Taliban Forces Raid Karzai’s Home, Disperse Visitors, Say Sources

According to a ministry statement, the Taliban delegation, led by Ahmad Jan, a senior adviser to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, met Uzbek officials on Tuesday, September 22, to review the project’s status, technical and financial problems, and obstacles to implementing the contract.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said that during a previous visit by an Uzbek delegation to Afghanistan, the two sides had set a 120-day period to assess problems affecting the Toti Maidan project. Under the agreement, both sides were expected to examine the obstacles and work towards resolving them during that period.

Uzbek officials said that although the contract for the Toti Maidan gas block had been signed between a private company and the Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, the Uzbek government was following the project at the state level and was ready to cooperate on oversight, financing and resolving technical problems.

The ministry also said it would cooperate in areas under its responsibility to remove obstacles and advance the project.

Exploration and extraction work at the Toti Maidan gas project in Jowzjan began on September 14, 2025. Ismatulla Irgashev, the Uzbek president’s special representative for Afghanistan, Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, and other officials from both sides attended the launch ceremony.

At the time, Baradar said the completion of gas exploration and extraction would help meet part of Afghanistan’s domestic demand and reduce its dependence on imported gas and electricity. He also said increased production could eventually create opportunities for gas exports.

In recent years, the Taliban has signed several contracts with companies and countries for the exploration and extraction of Afghanistan’s oil, gas and mineral resources. However, some of these projects have faced delays, technical difficulties or funding shortages.

The Toti Maidan project has also encountered technical and financial problems, despite being presented by the Taliban at its launch as an important project for developing Afghanistan’s energy sector and reducing dependence on imports.

Khenjani told Afghanistan International that Registani’s presence was part of a broader plan to begin a new phase of operations on the ground.

In an interview with Afghanistan International on Tuesday, Khenjani stressed that Registani’s return to the foothills of the Hindu Kush as the NRF’s operational commander was not a temporary move, but part of an ongoing process.

He expressed hope that the presence of the NRF’s operational commander would bring “fresh energy” to the group’s forces and boost the morale of Taliban opponents.

The NRF announced on Monday, in a video, that Rigistani had returned to Afghanistan and was in the foothills of the Hindu Kush.

In the video, Rigistani said that “the resistance continues” and that other fronts were also fighting the Taliban in different parts of the country.

Following the release of the video, several political and military figures opposed to the Taliban welcomed his return.

The NRF spokesperson rejected reports of divisions among armed groups opposed to the Taliban, saying there were no differences among the military fronts fighting the group. According to Khenjani, the NRF is coordinating with prominent anti-Taliban groups and there are no obstacles or problems in relations and coordination among them.

Khenjani added that the NRF had sought in recent years to change the perception that resistance depended on foreign support. He said Taliban opponents did not need to coordinate with regional countries or foreign intelligence agencies to operate inside Afghanistan, nor did they require permission from any party to enter or leave their own country.

He stressed that Afghans should not wait for support from countries in the East or Western world. According to Khenjani, Afghans have the “capacity, courage and willingness to make sacrifices” for their own future and should rely on their own capabilities.

Asked about the potential impact of Rigistani’s return, the NRF spokesman said the group assessed that the Taliban was facing multiple layers of domestic and external pressure. According to him, the Taliban is seeking to address some regional challenges through mediation and dialogue, while exerting widespread pressure on people inside Afghanistan and increasing its military presence, particularly in Panjshir.

Khenjani added that the NRF believed the current situation would not remain stable and that the Taliban was aware of its vulnerabilities and the challenges ahead. He said the first step towards defeating the Taliban was the group’s “psychological defeat”, claiming that it faced internal divisions, corruption and growing public discontent.

The NRF spokesperson also said some Taliban members had established contacts with regional countries and certain figures opposed to the group, but declined to provide further details.

Referring to what he described as the Taliban’s “violations of citizens’ rights, land seizures, intrusions into homes and removal of cultural symbols”, Khenjani said such grievances were accumulating in society and would eventually find a way to manifest themselves.

The NRF spokesperson urged Afghans not to remain neutral in the face of developments in the country and called on them to support Taliban opponents. He said Afghanistan had faced international isolation under Taliban rule and that the group had failed to address the problems facing the population.

Khenjani said the Taliban had not directly responded to Rigistani’s return. He said the Taliban had previously denied the presence of opposition fronts, but was now increasingly arguing that these groups lacked clear objectives — a claim that, according to Khenjani, was inconsistent with Rigistani’s stated positions and goals.

In the interview, the NRF spokesperson accused the Taliban of spending significant resources on efforts to create divisions among opposition fronts and wage psychological warfare against them. He stressed, however, that Taliban opponents would continue their struggle.

The ministry said the Taliban handed the Pakistani chargé d’affaires a formal protest note over what it called the violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and attacks on civilian areas in Kunar and Paktika.

