Page 8 - Taliban

Pakistan holds 'good' meeting with Afghan Taliban amid strained ties

Pakistani diplomats held a "good" meeting with the representatives of Afghanistan's Taliban-led interim government in Qatar this week during which they discussed bilateral and regional issues, in what was seen as an effort to ease tension and mend strained ties between the two neighbours. The Afghan Taliban delegation, which was in Qatar's capital of Doha to attend a UN-sponsored meeting on Afghanistan this week, was hosted over a dinner by the Pakistani mission in Qatar on the sidelines of the conference, the Dawn newspaper reported Tuesday. Zabihullah Mujahid, chief Taliban government spokesman who headed the delegation to Doha, described his meeting with Pakistani diplomats as "good" and expressed the hope for developing "positive relations with Pakistan, the paper said. "We had a good meeting with the special representative of Pakistan, Asif Durrani, and the ambassador and consuls of the country in Qatar, Mujahid wrote on X on Tuesday. I am grateful for their hospitality and hop

UN meeting with Afghan Taliban not recognition of their govt, says official

A United Nations-led meeting held in Qatar with the Taliban on increasing engagement with Afghanistan does not translate into a recognition of their government, a UN official said on Monday. The gathering on Sunday and Monday in Qatar's capital of Doha with envoys from some two dozen countries was the first time that representatives of the Afghan Taliban administration attended such a UN-sponsored meeting. The Taliban were not invited to the first meeting, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said they set unacceptable conditions for attending the second one, in February, including demands that Afghan civil society members be excluded from the talks and that the Taliban be treated as the country's legitimate rulers. Ahead of Doha, representatives of Afghan women were excluded from attending, paving the way for the Taliban to send their envoys though the organisers insisted that demands for women's rights would be raised. I would like to emphasise that this meeting and this ..

Taliban attends UN meeting for the first time in Doha, What happened at the meet?

The UN recently held talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar. This was the first time that Taliban authorities attended a UN-sponsored meeting.

Women's rights will be raised at UN meeting with Taliban, says official

The UN political chief who will chair the first meeting between Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and envoys from about 25 countries answered sharp criticism that Afghan women have been excluded, saying Wednesday that women's rights will be raised at every session. Undersecretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo stressed to a small group of reporters that the two-day meeting starting Sunday is an initial engagement aimed at initiating a step-by-step process with the goal of seeing the Taliban at peace with itself and its neighbours and adhering to international law, the UN Charter, and human rights. This is the third UN meeting with Afghan envoys in Qatar's capital, Doha, but the first that the Taliban are attending. They weren't invited to the first and refused to attend the second. Other attendees include envoys from the European Union, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the United States, Russia, China and several of Afghanistan's neighbours, DiCarlo said. The Taliban seized power in .

Taliban's delegation to attend UN-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan

The Taliban on Tuesday confirmed their delegation will attend an upcoming UN-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan after the organisers said last week that women would be excluded from the gathering. The meeting on June 30 and July 1 is the third UN-sponsored gathering on the Afghan crisis in the Qatari capital of Doha. The Taliban were not invited to the first and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said they set unacceptable conditions for attending the second meeting, in February, including demands that Afghan civil society members be excluded from the talks and that they be treated as the country's legitimate rulers. On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry in Kabul said the chief Taliban government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, will lead the Taliban delegation at the two-day meeting, starting Sunday. The ministry said the strategy for the Doha gathering was discussed at a meeting chaired by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi that touched on several topics, including international

Pakistani Taliban announces 3-day cease-fire on Eid al-Adha holiday

A key Pakistani militant group behind scores of gun and bomb attacks on Sunday announced a rare cease-fire with security forces during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Eid al-Adha will be celebrated in Pakistan on Monday amid a surge in violence. The cease-fire announcement would allow worshippers to attend Eid prayers at mosques and open areas without fear of attacks by militants. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is a separate group from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, said in a statement it decided to announce a cease-fire on the demand from the Pakistani people. TTP said its fighters would defend themselves if acted by security forces. TTP has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021, when the US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years. This is the second time that TTP has announced a cease-fire, after 2021. That cease-fire ended in 2022. Since then, the Pakistan

Amnesty Int'l urges Taliban to reopen secondary schools for Afghan girls

A month after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the group reopened schools that were shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Taliban publicly flogs 63 including women accused of crimes; UN condemns it

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on Wednesday condemned the public flogging of more than 60 people, including more than a dozen women, by the Taliban in northern Sari Pul province. At least 63 people were lashed on Tuesday by Afghanistan's de facto authorities, UNAMA said in a statement on social platform X. The U.N. office condemned corporal punishment and called for respect for international human rights obligations. Taliban's supreme court in a statement confirmed the public flogging of 63 people including 14 women who had been accused of crimes including sodomy, theft and immoral relations. They were flogged at a sports stadium. The Taliban, despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, began carrying out severe punishments in public executions, floggings and stonings shortly after coming to power again in 2021. The punishments are similar to those during the Taliban's previous rule in the late 1990s. Separate statements by the supreme court said a man

