Taliban Warns Suicide Fighters Are Prepared To Defend Its Rule Amid Badakhshan Clashes
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Monday responded to reports of recent clashes between the group and opposition forces in Badakhshan.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Monday responded to reports of recent clashes between the group and opposition forces in Badakhshan.
Mujahid dismissed reports of the fighting and claims that Yaftal district had fallen as “media propaganda”.
He said the country had been liberated through the sacrifices and the loss of lives, adding that the Taliban would make twice as many sacrifices to defend it.
The Taliban refers to its suicide attackers as “fedayeen (self-sacrifices)”.
Mujahid’s remarks come after nearly a week of repeated clashes between Taliban forces and the Afghanistan Freedom Front in Zebak district of Badakhshan.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front says it has captured several Taliban posts in Zebak. The Taliban, however, claims it has repelled the opposition attacks.
Iran is pursuing a plan to establish a joint free trade and industrial zone with Afghanistan and China, according to the director-general of economic and finance affairs in South Khorasan province.
Head of the Economy Department of South Khorasan Morteza Zakerian said on Sunday at a meeting on investment opportunities in South Khorasan, attended by a Chinese economic delegation, that the administrative process was under way, taking into account the three countries’ geographical, economic and transit potential.
According to Zakerian, the proposal was first presented by the governor of South Khorasan to Iran’s president in December last year. Its aim is to expand economic cooperation through private-sector investment, particularly from Chinese investors.
He said Iran could provide infrastructure, labour and industrial capacity under the plan, while China could contribute investment, financing and technology transfer. Afghanistan, meanwhile, could offer its mineral resources, rare-earth reserves and transit position.
Referring to regional and international developments, Zakerian said the Iran-Afghanistan-China route could serve as a safe, alternative and sustainable corridor for expanding economic relations.
Mojtaba Shariatifar, deputy governor of South Khorasan for economic affairs, said the plan was presented during talks with the Chinese delegation and was welcomed by the Chinese side.
He said the proposal would be pursued through the Chinese embassy and government, and that cooperation agreements were expected to be signed during the Chinese ambassador’s next visit to South Khorasan.
The proposal comes as China has increased its economic presence in Afghanistan in recent years, particularly in the mining sector. Iran is also seeking to use its border with Afghanistan to expand regional trade and attract foreign investment.
Following the suspension of trade relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan because of border and political tensions between the Taliban and Islamabad, Iran has become Afghanistan’s largest trading partner.
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan says its forces attacked a Taliban post in Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan on Sunday night, killing one Taliban fighter and wounding two others.
Local sources also confirmed the attack on Taliban positions in Kuran Wa Munjan to Afghanistan International.
In a statement on Monday, the National Resistance Front said the operation was carried out at around 1am in the Shahran area of Munjan.
Local Taliban officials have not yet commented on the attack or the reported casualties.
The attack comes amid increased military activity by anti-Taliban groups in Badakhshan in recent days.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front previously reported advances in Zebak district, the downing of Taliban drones and the capture of Taliban posts. The Taliban military, however, claimed it had repelled the opposition attack.
Faisal Mukhtar, the Taliban’s deputy governor in Nuristan, says the death toll from last week’s devastating floods has exceeded 30, with the bodies of 20 victims recovered so far.
He added that at least 10 others remain missing and that search operations are continuing.
The deadly floods struck parts of Nuristan on Monday, 20 July, following heavy rainfall, killing residents and affecting hundreds of families.
According to the Taliban deputy governor, the floods caused extensive damage to infrastructure.
He said around 10 markets containing more than 90 shops were destroyed in the provincial capital, while seven houses were completely demolished and another 82 were damaged.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had earlier said the floods affected thousands of people and created urgent needs for shelter, food, drinking water, healthcare and sanitation.
The United Nations also warned that flood-affected communities in Nuristan faced severe shortages of medical services, medicines, safe drinking water and sanitation facilities.
Nuristan is a mountainous and difficult-to-reach province. Aid officials say limited access to many affected areas has hampered search operations, emergency assistance and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Afghanistan is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
In recent years, flash floods, droughts and extreme weather events have become more frequent across the country, repeatedly causing deaths and extensive economic damage.
Sources from the Afghanistan Freedom Front told Afghanistan International on Sunday afternoon, 26 July, that the group’s forces had advanced in Zebak district of Badakhshan after seizing at least two more Taliban outposts.
One source said the front’s fighters had captured elevated positions after obtaining heavy weapons and equipment.
Afghanistan International could not independently verify the claim.
The Taliban has not commented on the latest reports. A day earlier, Taliban army chief Fasihuddin Fitrat said Taliban forces remained deployed in the border areas where they had been stationed from the outset and that there was “no problem”.
Videos from the front line received by Afghanistan International appear to show Freedom Front fighters near the Tupkhana reservoir.
The footage shows fighters firing sporadically towards Taliban positions. One fighter can be heard saying, “The enemy has fled.”
Fighting between the Afghanistan Freedom Front and the Taliban in Zebak entered its fourth day on Sunday.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front has claimed in recent days that it captured strategic positions in the highlands of Zebak and shot down two Taliban drones.
The Taliban army, however, has said its forces repelled the opposition attack.
Local sources in Badakhshan say Juma Khan Fateh, a Taliban commander in Nusay who had been at odds with the group’s leadership, has returned home after spending some time in Kabul.
Fateh had been summoned to Kabul amid rising tensions and internal disputes within the Taliban in Badakhshan.
He has returned as Taliban forces have been fighting the Afghanistan Freedom Front in Zebak district since Thursday.
Fateh travelled to Kabul following mediation by Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Taliban army chief of staff, and Din Mohammad Hanif, the Taliban’s economy minister.
Fateh had previously been dissatisfied with the Taliban leadership and resigned as deputy governor of Zabul province.
After travelling to Kabul, however, he dismissed reports of his dispute with the Taliban leadership as “media propaganda”. This came despite earlier tensions between him and some Taliban factions in Badakhshan that had brought the two sides close to a large-scale armed confrontation.
Badakhshan has also witnessed several other security developments in recent weeks.
The Sepah-e Mihan Front previously seized Yaftal district for several hours, further heightening concerns over the province’s security situation.
Fateh’s return to Nusay comes as armed clashes continue between the Afghanistan Freedom Front and Taliban forces in Zebak district.
Observers say the simultaneous fighting in Zebak, developments in Yaftali Sufla and growing internal Taliban divisions point to an increasingly complex security situation in Badakhshan.
The province has in recent months become one of the main centres of security challenges and internal tensions within the Taliban.
Recent developments in Nusay, Zebak and Yaftali Sufla suggest that the deployment of forces and the political and security situation in north-eastern Afghanistan are changing rapidly.