Sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban has detained editors of Gharghast TV, Nan FM, Chinar and Wolas Ghag Radio in Khost province. These editors have been detained after they had been called for a meeting at the provincial directorate of Virtue and Vice.
It is not clear why these editors have been detained by the Taliban since Monday.
Shabir Ahmad Osmani, the director of information and culture of the Taliban in Khost province, did not confirm or deny the arrest of these journalists to Afghanistan International.
In more than 20 months since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the group has repeatedly arrested journalists and senior media workers across the country.
China, Pakistan and Taliban foreign ministers announced their resolve to jointly extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan. The three foreign ministers expressed their commitment to further the trilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
In a joint statement after the 5th China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue in Islamabad, on Monday, the three sides stressed on the need to not allow any individual, group or party, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) to use their territories to harm and threaten regional security and interests, or conduct terrorist actions and activities.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met in Islamabad May 6.
The joint statement of the three sides has not elaborated on how the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be extended to Afghanistan.
The 65-billion-dollar CPEC project includes the construction of a network of waterways, roads, and railways, which aims to create a safe corridor for the transport of energy resources from the Middle East to China through Pakistan.
The joint statement of the foreign ministers of the three countries stressed that the importance of existing projects including CASA-1000, TAPI, and Trans-Afghan Railways would enhance regional connectivity as well as ensure economic uplift and prosperity for the people of this region.
The joint statement called the Taliban as interim Afghan government and said that the Taliban has given repeated assurances to respect and protect women’s rights and interests.
The foreign ministers of Pakistan, China, and the Taliban asked the international community to "engage" with the Taliban administration to develop governance capacities in Afghanistan.
Over the past 18 months, even Pakistan, which has been accused of supporting the Taliban has not recognised the Taliban in Afghanistan.
International rights groups have reported that the Taliban has widely violated the rights of Afghan women and girls and removed them from social life.
The National Resistance Front (NRF) confirmed that at least four of its fighters have been killed after a ten-hour long battle with the Taliban in Khost district of Baghlan Province. According to the NRF, the body of the commander of the group has not been found yet.
NRF in a statement said on Monday, "The skirmish started when the Taliban forces conducted house-to-house search operations in Jangalak village and harassed people."
The National Resistance Front claimed that during the gun fight that "lasted until midnight, eight Taliban members had been killed and 15 others had been wounded”.
NRF claimed that "the son of Mullah Sayed Mohammad, the deputy intelligence officer of the Taliban in Khost district was killed in this battle and Arif, the intelligence officer of this group in Khost, was wounded”.
However, the Taliban has not reacted to the reports of the skirmish in Baghlan.
Meanwhile, local sources from Khost district of Baghlan province confirmed to Afghanistan International that after commander Ruhollah Nazari refused to surrender to the Taliban, the Taliban drilled a hole into the roof of his house and threw a barrel bomb inside his house.
In a video clip received by Afghanistan International, one can see that a house in Khost district is on fire and a column of smoke can be seen rising from the top of the house.
The National Resistance Front also confirmed that the Taliban used heavy weapons and barrel bombs in the battle.
According to the NRF statement, seven residential houses of the people have been gutted in this attack.
A source close to Commander Ruhollah's family confirmed that the commander has been killed in the battle with the Taliban and Commander Ruhollah's mother was also injured in this explosion.
A local source from Khost district said that two civilians also died in the skirmish.
Ruhollah Nazari was one of the former commanders of the Afghan national army and had served in different provinces such as Kunduz and Ghazni.
The Taliban’s Public Health Minister Qalandar Ebad said that 50 percent of Afghanistan's population in remote areas lack access to health services. At the meeting of five regional countries in Tehran, Ebad asked for support to address the health needs in Afghanistan.
According to Fars News Agency, Ebad stressed that the Taliban needs technical assistance and support of G5 member states including Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iraq and the United Nations for the healthcare system of Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s Public Health Minister said that the group tries to provide health services to Afghans and said that the challenges Afghanistan faces is broad.
