The Kandahar Department of Culture and Information announced on its social media network X handle that the Taliban's appeals court punished five defendants at the city's Ahmad Shahi Stadium on Wednesday, October 9.
The Taliban has already implemented religious rulings in Ghazni, Laghman, Farah and Jawzjan stadiums.
After the implementing the rulings in the stadiums of several other provinces by the Taliban, the Kandahar Stadium, which was renovated with the support of FIFA and sports institutions and made available to Kandahar athletes, witnessed the punishment of the individuals on Wednesday.
The Kandahar Department of Culture and Information announced this news while officials of the Physical Education Department and the Afghan Football Federation, which are in charge of Kandahar Stadium, have not yet commented on the matter.
The Taliban's implementation of Sharia rulings in the presence of a large number of spectators in Afghanistan's stadiums has also drawn criticism from international sports organisations.
According to the international laws of sport and the statutes of the World Football Federation (FIFA), the implementation of such programmes in football stadiums will result in the suspension of the football federations of the countries.
The US State Department spokesperson has said that the US position on the Taliban has not changed and that Washington continues to recognise the group as a "global terrorist organisation".
Matthew Miller said that normalisation of relations with the Taliban is contingent on fundamental changes in the Taliban's behaviour towards human rights.
During a press conference on Tuesday (October 8), in response to a question about Russia's actions to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups, the US State Department spokesperson said that the US decision has not changed.
Recently, Russia announced that it was "completing the review" of removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups.
"We have not changed our designation of the Taliban, which is designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organisation, and we continue to be clear that any significant step toward normalisation is contingent on a profound change in the Taliban's human rights behaviour," Miller said.
He added that the international community is unanimous about changing the Taliban's human rights behaviour.
Miller said at the meeting that the United States, in cooperation with its partners, is urging the Taliban to repeal discriminatory sentences.
Stressing on the need for girls to return to school and lifting restrictions against women in Afghanistan, he added, "Human rights, especially the rights of women and girls, who continue to be repressed by the Taliban, are a priority in our interactions with the Taliban."
"Washington Alert About Terrorist Threat Against United States From Afghan Soil"
Twenty-three years ago, the United States began its military operations in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. After 20 years, the United States withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban returned to power, and the United Nations has reported that al-Qaeda is regrouping and has reactivated in Afghanistan.
In response to a question about the extent to which the United States has achieved its goals in Afghanistan, the US State Department spokesperson said that Washington is alert about any terrorist threat against the United States from Afghan soil.
"Our top priority with Afghanistan is to ensure that it never again becomes a base for terrorist attacks against the United States," the State Department spokesperson said.
Regarding the change in the position of the US special envoy for Afghanistan affairs, he stressed that there has been no change in US policies and that all the duties of Tom West will continue by other officials and the United States will continue on its path with the same priorities.
Sources close to Mullah Hibatullah, the Taliban leader, claim that many Sunni extremist jihadist groups, from South Asia to North Africa, have pledged allegiance to the group’s leader.
According to them, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and the Pakistani Taliban are groups that have pledged allegiance to the Taliban.
Al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, was the first jihadist group to pledge allegiance to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founder of the Taliban, in 1995, during the first Taliban government. This pledge of allegiance has been renewed several times.
In the second case, al-Qaeda, led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, pledged allegiance to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, and after the death of the former Taliban leader, it also renewed its allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the current leader of the group.
Sources within the Taliban told Afghanistan International that after the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul, Saif al-Adel, the current leader of al-Qaeda, has once again reiterated his network's allegiance to Mullah Haibatullah.
Armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda in Africa and Yemen have also pledged allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah. These include al-Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Jemaah Islamiyah Maghreb in northwest Africa, Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, which operate under the umbrella of al-Qaeda. Some of these groups have independently pledged allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah.
Pakistani armed jihadist groups
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was the first and only jihadi group in Pakistan to pledge allegiance to the Afghan Taliban leader since its establishment under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud. This pledge of allegiance has been renewed several times, and in the most recent case, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, the current leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), renewed his allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.
On August 19, 2021, Mufti Noor Wali congratulated the Taliban's victory in a video message and once again pledged allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
In Pakistan, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba had also reportedly pledged allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah.
