A senior Taliban official has accused former Afghan political leaders and opposition figures living abroad of encouraging young Afghans to join armed groups, as reports of insurgent activity by anti-Taliban factions have increased in several parts of the country.
According to IRAF, speaking at a training workshop for journalists in Paktia province, Mohajer Farahi, deputy head of publications at the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture, said former politicians who had “prioritized personal interests over national interests” were now attempting to undermine Afghanistan’s security from abroad.
“They filled their own pockets in the past and their hands are stained with the blood of the people. Now, from outside the country, they are encouraging young people to wage war and disrupt the existing security,”
Farahi said.
Farahi also acknowledged that Afghanistan continues to face serious economic challenges, saying unemployment and infrastructure problems cannot be fully resolved in the short term.
Defending the Taliban administration’s performance, he claimed that the government had financed development projects, paid public-sector salaries, and covered the costs of receiving and resettling nearly 10 million returning refugees entirely through domestic revenues.
At the same event, Khabib Ghofran, spokesman for the Ministry of Information and Culture, said Afghanistan’s media policies had been fundamentally restructured under Taliban rule. He said terminology and editorial frameworks used under the previous government had been replaced and that media organizations should operate in accordance with what he described as Islamic values.
Separately, Saifullah Raed, head of the Taliban’s Media Monitoring Department, urged journalists to avoid content that could “create division.” Ministry officials also called on reporters and media outlets to cooperate fully in covering Taliban government activities and ensure reporting complies with directives issued by the group’s leadership.
