Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, confirmed on Thursday that Mullah Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the group’s governor of Balkh province, had been killed in an explosion. Muzammil has been killed in a bomb explosion at his office in Mazar-e-Sharif city.
Representatives of India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the United Nations emphasised on the formation of an inclusive government, women’s rights, and respect for minorities in Afghanistan.
Zamir Kabulov, Russian special envoy for Afghanistan, confirmed that Moscow has allowed the Taliban to increase the number of employees at Afghan embassy in Moscow. Kabulov added that with the increase in the number of Afghan employees, the staff number will reach three people.
Several Afghan women protested against the Taliban’s policies regarding women on Wednesday in Kabul. In a resolution, these women urged the international community to hold the Taliban accountable for violating the rights of Afghan women.
A group of Afghan women held a demonstration against the Taliban restrictions on women in front of the UN office in Kabul. According to videos received by Afghanistan International, these women chanted the slogans "Women, Justice, Freedom" and "Education, Work, Freedom".
In a new report, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has stated that in the fourth quarter of 2022 female employment is estimated to have been 25 percent lower than in the second quarter of 2021 in Afghanistan.
Sources told Afghanistan International that two Polish citizens have gone missing in eastern Afghanistan. According to the sources, the two Polish citizens have been incommunicado for about a week now.
The first meeting of special representatives of neighbouring countries of Afghanistan began on Tuesday in Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan. The participants include representatives of Uzbekistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Islamic State – Khurasan (IS-K) has claimed that the Taliban have faked an attack scene and killed three IS-K prisoners along with their families in Herat city. In its weekly magazine, IS-K warned the Taliban of revenge.
Several Afghan girls gathered infront of Kabul University reading books and symbolically protested against the ban on education for them by the Taliban. In a separate move, a group of female students asked male students and professors to boycott universities in Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s foreign ministry announced that 268 Afghan prisoners have been handed over to the group’s representative by Iranian authorities on Monday. According to the Taliban, the prisoners’ handover happened after a visit of the group’s attorney general to Iran.
Mohammad Hanif Atmar, former Afghan foreign minister, in Berlin, said that the war against the Taliban without a political agreement is in vain. Atmar called for the implementation of the Doha agreement and the 2nd Bonn meeting by all political fronts and the Taliban.
Taliban officials in Herat announced that the group’s members have killed 6 Islamic State – Khorasan (IS-K) fighters in District 14 of Herat city. According to Bakhtar news agency, Taliban police command in Herat said that a woman is also included among the dead IS-K fighters.
Local sources in Herat confirmed that a young man in his 30s has been killed after being put in detention by the Taliban for three days. According to sources, the Taliban handed over the dead body of the man to his family on Friday.
The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported on Saturday that a passenger bus caught fire on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. According to Bakhtar, the incident took place on the route between Damaan district of Kandahar and Shahr-e Safa district of Zabul province.
While the United Nations Human Rights Council deliberates on the situation in Afghanistan, Amnesty International has called on the UN to investigate crimes against women and girls in Taliban’s regressive rules.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said that banning women from work has impacted the delivery of food, medicine, and other needs of Afghan women and girls. Blinken has condemned the Taliban's order to ban the right to education and work of Afghan women.
Hekmat Karzai, former Afghan deputy foreign minister, said that former president Ashraf Ghani had conceived wrong priorities when the country had been falling part. Karzai said that while the provinces had been falling, Ghani would hold National Procurement Council’s meeting.
Michael McCaul, Chairman of US House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, called the White House’s response to Taliban’s actions against Afghan women, as weak. In a letter to the US Secretary of State he also said that the Taliban have heinously treated Afghan women.
Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, announced that the group’s interior and defense ministers have met Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundaza. The meeting has taken place in Kandahar city and several religious scholars had been present too.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price has stated that the Doha Agreement had empowered the Taliban and weakened their partners in the former Afghan government. He added that the Taliban have not fulfilled their own commitments made in the Doha Agreement.