UNAMA Chief, Qatar's Representative To UN Discuss Stability in Afghanistan
UNAMA chief Roza Otunbayeva on Tuesday met with Qatar's United Nations envoy, Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani.
UNAMA chief Roza Otunbayeva on Tuesday met with Qatar's United Nations envoy, Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani.
During the meeting, they discussed the situation in Afghanistan and international efforts to ensure stability in Afghanistan.
The meeting took place at the UN headquarters in New York, Qatar News Agency reported on Tuesday.
"The meeting discussed the current situation in Afghanistan and international efforts to ensure stability and improve the conditions of the Afghan people," the outlet wrote.
Roza Otunbayeva is scheduled to report on the situation in Afghanistan at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday morning.
The meeting comes as the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on citizens, especially women and girls.
A new report by the UN Secretary-General shows that the people of Afghanistan, under the rule of the Taliban, face serious challenges, including a weak economy and significant violations of rights and freedoms.
The report shows that the challenges and problems of Afghans have been exacerbated by the Taliban's restrictive policies and behaviour.
Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesman for the Taliban's Foreign Ministry, announced the reopening of the Afghan embassy in Oman under the management of the group's diplomats.
The Afghan embassy in Muscat, the capital of Oman, began operating on Sunday under the supervision of the Taliban's Foreign Ministry, he said.
On Tuesday, the Taliban's deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on his X social media page that the services of the Afghan embassy in Oman have been resumed in cooperation with the host country and the management of the group's diplomats in Muscat.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Oman has not yet officially commented on the matter.
The Taliban's deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, called the reopening of the embassy and the resumption of its services a constructive step in strengthening the group's political, economic, and social relations with the Kingdom of Oman.
Earlier, the Taliban's Foreign Ministry announced on August 22 that the United Arab Emirates had accepted the credentials of the group's ambassador. According to the ministry, Badruddin Haqqani, the Taliban's former chargé d'affaires in the UAE, has been introduced as the group's ambassador to the UAE.
While no country in the world has recognized the Taliban so far, some countries in the region have accepted the group's diplomats at the chargé d'affaires level and a small number at the ambassador's level.
The Taliban's Supreme Court announced that it had publicly flogged two women and a man in Faryab province on charges of having sex and running away from home.
The court said that it had sentenced one person to 39 lashes while the other two people were sentenced to 29 and 39 lashes each.
The Taliban's Supreme Court wrote in a statement on Tuesday, that the primary courts of Shirin Tagab and Pashtunkot districts of Faryab province had punished the individuals in the presence of the group's officials and the public.
The court reports the flogging of defendants in different provinces of Afghanistan everyday.
However, human rights organisations have called on the Taliban to stop the cruel and corporal punishment of defendants in public.
The UN Secretary-General reported that anti-Taliban fronts, including the National Resistance Front (NRF) and the Afghanistan Freedom Front, have carried out 73 attacks against the Taliban.
The report states that from May 14 to July 31, 2,127 security incidents were recorded in Afghanistan, an increase of 53 percent compared to the same period last year.
The UN Secretary-General released his report to the UN Security Council for the past three months on Tuesday (September 17).
According to the report, 80 cases of armed conflict have been recorded in Afghanistan during this period, compared to 37 cases in the same period last year.
The report was published under the title "The Situation in Afghanistan and the Implications for International Peace and Security". It also reported that explosions caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) increased by six to 13 during this period compared to last year.
According to the report, despite the fact that anti-Taliban fronts such as the NRF and the Afghanistan Freedom Front have not been able to seize territory, they have carried out 73 attacks against the Taliban during this period.
The report states that the National Resistance Front was responsible for 53 attacks and the Afghanistan Freedom Front was responsible for 21 attacks. The perpetrators of the other 19 attacks remain unknown.
According to the Secretary-General's report, from May 15 to August 1, ISIS-K carried out four attacks in Bamiyan, Kandahar and Kabul, and an operation was carried out by the Taliban against ISIS in Nangarhar.
The report states that contrary to the Taliban's promise of a general amnesty, there have been reports of human rights violations against former military officials.
The United Nations has documented four cases of extrajudicial killings, nine cases of arbitrary detention, and six cases of torture and ill-treatment of former government officials and members of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces. The UN has not specified who killed or tortured them.
According to reports, the Taliban has continued to arrest and in some cases kill former government military personnel despite a general amnesty.
