Armed Opposition Steps Up Attacks On Taliban, Claims 50 In One Month

Mirziyoyev described Afghanistan as Uzbekistan’s close neighbour, but did not provide further details about the policy or specific plans concerning the Taliban administration.

The Uzbek president said his country’s foreign policy was based on good-neighbourly relations, strategic partnership and friendship with Central Asian states, adding that Tashkent was working to turn Uzbekistan into an important centre of international diplomacy.

He said Uzbekistan had expanded relations with various countries in recent years and now maintained diplomatic ties with nearly 170 states.

Mirziyoyev said Uzbekistan would continue its multilateral, measured and balanced foreign policy, with economic diplomacy remaining one of the country’s priorities.

He also announced that Uzbekistan would chair the Non-Aligned Movement for the first time from 2027 to 2029.

In another part of his speech, the Uzbek president highlighted the country’s economic achievements, saying annual foreign investment had risen from $2 billion to $3 billion to between $40 billion and $50 billion.

According to him, Uzbekistan’s gross domestic product is expected to reach $160 billion this year, while the country aims to attract $450 billion in foreign investment over the next 10 years.

Mirziyoyev also said the poverty rate in Uzbekistan had fallen from 35 per cent in 2017 to four per cent this year, with around 10 million people benefiting from improved living conditions.

The Uzbek president’s remarks on maintaining a constructive policy towards Afghanistan come as Tashkent has sought in recent years to expand economic and political ties with the Taliban administration and include Afghanistan in regional connectivity projects linking Central and South Asia.

Uzbekistan is among the Central Asian countries that, despite not formally recognising the Taliban, has established close practical and economic relations with the group.

Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is one of Tashkent’s most important economic partners. Trade between the two sides reached nearly $1 billion in the first six months of this year.

He said such information could create concern among regional countries and fuel tensions between Afghanistan and its neighbours.

The Taliban spokesman added: “The Taliban has repeatedly stressed that no threat to any other country originates from Afghan territory.” He also said Taliban forces had ensured security across Afghanistan and were “aware of all problems” in border areas.

Mujahid’s remarks came after Taalatbek Masadykov, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, expressed concern about the situation along the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.

Masadykov told Russia’s state-run TASS news agency that the first shipments of weapons and equipment aimed at strengthening the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border would be delivered to Dushanbe this autumn.

Russia is taking the leading role in supplying the equipment.

Masadykov warned that any security incident along the border could have consequences beyond Tajikistan, potentially affecting other CSTO and Commonwealth of Independent States member countries.

According to him, CSTO member states have agreed on a list of lethal and non-lethal equipment needed by Tajikistan.

The equipment will be supplied under an interstate targeted programme designed to strengthen the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border.

Masadykov stressed the need to reinforce the border as quickly as possible, saying any security problem in the area could also affect other CSTO member states.

Security Concerns Along the Border

Masadykov said that during a recent visit to the region at the invitation of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, he travelled along more than 700 kilometres of Tajikistan’s roughly 1,300-kilometre border with Afghanistan.

He was accompanied by the commander of Tajikistan’s border forces.

According to the CSTO secretary-general, Tajik border guards are working to secure the area but lack sufficient resources.

The CSTO Collective Security Council moved towards approving a five-year programme to strengthen the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border in late 2024. Implementation began last year.

Tajik authorities have said several attacks have been launched from Afghan territory into Tajikistan since November 2025.

Several civilians, including Chinese nationals, and Tajik border guards have been killed or wounded in the attacks.

Tajik officials have also said weapons and drugs were seized from the attackers and that some of the assailants were killed.

Fighting in Badakhshan

In recent months, Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province has seen an increase in armed clashes.

In recent weeks, Taliban forces and the Afghanistan Freedom Front have clashed several times in Zebak district.

In Yaftal district, fighters from the Sepahiyan-e Mihan Front briefly took control of the district centre. After they withdrew, the Taliban deployed additional forces to the area.

Tensions and clashes have also been reported in Nusay district between Taliban forces and men affiliated with Juma Khan Fateh, a local Taliban commander.

Two Taliban officials have also been assassinated in Badakhshan in less than a month. Islamic State Khorasan Province claimed responsibility for killing the Taliban’s information and culture chief, while the National Resistance Front claimed the killing of the Faizabad mayor.

Alongside armed Taliban opponents, the activities of regional extremist groups in Afghanistan remain another concern for Central Asian countries.

Islamic State Khorasan Province is also active in Afghanistan, and regional states have repeatedly warned about possible threats from armed groups operating from Afghan territory.

However, in his interview with TASS, Masadykov did not directly link the planned arms and equipment deliveries to Tajikistan with the recent fighting in Badakhshan.

After leaving Kabul, the Taliban delegation first travelled to Doha and then flew to Berlin after receiving 30-day visas from the German mission in Qatar.

According to German broadcaster NDR, members of the delegation are also expected to visit Afghanistan’s consulates in Bonn and Munich next week.

NDR reported that the delegation is currently based at the Afghan embassy in Berlin’s Grunewald district and is expected to remain in Germany for about three weeks.

The main purpose of the mission is reportedly to arrange the documents and technical requirements needed to carry out deportations of Afghan nationals more quickly. Germany’s Foreign Ministry said a technical support team had also entered the country for a short period to help establish these requirements.

This is not the first time Taliban representatives have travelled to Germany for consular work. Two Taliban consular officials also arrived in Germany last year.

According to NDR, one of them is now effectively running the Afghan embassy in Berlin, while the other is in charge of Afghanistan’s consulate in Bonn.

