US Senator Presses For Action On Afghan Allies Bill

In its report on Sunday, Bakhtar published photos showing only male ministers after Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp and several colleagues from the centre-right New Social Contract party stepped down over failed efforts to impose new sanctions against Israel.

Taliban-controlled outlets have repeatedly censored images of women, both inside Afghanistan and in their reporting on international affairs. Critics say the group’s media policy not only erases women from Afghan public life but also applies the same exclusionary rules abroad.

Since returning to power, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on media freedom. Women’s visibility on television has been sharply curtailed, with female presenters forced to cover their faces and cultural programming heavily censored.

In many provinces, images of living beings have been banned under a decree issued by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

The Taliban-run Bakhtar News Agency reported on Sunday that the Ministry of Finance has started disbursing pensions. Radio Hurriyat said payments are limited to retirees whose documents have been verified by a special court.

Retirees have repeatedly staged protests in recent years over the Taliban’s failure to pay pensions, which were suspended after the group seized power. Under the former Afghan government, more than 160,000 retired workers received regular pensions.

In December 2024, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued an eight-article decree instructing retirees to submit claims through special courts in order to receive payments. Although the decree set out a process for handling pension cases, it was not implemented until now, leaving pensioners without income for four years.

In a statement, the AFF said two other Taliban members were wounded in the assault, which took place in the city’s first security district. The group also released a video purporting to show its fighters carrying out the attack.

Local residents told Afghanistan International that an explosion was heard in Taleqan around the same time.

The Taliban, which typically does not comment on attacks by armed opposition groups, has so far remained silent on the incident.

Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) announced that the contracts will provide power to Kabul, Kandahar, Baghlan, Nangarhar, Laghman, Logar, Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni and Zabul provinces. The company said Kabul’s electricity capacity would also be increased to 1,500 megawatts.

According to DABS, the deals cover the 500-kilovolt Surkhan–Dasht-e-Alwan transmission line, expansion of the Dasht-e-Alwan power station, the 220-kilovolt Kabul–Nangarhar transmission line and the Sheikh Mesri substation in Nangarhar.

On 18 August, the company announced the signing of the contracts in Kabul with firms linked to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy.

The Taliban’s pledge to expand power supply comes as residents in many parts of Afghanistan continue to face severe electricity shortages.

The bodies were taken on Saturday to the central hospital of Paktika province in the city of Sharan, escorted by Taliban fighters in military vehicles. Images obtained by Afghanistan International showed ambulances carrying the bodies.

The fighters were killed earlier this month in Pakistan’s Sambaza area of Balochistan, near the Afghan border. On 11 August, Pakistan’s military announced it had killed 50 TTP members in operations there and seized weapons, ammunition and explosives.

Sources said about 90 percent of those killed were Afghans from the Hafiz Gul Bahadur faction of the TTP, which had crossed into Pakistan to attack security forces. The group is regarded as one of the most active anti-Pakistan factions and was previously identified as a military wing of the TTP. It has carried out multiple deadly attacks against Pakistani forces.

Earlier reports indicated that the bodies would be handed over to the families in various Afghan provinces. The Taliban have not commented publicly on the transfers.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban of sheltering militant groups, including the TTP, and has urged them to take concrete action. The Taliban deny the charge, insisting Afghan soil is not used against other countries.

At the UN Security Council earlier this month, Pakistan’s envoy Asim Iftikhar Ahmad warned that terrorist groups based in Afghanistan, particularly the TTP, which is believed to have around 6,000 fighters, pose the most immediate threat to Pakistan’s national security.

UN experts have also reported that the Taliban continue to provide a permissive environment for foreign terrorist groups in Afghanistan, which they said threatens the wider security of Central Asia and beyond.