Local sources from Takhar province reported an explosion in the city of Taloqan. The explosion took place around noon on Saturday, October 5, in front of the Sayyed Abdul Wadood Shaheed School. So far, the Taliban have not commented on the matter.
According to local sources, the target of the attack was a flower-covered vehicle that belonged to the wedding ceremony of one of the Taliban commanders.
According to the information provided, three children were injured in the blast and were transferred to Takhar Central Hospital.
So far, no information has been released about the damage caused to the Taliban in the incident, and authorities are investigating the details of the explosion.
Russia's representative for Afghanistan affairs has said that the Taliban will be invited to the BRICS meeting in Kazan if the member states agree.
Zamir Kabulov said that the invitation to the BRICS summit can only be done with the agreement of all its members. The Taliban has asked Russia to be invited to the meeting.
Tass news agency reported on Friday that Zamir Kabulov told reporters after the Moscow consultative format meeting that inviting the Taliban to Kazan would depend on how BRICS members react to it.
The BRICS summit is scheduled to be held from October 22 to 24 in the Russian city of Kazan.
Two weeks ago, Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported that the Taliban had sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov asking him to attend the BRICS leaders' meeting.
The letter states that Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's deputy prime minister, is interested in attending the BRICS meeting.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko announced on Thursday, October 3, that the Taliban's request to participate in the BRICS summit has not yet been approved. Rudenko said that the BRICS countries have not yet reached a consensus for the presence of a Taliban representative in the meeting.
The main members of the BRICS group include Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The group expanded with the membership of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Ethiopia at the beginning of this year.
Zabihullah Mujahid told the Taliban-controlled National Radio and Television on Wednesday, September 26, that powerful countries in the economic arena are members of the BRICS, and that is why Taliban representatives want to participate in the upcoming meeting. He added that the move could provide more opportunities for Afghanistan.
The European Court of Justice ruled that the nationality and gender of Afghan women alone can be a sufficient reason to accept their asylum application.
The ruling was issued after reviewing the cases of two Afghan women whose asylum applications in Austria had been rejected.
The European Union's Supreme Court in Brussels, on Friday, October 4, during the review of the cases of two Afghan women whose asylum applications were rejected by the Austrian Migration Agency in 2015 and 2020, announced that "there is no need to prove persecution in the country of origin in order to accept Afghan women's asylum applications”.
The court ruled that only being a woman was enough to accept the application.
Reuters news agency reported that one of the women had resided in Iran without legal documents before entering Austria and that her father (an addict) had intended to sell her to pay for his addiction.
Also, according to the Geneva Convention, European countries do not deport asylum seekers who have been persecuted in their country of origin. Earlier, some European countries had announced that Afghan women's asylum applications would be accepted because of their gender. Courts in France and countries such as Sweden and Denmark have also announced similar policies.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that the group is cooperating with some foreign countries in the fight against ISIS-K.
"We are cooperating with some countries and sometimes we share information with them," Mujahid added.
According to AFP, a 2023 UN Security Council report stated that the Taliban has secretly asked for intelligence and logistical support to counter ISIS.
According to the report, the Taliban has presented themselves as "a counter-terrorism partner". Following the withdrawal of US-led forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban has declared security as their highest priority.
Despite the possession of military equipment left over from the United States, analysts are sceptical of the Taliban's ability to fully counter ISIS due to information technology limitations.
American analyst Aaron Zelin has emphasised that between March 2023 and March 2024, ISIS was able to plan 21 international attacks in nine countries, indicating an increase in the group's threats compared to the previous year.
In recent months, ISIS has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in Afghanistan, Russia and Iran.
General Michael Kurilla, the commander of US forces in the Middle East, has also warned that ISIS in Afghanistan could target US and other Western interests.
Speaking at the Moscow Format Conference, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's foreign minister said that ISIS has been able to establish equipment and training centres outside Afghanistan's borders, and this incident has caused concern for the Taliban.
Muttaqi called on the countries of the region not to allow ISIS to recruit their nationals and send them to Afghanistan and other countries for destructive purposes.
The Taliban official claimed that most of ISIS' attacks in Afghanistan are carried out by foreign nationals.
Taliban officials have repeatedly claimed that ISIS does not exist in Afghanistan. Yet ISIS-K continues to claim responsibility for deadly attacks in Afghanistan.
The Taliban's foreign minister headed a delegation to Moscow and participated in the sixth meeting of the Moscow Consultative Format.
Although Russia recognises the Taliban as a terrorist group, it has diplomatic relations with the group.
The Taliban's foreign minister said at the Moscow consultative format meeting that the group expects the level of diplomatic relations with Russia to increase.
Ahead of Amir Khan Muttaqi's speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the Moscow Consultative Format meeting that various terrorist groups are still present in Afghanistan and carry out attacks outside the country. At the same time, he called for assistance to Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism.
Meanwhile, the head of Russia's security agency, Alexander Bortnikov, spoke at a meeting of the heads of the security and intelligence services of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Bishkek on Friday about the terrorist threats from Afghanistan. He also said that in order to fight ISIS-K and other jihadist groups based in Afghanistan, it is better to communicate with the Taliban.
However, Muttaqi called the claims of officials of regional countries about the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan "incorrect" and asked them not to look at Afghanistan through the lens of "foreigners”.
Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's federal security services announced that the country is "completing the review" of removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups.
Bortnikov said that it would be better to reach out to the Taliban to fight ISIS-K and other jihadist groups based in Afghanistan.
This comes as Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko announced about two weeks ago that the process of removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups "will not be fast”. "The removal of the Taliban from Russia's list of terrorist groups requires changes in the country's laws," he had said.
In an interview with RIA Novosti, Russia's state-run news agency, Andrey Rudenko clarified that the process is not fast because it requires changes in the Russian law.
Zamir Kabulov, Russia's special representative for Afghanistan, announced in June 2024 that the proposal to remove the Taliban's name from the list of terrorist organisations in Russia has been communicated to Vladimir Putin for a final decision. He said that there are still issues related to the Taliban and that a decision will be made after these issues are resolved.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also told reporters during a visit to Tashkent on May 29, 2024, that establishing relations with the Taliban is another question, but we must communicate with them somehow.
Putin also mentioned consultations with regional partners, including Central Asian countries, on relations with the Taliban, saying, "We take into account the views of each of our partners and friends and will coordinate on this issue."
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Friday (October 4) that Alexander Bortnikov spoke about Afghanistan and the Taliban at a meeting of the heads of the security and intelligence services of the CIS countries in Bishkek. At the meeting, he emphasised on the cooperation between the security agencies of the participating countries.
Referring to the recent terrorist attack at Moscow's Crocus Hall, Alexander Bortnikov said that ISIS-K is a threat to Russia and the countries of the region. "It is known with certainty that the perpetrators of this terrorist attack were members of Khorasan Province and were purposefully operating among Tajik migrants in Russia via the internet while they were physically in Afghanistan," he added.