Taliban Flogs Two Men in Laghman On Charges of Having Sexual Relations

Jul 18, 2023, 13:37 GMT+1

The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that two men had been flogged for having sexual relations in Mehtarlam, the capital city of Laghman province.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Taliban’s Supreme Court added that each of these individuals had been publicly flogged 30 times.

Based on the statement, they have been sentenced to one year in prison too.

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US National Security Advisor And Qatari PM Discuss Afghanistan

Jul 18, 2023, 12:43 GMT+1

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed the developments in Afghanistan and the need to arrange humanitarian aid for the Afghan people.

No further details of this telephone conversation have been revealed by the two sides.

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar in a statement on Monday said that the two sides also discussed bilateral cooperation and strategic partnership between the two countries and international and regional issues, including the crisis in Ukraine and Lebanon.

In recent years, Qatar has played an important role in the developments in Afghanistan, and the United States has repeatedly praised Doha for its support in the process of evacuation of Afghans at risk.

The US peace agreement with the Taliban was also signed in Doha, Qatar in 2020, and this country is currently hosting a large number of Afghans who were transferred from Afghanistan during the evacuation operation.

NRF Confirms Killing Taliban Member In Baghlan

Jul 18, 2023, 11:59 GMT+1

The National Resistance Front (NRF) announced that one Taliban fighter had been killed and two other members of the group had been wounded in the Nahrin district of Baghlan province.

NRF said that its forces launched a guerilla attack on the Taliban outpost in "Tasadi" area of Nahrin district of Baghlan province on Monday night.

NRF emphasised that its forces follow and attack the Taliban outposts in order "to save the people and the country from terrorists".

In recent days, the front has announced launch of attacks on Taliban positions in Kabul and Kapisa provinces.

Radio Afghanistan International Nominated For IBC’s Prestigious Social Impact Awards

Jul 18, 2023, 11:26 GMT+1

Radio Afghanistan International has been nominated for the Social Impact category awards of the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in the Netherlands.

On Monday, IBC announced that Radio Afghanistan International is one of the shortlisted platforms in the category for amplifying the voices of Afghan women.

The Social Impact Award is one of several awards of IBC which will be awarded to international media outlets on September 15 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

BBC and the Spanish State Radio and Television (RTVE) are among the five nominees for this prestigious award.

"We were blown away by the range and ambition of this year’s entries," Ade Rawcliffe, Group Director of Diversity and Inclusion at ITV and Chair of the Social Impact Awards Jury, said in a statement.

He added, "The quality of the finalists from around the globe illustrates just how important making a social impact is to an increasing number of businesses and creative companies."

Afghanistan International is a part of the Volant media company, which was established after the fall of the previous Afghan government in 2021. The nomination for the IBC Award highlights the vital work of the media for Afghan audience.

As an international multimedia network, Afghanistan International has reflected diverse viewpoints and reported on human rights and other current affairs issues and has become a voice for the people of Afghanistan.

Durrani Set To Visit Kabul For First Time As Pakistan’s Special Envoy

Jul 18, 2023, 09:55 GMT+1

As tensions have escalated between the Taliban and Pakistan, Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan will visit Kabul on Wednesday.

Durrani's office confirmed to Afghanistan International that he will travel to Kabul for a three-day trip to meet Taliban officials.

This is Asif Durrani's first visit to Afghanistan as Pakistan’s special envoy. Last month, he had been appointed as Pakistan's special representative for Afghanistan affairs.

Tension between Pakistan's military establishment and the Taliban escalated after a group of militants waged a complex attack on a Pakistani military base in Baluchistan province last week. At least 12 Pakistani soldiers were killed in this attack.

After the attack, the Pakistani army expressed its concern in two separate statements about the safe havens of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan and the participation of Afghan citizens in "terrorist" activities on Pakistani soil.

In a statement, the Pakistani army announced that it has "serious concerns" about the existence of safe havens and the freedom of action of the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan.

The statement said that the participation of Afghan citizens in "terrorist activities" inside Pakistan is another important concern of the army.

In another statement on Monday, Pakistan Army stressed that the TTP shelters in Afghanistan are one of the main factors of instability in Pakistan.

The Pakistan army added that TTP has freedom of action in Afghanistan and has access to the "latest weapons".

The Afghan Taliban continues to emphasise, as in the past two years, that foreign militant groups are not present in Afghanistan and the Taliban doesn’t allow any group to attack the territory of neighbouring countries from Afghanistan.

Following these tensions, John Kirby, the spokesperson for the US National Security Council, said that there is no evidence about the involvement of Afghan refugees in Pakistan or its border areas in terrorist activities in Pakistan.

Taliban’s Prime Minister Returns to Kabul After Absence of Two Months

Jul 17, 2023, 15:06 GMT+1

After around two months of absence from office, the Taliban’s Prime Minister Mullah Hasan Akhund returned to office in Kabul.

Taliban deputy spokesperson Bilal Karimi said that Mullah Hasan Akhund returned to work on Monday after "treatment and rest in Kandahar”.

According to Karimi, the Taliban’s Prime Minister returned to office on the orders of Mullah Hibatullah Akhunzada, the group’s leader.

Karimi added that before returning to Kabul, the Taliban’s Prime Minister met Akhundzada in Kandahar and the Taliban leader "ordered" him to return to Kabul to manage the government’s affairs.

The Taliban also released a video clip, which shows Mullah Hasan Akhund at the Kabul airport being received by the Taliban officials.

Earlier, it had been reported that Mohammad Hassan Akhund was called to Kandahar due to "old age" and "illness".

The head of the Taliban cabinet was not present in the meetings of the Taliban over the last two months, and some considered it to be the result of the escalation of differences between the leaders of the Taliban.

Mohammad Hasn Akhund is one of the highly conservative leaders of the group and stands against the right to education and work of Afghan women and girls.

During the past two months and in his absence, the Taliban leader had appointed Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the deputy prime minister of the group as the acting prime minister.