In the new report, it has been stated that ISIS has continued its propaganda against the Taliban and the international community over the past three months.
According to the report, ISIS "ridiculed" the Taliban's claim of providing security in May by releasing a video.
"On May 26, ISIS released a video in which it threatened all foreigners and the United Nations in Afghanistan, mocking the Taliban's claim that security in the country has been successful," the report reads in part.
The report predicts that 23.7 million people in Afghanistan will need humanitarian assistance in 2024.
The report has said that as of August 30 this year, only 24.9 percent of the $2.9 billion needed to help Afghanistan has been secured.
The report shows that during this period, Taliban officials have continued to appoint people loyal to the group at the national and local levels.
At the national level, the Taliban have appointed two ministers, seven deputy ministers, a deputy spokesperson, the governor and first deputy of the Central Bank, and 12 directors in ministries.
At the local level, the Taliban have appointed four governors, four deputy governors, two mayors, and at least 26 local administrators and 24 district chiefs loyal to the group.
According to the report, Noor Ahmad Agha, the new governor of the Central Bank, is under UN Security Council sanctions.
A Gulf-based media outlet, The National, has reported that the Taliban has jammed the only remaining free press television station covering Afghanistan potentially with Iran’s assistance.
In the last week, the group has blocked broadcasts of Afghan International TV (AITV) into the country, denying people the last outlet to uncensored information. The jamming began on September 5 in what the channel called “a blatant violation of the free flow of information and a direct assault on press freedom”.
A ground station inside Afghanistan is sending the disruptive signals back to AITV’s broadcasting satellite, violating international regulations established by the International Telecommunication Union.
As per some sources at Iran International, the London-based sister channel of the station, who spoke to the media outlet, disclosed that a month before the incident the Taliban had “acquired the equipment and expertise for orbital jamming, with the intention of using it against us”.
“We do not have information on where or how the Taliban acquired the knowledge and technology, but we know that the Iranian regime supports the Taliban, and as mentioned earlier, Iran has the necessary expertise,” the source said.
Previously Iran International itself had experienced satellite jamming during the Mahsa Amini protests from 2022 to 2023, from a ground station in Karaj near Tehran.
AITV was launched on the day the Taliban took over the country on August 15, 2021 and soon became the most watched channel for news for its extensive coverage. Since then the station has been seen as a crucial outlet for reliable, unbiased news for the Afghan people following the extremists' victory.
But in May this year the Taliban banned people from co-operating with it with the Ministry of Information saying that “participating in discussions and facilitating the broadcast of this media outlet in public places is prohibited”.
“The Taliban's jamming of our satellite signal is a desperate attempt to silence the voice of the Afghan people,” said the station’s executive editor Harun Najafizada.
He added that it was part of a “systemic campaign to suppress independent media” as the Taliban fears “a well-informed populace” while it keeps its grip on power with censorship and propaganda.
The US State Department also condemned the action stating that the country had “regressed into one of the most restrictive environments for journalists”.
During a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Kabul, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's foreign minister called on neighbouring countries and the region not to look at Afghanistan solely from a security perspective.
Muttaqi stressed that countries should work on expanding economic cooperation with the Taliban instead of focusing on security issues.
The Taliban's Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted ambassadors and representatives of foreign countries and organisations in Kabul on Monday.
Muttaqi stated at the meeting, "A bilateral or multilateral view of issues from a security perspective alone is not the solution, and such an attitude destroys common economic opportunities."
Muttaqi is referring to the concerns that the countries of the region have about militant and terrorist groups on Afghan soil. These groups are mainly a threat to Central Asian countries, China and Pakistan. The Taliban has ignored the request of these countries to expel terrorist groups from Afghan territory.
Pakistan claims that Afghan soil is being used against the country's security and stability. Pakistani officials have repeatedly called on the Taliban to stop attacks by the TTP and hand over the group's leaders to Islamabad.
The Taliban's foreign minister said that "realistic, logical and practical steps must be taken to ensure security and stability," without elaborating on these steps.
Muttaqi called on the countries of the region to work together to secure legitimate interests, put aside minor issues, and focus on expanding economic cooperation.
In part of his speech, he said that the Taliban government is working on opening embassies outside the region and providing transparent and standard consular services to the people.
He also stressed that the Taliban prioritises relations with Arab countries.
Recently, the Taliban's relations with the United Arab Emirates have expanded.