Attack on Pakistan Embassy in Kabul Ends; Pak PM Asks for Immediate Investigation

According to Amiri, she has held discussions with members of the House of Representatives and ambassadors of these countries, as well as with an official of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Despite repeated requests from the international community, including several Islamic countries and human rights organisations, the Taliban have refused to reopen girls' schools.

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 Afghanistan, it has been more than a year since secondary and high schools have been closed to Afghan girls. Afghan women protesters have often gathered in front of several schools and protested against the closures of secondary and high schools for girls. The women protesters held placards with the slogan “education without fear”.

In the fall of last year, authorities allowed Afghan girls to enroll in primary schools and universities and promised to resume secondary education at the start of the new school year March 23. But that day, as high school girls streamed into classrooms, officials reversed course and postponed classes indefinitely until “a comprehensive plan has been prepared according to sharia and Afghan culture.”

Last month, they allowed female students who were in 12th grade before the republic’s collapse to take the university placement exam known as the Kankor — but blocked off majors they deemed inappropriate for young women to pursue, including economics, engineering, journalism and veterinary medicine.

According to sources, Hekmatyar has not been injured in the attack.

Sources told Afghanistan International that the attackers tried to enter the party’s mosque in Darulaman Area in District 6, but were confronted by Hekmatyar’s guards. The guards have killed both the armed men.

Hizb-e-Islami, issued a statement saying that Hekmatyar and other leaders of the party have not been harmed in the attack.

According to Hizb-e-Islami two bodyguards of Hekmatyar have been injured in the attack. However, according to Afghanistan International sources, one of the bodyguards of the Hizb-e-Islami leader has been killed and another one has been injured in the attack.

The statement added that United States is committed to using its full set of counterterrorism tools to counter the threat posed by terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan.

Osama Mehmood, emir of AQIS; Atif Yahya Ghouri, deputy emir of AQIS; Muhammad Maruf, responsible for AQIS’ recruiting branch and Qari Amjad, deputy emir of TTP, who oversees operations and militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, had been mentioned in the executive order by the State Department.

“All property and interests in property of those designated that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and all U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them,” the statement added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “The US will continue to use all relevant tools to uphold our commitment to see to it that international terrorists are not able to operate with impunity in Afghanistan.”

Atiqullah Darwish, an official of the Taliban Supreme Court, said that punishment is a mercy in Islam.

After a decree attributed to Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, the group resumed punishments such as flogging and hand amputation.

In recent weeks, the Taliban flogged several Afghan citizens in Logar, Bamiyan and Takhar provinces on various charges.

Several countries have condemned the Taliban’s resumption of punishments in public.

Earlier, the European Union Special Representative for Afghanistan had said that he was horrified by the public flogging of 14 men and women by the Taliban in Logar province.

The German embassy in Afghanistan also called the Taliban's flogging of people "a heinous violation of human dignity".

Human rights groups have asked the international community to consider the issue of human rights, especially women's rights, as a condition for ties with the Taliban.

The Taliban, however, have defended flogging in public and said that they act according to Sharia law.

The OCHA report said that a record 28.3 million people will need humanitarian and protection assistance in 2023, up from 24.4 million in 2022 and 18.4 million at the beginning of 2021.

It stated that following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, there has been a major, broad-based deterioration of the humanitarian situation across the country, with both rural and urban areas in crisis.

In its latest report, it said that Afghanistan is also in the grips of a climate change-induced crisis. “The continuation of drought has drastically undermined rural livelihoods, while the loss of jobs in cities means there are no safe havens for displaced people. Unseasonal flooding during the summer and a major earthquake in June have compounded needs and damaged infrastructure further,” it said.

While stating that the country will enter its third consecutive year of drought-like conditions and its second year of crippling economic decline, OCHA said that Afghans have been unable to recover from the devastating impact of the recent earthquake and floods, and decades of conflict-driven vulnerability.

OCHA also mentioned in its report that 32 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces are in extreme severity levels of need, up from 30 provinces last year.

Emphasising on the focus areas of the humanitarian response, OCHA said that there has to be an increased focus on seasonal packages to reflect changing needs and allow for response efficiency.