On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Atlantic Council experts have warned that Afghanistan remains a safe haven for terrorist groups, even as the nature of global terrorism has changed.
The National Resistance Front said on Friday it attacked a Taliban checkpoint in Badakhshan’s Yaftal-e Payin district, wounding three Taliban members. Local sources confirmed clashes had taken place.
Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, says there is no justification for violence against women or for violating their dignity.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, met Türkiye’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Sadın Ayyıldız, to discuss economic, trade and transit ties, as well as problems facing Afghan migrants in Turkiye.
Former US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has described the complete withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power as a terrible mistake, saying Washington betrayed those it had fought for.
EU Special Representative for Afghanistan Gilles Bertrand says his mission has ended, stressing that the bloc’s post-2021 approach has avoided legitimising the Taliban administration while maintaining dialogue.
REACH, a Geneva-based international humanitarian initiative specialising in humanitarian data collection and analysis, says 3.1 million people were displaced in Afghanistan last year due to economic pressures, food insecurity and natural disasters.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front says it killed three Taliban members and wounded two others in an attack on a checkpoint in Kapisa’s Tagab district. The Afghanistan United Front also reported killing a Taliban police member in Kandahar.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, meeting a delegation of Bangladeshi religious scholars, traders and industrialists, called for stronger political, economic and cultural engagement with Bangladesh.
Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, says cutting humanitarian aid and refusing diplomatic engagement with the Taliban will only deepen humanitarian needs.
Anar Academy, a Germany-based NGO supporting Afghan girls’ education, has published a study showing that despite Taliban restrictions, some girls have turned to online learning and self-study.
After Pakistani medical authorities told Afghan students to leave the country, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said students without valid visas must depart, while visa extension requests are still being reviewed.
Sources within the Taliban administration told Afghanistan International that Justice Minister Abdul Hakim Sharaei has ordered private broadcaster Shamshad TV to evacuate its building and hand it over to the Taliban administration.
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov says strengthening security along Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan is a priority for Moscow’s defence and security policy.
The energy agreements signed between the Taliban’s Ministry of Mines & Petroleum and Saudi company Delta are among the most ambitious energy plans announced for Afghanistan in recent years.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has criticised the Taliban’s policies towards Afghan women and girls, calling for an immediate end to the ban on women working for the UN and safe access to UN premises nationwide.
The Taliban’s vice and virtue department in Khost detained 12 journalists while they were covering a book exhibition and confiscated their cameras. The journalists had attended at the invitation of the Taliban’s Information and Culture Department.
Taliban Justice Ministry forces surrounded the office of Afghanistan’s High Commission of Shias in Kabul on Tuesday. Reliable sources told Afghanistan International that commission members were inside the building.
UNICEF has warned that nine in 10 ten-year-old children in Afghanistan lack basic reading skills. UNAMA also marked International Literacy Day by stressing Afghans’ right to education and participation in society.
The Taliban Foreign Ministry says US weapons and military equipment left in Afghanistan will not be returned. Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi told CBS that the equipment now belongs to Afghanistan.
Following talks between Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US special envoy for Afghanistan, and Taliban officials in Kabul, the US State Department said he is not a US government employee and does not represent Washington.