Iranian Presidential Candidate Promises Sealing Border With Afghanistan, If Elected

The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that one Taliban member was killed and another was injured in the incident.

Residents near the explosion site, located in the 4th district of Kabul, confirmed the incident to Afghanistan International. The Taliban has not yet commented in this regard.

AFF is one of the Taliban’s opposition groups, primarily composed of former government military personnel.

On Monday, June 10, AFF also reported a guerrilla attack on a Taliban checkpoint in Darulaman area of Kabul. The front claimed that three Taliban members were killed and one was injured in the attack.

Sakhizada wrote in a note on Facebook that there were two attackers. The Taliban is yet to comment on the incident.

Mujeeb Bahir, the head of Ariana News, responded to a question from Afghanistan International by stating that he was unaware of the incident.

Ariana News is a private news network based in Kabul that has continued to operate under Taliban conditions and restrictions since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.

According to the sources, on Thursday, the payment of the third month’s salary for these employees has also been delayed.

The sources, who wished to remain anonymous, said that for the third consecutive month, the Taliban have told some of their intelligence employees that their salaries will be paid "soon”.

The sources stated that the Taliban had promised their intelligence employees that the salaries would be paid today, Tuesday, on the eve of Eid al-Adha, however, the promise was not fulfilled.

It is unclear whether the Taliban's inability to pay its employees is limited to the intelligence department or if it extends to other security and defence agencies.

Over the past two and a half years, the salaries of some government civilian departments, including the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Education, have been covered by international organisations such as the Red Cross and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

However, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced last August that it would likely end funding for 25 hospitals in Afghanistan by the end of August.

Medical staff at Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar told Afghanistan International in April this year that their salaries had been reduced by 30 percent over the past two months for unknown reasons.

Similarly, as of Thursday, June 13, the Taliban have reduced the salaries of female government employees to five thousand Afghanis.

UNICEF has described the Taliban's ban on girls' education as a blatant violation of their right to education.

In a statement released on Thursday, it said that the systematic deprivation of girls from education leads to reduced opportunities and deteriorating mental health.

UNICEF emphasised that children's rights, especially those of girls, should not be "held hostage" to political issues.

According to the organisation, the consequences of the ban on girls' education extend beyond the girls themselves; it exacerbates the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and has serious impacts on development and the economy.

According to UNICEF's report, the Taliban have deprived nearly one and a half million Afghan girls of education in the past 1,000 days.

The Taliban's decision to close girls' schools has faced widespread domestic and international condemnation, but the group remains unwilling to reverse this decision.

The Taliban stated that these individuals were punished with 25 to 30 lashes on charges of theft and extramarital relations.

According to a statement from the Taliban’s Supreme Court, the corporal punishment was carried out in public based on the decision of the criminal court in Spin Boldak district.

According to the statement, the Taliban sentenced two individuals to one year of imprisonment and 25 lashes, three individuals to one year of imprisonment and 30 lashes, four individuals to two years of imprisonment and 25 lashes, and two others to three years of imprisonment and 30 lashes.

Recently, the group flogged 63 individuals, including 49 men and 14 women, on charges of various offences at the central stadium in Sar-e Pul province.

Since the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan, corporal punishments such as flogging, amputation, and execution have resumed.

Human rights organisations have repeatedly called for an end to public punishments of citizens and have expressed concern about the lack of access to defence lawyers and legal services for the accused.