MEMO: Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said on Monday that he discussed the dispute with his Afghan counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, in Uzbekistan. The top diplomat tweeted that he “emphasised in detail” the issue of Iran’s claim on the Helmand River. The Afghan side, he added, “also emphasised its commitment to Iran’s water rights” and both sides “agreed to take immediate action” in this regard. Originating in the Hindu Kush Mountains near Kabul, the river covers a distance of 1,127 kilometres (700 miles) south before streaming into the Hamoun wetlands in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – April 17, 2023
Taliban closes education centers, institutes supported by non-government groups in southern Afghanistan
AP: Afghan authorities are closing education centers and institutes supported by non-governmental groups in the south until further notice, officials said Monday. The centers are mostly for girls, who are banned from going to school beyond sixth grade. Click here to read more (external link).
Mullah Baradar: The West is Responsible for Lack of Afghan Progress
Baradar
Tolo News: “The West has affected all countries and they were expelled from Afghanistan in shame, for this reason, they don’t want Afghanistan to progress,” said Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar urged traders to return to the country and invest here. “All traders that are in Afghanistan and abroad, we ask them to return and invest here,” said Mullah Abdul Ghani. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Releases 41 Prisoners, Including 7 Women in Afghanistan’s Ghor Province
Khaama: Under the condition of anonymity, a professor of sociology stated that the release of the detainees and the exemption are positive developments. The de facto government, on the other hand, “unfortunately criminalized numerous cases and termed its moral corruption, and now they consider it the same as drug trafficking, and this is worrying, he said. In addition, he said that while certain human rights and civil society activists, protesting women, university professors, and writers are detained, others who smuggle narcotics and commit other crimes are often freed. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan, Pakistani Taliban ‘collaborated’ on attacks targeting Pak law enforcement: Report
TTP Flag
WION: As per a report by The Express Tribune citing an anonymous senior Pakistan counter-terrorism officer, the Afghan Taliban actively participated in the said attacks. “Our details show that in every ‘tashkil’ (movement) if 10 TTP members were dispatched, five or four would be Afghan citizens,” said the officer. Click here to read more (external link).
Pakistan to Send Its Ambassador Back to Afghanistan
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
April 16, 2023
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has decided to send its ambassador back to Afghanistan this week, more than four months after he was pulled out because of a failed attempt on his life in Kabul by the Islamic State group, multiple official sources told VOA Sunday.
The decision stemmed from an overnight telephone call between Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
“The ambassador is due to arrive in Kabul before the Eid-ul-Fitar festival,” a Pakistani government official said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to interact with media.
The official refused to share more details, saying diplomatic movements require secrecy for security reasons. The three-day Eid festivities marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan are expected to begin in Afghanistan this weekend.
Both sides have released brief statements confirming the Saturday contact between the two officials but neither mentioned the planned return of Pakistani Chargé d’affaires Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamanit to the Afghan capital.
Muttaqi discussed “a range of important bilateral political, economic, trade and transit issues” with the Pakistani counterpart, the Taliban-led Afghan foreign ministry said Sunday. “Both sides also agreed to improve diplomatic relations,” the statement said without elaborating.
Zardari’s office in Islamabad said that “issues of mutual interest” came under discussion between the two leaders but provided no further details. “The foreign minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan,” the statement said.
Nizamani was on a routine walk inside the sprawling embassy compound in Kabul on December 2 when shooters opened fire on him from a nearby multistory building. He escaped unhurt, but his Pakistani security guard was hit in the legs by bullets. Pakistan immediately evacuated the chief diplomat and demanded the Taliban enhance the security of its embassy.
The Islamic State group, in a statement, claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying its regional affiliate, known as Islamic State Khorasan, assaulted “the apostate Pakistani ambassador and his guards.”
The incident strained otherwise friendly ties between the Taliban administration and Pakistan.
Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan share a nearly 2,600-kilometer border. Bilateral trade ties have increased since the Taliban reclaimed control of Afghanistan in August 2021 as the United States-led NATO troops withdrew after 20 years of the Afghan war.
Islamabad and the world at large do not formally recognize the Taliban government, citing human rights concerns, particularly restrictions placed on Afghan women’s access to work and education.
The Taliban have banned female higher education and teenage girls are barred from attending schools beyond the sixth grade. They have banned Afghan women from working for the United Nations and nongovernmental aid organizations and ordered most women government employees to stay home.
Sunday’s Taliban statement said Zardari assured Muttaqi that Pakistan, in the coming days, would release the remaining Afghan migrants jailed for not possessing valid travel documents. It gave no further details.
Pakistani authorities have, in recent months, released and repatriated more than 2,000 Afghan inmates, including women and children.
Nearly 300,000 people arrived in Pakistan after the Taliban takeover 20 months ago, fleeing worsening economic and humanitarian conditions in strife-torn, impoverished Afghanistan. Many left the country fearing Taliban reprisals for their association with U.S. and Western troops.
Pakistani officials estimate that only about 100,000 asylum seekers entered the country on valid visas. They have joined several million Afghans living in Pakistan as refugees and economic migrants after having fled decades of Afghan conflicts and poverty.
Several countries, including Pakistan, China, Russia, Turkey, and Iran, have kept their embassies in Kabul open after the Taliban seized power 20 months ago. But the United States and other Western nations moved their diplomatic missions out of Afghanistan to Qatar to help facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the more than 28 million, two-thirds of the country’s population, in need of it.
Other Diplomatic News
Taliban Prove to Be Formidable Tax Collectors, Putting Squeeze on Afghans
Taliban fighters (file photo)
WSJ: KABUL—For decades, most businesses in Kabul’s busy Mandawi market got by without paying their taxes. That changed when the Taliban swept to power. Now every shop is ponying up, said Haji Hafeezullah Ismati, who sells fur hats in the market. For some of them, the added cost has proven untenable. A friend and fellow shopkeeper recently closed his business and now drives a taxi, Mr. Ismati said. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan Freedom Front Confirms Death of its Senior Commander
Ameer
Khaama: Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) confirmed the death of its senior Commander, Akmal Ameer, on Sunday. According to the statement released by the Front, the Taliban has taken the bodies of Ameer and his comrades to the Parwan Hospital. The statement added that the bodies were disrespected “by the Taliban.” Meanwhile, the Taliban released several photos on Sunday, April 16, showing Ameer was shot in the mouth. Click here to read more (external link).