AFGHANISTAN WEEKLY UPDATE (10th Feb - 16th Feb)

10 February 2025

Turkish police identified and arrested 24 undocumented Afghan refugees after inspecting a cargo truck in the city of Amasya.
The Russian ambassador to the United Nations told a Security Council meeting on Monday that the increase in ISIS-K activity in Afghanistan is not accidental or without root causes.
A Colorado representative in the US Congress said that some Republicans are privately lobbying the Trump administration to transfer Afghan refugees to the United States.
China’s UN Ambassador Fu Kang told the Security Council on Monday that ISIS and several other terrorist groups are active in Afghanistan and are cooperating. He stressed that these groups could pose a threat to regional and global security.
The Danish representative to the United Nations has described the Khorasan branch of ISIS as a threat to Afghanistan and surrounding countries. “ISIS aims to destabilise the entire region by using propaganda, attacks and recruitment operations,” said Ms Christina Marcus Lassen.
The US representative told the Security Council meeting on Monday that ISIS in Central Asia, especially ISIS-K, has become a serious threat to global security. “We are concerned about ISIS’s ability to plan and carry out terrorist attacks and recruit individuals, especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.
Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram said on Monday that Afghanistan, not Pakistan, is the recruiting ground for ISIS-K in response to the US representative’s remarks at a Security Council meeting. The Pakistani ambassador said his country has been seriously confronting ISIS, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch insurgents.
The head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office said at a UN Security Council meeting that ISIS-K remains a serious threat to Afghanistan, the region and the world. Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov said that there are reports of foreign terrorists travelling to Afghanistan.
A document released by the Taliban’s Supreme Audit Office, leaked by the hacking group “Taliban Leaks,” shows that the Taliban have paid nearly two million Afghanis to “unreal” projects.
Mullah Abdul Wasi, the head of the Taliban prime minister’s office, called for increased development aid from Beijing to Afghanistan in a meeting with Zhao Xing, the Chinese ambassador to Kabul.
According to newly leaked documents, the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior has specified in an official letter the conditions for granting permits to use tinted vehicles and carry weapons.
The Norwegian Refugee Council announced it would suspend its humanitarian work in Afghanistan and 19 other countries following the suspension of US foreign aid.
The Taliban Foreign Ministry condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks about the formation of a Palestinian state on Saudi soil, calling it impossible.
Uzbekistan’s National Security Service announced the discovery of 600 kilograms and 12 grams of drugs worth $16.5 million with “Afghan origin.” According to officials, the smugglers were trying to transport the packages of drugs hidden in broom handles to Uzbekistan.
The Trump administration has identified about $200 million in funding from the United States Agency for International Development as suspicious, according to the Washington Times.
The World Food Program announced that it distributed 2,500 tons of cereals to more than 700,000 people in Afghanistan last year.
The Pakistani military announced that seven members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed in two separate operations in North Waziristan and Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Taliban spokesman responded to the recent statements of the Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization regarding terrorist and drug threats from Afghanistan. The Taliban spokesman responded to the recent statements of the Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization regarding terrorist and drug threats from Afghanistan.
A coalition of American veterans has written a letter to the US Secretaries of State, Homeland Security, and Defense, calling for the resumption of the process of transferring eligible Afghan refugees to the United States.

11 February 2025

Pakistani newspaper Dadan reported that four “terrorists”, including three Afghan nationals, were killed in an army operation in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Local sources reported an explosion in the centre of Kunduz province. According to local sources, the explosion, the nature of which is still unclear, occurred around 8:30 a.m. near the Kabul Bank office in Kunduz city.
Mohammad Reza Bahrami, former ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Kabul, has been appointed as the Director General for South Asia at the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Jumauddin Khaksar, a spokesman for the Taliban security command in Kunduz, said Tuesday’s explosion in front of Kabul Bank was the result of a suicide attack that killed at least five soldiers and civilians.
According to leaked Taliban documents, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry expressed concern in August 2024 about two unidentified flying objects flying from Afghanistan to Pakistan.
At least 10 women have reported to Afghanistan International in separate interviews that they were raped or sexually abused by Taliban members during their detention. Of these, eight women reported being raped, and two others said that the Taliban filmed and photographed their naked bodies during interrogation.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan said the International Criminal Court plays a vital role in Afghanistan and is one of the few ways to address crimes in Afghanistan and other countries.
According to leaked Taliban documents, the group’s Foreign Ministry said in a letter that Pakistani drones violated Afghan airspace at least 11 times during a week.
Abdul Matin Qani, spokesman for the Taliban Ministry of Interior, has announced that there is no threat from Afghanistan to any country.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has announced that the Taliban are interfering in UN contracts, so the American people do not want their money to be embezzled in this way.
The Pakistani government has announced that it will deport Afghan refugees from Islamabad, the country’s capital.
The World Food Program announced that it distributed 2,500 tons of grains in Afghanistan last year with the help of the European Union, Germany, South Korea, Britain, and the United States.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with Pierre Albert Alsas, Chargé d’Affaires of the Norwegian Embassy in Kabul, and discussed strengthening diplomatic relations between the two sides.
Residents of the Chah-Ab district of Takhar province say that the Taliban have handed over the extraction of the district’s gold mine to a company supported by the group.
Local sources in Farah say that a landmine explosion in the province has left three dead and two injured.
Zhao Xing, China’s ambassador to Kabul, says that his country has no problem with opening the Wakhan Corridor if security concerns are addressed.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum says that the group is signing a $6.2 million contract with a Turkish company to extract the marble mine in Dara Noor, Kandahar Province.
Some members of the United Nations Security Council described the presence of terrorist groups, including ISIS, in Afghanistan as a serious threat to the region and the world.

