Taliban Interior Minister Urges Tribal Elders to Help Boost Security in Khost

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban administration’s interior minister, has called on tribal elders and clerics in Khost province to play an active role in improving security, resolving disputes and raising public awareness. He said that responsibility for ensuring security does not rest with the Taliban alone, but is a shared duty between the public and the administration.

The remarks were made at the opening ceremony of the Taliban police command’s new building in Khost, where the interior minister again stressed the implementation of orders from Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. He also claimed that the war in Afghanistan has ended and that citizens enjoy both physical and psychological security.

Haqqani described those dissatisfied with the security situation as biased individuals seeking to spread an atmosphere of concern and anxiety. He claimed that divisions and enmity in the country have been eradicated and that security incidents have fallen to “zero level.”

Despite these claims, international reports and various statistics show that security threats, especially terrorist attacks and the activities of opposition groups, remain among Afghanistan’s biggest problems. This has raised doubts about the Taliban administration’s claims.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said in September that the group’s Ministry of Defence, along with the Interior Ministry and the intelligence agency, had carried out more than 600 operations this year, which he said had destroyed opposition networks and sanctuaries. However, these claims have not noticeably changed the actual security situation.