United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says heavy rainfall and flash floods in Laghman Province killed five people in one day, including an employee of the Danish Refugee Council.
OCHA said in its weekly regional humanitarian update that flooding on May 22 and 23, affected the northern provinces of Baghlan, Takhar and Badakhshan and temporarily blocked the Kabul-Jalalabad highway.
According to OCHA, the floods damaged homes, farmland and livelihoods and affected at least 260 families in northern and north-eastern Afghanistan.
The Taliban said on May 25 that at least 11 people were killed and 15 others injured following heavy rain and flooding in Panjshir, Paktia, Baghlan and Takhar provinces.
Afghanistan’s meteorological department has forecast heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and the risk of flooding in 11 provinces on May 27 and 28.
According to Taliban figures, more than 250 people across Afghanistan have died since this year’s rainy season began on March 26.
Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, says the Taliban regime is helping India’s activities against Pakistan and vowed to continue military operations against threats inside Afghanistan.
In a message on Wednesday marking Pakistan’s nuclear anniversary, Sharif said that without becoming a nuclear power, Pakistan’s enemies could have crossed every boundary.
He added that Pakistan’s nuclear shield and armed forces remain the country’s main deterrent against its enemies.
Referring to India, the Pakistani prime minister said the Afghan regime was facilitating the enemy's objectives, and that after its defeat the enemy had turned to proxy networks such as Fitna al-Khawarij (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) and Fitna al-Hindustan (Baloch separatists).
He warned that operation Ghazab lil-Haq will eradicate all such hostile networks and their facilitators.
Escalation Of Pakistani Military Operations
Following an unprecedented rise in border clashes with the Taliban, Pakistan’s military launched operation Ghazab-lil-Haq to carry out strikes inside Afghanistan.
Islamabad had previously launched a similar campaign called “Azm-e-Istehkam” against Baloch militants and the TTP.
Pakistani officials claim that more than 700 Taliban fighters have been killed during its operation, although the Afghan Taliban reject the figures.
Reports from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa indicate that attacks and insecurity have intensified again in recent days.
At the same time, Pakistan’s military media wing issued a joint statement from army, air force and navy commanders describing the country’s 1998 nuclear tests as the foundation of strategic balance in South Asia.
The military said the achievement symbolised national unity, resilience and sovereignty, calling Pakistan’s defence and strategic capabilities a sacred national trust and a guarantee of peace and deterrence in the region.
Under operation Ghazab-lil-Haq, Pakistan has launched several strikes on targets in Afghan cities, including Kabul.
Islamabad hopes that military pressure and threats will force the Taliban administration to expel Pakistani militants from Afghanistan or prevent their attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Afghan Taliban have rejected Pakistan’s demands and responded with retaliatory military action.
The clashes have raised concern among countries neighbouring Afghanistan, particularly China.
Despite Pakistan’s attacks on Afghanistan and militant hideouts in tribal areas, TTP assaults on Pakistani forces have continued, with security personnel suffering repeated casualties in suicide bombings and guerrilla attacks.
Alexander Venediktov, deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council, announced in a meeting with Azad Sajjad Khan, deputy national security adviser to Pakistan's prime minister, that Russia is ready to help resolve the disputes between Pakistan and the Taliban.
Venediktov said that Russia wanted to see the situation on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border normalised and expressed hope that the two sides would return to the negotiating table and resolve their differences through political and diplomatic means.
Addressing the Pakistani official, he added that Russia was ready to provide comprehensive assistance to that process if Islamabad considered it appropriate.
The meeting took place on Wednesday May 27 on the sidelines of the Moscow International Security Forum.
In another part of his remarks, Venediktov referred to the development of bilateral relations, adding that relations between Russia and Pakistan are developing dynamically in all areas.
Stressing that Pakistan is an important partner for Moscow in the region, he called for an increase in and strengthening of cooperation between the security councils of the two countries.
This is not the first time Russia has offered to mediate between Pakistan and the Taliban.
Moscow’s renewed offer comes as relations between Islamabad and the Taliban have sharply deteriorated in recent months because of border security disputes.
Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of sheltering militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has carried out deadly attacks inside Pakistan.
The Taliban administration has denied the allegations and described Pakistan’s security problems as an internal matter.
Earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed the Taliban regime was assisting Indian activities against Pakistan and said Islamabad would continue military operations against Afghan Taliban-linked threats.
Russia remains the only country to have formally recognised the Taliban administration. on Wednesday, the two sides also signed a military-technical cooperation agreement on the sidelines of the Moscow security forum.
Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban's defence minister, told Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in Moscow that Afghan territory and airspace have never posed a threat to Iran.
The two sides met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 14th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues in Moscow.
Iran's state news agency IRNA wrote that Bagheri told Mujahid that America and Israel are the common enemies of the countries of the region.
Bagheri said foreign intervention is the main cause of instability in the region.
He added that only regional countries have the right to decide on their own security and strategic affairs.
IRNA reported that Mullah Yaqoob expressed solidarity with the Iranian people over recent US and Israeli military actions.
He also offered condolences for the killing of Ali Khamenei, Iran's leader.
Mujahid said Afghan soil, airspace and borders have never been a source of threat against Iran.
He stressed that Kabul had demonstrated this during the recent conflict involving Iran.
IRNA added that counterterrorism cooperation and strengthening border security were also discussed during the meeting.
The Taliban have not yet publicly commented on the details of the talks.
United Nations Children's Fund has expressed concern over the Taliban’s new marital separation regulations, warning that the decree raises serious concerns about the rights of children and women.
Catherine Russell, UNICEF's Executive Director, wrote in a post on X: “Any law that contains provisions that appear to permit child marriage or interpret a girl's silence as consent is unacceptable.”
Human rights groups and international monitoring organisations have also warned that the regulations open the door to child marriage and could significantly further weaken the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.
The decree, introduced as part of regulations concerning family matters and marital separation, has already drawn criticism from the European Union and human rights organisations.
UNICEF stressed that such regulations could have serious long-term consequences for children, particularly girls, and are incompatible with international principles protecting children’s rights.
Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, said in his Eid sermon that Muslims are obliged to have a ruler to preserve unity, warning that anyone who dies “without allegiance and obedience” to an emir dies “a death of ignorance”.
Speaking during Eid al-Adha prayers at the Eidgah Mosque in Kandahar, the Taliban leader said unity and cohesion in Islamic societies cannot be maintained without an emir.
He stressed that this is why God has commanded Muslims to appoint a ruler for themselves.
During nearly five years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Hibatullah has repeatedly stressed the importance of obedience to his authority.
Most recently, on April 17, he told Taliban finance ministry officials that obeying his orders was “like obeying God and the Prophet”.
He also described disobedience to his directives as equivalent to religious disobedience.
At that meeting, the Taliban leader warned that “disobedience” would henceforth be dealt with seriously and instructed his officials to support his actions without mediation if investigations began.
Earlier, on April, in a message marking the implementation of his decrees in Herat Province, he wrote that history had shown that whenever people disobeyed their rulers, even major caliphates such as the Umayyads, Abbasids and Ottomans eventually collapsed.
He warned that if people failed to obey the current system, unrest and discord would emerge.
Analysts say Hibatullah’s repeated emphasis on obedience reflects internal divisions and resistance among some Taliban officials.
Previously, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister; Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the defence minister; Abbas Stanikzai, the former deputy foreign minister; and a number of other Taliban administration officials have criticised Hibatullah's orders and policies.