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Tag: Taliban

  • Taliban warn Afghans who wore ‘un-Islamic’ Peaky Blinders outfits

    Taliban warn Afghans who wore ‘un-Islamic’ Peaky Blinders outfits

    Four Afghan men were ordered to report to the Taliban government’s ministry of vice and virtue for dressing in costumes inspired by the TV series Peaky Blinders.

    The friends were told that their clothing was “in conflict with Afghan and Islamic values”, a Taliban spokesman told the BBC, adding the values in Peaky Blinders went against Afghan culture.

    In videos posted online, the men, who have been released, can be seen posing in flat caps and three-piece suits similar to those worn in the series set in England soon after World War One.

    Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban government has imposed restrictions on daily life in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

    “Even jeans would have been acceptable, but the values in the Peaky Blinders series are against Afghan culture,” Saiful Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the Taliban government’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue told the BBC.

    The men, all in their early twenties, were ordered to report to the government in Jibrail, Khyber told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

    “They were promoting foreign culture and imitating film actors in Herat”, Khyber wrote on social media, adding that they had undergone a “rehabilitation program”.

    The were not formally arrested, “only summoned and advised and released”, Khyber told CBS News.

    “We have our own religious and cultural values, and especially for clothing we have specific traditional styles,” Khyber said.

    “The clothing they wore has no Afghan identity at all and does not match our culture. Secondly, their actions were an imitation of actors from a British movie. Our society is Muslim; if we are to follow or imitate someone, we should follow our righteous religious predecessors in good and lawful matters.”

    The men could be seen thanking officials for their advice in a video released by the ministry after they were questioned – though it is unclear under what circumstances the interview was recorded.

    “I have innocently been sharing content that was against Sharia which had many viewers,” one said in the recording.

    He said he had been “summoned and advised”, and would no longer do “anything like this”.

    In an interview with YouTube channel Herat-Mic uploaded at the end of November, before they were summoned, the friends said they admired the fashion displayed in the series, adding that they had received positive reactions from locals.

    “At first we were hesitant, but once we went outside, people liked our style, stopped us in the streets, and wanted to take photos with us,” one of the men said, according to a translation by CBS News.

  • ‘Stalemate’: is prolonged Pakistan-Taliban hostility new border reality?

    ‘Stalemate’: is prolonged Pakistan-Taliban hostility new border reality?

    By Tom Hussain

    Pakistan has vowed to respond to future terrorist attacks launched from Afghanistan with overwhelming military force after deadly cross-border clashes over the weekend, with the conflict setting the stage for prolonged hostilities between Islamabad and the Taliban regime.

    Analysts say the fighting, sparked by retaliatory Pakistani air strikes against insurgents in Kabul and the eastern Afghan province of Paktika on Thursday, is unlikely to break into an all-out war, but a diplomatic solution remains elusive.

    Pakistan’s political and military leadership has made clear its intention to avenge future high-casualty cross-border attacks by targeting the commanders and camps of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and ethnic Baloch separatists in Afghanistan.

    In a statement issued on Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said there would be “no compromise on Pakistan’s defence”.
    “Every act of aggression will be met with a strong and effective response,” he added.

    Similarly, Afghanistan’s Taliban regime has vowed to respond militarily to Pakistani violations of its airspace, as it did on Saturday by opening fire on Pakistani forces guarding the border against TTP incursions.

    Source :SCMP

  • ‘Not even an inch’: Taliban rejects Trump’s demand for return of Bagram air base

    ‘Not even an inch’: Taliban rejects Trump’s demand for return of Bagram air base

    Taliban has rejected President Donald Trump’s demand to return Bagram air base in Afghanistan to US control, saying that a deal was “not possible”. Taliban also warned that any hostility will trigger the “strongest” response.

    “Afghanistan is fully independent, governed by its own people, and not dependent on any foreign power,” Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Fasihuddin Fitrat said Sunday at an event in Kabul, according to Bloomberg. “We do not fear any bully or aggressor.”

    “Recently, some people have said that they have entered negotiations with Afghanistan for taking back Bagram Air base,” he added. “A deal over even an inch of Afghanistan’s soil is not possible. We don’t need it.”

    Trump earlier threatened Afghanistan of “bad things” if it refused to return the air base that served as the largest military base for the US in Afghanistan before Taliban took control in July 2021.