12 February 2025

ISIS said on Tuesday that a suicide bomber attacked a gathering of Taliban army and police members in front of Kabul Bank in Kunduz. Amaq, the ISIS-affiliated news agency, claimed that “hundreds of Taliban members, including security commanders,” were killed in the incident.
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the Doha Agreement between the US and the Taliban was signed because of Donald Trump’s desire to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan.
The Taliban Ministry of Justice announced on Wednesday, February 14, that it had secured about 468,598 acres of land in 25 government provinces in the past month.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said the process of temporarily suspending the Taliban from Russia’s list of terrorist organisations was “time-consuming.
Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister, said at a meeting in Kabul, without naming any specific country, that the existence of tension is not in the interest of neighbouring countries.
Iranian media reported that the first Indian rail transit shipment arrived in Afghanistan from Iran on Tuesday evening. The shipment, which included six containers of almonds and oilseeds, entered Afghanistan from the Shamtig railway border in Khorasan Razavi and arrived at Roznak station in Herat.
The International Planned Parenthood Federation announced that the Government of Japan has provided $1.65 million to support affected communities in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Yemen.
Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman says attacks in Afghanistan have roots outside the country. Referring to the suicide attack in Kunduz, Abdul Matin Qane said that security findings and evidence show that the perpetrators of such attacks “have roots outside the country’s borders.”
As the International Day Against Child Soldiers approaches, the UN human rights rapporteur for Afghanistan says the recruitment of children by armed groups is part of a broader child rights crisis in Afghanistan.
Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, says that developments in Afghanistan, Syria, and Ukraine require the attention of this country and Kazakhstan.

13 February 2025

Sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban closed two branches of Kabul Bank in Herat. Sources said that those who went to Kabul Bank to collect their salaries were told that the banks were closed due to a possible ISIS suicide attack.
The UN Security Council reported that the Taliban had deployed the Mansouri Brigade, a suicide bomber unit composed of Ansarullah and al-Qaeda fighters, in Badakhshan.
The Taliban have ordered private media outlets in Afghanistan to stop broadcasting political programs. The order was communicated to media officials and will continue until “further notice,” according to Afghanistan International’s sources.
Condemning the recent suicide attack in Kunduz, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that ISIS’s goal is to create insecurity in the peaceful areas of northern Afghanistan.
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz says the Afghan attacker who ran over people with a car in Munich should be punished and leave Germany. He stressed that the perpetrator should not expect “any leniency” from the German government.
Local sources say that a Taliban commander was killed and six Taliban fighters were wounded in a clash between the groups in the Yamgan district of Badakhshan province. The clash took place on Wednesday evening during a volleyball match between teams from Jurm and Yamgan districts.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman on Thursday condemned the deadly attacks on the Taliban in Kunduz and the Taliban Ministry of Urban Development, which left several dead and injured, in separate statements, stressing their “firm position against terrorism and violence.”
The Taliban Ministry of Refugees and Repatriates has announced that 63 Afghan citizens have been released from Pakistani prisons and returned to the country.
Mohammad Kamal Afghan, spokesman for the Taliban Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, confirmed an explosion at the ministry and said that one person was killed as a result of the incident.

