Forbes: Australia has strengthened its support for Afghanistan women’s cricket, but one of the sport’s thorniest issues remains in limbo. It was announced recently that an Afghanistan women’s team, consisting of refugees who moved to Australia, will play a match in Melbourne in January. It will be the first time an Afghanistan’s women’s cricket teamRead More...
8am: Continuing their widespread restrictions on publishers and booksellers in Afghanistan, the Taliban have seized thousands of books without compensation, and this process is ongoing. The Hasht-e Subh Daily obtained a copy of the list of books banned by the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture, revealing that over 400 titles have been confiscated andRead More...
8am: Given that anti-Taliban movements are also gaining momentum, the group faces two main options: either submit to negotiation or continue fighting against the people of Afghanistan. The situation is far from resolved, contrary to what the Taliban would have people believe. A large portion of Afghan citizens and politicians, both inside and outside theRead More...
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 16, 2024 One of the world’s poorest countries, Afghanistan is also among the leading nations affected by climate change. Decades of war and environmental degradation have made Afghanistan the fourth most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures have exacerbated the frequency andRead More...
Khaama: The spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry urged the Taliban on Thursday to take immediate and effective action against Pakistani militants based in Afghanistan, deeming any support for them unacceptable. Mumtaz Zahra Baloch warned the Afghan Taliban not to “test the patience of the Pakistani people.” In a weekly press briefing reported by The ExpressRead More...
Roshan Noorzai Noshaba Ashna VOA News November 15, 2024 The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation announced plans this week to return millions of internally displaced people (IDP) to their home villages and provinces in Afghanistan, a move analysts warn could worsen the country’s humanitarian crisis. “In the first phase, 5,000 displaced families in KabulRead More...
Michael Hughes: The Taliban stroked President Donald Trump’s ego with a love letter that directly led to the administration’s decision to accelerate negotiations, strike the Doha deal, and withdraw forces from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year conflict. However, the Trump 2.0 administration is dangerous because the man does not need to get re-elected. Trump does notRead More...
Afghanistan International: Rainbow Afghanistan has published a report stating that LGBTQIA+ individuals are being tortured and sexually assaulted in Taliban prisons. The report shows that over the past three years, at least 98 LGBTQIA+ individuals have been publicly punished on various charges in 14 provinces of Afghanistan. Jannat Gul (pseudonym), who spent eight months inRead More...
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 14, 2024 Islamabad — The World Health Organization has labeled a forced repatriation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan as a “major setback” for polio eradication efforts, contributing to the regional resurgence of the paralytic disease. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two polio-endemic nations, reporting 49 and 23 cases respectively,Read More...
Amu: Several taxi drivers in Herat say they cannot afford the required 25,000 to 40,000 Afghanis (approximately $370 to $590) to repaint their vehicles under a regulation implemented by the Taliban’s traffic department. The drivers say the law, enforced by the Taliban-run Herat’s traffic management office, mandates that all taxis undergo the color change, placingRead More...
8am: The Taliban continue to sign illegal contracts for the extraction and exploitation of Afghanistan’s mines. They now control the country’s natural resources—wealth that once funded their war efforts through illegal mining—and have gained increased opportunities for exploitation as their criminal economic networks expand. Recently, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs announced the launchRead More...
Amu: Afghanistan has moved ahead of Bangladesh in the latest ICC One Day International rankings following their recent three-match series, where Afghanistan claimed a 2-1 victory. Bangladesh now drops to ninth, while Afghanistan climbs to eighth. Both teams have three more ODIs scheduled this year: Bangladesh will play the West Indies in the Caribbean inRead More...
Khaama: The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a report stating that 23 cases of polio in children have been recorded in Afghanistan since the beginning of this year. On Tuesday, November 12, WHO reported in its weekly update that three new polio cases were registered in October, two in the Maiwand and Ghorak districtsRead More...
8am: This order is seen as another step toward consolidating power in Akhundzada’s hands in Kandahar. Many observers view it as an indication of growing distrust between Akhundzada and senior Taliban officials in Kabul. Previously, some Taliban leaders, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, have openly defied Akhundzada’s bans on photography and filming, disregarding their “Amir’s” directives. ClickRead More...
The Conversation: As an educational policy scholar who pushed for educational progress in Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover, I believe these changes echo the tactics of the Soviet-backed regime in the 1980s to impose an ideology through textbooks. They also reflect the stifling climate of the 1990s, which promoted violence and suppressed critical thinking inRead More...
Afghanistan International: Abdullah Khanjani, the political head of the National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan, has begun a series of meetings with key leaders of groups opposing the Taliban. Khanjani met a number of politicians, including Abdul Rashid Dostum, Mohammad Mohaqiq, Rasul Sayyaf, and Atta Mohammad Noor, in Türkiye. Click here to read more (externalRead More...
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 10, 2024 Islamabad — The Taliban in Afghanistan sent its representatives to Azerbaijan on Sunday to attend a major United Nations climate change conference, marking the first such participation since they seized power three years ago. State-run Afghan media reported that Muti-ul-Haq Khalis, head of the National Environmental Protection Agency, isRead More...
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi November 10, 2024 Turkish authorities deported 325 Afghan migrants over the past two days, the Taliban’s Refugees and Repatriations Ministry said on November 10. According to the ministry, the International Organization for Migration will provide the equivalent of 150 euros to each of the deported migrants. In recent months, Turkey hasRead More...
AFP: Women in Afghanistan are not forbidden from speaking to one another, the Taliban government’s morality ministry told AFP on November 9, denying recent media reports of a ban. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Haqqani’s purpose in building this monument is to keep the culture of suicide bombing alive in Afghanistan. The Taliban, particularly the Haqqani faction, cannot tolerate the idea of letting this banner of suicide attacks fall. Even if they were recognized officially, they would still keep the flag of suicide bombing raised, as they viewRead More...
Khaama: On Monday, November 4, UNFPA released a report expressing deep concern over the rising maternal mortality rate in Afghanistan. The report states that every two hours, a life is lost due to preventable complications related to reproductive health. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: Following Donald J. Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, Taliban expressed hopes that his administration would adopt “realistic” policies toward Afghanistan. In a statement from the Taliban-run Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi voiced optimism about improving relations, calling for a new chapter of “mutual engagement” between the two countries. ClickRead More...
8am: At first, Trump will likely adopt a stance of neutrality toward the Taliban, essentially disregarding the current situation in Afghanistan. If forced to engage, his most straightforward and effective option would be to approach the Taliban for negotiation. It seems unlikely that he would engage with the anti-Taliban forces; after all, when the DemocratsRead More...
Khaama: In a report titled “The Global Education Status,” UNESCO revealed that 129 million boys and 122 million girls around the world are unable to attend school. The findings indicate that over the past decade, children’s access to education has improved by only one percent globally. UNESCO’s report shows that 33 percent of children inRead More...
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 4, 2024 Islamabad — Pakistan reported Monday that its border security forces killed at least five insurgents who were attempting to cross over from Afghanistan. The predawn encounter occurred after Pakistani troops detected the “movement of a group of khwarij” in the volatile South Waziristan border district and “effectively engaged” themRead More...
Afghanistan International: Local sources from Herat told Afghanistan International that the Taliban arrested two influential Shia clerics in the town of Jibril and transferred them to an unknown location. According to sources, Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azimi had previously protested against the Taliban’s restrictions on Ashura ceremonies. In July of this year, during the AshuraRead More...