71 Dead In Bus Crash in Afghanistan Carrying Migrants Expelled From Iran

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Afghanistan International: At least 71 people, including 17 children, were killed when a passenger bus carrying Afghan migrants deported from Iran collided with a truck and a motorcycle on a highway in western Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday. Taliban police blamed the accident on the bus driver’s “high speed and recklessness.” Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, spokesman for the Taliban-appointed governor of Herat, told Agence France-Presse the passengers had recently been expelled from Iran and were en route to Kabul. Click here to read more (external link).

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Pakistan Today: Afghan Taliban Provide Regular Funding To TTP

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TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud

Afghanistan International: Pakistan Today has reported that the Afghan Taliban are providing regular financial support to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including monthly payments of about three million Afghanis (USD 43,000) to the family of the group’s leader, Noor Wali Mehsud. According to the report, the funds are used to purchase weapons, develop military infrastructure, and organise attacks against Pakistan. Click here to read more (external link).

Septic Systems: The Silent Threat to Health and Kabul’s Groundwater

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8am: Septic systems in Kabul city are among the issues that have received less attention and have recently raised concerns among a large number of residents of this city. At the same time, several environmental experts also consider the existence of these systems as a serious threat to public health and a factor in increasing groundwater pollution. They say that this issue not only exacerbates the water shortage crisis but also brings heavy economic and social consequences. A number of Kabul residents say that the existence of septic systems has increased their concerns about increasing groundwater pollution. They describe the continuation of this situation as dangerous and emphasize that even now, clean and drinkable water is hardly found. Click here to read more (external link).

Khalilzad says former Afghan elites seeking to regain past privileges

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Khalilzad

Amu: Former US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said Tuesday that Afghanistan continues to face severe economic struggles, restrictions on girls’ education and efforts by former political leaders to reclaim privileges they lost after the Taliban takeover. In a message on Afghanistan’s Independence Dya, Khalilzad said former Afghan elites and leaders, who he argued “failed to take advantage of two decades of major opportunities,” are now seeking to “regain their past benefits.” Khalilzad’s comments come as he faces mounting criticism from Afghan politicians, human rights activists and women’s rights defenders, who accuse him of acting as a Taliban lobbyist and of attempting to whitewash the group’s policies. Click here to read more (external link).

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World Food Program Warns Of ‘Unprecedented’ Hunger Crisis In Afghanistan

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By Ray Furlong and Omid Marzban
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 18, 2025

Kabul residents have told RFE/RL that they are begging for rice and “ready to accept death,” as the World Food Program (WFP) said it was “turning hundreds of thousands of people away” from nutrition centers.

WFP Country Director John Aylieff said drought, dramatic aid cuts, and the forced return of 1.5 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan had combined to create “rising acute malnutrition” in the poverty-stricken country.

“We need to do everything we can to avoid famine,” he told RFE/RL. “It could be unprecedented because during the winter, there could be 10 to 15 million people needing food assistance. And at the moment, we have no funding and there will be no response.”

For the coming six months, the WFP in Afghanistan said it requires nearly $539 million for all programs to reach the most vulnerable families across the country.

But multiple donors have slashed contributions. For 2025, the WFP in Afghanistan said it received some $155 million. This compares with nearly $560 million the year before, and nearly $1.6 billion in 2022.

“The US has been a phenomenally generous donor in Afghanistan for decades, providing the lion’s share of humanitarian assistance, along with other generous donors from around the world,” Aylieff said.

“Now is not the moment for anyone to reduce or walk away.”

RFE/RL has asked the White House for comment. In his first few months in office, President Donald Trump cut more than 7,400 foreign aid programs globally worth $80 billion, according to a report published last month by Senate Democrats.

A State Department spokesman told RFE/RL on August 4 that “over the last approximately four years, foreign assistance intended for the people of Afghanistan was systematically diverted and expropriated by the Taliban — a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.”

Nearly four years since their takeover of Afghanistan, “it is due time that the Taliban provide for the welfare of the Afghan people,” the spokesman added.

‘Ready To Accept Death’

The situation has devastating results for people like 42-year-old Kabul resident Gul Dasta. She used to work as a cleaner at the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry. When the Taliban seized power in August 2021, they announced a ban on women working in government offices, and she was fired.

Dasta’s husband has severe diabetes and cannot work. The couple have a 9-year-old son and two daughters, aged 14 and 16. They have not received an international food aid package for five months.

“There have been days that we had nothing to eat. I have boiled some rice that I begged from the neighbors and fed my children with. Every day in life is so difficult. There have been days that I cried all day,” she told RFE/RL in a phone interview.

Another Kabul resident we spoke to broke down in tears during the call.

Abeda, 54, is a widow who lives with her 15-year-old son, 26-year-old widowed daughter, and two grandchildren. She was a cleaner at a girls’ high school until the Taliban closed it as part of a campaign against education for females.

“Last Thursday I had nothing at home. Not even potatoes or tomatoes. I hated my life. Life is full of pain and trouble. Last Thursday I was even ready to accept death,” she said, during an interview on August 11.

Turning People Away

Aylieff said the situation was even worse in rural areas, where some 400 clinics providing nutrition had closed down due to lack of funds.

“The result of that is that we’re turning hundreds of thousands of people away,” he said.

“Sometimes they would have to walk for five hours to a clinic, the nearest one. Imagine the anguish of showing up and finding the clinic is closed.”

Aylieff added that the WFP was currently able to provide food to around 1 million people, compared to 5 million a year ago. But it will soon run out of money, he said, meaning food assistance will stop “almost completely” by October.

Taliban officials have largely avoided public comment on the hunger crisis, instead making vague remarks blaming foreign actors for the country’s general economic hardships.

For example, a statement by the Economy Ministry back in February said, “In addition to the financial and economic sanctions imposed by the United States, the freezing of assets has affected Afghanistan’s national economy.”

RFE/RL has been unable to operate freely in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power.

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Taliban Fuel Ethnic Tensions With Forced Displacement, Says Ex-Afghan Commander

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Taliban militants (file photo)

Afghanistan International: A former Afghan army commander has accused the Taliban of driving Afghanistan toward collapse through forced displacement, land seizures and the resettlement of outsiders in the country’s north and west. General Farid Ahmadi, who once led Afghanistan’s special forces, said the Taliban’s policies have inflamed ethnic hostilities and placed national unity at risk. In a statement marking the anniversary of the Afghan republic’s fall, he said the group had destroyed not only Afghanistan’s political system and two decades of progress, but also the foundations of social cohesion. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Have Chosen Hostility Toward All Political Groups, Says Hizbe Islami Leader

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Hekmatyar

Afghanistan International: Hezb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has accused the Taliban of pursuing a policy of hostility toward all political groups, warning that Afghanistan lacks national unity under their rule. In a series of posts on X on Monday, Hekmatyar questioned whether Afghans could agree on a “national covenant” that would provide a unified and inclusive approach to the country’s challenges. “If we build this capacity and ability within ourselves, we can move toward light,” he wrote. Click here to read more (external link).

Telegraph: Taliban Gave UK Allies List to Iran In Bid For Recognition

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Afghanistan International: The Taliban handed over a leaked list of Afghans who worked with Britain to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in exchange for a promise to push Tehran to recognise their government, The Telegraph reported. Citing senior Iranian officials, the newspaper said four Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers travelled to Kabul last week to collect the list, which the group intends to use as leverage in nuclear negotiations with the West. The officials reportedly acted without the knowledge of Iran’s government. Click here to read more (external link).