Taliban orders Taxi drivers not to transport other gunmen

AGHANISTAN: The Taliban has ordered the taxi drivers of the eastern Nangarhar Province not to transport any other gunmen other than the ones who are the Taliban affiliates, reported a local media.

In a statement released by Nangarhar’s provincial office, the Taliban asked the drivers around the province to give them hand in ensuring the security of the province and acknowledged them to prevent transporting other gunmen, reported Khaam Press.

The statement has further asked the people of the province to inform the authorities upon seeing any suspected gunmen in the taxis, according to the news agency.

The statement is believed to aim at the ISIS-K terrorists who are reportedly more active in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan, however, it did not name any specific group.

It also came at a time when the number of killings has risen which led to the rise in tensions among the locals. – ANI Meanwhile, More than half of Afghanistan’s population is estimated to be experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity between November 2021 and March 2022, according to an United Nations report.

“The country is currently facing the second drought in four years and the worst of its kind in 27 years,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said in a situation report. “An estimated 22.8 million people, or 55 per cent of the population, are expected to be in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC 3+) between November 2021 and March 2022, a nearly 35 per cent increase from the same season last year (16.9m),” the report added. “Even prior to the events of 15 August, the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was one of the worst in the world. By the mid-year mark, nearly half of the population – some 18.4 million people – were already in need of humanitarian and protection assistance in 2021,” the report further noted.

– INDIAN EXPRESS