    “If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, bad things are going to happen,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

    Trump has used the Bagram air base issue to criticise his predecessor, saying that the move left American weaponry and other military assets in the hands of the Taliban. The airbase is located some 64km (40 miles) from the Afghan capital, Kabul.

    What is Bagram Air Base?

    Bagram Air Base was the central hub of US military operations in Afghanistan after it overtook the Taliban regime post 9/11 attacks in the US. US and NATO troops withdrew from the Bagram airbase after a in July 2021 as part of a Trump-era agreement that came into effect during the Biden administration.

    During the years of US control in Afghanistan and its “war on terror” thousands were imprisoned at the site for years without charge or trial by US forces.

    It has runways longer than many international airports and has hardened shelters, hospitals, and fuel depots, according to an Economic Times report.

    According to Reuters, the base also housed fast-food restaurants like Burger King and Pizza Hut to cater to the US troops, along with shops selling everything from electronics to Afghan rugs. Bagram also had a massive prison complex.

    Why is Bagram Air Base important for the US?

    Its strategic position at the crossroads of Iran, Pakistan, China’s Xinjiang province and Central Asia, could appeal to Trump in terms of reinstating US influence in the region. This also implies surveillance and signal intelligence over a vast stretch of Eurasia, from Russian military activity to Chinese projects, according to the Economic Times.

    During a recent visit to the United Kingdom, Trump said that the US was working to revive control of the strategic base.

    “We’re trying to get it back, by the way, that could be a little breaking news. We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,” Trump said at a news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

  • Elderly British couple to fly home after release by Taliban

    Elderly British couple to fly home after release by Taliban

    DOHA: An elderly British couple released after almost eight months in detention in Afghanistan are expected to fly back to the UK on Saturday.

    Taliban authorities arrested Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, in February as they were returning to their home in Bamiyan province, central Afghanistan.

    Following concerns for their health, the pair were freed on Friday and flown to the Qatari capital Doha.

    They are expected to leave for London on a commercial flight on Saturday after completing medical checks.

    The Reynoldses married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan, running educational programmes for women and children. They also became Afghan citizens.

    When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, they remained in Afghanistan against the advice of the British embassy.

    The Taliban have not explained why the pair were detained, and Qatar brokered the negotiations for their release.

    Speaking on the tarmac at Kabul airport on Friday, Barbie Reynolds said the couple had been treated well and were “looking forward to seeing our children”.

    “We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens,” she added.

    They were embraced by family members on arriving in Doha, with their daughter Sarah Entwistle telling AFPTV she was “overwhelmed with gratitude and relief”.

    The couple were first held in a maximum security facility, “then in underground cells, without daylight, before being transferred” to the intelligence services in Kabul, UN experts have said.

    In July, independent UN human rights experts called on the Taliban government to free them, warning that they risked “irreparable harm or even death” as their health deteriorated.

    The couple’s family had made repeated pleas for their release, citing their failing health.

    Taliban foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said on Friday that the couple “had violated the laws of Afghanistan” and were released from custody “following the judicial process”.

    The Reynolds’ four children hailed their parents’ release but said they face a “long” recovery.

    Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the “long-awaited news will come as a huge relief” to the family.

    The British government advises citizens against travelling to Afghanistan, warning that its ability to offer consular assistance is “extremely limited”.

    Russia is the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban government, which has imposed a strict version of Islamic law and been accused of sweeping human rights violations.

    Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 following the NATO pullout.

  • UN says Taliban committing ‘rights violations’ against Afghan returnees

    UN says Taliban committing ‘rights violations’ against Afghan returnees

    KABUL: A United Nations report published Thursday said Taliban authorities were committing human rights violations, including torture and arbitrary detention, against Afghans forced to return by Iran and Pakistan.

    “People returning to the country who were at particular risk of reprisals and other human rights violations by the de facto (Taliban) authorities were women and girls, individuals affiliated with the former government and its security forces, media workers and civil society,” the UN said in a statement accompanying the release of the report.

    “These violations have included torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and threats to personal security.”

  • Russia recognises the Taliban: Which other countries may follow?

    Russia recognises the Taliban: Which other countries may follow?

    By Sarah Shamim

    Russia has become the first country to accept the Taliban government in Afghanistan since the group took power in 2021, building on years of quieter engagement and marking a dramatic about-turn from the deep hostilities that marked their ties during the group’s first stint in power.