The German government has said their role is to provide consular services to Afghans living abroad and to facilitate the deportation of Afghan nationals, a measure also included in the coalition agreement of the German government.

However, an NDR investigation found that the two Taliban officials had additional tasks alongside their official duties, including removing Afghan diplomats appointed by the former government and bringing Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions in Germany into line with Taliban policy.

According to the investigation, they were also tasked with ensuring that the substantial revenues generated by the Afghan embassy in Berlin and the consulates in Bonn and Munich from issuing passports and official documents were transferred to Afghanistan while bypassing financial sanctions.

The latest Taliban delegation’s visit comes as the German government plans to increase deportation flights to Afghanistan and has expanded practical cooperation with the Taliban to carry out the process.

Initially, deportations were expected to focus on asylum seekers convicted of serious crimes. However, in the latest deportation flight, some Afghans without criminal records were also deported.

The meeting was held on Friday, 28 August, under the title “The Palestinian Issue in the Thought of the Martyred Imam of the Ummah”. Fars News Agency said 27 foreign guests from Afghanistan and other countries attended.

Mawlawi Habibullah Hessam heads the Ulema Council of the National Resistance Front, led by Ahmad Massoud. Before the fall of the former republic, he headed the Afghanistan Ulema Assembly and now lives in Iran.

Jawad Salehi is a member of Afghanistan’s Shia Ulema Council and director of the Risalat religious seminary in Kabul.

Iranian media said the Palestinian issue, recent developments involving Iran-backed groups in the Middle East and ways to support Palestinians were among the main topics discussed at the meeting.

Representatives from more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Russia, Turkiye, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and Indonesia, attended.

The invitation to a senior member of the National Resistance Front comes despite Iran maintaining political, economic and diplomatic relations with the Taliban.

Officials from both sides have also held numerous visits and meetings in recent years. Despite those ties, Iran has not formally recognised the Taliban.

In July, Iran also invited Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front, and Mohammad Mohaqiq, leader of the People’s Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan, to the farewell and funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former supreme leader.

A Taliban delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and including Amir Khan Muttaqi also attended the same ceremonies.

The event’s host referred to Ahmad Massoud and his companions as the high-level delegation of the Afghan resistance. It was the first official and public appearance of Taliban opposition leaders at an Iranian government ceremony in five years.

The invitation of Taliban opponents prompted reactions from several Taliban officials and supporters.

Khairullah Shinwari, an official at the Taliban Foreign Ministry, said Iran had hosted people who challenged Afghanistan’s national sovereignty and independence. Some Taliban supporters also described Iran’s move as hostility and betrayal of the Taliban.

London says Sirajuddin and Jalaluddin Haqqani remain subject to sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated and republished the identifying details of the two men on Thursday, 27 August.

According to the information, the changes do not remove either Sirajuddin or Jalaluddin Haqqani from the sanctions list and were made only to update their identifying details. These include ethnicity, place and date of birth, height, passport number and records of their activities.

On 31 July 2026, the UN Security Council updated the identifying information of five senior Taliban officials on its sanctions list. They included Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban interior minister, as well as the ministers of Hajj and Religious Affairs and Mines and Petroleum, the intelligence chief and the Taliban-appointed mayor of Herat.

Sirajuddin Haqqani has been subject to UN Security Council sanctions since 13 September 2007.

The UK Foreign Office says he has led the Haqqani Network and directed its armed activities since late 2012. In addition to the UK sanctions list, Sirajuddin Haqqani also remains on the United Nations sanctions list.

Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the Haqqani Network and father of Sirajuddin Haqqani, also remains on the sanctions list. The UK entry refers to reports of his death in September 2018 and describes him as a former Taliban leader who was mainly involved in armed activity in Afghanistan’s border areas.

Haqqani Network leaders are subject to asset freezes and travel bans under the UK’s Afghanistan sanctions regulations, introduced in 2020.

Britain says the sanctions are intended to restrict individuals involved in violence, the supply of weapons and recruitment, or those who support activities that threaten peace and stability in Afghanistan.

The Haqqani Network, regarded as an important part of the Taliban’s power structure, claimed responsibility for some of the deadliest attacks against Afghan and foreign forces during the past two decades.

Last year, the US State Department removed Sirajuddin Haqqani, Taliban interior minister, as well as Aziz Haqqani and Yahya Haqqani, other figures in the network and close associates of Sirajuddin, from its list of wanted individuals.

The FBI later removed the $10 million reward for information leading to Sirajuddin Haqqani’s arrest. However, the FBI continues to list Haqqani as a global terrorist among wanted individuals.

In early 2025, the US State Department told Afghanistan International that Sirajuddin Haqqani and the Haqqani Network had not been removed from US terrorist designations. It confirmed, however, that there was no longer a reward for the Taliban interior minister’s arrest.

After the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, the FBI had increased the reward for information leading to Sirajuddin Haqqani’s arrest from $5 million to $10 million.

The Haqqani Network was founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani in the late 1970s and has been blamed by the United States for some of the deadliest attacks of the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

The US State Department designated the Haqqani Network as a foreign terrorist organisation in September 2012.

Anas Haqqani, Sirajuddin Haqqani’s brother, described the removal of Haqqani figures from the US wanted list as a political achievement.

Colin Smith, an official with the UN Security Council sanctions monitoring team, told Afghanistan International last month that 135 Taliban members, including members of the Haqqani Network, remain on the Security Council sanctions list because of their records and previous links to terrorist activity. He added that the Haqqani Network remains active.