However, according to new information, in recent months, some Pakistani armed jihadist groups, such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which have close ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency, have joined ISIS-K and ended their allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah.
Armed groups of Central Asian countries
During the Taliban's first rule, armed fighters from Central Asia and Chinese Uyghurs were present in the ranks of the group. At the time, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the East Turkestan Movement were among the groups that pledged allegiance to the Taliban leader, but the allegiance ended in 2014.
In 2014, after the Pakistani army launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan, Uyghur fighters and members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan were relocated to Zabul Province in Afghanistan.
Because of the Taliban's close ties with China, the Taliban, led by Mullah Mansour, sent a military unit under the command of Pir Agha to Zabul, which killed defected Uyghur fighters and their families.
After this incident, the East Turkestan Movement distanced itself from the Taliban and no longer trusts the Taliban as before. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan also distanced itself from the Taliban after the Zabul operation in 2014 and currently has no allegiance to the Taliban.
Now, many Central Asian jihadi fighters have joined ISIS-K and are working against the Taliban.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for the "immediate and unconditional" release of Mahdi Ansary, a reporter for the Afghan News Agency, and Hekmat Aryan, the director of the independent Khoshhal radio station, from Taliban custody.
Zabihullah Mujahid told the committee that these journalists had been working with “banned [media] networks” and had engaged in “illegal activities”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement on Tuesday, that the two journalists were arrested by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence agents in Ghazni and Kabul and transferred to an unknown location.
“Taliban intelligence must release journalists Mahdi Ansary and Hekmat Aryan immediately and unconditionally,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Afghan journalists face unprecedented pressure from the Taliban, who continue to get away with their ruthless crackdown without being held to account. The Taliban must end these crimes against journalists once for all.”
The international organisation supporting journalists quoted Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban government, as saying that the two journalists had cooperated with "banned (media) networks”.
The Taliban government considers a number of media outlets operating abroad to be "banned”.
Mujahid did not specify which media outlet these journalists collaborated with.
According to a statement issued by the US agency, the Taliban's intelligence forces arrested Ansary, a reporter for the Afghan News Agency, on the evening of October 5 this year when he was on his way back home in western Kabul and then, was transferred to an unknown location.
The CPJ's statement also said that the reason for his arrest is unclear, but he has always reported on the killing of Hazaras during the Taliban's rule.
The committee said that on September 29 this year, the director of the independent Khoshhal radio station, was detained by dozens of Taliban intelligence agents from his office in Ghazni city and transferred to an undisclosed location.
According to reports, Aryan’s detention is linked to an alleged discussion on Khoshhal radio about the Taliban’s past suicide operations.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said that it could provide emergency food assistance to only one million of the 12 million hungry people in Afghanistan due to a lack of funds.
The organisation said that it needs $617 million to sustain all of its food programmes by the end of 2024.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement on Tuesday (October 8) that 1.4 million mothers and children in Afghanistan are unable to access nutritious food aid due to the financial crisis.
The organisation said that the financial crisis has jeopardised the organisation's food aid process, which began with the Taliban's takeover in 2021.
WFP has noted that climate change and the climate crisis in many parts of Afghanistan have destroyed the livelihoods of some of the most vulnerable people. The organisation says that heavy rains and recent floods in some villages of Afghanistan have seriously damaged the livelihood of the people.
However, thousands of Afghan refugee families have been forcibly deported from Pakistan and returned to Afghanistan without any facilities, as there is not enough time to earn a living and feed their children in the country.
Earlier, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced that nearly four million people in Afghanistan have received cash from the organisation this year. Half of the recipients of cash assistance are women, the organisation said.
The World Health Organisation announced last week that at least 12 million Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from.
According to the organisation, four million infants and pregnant mothers in Afghanistan are currently malnourished.
Radio Pakistan reported that a number of Afghans have participated in the PTI party's protests against the government after they received a promise of "receiving money".
The state-run radio said that Afghans arrested during the protests damaged public property.
During the protests, Pakistani police arrested 412 people, including 60 Afghans.
The PTI has not yet commented on the matter.
According to a report by Radio Pakistan, a number of these detainees have now revealed that they have been deceived by the PTI party.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has been embroiled in intense political tensions with the Pakistani government for the past three years.