8am: According to reports, senior Taliban officials have officially granted foreign tourists, most of them sheikhs and members of the royal families of Qatar, permission to hunt rare birds in Afghanistan. It was announced at the time that under these contracts, hunters were allowed to kill only a specific rare bird known as the houbara or “tuq-dar,” a species that migrates annually from Central Asia to western and southern Asia in search of water, climate, and breeding grounds. It is said that the meat of this bird is considered valuable by Arab sheikhs as a remedy for enhancing sexual potency. Birds of prey such as falcons, hawks, and geese are also among the species favored by these hunters. Every year, Arab hunters travel to the provinces of Farah, Herat, Nimruz, and Helmand to illegally hunt rare birds. Click here to read more (external link).