Afghanistan International: Despite the Taliban’s official ban on poppy cultivation, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has reported a 19% increase in Afghanistan’s poppy cultivation for 2024 compared to the previous year. According to the United Nations, the Taliban have struggled to control poppy production effectively this year. Click here to read
8am: At first, Trump will likely adopt a stance of neutrality toward the Taliban, essentially disregarding the current situation in Afghanistan. If forced to engage, his most straightforward and effective option would be to approach the Taliban for negotiation. It seems unlikely that he would engage with the anti-Taliban forces; after all, when the Democrats
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 4, 2024 Islamabad — Pakistan reported Monday that its border security forces killed at least five insurgents who were attempting to cross over from Afghanistan. The predawn encounter occurred after Pakistani troops detected the “movement of a group of khwarij” in the volatile South Waziristan border district and “effectively engaged” them
8am: With the Taliban intensifying restrictions on women in Afghanistan, women are more constrained than ever by the group’s ignorance and backwardness, finding life in these conditions intolerable. In a recent move, Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s Minister for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has prohibited adult women from hearing the voices of
Afghanistan International: Local sources from Herat told Afghanistan International that the Taliban arrested two influential Shia clerics in the town of Jibril and transferred them to an unknown location. According to sources, Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azimi had previously protested against the Taliban’s restrictions on Ashura ceremonies. In July of this year, during the Ashura
Fox News: While the wall-to-wall press coverage of what’s been called President Biden’s “Saigon moment” has largely quieted down, the Afghan diaspora living in the U.S. has not forgotten relatives in the homeland. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan International: According to these sources, Gul Bibi and a group of other women in Darqad district had clashed with a local Taliban commander and his associates over their attempts to take over the women’s land and destroy their crops. In response to the women’s resistance, the Taliban officials, allegedly in collusion with “a local
By Farangis Najibullah and RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi November 2, 2024 Barna’s working day begins early in the morning, hours before she enters her office at a private media outlet in Kabul’s trendy Karte-e Char area. Barna, a 26-year-old Afghan reporter whose name has been changed for security reasons, says she carefully chooses stories to pitch to
8am: Residents of Kunduz city have accused the Taliban municipality of extortion and imposing arbitrary fees. They allege that Taliban officials, along with local representatives, forcibly enter homes to measure them and collect money. Many residents, including female heads of households, express their inability to afford these payments and frustration that the Taliban, instead of
Ariana: Michael Kugelman, a US-based foreign policy expert and the Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, has said that Donald Trump, as president, would be less likely to focus on the state of women’s education and human rights in Afghanistan. He believes that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) might be