US Review Panel Examines 9 Million Documents On Afghanistan Withdrawal

Three sources in Kandahar and Dubai confirmed the arrest, saying it was linked to his efforts to establish a structure for coordinating between religious scholars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

According to the sources, he had been working with clerics from both countries to create a platform aimed at reducing violence and promoting dialogue between Pakistan and the Taliban administration. The initiative involved prominent Afghan and Pakistani scholars, including Sheikh Nazar Mohammad Afghani, Mufti Najibullah Muneeb and Maulana Sheikh Zahid Rashidi.

In late-March, the clerics issued a statement calling for an extension of the ceasefire between the Taliban and the Pakistani government, with Mutasim Agha Jan named among the members.

Sources close to him said that alongside his business and investment activities, he had also established a private religious school. They added that he had been managing a madrassa in Kandahar prior to his arrest.

Some observers believe that Taliban leaders, particularly Hibatullah Akhundzada, are sensitive to religious and political activities conducted outside the group’s formal structure, which may have led to his detention.

Mutasim Agha Jan’s relations with the Taliban had deteriorated after he, as head of the Quetta Shura’s political committee, supported talks between the government of Hamid Karzai and the Taliban. He was wounded in an assassination attempt in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2011.

At the time, he told the American outlet The Daily Beast that the Taliban should transform into a political movement and end its war with the Afghan government. A Taliban source also told the publication that the attack was a warning to him and others not to cross the movement’s red lines.

It is reported that after the Taliban’s return to power, Mutasim Agha Jan returned from Istanbul to Afghanistan with guarantees from Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban’s defence minister. However, harassment against him continued. In 2022, Taliban intelligence reportedly raided his home in Kabul and confiscated his personal property.

The report said the clinic, located in Barikot village of Nari district, suffered heavy damage, with much of its equipment destroyed and services suspended.

A staff member told Taliban-affiliated media that the operating room, laboratory and maternity ward were severely damaged and their equipment ruined.

Images released by the Taliban show shattered windows and damaged medical equipment inside the building.

Officials at the center said its closure has created serious difficulties for local residents, who must now travel long distances to access healthcare in neighbouring districts or the provincial center.

Pakistan’s air force had also carried out strikes on targets in Kabul and Nangarhar on March 16, which set a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul on fire. The United Nations confirmed that 269 civilians were killed and 122 injured in those incidents.

Pakistan described the strikes as a precision operation, saying terrorist facilities and support infrastructure were targeted.

Under international law, health and educational facilities are granted special protection during conflict. The laws of war set strict conditions for targeting such sites, including if they are used for military purposes.

The Taliban and Pakistan have repeatedly accused each other of targeting civilian infrastructure during ongoing clashes.

Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry said on its website: “During the meeting, the sides discussed the current state of bilateral engagement on Afghanistan-related issues and confirmed their mutual interest in maintaining regular dialogue on the situation in the country.”

According to the statement, the Norwegian ambassador appreciated Uzbekistan’s efforts to help form a cohesive regional approach to Afghanistan.

Rebuilding Afghanistan’s economy and prospects for the country’s participation in regional connectivity were also among the topics discussed.

Like most countries, except for Russia, Uzbekistan does not formally recognise the Taliban administration but maintains extensive diplomatic and economic ties with it and has handed over Afghanistan’s embassy in Tashkent to the group.

In recent months, Ismatulla Irgashev, special representative of the president of Uzbekistan for Afghanistan, has held separate meetings with several diplomats in Tashkent to discuss Afghanistan.

Noorullah Noori, the Taliban’s minister for borders and tribal affairs, said on Thursday at a meeting in Jawzjan province: “In four years, the youth of the Islamic Emirate have reached a level where they can target Islamabad and Lahore from Kabul using drones.”

He said the Taliban administration is strong and that Afghans should be grateful for its rule and support it with “full faith”.

Following an escalation in clashes between the Taliban and the Pakistani army, the Taliban reportedly targeted Islamabad, Balochistan and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with drones. These attacks were carried out in response to Pakistani airstrikes and military actions inside Afghanistan.

The strikes drew a strong reaction from Pakistan. President Asif Ali Zardari said the Taliban had “crossed red lines”.

Noori is among Taliban ministers known for taking a hard line against Pakistan. He had previously warned that if Pakistan continued attacks on Afghan territory, Taliban forces would advance as far as Lahore.

Earlier, Noori rejected the existing border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, known as the Durand Line, a sensitive issue for both countries, and said the barbed wire along the frontier was “a thorn in the chest of the Afghan people”.

Although the Taliban were allied with Pakistan over the past three decades, with Islamabad providing extensive military and political support during the conflict with the mujahideen and the former Afghan republic, relations have deteriorated into military confrontation since the group’s return to power in 2021.

Analysts say Islamabad supported the Taliban for its own security interests, but the group has become a major security challenge for Pakistan by backing Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The Institute for Economics and Peace said in its latest Global Terrorism Index that Pakistan has, for the first time, ranked as the country most affected by terrorism. According to the report, Pakistan suffered the highest impact from terrorist attacks in 2025.

The institute said the sharp rise in militant activity is partly a consequence of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Deaths from attacks by militant groups such as the TTP in Pakistan have reached their highest level since 2013. In 2025, Pakistan recorded 1,139 deaths and 1,045 terrorist incidents, with most attacks occurring in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

For the first time since the index was introduced, Afghanistan is no longer among the ten countries most affected by terrorism.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday in a video posted on X that humanitarian organisations have begun relief operations in affected areas but needs remain high and available resources are insufficient to meet the scale of the crisis.

The United Nations has called on the international community to increase support for the people of Afghanistan. The recent floods come as the country faces multiple humanitarian and economic crises.

According to figures released by Taliban authorities, the total number of people killed in recent natural disasters across Afghanistan has reached around 190 in recent days.