Kabul, 11 Other Provinces in Afghanistan Face Power Outage on Friday

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.

The Taliban official said that the woman who has been raped is a Hazara and a resident of Khost district of Baghlan province.

Earlier this week, local sources in Panjshir province said that Taliban members had raped a woman and her four daughters in the village of "Hazara Kepa Deh Khawak" in Paryan district of Panjshir.

However, Mawlawi Aminul Haq said that he has visited the area and spoken to the family of the rape victim. The local Taliban official emphasised that the Taliban members sexually assaulted only one woman and her daughters had not been assaulted.

In the leaked audio tape, Aminul Haq, quoted the woman who had been sexually assaulted, and said that two Taliban members entered their house, assaulted the woman's husband, and forced him to leave the house, after beating her up, they raped her.

The Taliban judge added that they have arrested six members of the group on charges of rape.

The Taliban judge stressed that he is trying to enforce the "Hudod" order on the Taliban forces in Panjshir to enforce the Sharia law.

This Taliban official said that the residents of Panjshir "should not publicise the incidents that happen to their sisters and mothers in Panjshir”. He added that the publication of these facts doesn’t prevent the behaviour of Taliban fighters and will not cure any pain.

Previously, Taliban spokesmen had denied the incident in Panjshir province.

In the past year, there have been many reports of sexual assault by the Taliban. However, the Taliban has not put any of its forces to trial so far.

UNAMA urged the Taliban to respect human rights on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UNAMA has published the first article of the Declaration of Human Rights, which states, "I am born free and equal, and all human beings should be treated in the same way.”

This comes even as the Taliban has been accused of massive violations of human rights in Afghanistan.

International organisations have expressed concern about the situation of human rights and asked the Taliban to respect the human rights of Afghan citizens, especially women and girls.

However, the Taliban not only have not responded to these demands, but also increased the restrictions on women and girls.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on December 10, 1948, at the extraordinary session of the United Nations General Assembly in Paris.