The Afghanistan Freedom Front says its forces carried out an attack on a Taliban watchtower in Baharak district of Badakhshan province on Friday evening, killing two Taliban members.
In a statement posted on X, the group said its fighters targeted “a watchtower at the entrance to the border brigade of the Taliban’s 219th division stationed in the Qalatak area of Baharak district, Badakhshan province.” The group added that none of its fighters were harmed in the attack.
Local sources earlier confirmed to Afghanistan International that an explosion had occurred in the area. According to the sources, Taliban forces blocked roads leading to their base following the incident.
Taliban officials have not yet commented on the claim.
Journalist support organisations marked World Radio Day by raising concern over increasing Taliban restrictions on media in Afghanistan, as the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture urged broadcasters to comply with its policies.
Khabib Ghufran, spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture, said on Friday, February 13, that 228 radio stations were currently operating across Afghanistan. He added that the Taliban had issued licences to 40 stations over the past four years.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center said in a statement that during the same period the Taliban had imposed at least 24 decrees and directives restricting media activity, including measures that directly affect radio broadcasting.
According to the organisation, the restrictions include banning women from working in state media, enforcing gender segregation in workplaces, prohibiting interviews between men and women, imposing dress codes for female journalists and limiting women’s participation in press conferences.
The group said Taliban authorities had repeatedly detained and imprisoned media managers and journalists for failing to comply with the regulations, adding that at least two local women-run radio stations had been threatened over the past year.
The Afghan Journalists Support Organization also said journalists and media outlets in Afghanistan face serious challenges in providing information, noting that pressure on reporters and restrictions on media activity have made professional reporting difficult and limited public access to information.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Free Journalists Union expressed concern about the future of radio broadcasting in the country, saying nearly 3,000 people currently work in radio stations nationwide.
The union added that more than half of radio employees do not receive regular monthly salaries, raising concerns about the sustainability of radio operations in Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has urged Western countries to reconsider their sanctions policy after the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the sanctions monitoring team related to the Taliban, describing the move as ineffective.
In an audio message to the media, Mujahid referred to what he described as improving security and development in Afghanistan and said continued sanctions were incompatible with progress in the country. He also expressed appreciation for the positions taken by China and Russia at the Security Council and called on Western states to pursue what he described as constructive engagement with Afghanistan.
On Thursday, February 12, the UN Security Council unanimously extended the mandate of the sanctions monitoring team for another year. Under the resolution, sanctions imposed under the 1988 regime against the Taliban will remain in place.
The measures include asset freezes, travel bans and an arms embargo on individuals and entities associated with the Taliban. Travel-ban exemptions for some Taliban leaders were not renewed. The draft resolution was prepared by the United States, and the monitoring team supports the committee responsible for overseeing the implementation of sanctions related to Afghanistan.
The Taliban have repeatedly described international sanctions as an obstacle to Afghanistan’s economic growth and have called for them to be lifted.
Western countries say the continuation of sanctions is linked to concerns about human rights, the formation of an inclusive government and the Taliban’s counterterrorism commitments.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has approved an international agreement on a feasibility study for the Trans-Afghan railway, establishing a framework for a regional transport corridor linking Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.
Uzbek state media reported that the agreement was endorsed on Wednesday, February 11, and that the country’s transport ministry had been designated as the body responsible for implementing the project.
The joint agreement provides for technical and economic studies of a railway expected to connect Uzbekistan to Pakistan’s Kharlachi border crossing via Afghanistan. The Trans-Afghan railway is envisioned as a major regional transport corridor linking Central Asia with South Asia.
Mirziyoyev also instructed the foreign ministry to notify Pakistan and Afghanistan that Uzbekistan has completed its internal procedures related to the project.
The framework agreement was signed in January last year by representatives of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The planned railway route is expected to pass through Termez, Naibabad, Maidan Shahr, Logar and Kharlachi.
A joint coordination office for the corridor was established in mid-2023 and operates under Uzbekistan Railways in Tashkent.
The Trans-Afghan railway project was first proposed in 2018. Once completed, the corridor is expected to transport around 20 million tonnes of goods annually.
Initial construction costs were estimated at about $5 billion, but representatives of the three countries revised the projected cost to about $7 billion in 2023.
Women business owners say the Taliban prevented them from entering the third international construction exhibition in Kabul, which opened on February 12. The executions is scheduled to run until February 16.
Several women told Afghanistan International that they had rented exhibition booths for 6,000 afghanis but were stopped when they arrived to participate. According to them, officials from the Taliban’s morality police were stationed at the entrance and refused to allow women to enter.
One businesswoman said organisers had initially informed them that they could take part, but women were later barred from attending. She said many female handicraft producers rely on such events to sell their products and had now lost that opportunity.
Another woman said she had been denied entry for two consecutive days despite paying the booth rental fee. She added that foreign women were allowed to attend the exhibition, while Afghan women were not.
The exhibition opened on Thursday in the presence of Taliban officials, representatives of domestic companies and delegations from several regional countries, including Iran. Taliban authorities said dozens of local and foreign firms were participating.
The Taliban have not yet commented officially on the reports.
The same exhibition was held in Kabul last year without women’s participation.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women in Afghanistan. Girls have been barred from education beyond grade six and from universities, while many women have lost the right to work in government institutions and non-governmental organisations. The group has also imposed limits on women’s travel without a male guardian and on their presence in public spaces, including parks and some recreational facilities.
Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president of the United States, has called on the Taliban to release American hostages, warning that Donald Trump has made clear the group must stop detaining US citizens or face consequences.
Writing on X on Friday, Gorka posted a photograph of American detainees and said: “We will not rest until Dennis Coyle and Mahmood Habibi come home.”
The United States’ representative at the UN Security Council has also accused the Taliban of using detainees as leverage. Tammy Bruce said the group must end all forms of hostage-taking and arbitrary detention.
According to Bruce, the Taliban have “openly sought the release of an al-Qaida operative detained in Guantanamo Bay, while paradoxically promising to uphold their counterterrorism commitments”.
The New York Times reported several weeks ago that secret negotiations between the United States and the Taliban over the release of American prisoners had reached a deadlock. The report said US officials and Taliban representatives had held confidential talks in recent months on the possible release of American detainees in Afghanistan.
According to the report, the Taliban are seeking the release of Mohammad Rahim, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2008 and is accused of cooperating with Osama bin Laden within the al-Qaida network.
The United States has repeatedly asked the Taliban to clarify the fate of Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan-American citizen and former head of Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority. The Taliban have denied detaining him.
Washington has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the identification of Habibi’s location and his safe return.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Habibi was detained in Afghanistan in 2022, days after the killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, a claim rejected by the Taliban.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has said only Dennis Walter Coyle and Polynesis Jackson are in Taliban custody.
US representatives have travelled to Afghanistan several times over the past year in efforts to secure the release of American prisoners.