8am: The Taliban have recently started collecting data on people living in major cities in Afghanistan. Their local staff have been distributing forms to gather information about local citizens, which they have referred to as “local passports”. One of the questions on the forms asks about the number of widows and young girls in each home, which has caused alarm among the residents of Balkh province and led to questions about whether the information about female residents would help the Taliban’s security efforts. However, the Taliban have stated that their collection of information is solely for security purposes and not for any other reason. Click here to read more (external link).