Anti-Taliban Group Claims Deadly Attack In Kunduz
The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) said its forces attacked a Taliban checkpoint in Bala Hesar Square in Kunduz on Monday evening, claiming two Taliban members were killed and two others wounded.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) said its forces attacked a Taliban checkpoint in Bala Hesar Square in Kunduz on Monday evening, claiming two Taliban members were killed and two others wounded.
Local sources in Kunduz told Afghanistan International that an explosion was reported in Bala Hesar Square around the same time.
The Taliban have not commented on the reported attack.
On Sunday, 15 February, the AFF also claimed responsibility for another attack in Kunduz’s Police District 1, saying two Taliban members were killed and one wounded.
The group has published images it says are from both attacks on its account on X.
Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry on Monday hosted a meeting of special representatives from Central Asian countries on Afghanistan, emphasising regional stability and expanded cooperation with Taliban-run Afghanistan.
The meeting was held within the framework of a regional contact group on Afghanistan, according to Kazakhstan’s state news agency.
Yerkin Tokumov, the Kazakh president’s special representative for Afghanistan, expressed support for constructive dialogue and the search for practical avenues of cooperation with the Taliban administration.
Representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan discussed expanding trade and economic cooperation, as well as developing transit and transport corridors through Afghan territory. Regional security issues were also reviewed.
Although no detailed information was released about specific decisions, participants stressed the importance of coordinating Central Asian countries’ efforts to support stability and sustainable development in Afghanistan.
They also called for greater regional coordination to promote long-term stability and economic development in the country.
Taliban authorities in Helmand province have warned that individuals who shave their beards will face what they describe as “sharia-based punishment.”
The new warning is part of the group’s enforcement of its Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The Taliban’s media office in Helmand said the provincial committee responsible for implementing the law held a meeting to discuss Clause 18 of Article 22, which addresses the “prohibition and reprehensibility of shaving the beard”.
Article 22 of the law states that the group’s morality police are responsible for preventing specified acts considered to be vices. Clause 18 refers to shaving the beard or trimming it shorter than the prescribed length.
According to the statement, the meeting concluded that violators would be identified and subjected to disciplinary punishment under the group’s interpretation of Islamic law.
The Taliban have previously issued warnings to barbers in several provinces, instructing them not to shave or trim customers’ beards.
The Taliban have introduced a new uniform for the group's army, selecting an official dress code for forces operating under their Ministry of Defense.
Fasihuddin Fitrat, chief of the Taliban army, described the new uniform as a “symbol of order, unity and solidarity” and urged members of the force to comply with the regulations.
In a press release issued on Monday, the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense said three types of uniforms had been designed for commando, border and “National Islamic Army” forces. The group has added the term “Islamic” to the title of the national army.
Over the past four years, Taliban security forces have taken an inconsistent approach to uniforms. Many Ministry of Defense personnel have been seen wearing uniforms from the former Afghan National Army, while others have operated without official military dress, often wearing traditional clothing.
In recent days, several Taliban-affiliated social media activists have criticised the design and appearance of the new uniforms.
Some of the designs resemble the attire worn by Pakistan’s security forces, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including shirt-and-trouser styles with long tunics.
During roughly three decades since the group’s emergence in the 1990s, the Taliban did not maintain a formal military uniform.
After returning to power in 2021, the group dissolved much of the former Afghan National Army but retained the administrative structure of the Ministry of Defense and several other ministries with limited changes.
Afghanistan Women’s Rights Watch, in cooperation with the Türkiye-based ARSA Association, says it documented 411 cases of rights violations against women and girls in Afghanistan in 2025, according to the group’s annual report.
As part of the research, the organisation recorded around 300 cases described as “direct violence against women” attributed to the Taliban.
The report, titled From Marginalisation to Erasure, was launched on Saturday, 14 February, in Kayseri, Türkiye, during an event attended by academics, civil society representatives, and Afghan and Turkish women’s rights activists.
The organisation said the findings were compiled from victims’ testimonies as well as multiple credible international documents.
According to the report, at least 76 cases of what it described as “intentional killings” of women and girls were recorded in 2025, though it did not provide details about the perpetrators. The highest number of killings, 16 cases, was reported in Nangarhar province.
The research also documented more than 30 cases of suicide and self-immolation among women and girls over the past year.
At least three cases of sexual violence in Taliban detention centres were recorded, two of them in Balkh province, the report said.
Zakera Hekmat, head of Afghanistan Women’s Rights Watch, said during the event that addressing systematic violence against Afghan women is not only a domestic issue but a global responsibility.
She criticised what she described as the silence and inaction of the international community in response to continuing violations of the fundamental rights of women and girls during four years of Taliban rule, warning that such inaction risks reinforcing policies that exclude women from Afghanistan’s social, educational and political life.
Bulut Reyhanoglu, a Turkish filmmaker and global solidarity ambassador advocating for Afghan women, said the systematic exclusion of Afghan women from public life has created a gender crisis extending beyond Afghanistan’s borders.
He called on the international community to take practical steps beyond diplomatic engagement to protect the fundamental rights of Afghan women, warning that continued silence risks normalising gender-based oppression and discrimination.
The Taliban have instructed teaching hospitals in Afghanistan to prevent male and female medical staff from working together in operating rooms, according to a document obtained by Afghanistan International.
Under the directive, all members of a surgical team must be either entirely male or entirely female, and mixed-gender teams are prohibited. The order states that a patient’s gender will not be considered when assigning surgical staff.
In the document, Ehsanullah Abolfaizan, the Taliban-appointed head of Kabul Medical University, wrote that “the patient’s gender will not be the criterion; rather, during surgery, all personnel must be of the same sex”.
The letter, issued on Tuesday, 10 February, applies to all teaching hospitals. Medical sources in Kabul confirmed the directive to Afghanistan International.
The new order has raised concerns about the ability of Afghanistan’s healthcare system to provide adequate and standard medical services under the single-gender requirement for surgical teams.
Health sector observers say the country lacks sufficient numbers of female medical specialists, which could make implementing the directive difficult.
One specialist doctor said a surgical team typically includes multiple essential personnel, including surgeons, nurses, anaesthesiologists, cleaners, interns and medical trainees.
Another doctor told Afghanistan International that, apart from obstetrics and gynaecology, the number of female specialists in Afghanistan is extremely limited. He said there are only “two or three female neurosurgeons” in the country and “no more than five or six female ear, nose and throat specialists”. He also reported shortages of female specialists in orthopaedics and plastic surgery.
In December 2024, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s leader, ordered the closure of higher and semi-higher medical education institutions to girls, raising serious concerns in a country already facing a shortage of female healthcare workers.
The Taliban have also kept schools for girls above grade six and universities closed since returning to power in 2021.
