8am: Several government employees under Taliban control say the group has imposed a ban on smartphone use across all institutions. They add that the Taliban have warned that anyone defying the order will be referred to the group’s military court and have their smartphones destroyed. Employees say the measure was issued on the verbal order of the group’s Supreme Leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. The Taliban have also destroyed the smartphones of several teachers at schools in Khost province, and on the same day, asked all of them to bring in their phones to be destroyed as proof of their “obedience and loyalty” to Akhundzada. Click here to read more (external link).
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Ariana: India national cricket team secured a seven-wicket victory over the Afghanistan national cricket team in the opening match of the ODI series played on Saturday in Dharamsala. 
8am: Following calls to action by citizens inside and outside the country to protest the detention of women in Herat and the crackdown on their demonstrations, the Taliban have stepped up the interrogation, detention, and imprisonment of social activists and social media users across the province. After the public protests in the Jibrail district of Herat, the group summoned a number of social media users, particularly vloggers, on charges of supporting the demonstrators, deleted their videos and posts, and issued warnings. One day later, however, a large number of those same individuals were detained by Taliban intelligence in Herat. Sources confirm that Taliban intelligence is now hunting for the families of women and men who published protest calls or critical videos against the group. 
Ariana: Afghanistan has been ranked as the seventh least peaceful country in the world in the 2026 Global Peace Index (GPI), remaining near the bottom of the global ranking that measures levels of peace, security, conflict, and militarization across 163 countries and territories. The annual report, released by the Institute for Economics and Peace, placed Afghanistan 157th out of 163 countries. Only South Sudan, Israel, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Russia ranked lower. 
Khaama: The United States is preparing to deport migrants from several countries, including Afghanistan, Iran and Syria, to the Central African Republic under a new third-country removal plan, Reuters reported on Thursday. According to Reuters, migrants who entered the United States through irregular routes and failed to secure legal residency could be transferred to the Central African Republic. A source familiar with the matter said the first deportation flight, expected next week, could carry around 20 migrants from Afghanistan and Syria. The proposal has drawn criticism from immigration lawyers and rights advocates, who warn that deported migrants could eventually face return to countries where they risk persecution, detention or other forms of harm.