AFGHANISTAN WEEKLY UPDATE ( 6th Jan – 12th Jan)

6 January 2025

1. The Afghan Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for last night’s attack on the Taliban in Herat province.  
    
2. Local sources have reported the arrest of a member of the former government’s army by the Taliban in Kabul city.  
    
3. Local sources in Laghman say that Taliban intelligence has arrested the former district governor of Dawlat Shahi and Alingar in the province.  
    
4. Local sources in Herat say that unknown individuals threw a hand grenade at a Taliban checkpoint.  
    
5. Officials of the “Daneshnameh of Afghanistan” announced the official start of the institution’s activities.  
    
6. Following the Taliban leader’s decree banning human trafficking, officials of the group in Nimroz established a committee to prevent it.  
    
7. Local sources in Takhar say that Maulvi Noorullah Noori, the Taliban’s Minister of Ethnic Affairs and Tribes, has called for cooperation and friendly relations with Tajikistan during his visit to the province.  
    
8. Some protesting women have called the arrest of Afghan refugees by Pakistani police a violation of human rights and expressed concern about the continuation of this process.  
    
9. Michael Kugelman, a senior American analyst for Afghanistan and Asia, says that US President-elect Donald Trump’s approach towards the Taliban is likely to be “contradictory” with other members of his cabinet.  
    
10. The Afghan Journalists Protection Organization, in response to the recent actions of the Pakistani government against Afghan refugees, called it a gross violation of human rights.  
     
11. Local sources in Paktika say that a social media activist has been arrested by Taliban intelligence in the province.      
     
12. Local Taliban officials in Nangarhar say that 54 Afghan refugees who were detained in Pakistan have returned to the country.  
     
13. A group of Afghan citizens have arrived in the Philippines to settle in the United States so that the legal procedures for their immigrant visa applications can be reviewed.  
     
14. A Taliban court in Zabul says it has punished a man accused of kidnapping “an innocent woman.”  
     
15. Iran’s Foreign Ministry has said that it will use all possible means to secure its rights to border rivers.  
     
16. Bushra Gohar, human rights activist and former member of the Pakistani parliament has criticized the inhumane treatment of Afghan refugees by the country’s police.  
     
17. The Taliban Supreme Court says it has flogged three people in Khost province on charges of “sodomy.”  
     
18. The Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan met with the Taliban’s acting interior minister. According to the embassy, ​​the two sides have emphasized strengthening historical ties and increasing cooperation.   
     
19. Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s acting foreign minister, has travelled to the United Arab Emirates as the head of a delegation.  
     

20. The Taliban embassy in Islamabad has called the detention of Afghan citizens in Pakistan arbitrary.     

     

7 January 2025

1. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s interior minister, said in an audio message that religious scholars should not interact with people in a way that makes them hate religion.  
    
2. Congressman Tim Burchett’s official letter to Donald Trump regarding the suspension of US foreign aid to the Taliban has sparked widespread reactions and questions among prominent American officials and figures.  
    
3. Taliban prosecutors in Kabul have arrested nine people on charges of “moral corruption and gambling.” The Taliban Ministry of Publicity said in a press release that these individuals were arrested from the third and fifth security districts of Kabul city      
    
4. Michael McCaul, a prominent American politician and former chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said that ISIS has been revived in Afghanistan under Taliban control.  
    
5. In response to a question from Elon Musk, US Congressman Tim Burchett confirmed that US taxpayer money is being transferred to the Taliban. He also warned that “the next terrorist attack will be 100% funded by the American people’s taxes.”  
    
6. The United Nations Humanitarian Fund for Afghanistan says that Luxembourg has provided $1.56 million in aid to the country.  
    
7. Philippa Candler, the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan, has called on the country to end the detention of Afghan refugees.  
    
8. Sources in Kandahar province confirmed to AMU in a call that the Taliban have begun monitoring aid NGOs in the province.      
    
9. The Jamiat-e-Islami Party of Afghanistan, led by Salahuddin Rabbani, has condemned the detention of Afghan refugees in Pakistan in a statement.  
    
10. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration is in talks with the Taliban to exchange three American citizens detained in Afghanistan for Mohammad Rahim al-Afghani, an alleged al-Qaeda member held at Guantanamo Bay prison.  
     
11. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has announced that in 2025, 5.8 million people in Afghanistan will need emergency shelter and non-food assistance.      
     
