Michael Hughes: A number of UNSC members in March of 2023 agreed that the Taliban needed to be held accountable for treatment of women, human rights abuses, and violations of international law. Last July, the Security Council released a disturbing report that shined a bright light on the Taliban-terrorist nexus plaguing Afghanistan. UN member states cited concerns over the
By Abubakar Siddique June 11, 2024 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty The Taliban government has cracked down on rival Islamist parties in Afghanistan in what is seen as an effort to prevent any future opposition to its hard-line rule. Since banning all political parties last year, the Taliban has targeted two of its major former rivals. It
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 11, 2024 ISLAMABAD — A United Nations diplomat has encouraged the Taliban to attend a conference on Afghanistan later this month, stating that it would help return much-needed global attention to the crisis-ridden country. Malick Ceesay, the head of the Pakistan-based liaison office for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA),
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 5, 2024 ISLAMABAD — A senior Taliban leader in Afghanistan, wanted by the United States for terrorism, has concluded a rare visit to the United Arab Emirates, where he met with the host country’s leadership, an Afghan official said Wednesday. Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani traveled abroad for the first time since
By RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service June 3, 2024 Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said on June 3 that his country has taken the Taliban off of its terrorist list. Addressing a session of the parliament speakers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Almaty, Toqaev stressed the move was made to develop trade and economic ties with
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 31, 2024 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban government Friday dismissed the findings of a Pakistan probe that attributed a recent fatal attack against Chinese workers in the country to militants operating from Afghanistan. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesman, told an Afghan television station that his country had nothing to do with
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi: The only technocrat in the Taliban’s cabinet has been dismissed and replaced by a hard-line cleric. Taliban chief Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada on May 28 removed Health Minister Qalandar Ebad, a trained doctor, and named Noor Jalal, a former deputy interior minister, as his successor. The Taliban’s theocratic regime is dominated by senior
Tolo News: Abdul Qayum Karzai, brother of former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, passed away yesterday (Thursday) at the age of 77 in the state of Maryland, USA. He was born in 1957 in the village of Karz in Kandahar. Abdul Qayum’s father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, was an influential tribal elder and served in the National
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty May 30, 2024 No country in the world formally recognizes the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, where the extremist group seized power in 2021. But some countries operate embassies in Kabul and have accepted diplomats appointed by the Taliban, which controls Afghan missions in some 14 nations in the region.
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 29, 2024 ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers stated their intention Wednesday to join a United Nations-organized meeting in Doha on June 30 that aims to facilitate and coordinate the world’s engagement with the country hit by a multitude of crises. The announcement came a week after a senior U.N. diplomat visited