Vasily Osmakov, Russia's deputy minister of defence, met Mullah Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban's defence minister, in Moscow on Thursday to discuss regional security and prospects for bilateral military cooperation.
The ministry said that, during the meeting, the two sides had discussed issues relating to regional security in Central and South Asia, as well as the outlook for bilateral military cooperation in areas of mutual interest. No further details about these talks have so far been released.
The meeting took place a day after (Wednesday 27 May), Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of Russia's National Security Council, and the Taliban defence minister signed a formal agreement on military-technical cooperation on the sidelines of the International Security Forum.
In his meeting with Sergei Shoigu, Mullah Yaqoob said that cooperation with Russia was of great importance to Kabul, adding: "Afghanistan and Russia have long and historical relations. In this direction, we want to move further. We have expanded bilateral relations."
Although the details of this security agreement have not yet been officially released, the ambiguity surrounding its text has provoked considerable speculation and concern in Europe and Ukraine.
A number of European media outlets have assessed the concealment of the document's contents as a dangerous signal.
In an analysis of the matter, the British newspaper The Independent posed the question of whether Taliban fighters might appear on the front lines in Ukraine. The outlet wrote that the secrecy surrounding the agreement's text has fuelled fears that the Taliban could send their battle-hardened forces to the front in support of the Russian army.
United Nations Security Council says Taliban officials and fighters committed sexual violence against women, with United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documenting 21 cases involving 15 women and six girls in 2025.
According to the report, Taliban officials and fighters subjected Afghan women to rape and gang rape. Some victims were also stripped naked or forced into marriage.
The report stressed that despite the Taliban’s declared ban on forced marriage, Taliban officials themselves have been involved in carrying out such marriages.
Another section of the report said Taliban authorities arbitrarily detained protesting women and subjected them to torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence.
Despite these findings, the United Nations called on the Taliban to end sexual violence and guarantee the rights of women and girls.
The report also stated that the Taliban authorities have pursued repressive policies against Afghan women and girls.
It said the abuses occurred in a context of severe humanitarian need and widespread impunity.
Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, also stressed that women and girls who protested against or challenged Taliban gender policies faced torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence in detention centres.
Despite the Taliban’s announced ban on forced marriage in 2021, the report said Taliban officials have been involved both in committing and sustaining such marriages.
Severe Restrictions On Support Services
According to paragraph 17 of the report, frontline service providers continue to manage cases and offer legal assistance, but overall access to services has significantly declined because of funding shortages and severe restrictions on female humanitarian workers.
The report said that by July 2025, more than 400 health centres had been closed and hundreds of gender-based violence service points had become inactive.
Taliban authorities have also prevented Afghan women working for the United Nations from entering UN offices.
Lack Of Justice And Accountability
The report highlighted the absence of a clear legal framework for women seeking justice. Complaints relating to sexual violence are largely handled by male officials.
In October 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Council established an independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan to collect and analyse evidence of international crimes and serious human rights violations against women and girls.
Recommendations From The UN Secretary-General
In paragraph 19 of the report, the UN Secretary-General called on Taliban authorities to immediately stop all acts of sexual violence.
He also urged the repeal of all laws, policies and practices restricting the fundamental rights and freedoms of women and girls.
The Secretary-General further called on the Taliban to comply fully with Afghanistan’s international obligations and UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2681 (2023), and to lift the ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations and non-governmental organisations.
The Taliban administration has not yet issued an official response to the report.
Similar allegations of sexual violence by Taliban forces against Afghan women have been raised previously.
The report forms part of a broader UN document recording a sharp global rise in conflict-related sexual violence in 2025.
Afghanistan was highlighted as an example of institutionalised gender discrimination combined with direct violence against women.
Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban's defence minister, says Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh minorities have the right to return home and should feel a sense of ownership and belonging in the country.
Speaking to a group of Afghans living in Russia, Mullah Yaqoob said Afghanistan once had a considerable Hindu and Sikh population, but only a small number now remain.
