Noor Jalal Jalali, the Taliban’s minister of public health, has arrived in India, marking the first official visit by a Taliban official of his rank to the country, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
The Taliban have publicly flogged four people, including a woman, in separate incidents in Ghazni and Badakhshan provinces, according to the group’s Supreme Court.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, discussed regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East, during talks in Riyadh.
Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has urged members of the group to “recognise their limits and authority” after assuming office, warning against discord, negligence and arbitrary conduct.
Yaqoob Sheikh who has been described as having links to Lashkar-e-Taiba has warned the Taliban that if they fail to guarantee Afghan territory will not be used against Pakistan, his party will stand alongside the country’s army.
About 1,000 Afghan refugees have taken the first formal step towards filing a lawsuit against the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) over the disclosure and mishandling of their personal data.
The United Kingdom has advised its citizens against all travel to Afghanistan, citing heightened military tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan and an increasingly unstable security situation.
Iran said Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries and Russia, meeting in Tehran, have called on the Taliban and Pakistan to return to negotiations and resolve their differences through diplomatic means.
Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, chairman of Pakistan’s Ulema Council, has urged the Taliban to take action against extremism in Afghanistan, welcoming a recent gathering of Taliban clerics in Kabul and calling for the implementation of its resolution.
A senior official at the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry has criticised Iran’s portrayal of Afghanistan as a country in crisis, saying Taliban-ruled Afghanistan should no longer be treated as a crisis-management issue.
Matiullah Wesa, a prominent activist for girls’ education and a former Taliban detainee, has won the Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani International Anti-Corruption Award in the category of Youth Creativity and Participation.
Rahmatullah Najib, the administrative deputy of the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior, has said there are no disagreements among the group’s leadership and that no senior figure seeks to replace Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan criticised conditions in the country under Taliban rule at a regional meeting in Tehran, saying the Afghan people deserve better.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) said it killed three Taliban fighters in a guerrilla attack on Saturday near the provincial governor’s office in Fayzabad, the capital of Badakhshan province.
Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq Khan, said at a regional meeting in Tehran that Islamabad’s concerns about terrorism must be addressed seriously.
Tajmir Jawad, the deputy head of the Taliban’s intelligence agency, said certain domestic and foreign groups are seeking to create problems for Afghanistan under various pretexts, adding that the Taliban does not seek war but will defend its rule if conflict is imposed.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that stability in Afghanistan is a strategic necessity for the entire region, stressing that the country’s security is “directly tied to the interests of all neighbouring countries.”
The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF), led by Yasin Zia, and the National Resistance Front (NRF), led by Ahmad Massoud, have reported carrying out separate attacks against Taliban forces in Kunduz province.
Sources in Darulaman, western Kabul, told Afghanistan International that Taliban Minister of Justice has detained at least 38 local residents after they buried a neighbour in a cemetery near the ministry compound.
Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the Taliban’s minister of higher education, has warned that disobedience to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada would weaken the authority of the regime. He said that in an Islamic system there can be only one leader who must be obeyed by all.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday it will not take part in a regional meeting on Afghanistan scheduled to be held in Tehran. Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesperson for the ministry, said the Taliban had received an invitation but decided not to attend.
Human rights defenders attending the third special conference on Afghan women in Spain have called for international action to arrest Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, head of the Taliban’s Supreme Court.