institutions, saying they were paying the price for the miscalculations of former military leaders, particularly General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Faiz Hameed. Hussain said those leaders assumed the Afghan Taliban would cooperate on the issue of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, even though “there is no difference between the Afghan Taliban and TTP; they are the same movement.”

Referring to Hameed’s widely circulated photo at Kabul’s Serena Hotel, Hussain said Pakistan was perceived as having installed the Taliban regime, although he argued that “it was the Americans who brought them to power.”

Hussain concluded that even if the Taliban were replaced, Pakistan had no guarantee the next government would be friendly. He said the best policy for Pakistan was to “leave Afghanistan alone” and stop attempting to shape its political leadership.