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A senior Iranian official has acknowledged that the mass expulsion of Afghan migrants has caused labour shortages across several provinces.

The Taliban on Friday held a subdued ceremony to mark the fourth anniversary of their return to power, avoiding the large-scale celebrations and military parades that characterised previous years.

A former commander of the Haqqani Network has called on his fighters to support the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) following a deadly drone strike in Balochistan.

Retirees in Kabul staged another protest on Saturday, demanding payment of pensions they say have been withheld for four years.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation said Farid Mamundzay, the final ambassador of Afghanistan’s former government in New Delhi, has returned to Kabul and met with Mawlawi Abdul Kabir.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has warned that funding to support Afghan families returning from Iran and Pakistan is rapidly running out, leaving many facing an uncertain future.

The Taliban’s Supreme Court said four people, including a woman, were flogged in Kabul’s Chahar Asyab district on charges of adultery and theft.

Pakistani officials and a broad group of Afghan opposition figures, including young leaders, women’s rights activists, and political representatives, are set to gather in Islamabad for a two-day conference on August 25–26.

A senior adviser to former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has claimed that secret annexes to the 2020 Doha Agreement between the United States and the Taliban outlined the transfer of power, sidelining the Kabul government in the process.

Four years after the Taliban’s return to power, more than half of Afghanistan’s population is in need of life-saving assistance, the United Nations said Friday.

Karim Khurram, former chief of staff to ex-President Hamid Karzai, has rejected allegations made by former US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster that he and Karzai were under the influence of Pakistan’s intelligence agency.

The Afghanistan Freedom Front said it carried out at least 88 attacks on Taliban positions over the past year, claiming to have killed 225 Taliban fighters and wounded 147 others.

Russian investigators said the assailants behind the Crocus City Hall massacre in Moscow planned to flee first to Ukraine and Türkiye before ultimately relocating to Afghanistan after the attack.

Renowned Afghan singer and composer Farhad Darya has released a new song, Khaake Khasta (Tired Soil), to mark the fourth anniversary of the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan.

For the first time in four years, the Taliban did not hold a military parade at Bagram Airbase to mark the anniversary of their takeover of Afghanistan, instead celebrating their “victory” at the Loya Jirga Hall in Kabul.

The head of the Afghanistan Freedom Front’s political committee has described Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada’s order to remove the word “acting” from government titles as a “final bullet to the heart” of those still hoping for engagement with the group.

Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani says the group remains committed to the Doha Agreement, rejecting allegations that Afghanistan has become a hub for international terrorism.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has ordered the removal of the “acting” designation from all positions in the group’s administration, marking the fourth anniversary of its return to power.

The United Nations has acknowledged that the Taliban interfere in the distribution of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, responding to a report by the SIGAR that accused the group of diverting international assistance for its own benefit.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has accused the United Nations of acting as a “spy” organisation and serving the interests of certain countries, dismissing its reports on Afghanistan’s humanitarian and economic situation as unreliable and “crisis-making.”

On the fourth anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, UN human rights experts accused the group of gender-based persecution, widespread human rights violations, and disregard for international law.