ISIS Claims Responsibility For Attack on Taliban Vehicle In Nangarhar

However, Sabrina Singh emphasised that the US does not consider the Taliban as a cooperative force in the fight against ISIS.

This statement comes after NBC News, citing its sources, reported that in light of the growing global threat from ISIS, Biden administration officials are considering expanding cooperation with the Taliban regime to help track down ISIS-Khorasan.

NBC based this information on details provided by two informed sources and a former US official.

The US and other Western governments are striving to counter the increasing danger posed by ISIS-Khorasan. Until earlier this year, American and other Western officials believed that ISIS-Khorasan had the intent to carry out attacks outside of Afghanistan but lacked the capability to do so.

However, this perspective changed after ISIS' attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow on March 22, which resulted in the deaths of 130 people.

The Taliban have been engaged in a bloody conflict with ISIS over the past few years and claim that ISIS has been suppressed and no longer poses a threat to the group or other countries.

In an interview with Afghanistan International, Amiri said that the Taliban view women who fight against them as sexual slaves.

She shared that while she feared being raped in Taliban custody, it made no difference to her as she stood in defense of the women and people of Afghanistan, regardless of the consequences.

Amiri emphasised that a person only enters the struggle if they have experienced pain. She described her pain as being deprived of education during the Taliban's first regime in the 1990s. At that time, she was in the first grade and, due to being denied education, she remained illiterate until the age of 20.

The women's rights activist added that the Taliban forces repeatedly fired at their protests and used tear gas, but she was not afraid of the Taliban's violence. She continued her fight for the women of Afghanistan, especially in protest against the closure of girls' schools.

Amiri also noted that the Taliban's oppressive actions against activists and women's rights movements have caused women's protests to diminish on the streets of Afghanistan.

However, she stressed that the Taliban's violence against women has turned them into a serious movement, with their voices being heard more than ever worldwide.

Previously, the US State Department's annual report on human rights mentioned that 16 out of 90 women imprisoned in Jawzjan, Faryab, and Samangan had become pregnant after being raped by Taliban members.

The report also noted that the Taliban had executed at least four women in Samangan after they were repeatedly raped by its members.

In a joint report published in July by The Guardian and Rukhshana Media, it was revealed that Taliban members had gang-raped a female human rights activist in prison. The activist stated that the Taliban threatened to release a video of the sexual assault if she continued her protests against the group.

Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and UNFPA says that midwives can fulfil about 90 percent of the immediate reproductive health needs of mothers, babies and adolescent girls.

According to the statement, there is a need for about 900,000 more trained midwives globally.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that in 2021, it supported more than 70 family clinics in Afghanistan, but that number has now increased more than six-fold to 477 clinics, despite the very challenging operating environment.

Since 2021, these clinics have helped more than five million Afghans access vital health services, especially in remote and hard-to-reach areas, according to the report.

High maternal mortality rate

The report of the United Nations Population Fund states that Afghanistan has long had one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, so much so that every hour, a woman dies due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

These deaths are largely preventable with the care of skilled midwives, according to the statement.

For every 100,000 births, 638 mothers die in childbirth, due to poverty, limited access to health services and gender inequality, as per a report.

Referring to the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women's education, work, and travel, the UNFPA said that the prospects for this situation appear more dangerous for women, girls, and future generations in Afghanistan.

The court's statement detailed that the individual had been found guilty of insulting Islamic sanctities.

The sentencing was handed down by the Public Security Court of the Khost Primary Court, and the punishment was carried out in the presence of Aminullah Munib, the director of the Khost Court of Appeals, along with military and civilian government officials.

The Taliban did not disclose the identity of the individual in question.
This incident follows a similar case from the previous day, where the Taliban's Supreme Court revealed that a woman in Kabul had been flogged 35 times on charges of maintaining an extramarital affairs. The court added that she had been sentenced to two years in prison but did not provide further details about her identity or the manner in which the punishment was executed.

The ministry stated that the appointment of Mohammad Rahman Rahmani is significant for the development of relations between the two nations.

In a statement, the ministry mentioned that Alibek Bakayev, Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister, met the "head of the Afghan Embassy" in the city of Astana on Wednesday.

The statement did not refer to the "Islamic Emirate," the title the Taliban use for their regime.

Bakayev said, "Afghanistan's active presence among regional countries will lead to the revival of its economy and stability. This will improve the situation of the Afghan people and contribute to peace and security in the region."

The Deputy Foreign Minister emphasised that the official recognition of the Taliban representative as Chargé d'Affaires is aimed at "enhancing trade, economic, and humanitarian cooperation between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan”.

Last month, Turkmenistan, another key Central Asian country, also accepted a Taliban diplomat as the Chargé d'Affaires of the Afghan Embassy in Ashgabat.
Russia and Central Asian countries have been at the forefront of expanding relations with the Taliban regime in the region.

In June, Kazakhstan's President announced that the country had removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist groups to facilitate economic relations with Afghanistan under Taliban rule.