He urged members of these communities to return to Afghanistan and claimed the Taliban are committed to guaranteeing their security and rights.
“There will never be injustice against them,” he said.
The Taliban official added that all Afghan citizens are free to share their views and suggestions with the Taliban administration for the country’s development.
He also claimed that the Taliban have established a level of security across Afghanistan that has been “unprecedented in the past four decades”.
Yaqoob said Afghanistan needs investment for reconstruction and development, adding that four decades of war had caused enormous damage to the country.
According to him, rebuilding Afghanistan will take time and require broad efforts.
After the Taliban returned to power, attacks on religious minorities, particularly Hindus and Sikhs, increased, prompting many to leave the country. Most sought refuge in India.
Last year, during a visit to India, Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban foreign minister, told senior members of Afghan Hindu and Sikh groups in New Delhi that the Taliban would guarantee the security of religious minorities and rebuild their places of worship.
The population of Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh communities has sharply declined, while human rights organisations have raised concerns about growing discrimination, insecurity, social pressure and restrictions against them.
Religious Restrictions And Pressure
While Mullah Yaqoob spoke about the rights and belonging of Hindus and Sikhs, a senior Shia cleric criticised severe Taliban restriction on religious minorities.
Ayatollah Waezzada Behsudi said pressure on followers of the Jaafari sect has steadily increased over the past five years.
Speaking during Eid al-Adha prayers, he said people approach religious scholars in tears to complain about the pressure imposed on them.
Ayatollah Waezzada Behsudi, a prominent and senior Shia emulation and cleric, says Taliban pressure on followers of the Ja'fari school has steadily increased over the past five years, adding that people approach religious scholars in tears to complain about mounting restrictions.
Speaking during Eid al-Adha prayers, Behsudi said that despite the Taliban’s claims of religious commitment and adherence to Islamic law, pressure on Shia communities has intensified day by day.
He said the growing restrictions have distanced people from the “government” and increased public dissatisfaction and grievances.
According to Behsudi, people come to clerics with “tearful eyes” to complain about the limitations and pressure imposed on them.
The senior Shia cleric warned that such treatment should not only be reduced but stopped entirely.
Warning Of Social Unrest
Ayatollah Waezzada stressed that continuing this situation is neither in the Taliban’s interest nor in the country’s interest, warning that it only fuels resentment, division and hostility.
“When pressure becomes excessive, an explosion becomes inevitable, and the Taliban should not push the situation to that point,” he said.
He also accused the Taliban of pressuring Shia university students to either adopt the Hanafi sect or abandon their studies.
According to him, even the dignity of clerics has not been respected, with some religious scholars reportedly summoned and forced to pledge not to conduct temporary marriages.
He said followers of Ja'fari jurisprudence consider themselves religiously obliged to practise their beliefs and traditions.
The cleric added that religion is a “red line” for people and neither negotiable nor something that can be ignored.
Waezzada said changing people’s beliefs through force and pressure is impossible and would only deepen divisions.
He asked: “If someone were to ban Taraweeh prayers, how difficult would that be for the Taliban to accept?”
Letter To Hibatullah Akhundzada
Ayatollah Waezzada also said Shia scholars have been unable to meet senior Taliban officials.
According to him, Shia religious scholars sent a 200-page letter to Hibatullah Akhundzada more than two years ago but have still received no response.
“We receive no reply to our letter, no meeting is granted, and at the same time we are told not to speak to the media,” he said.
Behsudi explained that he had remained silent publicly for the past two years, but rising pressure and repeated complaints from people forced him to break his silence.
The cleric also accused the Taliban of using weapons collection campaigns to pressure communities.
He said people initially handed over all state-owned weapons and later surrendered personal firearms, despite what he described as instructions from the Taliban leader against such measures.
According to him, a third phase has now begun in which lower-ranking Taliban members allegedly force people to pay money in exchange for weapons.
Support For Girls’ Education
Waezzada urged the Taliban to reopen schools and universities for girls, saying the Prophet of Islam never opposed girls’ education.
