NEW DELHI: More than 20 Pakistani nationals were killed "in operations by security forces" between January and December of last year, a senior Taliban official in Kabul claimed on Sunday (Dec 31, 2023). Taliban's appointed defence minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid also claimed that scores of Tajik nationals and "hundreds of Pakistanis" were also arrested for their alleged roles in attacks against religious clerics, the public, and mosques during that period. 

Mujahid, who is also the second deputy leader in the Taliban's administration in Kabul and the "military chief" of the extremist group since 2016, called upon the neighbouring countries to strictly monitor their international boundaries.

The tensions between Kabul and Islamabad have spiked after hundreds of thousands of Afghans left Pakistan after the country ordered "illegal" migrants to leave the country. The crackdown in this relation involved door-to-door checks for the documentation of migrants starting October 31, 2023.

Mujahid claimed that there has been a 90 per cent decrease in attacks by an Islamic State group affiliate in the past year.

The Islamic State (Khorasan) has carried out major assaults on schools, hospitals, and mosques. It has mostly targeted Shiite areas across Afghanistan. 

The IS(K) has been a major rival of the Taliban since the latter took control of Afghanistan's corridors of power in August 2021. The IS considers the Shiites as apostates. They have struck in Kabul and northern provinces but not much in the south, which is considered the Taliban's stronghold.

The Taliban, since taking over have barred women from public life and work. The extremist rulers have stopped girls from going to schools officially beyond the sixth grade. But on the ground, the girls — grade notwithstanding — are dissuaded from attending schools as soon as they turn 10 years of age. WION has found that at least in Nangarhar province, Afghan girls were unable to attend school beyond third grade.