    Since the Taliban stormed Kabul in August four years ago, taking over from the government of then-President Ashraf Ghani, several nations – including some that have historically viewed the group as enemies – have reached out to them. Yet until Thursday, no one has formally recognised the Taliban.

    So what exactly did Russia do, and will Moscow’s move pave the way for others to also start full-fledged diplomatic relations with the Taliban?

    What did Russia say?

    The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement saying that Moscow’s recognition of the Taliban government will pave the way for bilateral cooperation with Afghanistan.

    “We believe that the act of official recognition of the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will give impetus to the development of productive bilateral cooperation between our countries in various fields,” the statement said.

    The Foreign Ministry said it would seek cooperation in energy, transport, agriculture and infrastructure.

    How did the Taliban respond?

    Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in an X post on Thursday that Russian ambassador to Kabul Dmitry Zhirnov met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and conveyed the Kremlin’s decision to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

    Muttaqi said in a video posted on X: “We value this courageous step taken by Russia, and, God willing, it will serve as an example for others as well.”

    What is the history between Russia and Afghanistan?

    In 1979, troops from the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to establish a communist government. This triggered a 10-year war with the Afghan mujahideen fighters backed by US forces. About 15,000 Soviet soldiers died in this war.

    In 1992, after rockets launched by rebel groups hit the Russian embassy in Kabul, Moscow closed its diplomatic mission to Afghanistan.

    The Russian-backed former president, Mohammad Najibullah, who had been seeking refuge in a United Nations compound in Kabul since 1992, was killed by the Taliban in 1996, when the group first came to power.

    During the late 1990s, Russia backed anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan, including the Northern Alliance led by former mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

    Then, on September 11, 2001, suicide attackers, affiliated with the armed group al-Qaeda, seized United States passenger planes and crashed into two skyscrapers in New York City, killing nearly 3,000 people. This triggered the so-called “war on terror” by then-US President George W Bush.

    In the aftermath of the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to call Bush and express his sympathy and pledge support. Putin provided the US with assistance to attack Afghanistan. Russia cooperated with the US by sharing intelligence, opening Russian airspace for US flights and collaborating with Russia’s Central Asian allies to establish bases and provide airspace access to flights from the US.

    In 2003, after the Taliban had been ousted from power by the US-led coalition, Russia designated the group as a terrorist movement.

    But in recent years, as Russia has increasingly grown concerned about the rise of the ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) group – a regional branch of the ISIS/ISIL armed group – it has warmed to the Taliban. The Taliban view ISIS-K as a rival and enemy.

    Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, accompanied by the withdrawal of US forces supporting the Ghani government, Russia’s relations with the group have become more open. A Taliban delegation attended Russia’s flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg in 2022 and 2024.

    With the ISIS-K’s threat growing (the group claimed a March 2024 attack at a concert hall in Moscow in which gunmen killed 149 people), Russia has grown only closer to the Taliban.

    In July 2024, Russian President Putin called the Taliban “allies in the fight against terrorism”. Muttaqi met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow in October 2024.

    In April 2025, Russia lifted the “terrorist” designation from the Taliban. Lavrov said at the time that “the new authorities in Kabul are a reality,” adding Moscow should adopt a “pragmatic, not ideologised policy” towards the Taliban.

    How has the rest of the world engaged with the Taliban?

    The international community does not officially recognise the Taliban. The United Nations refers to the administration as the “Taliban de facto authorities”.

    Despite not officially recognising the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, several countries have recently engaged diplomatically with the group.

    China: Even before the US pulled out of Afghanistan, Beijing was building its relations with the Taliban, hosting its leaders in 2019 for peace negotiations.

    But relations have picked up further since the group returned to power, including through major investments. In 2023, a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) signed a 25-year contract with the Taliban to extract oil from the basin of the Amu Darya river, which spans Central Asian countries and Afghanistan. This marked the first major foreign investment since the Taliban’s takeover.

    In 2024, Beijing recognised former Taliban spokesperson Bilal Karim as an official envoy to China during an official ceremony, though it made clear that it was not recognising the Taliban government itself.

    And in May this year, China hosted the foreign ministers of Pakistan and the Taliban for a trilateral conclave.

    Pakistan: Once the Taliban’s chief international supporter, Pakistan’s relations with the group have frayed significantly since 2021.

