Afghanistan International: The leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries emphasised on the necessity of forming an inclusive government in Afghanistan. They asserted that establishing an inclusive government with broad participation from all ethnic and political groups is the only way to achieve lasting peace in the country. Click here to read moreRead More...
The Guardian (UK): The Guardian has seen video evidence of a female Afghan human rights activist being gang-raped and tortured in a Taliban jail by armed men. There have been mounting reports that sexual violence is being inflicted on women and girls being held in detention in Afghanistan, but this video is believed to beRead More...
ESPN: Cricket Australia (CA) has reiterated that Australia will not play bilateral cricket with Afghanistan because of the Taliban government’s stance regarding the rights of women. CA chief executive Nick Hockley said that there has been “regular dialogue” with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on the matter, and hoped that the sides resume playing eachRead More...
Ayaz Gul VOA News July 3, 2024 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban government in Afghanistan indicated Wednesday that it would consider releasing two U.S. prisoners in exchange for Afghans held in the United States. Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesman, told reporters in Kabul that the idea of a prisoner release was discussed in his meeting withRead More...
Khaama: The former Afghan Interior Minister described the Doha summit as “another example of the UN’s failure in managing the Taliban and Afghanistan.” Mohammad Omar Daudzai called on the UN Secretary-General to replace Roze Otunbayeva and cleanse UNAMA, stating that the Doha meeting was a waste of time and a deviation from its main purpose.Read More...
By Sarah Zaman VOA News July 1, 2024 DOHA, QATAR — The third round of U.N.-led talks to explore engagement with Afghanistan ended Monday without the Taliban making any reform pledges or winning concessions from the international community. A few international organizations and special envoys for Afghanistan from nearly two dozen countries met with Taliban officials inRead More...
Afghanistan International: At the end of the first day of the UN meeting in Doha, which included Taliban representatives, the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) reported an attack on the Taliban in Kabul. According to the AFF, this “guerrilla operation” targeted a Taliban checkpoint in Bagh-e Bala area, resulting in the deaths of three Taliban membersRead More...
8am: The Hasht-e Subh Daily has obtained information indicating that the Taliban are constructing a well-equipped base with residential houses for the al-Qaeda network in the Malekuddin area of Nawa district, Ghazni province. Additionally, they are building three settlements for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the Dasht-e Bagh-e Attar area of Qarabagh district, Dasht-e KabuliRead More...
Al Jazeera: Pakistan is set to start the second phase of a controversial plan to send undocumented Afghan refugees back to their country. Beginning Sunday, authorities are likely to expel more than 800,000 Afghans from the country, after about 541,000 were forced to leave in the first phase in November last year. Click here toRead More...
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi June 30, 2024 Two days of UN-organized talks on international relations with Taliban-led Afghanistan were getting under way in the Qatari capital, Doha, on June 30, with the Taliban present for the first time — but rights groups expressed anger over the hard-line fundamentalist regime’s exclusion of women and its refusal toRead More...
Khaama: It emphasizes that the Taliban failed to protect places of worship in Afghanistan over the past year. The State Department’s annual report also mentions the declining Sikh and Hindu populations, attacks on Shia mosques, and assaults on Hazaras. It cites historical events, including the killing of a Salafi cleric in Kapisa in 2023, promptingRead More...
Afghanistan International: Abdul Hamid Khorasani, a Tajik commander of the Taliban, says that the behaviour of the “Emirate’s leadership” towards non-Pashtun Taliban members is like that of “prisoners of war, slaves, and servants”. Khorasani stated, “This is not an Islamic Emirate, but rather an ethnic Emirate of the Kandahari and Zadran tribes.” According to him,Read More...
Afghanistan International: The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) claims to have killed three Taliban members in an attack on a Taliban military outpost in Panjshir province. Local sources in Panjshir confirmed the attack to Afghanistan International, stating that it resulted from an explosion. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan International: Security and diplomatic sources have informed Afghanistan International that the Taliban are planning to relocate members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from border areas to other provinces in Afghanistan. This decision comes after months of negotiations between the Taliban, Pakistan, and China. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan International: Iranian presidential candidate Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf stated that all of Iran’s serious social issues originate from the eastern part of the country. He added, “We must build a wall on the eastern border with Pakistan and Afghanistan to ensure its security.” Ghalibaf attributed some of the crimes and social issues in Iran toRead More...
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 21, 2024 ISLAMABAD — A quarterly report on the situation in Afghanistan by the United Nations has documented a surge in attacks by armed groups fighting Taliban rule. It also noted “persistent” internal tensions among de facto Afghan leaders. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, released the assessment Friday,Read More...
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi Abubakar Siddique June 20, 2024 Leading Afghan women’s rights activists have sounded the alarm ahead of a major international conference on Afghanistan hosted by the United Nations. Rights campaigners have slammed the world body for inviting the Taliban to the June 30-July 1 event in Qatar, a move that they say providesRead More...
Afghanistan International: Sources have informed Afghanistan International that Salahuddin Rabbani, the leader of a faction of the Jamiat-e-Islami party and former Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, has traveled to Tehran to meet with Iranian officials. This marks Rabbani’s first visit to Iran since the fall of the Republic order in Afghanistan. Additionally, sources revealed that theRead More...
WION: Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Abdul Manan, also known as Hakimullah, was killed on Sunday (Jun 16) in Afghanistan’s Kunar province by unknown men. He was associated with the Malakand chapter of TTP. His killing is considered a big setback to the TTP and a major achievement for Islamabad. Manan was accused of carrying outRead More...
Afghanistan International: The Taliban’s Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation reported that 100-120 airplanes pass through Afghan airspace daily. The ministry stated that it charges a transit fee of USD 700 per airplane. This is in contrast to the last years of the previous government, when around 400 airplanes passed through Afghan airspace daily. ClickRead More...
AFP: A gender-balanced team of three men and three women will represent Afghanistan in Paris next month in a symbolic move for the first summer Olympics since the Taliban surged to power. The chief executive of Afghanistan’s national Olympic committee (NOC), Dad Mohammad Payenda Akhtari, told AFP all of the athletes, except the judoka, wereRead More...
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi June 18, 2024 Shugufta, an elementary school teacher, earned around $300 per month under the previous Western-backed Afghan government. But after the Taliban seized power in 2021, the extremist group cut the salaries of female government employees by half. Despite her lower income, Shugufta was relieved to work as the countryRead More...
Afghanistan International: Members of the Taliban have shared an audio file of Sheikh Abdul Ali Deobandi on X, in which he declares that teaching women to read and write, even at home, is prohibited. Ziaullah Hashmi, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education, reposted the file, calling it an “important fatwa”. In theRead More...
AP: Pakistani journalist and author Ahmed Rashid, who has written several books about Afghanistan and the Taliban, said Akhundzada’s appeals for unity were a sign of desperation because he refused to spell out the real issues facing Afghans such as unemployment, economic development, and building a consensus for social reform. “I would not be convincedRead More...