Afghanistan International: The Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has approved the deployment of 1,000 fighters to protect gold mining operations in Badakhshan province, according to the Taliban-appointed governor. In recent months, clashes have occurred between local residents and Taliban-linked mining companies in the province. Click here to read more (externa link).
Amu: Taliban have burned around 600 musical instruments in Parwan and Laghman provinces in the latest enforcement of their sweeping ban on music. The Taliban directorate vice and virtue in Parwan said it had set fire to about 500 instruments that had been collected over the past year from the provincial capital and surrounding districts.
Special Eurasia: Tehran’s potential recognition of the Taliban is a strategic security hedge designed to stabilise its eastern frontier and prevent Afghanistan from being used as a platform for hostile intelligence or militant activity. Deepening trade interdependence, energy exports, and border free-trade zones are embedding Afghanistan structurally into Iran’s economy, transforming geopolitical risk into geo-economic
Tyla: A new penal code has been published by Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, which will legalise acts of physical punishment against women. The alarming news comes in light of Hibatullah Akhundzada – the Supreme Leader of the Islamist extreme group – signing a 90-page criminal code which outlines different degrees of legal penalisation depending on
8am: Some families in Kabul say that their children’s attitudes toward the future have changed after listening to songs produced by the Taliban. They add that after hearing these songs, their children show greater curiosity about topics related to war and frequently use terms such as “suicide, jihad, and martyrdom” and other violent concepts in
Afghanistan International: Under the directive, all members of a surgical team must be either entirely male or entirely female, and mixed-gender teams are prohibited. The order states that a patient’s gender will not be considered when assigning surgical staff. The new order has raised concerns about the ability of Afghanistan’s healthcare system to provide adequate
Amu: Taliban prevented women from entering a major industry exhibition in Kabul, sources told Amu TV on Friday, sharing video footage of the incident. The third “International Exhibition of Industry of Afghanistan” opened on Thursday, Feb. 12, and is scheduled to run for five days, featuring about 400 booths. One participant told Amu that women
Afghanistan International: Andrey Serdyukov, chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, said at a press conference on Thursday that the presence and activities of such groups in Afghanistan threaten regional security and could lead to the spread of terrorism to neighbouring countries. He described the situation as a serious concern for Central Asian states. Click here
8am: Tammy Bruce, Deputy U.S. Representative to the United Nations, says that the Taliban use prisoners as tools of pressure. Bruce said on Thursday, February 12, at the UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan that the Taliban uses American hostages as leverage in negotiations with Washington. Tammy Bruce emphasized in this meeting that the Taliban
The Diplomat: Taliban 2.0 have moved beyond traditional methods of administration and have been largely involved in managing anti-government forces rather than defeating them in numbers. This process began much earlier, around 2011, particularly in the northern provinces — the epicenter of anti-Taliban forces. 600 men from Panjshir have been incorporated into the Taliban’s defense