Explosion in Balkh Kills 7 and Injures 6, Says Taliban

The new development with schoolgirls in 12th grade happens as the Taliban has closed schools for girls in secondary and higher education since August 2021.

Afghanistan International sources said that female students have been asked to contact their schools on Monday to register for the exam along with a photograph, ID card, and 600 Afghanis fees.

A teacher from Kabul said that students have been asked to show up in schools with the strict hijab required by the Taliban, otherwise they will not be allowed to take the exam.

After entering Kabul on August 15, 2021, the Taliban prevented the reopening of girls' schools in Afghanistan.

In the past 440 days, this group refused to accept domestic and international requests to open the gates of girls' schools.

The students in 12th grade are asked to attend the exam, while they have not been able to study the 12th grade or attend classes in the past one year in Afghanistan.

The family of the two said that they had no access to them when they were in detention and Taliban had told them that they had arrested Khan and Rasouli on the "orders of the Taliban leaders".

Rasouli's family told Afghanistan International on Saturday, that they were not allowed to visit or contact their detained family members.

According to this family, they contacted several different provincial offices of the Taliban often, but the group didn’t respond to their queries about the fate of the tribal elder and his son.

According to the family, the Taliban first denied arresting the two, but after a while told them that the two are in Taliban detention.

The Taliban have not yet commented on the killing or arrest of the tribal elder and his son in Ghor province.

However, he didn’t elaborate more on Islamic State’s collusion with the insurgents.

Mujahid stressed that there are circles that are trying to ruin relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pakistani embassy.

Earlier, the Taliban announced that they had arrested a suspect from a building near the Pakistani embassy.

Sources told Afghanistan International that a security guard at the Pakistani embassy in Kabul was injured in the attack.

The Taliban insists that Afghanistan is stable, and the ISIS group does not have a physical presence in the country. But after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, ISIS has taken responsibility for the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.

According to the UN Security Council’s statement, Khairkhaw will participate in an international forum on the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention.

However, an official of the Ministry of Information and Culture of the Taliban said that Khairkhaw has decided not to participate in the Kazan meeting.

The Taliban are accused of destroying Afghanistan's rare cultural heritage during their rule in the 1990s.

Under the group’s reign in the 1990s, the Taliban destroyed a part of the statues of the National Archives of Afghanistan and blew up the Buddha statues of Bamiyan province.

Pakistani officials said that they are in contact with the Taliban and security measures have been stepped up to protect the embassy.

In the meantime, Pakistan’s foreign ministry has summoned the Charge d'Affaires of the Taliban embassy in Islamabad to express its concern over the attack the country’s embassy in Kabul.

The ministry's statement said that the Charge d'Affaires of the Taliban embassy has been told that the attack on Pakistani diplomats in Kabul has been "a very serious security breach."

The Pakistani chief of mission in Kabul was attacked by gunmen on Friday. He has not been harmed, but his bodyguard has been seriously injured.