[AfghanDigest] LAST 24 HOURS- TALIBAN MEET A WALL OF RESISTANCE AT MOSCOW FORMAT SUMMIT – While the Taliban regime attempted to leverage the fact that they had been invited to the Moscow Format meeting as a sign it was being recognized, the reality on the ground in Kazakhstan has surely returned expectations to earth. The representatives of international and regional states who attended the meeting basically took the Taliban Foreign Minister to task for a multitude of concerns. The organizers of the meeting brushed past claims from Muttaqi about the absence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and called on Kabul to dismantle the groups that are ‘known’ to be operating from within Afghanistan. They then read off a litany of additional concerns about the lack of ethnic representation in the government, human and women’s rights, and the narcotics trade as precursors to any real engagement. Observers at the conference said that Russia and Iran were perturbed that the Taliban continued to make appeals to the US and had basically warned the Taliban that further cooperation could damage relations in the future. The stern messaging from the conference will be difficult to spin for the Taliban regime.
- PAKISTANI AUTHORITIES IMPLICATE THE INDIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES IN DEADLY SUICIDE ATTACKS – The Interior Minister, Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti has said that the Indian Intelligence Agency - Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was behind the two attacks this past week. The Minister did not provide any proof but said the regime was aware of a plan to destabilize the government and that an investigation was underway to discover all the pertinent details. Several news outlets presented a conflicting theory that ISIS-K was likely responsible for the attacks and pointed to an attack carried out by the terror group just days prior in the Mastung District. As of publication, no arrests had been announced in either case.
- TALIBAN DELEGATION IN TEHRAN TO PARTICIPATE IN THE INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNITY CONFERENCE – The delegation was invited by Iran’s embassy in Kabul and is expected to take part in discussions about some secular matters of importance to Tehran. Chief amongst these will be the issue of water rights.
NEXT 24 HOURS: No Threats Reported