Taliban Opponents Call For UN-Supervised Peace Talks

According to him, the National Resistance Council for Salvation of Afghanistan, the National Assembly for Salvation and the Afghanistan National Movement for Peace and Justice will issue a joint statement.

Spokespersons for these movements say that, for the first time, a broad spectrum of jihadist leaders and technocrats from the former government have come together. They describe the agreement as a “golden opportunity for establishing lasting peace.”

The three movements involved in this coordination are: the Afghanistan National Movement for Peace and Justice, led by Hanif Atmar; the National Resistance Council for Salvation of Afghanistan, which includes figures such as Ahmad Massoud, Ata Mohammad Noor and Yunus Qanuni; and the National Assembly for Salvation, led by Mohammad Mohaqiq, Abdul Rashid Dostum and other leaders.

The agreement is being announced amid reports that, three days earlier, Iran was encouraging anti-Taliban figures in meetings with former Afghan officials to reach a compromise with the Taliban. Recently, some anti-Taliban political figures have travelled to Iran.

Neda Mohammad Nadim, Taliban Minister of Higher Education and a close ally of Hibatullah Akhundzada, has also travelled to Iran.

Haqqani also called for regional cooperation with Kazakhstan.

Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior, reported the meeting on his X account on Tuesday, 9 December.

According to Qani, Tukumov expressed support for expanding bilateral trade between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, deepening bilateral relations and backing key economic projects, including the railway.

Haqqani praised relations between the two countries, saying, “Afghanistan is on the path of peace, trade and progress, and expects goodwill and regional cooperation from Kazakhstan.”

Although Kazakhstan, like most countries, has not officially recognised the Taliban administration, it removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist organisations in June 2024.

Kazakhstan has also maintained diplomatic and economic ties with the Taliban and previously accepted a Taliban diplomat as Afghanistan’s acting consul general in Astana.

This report, compiled from several US local media outlets, highlights numerous cases of summonses and arrests of Afghans.

In the week since a former Afghan soldier shot two US National Guard troops in Washington, the United States has entered what many observers describe as the most aggressive immigration-policy shift in the country’s recent history. From southern Arizona to immigration offices in Sacramento and New York, a single directive from Donald Trump has cast uncertainty over the future of many Afghans living in the country.

The Incident and the Government’s Immediate Response

On 26 November, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker, attacked two National Guard soldiers, wounding them. One later died, and the other remains hospitalised. The incident triggered an abrupt change in US immigration policy.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt announced in the days after the shooting that the government had launched a review of all Afghans who entered the United States during the Biden administration. This position is now reflected in decisions and day-to-day actions of immigration agencies.

A Rise in Arrests

Reports from several American media outlets show that in the first weeks following the Washington incident, roughly twenty Afghan nationals have been detained across the United States. The Associated Press reported that many of these arrests occurred in Northern California, home to one of the country’s largest Afghan communities.

Local newspapers, including The Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Chronicle, published independent reports indicating that at least eight to twelve Afghan men were detained in Sacramento and Northern California. These reports cite sudden summonses, the use of electronic ankle monitors and the cancellation of immigration interviews.

On 1 December, several Afghan men entered a federal building in downtown Sacramento after receiving phone calls from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to volunteers who witnessed the events, each man was taken into custody as soon as he entered the building. Local Sacramento outlets reported six arrests that day.

According to immigration attorneys, none of those detained had a serious criminal record. In one instance, the wife of a detainee was visibly distressed as she left the building.

In Des Moines, Iowa, an Afghan man was stopped and arrested by immigration officers on his way to work. Agents accused him of being a terrorist without presenting any evidence. The Associated Press reported that he was released two hours later after the agents apologised.

In New York, reports indicate that Afghan asylum interviews have been cancelled, several individuals have been detained during routine administrative visits and a heightened level of scrutiny is being applied to Afghan cases. Some Afghans who have lived in the United States for years have received urgent calls ordering them to appear immediately.

A Sacramento immigration adviser also confirmed that several Afghan-related interviews scheduled for that week were cancelled.

Meanwhile, an attorney representing an Afghan asylum-seeker said his client, who fled Taliban threats last year, now faces deportation despite committing no crime. The man was detained after entering a federal office building in New York for a routine administrative appointment.

