Rocket Attack In Badakhshan Kills Three Taliban, Says AFF
The Afghanistan Freedom Front says its fighters launched a rocket attack on Taliban forces in Badakhshan, killing three fighters and wounding two others.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front says its fighters launched a rocket attack on Taliban forces in Badakhshan, killing three fighters and wounding two others.
The group said the strike took place on Saturday evening, targeting the Taliban’s Seventh Security District in the provincial capital.
In a statement posted on X on Sunday, the front said the clash lasted more than 15 minutes and involved the use of both light and heavy weapons. It added that none of its fighters were injured.
Two local sources separately confirmed to Afghanistan International that the Taliban’s Seventh Security District came under attack on Saturday night.
Taliban officials have not commented on the incident or the reported casualties.
Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s foreign minister, says that during his most recent visit to Kabul, Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi informed him that a number of members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had been arrested.
Dar said this was not enough and that the Taliban must either move TTP members away from the shared border or hand them over to Pakistan.
Dar stressed that his country does not, under any circumstances, want Afghan soil to be used against Pakistan’s security. He said Pakistan had proposed that the Afghan side either relocate Pakistani Taliban fighters away from the frontier or surrender them to Islamabad.
He added that he had recently travelled to several countries, including Bahrain, Russia and Belgium, and during official meetings with senior officials in those countries, he had rejected the information they had received regarding the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan as inaccurate, and conveyed to them the realities of both countries. According to him, this new information had been accepted by the European Union and other countries.
The Pakistani foreign minister also urged the Taliban to rethink their governance policies, saying the Taliban’s governing structure consists of two parts: one half that favours peace and another that opposes it.
He added Pakistan can resolve the Afghanistan issue by force, but they do not want to enter “our brothers’ home and kill them”.
The recent deterioration in relations between the Taliban and the Pakistani government has led both sides to exchange increasingly sharp statements.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released photos of several Afghan nationals accused of terrorism-related activity and criminal offences, saying they “rewarded American generosity with violence.”
DHS published the images of individuals who were allowed to remain in the United States under the Biden administration but later carried out acts of violence or other crimes. The department said Americans “do not have to suffer violence from people who should not be here at all.”
According to DHS, the individuals will be removed from the United States. One man on the list was already killed in a confrontation with police.
Jamal Wali – Shooting at US Police
DHS said Jamal Wali, an Afghan national admitted under the Biden administration’s “Operation Allies Welcome,” shot and wounded two Virginia police officers during a traffic stop. He was killed by return fire after declaring: “I should have served with the f–king Taliban!”
Abdullah Haji Zada and Nasir Ahmad Tohidi – Plotting a Terrorist Attack
DHS said Abdullah Haji Zada and Nasir Ahmed Tawhedi, both granted legal status by the Biden administration, were arrested and prosecuted for plotting a terrorist attack in Oklahoma City during the 2024 elections. DHS said they possessed hundreds of rounds of ammunition and had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Mohammad Kharwin – On the Terrorism Watchlist
Mohammad Kharwin, an Afghan national listed on the terrorism watchlist, was detained by US Border Patrol in 2024. DHS said he was released into the United States under the Biden administration and lived freely for more than a year before being rearrested.
Jawed Ahmadi – Assault
DHS said Jawed Ahmadi, an undocumented Afghan “criminal,” was arrested in 2025 by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and convicted of second-degree assault, despite previously having been authorised to remain in the United States.
Bahrullah Noori – Attempted Sexual Assault
DHS said Bahrullah Noori, another Afghan national who had left the United States, was detained at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and charged with attempting to engage in sexual acts with a minor.
Zabiullah Mohmand – Rape of a Teenage Girl
According to DHS, Zabiullah Mohmand, resettled in Montana under the Biden administration, was charged with raping a teenage girl in a motel room in Missoula.
DHS said the men were “just a few of the criminals who were said to be ‘fully vetted’ by the Biden administration.”
The announcement came shortly after an Afghan suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, shot two US National Guard members in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. One of the soldiers, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, later died of her injuries.
US President Donald Trump said all cases of Afghans who entered the United States during Joe Biden’s presidency must be reviewed again, adding: “We must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”
On Thursday, the US immigration agency said it had immediately suspended processing of all Afghan immigration applications. The US State Department also announced an immediate halt to the issuance of visas for all individuals holding Afghan passports.