In a statement on Monday, the Taliban Foreign Ministry described the Pakistani military strikes as a clear violation of Afghanistan’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity and strongly condemned them.

The Taliban also rejected Pakistan’s claim that recent security incidents in the country originated from Afghan territory.

It said making such claims and using them to justify military action was an attempt to distort the facts and mislead public opinion.

The Taliban Foreign Ministry urged Pakistan to focus on its own responsibilities and identify and address the real causes of its security and political problems, rather than blaming other countries and linking domestic problems to external actors.

Pakistan carried out air strikes early on Monday, 21 September, in Nurgal district of Kunar and Barmal district of Paktika.

The Taliban says three civilians were killed and four others wounded in the Kunar strikes. It said a house and a shop were damaged in Paktika, but there were no casualties.

Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry said 28 militants, including several suicide bombers, were killed in strikes on three positions belonging to armed groups.

The ministry said one of the targets was a training centre for suicide bombers.

Meanwhile, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed that at least three civilians, a man, a woman and a girl, were killed in the air strikes in Kunar, while four others were wounded.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid also described the strikes as a “crime and aggression” and said the Taliban would give an appropriate response.

UNAMA said that since the beginning of 2026, it has recorded more than 1,100 civilian casualties, including deaths and injuries, in Afghanistan as a result of cross-border armed violence.

Below Afghanistan in the ranking are, in order, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Somalia.

Denmark tops the index with a score of 1.213, followed by Finland at 1.245 and Sweden at 1.280.

According to the report, Afghanistan was the only South Asian country to deteriorate on the Positive Peace Index between 2015 and 2024.

Afghanistan’s score stood at 4.055 in 2015 and rose to 4.19 by 2024, representing a 3.3% deterioration in its performance on the index.

The decline was mainly attributed to sharp deterioration in indicators related to political freedom and the free flow of information.

According to the report, press freedom in Afghanistan declined by 78.8%, the largest deterioration in any individual indicator among countries in the region.

Information quality also declined by 23.4%, while laws supporting equality among different population groups deteriorated by 25%.

Exclusion based on socio-economic groups worsened by 20.4%, while government effectiveness declined by 13.2%.

The report says press freedom also deteriorated in most other South Asian countries, including by 60% in Bhutan and 45.4% in India.

However, Afghanistan was the only country in the region whose overall Positive Peace score deteriorated between 2015 and 2024.

By contrast, South Asia improved by an average of 2.9% over the period.

Sri Lanka recorded the largest improvement at 6.3%, followed by India at 6%.

Nepal improved by 4.7%, Bhutan by 4.1%, Bangladesh by 3.5% and Pakistan by 0.9%.

The Institute for Economics and Peace says Positive Peace is not limited to the absence of war and conflict but examines the conditions and structures that enable peaceful societies to be created and sustained.

The index considers factors including effective government, the free flow of information, human capital, good relations with neighbouring countries, acceptance of the rights of others and low levels of corruption.

The report is based on an analysis of more than 20,000 datasets and indicators across 163 countries, with the ranking drawing on data up to 2024.

The Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent non-profit organisation, also publishes the Global Peace Index.

However, the Positive Peace Index differs from the Global Peace Index. Positive Peace focuses on the factors and structures that help create and sustain peace, while the Global Peace Index measures how peaceful countries are based on levels of violence, conflict and insecurity.

Writing on X on Sunday, 20 September, Asif said Pakistan had provided refuge to Afghans for the past five decades and allowed them to share the country’s limited resources.

He added that after NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan, Pakistan had hoped its borders would remain secure and countries in the region would live in peace.

The senior Pakistani official claimed that those carrying out terrorist attacks in mosques, schools and markets and attacking military personnel were mostly Afghans.

He also alleged that some of these individuals expressed solidarity with India, which he described as Pakistan’s longstanding and bitter enemy. Taliban officials have consistently rejected such allegations.

Asif said Pakistan’s military and civilian leadership had been in direct and indirect contact with these individuals but claimed that those efforts had failed to reduce what he called Afghan hatred and hostility.

Responding to support expressed by some Pakistani students for Afghan students, Asif said it was not motivated by affection but reflected their political leanings.

Reposting a video of a female student supporting the presence of Afghan students in Pakistan, he said Pakistani students taking such a position were insulting the blood of soldiers and civilians killed in attacks by people coming from Afghanistan.

His comments come after Pakistan this month ordered Afghan medical and dental students to return home.

On 1 September, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council instructed medical universities and colleges to prepare enrolled Afghan students to return to Afghanistan and to prevent the admission of Afghan students during the current academic year.

However, the order to remove Afghan medical students has for now been suspended.

The Lahore High Court temporarily halted its implementation on 11 September and extended the suspension on 18 September. The case, brought by Afghan students, remains pending.

Pakistan accuses the Taliban of allowing anti-Pakistan armed groups to operate from Afghan territory. The Taliban rejects the allegations.