    Islamabad now accuses the Taliban government of allowing armed groups sheltering on Afghan soil, in particular the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to target Pakistan. TTP, also called the Pakistani Taliban, operates on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is responsible for many of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan in recent years. Afghanistan denies Pakistan’s allegation.

    In December 2024, the Pakistani military launched air strikes in Afghanistan’s Paktia province, which borders Pakistan’s tribal district of South Waziristan. While Pakistan said it had targeted sites where TTP fighters had sought refuge, the Taliban government said that 46 civilians in Afghanistan were killed in the air strikes.

    This year, Pakistan also ramped up the deportation of Afghan refugees, further stressing ties. Early this year, Pakistan said it wants three million Afghans to leave the country.

    Tensions over armed fighters from Afghanistan in Pakistan continue. On Friday, the Pakistani military said it killed 30 fighters who tried to cross the border from Afghanistan. The Pakistani military said all the fighters killed belonged to the TTP or its affiliates.

    Still, Pakistan has tried to manage its complex relationship with Afghanistan. In April this year, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met Muttaqi and other Afghan officials in Kabul. Dar and Muttaqi spoke again in May.

    India: New Delhi had shut its Kabul embassy in 1996 after the Taliban took over. India refused to recognise the group, which it viewed as a proxy of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.

    New Delhi reopened its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban was removed from power in 2001. But the embassy and India’s consulates came under repeated attacks in the subsequent years from the Taliban and its allies, including the Haqqani group.

    Yet since the Taliban’s return to Kabul, and amid mounting tensions between Pakistan and the group, India’s approach has changed. It reopened its embassy, shut temporarily in 2021, and sent diplomats to meet Taliban officials. Then, in January 2025, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri flew to Dubai for a meeting with Muttaqi.

    And in May, India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar spoke to Muttaqi over the phone, their first publicly acknowledged conversation.

    Iran: As with Russia and India, Iran viewed the Taliban with antagonism during the group’s rule in the late 1990s. In 1998, Taliban fighters killed Iranian diplomats in Mazar-i-Sharif, further damaging relations.

    But it views ISIS-K as a much bigger threat. Since the Taliban’s return to Kabul, and behind closed doors, even earlier, Tehran has been engaging with the group.

    On May 17, Muttaqi visited Iran to attend the Tehran Dialogue Forum. He also met with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Massoud Pezeshkian.

    After Russia, will others recognise the Taliban?

    While each country will likely decide when and if to formally recognise the Taliban government, many already work with the group in a capacity that amounts, almost, to recognition.

    “Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries don’t necessarily have much of an option but to engage with the Taliban for both strategic and security purposes,” Kabir Taneja, a deputy director at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

    “Most would not be doing so out of choice, but enforced realities that the Taliban will be in Afghanistan for some time to come at least.”

    Taneja said that other countries which could follow suit after Russia’s recognition of the Taliban include some countries in Central Asia, as well as China.

    “Russia’s recognition of the Taliban is a geopolitical play,” Taneja said.

    “It solidifies Moscow’s position in Kabul, but more importantly, gives the Taliban itself a big win. For the Taliban, international recognition has been a core aim for their outreach regionally and beyond.”

    Source: Al Jazeera

  • Taliban cut ties with Afghan embassies loyal to former government

    Taliban cut ties with Afghan embassies loyal to former government

    KABUL: The Taliban government has severed consular ties with swathes of Afghan embassies in Western countries, Kabul said Tuesday, cutting off diplomats loyal to the former foreign-backed administration.

    The 2021 Taliban takeover left diplomats staffing Afghanistan’s foreign missions in limbo, having pledged to serve a government which collapsed in chaos after the withdrawal of US troops.

    No country has yet formally recognized the Taliban government but in the past three years the Kabul authorities have installed Taliban ambassadors in some neighboring embassies.

    But Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it now “bears no responsibility” for credentials including passports and visas issued by missions out of step with Kabul’s new rulers.

    The embassies include those in the cities of London and Berlin as well as the countries of Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Canada and Australia.

    “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly urged the Afghan political and consular missions in European countries to engage with Kabul,” a statement said.

    “Unfortunately, the actions of most of the missions are carried out arbitrarily, without coordination and in explicit violation of the existing accepted principles.”

    The statement said Afghans living abroad should deal instead with missions affiliated with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — the self-styled name the Taliban have given the country under their rule.

    Pakistan, China and Russia are among Afghan embassies working on order from the Taliban government.

