Taliban
The Taliban co-founder and now Prime Minister of Afghanistan Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund pledged late Saturday that his government will ‘not interfere’ in other countries’ internal affairs, and urged international charities to continue offering aid to the war-ravaged country.
Taliban authorities on Sunday issued a new ‘religious guideline’ that called on the country’s television channels to stop showing dramas and soap operas featuring women actors.
Afghanistan’s deep economic crisis threatens to raise the ‘risk of extremism’ in the region, a senior UN official warned on Wednesday.
The United States on Friday announced two exemptions to its sanctions imposed on Afghanistan in a bid to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the conflict-wracked, Taliban-controlled country.
Some Afghan girls returned to primary schools with gender-segregated classes on Saturday, but older girls faced an anxious wait with no clarity over if and when they would be able to resume their studies at the secondary school level.
Afghan women should not be allowed to work alongside men, a senior figure in the ruling Taliban said, a position which, if formally implemented, would effectively bar them from employment in government offices, banks, media companies and beyond.
The UN is convening an aid conference in Geneva on Monday in an effort to raise more than $600 million for Afghanistan, warning of a humanitarian crisis there following the Taliban takeover.
Afghan police have returned to work at Kabul airport alongside Taliban security for the first time since the group seized power, reports AFP citing officials on Sunday.
Sri Lanka named a 15-player squad for the Twenty20 World Cup but said they were undecided on whether to play against Afghanistan over the Taliban’s reported ban on women playing sport.
The United States said it was concerned about members of a Taliban government named Tuesday but said it would judge it by actions, including letting Afghans leave freely.
The Taliban announced on Tuesday an interim government drawn exclusively from their own loyalist ranks, with established hardliners in all key posts and no women despite previous promises to form an inclusive administration for all Afghans.
The Taliban on Monday said that they had captured the last pocket of resistance in Afghanistan, the Panjshir Valley, as the top US diplomat flies to Qatar to try and handle the aftermath of the chaotic American withdrawal.