12. Michael McCaul, chairman of the US Congressional Foreign Relations Committee, has said that the fall of Afghanistan has led to the resurgence of ISIS Khorasan, and eight members of the group have entered the United States.  
     
13. The Resistance Front has claimed responsibility for the explosion last evening at the Taliban security headquarters in Kunduz province, claiming that four Taliban members were killed and five others were wounded in the attack.  
     
14. Local sources in Nangarhar have reported the suicide of an elderly man due to poverty and hardship in the province.      
     
15. The Taliban-controlled Central Bank has announced that it will auction off 15 million US dollars as a voluntary auction.      
     
16. A Taliban court in Nuristan says it has punished a woman on charges of having an extramarital affair.  
     
17. Local sources in Paktika say that a man has been arrested by the Taliban for expressing his views on Facebook.  
     
18. The Taliban Supreme Court says that two people, including a woman, were flogged in Kabul on charges of having an extramarital affair.  
     
19. Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, has expressed concern over the detention and deportation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.  
     
20. The Afghan Journalists Center has expressed deep concern over the Taliban’s order banning the filming of living creatures in Nuristan province.  
     
21. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that more than five million people in Afghanistan require emergency assistance.  
     
22. Local sources in Daikundi say that the Taliban warned photographers in the province that they are only allowed to take photos of people for ID cards and passports.  
     
23. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has warned that more than 14 million people in Afghanistan will face severe food insecurity in the new year.  
     
24. Local sources in Baghlan say that unknown gunmen killed a religious scholar and maimed another in the province.  
     
25. Local sources in Badghis report two separate attacks on Taliban positions in the province.  
     
26. Local sources say that three Taliban fighters have been injured following an explosion at the Taliban security headquarters in Kunduz province.  
     
27. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has condemned the recent Pakistani airstrikes on the Barmal district of Paktika province after about two weeks.  
     

8 January 2025

1. Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s representative to Afghanistan, announced in a live television program that Moscow wants to establish a bilateral Russia-Taliban working group in the spring of 2025.  
    
2. Mohammad Sadeq Motamedi, the governor of Tehran, has called on Afghan refugees to leave the country by “individual and family self-declaration.”  
    
3. Alireza Bigdali, head of the Iranian embassy in Kabul, met with Abdul Kabir, the Taliban’s political deputy prime minister, to discuss refugees and Iran’s “need to ensure their rights.”      
    
4. The Taliban have issued a statement denying claims that the United States has provided them with billions of dollars in aid over the past three years.  
    
5. On Tuesday, US President-elect Donald Trump sharply criticized the Joe Biden administration, claiming that billions of dollars in US funds were being transferred to “Taliban Afghanistan.”  
    
6. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed in a message to AMU that Suhail Shaheen, the former head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, has been appointed as their ambassador to Doha.  
    
7. The United Nations Food Security Phase Classification Division, in a new analysis that examined the period from November 2024 to March 2025, says that within the next three months, 14.8 million people, which constitutes 32% of the total population of Afghanistan, will be at the level of “acute food insecurity” and in need of “urgent” humanitarian assistance.  
    
8. Sources contacted by Amu confirmed that unidentified gunmen killed a religious scholar and wounded another in Baghlan province.  
    
9. The Taliban’s Interior Ministry spokesman has announced the death of Timothy Weeks, a former professor at the American University in Kabul, who was held captive by them for several years.      
    
10. Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia has said in response to the arbitrary detentions and harassment of Afghan migrants and asylum seekers by Pakistani police that this action is part of a “larger discriminatory policy against Afghans within Pakistan.”  
     
11. The Taliban-run Afghan embassy in Pakistan tells Amu that over the past eight days, more than a thousand Afghan refugees have been arrested by police in Islamabad, the country’s capital.  
     
12. Reliable sources say that the Taliban have arrested and beaten a former soldier at the group’s embassy in Iran.  
     
13. Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States, has described his country’s financial assistance to the Taliban as unbelievable and added that such a thing should not happen.      
     
14. Local sources in Nangarhar say that at least 12 people have been injured after Taliban fighters opened fire on a funeral ceremony in the province.  
     
15. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he has renewed the memorandum of understanding to support Afghan allies.      
     
16. The Taliban primary court in Kabul has sentenced Afghan journalist Mehdi Ansari to one and a half years in prison on charges of “propaganda” against the group.  
     
