Local sources say the Taliban’s Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Khost has ordered government press officers and spokespersons to stop giving video interviews to the media.
According to the sources, the directive also bans the publication of images and videos from official meetings of government bodies.
On Tuesday, the spokespersons for the Taliban governor in Khost and the provincial police command informed local media that, under instructions from the Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue, they would no longer provide live images or video footage.
In recent days, both offices have halted the publication of live images on social media platforms.
Khost is the 24th province where the Taliban have formally enforced a ban on publishing images of living beings. The restriction is being implemented under Article 17 of the Taliban’s law on the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice.
Since the middle of 2024, the ban has been officially announced and enforced in 24 provinces, including Paktia, Kandahar, Takhar, Badghis, Helmand, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Farah, Nimruz, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Jowzjan, Zabul, Parwan, Kunduz, Bamiyan, Daikundi, Faryab, Panjshir, Laghman, Sar-e Pol, Balkh and Herat.
India has said it will meet Afghanistan’s pharmaceutical needs over the long term, signalling a move to reduce the country’s dependence on medicine imports from Pakistan.
In a statement issued on Monday, a day after the conclusion of the visit by the Taliban’s health minister to New Delhi, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it would expand health cooperation with Afghanistan and continue humanitarian assistance.
The ministry also announced the establishment of a joint working group between the health ministries of India and Afghanistan to coordinate cooperation in the sector.
According to the statement, Noor Jalal Jalali, the Taliban’s minister of public health, met Kirti Vardhan Singh during his visit. The talks focused on health projects, the creation of cancer treatment centres in Afghanistan, the formation of the joint working group and the deployment of Indian doctors to support capacity-building programmes for Afghan physicians.
Jalali visited India from December 16 to 21 and toured at least 10 hospitals and pharmaceutical, health and food institutions. Indian officials offered what New Delhi described as positive assurances, reflecting efforts to deepen engagement with the Taliban administration at a time of strained relations between Kabul and Islamabad.
The visit followed recent trips to India by the Taliban’s foreign and commerce ministers, marking a noticeable increase in contacts over the past two months.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Jalali said medicines from Pakistan had previously accounted for 60 percent to 70 percent of Afghanistan’s pharmaceutical market. He said tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan had forced Kabul to seek alternative suppliers, adding that India had become one of Afghanistan’s main options for addressing shortages.
Jalali said the Taliban was seeking to open a “new chapter” of cooperation with India, particularly in the health sector.
The growing engagement comes amid heightened tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan, including repeated border clashes. During the dispute, Khawaja Asif, Pakistan’s defence minister, accused elements in Kabul of acting as proxy forces for India, an allegation made while Taliban and Pakistani delegations were holding talks in Istanbul to address border challenges.
An Iranian pharmaceutical industry official has warned that drug smuggling to neighbouring countries, including Afghanistan, is contributing to serious medicine shortages in Iran.
Mohsen Abdollahzadeh, a board member of Iran’s Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors, said that despite a 50 precent increase in domestic drug production, Iran is facing a severe shortage of medicines. He said smuggling to Iraq and Afghanistan has become so extensive that traders in those countries are unable to import medicines through legal channels.
Abdollahzadeh described the smuggling of medicines from Iran to Afghanistan as alarming and warned: “If this continues in the same way, it could disrupt Iran’s pharmaceutical market.”
His comments come as the Taliban have announced a ban on the import of medicines from Pakistan following military tensions with Islamabad and the closure of border crossings. A Taliban deputy prime minister has warned that within about a month, Pakistan-made medicines will no longer be cleared through customs at Afghanistan’s ports.
Taliban officials have said they are seeking to replace Pakistani medicines with imports from India and Iran. Earlier, Afghanistan’s public health minister travelled to India as part of efforts to diversify medical supply sources.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Hashemi, spokesperson for Iran’s Food and Drug Administration, said he could not rule out the smuggling of medicines to Afghanistan, noting that price differences between Iran and regional markets have created incentives for such violations.
Hashemi warned: “If this situation continues, we will face temporary shortages of medicines in Iran, and this will put additional pressure on the supply chain.”
However, he rejected claims of “widespread” drug smuggling from Iran to Afghanistan, saying available evidence points to limited cases rather than large-scale trafficking.
