By Abubakar Siddique and RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi June 5, 2025 The Taliban declared dissent unacceptable after returning to power nearly four years ago. Since then, it has detained, tortured, or forced into exile secular opponents, journalists, and human rights activists. Now the country’s de facto leaders appear to be broadening their crackdown to include Islamic
8am: Afghanistan is a land rich in underground resources—an abundance that, in terms of value and diversity, could form the backbone of its national economy and lay the foundation for sustainable development. However, rather than being utilized through a development-oriented framework, these assets have increasingly been subject to systematic looting and unregulated extraction in recent
Tolo News: The Deputy Secretary of Uzbekistan’s National Security Council has disclosed that Uzbekistan had established relations with the Islamic Emirate [Taliban] before it returned to power in Afghanistan. Abdulaziz Kamilov described his country’s approach as reasonable and timely, adding that many countries that once criticized Uzbekistan for these relations have now changed their views.
Afghanistan International: A Taliban team deployed to destroy opium poppy fields in Badakhshan’s Jurm district has withdrawn amid growing internal tensions and local unrest, sources told Afghanistan International on Sunday. Local sources said dissatisfaction is mounting among Taliban members from the province, with tensions further fuelled by the killing of a Taliban fighter in the
8am: The American journal Science Advances has published an investigative report stating that the average life satisfaction among the people of Afghanistan has dropped to the lowest level ever recorded since the Taliban’s return to power. The report, which examines public satisfaction in 2022, shows that living conditions for Afghan citizens have deteriorated to an
Amu: Taliban are reportedly receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars each month from a group of Arab nationals who have established a fortified compound in the desert between Spin Boldak and Takhtapul districts in the southern province of Kandahar, local sources say. Click here to read more (external link).
Al Jazeera: Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said the charge d’affaires stationed in the Afghan capital, Kabul, would be elevated to the rank of ambassador, with Afghanistan’s Taliban government later announcing its representative in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, would also be upgraded. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: Local sources confirmed on Thursday that tensions among local Taliban commanders have flared in the northeastern province of Badakhshan where similar rifts were also reported previously. The new round of such rifts emerged in Jurm after efforts by senior Taliban commanders to detain a fellow commander of Tajik ethnicity was failed, sources said. The
8am: Women and girls in Afghanistan accuse foreign tourists of whitewashing the Taliban’s image, claiming that these tourists enter the country at the direct invitation of the Taliban. According to these women, foreign tourists, seeking to attract attention and enjoy their travel experiences, deliberately overlook the suffering and deprivation of women stripped of all their
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi and Kian Sharifi May 29, 2025 The United States has announced it will end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, a move that will leave thousands at risk of deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declared on May 12 that TPS for Afghanistan will expire on July 14,