Afghan Embassy in Netherlands Confirm Engagement With Taliban Government

On Tuesday, Stanikzai met Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Special Representative in Afghanistan, and said that the Taliban should "be given the right to attend international meetings, including those of the United Nations”.

Zia Ahmad Takal, the Deputy Spokesperson of the Taliban's Foreign Ministry, said that the meeting between the two sides focused on the counternarcotics efforts and ways to revive trade, and demining in Afghanistan.

At a time when humanitarian aid to Afghanistan is decreasing due to the Taliban’s radical policies, Stanikzai told the UN Special Representative in Kabul that "political differences" should not negatively affect international aid to Afghanistan.

Humanitarian aid to Afghanistan has decreased due to the Taliban’s continued ban on women's education and work. Donor countries have repeatedly requested the return of female workers to aid organisations, but the Taliban has rejected their demands.

Not long ago, the United Nations announced in a statement that following the Taliban's restrictions on female aid workers in Afghanistan, the organisation's aid budget from donor countries had been reduced by more than one billion dollars.

This year, the UN requested 4.6 billion dollars as the annual budget for aid to Afghanistan, of which donor countries agreed to 3.2 billion dollars only.

Niklasson said that these arrests weaken the trust needed for building domestic legitimacy and constructive dialogue.

He also joined the campaign for the release of Matiullah Wesa, Zholia Parsi, and Neda Parwani on social media platform X and called for their release.

Nabila Massrali, Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the EU, also called on the Taliban to cease arbitrary arrests, and release human rights activists Zholia Parsi and Neda Parwani, along with their families, and demanded the release of Matiullah Wesa, an education rights activist in Afghanistan, who has been held in Taliban custody for six months.

According to sources, the officer who is named Haidar, was subjected to physical assault by the Taliban officials after his arrest. He, along with two of his companions, had been arrested in the Khan Abad district of Kunduz province.

Sources said that Haidar was a former commander of the NDS in Askamesh district of Takhar.

The Taliban forces have published pictures on social networks showing Haidar in civilian attire with his hands tied behind him.

Taliban had announced "general amnesty" after takeover of the power in Afghanistan, but the UN agencies have repeatedly reported that the group has killed or detained dozens of former security forces member during the past two years.

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) recently reported that the Taliban has violated human rights in more than 1,600 cases in 19 months. According to the report, the Taliban have tortured prisoners using "electric shocks, asphyxiation, physical beating and severe pain" in order to obtain confessions.

The organisation criticised the indifference of the international community to the situation of these Afghan immigrants.

In a report, Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, said, “It is deeply concerning that the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is not receiving due international attention”.

On Monday, the government of Pakistan announced that it will deport 1.1 million illegal immigrants from the country.

Pakistani media reported that the decision also included "Afghans with residence cards".

According to Pakistani media outlets, the deportation plan will be implemented in three stages.

In the first stage, all illegal immigrants without documents and in the next stages, Afghan immigrants with residence cards, will be deported from the country.

Amnesty International had previously published reports that following the Taliban's takeover of power in Afghanistan, many Afghans had been forced to flee to Pakistan due to the Taliban's persecution and have been facing difficulty in registration, asylum and visa processes since the past two years.

The organisation said that the international community has failed to adequately protect those fleeing persecution in Afghanistan.

Zia Ahmad Takal, Taliban’s deputy spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said that Muttaqi travelled to China at the official invitation of Beijing.

Takal said that the countries around the Himalayas will discuss economic, regional and climate change issues in the meeting.

According to the Taliban, Muttaqi will meet his Chinese counterpart and some representatives of the participating countries on the sidelines of this meeting.

The meeting will be held on October 4 and 5 in the Tibet Region.

During the past week, it is the second trip of the Taliban’s foreign minister to the regional countries. Muttaqi had visited Kazan city of Russia last week to participate in the Moscow Format meeting.

Despite China's close relations with the Taliban, the country has not recognised the Taliban. Beijing recently introduced a new ambassador to Afghanistan and the Taliban welcomed him in a special ceremony.

Last week, at the Moscow Format meeting, Muttaqi called on the countries of the region to follow China’s model of engagement with the Taliban.

The Chinese companies have signed many contracts with the Taliban in the field of mining in Afghanistan in the last two years. Critics of the Taliban said that the group does not have national and international legitimacy and any kind of contract with them is illegal.