The Food and Drug Administration spokesperson also announced an agreement with Taliban authorities to expand official pharmaceutical exports to Afghanistan. He said the aim is to meet Afghanistan’s medical needs through transparent and legal channels while preventing illegal imports and smuggling.
The Taliban Supreme Court says more than 1,000 people were sentenced to prison by its military courts over a three-month period this year.
According to the court, 1,163 individuals were jailed in the last three months. Taliban military courts handle cases involving personnel serving in military roles within the Taliban administration.
The figures were published in a report by the security and executive directorate of the Taliban Supreme Court. The report did not specify the alleged crimes, charges, length of sentences, identities of those imprisoned or the locations where they are being held.
The report said Taliban military courts also issued thousands of summonses, with some individuals reportedly contacted by telephone and ordered to appear before Taliban military and judicial authorities.
Taliban military courts have jurisdiction over cases involving employees of the ministries of defence, interior and intelligence.
In previous years, Taliban courts have tried cases involving allegations such as kidnapping, document forgery, murder and abuse of authority. In many cases, however, the Taliban have released little information about defendants, their positions, judicial proceedings or the rulings issued.
Security sources told Afghanistan International on Monday that one of the suicide attackers involved in the assault on the Wana military college in South Waziristan, Pakistan, was an Afghan national identified as Janullah Ayubi.
He was also known by the alias Zahid, and originated from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
A photograph obtained by Afghanistan International shows a memorial ceremony held for him, in which he is described as a “martyred hero.”
The sources said Janullah was a resident of Kochiyano village in Mohmand Dara district of Nangarhar province. According to the information, several local Taliban officials attended his memorial service.
The attack took place on November 9, when four assailants stormed the military facility, killing three Pakistani soldiers. Pakistani authorities said two of the attackers were Afghans.
During the assault, the attackers rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the main gate of the college and then engaged in a gun battle with security forces. The Pakistani government later said all the attackers were killed.
Pakistan claimed the attack was organised from inside Afghanistan. In a statement, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that the attack on the Wana military college was planned and directed from Afghanistan. It added that the operation was designed in Afghanistan by a foreign national named Zahid, and Noor Wali Mehsud ordered its execution.
The statement added that all the attackers who carried out the assault on the college were Afghan nationals. The equipment used in the attack was also supplied from Afghanistan and included American-made weapons, it added.
On November 10, the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement strongly condemning the attacks in Islamabad and at the Wana military college in South Waziristan. The group has repeatedly denied that militants carry out attacks against Pakistan from Afghan territory.
More recently, Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of army staff, claimed that “70 per cent” of fighters from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are Afghans. He told the Taliban administration that it must choose between Pakistan and the TTP.
A group of Pakistani clerics meeting under the banner of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam criticised the Afghan Taliban for denying girls access to education, saying the policy has no basis in Islamic law.
In a statement issued after a meeting held on Monday in Karachi and chaired by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the clerics said that “depriving girls of education has no justification in Islam” and urged the Taliban to immediately reopen educational institutions to girls.
The statement said education is a “religious obligation” for both men and women, warning that continued restrictions on girls’ education would harm Afghan society, future generations and Afghanistan’s international standing.
The Pakistani clerics said the ongoing ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan is “contrary to Islamic principles.”
Since returning to power, the Taliban have closed schools above grade six, universities and other higher education institutions to girls. Afghan citizens, Islamic countries and the wider international community have repeatedly condemned the Taliban’s denial of the right to education for women and girls and have called for the policy to be reversed. The Taliban, however, have remained unresponsive to these demands.
Criticism of Pakistan’s Attacks on Afghanistan
In another part of the statement, the clerics called on the Afghan Taliban not to allow Afghan territory to be used to carry out terrorist attacks against Pakistan.
They also urged that disputes be resolved through dialogue.
Participants condemned armed struggle and militant activities inside Pakistan, describing them as religiously and constitutionally illegitimate.
Meanwhile, Maulana Fazlur Rehman criticised Pakistan’s military strikes on Afghan territory during the gathering, saying regional tensions should be resolved through dialogue and restraint.
Relations between Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban deteriorated sharply after Pakistan carried out strikes in October on Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan, leading to deadly border clashes. Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of sheltering Pakistani Taliban militants, a claim the Afghan Taliban deny. United Nations reports, however, have confirmed the presence of Pakistani Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.