    Embassies cut off from Kabul have found themselves in dire financial straits, relying heavily on consular fees to pay staff salaries, rent and bills.

    Without that income they may struggle to remain open.

    The foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on its future plans for the ostracized embassies.

    Since surging back to power by force after a two-decade insurgency, Taliban officials have campaigned to be Afghanistan’s sole representatives on the international stage.

    Considered pariahs over their treatment of women, they have been denied an ambassador to the United Nations.

    However at UN-hosted talks in Doha last month they represented Afghanistan — with civil society groups including women’s activists excluded from the main talks.

    Analysts, rights campaigners and diplomats are split over whether to engage with the Taliban government in a bid to soften their stance or freeze them out until they backtrack.

  • Taliban minister raised refugee assets issue during Pakistan visit: Embassy

    Taliban minister raised refugee assets issue during Pakistan visit: Embassy

    The Taliban’s acting commerce minister met Pakistan’s foreign minister in Islamabad this week, says an Afghan embassy statement, discussing trade and how the thousands of Afghan citizens Pakistan is expelling could take cash and other assets back to their homeland.

    The meeting between Haji Nooruddin Azizi and Pakistan’s Jalil Abbas Jilani took place days after Pakistan said its move to expel more than a million undocumented Afghans was a response to the unwillingness of the Taliban-led administration to act against armed fighters using Afghanistan to carry out attacks in Pakistan.

    Taliban officials say the attacks are an internal matter for Pakistan and have called on Islamabad to halt its deportation of Afghan citizens.

    “Bilateral trade, especially the stranded goods of [Afghan] traders in Karachi port, smooth transfer of [Afghan] refugees’ properties to [Afghanistan] and related issues were discussed,” Afghanistan’s embassy in Islamabad said in the statement.

    Afghan citizens returning to Afghanistan have said there are restrictions on the transfer of cash and property to Afghanistan from Pakistan, where many had built businesses and homes for decades.

    Pakistan’s foreign office said Jilani conveyed the message that: “full potential for regional trade and connectivity can be harnessed with collective action against terrorism”.

    Last month, Pakistan set a November 1 start date for the expulsion of all undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans. It cited security reasons, brushing off calls to reconsider from the United Nations, rights groups and Western embassies.

    According to government figures, around 4.4 million Afghan refugees live in Pakistan, 1.7 million of them without valid documents.

    Three more border crossings opened

    On Monday, Pakistan opened three new border crossings to accelerate the repatriation in southwestern Balochistan province in addition to the main crossing in Chaman district, said Jan Achakzai, information minister for the provincial caretaker government.

    The number of border crossings used to deport thousands of Afghans rose to five after the new facilities were opened. Currently, about 15,000 Afghans have been crossing the border every day from Pakistan. Before the crackdown, the figure was about 300.

    Some 305,462 Afghan refugees have since left the country, authorities said. The majority, 209,550, crossed the border from the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkwa, said Fazal Rabbi, a senior official overseeing the deportation process.

    International aid agencies have documented chaotic and desperate scenes among Afghans who have returned from Pakistan. They have raised alarm at the dire conditions many Afghans who have recently returned are facing with few resources as the cold winter season begins and say many are staying in crowded shelters near the border operated by NGOs and Taliban authorities.

    “Many Afghans in Pakistan are now facing police raids and demolition of their homes without due process. Detainees have been denied the right to a lawyer and communication with family members, leaving loved ones in the dark as to their whereabouts,” Amnesty International wrote on X, formerly Twitter, asking Pakistan to immediately halt deportations to prevent further escalation of this crisis.

    Achakzai, the information minister, said police in Balochistan in recent days had arrested more than 1,500 Afghans who had no valid documents.

    A prominent Pakistani human rights lawyer, Moniza Kakar, said in the southern port city of Karachi that police had launched midnight raids on homes and detained Afghan families, including women and children.

    The head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Hina Jilani, said Pakistan lacks a comprehensive mechanism to handle refugees, asylum seekers and migrants without papers, despite hosting Afghans for 40 years.

    Also on Monday, police said officers were investigating whether an Afghan man, Asif Khan, killed his 25-year-old Pakistani wife, Ameena Bibi, because she refused to go to Afghanistan with him.

    The incident happened the previous day in the northwestern city of Nowshera, police official Yasir Khan said. He said the suspect left the country with his four children.

