Khaama: A new United Nations report reveals that opium farmers in northern Afghanistan are struggling to replace lost income following bans on poppy cultivation. Surveys conducted in Badakhshan, Balkh, and Kunduz provinces show 85 percent of households have been unable to offset revenue losses, leaving communities in urgent need of economic support. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: Taliban collected and burned dozens of musical instruments in the eastern province of Nangarhar, saying the move was aimed at enforcing Islamic principles and reforming society. Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on music, banning it from public events, weddings, radio and television broadcasts, and many public spaces. Musical instruments have been confiscated and destroyed in several provinces. Click here to read more (external link).
Buzkashi (file photo)
Al Jazeera: Afghanistan’s cherished buzkashi tournament maintains its status as a traditional sport characterised by limited formal rules and fierce physical competition. In its classic format, two teams compete to score using what was traditionally a goat carcass, though contemporary matches utilise a leather-and-rope substitute filled with straw to replicate the weight of an animal. Click here to read more (external link).
Khalilzad
Amu: Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US special envoy for Afghanistan, has returned to Kabul for the fourth time since the Taliban took power. In a statement, the Taliban-run foreign ministry said Khalilzad met their Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to discuss “ways, opportunities and challenges” related to bilateral relations between the two sides. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan International: Eyewitnesses told Afghanistan International that Mawlawi Noman, an aide to Taliban intelligence chief, was killed in a targeted drone or rocket attack in Kabul. Sources close to the Taliban had initially said Mawlawi Noman died when a gas cylinder exploded at his home. However, an eyewitness living near the residence said a second-floor room of the house where Noman and a guest were present at the time was completely destroyed. The eyewitness described the incident as “highly targeted and calculated,” adding that the force of the blast was inconsistent with a domestic accident. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Many residents of Kabul now speak with growing anxiety about the spread of non-standard high-rise buildings across the city. They say builders have ignored Kabul’s limited capacity, and as a result, daily life has become harder and environmental damage more severe. At a time when the city already struggles with water shortages, heavy air pollution, and weak urban services, residents warn that continued high-rise construction will only deepen these crises. They argue that the Taliban should stop the city’s irresponsible expansion instead of issuing permits and collecting money from builders. Click here to read more (external link).
By Abubakar Siddique, Farhad Shinwari and Norias Nori
December 27, 2025
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
For nearly two months, Sayed Wali, a young Afghan truck driver, has watched the sun rise, and the sun set in the fabled Khyber Pass, which connects western Pakistan to eastern Afghanistan. But he’s not here for the view. He’s stuck.
Wali can’t even leave his 10-wheel truck and its cargo unattended for fear it could be robbed or ransacked.
He was taking a shipment of Afghan imports from Pakistan’s southern seaport city of Karachi through some 1,800 kilometers of roads that wind from the Arabian Sea up through to the treacherous Khyber mountains and onward to Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul.
Then politics got in the way.
Simmering tensions between the Taliban-led Afghan government and Islamabad boiled over into fierce border clashes in early October after Pakistan carried out air strikes inside Afghanistan.
Islamabad accused Kabul of sheltering the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rebel group, whose attacks killed scores of Pakistani troops in September.
In a repeat of its key lever to pressure landlocked Kabul, Islamabad sealed half a dozen major and minor border crossings with Afghanistan on October 12. But instead of negotiating for reopening the vital trade routes, the Taliban retaliated by shutting the border with Pakistan in early October.
Wali is not alone; some 8,000 truckers are stuck at the two major border crossings along the 2,640 kilometers of the Durand Line, which separates the two countries.
“We are miserable. The cold is now unbearable and we’ve been stranded here for two months away from our families,” Wali recently told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal.
“We are sick of this misery,” he said. “The two should resolve this problem once and for all.”
In the weeks that followed the diplomatic dispute, Kabul struck new deals to increase trade and open new routes with Iran, Central Asia, and India. The Taliban government called on Afghan traders and investors to seek new partners, suppliers and manufacturers away from Pakistan.
“This has been one of the most debilitating and tragic closures,” said Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies, a think tank in Islamabad.
“This has badly impacted tens of thousands of people from both sides — farmers, daily wage workers, traders and truckers,” he said.
Irreparable Losses
Nearly five decades of war and political turmoil have entangled the two countries in a complex web of population movements, trade, transport and mostly free movement across their porous border.
Before the border closure, bilateral trade between Islamabad and Kabul was between $2 billion and $3 billion annually, according to the Pak-Afghan Joint Chambers of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI).
Islamabad was the dominant partner. Its exporters accounted for most of the trade and included industrial goods, pharmaceuticals, cement, and food. Kabul, on the other hand, sent its fresh and dry fruits to Pakistan. The country served as a major transit route for Afghan imports, generating considerable revenue.
Now Islamabad’s predicament is visible. Every winter, it sold more than $50 million worth of citrus fruits to Afghanistan and, via its routes, to its western Central Asian neighbors. But this year’s crops are being sold cheaply domestically.
Shahid Hussain, the senior vice president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industries in the northwestern city of Peshawar, says the trade war has already caused irreparable losses to traders and investors in both countries.
“There is no way traders can recover from these losses,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal. “Everything they had built over the past few decades has been ruined.”
In Peshawar, the fallout from the continued border closure is everywhere.
The city’s once-bustling gemstone market is silent. Most of its shops and offices are closed, as no raw stones used in ornaments and jewelry have crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
Most of the minerals processed and refined in this market are mined in various parts of the Hindu Kush mountains, which shape and dominate the Afghan landscape.
“If the border continues to be closed, it will affect thousands of workers and associated businessmen,” said Abdul Jalil, the president of the Peshawar Gemstone Association.
‘Traders Cannot Absorb More Losses’
In Kabul, Younas Mohmand, a business leader, says insulating trade from the troubled bilateral relations between the two neighbors might provide a good beginning toward restoring ties.
“Business ties should resume in return for future guarantees from Pakistan,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi repeating the Taliban’s key demand from Islamabad. “Our traders cannot absorb more losses.”
Graeme Smith, a bestselling author and regional analyst, says Kabul will need Islamabad for major projects aimed at transforming it into a trade, transport and energy hub between Central Asia and South Asia.
“Like it or not, most of the big economic opportunities will require doing business with Pakistan,” he said.
First conceived nearly three decades ago, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project remains a pipe dream.
Similarly, sending Central Asia’s abundant hydropower to Pakistan and linking the region to Islamabad via a railway line would require stability within Central Asia and stable relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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Saree
Afghanistan International: The funeral ceremony was held on Saturday afternoon in the Chahardangeh area of Tehran, where mourners gathered in large numbers to pay their respects. Several Iranian media outlets have criticised the authorities’ silence over the assassinations of Taliban opponents, describing the group as an unreliable partner. Some newspapers have also questioned Iran’s decision to hand over Afghanistan’s embassy and consulates to the Taliban, arguing that the group has carried out assassination operations reaching as far as Tehran. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Afghanistan International: The Taliban’s foreign minister has said that “malicious elements” are seeking to disrupt relations between the Taliban and Tajikistan, following the killing of Tajik border guards in an attack by militants who crossed from Afghan territory. Amir Khan Muttaqi said an investigation into the incident has begun and stressed that cooperation with Tajikistan would continue to prevent a recurrence. His remarks followed a phone call with his Tajik counterpart after Dushanbe demanded an apology from the Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).
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