Hamid Karzai
Afghanistan International: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has voiced concern over media reports of a Pakistani airstrike in Nuristan province, urging Islamabad to respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty and avoid violating international law. Taliban officials have so far remained silent on the incident. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: Fasihuddin Fitrat, Afghanistan’s Chief of Army Staff, has stated that the Islamic Emirate will not engage in any form of negotiation regarding Bagram Airfield – with any country, including the United States. In an interview with a local media outlet, Fitrat emphasized that the presence of even a single foreign soldier anywhere on Afghan soil is unacceptable to the Islamic Emirate. Click here to read more (external link).
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8am: Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the country’s healthcare system has been pushed to the brink of collapse, with international aid, which formed the backbone of medical service provision, almost entirely cut off. The American newspaper New Lines reported on Thursday, August 14, 2025, that more than 23 million people, nearly half of Afghanistan’s population, require assistance to access food, clean water, or basic medical care. This situation has become alarmingly worse following the significant reduction of global aid and the withdrawal of international relief organizations. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: After a six-year break, the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) is set to return, backed by a long-term commercial partnership. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) aims to relaunch the T20 league in October–November, likely in the Middle East, with hopes of attracting international stars and establishing a sustainable tournament model. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 14, 2025
Four years after the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, the United Nations says the ultra-conservative group “is closer than ever to achieving its vision of a society that completely erases women from public life.”
Since returning to power on August 15, 2021, Taliban officials have imposed a series of draconian rules that strip Afghan women and girls of their rights and dignity, the gender equality agency UN Women said on August 11.
The Taliban-led government has banned girls from school beyond the sixth grade, while women are barred from most jobs and political life. They also must adhere to a strict Islamic dress code outside their homes.
A new report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) backs up the warning issued by UN Women documenting numerous cases of women being detained by inspectors from the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice — the Taliban’s morality police — for allegedly breaching the dress code requirements.
“The edicts which the Taliban have passed restricting women and girls’ rights interact together to create an inescapable cycle which relegates women to private spaces and increases their vulnerability,” UN Women said.
The UN says more than 78 percent of Afghan women have lost access to education, employment, or training since the Taliban returned to power.
For example, in the western city of Herat, UNAMA said, dozens of women deemed not in compliance with the hijab rules were barred from entering markets or using public transport in May. Several women were detained until their relatives brought them clothes to cover themselves completely, according to the report.
The Taliban has banned women from traveling without a male guardian, a move that in some instances has deprived women from accessing health-care and other vital services.
According to UNAMA, the Taliban’s morality police have instructed health clinics, government offices, shops, markets, and taxi drivers across the country to deny services for women not accompanied by a male relative, or a so-called mahram.
In the Upper Maiwand district of southern Kandahar Province, for example, Taliban inspectors reminded drivers, travel agents, and travelers at the local bus station that women and girls are not allowed to travel without a mahram.
The Kandahar morality police also demanded female health-care workers be accompanied to work by a male guardian carrying a “mahram identification card.” Such cards are issued by the Taliban-led Department of Public Health and establish the relationship between the card holder and the female health worker.
Child marriage has also become more common, and “women are increasingly subjected to violence, inside and outside of their homes,” the UN said.
UN Women predicts that impediments to receiving health care for women will increase maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan by 50 percent by 2026.
Many of the deaths were reportedly due to preventable pregnancy complications exacerbated by severe shortages in qualified birth attendants and an under-resourced health-care system.
The shortage of specialists is expected to be even more dire in coming years as the Taliban has banned women from studying at universities and has closed private schools that offered courses on midwifery, nursing, and laboratory assistance.
UN Women warned the results of the Taliban’s oppressive policies on women in Afghanistan “are devastating.”
“Women are living shorter, less healthy lives,” the UN agency said.
The situation for women and girls in Afghanistan has become “increasingly untenable” under the Taliban, the agency said, and warned that “without urgent action, this untenable reality will become normalized and women and girls will be fully excluded” from public life.
Related
8am: Reports indicate that al-Qaeda is rebuilding its operational capacity inside Afghanistan. While the Taliban and even many global powers deliberately downplay the network’s presence, the reality is that al-Qaeda, working in close coordination with the Taliban, is establishing new bases in strategic and mountainous regions, particularly in Panjshir Province. These developments point to covert security strategies aimed at drawing Asian powers into a new kind of multinational terrorism. Local sources in Panjshir report that al-Qaeda has trained roughly 500 newly recruited fighters, mostly from Arab countries, with some from Somalia, in both military tactics and ideological indoctrination. These recruits speak Arabic and English, and dedicated terrorist training camps have been established for them. Click here to read more (external link).
Donald Trump
Khaama: Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Trump administration of pursuing policies toward Afghan refugees that contradict the US State Department’s own findings on human rights conditions in Afghanistan. The State Department’s 2024 annual human rights report, released Tuesday, cites credible evidence of widespread abuses under Taliban rule, including arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, and severe restrictions on women, civil liberties, and free speech. It concludes that Afghanistan remains a “dangerous” place. Despite these assessments, HRW says Washington is ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Afghan refugees—protection granted to individuals whose return would be unsafe due to conflict, repression, or disasters. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: The US State Department, in its annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices, says Afghanistan under Taliban rule saw “widespread disregard for the rule of law and official impunity” for those responsible for abuses, as well as a “significant deterioration” in women’s rights due to restrictive edicts. The department says the Taliban have further restricted women’s access to education, employment and freedom of movement, “effectively removing them from public spaces.” While the Taliban have not formally changed laws enacted before their takeover in August 2021, the State Department says they have issued “laws” and edicts that contradict existing legislation and violate Afghanistan’s international obligations. Click here to read more (external link).
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8am: Sources in Taloqan say that for over 40 days, several pharmacies have been closed under the pretext of inspections. According to these sources, some pharmacies have reopened through mediation or connections with local Taliban authorities, while others have been forced to clear out their stock, contributing to rising unemployment in the province. Sources further claim that the Taliban intend to shut down these pharmacies to pave the way for opening pharmacies linked to their associates. The sources add: “The Taliban want to close pharmacies to force owners to obtain licenses, even though they already hold licenses. They plan to sell these licenses to pharmacy owners. Additionally, some Taliban members own pharmaceutical trading companies and aim to sell their medicines to doctors through these pharmacies.” Click here to read more (external link).