Taliban’s Governor Calls for More Religious Schools in Panjshir

The report highlights that Taliban members have breached their leader's decrees on various issues, including the prohibition of polygamy, nepotism, and extrajudicial killings.

Published on Friday, the new research details the Taliban's governance in Afghanistan, revealing that there is a divergence of opinions among the Taliban leader and senior officials on cultural and social policies.

A significant disagreement is about the ban on girls' education, with members of the Taliban’s cabinet publicly opposing the group's leadership decisions multiple times.

Mullah Yaqoob, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and Abbas Stanikzai are among the officials who have publicly criticised Hibatullah Akhundzada's policies.

The Institute for the Study of War report also mentions that Taliban officials have secretly sent their daughters to schools, blatantly ignoring Akhundzada's orders.

According to the report, Akhundzada has issued several decrees declaring polygamy as "unnecessary and wasteful," and prohibited it. Nonetheless, many Taliban commanders have continued to engage in multiple marriages despite Akhundzada's orders.

Furthermore, in direct violation of the group leader's promise of a general amnesty, Taliban members have widely continued extrajudicial killings of former Afghan government employees.

Additionally, the report states that Taliban officials have appointed relatives and associates to governmental positions, disregarding Akhundzada's directives against nepotism and corruption.

Earlier, local sources reported hearing two explosions in western Kabul.

In a statement released on Friday, the front mentioned that its forces targeted a Taliban checkpoint near the Koti Sangi bridge around 7PM, located within the fifth police district of Kabul city.

According to the front, two Taliban members had been killed, and two others were injured in this attack.

The front reported that the second attack took place at 7:30PM, when its forces targeted a Taliban checkpoint near Habibia High School in the seventh police district of Kabul city, resulting in the death of one Taliban member and the injury of another.

NRF did not elaborate on the nature of these attacks.

However, the front released a video of one of these two attacks, showing its members firing towards the Taliban checkpoint. A significant explosion is visible in the video.

Earlier, some residents of Kabul as well as several sources reported hearing two explosions around Koti Sangi. One source described one of the explosions as massive.

The Taliban typically refrains from commenting or acknowledging attacks by the NRF. In recent days, attacks by the resistance front forces on Taliban personnel in Kabul and some other provinces, including Ghor, have intensified.

According to the NRF’s statement, in one of the recent attacks by the front in Ghor province, the Taliban’s commander of the governor's guards and one of his guards were killed.

The Taliban's information and culture office in Ghor province, without mentioning the charges against them, stated that the sentence for these individuals was carried out in the presence of the group's officials.

Local sources told Afghanistan International that after Friday prayers, the Taliban flogged these individuals at the grand mosque of Dawlat Yar district.

According to the sources, the Taliban lashed each of these individuals 39 times.

From time to time, the Taliban publicly flogs citizens in several cities on various charges.

Despite criticisms of public punishments by the Taliban, the group has continued to punish citizens in this manner. Human rights defenders say that the accused do not have access to lawyers and fair trials.

Simultaneously, a source close to Afghan confirmed his release to Afghanistan International.

The source also said that all four colleagues of this YouTuber have also been released from detention.

Previously, Zadran had announced that Afghan was summoned following a complaint from the family of an elderly woman.

Quoting the family of the woman, he wrote that an unauthorised interview had been broadcast. However, sources close to Afghan say that such an interview had not been published.

On Friday, Zadran wrote on his X social media account that this YouTuber was summoned for clarification, and currently, the matter was under investigation.

According to this Taliban spokesperson, recently Afghan interviewed an elderly woman, and after its broadcast, the family of this woman complained, stating that she had not obtained permission from them to broadcast the interview.

On Thursday, sources informed Afghanistan International that the Taliban detained this YouTuber and four of his colleagues from their office in the Karte Char area in Kabul.

This American think thank wrote that Tehran has access to Hibatullah Akhundzada, leader of the Taliban.

In an article written by Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert at the Brookings Institution, it has been stated that “surprisingly, Iran has developed the deepest access to the Taliban’s reclusive Hibatullah and his inner circle”.

It added that following Jaish al-Adl’s bombing in Iranian territory, the Iranian government did not retaliate against targets in Afghanistan, but instead attacked Pakistani soil.

Brookings wrote that despite the disputes over the water and border clashes between Iran and Taliban, Iran has maintained its deep access to the Taliban leader.