Abdullah Abdullah Slams Taliban; Calls on Group To Respect Other leaders & Women

This year, less number of students had appeared for the exam as compared to previous years.

In 2021, when the Taliban had not taken over Afghanistan and not put restrictions of education of girls, the girls had topped the Kankor exams.

According to the NEA, a student from Herat province secured the first rank in the year's entrance exam.

With the Taliban assuming control of Afghanistan, schools for girls above the sixth grade were closed across the country, and no female student graduated from Afghanistan’s schools in the last year. In fact, apart from Taliban restrictions, girls have also faced terrorist attacks while studying. A suicide bombing rocked an educational center where preparations were on for the entrance exams in an area of the discriminated Shia Hazara minority in Kabul in September. Around 53 people were killed and 110 wounded in the attack, most of them girls and young women.

Kankor is an entrance exam for universities in Afghanistan. Every year, hundreds of thousands of high school graduates take this exam to continue their studies at public, governmental, or private universities.

After an unprecedented difficult economic year filled with environmental disasters including droughts, earthquakes, and floods, the situation of many Afghans is expected to worsen, the WFP said.

According to the UN organisation, millions of Afghans have difficulty in coping with another harsh winter.

The UK said that it has given 286 million pounds in aid to the people of Afghanistan in 2022.

The World Food Programme stressed that it has provided food and livelihood support to 21.9 million people since the beginning of 2022.

WFP added that it has already prepared 150,000 tons of food in strategic locations across Afghanistan.

The Taliban Deputy Prime Minister also said that the group seeks to "further develop their relations" with Qatar.

Although Qatar does not recognise the Taliban's regime, the country enjoys close relations with the group and hosted the US-Taliban talks in Doha.

While international organisations call Afghanistan unstable, Abdul Kabir in his meeting with the Qatari official stressed that Afghanistan is safe. He called the return of several former Afghan officials to the country a sign of security in Afghanistan.

The organisation stated that orphan children and widows have been among the most vulnerable Afghan groups, who are often unable to eat even one meal a day.

According to ICRC, about 20 million people in Afghanistan lack access to nutritious food, and more than 24 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

ICRC stressed that the worsening crisis in Afghanistan has been driving millions of people into extreme poverty, with many being forced to eat scraps or pick waste to avoid starvation.

The sources added that the Taliban tried to prevent the press conference, but as the activists continued with their agenda, around 60 Taliban members from various agencies, including the group’s General Directorate of Intelligence, stormed the conference venue and detained the activists.

The sources said that the Taliban detained Zarifa Yaqoobi, and four of her male colleagues and transferred them to an unknown location.

According to the sources, the Taliban members also searched the cell phones of all participants and beat up those who declined to bow down to the group’s demands. According to them, the Taliban members even deleted photos and video documents from the event.

The conference was held at the "Mirzaee Center" located in district 13 of Kabul city. The journalists had been prevented from attending the conference too. The Taliban officials, however, have not reacted to the reports of detention of these activists.