Taliban Leader Silent On Pakistani Attacks In Eid Message

The list includes Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the Taliban’s prime minister, Abdul Ghani Baradar, his economic deputy, and the group’s interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani.

According to the updated list, 22 Taliban officials are subject to travel bans, asset freezes and arms embargoes imposed by the Security Council.

The sanctions committee updated the list of sanctioned Taliban officials on March 10. Under the new list, many ministers and senior officials in the Taliban administration remain under UN sanctions.

Those named include Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund; Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdul Ghani Baradar; Administrative Deputy Abdul Salam Hanafi; Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi; Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani; Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Abdul Kabir; Agriculture Minister Abdul Latif Mansoor; Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Fazl Mohammad Mazloom; former Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani; Economy Minister Din Mohammad Hanif; Qudratullah Jamal, deputy minister for tourism at the Ministry of Information and Culture; Nooruddin Turabi, head of the Natural Disaster Management Authority; Public Works Minister Mohammad Essa Akhund; Urban Development Minister Najibullah Haqqani; Hajj and Religious Affairs Minister Noor Mohammad Saqib; Intelligence Chief Abdul Haq Wassiq; and Khairullah Khairkhwa, governor of Maidan Wardak.

In addition to these officials, several other members of the group, including Hamidullah Akhund, Aziz-Ur-Rahman, Gul Agha Ishaqzai, Malik Noorzai and Ahmad Zia Agha, are also under UN sanctions.

The UK government has likewise sanctioned these Taliban officials. A day after the UN update, Britain revised its own sanctions list and removed the Pakistani passport details of some Taliban figures.

However, the name of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader, does not appear on the list. The reason for his absence is unclear.

The UN Security Council sanctions committee has listed these Taliban officials under Resolution 1988. Individuals on the list may only travel to UN member states with explicit permission from the Security Council.

The sanctions apply to individuals involved in violence, providing weapons, recruiting fighters or supporting activities that threaten peace and stability in Afghanistan.

On March 14, the UN Security Council unanimously extended the mandate of the sanctions monitoring team on the Taliban for another year. The draft resolution was prepared by the United States.

During more than four years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the group has repeatedly called for the sanctions to be lifted. However, the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan, discrimination against women and the absence of an inclusive government have led the Security Council to maintain the sanctions.

According to the sources, Pakistani officials told their Chinese counterparts that Islamabad had tried all diplomatic channels with the Taliban before the outbreak of the conflict.

China has recently stepped up its diplomatic efforts and sent its special envoy for Afghanistan to Kabul and Islamabad. The move is part of a broader attempt to calm rising tensions between the two neighbors.

China’s foreign ministry said its special envoy for Afghanistan has been travelling between Afghanistan and Pakistan to mediate.

However, the sources said meetings between the Chinese envoy and Pakistani officials led Islamabad to conclude that the Taliban leadership had not changed its position regarding militant groups based in Afghanistan.

According to the sources, Taliban officials reiterated to the Chinese envoy their long-standing stance that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan issue is an internal problem of Pakistan, while insisting that Afghan territory is not being used against neighboring countries.

Pakistani officials rejected this claim, saying there is substantial evidence, including reports by the United Nations Security Council, which they say confirm Islamabad’s position about the presence and activities of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants in Afghanistan.

In these circumstances, Pakistan has told China that without concrete steps from Kabul to address Islamabad’s concerns, there is little room for meaningful diplomatic progress.

Earlier, Tahir Andrabi, spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, confirmed during his weekly briefing that despite requests from some friendly countries to engage with Taliban officials, Pakistan would continue its current policy towards Afghanistan.

He said the Taliban had refused to provide assurances to curb terrorism on Afghan soil and therefore we will continue our current policy towards that country.

However, it is also reported that while Pakistan maintains its overall stance, a temporary pause in the fighting during the Eid holiday has not been ruled out.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said New Delhi opposed actions that undermined what he described as an independent Afghanistan.

In a statement responding to the latest Pakistani strikes, Jaiswal called the attacks another example of aggression and stressed the need to respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Pakistan has carried out several rounds of airstrikes over the past week in the Afghan cities of Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar. Taliban forces have responded with cross-border fire and drone attacks targeting Islamabad.

India has offered political support to the Taliban during the tensions. The United States has backed Pakistan, while China’s special envoy has been travelling between the two sides in an effort to mediate.

Pakistan says the strikes targeted Taliban military facilities. The United Nations has confirmed that some of the attacks also caused civilian casualties.

Ziaurrahman Spinghar, the Taliban’s head of information and culture in Kunar, said the attacks damaged a school building and injured its guard.

Spinghar said Pakistan had carried out attacks on four districts of Kunar over the past two days. According to him, the shells struck residential homes and wounded at least three civilians.

Pakistan has not responded to the allegations. The United Nations has also not released an independent report on civilian harm in Kunar.

Last year, the council adopted a resolution extending UNAMA’s mandate until March 17, 2026. If approved, the new extension would last three months.

According to a new Security Council report, negotiations this year over the draft resolution to extend UNAMA’s mandate have been difficult and marked by disagreements among members.

The differences emerged after the United States proposed a three-month technical extension, arguing that a shorter renewal would allow the council to conduct a comprehensive review of UNAMA’s work before committing to a longer extension.

The United States argued that because UNAMA is one of the UN’s most costly special political missions and operates in a highly complex environment, the Security Council should first assess whether the mission remains appropriate and fully viable.

The report said that on March 3, China, which is responsible for drafting the resolution, circulated an initial draft among Security Council members that proposed extending UNAMA’s mandate for one year.

However, after consultations, China incorporated the US proposal for a three-month extension into the third revised draft.

UNAMA was established on March 28, 2002, under UN Security Council Resolution 1401. The mission’s mandate is to support the people of Afghanistan.