Afghanistan International: Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s National Security Council Secretary, met with Mullah Baradar, the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, during his visit to Kabul on Monday, November 25. Shoigu is the highest-ranking official from Moscow to visit Kabul since the Taliban came to power in August 2021. The Taliban reported that Shoigu promised to remove the Taliban from Moscow’s blacklist. Click here to read more (external link).
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
November 24, 2024
The first train carrying goods from China to Afghanistan arrived in Mazar-e Sharif on November 23 after crossing through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the de facto Taliban rulers said. The Taliban said 55 containers arrived in Afghanistan after a 22-day journey, marking the inauguration of the first direct train link between China and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The train is expected to take Afghan goods back to China for sale there. Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, no country, including China, has formally recognized the extremist group — which has been accused of massive rights violations — but Beijing has attempted to increase ties as part of its economic push in the region, including its Belt and Road initiative.
Politico: Overall, there’s no denying that the number of Afghan asylum seekers have gone up as conflict has gripped their country and NATO allies left the reins to the Taliban. But with the oppression they’re under, Afghan women perhaps make clearest case for protection. And yet, activists now fear European governments will come under pressure from the populist right and mull third country repatriation for all asylum seekers — including Afghan women. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: Iran has appointed Alireza Bigdeli as the new head of its diplomatic mission in Kabul, according to Iranian media reports. The appointment was made through a directive issued by Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister. Bigdeli succeeds Hassan Kazemi Qomi, who had also served as Iran’s special envoy to Afghanistan. However, Iranian media reports state that “the office of the special presidential envoy for Afghanistan will be dissolved, and the special representative for Afghanistan will once again operate directly under the supervision of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.” Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan International: Local sources in Nangarhar informed Afghanistan International on Sunday, 24 November, that Muqtada had coerced a young woman, who was imprisoned on charges of “running away from home,” into marriage. The woman had allegedly fled from Pakistan to Afghanistan with an unrelated man, for which she was detained by the Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan International: The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) announced that it had killed three Taliban members and wounded two members of the group in an attack on the out post of Gate No. 4 of Bagram Airport on Thursday evening. The statement said that Mullah Zakir, the Taliban’s deputy commander, was killed in the attack at the Bagram Airfield. So far, the Taliban have not responded to the Afghanistan Freedom Front’s claim. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan International: Hamid Saifi, a commander of the National Resistance Front (NRF), said that the situation in Bagram prison is worrisome, and that the Taliban is “mentally and physically torturing” members of this front. He called on the United Nations to send a delegation to the Bagram prison to address the issue and prevent the “oppression of the Taliban”. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: The Taliban have started shutting down women-only cafes in Herat Province in western Afghanistan, further eroding the few remaining spaces where women can gather freely under their restrictive rule. In the past week, at least three such cafes have been forced to close, with the Taliban’s morality police warning the owners of two others to cease operations permanently, according to sources familiar with the situation. On Friday, another women-only café in Herat was ordered to shut down. Click here to read more (external link).