A senior Taliban official claimed that dozens of Pakistani and Tajiki nationals were killed in operations carried out by the Taliban security forces between January and December 2023 across Afghanistan.
Taliban Defense Minister, Mullah Yaqoob Mujahid also claimed that they also arrested scores of Tajiki nationals and hundreds of Pakistani citizens for their alleged roles in attacks against religious scholars, mosques, public gathering, and popular gatherings of the Taliban officials during that period.
Briefing a news conference to speak about security achievements in 2023, Yaqoob said that since the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, most of the attacks targeted mosques, religious scholars and other gatherings were carried out by Tajiki and Pakistani fighters.
“We have killed 20 Pakistani citizens as a result of joint security operations across the country last year,” Yaqoob said, while not disclosing the number of Tajiki citizens that were killed or arrested during that period.
“After the return of the Islamic Emirate into power, attacks on sacred places and public gatherings were carried out by the foreigners, especially the citizens of Tajikistan and Pakistani,” Yaqoob said, and emphasized that there is no place for any terrorist groups inside Afghanistan. Yaqoob also called on neighboring countries to strictly monitor their international boundaries.
Afghanistan sees 90pc decrease in attacks by IS
Meanwhile, Yaqoob said that there has been a 90 percent decrease in attacks by the Islamic State (IS) group affiliate in 2023. It is worth mentioning that IS has carried out major assaults on schools, hospitals, mosques, wedding halls, shrines. Previously, IS had mostly targeted Shiite areas across Afghanistan, but since the return of Taliban in 15 August 2021, it has targeted Sunni areas as well. The deadly attack was inside a Sunni Mosque that killed dozens of worshippers and wounded tens of others.
IS has been defeated in Afghanistan, Yaqboob said and once again assured Taliban leadership that Islamic Emirate will not let anyone use Afghan soil against any other countries.
“We have a strong resolve to fight against IS,” he said, adding that they will defeat the “seditious” group and destroy them. He also claimed that IS’s operational networks have been destroyed and also those were in charge of IS’s destructive network either killed or arrested.
UN report says that IS conducted 40 attacks in Afghanistan
Another top Taliban official also claimed that IS has been defeated in Afghanistan. Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban Foreign Minister, said that all Daesh strongholds in Afghanistan have been dismantled during several operations carried out by the Taliban security forces in the past 18 months. He went to claim that there is no conflict right now in Afghanistan.
He said that there is not a single village or one meter of land at the hand of the opposition across Afghanistan.
However, Muttaqi’s statement had contributed to the UN’s reports that said that IS conducted 40 attacks in Afghanistan from November 2022 to November 2023. It also added that other opposition groups like Afghanistan Liberation Front, the National Resistance Front and the Afghanistan Freedom Movement conducted 65 attacks against the Taliban during the same period.
At the same time, the world community is not happy with the current government structure of the Taliban. Taliban has been criticized for lacking an inclusive government as presently there is no inclusion of women and other ethnics including Tajik and Hazaras as minister or governors in the Taliban cabinet. The cabinet is mainly dominated by the Pashtons and majority of the Taliban are from this tribe.
No arm smuggling inside or outside Afghanistan
In another part of his speech, the acting Defense Minister also said that hundreds of kidnappers were arrested and killed in 2023 and also rescued over 200 people from their clutches. He also spoke about efforts to stop money smuggling, saying that the security forces prevented 90 percent of smuggling of money as well as precious stones and currencies from inside Afghanistan.
He also commented on the allegations about smuggling and sale of weapons to the foreign forces, and said that a commission has been assigned to maintain these equipment’s and stop its smuggling outside the country.
“We have taken concrete measures to stop arms smuggling inside Afghanistan and from Afghanistan abroad. In the last two years, we have detained hundreds of smugglers and also collected tens of thousands of weapons from irresponsible people,” he added.
Yaqboob also said that Afghanistan has borders with six countries in its 20 provinces and the Taliban established 63 military bases, 180 military centers and 600 security stations with all facilities and equipment to deal with any kind of threats in these areas.
