Doctors Without Borders Angered By Detention Of Aid Worker In Herat

Reuters cited two lawyers and one informed official as saying that the first flight under the agreement is planned to carry around 20 asylum seekers. In addition to Afghans, the group includes asylum seekers from Syria and Iran.

Among the migrants are two Iranian women who were detained after entering the United States in November 2024.

Emily Trostle, the lawyer representing the two women, told Reuters that one is a Christian convert and the other a pro-democracy activist. She said both would face a serious risk of torture and persecution if forcibly returned.

According to the lawyer, her clients had previously obtained “withholding of removal” orders from a US immigration judge, indicating that the court found there was more than a 50 percent likelihood they would face torture or persecution in their home country.

However, the US government is reportedly using a legal loophole involving removal to a third country to send them to the Central African Republic rather than back to their country of origin.

A lawyer for a Turkish national, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said his client had also fled political persecution and obtained a similar ruling, and was likely to be on the same flight.

The Central African Republic, the proposed destination for the migrants, has long struggled with chronic instability, extreme poverty and widespread internal violence.

Human rights lawyers have warned that sending migrants who sought safety in the United States to such a crisis-stricken country could place their lives at risk.

According to reports, the Trump administration has also held discussions in recent months about transferring Afghan refugees to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country currently facing a deadly Ebola outbreak.

Last week, United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, told a congressional hearing that Washington is in talks with several countries about accepting Afghan refugees currently in Qatar.

More than 80 Democratic and Republican members of Congress have signed an open letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling for an immediate halt to plans to transfer Afghan refugees from Qatar to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The letter concerns the fate of more than 1,100 Afghan nationals who are awaiting resettlement in the United States. Many of them previously worked with US military forces and have spent more than four years in limbo in Qatar.

Jason Crow, a Democratic congressman from Colorado and a former Army officer, said in a statement: “It’s both a moral and a national security imperative that our country live up to its promise and watch out for those who put themselves in harm’s way to help keep us safe.”

The lawmakers wrote that these Afghan refugees served alongside American troops during the United States’ 20-year mission in Afghanistan as interpreters, contractors and security personnel. They urged the State Department to facilitate their entry into the United States rather than transferring them to third countries.

He described the women detained in Herat as suffering from “psychological and religious problems” and said authorities had been instructed to remove them from public areas.

Speaking to Al Emarah, a Taliban-affiliated media outlet, Islamjar described the detention of women over their clothing as an order from “God and His Messenger”. He claimed that some women in Herat had failed to follow the Taliban’s dress code because they had been influenced by “non-Afghan culture” while living in neighbouring countries as migrants.

The Taliban governor said the decision was implemented only after months of deliberation and years of waiting due to what he described as an urgent necessity.

“We have spent years and months considering different ways and solutions to enforce the hijab decree in Herat,” he said.

Islamjar claimed that wearing the burqa constitutes the traditional form of “Islamic hijab” in Herat. He added that, due to migration, the Iranian-style hijab has become more common and that women may move around the city wearing it, provided their faces remain covered.

According to the governor, the women targeted by the campaign are attempting to alter Herat’s “cultural, religious and historical identity”.

Islamjar also claimed that no women in Herat were detained by male officers. He said the arrests were carried out by female personnel trained in military and arrest operations.

However, videos circulated from the first day of the campaign in parts of Herat appear to show male morality police officers forcibly detaining women and girls.

The Taliban governor dismissed the footage, claiming that “all the images” broadcast by media outlets showing the arrests were fake and generated using artificial intelligence. He also insisted that no women or girls from Herat are currently being held in prison.

According to Islamjar, some of the women were disciplined by female officers and their families before being allowed to return home.

Without disclosing where the detainees had been taken, he said the women had been “advised and disciplined” in a secure location. He added that they were released after their families provided guarantees and discussions were held with relatives.

He said the EU has no choice but to talk to the Taliban if it wants to return rejected Afghan asylum seekers to Afghanistan.

The remarks come amid a wave of criticism across Europe over the invitation, with some critics arguing that it represents a retreat from the EU’s core values and principles.

Brunner stressed that contacts with the Taliban are purely technical and operational and do not in any way amount to recognition of the group’s government.

“It’s no option not to talk to these people in order to improve the situation,” he said. “At least to improve the situation for Europeans, but also for asylum applicants and asylum-seekers.”

According to reports, around 20 of the EU’s 27 member states have signed a joint letter calling for practical mechanisms to deport Afghan nationals who do not qualify for residency, particularly those with criminal records or convictions for serious offences.

In recent years, the EU has shifted its migration policy focus from preventing arrivals to accelerating the return of rejected asylum seekers.

Human Rights Criticism

Human rights organisations and UN experts have strongly criticised the policy. They argue that forcibly returning asylum seekers to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, amid a severe humanitarian crisis, widespread poverty and sweeping restrictions on women and girls, is both unlawful and unethical.

The European Union says Afghan nationals lodged nearly one million asylum applications in member states between 2013 and 2024, with roughly half of them being approved.

Meanwhile, Germany has also begun deporting some Afghan nationals with criminal convictions since 2024.

In a post on X on Thursday, June 11, UN Women voiced concern over the worsening humanitarian consequences of the conflict and its impact on women and girls.

According to UNAMA, Pakistan’s recent airstrikes inside Afghanistan killed 13 civilians and wounded 10 others. The UN mission said women and children were among the casualties.

While the Taliban accuses Pakistan of violating Afghanistan’s airspace and bombing several locations in the provinces of Khost, Paktika and Kunar, Islamabad has dismissed reports of 13 civilian deaths as propaganda warfare.

Boehler stressed that hostage-taking is not a tool of negotiation but a criminal act.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the office of the special envoy said those who kidnap American citizens and cause suffering to their families will eventually face the consequences of their actions.

He added that the conviction demonstrates the United States’ commitment to pursuing such crimes and seeking justice for victims.

Haji Najibullah, a Taliban commander involved in the abduction of American journalist David Rohde and his two companions, was sentenced to 42 years in prison by a court in New York on Tuesday.

He was convicted for his role in the 2008 kidnapping of Rohde and his two companions.

Prosecutors said the aim of the hostage-taking was to obtain ransom payments and secure the release of Taliban prisoners held by the United States.

They said the hostages were forced to record proof-of-life videos during their captivity.

According to prosecutors, Taliban fighters appeared in the videos threatening the captives with automatic weapons and demanding that they urge their families and the US government to meet the Taliban’s demands.

Published information indicates that Najibullah served as a Taliban commander in Maidan Wardak province from 2007 and also acted as an unofficial spokesman for the group.

He was arrested while travelling in Ukraine in October 2020 and later extradited to the United States for trial.

Boehler has travelled to Kabul and met Taliban officials as part of efforts to secure the release of American citizens.

Referring to the release of Dennis Coyle from Taliban custody earlier this year, Boehler said in March that the policy of taking hostages to gain concessions from the United States was dead. “No trades. No money. Hostage diplomacy is dead.”, he said.