Taliban Agriculture Minister Visits India
The Taliban said on Tuesday that Agriculture Minister Attaullah Omari has travelled to India to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Kabul and New Delhi.
The Taliban said on Tuesday that Agriculture Minister Attaullah Omari has travelled to India to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Kabul and New Delhi.
The Taliban has significantly expanded its ties with New Delhi as its relationship with Pakistan has deteriorated.
After the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, relations between India and Afghanistan cooled. Flights between the two countries were suspended, and Afghan travel to India, a key destination for medical treatment, was restricted because India stopped issuing visas. However, New Delhi has recently announced that it will upgrade its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan to ambassadorial level.
Although India has not recognised the Taliban administration, it has resumed its technical presence in Kabul and, alongside humanitarian assistance, has expanded cooperation with the Taliban in trade, healthcare and agriculture.
The Taliban agriculture minister’s visit comes as the group has severed its trade ties with Pakistan, India’s regional rival, over the past eight months and is seeking to expand economic and commercial relations with other countries in the region.
In recent months, the Taliban’s foreign, public health, and commerce and industry ministers have also travelled to India.
Pakistani security sources said on Monday that border forces from Pakistan and the Taliban clashed for a second consecutive day in Khyber district. The fighting reportedly involved both light and heavy weapons.
Pakistani security sources told Afghanistan International on Monday evening that the clashes were still under way and the situation remained tense. As of the time of publication, no casualties had been reported from Monday’s fighting.
On Sunday, Pakistani security sources told Afghanistan International that three Pakistani border troops were wounded after Taliban border forces opened fire on Pakistani border posts in Khyber district. One of the injured was reported to be in critical condition.
The continued clashes come after Pakistan’s military commanders reiterated at a meeting in Rawalpindi that the country's forces would continue targeted operations against what they described as security threats.
Pakistan’s military commanders have also maintained that preventing militants from using Afghan territory to launch attacks against Pakistan is the responsibility of the Taliban administration.
Local sources in Badakhshan said on Monday that Taliban helicopters were flying over Nusay district, the stronghold of dissident Taliban commander Juma Khan Fateh. The aircraft were reportedly monitoring his positions and forces.
According to the sources, at least two helicopters equipped with heavy military equipment have been monitoring Fateh’s bases and fighters from the air since Sunday.
One source said the helicopters briefly landed in the centre of Nusay district on Monday afternoon, where three Taliban officials disembarked. Their identities are not yet known.
Images obtained by Afghanistan International also show Taliban military helicopters flying over Nusay district.
On Sunday, some newly deployed Taliban forces were stationed in the centre of Nusay district. Sources in Badakhshan said the reinforcements had been sent to disarm fighters loyal to Juma Khan Fateh.
In recent days, Taliban Defence Minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid also travelled to Badakhshan amid the escalating tensions. Sources said the Taliban has simultaneously intensified efforts to disarm local fighters by collecting weapons from those who are not members of the group's formal military units.
According to information obtained by Afghanistan International, Juma Khan Fateh is currently in Nusay district with local forces loyal to him. His dispute with the Taliban leadership centres on mining operations, disarmament and official appointments.
Tensions between the Taliban and Juma Khan Fateh have intensified in recent weeks. Local sources previously said a delegation sent by the Taliban leadership failed to reach an agreement with him. Following the collapse of those talks, the Taliban increased military deployments and began removing and disarming officials and fighters linked to Fateh.
Sources told Afghanistan International on Friday that, after a meeting in Shighnan district, the Taliban delegation decided to dismiss and disarm several of Fateh’s close associates.
According to the sources, Ghulamullah Ahmadi, one of Fateh’s local rivals, has recently been appointed deputy commander of the Badakhshan division. The intelligence chief of Shikai district and Gulbuddin Almas, commander of the Shighnan battalion, have also been removed from their posts.
The sources added that the Taliban delegation warned district governors, intelligence chiefs and Taliban commanders in five Darwaz districts that they would be dismissed if they failed to prevent the movement of armed men operating outside the group's official structure.
Meanwhile, the Taliban-linked Hurriyat media outlet on Saturday published an audio recording attributed to Juma Khan Fateh. In the recording, he denied reports that his forces had been disarmed and said he had done nothing that would justify a crackdown.
Sources had previously said Fateh had placed his fighters on alert but instructed them not to fire the first shot.
His dispute with the Taliban leadership intensified after he returned from Zabul to Badakhshan and increased his military presence in Nusay district. Taliban sources previously said Fateh had secretly travelled from Zabul to Nusay because he feared arrest or assassination.
Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s former presidential envoy for Afghanistan, defended the invitation extended to Ahmad Massoud, leader of Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front, and other Taliban opponents to Ali Khamenei’s funeral.
The former Iranian presidential envoy, who is also a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said Iran’s policy is to engage with the people of Afghanistan regardless of which political faction is in power.
Qomi said the Afghan people have different representatives. According to him, those currently in power represent only part of the population, while other sections of Afghan society remain outside government.
Speaking to IRAF News, he said Iran’s relationship with the Afghan people is based on shared cultural, historical, religious and moral ties and should not be viewed as purely political. He added that the Islamic Republic regarded the presence of Taliban opponents in Tehran as a blessing.
Qomi said that despite changes of government and political movements in Afghanistan over the past 48 years, Iran has consistently sought to maintain relations with all Afghans. He also said part of the Afghan people is in power today, while another part is not. The Islamic Republic’s approach is towards all the people of Afghanistan.
Referring to Iran’s hosting of Afghan refugees, Qomi said millions of Afghan citizens from different ethnic and religious backgrounds have lived in Iran over the past five decades, and that the Iranian people have always welcomed them.
He stressed that inviting Taliban opponents to Tehran reflected Iran’s policy of engaging with all Afghans and should not be interpreted solely as a political move.
On Friday, during the first day of ceremonies honouring former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in Israeli and US strikes, the simultaneous presence in Tehran of senior Taliban officials and the group’s opponents attracted widespread attention.
A Taliban delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi attended the ceremony. At the same time, an opposition delegation led by Ahmad Massoud and Mohammad Mohaqiq was also present.
Iran’s official reception for Massoud and Mohaqiq had already angered many Taliban supporters.
The Taliban Defence Ministry said Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid visited the first border battalion of the 15th Border Brigade in Ishkashim district of Badakhshan, near Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan.
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.
Uzbek media reported that the country’s security forces foiled an attempt to smuggle drugs by drone from Afghanistan into the Surxondaryo region. Authorities said they seized a drone carrying just over 2 kilograms of opium.
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.
