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A drone crashed on Thursday in Maidan Wardak province, sources close to the Taliban said.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has reshuffled 25 officials, including provincial governors, corps commanders and senior local officials, in a move that further centralises control within the interior and defence ministries.

The Taliban said six people were executed during the 2025 calendar year under orders issued by the group’s leader, while at least 1,118 others were publicly flogged by Taliban courts across Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s Supreme Court said on Thursday that a man in northern Balkh province was publicly flogged with 39 lashes after being convicted of selling alcoholic beverages.

The US State Department has said that Zalmay Khalilzad does not represent the United States, following his recent meeting with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul.

The Taliban’s Committee for the Prevention of Land Grabbing has ordered the cancellation of all lease and investment contracts linked to Mohammad Mirza Katawazai, a former deputy speaker of Afghanistan’s House of Representatives.

Protests continued across several Iranian cities for a fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, driven by surging currency prices and a deepening economic crisis. United States urged authorities to halt their crackdown on demonstrators.

Several Afghan passengers have accused officials at Islamabad International Airport of extortion, saying they were denied entry into Pakistan despite holding valid visas and airline tickets unless they paid additional fees.

The Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan said it assisted at least one million Afghans in 2025, with women and girls accounting for about 40 percent of those reached.

The United Nations spent about $2.5 billion in 2025 to address the needs of Afghan migrants and returnees, a senior UN official said during talks with Taliban authorities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon discussed bilateral cooperation, regional issues and Afghanistan during a telephone call, the Kremlin said.

Taliban officials made nearly 100 foreign trips in 2025 despite international sanctions, the group’s leadership said.

Experts have warned that prolonged disruptions to trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan are having wide-ranging economic and social consequences across the region.

Iran is seeking to establish a railway connection to China via Afghanistan as part of efforts to expand regional transit and trade links, Iranian and Taliban officials said.

Taliban publicly flogged two people, including a woman, in Parwan province after convicting them of what the group described as an “extramarital relationship,” according to a court ruling.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the Taliban have ruled Afghanistan through at least 470 decrees since returning to power, including 79 measures that directly target women and girls.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said he welcomed recent remarks by senior Taliban officials signalling a willingness to resolve differences with Islamabad through dialogue.

Pakistan Army said a 36-year-old officer was killed during a security operation against militants in Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Esmail Baghaei said investigations are continuing into the assassination of two former Afghan military personnel in Tehran, speaking publicly five days after the killings.

Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, has called for an independent investigation into the killing of former Afghan military personnel in Tehran.

Reliable sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban have arrested Azimullah Mohammadi, a former soldier in the Afghan army, in Kabul after his deportation from Iran.