    Pakistan’s foreign office said the Taliban acting commerce minister would also undertake a trilateral meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Uzbekistan on Tuesday.

    The agenda for the trilateral meeting was not clear, but the three countries have been working on plans for trade transit and railway connections between South and Central Asia that would cross through Afghanistan.

    SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

  • No current talks with Taliban, Afghanistan’s Massoud says, promising guerrilla warfare

    No current talks with Taliban, Afghanistan’s Massoud says, promising guerrilla warfare

    Kabul: There are no talks with the Taliban to negotiate a peace settlement, Afghan anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud said on Thursday, vowing to step up “guerrilla warfare” to bring the hardline Islamists to the negotiating table.

    Speaking in an interview in Paris, Massoud, the exiled leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), said that the only way for the Taliban to achieve legitimacy would be to hold elections, but there was no prospect of that happening for now.

    “The Taliban are refusing any talks of negotiation and they just want the world and the people of Afghanistan to just accept that this is the only way going forward, which it is not,” said Massoud, son of the former anti-Soviet mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, said late on Thursday.

    The NRF groups opposition forces loyal to Massoud. It opposed the Taliban takeover and clashes have occurred since August 2021 between the two sides in the resistance movement’s stronghold of Panjshir, north of the capital Kabul.

    Massoud, who operates from overseas, said the NRF had been forced to change tactics because it could not fight the well-equipped Taliban conventionally.

    “We chose last year a more pragmatic approach and that is guerrilla warfare. That is why you see less of us but more impact,” he said, adding that the number of fighters had grown from 1,200 to 4,000.

    The 34-year-old, who was in Paris to launch a new book, said his fighters were not receiving any military assistance, but were relying on stocks from the decades of war in the country and needed ammunition.

    “It is enough to be a headache for the Taliban, but not to topple them or to create too much pain for them so they come for proper, meaningful talks. So, this is the thing the world must understand,” he said.

    Massoud dismissed any suggestion of returning to Afghanistan as part of a Taliban reintegration scheme of former officials.

    “Those people who left Afghanistan, they left for more than just house or a car. They left for noble causes. They left for some principles,” he said.

    “If the Taliban announced that they accept elections, today we all can return because this is what we want.”

    The most recent elections in Afghanistan were held under the US-backed administration which Taliban deposed in August 2021 when Western troops withdrew. The Taliban dissolved the country’s elections commission in December 2021.

    Many Western governments do not formally recognise the Taliban administration, notably over its treatment of women in the country. But there is little pressure or desire to once again get involved in the country with their focus primarily on the war in Ukraine.

    “We try to tell the West that maybe you’re busy with Ukraine, but at the same time, you need to pay attention to the situation in Afghanistan because the situation in Afghanistan is a ticking bomb,” Massoud said.

  • Taliban weighs using US mass surveillance plan, met with China’s Huawei

    Taliban weighs using US mass surveillance plan, met with China’s Huawei

    Kabul: The Taliban are creating a large-scale camera surveillance network for Afghan cities that could involve repurposing a plan crafted by the Americans before their 2021 pullout, an interior ministry spokesman told Reuters, as authorities seek to supplement thousands of cameras already across the capital, Kabul.

    The Taliban administration — which has publicly said it is focused on restoring security and clamping down on Islamic State, which has claimed many major attacks in Afghan cities — has also consulted with Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei about potential cooperation, the spokesman said.

    Preventing attacks by international militant groups – including prominent organisations such as Islamic State – is at the heart of the interaction between the Taliban and many foreign nations, including the US and China, according to readouts from those meetings. But some analysts question the cash-strapped regime’s ability to fund the program, and rights groups have expressed concern that any resources will be used to crackdown on protesters.

    Details of how the Taliban intend to expand and manage mass surveillance, including obtaining the US plan, have not been previously reported.

    The mass camera rollout, which will involve a focus on “important points” in Kabul and elsewhere, is part of a new security strategy that will take four years to be fully implemented, Ministry of Interior spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told Reuters.

    “At the present we are working on a Kabul security map, which is (being completed) by security experts and (is taking) lots of time,” he said. “We already have two maps, one which was made by USA for the previous government and second by Turkey.”

    He did not detail when the Turkish plan was made.

    A US State Department spokesperson said Washington was not “partnering” with the Taliban and has “made clear to the Taliban that it is their responsibility to ensure that they give no safe haven to terrorists.”

