A top Taliban official said on Saturday that all Afghans who fled the country after the collapse of the former Western-backed government are free to return home, promising they would not be harmed if they come back.
Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund made the amnesty offer in his message for the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha, also known as the “Feast of Sacrifice.”
The offer comes days after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping travel ban on 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The measure largely bars Afghans hoping to resettle in the United States permanently as well as those hoping to go to the US temporarily, such as for university study.
Trump also suspended a core refugee program in January, all but ending support for Afghans who had allied with the US and leaving tens of thousands of them stranded.
Afghans in neighboring Pakistan who are awaiting resettlement are also dealing with a deportation drive by the Islamabad government to get them out of the country. Almost a million have left Pakistan since October 2023 to avoid arrest and expulsion.
Akhund’s holiday message was posted on the social platform X.
“Afghans who have left the country should return to their homeland,” he said. “Nobody will harm them.”
“Come back to your ancestral land and live in an atmosphere of peace,” he added, and instructed officials to properly manage services for returning refugees and to ensure they were given shelter and support.
He also used the occasion to criticize the media for making what he said were “false judgments” about Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and their policies.
“We must not allow the torch of the Islamic system to be extinguished,” he said. “The media should avoid false judgments and should not minimize the accomplishments of the system. While challenges exist, we must remain vigilant.”
The Taliban swept into the capital Kabul and seized most of Afghanistan in a blitz in mid-August 2021 as the US and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.
The offensive prompted a mass exodus, with tens of thousands of Afghans thronging the airport in chaotic scenes, hoping for a flight out on the US military airlift. People also fled across the border, to neighboring Iran and Pakistan.
Among those escaping the new Taliban rulers were also former government officials, journalists, activists, those who had helped the US during its campaign against the Taliban.
A top Taliban official offers amnesty to Afghans who fled the country and urges them to return
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A top Taliban official offers amnesty to Afghans who fled the country and urges them to return
- Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund made the amnesty offer in his message for the Islamic holiday of Eid Al Adha
Energy independence, transition take center stage at India’s flagship industry forum
- Modi announces investment opportunities of $500 billion in India’s energy ecosystem
- India, Canada launch ministerial energy dialogue during India Energy Week 2026
NEW DELHI: Thousands of top industry executives, innovators and policymakers are gathered in Goa for India Energy Week 2026, where they are discussing global energy transition technologies, including hydrogen and future fuels.
Organized under the patronage of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the event opened on Tuesday and will run through Jan. 30, featuring 10 country pavilions and exhibitions by more than 700 local and international industry players.
The organizers expect 75,000 people to visit the venue at the ONGC Advanced Training Institute in Goa — a petroleum industry training campus operated by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India’s largest state‑owned oil and gas company.
In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced investment opportunities of up to $500 billion in oil and gas exploration, refining, and energy infrastructure.
“We are doing reforms to empower domestic hydrocarbons and are creating a transparent and investor-friendly environment for global collaboration. India is now working on the mission of energy independence, moving beyond energy security,” he said.
“We are striving to take investment in our oil and gas sector to $100 billion by the end of this decade.”
The minister of petroleum and natural gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, told participants that India’s share of global energy demand is estimated to be 10 percent by 2050 — about 30 percent more than at present — and it will be backed by conventional and renewable energy sources.
“While renewable and alternative energy sources are expanding at pace, conventional energy will remain essential to meet growing demand. Energy transition, energy security, and system resilience must advance together, and energy addition has emerged as a practical pathway to balance these priorities,” he said.
“India is diversifying its energy journey on a sustainable path. With strong progress across green hydrogen, compressed biogas, CNG (compressed natural gas), and LNG (liquefied natural gas), India continues to address the energy trilemma of availability, affordability and sustainability.”
India depends mainly on Russia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia for crude, and Qatar for LNG.
A new source for both may become Canada, whose Energy Minister Timothy Hodgson launched with Puri the India-Canada Ministerial Energy Dialogue on the sidelines of the Goa event on Tuesday.
Hodgson told India Energy Week participants that Canada could supply crude oil and LNG to India, as well as uranium — which India needs to achieve its target of 100 GW nuclear capacity by 2047.
“Canada used to provide 98 percent of its energy to one customer,” Hodgson said, referring to the US. “We are committed to diversifying our supply. We see the opportunity to work with India.”
