India Pledges Long-Term Pharmaceutical Support For Afghanistan

Mohsen Abdollahzadeh, a board member of Iran’s Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors, said that despite a 50 precent increase in domestic drug production, Iran is facing a severe shortage of medicines. He said smuggling to Iraq and Afghanistan has become so extensive that traders in those countries are unable to import medicines through legal channels.

Abdollahzadeh described the smuggling of medicines from Iran to Afghanistan as alarming and warned: “If this continues in the same way, it could disrupt Iran’s pharmaceutical market.”

His comments come as the Taliban have announced a ban on the import of medicines from Pakistan following military tensions with Islamabad and the closure of border crossings. A Taliban deputy prime minister has warned that within about a month, Pakistan-made medicines will no longer be cleared through customs at Afghanistan’s ports.

Taliban officials have said they are seeking to replace Pakistani medicines with imports from India and Iran. Earlier, Afghanistan’s public health minister travelled to India as part of efforts to diversify medical supply sources.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Hashemi, spokesperson for Iran’s Food and Drug Administration, said he could not rule out the smuggling of medicines to Afghanistan, noting that price differences between Iran and regional markets have created incentives for such violations.

Hashemi warned: “If this situation continues, we will face temporary shortages of medicines in Iran, and this will put additional pressure on the supply chain.”

However, he rejected claims of “widespread” drug smuggling from Iran to Afghanistan, saying available evidence points to limited cases rather than large-scale trafficking.

The Food and Drug Administration spokesperson also announced an agreement with Taliban authorities to expand official pharmaceutical exports to Afghanistan. He said the aim is to meet Afghanistan’s medical needs through transparent and legal channels while preventing illegal imports and smuggling.

According to the court, 1,163 individuals were jailed in the last three months. Taliban military courts handle cases involving personnel serving in military roles within the Taliban administration.

The figures were published in a report by the security and executive directorate of the Taliban Supreme Court. The report did not specify the alleged crimes, charges, length of sentences, identities of those imprisoned or the locations where they are being held.

The report said Taliban military courts also issued thousands of summonses, with some individuals reportedly contacted by telephone and ordered to appear before Taliban military and judicial authorities.

Taliban military courts have jurisdiction over cases involving employees of the ministries of defence, interior and intelligence.

In previous years, Taliban courts have tried cases involving allegations such as kidnapping, document forgery, murder and abuse of authority. In many cases, however, the Taliban have released little information about defendants, their positions, judicial proceedings or the rulings issued.

He was also known by the alias Zahid, and originated from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.

A photograph obtained by Afghanistan International shows a memorial ceremony held for him, in which he is described as a “martyred hero.”

The sources said Janullah was a resident of Kochiyano village in Mohmand Dara district of Nangarhar province. According to the information, several local Taliban officials attended his memorial service.

The attack took place on November 9, when four assailants stormed the military facility, killing three Pakistani soldiers. Pakistani authorities said two of the attackers were Afghans.

During the assault, the attackers rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the main gate of the college and then engaged in a gun battle with security forces. The Pakistani government later said all the attackers were killed.

Pakistan claimed the attack was organised from inside Afghanistan. In a statement, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that the attack on the Wana military college was planned and directed from Afghanistan. It added that the operation was designed in Afghanistan by a foreign national named Zahid, and Noor Wali Mehsud ordered its execution.

The statement added that all the attackers who carried out the assault on the college were Afghan nationals. The equipment used in the attack was also supplied from Afghanistan and included American-made weapons, it added.

On November 10, the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement strongly condemning the attacks in Islamabad and at the Wana military college in South Waziristan. The group has repeatedly denied that militants carry out attacks against Pakistan from Afghan territory.

More recently, Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of army staff, claimed that “70 per cent” of fighters from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are Afghans. He told the Taliban administration that it must choose between Pakistan and the TTP.

In a statement issued after a meeting held on Monday in Karachi and chaired by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the clerics said that “depriving girls of education has no justification in Islam” and urged the Taliban to immediately reopen educational institutions to girls.

The statement said education is a “religious obligation” for both men and women, warning that continued restrictions on girls’ education would harm Afghan society, future generations and Afghanistan’s international standing.

The Pakistani clerics said the ongoing ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan is “contrary to Islamic principles.”

Since returning to power, the Taliban have closed schools above grade six, universities and other higher education institutions to girls. Afghan citizens, Islamic countries and the wider international community have repeatedly condemned the Taliban’s denial of the right to education for women and girls and have called for the policy to be reversed. The Taliban, however, have remained unresponsive to these demands.

Criticism of Pakistan’s Attacks on Afghanistan

In another part of the statement, the clerics called on the Afghan Taliban not to allow Afghan territory to be used to carry out terrorist attacks against Pakistan.

They also urged that disputes be resolved through dialogue.

Participants condemned armed struggle and militant activities inside Pakistan, describing them as religiously and constitutionally illegitimate.

Meanwhile, Maulana Fazlur Rehman criticised Pakistan’s military strikes on Afghan territory during the gathering, saying regional tensions should be resolved through dialogue and restraint.

Relations between Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban deteriorated sharply after Pakistan carried out strikes in October on Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan, leading to deadly border clashes. Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of sheltering Pakistani Taliban militants, a claim the Afghan Taliban deny. United Nations reports, however, have confirmed the presence of Pakistani Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Germany’s Interior Ministry said the refugees arrived on Monday on a charter flight from Islamabad to the northern city of Hanover. The transfer is part of an accelerated process to relocate Afghans stranded in Pakistan who had received formal admission pledges from Berlin.

German media reported that the flight was organised by the federal government and included 123 people from Germany’s so-called human rights list, as well as 18 former local employees of German institutions or their family members.

After arriving in Hanover, the refugees are expected to be resettled across several German states.
According to available information, at least 45 former local employees and 246 Afghans deemed at risk because of their human rights or media work remain in Pakistan awaiting relocation.

Pakistan has given Germany until the end of the calendar year, eight days from now, to remove all Afghan refugees holding German admission pledges. Pakistani authorities have warned that those who remain could face deportation to Afghanistan.

Germany’s interior minister said the relocation process would be completed within the deadline, but acknowledged that the review of some cases and the transfer of certain individuals could be delayed until next year.

After the Taliban seized power in August 2021, Germany launched special programmes to evacuate Afghan local staff, activists and journalists. However, domestic political opposition to migration has since intensified. The Merz government, which came to power pledging to reduce refugee numbers, began implementing the transfer of Afghans with admission pledges after significant delays.

The government has said it will honour commitments made by the previous administration but has indicated it has no plans to relocate hundreds of other Afghan refugees who have been waiting for months to move to Western countries.