The lack of healthcare facilities and services is one of the main challenges of the Afghan people, especially women and children.
Currently, Afghanistan has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. In addition to that, the Taliban has imposed severe restrictions on women which has banned Afghan women from receiving health services and access to female health workers.
The Taliban’s ministry of promotion of virtue and prevention of vice has ordered women not to show up for work without a male guardian.
Based on the orders attributed to the Taliban leader from Kandahar, women are prohibited from working in domestic and international organisations.
However, according to Fars New Agency, the Taliban's health minister has denied any ban on work of female health workers in Afghanistan.
Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iranian envoy in Kabul, said that he has discussed Afghan issues with United Nations officials in Tehran. Qomi added that the two sides spoke about a roadmap for the cooperation of Iran with international organisations to support the people of Afghanistan.
The meeting was attended by the heads of UN agencies and the deputy coordinator of the organisation in Tehran.
He emphasised on the need to support the Iranian government since the country has been hosting a significant number of Afghan refugees.
Iran has announced that about six million Afghans live in the country and has repeatedly requested financial assistance from the United Nations to support Afghan refugees.
Earlier, on the sidelines of the Doha meeting, Qomi also met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and discussed the situation of Afghan refugees living in Iran.
Despite Iran’s repeated requests for international aid for Afghan refugees, the government of Iran has denied basic rights for Afghans across the country.
The Iranian newspaper, Shargh Daily, reported on Sunday that Iran has stopped issuing of bank credit cards to Afghan refugees and Afghans in general can’t even buy bread from the bakeries since they don’t accept cash.
The daily also added that Afghan refugees face the same restriction to use some other public services in Iran.
In a new report highlighting death penalty and corporal punishment under the Taliban regime, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that in the past six months, Taliban publicly executed one person, flogged 274 men, 58 women, and two boys.
UNAMA has urged the Taliban to immediately end death penalty in Afghanistan.
Fiona Frazer, chief human rights officer of UNAMA in Afghanistan said that corporal punishment is a violation of the Convention against Torture and must cease.
According to Frazer, the UN is strongly opposed to the death penalty and encourages the “Taliban to establish an immediate moratorium on executions”.
According to the new UNAMA report published on Monday between August 15, 2021, to November 12, 2022, the UN agencies have documented at least 18 cases of corporal punishment carried out by the provincial, district, and appeal courts.
The report indicated that Ghor province had the highest number of judicially documented corporal punishments in this period.
According to the UNAMA report, in 18 documented cases, 33 men and 22 women, including two children (both girls), have been punished for adultery, sex, and running away from home.
The report stated that since the Taliban returned to power on August 15, 2021, the group has considered corporal punishment and the death penalty as indispensable for their reign in Afghanistan.
On September 23, 2021, Mullah Nuruddin Torabi, the head of the Taliban Prisons Administration, told the Associated Press that "cutting off of hands is very necessary for security” as it has a deterrent effect.
The report added that after the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid's tweet on November 13 about the Taliban leader's meeting with the judges, "a significant increase in the number corporal punishments has been observed”.
According to this report, between November 13, 2022, and April 30, 2023, 43 cases of judicial corporal punishment have been documented by UNAMA, which involved 58 women, 274 men, and two male children.
UNAMA said that the crimes of these people have been stated as adultery, running away from home, theft, homosexuality, alcohol consumption, fraud, and drug trafficking.
The UNAMA report also stated that a man was sentenced to death for killing a person in 2017 and he was executed in public view and in the presence of senior Taliban leaders on December 7, 2022.
UNAMA also recorded another case of execution which was carried out on the order of non-judicial agents of the Taliban. According to the UNAMA report, on February 14, a man and a woman were stoned to death in Nasi district of Badakhshan Province on charges of adultery, based on the order of the district governor.
This report added that in March 2022, the Taliban planned to execute four people on the charge of killing a vaccination group of eight people, however, the order was not implemented.