Afghanistan

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that the European Commission will soon invite Taliban officials to Brussels for talks on the deportation of Afghan migrants.

Local sources told Afghanistan International that Taliban morality police detained and beat prominent Shia cleric Hussaindad Sharifi after he officiated the marriage of an engaged couple before their wedding ceremony.

Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, rejected remarks by Asim Munir, Pakistan army chief, insisting Afghanistan is not being used against any country. He urged Pakistan to address militant activity within its own borders.

Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, warned that the systematic repression of women and girls in Afghanistan has become normalised and could amount to a crime against humanity.

Sources with several fibre-optic internet companies in Kabul told Afghanistan International that the Taliban have ordered regulators to cut residential fibre internet services across the capital.

Sources linked to the Taliban in Kandahar told Afghanistan International that the group’s intelligence agency has arrested Mullah Jan Mohammad Madani, a senior adviser to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Noor Ahmad Islamjar has urged Turkmenistan to accelerate implementation of a plan to operate the Torghundi Border Crossing on a 24-hour basis. The call comes when Taliban seeks to expand trade routes with Central Asia following disruptions in commerce with Pakistan.

Nai in Exile, an organisation supporting Afghan journalists and media outlets, has called on the United Nations and the European Union to intervene for the immediate release of journalists recently detained by the Taliban.

Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, Pakistan's ambassador to Kabul, urged the Taliban to take practical measures against terrorist threats originating from Afghanistan.

Informed sources told Afghanistan International that Taliban intelligence forces besieged the offices of TOLOnews and its parent company, Moby Group, for more than six hours after the broadcaster reported the detention of two of its journalists on social media.

Taliban police in Badakhshan confirmed that at least two residents of Argo district were killed in clashes with Taliban forces during anti-poppy eradication operations.

Hamid Karzai, former Afghan President, said Pakistan has increased military and economic pressure on villages near the Durand Line, warning residents are being pushed to deal with Pakistani authorities.

Residents reported unidentified aircraft flying over Kabul on Saturday, along with Taliban gunfire. At least three independent sources told Afghanistan International that repeated shooting was heard across parts of the capital.

Local sources told Afghanistan International that armed clashes erupted in parts of Paryan district in Panjshir on Thursday, after which Taliban forces reportedly detained at least seven villagers.

Mohammad Jalal, adviser to Sirajuddin Haqqani Taliban’s interior minister, said Afghanistan was not created in a colonial office and remains a historic nation with centuries of culture, sacrifice and resistance.

Local sources told Afghanistan International that clashes between Taliban forces and residents in Argo district of Badakhshan over poppy eradication are continuing, with at least two people reported killed.

Afghan activists at the Paris conference urged France to recognise gender apartheid in Afghanistan and refer it to the UN Security Council for legal and diplomatic action against Taliban restrictions on women.

Karim Khurram, former Minister of Information and Culture of Afghanistan, accused Pakistan of promoting narratives against Afghanistan’s identity, reacting to remarks by a regional think-tank head suggesting the country could fragment.