17. According to reports, Turkish police have arrested 30 Afghan refugees from different cities in the country.  
     
18. Following the publication of the news in the 8 Sobh newspaper that Afghan journalist Mehdi Ansari was sentenced to one and a half years in prison by the Taliban primary court, the Afghan Journalists Protection Organization has strongly condemned this issue.  
     
19. Following an attack by unknown gunmen on a religious scholar in Baghlan, ISIS has now claimed responsibility.  
     
20. Local sources in Herat have reported the passing of Khwaja Maulana Jalilullah Maulavizada, one of the renowned scholars in the western region of the country.  
     
21. Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban, has denied claims that the US has provided billions of dollars in aid to the group.  
     
22. Asia Times, referring to the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan, said that this issue causes huge financial losses to the country annually.  
     

9 January 2025

1. Local Taliban officials in Herat say that Noor Ahmad Islamjar, the Taliban governor for Herat, met and held talks with Mohammad Fath Ali, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran.  
    
2. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has assisted a carpet manufacturer in Herat.  
    
3. Local Taliban officials in Nangarhar say that Pakistan has deported 59 Afghans through Torkham.  
    
4. Local sources in Herat say that electricity imported from Turkmenistan has been cut off in the province.  
    
5. Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the political deputy of the Taliban Prime Minister, met and talked with Ali Reza Bigdali, the charge d’affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Kabul.  
    
6. Alireza Bigdali, Chargé d’Affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Kabul, met and discussed with Roza Otunbayeva, Head of the Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).      
    
7. Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of the Taliban, met and held talks with Karim Masri, the deputy foreign minister of India.  
    
8. Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of the Taliban, has discussed trade relations with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates.  
    
9. Local sources in Ghor say that the Taliban in this province have asked the youth to promote in favour of the group in exchange for activating 15 GB of internet.  
    
10. Amnesty International says the Pakistani government must stop arbitrary detentions and harassment of Afghan refugees.  
     
11. Following the widespread arrest of Afghan immigrants and refugees in Pakistan, the Human Rights Activists Union says that Afghan refugees in this country are victims of Taliban oppression.  
     
12. Following the arrest of Afghan refugees by Pakistani police, several protesting women have called for support for Afghan refugees from the United Nations and human rights organizations.  
     
13. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan (OCHA) has announced a one million euro ($1.1 million) aid package from Spain to the country.  
     
14. Although the Taliban have deprived girls of their right to education after taking control of Afghanistan, officials in Pakistan have announced the holding of a global conference on girls’ education in Islamic societies.  
     
15. Hundreds of veterans and former and current US officials urged President-elect Donald Trump to continue the program to transfer and resettle their Afghan colleagues to the United States.  
     
16. Local sources in Badakhshan say that the Taliban have killed a military prosecutor of the former government in the province.  
     
17. Taliban courts in Ghazni and Paktia have announced the punishment of two people on charges of moral corruption and theft.      
     
18. A Taliban court in Kapisa says it has punished five people, including three women and two men, on charges of running away from home and having an extramarital affair.  
     
19. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Afghanistan has announced that it will support 28,000 health workers in the country by 2025.  
     
20. Local sources say that the Taliban have summoned residents of two villages in the second part of Kohistan district to the district for “missing congregational prayers.”  
     
21. Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has appointed Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the group’s political deputy prime minister, as acting minister of refugees and returnees.  
     
22. Local sources in Ghor say that the Taliban held a meeting in this province under the title “Identifying the False Sect and considered killing Hizb ut-Tahrir members “permissible.”  
     

10 January 2025

1. Local sources told Afghanistan International that Pakistani forces targeted parts of the Sarkani district of Kunar province with “artillery attacks” on Thursday night, January 10. According to the sources, the attacks took place around 2 am last night in the Nawa Pas area near Durand.  
    
2. A Pakistani court on Friday ordered a halt to the deportation of 150 Afghan singers and musicians for at least two months, ordering Pakistani authorities to refrain from deporting them while their asylum applications are being processed.  
    
3. Continuing the reactions to the proposal to boycott the cricket team, Hanif Atmar said that this action would have serious moral, legal and political consequences.  
    
4. Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights, says the ICC offers victims of international crimes, including in Afghanistan, a fundamental avenue for accountability.  
    
5. The former Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan says that the Khorasan branch of ISIS has become the group’s most active branch in foreign attacks.  
    
