Taliban Reviews Seizure Of ‘Hazara Townships’ In Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif & Herat

Seyed Hassan Mortazavi, Iran’s deputy ambassador in Kabul, had earlier said Tehran did not support any political or military group opposing the Taliban and did not regard armed conflict against the group as resistance.

Referring to Mortazavi’s position on Monday, Mujahid said the Iranian embassy adopted a very clear position and demonstrated that Iran’s stance is the stance of the Afghan people.

The Taliban spokesman described the remarks as commendable.

He added that no one supported war in Afghanistan and that any person or group that creates disorder under different names and fuels insecurity is condemned.

Mujahid also said Iran understood the importance of regional security and stability and claimed that the Taliban had succeeded in ensuring security in Afghanistan.

Controversial remarks by Iran’s deputy ambassador

The Taliban spokesman’s response followed unprecedented remarks by Seyed Hassan Mortazavi, Iran’s deputy ambassador in Kabul.

At a meeting in Kabul, Mortazavi said Tehran supported no political or military group opposing the Taliban and did not consider their armed struggle against the group to be resistance.

He said Iran regarded developments in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as confrontation with the United States, as resistance.

He described the armed struggle of Taliban opponents as resistance against a Muslim brother and said it did not conform to the Islamic Republic’s definition of resistance.

Iran’s deputy ambassador also said an Islamic government had been established in Afghanistan and that Taliban opponents should resolve their differences through dialogue with the group and reach an accommodation.

The senior Iranian diplomat’s remarks came amid a recent rise in attacks and military activity by anti-Taliban fronts in several provinces, particularly Badakhshan.

Mortazavi, who has been identified as a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, publicly outlined Tehran’s position on groups opposing the Taliban for the first time.

His comments prompted mixed reactions, with several anti-Taliban movements and groups criticising them.

Habibullah Hassam, head of the National Resistance Front’s council of religious scholars, strongly criticised Mortazavi’s remarks, saying the Iranian diplomat was not in a position to issue religious rulings or determine boundaries between the National Resistance Front and what he called a proxy un-Islamic group.

Mujahid made the remarks in the second episode of the programme Government in the Mirror of the Press. He said the mining sector had previously faced problems including disorder, the seizure of mines and illegal extraction.

According to him, operations at some mines will remain suspended until new guidelines are finalised.

The Taliban halted mining activities in Badakhshan following increased unrest in the province. The Taliban leader had earlier ordered an end to what the group described as illegal mining.

The order directly threatened the economic interests of some local Taliban commanders and fuelled internal tensions. Control over mines has become a major source of disagreement between local Taliban figures in Badakhshan and the group’s leadership.

The ban on illegal mining led to weeks of tension between Juma Khan Fateh, a local Taliban commander who has been at odds with the group’s leadership, and senior Taliban officials. The dispute reportedly reached the point where both sides prepared for a possible armed confrontation.

Meanwhile, some mine workers in Badakhshan previously protested against the continued closure of mining sites by the Taliban.

The protesters said workshops belonging to low-income residents had remained closed for about a month, while operations linked to powerful individuals were continuing.

Mujahid said the Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum would announce the new guidelines once they were finalised, and that mining would resume under revised laws and standards.

He also claimed that the Taliban had prevented unauthorised extraction and substandard excavation and had ended uncontrolled mining.

According to him, the measures were intended to protect mineral resources and ensure extraction was carried out in accordance with established standards.

Since returning to power, the Taliban has signed numerous mining contracts with domestic and foreign companies.

However, the management of mineral resources, efforts to prevent illegal extraction and the transparency of mining contracts remain widely debated issues in Afghanistan’s mining sector.

Unregulated mining has also drawn criticism from environmental experts.

In a report published on Monday, 3 August, to mark the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power, Human Rights Watch said the group had violated citizens’ fundamental rights through sweeping restrictions, particularly those imposed on women and girls.

The organisation said women and girls remained barred from secondary and university education and faced extensive restrictions on employment, freedom of movement, freedom of expression and participation in public life.

The report said journalists, civil society activists and people considered critics of the Taliban continued to face threats, arbitrary detention and torture.

Human Rights Watch also said hundreds of former government security personnel had been subjected to revenge attacks and extrajudicial killings in recent years.

