India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that New Delhi is reviewing the duties, responsibilities and staffing of its embassy in Kabul, with further details to be announced once a decision is finalised.
The Taliban governor’s office in Balkh province announced on Saturday that Iran’s Meraj Airlines has begun operating flights to Mazar-e-Sharif, the provincial capital.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Afghanistan International’s investigative report that families of tribal migrants have been relocated to central Afghanistan.
The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported on Saturday that 1,744 Afghan refugee families were deported from Pakistan and 65 families from Iran within a 24-hour period.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, said that Islamabad has embarked on “a project of creating instability in the region” on behalf of major powers.
Mohammad Reza Hashemi, governor of Iran’s South Khorasan province, announced that the Mahiroud customs terminal ranked first among Iran’s export points to Afghanistan during the first half of the current year.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson said on Saturday that “circles within Pakistan’s intelligence and military” are obstructing progress in the peace talks between the group and Islamabad in Istanbul.
The Taliban’s Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs, Noorullah Noori, has threatened Pakistan with direct conflict, warning Islamabad not to boast about its military technology or underestimate Afghan resolve.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday that any agreement reached with the Taliban must be written, insisting that verbal understandings are unacceptable to Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information on Thursday rejected claims by the Taliban that Pakistani border forces initiated gunfire in Chaman, asserting instead that Taliban fighters opened fire first and Pakistani troops responded “proportionately.”
At least five people were killed and six others wounded on Thursday in a border clash between Taliban and Pakistani forces in Spin Boldak, Kandahar, a hospital source told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
As Taliban–Pakistan talks opened in Istanbul, local sources told Afghanistan International on Thursday that Pakistani border guards and Taliban forces had clashed in Spin Boldak, Kandahar.
Pakistan said Friday that it has handed over “evidence-based demands” to Qatar and Türkiye the mediators of the ongoing Taliban–Pakistan negotiations in Istanbul.