6. Abbas Stanekzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister for politics, has said that the group has evidence that shows that ISIS has training centres in Pakistan. He has claimed that the Pakistani army is training ISIS in shelters.  
    
7. The Diplomat magazine reported that the Russian intelligence agency has spent tens of millions of dollars financing “terrorist groups in Afghanistan” to target American and NATO forces.      
    
8. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appointed Mohammad Sadiq, the country’s special representative for Afghanistan, as his special assistant in a decree.  
    
9. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting, focusing on girls’ education in Muslim societies, especially Afghanistan, will be held for two days in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday.  
    
10. Nobel laureate and Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai has told the international community that girls in Afghanistan need more than sympathy.  
     
11. The Iranian army says that in the first phase of the project to seal the country’s borders with Afghanistan, 75 kilometres of border wall have been produced and installed.  
     
12. Local sources in Kunar say that the Pakistani army has launched a missile attack on the Sarkani district of Kunar.  
     
13. Tim Burchett, a representative from Tennessee in the United States Congress, has introduced a bill that ensures that the country’s money does not reach the Taliban.  
     
14. Based on reports, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has adopted new measures to monitor and secure the transportation of transit shipments to Afghanistan, using smart surveillance.  
     
15. Sadeq Noori, deputy commander of the northeastern headquarters of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army’s ground forces, says that 75 kilometres of the Afghanistan-Iran border wall has been completed, and this cement wall is four meters high.  
     
16. Local sources reported the arrest of a former soldier by the Taliban in Panjshir province.  
     
17. Iran’s Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi says that “good” negotiations have been held with the Taliban for the rights to Sistan.  
     
18. Officials from the Taliban’s Information and Culture Department in Badakhshan announce the start of the process of collecting “banned books” in the province.  
     
19. Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, says that the second phase of the Allama Iqbal Scholarship Program for Afghan students has begun.  
     
20. Local sources in Badghis reported the arrest of two former government soldiers in the province by the Taliban.  
     
21. Local sources in Herat say the Taliban are refusing to pay salaries to fighters who do not have the “First Clearance” form.  

     

11 January 2025

1. The Agroexport Center, part of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, announced Afghanistan as the largest buyer of Russian flour in 2024. According to the centre’s data, $80 million worth of flour was delivered to Afghanistan in 2024, which is double the amount in 2023.  
    
2. Nooruddin Turabi, head of the Taliban’s disaster management department, met with Veronika Bosovic-Pohar, the European Union’s Chargé d’Affaires for Afghanistan.  
    
3. Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US special representative for peace in Afghanistan, says that by holding a meeting on “Girls’ Education in Islamic Societies,” Pakistan wants to embarrass the Taliban leader, who has imposed severe restrictions on women’s education.  
    
4. Maysam Nazari, head of foreign relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, says he hopes the new US administration led by Donald Trump will support the resistance in overthrowing the Taliban.  
    
5. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said at the International Conference on Girls’ Education in Muslim Societies that the Muslim world faces major challenges in ensuring equitable access to education for girls.  
    
6. Germany has expressed concern over the mass deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, saying their situation in the country has worsened significantly since 2023.  
    
7. Residents of the Shahr-e-Buzurg district of Badakhshan protested against the Taliban over mining.  
    
8. The Green Movement, led by former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh, on Saturday released a list of 166 employees of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, which it says are agents of Pakistan’s military intelligence agency (ISI) in Afghanistan.  
    
9. The Taliban released an audio message attributed to Haibatullah Akhundzada on Saturday, saying, “Include those who benefit the [Taliban] system into the government.”  
    
10. Sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban have arrested and imprisoned Mohammad Azam Bakhtar Farashghani, the former commander of the local police in Dawlat Shah district of Laghman.      
     
11. Mohammad Murad Amanov, head of the TAPI project, announced in a meeting with Islam Jar, the Taliban governor in Herat, that work on the project is progressing rapidly and that three kilometres of pipeline have been laid in Afghan territory so far.  
     
12. Iranian President Massoud Pezhikian has announced that his country will negotiate with the Taliban regarding the rights of Helmand.  
     
13. Local sources in Kunar say that following Pakistani missile attacks on the province, the Taliban has sent more fighters to the Sarkani district.  
     
14. The Taliban Ministry of Public Health has announced that 894 people have been poisoned as a result of gas poisoning in parts of the country since the beginning of the winter season.  
     
