Taliban Intensifies Crackdown On Independent Media, Says Rights Group

The two-day meeting opened on Sunday without a Taliban representative.

None of the OIC’s member states has recognised the Taliban administration. However, sources said the organisation had invited the Taliban to send a female representative to the Islamabad meeting. The Taliban administration has no women in official positions who could have attended.

This is not the first time an organisation of which Afghanistan is a member has displayed the country's national flag alongside those of other member states at an official meeting.

A review of the participating delegations showed that women hold senior leadership positions in many Islamic countries. Female participants at the conference included officials serving as vice-presidents and ministers responsible for key government portfolios.

After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban barred women from education and most employment. At present, only a limited number of women are allowed to work in sectors deemed essential, including education and healthcare. Afghanistan under Taliban rule remains the only country in the world where women are banned from both education and most forms of employment.

The Taliban maintain that their policies towards women are consistent with Islamic law. However, none of the OIC member states considers the Taliban’s policies on women to be in line with Islamic teachings. Over the past five years, the OIC and other international organisations have repeatedly called on the Taliban to respect the fundamental rights of Afghan women.

Speaking to Hurriyat Radio on Saturday, Badakhshan Taliban governor Mohammad Ismail Ghaznavi dismissed the significance of local commander Juma Khan Fateh, saying: “Juma Khan Fateh’s status is not such that he could pose a threat to the system.”

Ghaznavi described Fateh as an “ordinary individual” and a “former district governor”, adding that the Taliban had more than 28 district governors like him in Badakhshan. He said: “We had no ill intent towards Fateh, nor was he a threat to the system. He was simply one of the district governors in Badakhshan.”

Senior Taliban Delegation Travelled to Badakhshan

Although local Taliban officials have portrayed the dispute as a routine administrative misunderstanding, local sources say the disagreement became serious enough to require the intervention of the Taliban’s most senior military leaders from Kabul.

Among those who travelled to Badakhshan were Taliban Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, Taliban army chief Fasihuddin Fitrat and Helmand governor Qari Amanuddin Mansour to help resolve the dispute and prevent an armed confrontation.

Their presence highlighted concerns within the Taliban leadership about the risk of growing divisions between local commanders and officials sent from Kabul.

Fateh's Transfer to Faizabad

The Badakhshan governor described Fateh’s transfer to Faizabad as a routine administrative matter, saying: “He is part of this system. We instructed him to come, he came, and there is no issue now.”

However, informed sources say Fateh was transferred to the provincial capital only after a delegation from Kabul intervened and provided him with security guarantees. He later returned to the Darwaz region under those assurances.

With its 28 districts, Badakhshan is one of the Taliban’s most complex provinces in terms of geography and demographics. The recent dispute has once again highlighted the group’s internal challenges in northern Afghanistan.

Mohammad Nauman, the representative of Pakistani students in Nangarhar, told Afghanistan International on Saturday that more than 1,000 Pakistani students, most of them from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and border areas, are studying at educational institutions in Jalalabad.

He said the students had been stranded in Afghanistan because the Torkham crossing had remained closed, but a group had recently been allowed to return to Pakistan through the border crossing.

According to the information, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar helped facilitate the students’ return from Afghanistan. The move came after Pakistan’s consulate in Jalalabad forwarded the students’ request to the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad.

On Friday evening, the consulate submitted a list of 68 students to the Taliban, and they were allowed to return to Pakistan through Torkham.

The students’ representative said many Pakistani students remain in Afghanistan after completing their examinations in Kabul and Nangarhar. He added that they wished to return home for the holiday period.

The development comes as border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan have remained largely closed to regular travel since October last year amid rising tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan. In recent months, Pakistan has opened the Torkham and Spin Boldak crossings mainly for the deportation of Afghan migrants.

Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that local officials at the Hamza Baba transit point in Landi Kotal said daily returns of Afghans had exceeded 10,000 after the government ordered all Afghan nationals to leave the country by July 10. According to the officials, the figure is nearly three times higher than in May and June.

Concern Over Women and Girls

Qaiser Khan Afridi, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan, thanked Pakistan for hosting Afghan refugees for decades but stressed that no refugee should be returned to a country where their life or freedom would be at risk.

He said UNHCR was particularly concerned about women forced to return to a country where their human rights faced serious threats.

Afridi urged the Pakistani government to ensure that any returns of Afghan nationals were carried out on a voluntary, safe and dignified basis.

Fear of Arrest Drives Increase in Returns

Border officials in Landi Kotal and Torkham said fears of arrest and deportation had prompted thousands of Afghans, both documented and undocumented, to head towards the border crossings. They said the number of returnees was expected to rise further as Pakistan fully implements its deportation campaign.

According to UN figures, around 2.56 million Afghan nationals have returned to Afghanistan since Pakistan launched its campaign to expel undocumented foreigners in November 2023. Of those, about 260,000 were deported by Pakistan’s immigration authorities for lacking valid documents. Around 900,000 Afghan refugees and asylum seekers remain in Pakistan.

Call to Exempt Vulnerable Groups

UNHCR has called on Pakistan to exempt Afghans with urgent international protection needs from deportation. These include female heads of household, girls and women studying in Pakistani educational institutions, ethnic and religious minorities, human rights defenders, journalists, civil society activists, artists and members of the LGBTQ community.

Meanwhile, Pakistani local authorities said the deportation of Afghan nationals was continuing in an organised manner across different areas, including Lower Mohmand, under government supervision. Officials said that, in one recent case, several Afghan families were returned to Afghanistan after their identities were verified and exit documents were issued.

He had travelled to Faizabad for talks under guarantees provided by Taliban army chief Fasihuddin Fitrat.

No details of the talks or any agreement between the two sides have been released. However, Hurriyat Radio quoted Badakhshan Taliban governor Mohammad Ismail Ghaznavi as describing Fateh as a “committed and loyal” member of the Taliban who would remain with the group.

A video published by Hurriyat shows Fateh boarding a helicopter and bidding farewell to armed Taliban members. This came a day after the outlet dismissed reports of his transfer to Badakhshan’s provincial capital as “rumours” and “baseless”.

Fateh recently travelled to Faizabad under guarantees from Taliban army chief Fasihuddin Fitrat to discuss his disputes with the Taliban leadership. Sources say the disagreements centred on local appointments, efforts to disarm fighters loyal to him and the management of Badakhshan’s gold mines.

The Taliban’s order to prevent illegal gold mining has directly affected Fateh’s economic interests. The group has also sought to disarm his loyalists who do not hold official positions within the Taliban structure.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had previously removed Fateh from his post as deputy governor of Zabul and planned to appoint him to a government position outside Badakhshan.

However, according to information obtained by Afghanistan International, Fateh rejected those proposals and refused to accept a post outside Badakhshan.

Sources said one of the positions offered to him was to head a Taliban intelligence department in Kabul, but Fateh also declined that role.