Abdul Rahman Lakanwal, the Afghan national accused of shooting two members of the US National Guard near the White House, had struggled for years with psychological collapse, unemployment and prolonged isolation.
The Associated Press, citing internal emails it obtained, reported that Lakanwal, who arrived in the United States in 2021 with his wife and five young children under the “Operation Allies Welcome” programme, is now charged with first-degree murder.
A community advocate familiar with Lakanwal had emailed the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a nonprofit that supports refugees, repeatedly last year, warning that Lakanwal appeared to be in severe mental distress. The advocate, who had observed increasingly erratic and confused behaviour, expressed concern that Lakanwal might be at risk of suicide and requested assistance for him.
The advocate told AP he had seen no indication that Lakanwal posed a threat to others.
According to an email from January 2024, “Rahmanullah has not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023. He quit his job that month, and his behaviour has changed greatly.”
The emails described Lakanwal spending weeks in a darkened room without speaking to anyone, including his wife and older children. At one point in 2023, the family faced eviction after going months without paying rent.
Another email said family members often sent the youngest sons to deliver messages or phones to Lakanwal’s room because he would not respond to anyone else. When his wife travelled for a week to visit relatives, the children reportedly went without bathing, clean clothes or proper meals, prompting concerns from their school.
The correspondence also noted that Lakanwal would at times leave home and drive long distances without stopping.
Last week, Washington Judge Jeanine Pirro said Lakanwal had driven across the country without pause to reach the US capital and carry out the attack.
The Taliban in Ruyi Du Ab district of Samangan province have flogged a woman and a man 30 times after accusing them of “running away from home and moral corruption,” and sentenced them to between one and two years in prison.
Separately, Taliban authorities in Jowzjan province flogged another individual 39 times on a theft charge and handed down a three-month prison sentence.
The Taliban continue to arrest and publicly flog people on a near-daily basis across Afghanistan.
International human rights organisations have described these practices as violations of human dignity and fundamental rights.
The absence of independent judicial and legal institutions in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, along with the lack of access to impartial oversight bodies, remains a major concern for rights groups.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said he had provided detailed explanations to 27 European countries regarding Islamabad’s recent confrontation with the Taliban.
According to Geo News, Dar told reporters in Islamabad that he had informed the European Union of what he described as the “real situation,” including Pakistan’s view that the Taliban had not fulfilled their counterterrorism commitments.
Dar visited Brussels from 19 to 21 November to co-chair the seventh round of the EU–Pakistan Strategic Dialogue. Following the talks, the EU and Pakistan issued a joint statement urging the Taliban to take concrete action to eliminate terrorism in Afghanistan and emphasising that border tensions should be resolved through diplomacy.
EU ambassador Raimundas Karoblis reportedly said Pakistan’s demands for action against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were reasonable and rooted in legitimate security concerns.
Pakistan Considered ‘Clean-Up Operation’ in Afghanistan
Dar also said Pakistan had been prepared to launch what he described as a “clean-up operation” inside Afghanistan during the recent escalation with the Taliban, but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had halted the plan. Dar indicated that, without Sharif’s intervention, Pakistan would have taken punitive action against the Taliban.
He said Islamabad ultimately concluded that it was not appropriate to conduct operations inside Afghanistan, describing such action as equivalent to forcing entry into a neighbour’s home. Dar warned, however, that if the Taliban believed Pakistan was unable to respond, they were mistaken.
According to Dar, Qatar had been aware that Pakistan was preparing to react militarily, which he said prompted Doha to repeatedly request that Islamabad refrain from launching any operation. He said Qatari officials believed Pakistan was on the verge of taking steps that could escalate the situation and had offered to mediate and assume responsibility for helping to resolve the dispute.
Qatar and Turkiye mediated three rounds of talks between Pakistan and the Taliban, although none produced results.
Dar reiterated Pakistan’s position that the Taliban remained a “group” rather than a government and said Islamabad believed the international community shared that assessment. He added that Pakistan retained the ability to respond to the Taliban in any manner it deemed necessary, noting that Pakistan had previously confronted India, a significantly larger power.
