UN Secretary-General Appoints Rabab Fatima As Special Envoy For Afghanistan

Citing World Health Organization figures, Zakharova said 21 polio cases had been recorded in border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2025 and 2026. She said children under the age of 10 in those areas were effectively unvaccinated.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added that Afghanistan’s infant mortality rate remained high at 33.1 deaths per 1,000 live births. She said the figure was nearly twice the global average.

Zakharova blamed Western countries for the worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, saying the politicisation of international aid was one of the main causes of the crisis.

She said Western sanctions had led to cuts in funding for humanitarian programmes in Afghanistan, while the continued freezing of Afghan assets had prevented state financial resources from being used to address the crisis.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman urged Western countries not to politicise humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

Russia is the only country to have formally recognised the Taliban government.

Zakharova’s remarks came as the World Health Organization released a new report. The organisation said on Wednesday that four new polio cases had been recorded over the past week in Nangarhar, Helmand and Herat provinces.

The latest cases brought the number of polio infections recorded in Afghanistan since the start of 2026 to 11.

No Taliban official attended the former emir’s official funeral on Sunday, an absence that prompted speculation about a possible cooling of relations between the two sides.

The Taliban Foreign Ministry announced Muttaqi’s visit to Doha in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the statement, Muttaqi offered his condolences to Qatar’s current emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, over the death of former emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

During the visit, Muttaqi also held talks with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister; Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al Thani, deputy prime minister and defence minister; and Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, minister of state at the Qatari Foreign Ministry.

The World Health Organization published its weekly polio report on Wednesday, July 15. According to the report, Afghanistan has recorded 11 polio cases since the beginning of 2026.

The United Nations said two of the new cases were detected in Nangarhar province, one in Helmand and another in Herat.

The report also shows that Pakistan has recorded fewer polio cases than Afghanistan this year.

Since the start of 2026, Pakistan has reported three polio cases, while Afghanistan’s total is nearly four times higher.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where the poliovirus has not been completely eradicated.

Despite vaccination campaigns in both countries, the WHO’s latest figures show that Afghanistan has recorded more infections this year.

Experts have cited Taliban restrictions on vaccination campaigns, including the ban on door-to-door vaccinations in many areas, as factors increasing the risk of the virus spreading in Afghanistan.

Official figures show that 21 polio cases were reported in Afghanistan last year, compared with 31 in Pakistan.

According to a statement from the Taliban governor’s office in Nangarhar, Iran’s consul general in Jalalabad also attended the meeting. The two sides discussed strengthening cooperation between local authorities in Nangarhar and Iran.

The talks covered trade facilitation, cooperation in agriculture and healthcare, educational programmes, academic scholarships and capacity-building for local government staff.

Several Nangarhar provincial officials, including heads of local government departments, also attended the meeting.

Nangarhar is considered one of Afghanistan’s key provinces for regional economic ties because of its strategic location along major trade routes in the east of the country. In recent years, Iran has sought to expand its political and economic relations with Afghanistan across a range of sectors.

With trade ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan disrupted, Iran has become Afghanistan’s leading economic partner under Taliban rule.

Informed sources in Ghor said on Wednesday that Taliban intelligence officers had arrested at least six people from their homes in the village of Atus Sofla and others from their workplaces in Firozkoh, the provincial capital.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources said Taliban forces arrived in military vehicles, raided the homes of those detained and took them into custody.

The Afghanistan Green Trend also said in a statement that Taliban intelligence had arrested dozens of young people in Ghor, particularly in Firozkoh, on suspicion of belonging to the movement’s Green Unit. It warned that those detained could face physical and psychological torture.

According to the sources, the Afghanistan Green Trend had previously carried out a rocket attack on a Taliban checkpoint in Dawlat Yar district of Ghor. They said those responsible escaped, after which the Taliban began arresting former members of the Green Trend instead.

On July 8, Afghanistan Green Trend, led by former vice-president Amrullah Saleh, released a video claiming responsibility for an attack on Taliban forces in the market area of Dawlat Yar district.

One source said about 20 local elders visited the office of the Taliban governor on Wednesday to demand the detainees’ release. According to the source, local Taliban officials claimed they were unaware of the arrests.

A resident of Ghor said at least three of those detained had worked for the former Afghan government in the departments of agriculture and livestock, labour and social affairs, and the National Bank. He said they were arrested at their workplaces.

The Taliban has not officially commented on the arrests.

Sources said the detainees had been taken to an unknown location, and their families had received no information about their whereabouts or condition.

In its statement, the Afghanistan Green Trend said it was monitoring what it described as Taliban crime, but it did not confirm whether those arrested were members of the movement.