Also in New York, a group of American citizens, including teachers, neighbours, friends and local community members, showed up at a federal building to support an Afghan family of four who had been summoned by immigration authorities. Although they were not invited, they came to testify to the family’s good conduct.

A few days earlier, Jahanshah Safi, a former Afghan military officer, was arrested on allegations that he financed ISIS through his father. But former US intelligence analyst Sarah Adams, speaking in Waynesboro, expressed doubt about the case, saying the accusations were inconsistent with the information known about him. Safi was arrested on 3 December for allegedly “supporting ISIS-K.”

Return to Deterrence Through Enforcement

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has urged Afghan community members to consult an immigration attorney before taking any action, avoid international travel and keep both physical and digital copies of their immigration documents secure. The organisation says it is offering free legal support to those affected and warns that broad immigration freezes targeting Afghans could have serious consequences for families.

What is clear is that Afghans are now at the centre of the United States’ new immigration directives even those who worked for US forces or arrived through legal, scheduled processes. US Citizenship and Immigration Services has stated it is creating a special security-review unit to strengthen the immigration system. The unit will screen the immigration files of “terrorists,” criminal migrants and those posing potential security threats.

Reports from several US states indicate a growing sense of fear and mistrust among Afghan communities. Some individuals have been detained during administrative appointments; families have told local media they lost contact with members after they visited immigration offices; and long-time Afghan residents have received urgent calls ordering them to appear immediately. Cancelled interviews, sudden notices and arrests of people with no criminal history have shaken Afghan communities nationwide.

Reports from Sacramento, New York and other states show rising levels of uncertainty and anxiety. Statements from US officials reveal two opposing perspectives. Congressman Ami Bera of Sacramento has called the situation a form of punishment of all in response to one individual’s actions. The White House, by contrast, insists that national-security considerations allow for no risk.

Human Rights Watch has said the Trump administration’s decision to suspend immigration and asylum processing is discriminatory and targets migrants and asylum-seekers based solely on nationality.

According to the lawyer, the man was detained after entering a government building in New York for what was expected to be a routine administrative appointment.

The asylum-seeker’s family and attorney have withheld his name due to security concerns. A legal complaint filed in his case states that he entered the United States after leaving Afghanistan because of “forced expulsion and death threats from the Taliban.”

He was held for six months in immigration detention in New York before being released on parole, but was recently taken back into custody after appearing at a US government office.

His detention comes after President Donald Trump ordered the suspension of all Afghan immigration cases following a recent shooting in Washington, D.C.

The suspect in that shooting an Afghan asylum-seeker who previously worked with the US government, including the CIA has pleaded not guilty.

Following the incident, migrant-rights advocates say Afghan asylum-seekers and immigrants are increasingly being targeted for detention and deportation across the United States.

The group warned that the systematic exclusion of Afghan women from public life is a stark example of entrenched gender-based oppression.

In a report released this week, the coalition comprising several international organisations said attacks on educational facilities are rising globally, with women and girls disproportionately affected. It noted that an estimated 600 million women and girls live in or near areas affected by armed conflict

GCPEA said deliberate attacks on schools and universities aimed at preventing women’s access to education, the military use of educational facilities, and threats along routes to classrooms remain major obstacles for women and girls.

The report highlighted the long-term consequences of insecurity in educational settings, stating that more than half of girls in crisis-affected areas are out of school, and adolescent girls in conflict zones are 90 percent more likely to be out of school than those in peaceful countries.

“When girls are denied education, entire societies are set back,” GCPEA said, adding that the effects include increased child marriage, early pregnancy, economic exclusion and intergenerational poverty. Communities, it said, lose future teachers, doctors and leaders.

The coalition stressed that safe access to education acts as a “force multiplier” for health, stability and peace.

GCPEA said authoritarian governments and armed groups in several regions use intimidation and violence to deny women and girls access to education. It cited the Taliban as a clear example, saying: “Nowhere is this more evident than in Afghanistan, where the systematic exclusion of women and girls from education and public life has become a defining example of institutionalised gender-based oppression.”