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Russia’s Foreign Ministry said foreign ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states discussed Afghanistan during a two-day meeting in Kyrgyzstan.

The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) says at least 21 Taliban fighters, including several commanders, were killed and 37 others wounded in an attack on Taliban positions in Zebak district of Badakhshan.

Following intense clashes between the Taliban and opposition forces in Zebak district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan Freedom Front political chief Daoud Naji said the fight against the Taliban had entered a new phase.

Officials from the Taliban’s 219 Omar-e-Salis Division have confirmed an attack by opposition forces in Zebak district of Badakhshan, saying five opposition fighters were killed and several others wounded.

Sources told Afghanistan International on Friday that fighting between Taliban forces and armed opponents is continuing in Zebak district of Badakhshan, where the Taliban reportedly failed to retake positions lost overnight.

Local sources in Badakhshan told Afghanistan International that an anti-Taliban armed group killed a Taliban commander during clashes in the province’s Zebak district.

The Pakistani military rejected Amnesty International’s report on an air strike on a treatment centre in Kabul that killed civilians, accusing the Taliban of using hospitals and medical facilities as blind spots for terrorist activity.

Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar urged the Afghan Taliban to ensure Afghanistan is not used by terrorist groups to target neighbouring countries, saying fulfilment of this commitment could help expand trade.

Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior has told Afghanistan International that Afghan passports extended on or after 1 August 2026 will no longer be recognised as valid travel documents in Germany.

The 12th security and border meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was held in Pakistan with a delegation from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation in attendance.

The Taliban’s Interior Ministry says its police command in Takhar seized about 107 kilograms of opium and arrested two people in connection with trafficking the drugs.

Sources in Kabul told Afghanistan International on Wednesday that Taliban agents raided the office of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF) earlier this week and detained six staff members.

The International Organization for Migration says flash floods in Nuristan province have caused widespread damage to homes and critical infrastructure, leaving some families without adequate shelter, safe drinking water or food.

Qari Motiur Rahman served as district governor of Shuhada in Badakhshan for just seven days. Before entering his second week in office, the Taliban removed him and appointed a new district governor.

Qayum Malang, commander of the Sepah-e Mihan Front, released his first audio message five days after the attack on Yaftal district in Badakhshan, saying he and his fighters were safe.

Local sources in Badakhshan told Afghanistan International that the Taliban has ordered gunmen loyal to dissident local commander Juma Khan Fateh in Shekay and Nusay districts to surrender their weapons as soon as possible.

Sources told Afghanistan International that former president Hamid Karzai is barred by the Taliban from travelling even to his native Kandahar and faces tight restrictions on his movements and meetings.

The UN secretary-general’s spokesman Stéphane Dujarric says more than 40 people have died in recent floods in Nuristan, while others remain missing. Search-and-rescue operations are continuing.

Germany’s federal interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, has said the government will continue deporting convicted asylum seekers to Afghanistan following a deadly knife attack in Trier.

A number of mine workers in Badakhshan protested on Tuesday over the Taliban’s continued closure of mining sites, saying Taliban forces threatened and beat some workers and ignored their demands.

Sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban has compiled lists of former security personnel in Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan and begun surveilling them, including by phone to verify where they live.