Pakistan’s Fazlur Rehman Sees Opening After Taliban Dialogue Remarks

At a press conference on Monday, Baghaei said Iran’s security agencies are investigating the deaths of Ikramuddin Sari and Mohammad Amin Almas, two Afghan citizens who were shot dead on Wednesday evening, December 24, in Tehran’s Vali-e Asr neighbourhood.

Without naming the victims or referring to their military backgrounds, Baghaei said: “The security of our own citizens and the security of anyone living in Iran, whether as a refugee, a traveller, or under any other status, is extremely important to us.”

He said Iran would respond decisively to any act that endangers public security. “Under no circumstances will we allow the security of society and of those living in our country to be undermined,” Baghaei said, expressing condolences to the families of the victims. He condemned the attack and added: “The diplomatic apparatus will intervene in this matter whenever necessary.”

The relatively prolonged silence of Iranian officials following the second assassination of former Afghan military personnel on Iranian soil had drawn criticism.

The killings came about four months after another former Afghan military commander close to Ismail Khan, identified as Marouf Gholami, was assassinated in Mashhad.

Iran maintains close relations with the Taliban. Officials from both sides regularly travel between the two countries, and Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions in Iran are under Taliban control.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, Taliban opposition groups have accused the Taliban of being behind the killings.

Earlier, Tehran Governor Hossein Khosh-Eghbal said the results of the investigation would be announced by Sunday. As of Monday, Iranian authorities had yet to release any findings.

In a post on X on Monday, Bennett said he was deeply concerned by the assassinations and stressed that those responsible for the killings of General Ikramuddin Sari and Mohammad Amin Almas must be identified and prosecuted.

Nearly five days after the killings, Iranian authorities have yet to publish the results of their investigation.

Sari, a former commander in Afghanistan’s police force, and Almas, a commander in the Afghan army, were shot dead late Wednesday in Tehran’s Vali-e Asr area. Less than four months earlier, Marouf Gholami, a military commander close to former jihadi leader Ismail Khan, was assassinated in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

The Taliban has not commented on the killings. Opponents of the Taliban have blamed the group for the assassinations of former Afghan military personnel in Tehran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, addressed the incident five days after the killings, saying investigations by Iran’s security agencies were continuing and condemning the attack.

Earlier, Tehran Governor Hossein Khosh-Eghbal said authorities were reviewing the killing of General Sari and that findings would be announced on Sunday. However, despite that pledge, Tehran police had not released the results of their investigation as of two days later.

According to the sources, Mohammadi was deported from Iran about three months ago. An informed source said the arrest took place roughly two weeks ago. The Taliban have not commented on the reported detention.

Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, former Afghan security personnel have faced arbitrary arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings. These threats are not confined to Afghanistan, and in recent months several assassinations of former security force members have also been reported in Iran.

Investigative findings by Afghanistan International show that former security personnel remain at risk of arrest and extrajudicial killings even after being deported from Iran. The report has documented at least six killings and 11 arrests of deported former security members, although the actual number of victims is believed to be higher.

In a statement issued on Monday, the court said each was sentenced to 30 lashes and one year in prison. The punishment was carried out after approval by the the Supreme Court and in the presence of local officials and members of the public.

The flogging marks the second public application of corporal punishment by the Taliban in less than 24 hours. On Sunday, December 28, a man and a woman were flogged in Takhar province on charges described as “running away from home and illicit relations” and were also sentenced to one year in prison.

According to figures compiled by Afghanistan International, the Taliban have flogged more than 100 people nationwide over the past two weeks, including at least 15 women.

A recent United Nations report said that between August 1 and October 31, the Taliban flogged at least 215 people across several provinces, including 44 women and 171 men.

Despite repeated objections from international organisations to corporal punishment and the torture of suspects, the Taliban have continued to carry out public floggings. Human rights groups say the Taliban’s judicial system lacks due process and that defendants are denied fair trial guarantees, including access to legal counsel.

Speaking on Sunday at an online memorial ceremony for Sari, Qanuni said the slain commander could have become a unifying figure for former officers and younger Afghans opposing the Taliban. “We, as comrades and friends, must act to prevent the repetition of such incidents,” he said.

Qanuni said the killing of Sari and his companion, Mohammad Amin Almas, in Tehran, the earlier assassination of Commander Marouf Gholami in Mashhad, and a recent incident in Tajikistan form a chain of targeted killings initiated by the Taliban.

According to Qanuni, the Taliban have demonstrated a new approach by eliminating figures capable of building unity and playing a role in challenging the group’s rule in Afghanistan.

General Ikramuddin Sari, a former Afghan police commander, and Almas, a former army commander, were killed on Wednesday evening in Tehran’s Valiasr area. Less than four months earlier, Gholami, a military commander close to Ismail Khan, was shot dead in Mashhad.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Taliban opponents have blamed the group.

Hossein Khosh-Eghbal, Tehran’s governor, has said authorities are investigating Sari’s assassination. “We are investigating, but have not yet reached a conclusion,” he told Ensaf News, adding that findings would be announced on Sunday. Two days later, Tehran police had yet to release any information.

Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front, has called on the Islamic Republic of Iran to conduct a serious investigation into the killings of former Afghan military figures in Tehran. He compared Sari’s assassination to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya and said Iran must “cut off the hands of terrorists” from its territory.