He argued that opposition to women’s education has no place in any religion or belief system.
Final Request To The Taliban
He said Shia scholars would no longer offer advice or recommendations to the Taliban, describing his remarks as their “final request”.
“Over these years we repeatedly advised, guided and counselled them, but the Taliban’s ears are deaf,” he said.
In another part of his speech, he referred to tensions in central Afghanistan and disputes involving Kuchi nomads.
He said pressure in these areas increases every year and described the Kuchis issue as a longstanding and controversial problem.
According to him, innocent people were killed last year during clashes between Kuchis and settled residents.
He urged the Taliban to implement an agreement signed three years ago between representatives of Kuchis and local residents in the presence of Ghazni officials, under which armed Kuchis were not supposed to enter residential areas.
Despite the agreement, he said, armed Kuchis still enter these regions.
The cleric also called for compensation payments or the implementation of Qisas, Principle of Retribution, punishments for victims of last year’s clashes between Kuchis and local residents.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says heavy rainfall and flash floods in Laghman Province killed five people in one day, including an employee of the Danish Refugee Council.
OCHA said in its weekly regional humanitarian update that flooding on May 22 and 23, affected the northern provinces of Baghlan, Takhar and Badakhshan and temporarily blocked the Kabul-Jalalabad highway.
According to OCHA, the floods damaged homes, farmland and livelihoods and affected at least 260 families in northern and north-eastern Afghanistan.
The Taliban said on May 25 that at least 11 people were killed and 15 others injured following heavy rain and flooding in Panjshir, Paktia, Baghlan and Takhar provinces.
Afghanistan’s meteorological department has forecast heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and the risk of flooding in 11 provinces on May 27 and 28.
According to Taliban figures, more than 250 people across Afghanistan have died since this year’s rainy season began on March 26.
Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, says the Taliban regime is helping India’s activities against Pakistan and vowed to continue military operations against threats inside Afghanistan.
In a message on Wednesday marking Pakistan’s nuclear anniversary, Sharif said that without becoming a nuclear power, Pakistan’s enemies could have crossed every boundary.
He added that Pakistan’s nuclear shield and armed forces remain the country’s main deterrent against its enemies.
Referring to India, the Pakistani prime minister said the Afghan regime was facilitating the enemy's objectives, and that after its defeat the enemy had turned to proxy networks such as Fitna al-Khawarij (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) and Fitna al-Hindustan (Baloch separatists).
He warned that operation Ghazab lil-Haq will eradicate all such hostile networks and their facilitators.
Escalation Of Pakistani Military Operations
Following an unprecedented rise in border clashes with the Taliban, Pakistan’s military launched operation Ghazab-lil-Haq to carry out strikes inside Afghanistan.
Islamabad had previously launched a similar campaign called “Azm-e-Istehkam” against Baloch militants and the TTP.
Pakistani officials claim that more than 700 Taliban fighters have been killed during its operation, although the Afghan Taliban reject the figures.
Reports from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa indicate that attacks and insecurity have intensified again in recent days.
At the same time, Pakistan’s military media wing issued a joint statement from army, air force and navy commanders describing the country’s 1998 nuclear tests as the foundation of strategic balance in South Asia.
The military said the achievement symbolised national unity, resilience and sovereignty, calling Pakistan’s defence and strategic capabilities a sacred national trust and a guarantee of peace and deterrence in the region.
Under operation Ghazab-lil-Haq, Pakistan has launched several strikes on targets in Afghan cities, including Kabul.
Islamabad hopes that military pressure and threats will force the Taliban administration to expel Pakistani militants from Afghanistan or prevent their attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Afghan Taliban have rejected Pakistan’s demands and responded with retaliatory military action.
The clashes have raised concern among countries neighbouring Afghanistan, particularly China.
Despite Pakistan’s attacks on Afghanistan and militant hideouts in tribal areas, TTP assaults on Pakistani forces have continued, with security personnel suffering repeated casualties in suicide bombings and guerrilla attacks.