Khaama: The deportation flight departed from Leipzig/Halle Airport and marked Germany’s latest forced return operation to Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. German authorities said the operation primarily targeted Afghan nationals who had been ordered to leave the country, particularly those with criminal convictions or considered security threats. However, German media reported that some of the deported Afghans did not have criminal records, raising renewed criticism from refugee advocates and human rights organizations over the government’s deportation policy. Click here to read more (external link).
Abdullah Sarhadi Admits Direct Role in Destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas, BBC Reports
Destroyed Buddha Statue
Khaama: A former Bamyan governor and commander has told the BBC that he personally took part in the destruction of the historic Bamiyan Buddha statues and says he has no regrets over the act. The BBC reported on Monday that Abdullah Sarhadi, a former Taliban military commander in Bamiyan during the group’s first rule, said he destroyed the giant Buddha statues with his own hands during the demolition ordered by the Taliban government in March 2001. After initially refusing to answer questions about the destruction, Sarhadi eventually told the BBC: “I destroyed them with my own hands.” Click here to read more (external link).
Wahab says US should pursue diplomacy with Afghanistan regardless of who is in power
Aisha Wahab
Amu: Aisha Wahab, an Afghan American member-elect of Congress, says the United States should pursue diplomacy and maintain a relationship with Afghanistan “regardless of which group is in power,” while criticizing restrictions on women and girls under Taliban rule. She also said Afghanistan needs other allies and criticized what she described as “warlord groups” seeking power outside the Taliban. “There are a lot of different warlord groups that want power that are not the Taliban too,” Wahab said. “And I think that each of them are deeply, deeply failed and misguided in the sense that they are not doing what’s right for the country; they are doing what’s right for themselves.” Wahab also criticized US support for such groups in the past. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – August 25, 2026
30 athletes selected for Afghanistan national mountaineering team
Amu: Thirty athletes have been selected for Afghanistan’s national mountaineering team following a 10-day selection competition in Bamiyan province. The athletes were chosen from among 90 competitors representing nine provinces. Click here to read more (external link).
Sources: Taliban Fighters in Kandahar Injure Child by Striking Him in the Eye with a Stone
8am: Sources in Kandahar say Taliban fighters in Spin Boldak district of the province injured a child by striking him in the eye with a stone. The sources told The Hasht-e Subh Daily on Monday, August 24, that the incident occurred on Sunday evening. According to the information, Taliban fighters stationed at the Boldak Gate struck the child in the eye with a stone. This comes as numerous reports of beatings and mistreatment of civilians by Taliban fighters have emerged from across Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).
Life Under Taliban Rule
The Taliban Visited A Belarus Cheese Factory. Then The Photos Vanished
By Amos Chapple
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 24, 2026
The authorities in Belarus appear to be suppressing images that emerged from a Taliban delegation’s visit that included a tour of a cheese-making plant.
The visit by Taliban officials to the Slutz Cheese-Making Plant in central Belarus was reported on by a local news outlet on August 21, but then deleted from its website and social media channels.
Another post about the Taliban delegation’s visit appears to have been removed from a website linked to Belarus’ National Academy of Sciences.
Several photos from the news report by local outlet Slutzky Krai were shared widely online before being deleted, and were picked up by opposition media.
Commentators pointed out the striking optics of officials from a regime notorious for gender-based repression listening to Belarusian women showcasing food and baby formula.
Women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan are required to be fully covered, and dress codes for women have been violently enforced by the Islamist regime in recent months.
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya told RFE/RL the photos also revealed the “hypocrisy” of the authorities in her own country.
“On the one hand, the regime declares Belarusian journalists, activists, and civil society groups ‘extremists’ and ‘terrorists.’ On the other, it quietly welcomes representatives of the Taliban and discusses business with them,” she said.
Tsikhanouskaya said part of the controversy over the images stems from a broader frustration over diplomatic ties being formed by Minsk.
“Belarusians see who Lukashenka is choosing as Belarus’s friends. They did not choose isolation. They did not choose partnership with the Taliban, North Korea, or other dictatorships,” she said.
In contrast to near silence from Minsk, the Taliban’s agriculture ministry has posted multiple times about the delegation’s visit to Belarus and several Afghan news websites have also reported on the trip.
The visit was described by the Ariana news website as a “high-level Afghan delegation” of 13 men who spent five days in Belarus in order to “explore modern production technologies,” and the possibility of establishing similar ventures in Afghanistan.
Afghan news reports used images showing only males in the frame.
Some Belarusians have referenced the similarity in appearance of the Taliban delegation to the mujahedin who fought the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of Belarusians fought in the Soviet-Afghan war and more than 700 were killed.
“I think the Soviet soldiers who fought in Afghanistan are a little in shock,” one commenter said. Another asked rhetorically, “will they be taken to the monument to fallen internationalist soldiers?”
The controversy over the most recent Taliban visit to Belarus comes on the heels of a political storm in Moldova caused by the visit of Taliban representatives to that country in early August.
Authorities in Kabul claimed the visit by members of the Taliban’s agriculture ministry was made at the invitation of Chisinau, “to discuss expanding practical and technical cooperation between the two countries.”
Soon afterwards, Moldova’s Foreign Ministry released a statement stressing “there will be no bilateral meetings or official contacts with the delegation’s representatives.” An investigation has been launched into how the three Afghan men received visas to enter the eastern European country.
Russia is the only country to have formally recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government following the withdrawal of US-led international forces from Afghanistan in 2021.
Several countries — including China, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan — maintain ties with the Taliban without officially recognizing its government.
Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
WHO reports four new polio cases in Afghanistan, bringing 2026 total to 19
Ariana: Four new cases of wild poliovirus type 1 have been reported in Afghanistan, bringing the country’s total to 19 so far in 2026, according to a new update by the World Health Organization. The four newly reported cases include two in Herat province — one each in Shindand and Adraskan districts — and one each in Dila district of Paktika province and Arghistan district of Kandahar province, the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office said in its report for Week 32, ending Aug. 16. The new cases bring the number of confirmed WPV1 cases across the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region to 22 this year. Afghanistan accounts for 19 of them, while Pakistan has reported three. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – August 24, 2026
Afghanistan squad announced for three-match T20I series against India
Ariana: The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against India, which will be played from September 13 to 17 at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in New Delhi. Ibrahim Zadran will captain Afghanistan in the series, marking his first assignment as the team’s full-time T20I skipper. Click here to read more (external link).
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