The Express Tribune (Pakistan): Afghanistan’s deepest struggle is not foreign invasion, but building an inclusive state across ethnic fault lines – Genuine decentralisation, equitable representation and constitutional safeguards for minority rights could help ease the zero-sum competition for control of Kabul. When power is overly concentrated, every political shift becomes existential. When authority is shared, political life becomes less combustible. Click here to read more (external link).
UN rights chief calls Afghanistan ‘graveyard for human rights’
Amu: Afghanistan has become a “graveyard for human rights,” the United Nations high commissioner for human rights said on Thursday, warning that an expanding body of Taliban decrees is entrenching repression, particularly against women and girls. Speaking at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Volker Turk said a “cascade of edicts and laws” issued since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 has had a “crushing impact” on the Afghan people and is being codified into an increasingly broad legal framework. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News in Dari – February 26, 2026
ACB likely to remove Rashid Khan as Afghanistan’s captain: Sources
Rashid Khan
Amu: The Afghanistan Cricket Board is expected to remove Rashid Khan as captain of the national team, with Ibrahim Zadran likely to replace him only in T20 format, sources told Amu TV on Thursday. The sources said the board’s decision is linked to what they described as “personal issues,” though no further details were provided. Officials from the cricket board have not publicly confirmed the change. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Sports News
Civilian Casualties in Pakistan’s Airstrikes: Examining the Possibility of War Crimes and ICC Jurisdiction
8am: Recent Pakistani airstrikes in parts of Nangarhar and Paktika provinces have once again raised a fundamental question: when a state conducts operations across the border under the banner of “counterterrorism,” yet the result is the killing of women and children and the destruction of civilian homes, how should this situation be assessed under international law? Politically, these events continue the dangerous cycle of “attack, retaliation, attack” between Pakistan and the Taliban as Afghanistan’s de facto authorities. Legally, however, the matter extends beyond an international armed conflict. Targeting civilians or civilian objects, if it violates core principles of humanitarian law, may give rise to the question of war crimes. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News in Dari – February 25, 2026
Afghan Women’s Access To Healthcare Severely Restricted, Says UN Report
Afghanistan International: Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, said in a new report that women’s and girls’ access to healthcare has been severely restricted since the Taliban returned to power. The report says bans on women’s education and employment, as well as restrictions on freedom of movement, have deepened the health crisis facing women. Click here to read more (external link).
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Millions of people are returning to Taliban-run Afghanistan
FT: Over the past year, Iran and Pakistan have sent an estimated 3mn Afghans back after decades and sometimes lifetimes in exile, according to the UN, 150,000 alone in the past six weeks. Afghanistan’s population is up 12 per cent from 40mn in 2023, when Islamabad and Tehran began mass deportations. More are to come. Iran and Pakistan are scaling up deportations of their Afghan populations, a huge logistical, economic and humanitarian challenge for a country wracked by widespread poverty after four decades of war and ruled by the hardline Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – February 24, 2026
Two Afghan Women Killed as Pakistani Forces Open Fire Near Iran Border
Khaama: Pakistani authorities said security forces opened fire on a vehicle Monday in the Prom area of southwestern Balochistan province after it failed to stop at a checkpoint near the Iranian border. The shooting resulted in the deaths of two Afghan women and left three other individuals injured, according to official statements. Officials stated that the vehicle was carrying Afghan nationals who had allegedly entered Pakistan illegally and were attempting to travel onward toward the Iranian border. Click here to read more (external link).