15. Following the devaluation of the Afghan currency against foreign currencies, the Taliban-controlled Central Bank has announced that it will auction off 16 million US dollars as a voluntary auction.      
     
16. Local Taliban officials in Nangarhar have reported a clash between armed robbers and fighters from the group.  
     
17. The Taliban-run Breshna Company has announced that electricity imported from Turkmenistan has been connected to Herat province.  
     
18. The Afghan Women’s Freedom Lantern Movement has described the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan as critical.  
     
19. Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, has discussed the situation in Afghanistan with Roza Otunbayeva, Head of the Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).  
     
20. The 21st Turkish “Niki” humanitarian aid train arrived in Herat.  

     

12 January 2025

1. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Issa, Secretary General of the Islamic World Solidarity Organization, referred to some people’s opposition to girls’ education and said that there is no prohibition in Islam against educating girls.  
    
2. The Pakistani army announced the killing of nine members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The Pakistani army said that these TTP members were killed in two separate operations in the Dosli and Isham areas of North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.  
    
3. The Taliban Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday, January 13, the completion of the registration process of 300 people in Panjshir, Takhar, and Baghlan in the ranks of the group’s army.  
    
4. The Taliban Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday, January 12, the visit of Luka Shevchuk, Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, to Kabul.  
    
5. Local sources in Khost told Afghanistan International that Taliban authorities have ordered all printing houses in Khost to stop printing images of animals. The sources said the Taliban have warned that if the printing houses disobey the order, they will be closed.  
    
6. The Taliban Ministry of Water and Energy announced the signing of a contract to build two new water storage dams in Herat province in western Afghanistan. According to the ministry, the contract was signed with a private company and includes the study, design, and implementation of the construction of the “Tazarbid and Wakhal” water dams in Herat.  
    
7. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Kabul, Faisal bin Talq Al-Baqmi, to demand an increase in the Hajj and Umrah quota for Afghan pilgrims. According to the ministry’s spokesman, Muttaqi also sought Al-Baqmi’s assistance in providing consular services to Afghans living in Saudi Arabia.  
    
8. Zabihullah Mujahid told students at a religious school in Kabul that they could not become powerful and advance against countries like Israel without technology. He implicitly criticized the Taliban leader, saying, “One should never oppose knowledge. Both religious and natural sciences are essential for an Islamic society.”  
    
9. The Taliban Ministry of Higher Education announced that 26,000 religious students from across the country have participated in the six-day “Marahal Aaliyah and Aaliyah” exam. The ministry will award master’s degrees to 15,000 participants and bachelor’s degrees to 11,000 others.  
    
10. Referring to the Islamic summit in Islamabad, the former Afghan foreign minister called on the Taliban to lift the ban on women’s education. Hanif Atmar told the Taliban that continuing the ban would result in “disgust and strong reaction from the nation, the Islamic world and the international community.”  
     
11. At a graduation ceremony for students at Kabul Polytechnic University, Nida Mohammad Nadeem, the Taliban’s Minister of Higher Education, strongly criticized professors who went abroad to study during the republican era and did not return, claiming that these individuals were being recruited by foreign countries as spies.  
     
12. Local sources said on Sunday evening that a strong explosion occurred in western Kabul. According to these sources, the explosion caused a fire in the sixth district. There is still no further specific information available about the cause of this incident. 
     
13. Noor Ahmad Agha, the head of the Taliban Central Bank, and Ali Reza Bigdali, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Kabul, discussed banking cooperation. In this meeting, Noor Ahmad Agha called the expansion of banking cooperation between Afghanistan and Iran important for the development of trade and promised cooperation.  
     
14. The Associated Press reported that US President Joe Biden spoke with the families of three American citizens detained in Afghanistan during his final days at the White House. The fate of these prisoners remains uncertain.  
     
15. Residents of the big city of Badakhshan province have protested the handover of a gold mine in this district to a contracting company on the orders of Taliban leader Haibatullah.  
     
16. Local sources in Nimroz say that the Taliban have closed 27 shops in the province for using foreign currencies.      
17. Local sources in Panjshir say that the Taliban have arrested and imprisoned an employee of the National Directorate of Security of the previous government in Kandahar province upon his return from Iran.  
     
18. Ana Paulina Luna, a member of the US House of Representatives, says that her country is providing $40 million a week to the Taliban, even as the group threatens Washington’s security.