Emirati leader meets Taliban official facing $10 mn US bounty for attacks

The leader of the United Arab Emirates met on Tuesday with an official in the Taliban government still wanted by the United States on an up-to USD 10 million bounty over his involvement in an attack that killed an American citizen and other assaults. The meeting highlights the growing divide internationally on how to deal with the Taliban, who seized control of Afghanistan in 2021 and since have barred girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade and otherwise restricted women's role in public life. While the West still doesn't recognise the Taliban as Kabul's government, nations in the Mideast and elsewhere have reached out to them. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, met Sirajuddin Haqqani at the Qasr Al Shati palace in the Emirati capital, the state-run WAM news agency reported. It published an image of Sheikh Mohammed shaking hands with Haqqani, the Taliban's interior minister who also heads the Haqqani network, a powerful network within the group .

16 people killed in floods in Afghanistan's Baghlan, Badakhshan provinces

According to local officials in these provinces, 500 houses have been completely or partially destroyed in the floods

Restrictions on Afghan girls will increase child marriages by 25%: UN

According to the two-page brief, the continuation of restrictions by Taliban on women and girls will impact child marriages by an increase of 25 per cent, increase early childbearing by 45 per cent

Flash floods due to heavy rains kill 68 people in western Afghanistan

Flash floods from heavy seasonal rains in the province of Ghor in western Afghanistan have killed at least 50 people, a Taliban official said on Saturday, adding the death toll was based on preliminary reports and might rise. Dozens others remain missing, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for Ghor's provincial governor. He also said the province suffered significant financial losses after thousands of homes and properties were damaged and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land destroyed following Friday's floods, including the capital city Feroz Koh. Last week, the UN food agency said the unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of houses, mostly in the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of floods on May 10th. Survivors have been left with no home, no land, and no source of livelihood, the World Food Organisation said. Most of Baghlan is inaccessible by trucks, said WFP, adding that it is resorting to

Timeline: 21-year-long effort by India to set up port in Chabahar

Monday's agreement is expected to finally realise efforts by India to gain a strategic foothold in the region

Pak, US discuss regional security threat posed by IS group, local Taliban

Pakistani and US officials have held their latest talks in Washington on how to expand cooperation in tackling the threat posed to regional security by an affiliate of the Islamic State group and the Pakistani Taliban, Pakistan's foreign ministry said Monday. A joint statement said Pakistani diplomat Haider Shah and the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, Ambassador Elizabeth Richard, chaired the weekend talks. The talks occurred amid a surge in militants attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and an Afghan branch of the Islamic State group. The TTP is an ally of the Afghan Taliban that seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan's military recently said a suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in March was planned in Afghanistan and that the bomber was an Afghan citizen. Kabul has denied the charge.

'Attack controlled from Afghanistan': Pak on death of 5 Chinese engineers

An attack on a convoy in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 26 led to the death of five Chinese engineers

Over 23 million Afghans in dire need of humanitarian aid in 2024: UNAMA

Despite a decline in violence, Afghanistan continues to grapple with significant humanitarian challenges, as emphasised by UNAMA

iPhones to currency exchange: Some biz making money out of Taliban rule

Phones, Islamic books and currency exchange. Some businesses are making money out of Taliban rule

Gunman kills 6 inside Shiite mosque in western Afghanistan, says Taliban

A gunman stormed a mosque in western Afghanistan, opening fire and killing six people as they were praying, a Taliban official said Tuesday. Local media reports and a former president of Afghanistan said the mosque was targeted because it was a place of worship for members of the country's Shiite Muslim minority. According to Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the Taliban Interior Ministry, the attack happened on Monday night in the district of Guzara in Herat province. He said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that an investigation was underway. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded another worshipper, and the attacker fled the scene. Local media reported that the mosque's imam was among those killed. I strongly condemn the attack on the Imam Zaman Mosque, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on X. I consider this terrorist act against all religious and human standards. The Islamic State group's affiliate in ...

Taliban working to attract tourists to Afghanistan despite challenges

Around 30 men are crammed into a Kabul classroom, part of the debut student cohort at a Taliban-run institute training tourism and hospitality professionals. It's a motley crew. One student is a model. Another is 17 and has no job history. The students vary in age, education level and professional experience. They're all men Afghan women are banned from studying beyond sixth grade and they don't know anything about tourism or hospitality. But they are all eager to promote a different side of Afghanistan. And the Taliban are happy to help. Afghanistan's rulers are pariahs on the global stage, largely because of their restrictions on women and girls. The economy is struggling, infrastructure is poor, and poverty is rife. And yet, foreigners are visiting the country, encouraged by the sharp drop in violence, increased flight connections with hubs like Dubai, and the bragging rights that come with vacationing in an unusual destination. The numbers aren't huge they never were but ..

Process underway to 'appoint' special representative for Afghanistan: UN

The Taliban regime opposes the appointment of a new special representative for Afghanistan and believes that with the presence of UNAMA, this is an unnecessary move, reported Khaama Press