14 February 2025

The UN sanctions monitoring committee says the Taliban have provided shelter and training camps for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s intelligence agency announced the arrest of three senior members of ISIS-K. The agency said Adil Panjshiri from Afghanistan, Abu Mundhar from Tajikistan, and Kaka Yunus from Uzbekistan were involved in recruiting, financing, and facilitating the travel of fighters and suicide attacks.
German media released new details Friday about the Afghan driver who ran over several people in Munich with his car. German authorities had previously said the Afghan refugee was suspected of shoplifting, but in new statements, they have denied that.
A spokesman for the Taliban police command in Samangan confirmed the explosion at the “Joy Zindan Mosque” in the centre of Aibak City. Heshmatullah Rahmani said that two Samangan residents threw a hand grenade inside the mosque during prayers due to “personal enmity.”
The Afghan Journalists Center says the Taliban has suppressed “the few remaining critical voices” by banning political and economic media programs. The centre expressed concern about the Taliban’s new order, calling it a move to monopolise the media.
In a speech at a religious school, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi implicitly criticised the group’s leader’s concentration of power and emphasised the need for internal integration.
Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front, and Yasin Zia, leader of the Freedom Front, who have already reached agreements on the fight against the Taliban, are meeting.
Despite Russia’s promise to remove the Taliban from its list of terrorist groups, the group remains on the list. The delay appears to be due to Russia’s security concerns about the Taliban, which have not yet been addressed.
A US-based think tank that publishes articles on security, politics, and democracy says there are sharp differences between Washington and Beijing over which country should draft resolutions on Afghanistan at the Security Council.

15 February 2025

A militant raid on a Pakistan fort killed at least four soldiers on Saturday, a senior intelligence official and the military said, the latest in a streak of attacks targeting state forces.
Local sources reported an explosion inside the Taliban statistics office in Taloqan city, Takhar province. According to the sources, a motorcyclist threw a hand grenade into the office on Friday evening.
Reuters reported, citing seven sources, that the work of emergency response teams in Afghanistan, Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan has been halted following the suspension of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Ghousuddin Rahbar, the Taliban governor in Farah, discussed with Alireza Bigdali, the Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan, at the Sheikh Abu Nasr Farahi port, about the port’s trade problems and the establishment of a joint committee to resolve these problems.
The Afghan Freedom Front announced that its forces attacked a building in the Qadis district of Badghis province on Friday evening, February 16, and clashed with Taliban members.
Local sources told Afghanistan International that an explosion occurred in Taloqan City, the capital of Takhar province, on the evening of Saturday, February 15. According to the sources, gunfire was also heard from the area after the explosion.
The National Resistance Front says it killed one Taliban member and wounded two other members of the group in an attack on the Taliban’s intelligence headquarters in the Qadis district of Badghis province.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Shafqat Ali Khan, says one of the key issues straining the country’s relations with the Taliban is the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s safe havens in Afghanistan.
Local sources in Badghis report an explosion and clashes in the Qadis district of the province. According to sources, the clash lasted for about half an hour in the centre of Qadis district.
The ISIS group has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Taliban’s Ministry of Urban Development and Housing.

16 February 2025

The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan has claimed that it killed six Taliban fighters and wounded four others in two separate attacks on the group in Kabul and Kunduz provinces.
The Afghan Liberation Front has claimed that it killed six Taliban fighters and wounded four others in two separate attacks on the group in Takhar and Kunduz provinces.
The National Resistance Front has claimed that it has attacked Taliban positions in different provinces seven times in the past 24 hours.
The Taliban have reported a clash between their fighters and Pakistani soldiers in the Lalpur district of Nangarhar. According to Hammad, the clash occurred after the Taliban attempted to move a tank in the area.
In her speech at the Munich Security Conference, Fawzia Kofi, a women’s rights activist and former member of the Afghan parliament, emphasised that the Taliban has proven that it has not changed by continuing to suppress women.
The Islamic Republic newspaper wrote that the Taliban has not fulfilled any of its promises in the past three and a half years despite the many concessions it has received from Iran. The newspaper Jomhouri-e Eslami quoted environmental experts as saying that satellite images show that there was a significant flow of water in Helmand from January 12 to February 12, “but the Taliban prevented it from entering Iran and diverted it towards the Godzare salt marsh so that it would go to waste!”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Russian veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Vladimir Putin described the Russian soldiers who fought in Afghanistan as “brave” and “heroes,” saying they “honourably performed their duty in Afghanistan.”
Reuters reported on Sunday that most of the foreign fighters who fled Iraq have joined ISIS-K in Afghanistan. According to the report, Sanaullah Ghaffari has transformed ISIS-K into one of the group’s most dangerous branches, capable of carrying out attacks across borders.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees said on Sunday that Pakistani police raided the homes of Afghan refugees in Quetta and Kuchlak, Balochistan province, on Saturday night and deported a number of them to Afghanistan.
The governor of Khorasan Razavi announced that the volume of Iranian exports to Afghanistan this year has exceeded two billion dollars.