Iran Defends Invitation To Taliban Opponents

In a statement on Monday, the ministry said Mujahid assessed the condition and performance of Taliban forces stationed at the battalion and stressed the need to increase readiness and strengthen efforts to protect and defend Afghanistan’s borders.

Mullah Yaqoob Mujahid began visiting Taliban forces and border posts in north-eastern Afghanistan on Sunday morning. He has so far visited Zebak, Ishkashim, Kuran wa Munjan districts in Badakhshan and reviewed Taliban forces in areas bordering Pakistan, China and Tajikistan.

The Taliban Defence Ministry said Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Taliban army chief of staff, is accompanying Mujahid on the trip.

Ishkashim is one of Badakhshan’s border districts adjacent to Tajikistan. Earlier this month, Taalatbek Masadykov, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, visited parts of the Tajik-Afghan border at the invitation of Tajikistan’s president and assessed efforts to strengthen border security.

The Taliban defence minister’s trip to Badakhshan comes amid growing speculation about deepening internal divisions within the group. It also follows inconclusive talks between a Taliban delegation and Juma Khan Fateh, a dissident ethnic Tajik commander.

Sources told Afghanistan International on Sunday that, during Mujahid’s visit to Badakhshan, some newly deployed Taliban forces had been stationed in the centre of Nusay district, Fateh’s main base. The sources said the forces had been sent to contain any possible uprising or armed confrontation.

Mujahid’s visit also coincides with growing speculation about a possible attempt to disarm Juma Khan Fateh. Afghanistan International sources say fresh Taliban forces were sent to Nusay district to disarm fighters loyal to him. However, Taliban-linked media on Saturday published an audio file attributed to Fateh in which he denied reports that his forces had been disarmed.

Uzbekistan’s State Security Service said on Sunday that unidentified individuals near the Amu Darya border attempted to transport narcotics into the Surxondaryo region using a drone. The agency said the suspects attached the drugs to the drone on the Afghan side of the river and directed it towards Uzbek territory.

Uzbek officials said a rapid response security unit detected the drone in time and neutralised it before it reached its destination. They added that efforts were under way to identify those involved.

Security officials said a criminal investigation had been opened into the incident. Investigators will examine the drone’s launch site, the intended destination of the narcotics and any suspected accomplices in Uzbekistan’s Surxondaryo region.

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan has repeatedly reported seizing drugs originating from Afghanistan. However, this is the first time the country has reported an attempt to smuggle narcotics across the Afghan border using a drone.

The Taliban prime minister’s office said on Sunday that a meeting attended by the World Health Organization’s regional director, officials from UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Qatar’s ambassador discussed strengthening Afghanistan’s health sector, polio eradication efforts, healthcare for returning migrants and continued cooperation with international organisations.

During the meeting, Hanafi urged international organisations to separate political issues from health matters and called for Taliban representatives to be invited to international conferences related to healthcare.

No country has formally recognised the Taliban government. As a result, its representatives are rarely invited to major international meetings.

Western countries, once among Afghanistan’s largest donors, sharply reduced assistance after the Taliban returned to power because of human rights concerns, particularly the ban on girls’ education.

Although the Taliban has repeatedly said domestic revenues are sufficient to meet Afghanistan’s needs, its officials have simultaneously urged international organisations to increase aid and spend it in line with priorities set by the Taliban.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said its ambassador to Kabul, Mirdif Al-Qashouti, met Abdul Salam Hanafi.

According to the ministry, the two sides reviewed the latest developments in Afghanistan and discussed ways to support the Afghan people.

The ministry added that Qatar’s ambassador also briefed Hanafi on his country’s health projects in Afghanistan and reaffirmed Doha’s commitment to continuing cooperation in the sector.

According to the sources, the clash involved both light and heavy weapons before subsiding. The wounded personnel were taken to a medical facility for treatment.

Pakistani security sources claimed that Taliban border forces opened fire on Pakistani positions in the Tabai area without provocation. The Taliban has not commented on the allegation.

The clash comes amid heightened tensions between the Taliban administration and Pakistan in recent weeks. On June 29, Pakistan carried out airstrikes in the Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Kunar, killing at least 28 civilians, according to the United Nations. The Taliban reported a higher death toll and described the strikes as aggression.

The Taliban later launched several drones towards Pakistan. Pakistan’s military said it intercepted and shot down what it described as the Taliban’s rudimentary drones.

In a note published on Saturday, 4 July, Durrani said the Taliban should recognise that it lacks international legitimacy. He claimed the Afghan Taliban was sheltering dozens of terrorist groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, Islamic State and the Baloch Liberation Army.

The Pakistani diplomat said alleged Indian financial support for the Pakistani Taliban and the Baloch Liberation Army was alarming. He warned that continuing such policies amounted to playing with fire for both the Taliban and New Delhi.

Durrani wrote that history had repeatedly shown violent proxies eventually endanger those who nurture them. His remarks come as Pakistan itself has long been accused of supporting and cultivating the Taliban, a group now at odds with Islamabad.

On Friday, the former Pakistani envoy also told Afghanistan International that Pakistani military strikes inside Afghanistan would continue as long as attacks by Pakistani Taliban militants were launched from Afghan territory against Islamabad.

Durrani said conflict and tensions between the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan would persist until those threats were eliminated.

His warning of another 9/11 refers to one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in modern history. On 11 September 2001, members of al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger planes, two of which struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed and thousands more wounded in the attacks, which led to the collapse of the Taliban’s first regime and the deployment of international forces in Afghanistan.