Yasin Zia
Afghanistan International: Five years after the Taliban’s return to power, armed opposition groups have yet to shift the balance. The Taliban still controls Afghanistan’s territory, state institutions and main economic resources. The opposition controls no territory and lacks effective foreign backing that could sustain and expand an insurgency in the way Pakistan’s support helped the Taliban during the years of war. Afghanistan International spoke to Yasin Zia, leader of the Afghanistan Freedom Front, as well as several Afghan researchers and former officials about the future of Taliban rule. Click here to read more (external link).
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Amu: Reporters Without Borders says the Taliban have “weaponized” Afghanistan’s legal and regulatory system against the press, turning a succession of media restrictions imposed over five years into an increasingly formal framework for controlling journalism and suppressing critical reporting. The organization says more than 20 nationwide directives, alongside provincial orders, have restricted everything from criticism of Taliban officials and political programming to women’s voices, journalists’ choice of guests and the terminology news organizations are required to use. In a report marking five years since the Taliban returned to power, RSF traces a series of decrees, directives and verbal orders issued by Taliban institutions from September 2021 through January 2026. 
Ariana: Sorkh Poshan Khawafi are leading the Afghanistan Champions League U17 standings after week six, having collected 15 points from six matches. According to the latest standings released by the Afghanistan Football Federation, Sorkh Poshan Khawafi have won five of their six matches and suffered one defeat. They have scored 22 goals and conceded just two, giving them a +20 goal difference. The Afghanistan Champions League U17 is being contested by 10 teams and is being held at the Afghanistan Football Federation Stadium in Kabul. 
Amu: The Afghanistan Freedom Front said it conducted seven attacks between July 30 and Aug. 9, claiming to have killed 16 Taliban members and wounded 19 others in Badakhshan, Kunduz, Nangarhar and Faryab provinces. The United Front of Afghanistan separately claimed responsibility for 10 attacks during the same period, saying 15 Taliban members were killed and 15 others wounded in operations across Baghlan, Faryab, Kandahar, Helmand, Badghis, Badakhshan and Ghor provinces. The National Resistance Front also claimed that its fighters killed two Taliban members in an attack in Herat on July 30, while the military wing of the Green Trend, led by former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, said it targeted a Taliban fuel convoy in the Salang Pass on Saturday. 
Amu: Mixed martial arts fighters Abdul Azim Badakhshi and Rabie Panjshiri secured victories at an IFL event in Hyderabad, India, on Saturday, defeating their opponents in the opening round. 
Afghanistan International: The attacks were reported in Badakhshan, Kunduz, Baghlan, Kabul, Faryab, Ghor, Herat, Kandahar and Helmand. The Afghanistan Freedom Front, the United Front of Afghanistan and the National Resistance Front have separately claimed responsibility for attacks in different parts of the country. 
8am: Five years after the Taliban’s takeover, members of the Ismaili community in Badakhshan say they are facing a wave of religious, educational and social restrictions. According to the findings of this report, at least 10 jamaat khanas (Ismaili prayer and community centers) belonging to Ismailis have been closed in several districts of this province, more than 340 Ismaili children in five districts of Darwaz have been sent to Taliban religious schools, and at least seven cases of forced religious conversion have been documented among members of this community. Ismaili residents of Badakhshan also speak of pressure to convert, security threats, restrictions on cultural activities, and rising migration of families to neighboring countries and to Kabul.