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Abdullah calls out Taliban for stalled peace talks
Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, on Thursday spoke out against the Taliban who he says has taken a “harsh stance” in relation to the current peace talks.
Addressing an event to mark the establishment of a commission for political parties under the HCNR, Abdullah said: “At this moment, the Taliban has taken a hard stance, which unfortunately is not helping the situation.”
“Our delegation is still in Doha and we are in contact and we hope this deadlock is only short term,” he said.
“We know that nobody will win through war,” Abdullah said, adding that the same applied to peace – that “neither will anyone lose in peace.”
“At this point, the Taliban’s stance is pretty harsh and this does not help as we proceed with the job at hand; they say that the prisoners should be released, the foreigners must withdraw, they should be dropped from the (UN) blacklist,” he said adding that the Taliban also want other conditions met before they will agree to a ceasefire.
On whether the Taliban has stuck to its commitments as per the agreement signed with the US in February last year, Abdullah said one of the preconditions was a reduction in violence. This has not happened, he said.
“One of the foundations of the agreement is a reduction in violence. Has it happened? Of course not,” said Abdullah.
Meanwhile, Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar also weighed in on the stalled peace process issue on Thursday and called on the international community to review legal options available in order to force the Taliban to stick to its commitments as per the Doha deal.
Addressing a press conference, Atmar said: “All our international partners reiterated that the Taliban must return to the peace process and restart negotiations; if they want the international community to trust them in the peace process, then they should stick to the commitments made in the Doha agreement.”
Atmar also stated that the new Biden administration is working with Afghanistan on a joint program regarding the peace process.
Latest News
UNESCO: 2.4 million Afghan girls denied education since 2021
UNESCO estimates that the ban could force around 600,000 Afghan women out of the workforce by 2066 and cause $9.6 billion in lost income. It could also increase the risk of early marriage.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said on Tuesday around 2.4 million Afghan girls have been denied secondary education since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) returned to power in 2021.
In a statement on Tuesday, UNESCO said Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are officially barred from secondary and higher education.
The organization warned that the restrictions could increase poverty, reduce employment opportunities and cause long-term damage to Afghanistan’s future.
UNESCO estimates that the ban could force around 600,000 Afghan women out of the workforce by 2066 and cause $9.6 billion in lost income. It could also increase the risk of early marriage.
Girls’ secondary schools were closed in March 2022, followed by a ban on women attending universities in December of the same year. The IEA initially described the restrictions as temporary, but they remain in place.
UNESCO also warned that the restrictions could worsen Afghanistan’s shortage of female teachers. It estimates the country could face a shortage of more than 11,000 qualified female teachers by 2030.
The organization said more than 90% of 10-year-old children in Afghanistan cannot read a simple text, while the national literacy rate is around 37%.
Nearly half of the country’s schools also lack adequate access to water, sanitation or heating, UNESCO said.
According to the report, around three million people returned to Afghanistan in 2025, putting further pressure on the education system. Since 2021, earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters have also forced around 1,000 schools to close.
Russia’s Power Machines Company is interested in investing in the rehabilitation and modernization of Afghanistan’s power plants, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) said on Tuesday.
DABS Chief Executive Officer Abdul Haq Hamkar discussed the potential investment with technical officials from Power Machines, with talks focusing on rehabilitating existing power plants, modernizing equipment and expanding power-generation capacity.
According to DABS, Hamkar said the company would cooperate in facilitating preliminary technical assessments of Afghanistan’s power plants and in exploring investment opportunities in the sector.
Denis Rudakov, head of Power Machines’ commercial department, said the Russian company plans to conduct preliminary technical assessments of existing power plants in Afghanistan.
Based on the findings, Power Machines will prepare proposals for rehabilitating facilities, modernizing equipment and increasing electricity-generation capacity, DABS said.
Afghanistan currently has several operational power plants, while efforts are underway to increase their generation capacity and upgrade their equipment, according to DABS.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), on Tuesday denied that IEA authorities detained Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman the US claims disappeared in Kabul four years ago.
“We have no information about Mahmood Shah Habibi. He is not with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. If he were, this issue would have been resolved long ago,” Mujahid said.
His remarks came a day after the FBI marked the fourth anniversary of Habibi’s disappearance and renewed its appeal for information about his whereabouts.
According to the FBI, Habibi disappeared near his home in Kabul on August 10, 2022. At the time, he was working as a consultant for Asia Consultancy Group, a Kabul-based telecommunications company. He had previously served as Afghanistan’s director of civil aviation.
The FBI has alleged that Habibi was detained by the IEA’s General Directorate of Intelligence.
The FBI has continued its investigation and in 2025 released a missing-persons poster for Habibi. The U.S. State Department has also offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his location, recovery and return.
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