Afghanistan

Yunus Qanuni, a former Afghan vice president, said Taliban intelligence was responsible for the assassination of Ikramuddin Sari, a former Afghan security commander, in Tehran. He added that there is no doubt the group’s intelligence bodies conduct cross-border operations.

The leader of the Afghanistan Freedom Front has said the killings of former Afghan military personnel will be pursued at multiple levels and that accountability will be sought for every victim.

The Taliban’s High Commission for Migrant Affairs said Pakistan deported 2,628 Afghan migrants on Sunday, returning them to Afghanistan through the Torkham, Spin Boldak and Bahramcha border crossings.

Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front, has urged Iran to conduct a serious investigation into the assassinations of former Afghan military figures in Tehran.

A Taliban court in Paktika province has overturned the death sentence against Abdul Alim Khamosh, a teacher who had been detained on charges of “insulting the Prophet of Islam,” local sources told Afghanistan International on Sunday.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US special representative for Afghanistan, has arrived in Kabul and met with the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi.

Iran’s ambassador to Kabul has proposed Iranian investment in Afghanistan’s iron ore and oil resources during talks with Taliban officials. He described the country’s mineral wealth as an opportunity to expand bilateral cooperation.

The Taliban Supreme Court said a primary court in Darqad district of Takhar province flogged a man and a woman on charges described as “running away from home and illicit relations.”

Eyewitnesses told Afghanistan International that Mawlawi Noman, an aide to Taliban intelligence chief, was killed in a targeted drone or rocket attack in Kabul.

The Afghanistan Journalists Center said that media freedom and journalists’ rights in Afghanistan are “severely constrained and repressive,” citing widespread censorship and intimidation under Taliban rule.

Hossein Khosh-Eghbal, the governor of Tehran, said authorities are investigating the assassination of Ikramuddin Sari, a former Afghan commander and outspoken opponent of the Taliban.

A large number of Afghan migrants attended the funeral of Ikramuddin Sari, a former Afghan police commander and prominent opponent of the Taliban, in Tehran on Saturday.

Pakistan’s foreign minister has, for the first time, confirmed that talks between Islamabad and the Taliban were held in Saudi Arabia. He said that the negotiations failed to produce results, as did earlier rounds in Qatar and Turkiye.

The Taliban’s foreign minister has said that “malicious elements” are seeking to disrupt relations between the Taliban and Tajikistan, following the killing of Tajik border guards in an attack by militants who crossed from Afghan territory.

Sources told Afghanistan International that several employees of the Taliban police command in Nuristan resigned on Friday, December 26, citing allegations of corruption, discrimination and ethnic bias.

Al Jazeera reports that rising insecurity along the Tajikistan–Afghanistan border is increasingly threatening China’s interests and heightening Beijing’s concerns about stability in Central Asia.

The Tehran-based daily Jomhouri-e Eslami has sharply criticised Iran’s approach toward the Taliban, saying flawed policies have allowed terrorism to reach Tehran.

The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), led by Ahmad Massoud, said three Taliban fighters were killed during clashes in Baghlan province.