UN Seeks $140 Million To Help Quake Survivors In Eastern Afghanistan

Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Sviatoslav Kaverin was freed after Russian authorities made a formal request to the Taliban. Kaverin had been arrested in July while travelling in Kunduz province for anthropological research. He was accused of smuggling jewellery and later transferred to Taliban intelligence in Kabul.

Kaverin had gone to Afghanistan to study in Kunar, Nuristan, Kapisa and Nangarhar provinces. After his detention, he was unreachable for weeks, prompting concern from his family and colleagues, who said the jewellery found in his luggage was nothing more than souvenirs and gifts.

Reports in mid-August suggested Kaverin was being held in a Kabul detention centre, though no formal charges were filed. After his release, he said he spent 52 days in custody, during which he was moved several times. To pass the time, he exercised with fellow inmates, sang songs and painted the walls of his cell. He said he was beaten during interrogations, though not severely enough to leave visible marks.

His mother had appealed to Rustam Minnikhanov, president of Tatarstan, during a recent conference in the region attended by Taliban representatives.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti first reported his release on 8 September. The following morning, Kaverin posted a photo of himself at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, writing hours later that he had “finally returned home.”

The directive, sent to the Taliban’s Administrative Affairs Office two weeks ago, disbanded units comprising about 150 staff, sources said. Roughly 120 personnel had been assigned to the Interior Ministry and 30 to the Foreign Ministry under the Interpol structure.

Afghanistan became a member of Interpol on 21 October 2002 during the organisation’s 171st General Assembly in Cameroon. Interpol operations were first established inside the Interior Ministry and later expanded.

In 2010, with international support, the Interpol police unit was upgraded to an independent directorate under the deputy interior minister for security. The unit managed offices at 13 land border crossings and four international airports — Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat and Kandahar.

Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, the Interpol directorate has maintained only limited contacts with Iran, Pakistan, Russia and the UAE, sources in the Interior Ministry said. They cited the group’s lack of international recognition as the main reason for curtailed activities.

Under the previous Afghan government, the Interpol directorate provided national institutions with access to Interpol databases and facilitated cooperation with its 193 member states.

Nada Al-Nashif, the UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, told the Human Rights Council that the Taliban’s discriminatory and repressive policies amounted to gender-based persecution. She said bans on education, employment and participation in political, social and civic life had affected “every aspect” of Afghan women’s lives.

Al-Nashif warned that restrictions on women’s medical education were undermining Afghan women’s and girls’ right to health, including reproductive services. She also cited the Taliban’s Virtue and Vice law as a measure that has deepened gender discrimination in families and society.

She urged governments to back independent investigations and prosecutions of human rights violations in Afghanistan, stressing that efforts to ensure accountability must be multi-dimensional.

Al-Nashif said the international community and all UN member states must find effective ways to engage with the Taliban to push the group towards respecting its international obligations.

The announcement, made without the participation of Salahuddin Rabbani, said prominent leaders including Atta Mohammad Noor, Ismail Khan, Ahmad Massoud, Hazrat Ali and Younus Qanooni had agreed on “internal unity” to continue resistance.

In a statement, the faction said the council would draw on religious teachings and the legacy of former Jamiat leaders Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud to coordinate activities at national, regional and international levels.

The declaration underscored divisions with Salahuddin Rabbani, who inherited leadership of Jamiat after the assassination of his father, Burhanuddin Rabbani, in 2011. A source told Afghanistan International that Noor, previously head of a splinter group, is now a member of the new council.

The group called for national solidarity and cooperation with other political forces to confront the Taliban and urged civil and political actors to unite under a single umbrella.

According to the source, a “Problem-Solving Committee” has worked for two years to heal rifts within the party, resolving many disputes. Rabbani, however, has refused to join the process, saying differences must be addressed in person, not online. His faction has not commented on the council’s formation.

Jamiat leaders now aim to step up resistance, after years of limited activity against the Taliban. Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front, is said to be aligned with the council.

The announcement came ahead of Afghanistan “Martyrs’ Week” and was presented as a new roadmap to confront Afghanistan’s crisis.

Jamiat-e-Islami, founded in 1967 and inspired by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, was once one of Afghanistan’s most influential parties. Its leader Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed in a Taliban suicide bombing at his Kabul home in 2011.

Most of the party’s leadership fled the country after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) told Afghanistan International that “temporary adjustments” had been made to UN operations to maintain safety and continue delivering services to the people of Afghanistan. It said discussions with Taliban officials are under way to resolve the restrictions.

Afghanistan International reported earlier that Taliban security personnel prevented female UN staff from entering the mission’s Kabul office on Sunday.

According to a source, Taliban officials told female employees they were acting on orders from Hibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s supreme leader, who has prohibited women from working outside the home.

Following the move, UNAMA placed its female staff on leave until further notice, the source said.