    A Turkish government spokesperson didn’t return a request for comment.

    Qani said the Taliban had a “simple chat” about the potential network with Huawei in August, but no contracts or firm plans had been reached.

    Bloomberg News reported in August that Huawei had reached “verbal agreement” with the Taliban about a contract to install a surveillance system, citing a person familiar with the discussions.

    Huawei told Reuters in September that “no plan was discussed” during the meeting.

    A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said she was not aware of specific discussions but added: “China has always supported the peace and reconstruction process in Afghanistan and supported Chinese enterprises to carry out relevant practical cooperation.”

    ELECTRICITY CUTS, RIGHTS CONCERNS

    There are over 62,000 cameras in Kabul and other cities that are monitored from a central control room, according to the Taliban. The last major update to Kabul’s camera system occurred in 2008, according to the former government, which relied heavily on Western-led international forces for security.

    When NATO-led international forces were gradually withdrawing in January 2021, then-vice president Amrullah Saleh said his government would roll out a huge upgrade of Kabul’s camera surveillance system. He told reporters the $100 million plan was backed by the NATO coalition.

    “The arrangement we had planned in early 2021 was different,” Saleh told Reuters in September, adding that the “infrastructure” for the 2021 plan had been destroyed.

    It was not clear if the plan Saleh referenced was similar to the ones that the Taliban say they have obtained, nor if the administration would modify them.

    Jonathan Schroden, an expert on Afghanistan with the Center for Naval Analyses, said a surveillance system would be “useful for the Taliban as it seeks to prevent groups like the Islamic State … from attacking Taliban members or government positions in Kabul.”

    The Taliban already closely monitor urban centres with security force vehicles and regular checkpoints.

    Rights advocates and opponents of the regime are concerned enhanced surveillance might target civil society members and protesters.

    Though the Taliban rarely confirm arrests, the Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 64 journalists have been detained since the takeover. Protests against restrictions on women in Kabul have been broken up forcefully by security forces, according to protesters, videos and Reuters witnesses.

    Implementing a mass surveillance system “under the guise of ‘national security’ sets a template for the Taliban to continue its draconian policies that violate fundamental rights,” said Matt Mahmoudi from Amnesty International.

    The Taliban strongly denies that an upgraded surveillance system would breach the rights of Afghans. Qani said the system was comparable with what other major cities utilize and that it would be operated in line with Islamic Sharia law, which prevents recording in private spaces.

    The plan faces practical challenges, security analysts say.

    Intermittent daily power cuts in Afghanistan mean cameras connected to the central grid are unlikely to provide consistent feeds. Only 40% of Afghans have access to electricity, according to the state-owned power provider.

    The Taliban also have to find funding after a massive economic contraction and the withdrawal of much aid following their takeover.

    The administration said in 2022 that it has an annual budget of over $2 billion, of which defence spending is the largest component, according to the Taliban army chief.

    MILITANCY RISKS

    The discussion with Huawei occurred several months after China met with Pakistan and the Taliban’s acting foreign minister, after which the parties stressed cooperation on counter-terrorism. Tackling militancy is also a key aspect of the 2020 troop-withdrawal deal the United States struck with the Taliban.

    China has publicly declared its concern over the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an armed separatist organisation in its western Xinjiang region. Security officials and UN reports say ETIM likely has a small number of fighters in Afghanistan. ETIM couldn’t be reached for comment.

    The Islamic State has also threatened foreigners in Afghanistan. Its fighters attacked a hotel popular with Chinese businesspeople last year, which left several Chinese citizens wounded. A Russian diplomat was also killed in one of its attacks.

    The Taliban denies that militancy threatens their rule and say Afghan soil will not be used to launch attacks elsewhere. They have publicly announced raids on Islamic State cells in Kabul.

    “Since early 2023, Taliban raids in Afghanistan have removed at least eight key (Islamic State in Afghanistan) leaders, some responsible for external plotting,” said US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West at a Sept. 12 public seminar.

    A July UN monitoring report said there were up to 6,000 Islamic State fighters and their family members in Afghanistan. Analysts say urban surveillance will not fully address their presence.

    The Afghan “home base” locations of Islamic State fighters are in the eastern mountainous areas, said Schroden. “So while cameras in the cities may help prevent attacks … they’re unlikely to contribute much to their ultimate defeat.”