Taliban militants dancing (file photo)
8am: Nearly three thousand expelled Afghan migrant families from Pakistan have relocated to the provinces of Jawzjan, Faryab, Sar-e Pol, and Samangan. According to sources, as per the Taliban’s directives, 1,300 families have moved to Jawzjan, 1,100 to Faryab, 410 to Sar-e Pol, and another 50 to Samangan. Residents of these provinces claim that the majority of these migrant families are related to members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and inhabitants of the “Shamshato Refugee Camp” affiliated with the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA).
A resident of the Mardyan district in Jawzjan province remarks, “The migrants who have recently arrived here from Pakistan cannot speak Persian and Uzbek.”
However, a former government security official states that the initial rule of the Taliban over Afghanistan suffered a blow in the northern and northeastern provinces of the country. Now, the group aims to alter the demographic makeup in the north to secure its continued governance.