The organisation described Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation as critical, saying that after major reductions in international assistance, half of the country’s population now required food and medical aid.

According to the report, more than 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are suffering from acute malnutrition, while the country’s health system is struggling with severe shortages of resources.

The report also said the mass expulsion of Afghan migrants from Pakistan and Iran had deepened the humanitarian crisis, as many returnees lacked shelter, employment and sources of income.

Human Rights Watch added that armed clashes between the Taliban and Pakistan, as well as attacks by Islamic State Khorasan Province, had caused hundreds of civilian casualties in recent years.

Referring to arrest warrants issued for Taliban leaders by the International Criminal Court and the establishment of an independent UN accountability mechanism for Afghanistan in 2025, the organisation described the measures as important steps towards ending impunity for human rights violations.

Human Rights Watch said condemning Taliban policies alone was not enough.

It called on governments to increase pressure on the group to lift all restrictions imposed on women and girls, support international accountability processes, fund Afghanistan’s humanitarian programmes and end the forced deportation of Afghan refugees and migrants.

Videos received from Yaftal contain the sound of gunfire and show wounded people being taken from the scene.

Local residents said widespread Taliban abuse against the population was the main reason for the protest. The demonstration began after Taliban forces allegedly body-searched a woman in Yaftal market.

Protesters said the Taliban had deployed large numbers of forces to the district in recent weeks and carried out arbitrary arrests, house-to-house searches and intimidation of local residents.

Pressure on Yaftal residents intensified after the district was briefly seized on Friday morning, 17 July, by a newly established anti-Taliban group called the Sepah-e Mihan Front.

Sepah-e Mihan fighters disarmed Taliban forces, raised their flag over government buildings and later withdrew from the district.

Following the incident, the Taliban deployed a large number of forces to Lower Yaftal and began widespread arrests and house-to-house searches.

Residents said on Saturday, 1 August, that Taliban forces had harassed, beaten, insulted and humiliated local people.

During the demonstration, protesters demanded the removal of non-local Taliban forces from Badakhshan.

Badakhshan has experienced rising security tensions in recent weeks.

Several days after the fall of Yaftal-e Payeen, the Afghanistan Freedom Front engaged in direct clashes with the Taliban in Zebak district. The National Resistance Front, led by Ahmad Massoud, also said it had killed a Taliban member in Kuran wa Munjan in recent days.

Democratic anti-Taliban fronts are not the only groups challenging the Taliban in the province.

The Taliban in Badakhshan is also dealing with internal divisions and attacks by Islamic State Khorasan Province.

Four days earlier, on 27 July, Zabihullah Amiri, the Taliban’s director of information and culture in Badakhshan, was killed in an armed attack in Baharak district. Islamic State Khorasan claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the Pakistani army spokesperson, said in a news conference on Friday that the country’s forces had operated only against hideouts, training centres and infrastructure used by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan between October 2025 and the end of June 2026.

He claimed that those killed in the attacks were members of armed groups and that the operations were carried out in self-defence to protect Pakistani citizens.

Chaudhry also questioned reports by UNAMA and Amnesty International, saying they were largely based on accounts from sources inside Afghanistan who, according to him, operate under restrictions on freedom of expression imposed by the Taliban administration.

He added that the reports had ignored deadly attacks by armed groups against Pakistan, as well as air strikes carried out by foreign forces during the war in Afghanistan.

The remarks came after UNAMA said in a new report that at least 499 civilians were killed and 1,216 others injured inside Afghanistan between October 2025 and the end of June 2026 as a result of air strikes, artillery attacks and border clashes between Pakistan and the Taliban.

The UN mission said many of the victims were women and children. In some cases, people who went to rescue the wounded were targeted in a second strike.

According to UNAMA, one of the deadliest incidents occurred in Paktia province on 28 June, when two consecutive attacks on a residential building killed at least 22 people, including five children, and injured 185 others.

UNAMA stressed that under international humanitarian law, all parties to the conflict are required to protect civilians and humanitarian workers and avoid attacks that could result in civilian casualties.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of providing safe haven to members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an allegation the Taliban has denied.

Islamabad, meanwhile, says its cross-border operations in Afghanistan will continue.