Taliban Publicly Flogs Woman In Herat Province

The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced that a woman has been flogged in public in Obe district of Herat province on charges of extramarital relations.

The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced that a woman has been flogged in public in Obe district of Herat province on charges of extramarital relations.
On Tuesday, the court said in a statement that the woman was lashed 39 times.
The Taliban has not disclosed the identity of the woman, but mentioned that the punishment was issued by the court of Obe district in Herat city and was carried out after being confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Despite opposition from human rights organisations, the Taliban continues to carry out public and corporal punishments on citizens.

Zakir Jalali, Taliban’s Foreign Ministry official, referred indirectly to the Vienna meeting, describing its participants as a "vagrant group" who "have no understanding of international politics" and are "relying on external intervention”.
In a note on X, Jalali emphasised that they are "doomed to fail”.
He added that this "aimless group no longer has any buyers in the political market, and no one is willing to bet on the hollow words of these burnt-out figures."
The fourth Vienna meeting, attended by dozens of leaders and politicians opposing the Taliban, has been held to discuss the future of Afghanistan.
Senior Taliban officials are yet to make explicit comments about this meeting.

The National Resistance Front (NRF) and the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) announced on Monday evening that they had attacked a Taliban checkpoint and outpost in Kabul.
The two groups claimed that seven Taliban fighters were killed in these attacks.
On Monday, the National Resistance Front wrote on X that they had attacked a Taliban outpost in the Saray Laghman area in Kabul's ninth security district, resulting in the deaths of two Taliban members and injuring one.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front also posted a video on X stating that their attack on a Taliban checkpoint at the Alauddin intersection killed five Taliban members and wounded two others.
Independent sources have not yet confirmed the figures reported by these two anti-Taliban groups.
Several Kabul residents told Afghanistan International that they heard two loud explosions in the Darul Aman and Karte Naw areas of Kabul on Monday evening.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Interior announced the launch of a system to register mobile phones belonging to the citizens of Afghanistan.
The ministry stated that it has begun the process of registering citizens' mobile phones by distributing forms among the public.
Abdul Mateen Qani, Taliban’s spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, wrote on X social media platform on Monday, that registering mobile phones "has been undertaken to protect and secure citizens' mobile phones”.
Qani wrote, "The process of registering people's mobile phones and distributing forms for this purpose has been ongoing for a year now."
The spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior stated that the group plans to implement mobile phone registration across all regions of the country in the future.
Although the Taliban has claimed that this process is aimed at protecting people's phones and has so far recovered 704 stolen phones through this method, critics argue that registering mobile phones could provide the Taliban with greater control over citizens.

The Spectator magazine reported that the United Nations is investigating reports of sexual assault, gang rape, and sex slavery of women in Taliban prisons.
Previously, the United States’ State Department had stated that 16 out of 90 female prisoners in three northern provinces became pregnant after being raped by the Taliban members.
The Spectator reported that the United Nations is set to investigate sexual assaults on women in Taliban prisons.
Reports of sexual violence and assault by the Taliban on female prisoners in Afghanistan have raised concerns for the State Department and Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan.
Bennett said, "In general, I am aware of serious ill treatment of detainees, not only sexual but beatings, threats, extortion."
He also added that a team of UN staff is investigating the sexual assault and mistreatment of Afghan women by the Taliban.
The special rapporteur on human rights also said another concern is that some prisons may be operated outside the jurisdiction of the prison administration, managed by Taliban intelligence and personally by their commanders, limiting researchers' access to real information.
Additionally, some women who have experienced Taliban prisons have repeatedly spoken of mistreatment, torture, and sexual violence by the Taliban against women in prisons.
Previously, the George W. Bush Institute released a report on the situation in Afghanistan titled "Captured State," which mentioned issues such as the Taliban acquiring wives through force and manipulating families' desperation to settle debts or bolster support from loyalists.
This comes as the US State Department, in its annual report on the state of human rights in Afghanistan, said that at least 16 out of 90 female prisoners in Jowzjan, Faryab, and Samangan became pregnant after being raped by Taliban members.
State Department also noted that the Taliban have not implemented any mechanisms to support women who are victims of sexual assault.

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported on Monday, citing its sources, that the clashes between Pakistani border guards and militants at the Afghanistan border has ended.
According to Dawn, these clashes began on Saturday evening in three border areas in the Lower Dir of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
So far, the Pakistani military has not commented on the clashes.
Dawn reported, citing local residents, that there had been no exchange of fire or shooting in the Lower Dir district on Monday.
According to the report, after two days of fighting, the militants retreated to Afghanistan.
The Pakistani media wrote that both sides suffered casualties in these clashes, however, the details of the casualties are not clear.
It also reported that on Monday, local elders, politicians, and intellectuals held a jirga to discuss a permanent solution for maintaining law and order in the region.
