Pakistan Targeted TTP Leaders' Residences in Kabul, Says Saleh

According to Saleh, the bombing took place after some in the leadership of TTP did not heed to Pakistani cleric delegation’s warnings.

Last week, a delegation of Pakistani clerics, led by Mufti Usmani, visited Kabul and met Noor Wali Mehsud, the leader of TTP.

Saleh said that the Pakistan Air Force has directly attacked targets in Kabul for the first time since 1947.

Saleh added that it is not feasible to identify the type of rocket and its launch device because, according to him, the Haqqani network is in possession of the area, as the operational arm of Inter Service Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's intelligence agency.

However, earlier, Rahmatullah Nabil, the former intelligence chief of Afghanistan, quoted his sources as saying that on Sunday morning American drones appeared in the airspace of Kabul and attacked different parts of the city. According to Nabil, based on the Doha agreement, the US supports the Taliban in suppressing Islamic State-Khurasan (IS-K) in Afghanistan.

Abdul Nafe Takor, the spokesperson of the Taliban's Ministry of Interior, said that Sunday's explosion was caused by a rocket landing at an empty house in Shirpur area of district 10 in Kabul.

Former Official of Istiqlal Hospital Murdered in Kabul

Aug 1, 2022, 11:10 GMT+1

Unidentified armed men murdered Talib Hussain Shirzad, former head of nursing at the Istiqlal Public Hospital, on Sunday, local sources said. According to the sources, the Taliban had recently removed him from his position, however, he continued to his job in defiance.

One of his friends informed Etilaatroz Newspaper that Shirzad had gone to Khair Khana area in the north of Kabul city on Sunday after he received a phone call and was later murdered there.

The source added that Shirzad had objected to his dismissal from the job and questioned the appointment of a Taliban member as his replacement.

Taliban security officials in Kabul have not yet commented on the issue.

National Entrance Exam for Universities to be Held After September

Aug 1, 2022, 10:27 GMT+1

Mawlawi Ahmad Taqi, spokesperson for the Taliban's Ministry of Higher Education, announced on Twitter on Monday that the University entrance examination “will be held after September 2022”.

According to him, universities across Afghanistan are still completing their last semester courses.

Due to the backlog, no new admissions can be granted.

Last year, due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country, the entrance examination for Afghanistan universities had been held with after a six-month delay.

Officials of the Ministry of Higher Education of the Taliban have not announced any specific date for the national entrance examination.

A source from the Ministry of Higher Education said that due to the Taliban's gender segregation policy in universities, classes, and facilities for attracting new students have also been limited.

Iran, Taliban to Form Joint Committee to Prevent Border Clashes

Aug 1, 2022, 09:40 GMT+1

Representatives of the Iranian and Taliban government held a meeting in the Hirmand region after border clashes on July 31.

Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s special representative for Afghanistan, said that Ministry of Defense of the Taliban has called on the group’s forces stationed at the border and advised them to avoid conflict.

Kazemi also stressed that a joint committee will be formed to prevent such clashes in the future.

On Sunday, Taliban forces and Iranian border guards have clashed in Darwish area of Kang district of Nimroz province, too.

Local sources told Afghanistan International that two members of the Taliban were killed in the border clash on July 31.

The border commander of the Taliban confirmed the death of one of his men, but the governor of Hirmand city in Iran's Sistan and Balochistan province said that the conflict between the Iranian border guards and the Taliban in Nimroz ended without casualties.

Taliban say 26 people died as a result of Floods in Zabul

Jul 30, 2022, 14:24 GMT+1

The Directorate of Public Works of the Taliban in Zabul says that 26 people lost their lives and 4 others were injured due to the recent floods in the province. Women and children are among the dead and injured in Zabul.

According to the Taliban, most of the floods took place in Shahr-e-Safa, Daychopan and Arghandab districts.

The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported yesterday that roads were destroyed in Zabul because of recent floods.

Reports from Ghazni and Kandahar also say that floods have caused casualties in these provinces in the last 24 hours.

Muttaqi, Head of Uzbekistan’s Presidential Administration Discuss Bilateral Relations

Jul 30, 2022, 12:59 GMT+1

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban acting Foreign Minister met with Umurzakov Sardor Uktamovich, head of the Presidential Administration of Uzbekistan, the Taliban announced on Saturday.

According to a Taliban statement, the two sides talked about bilateral relations, transit and cooperation in the agricultural sector.

Muttaqi and Uktamovich also discussed the start of the construction of the railway project spanning across Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The meeting took place on the sixth day of the Taliban delegation’s visit to Uzbekistan. The Taliban delegation led by Muttaqi had reached Tashkent on July 24.

Earlier on Tuesday, Muttaqi had addressed an international conference on Afghanistan in Tashkent with a focus on the achievements of the Taliban government over the past eleven months.

This conference ended on Tuesday, but the Taliban delegation did not return to Kabul.

On Friday, Tashkent hosted a two-day meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

The foreign ministers of China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan participated in the meeting.

Although Muttaqi was not present at the SCO meeting, he met with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China on the sidelines of the event.

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