8am: According to local sources speaking to Hasht-e Subh on Saturday, April 29, the Taliban arrested two former soldiers from the city of Qala-e-Naw, the center of Badghis province, and Ab-Kamari district, and transferred them to an unknown location. Former government soldiers in various provinces of Afghanistan are regularly arrested, tortured, and sometimes even shot by the Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).
Khaama: Iran and Afghanistan signed a water-sharing agreement on the Helmand River in 1973; Afghanistan would provide Iran with 22 cubic meters of water per second with the option to purchase an additional four cubic meters per second for “goodwill and brotherly relations.” according to the document. While this happened, Iranian officials claimed that the Helmand River-based Kamal Khan Dam in Nimruz province and the Kajaki Dam in Kandahar had worsened the situation. Click here to read more (external link).
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Ariana: The explosion occurred on Friday at around 3:30 pm as kids were playing in the village of Dasht-e-Top in the Sayed Abad district of Maidan Wardak, a province east of Kabul. Afghanistan remains one of the nations with the highest concentration of landmines in the world, killing several people each month, including children, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Click here to read more (external link).
Massoud
Khaama: Ahmad Massoud warned against engaging with the Taliban in an interview with The National while he was in Vienna for a conference of anti-Taliban figures, human rights activists and academicians. “If you think you can co-opt the Taliban with money and diplomatic ties, then you are gravely mistaken,” he warned. “Afghanistan has become an epic prison for its people and a safe haven for terrorist groups” and was also a country that could revisit the “catastrophic” events of the past, he added. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: According to local sources, two women have hanged themselves in the provinces of Kapisa and Faryab. It should be noted that since the beginning of the Taliban’s renewed rule in the country, suicide rates have increased. Poverty, unemployment, family violence, and strict Taliban restrictions are among the reasons for such events. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health said that in April there have been almost 3,500 cases of Covid-19 reported in the country. According to the ministry, the process of vaccination against Covid-19 will start in several provinces of the country in the next few days. “In last month we also had a campaign of Covid-19 vaccination in 13 provinces, and we will have a booster dose campaign in May,” said Sharaft Zaman Amirkhil, spokesman for the Public Health Ministry. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: Abdullah Al Mutairi, from Kuwait, has been appointed as the new national football team head coach, after Anoush Dastgir was sacked due to the team’s poor performance. The Kuwaiti, will be tasked with finding new talent among local players and Afghans playing for foreign teams in order to form his national team. Click here to read more (external link).
Financial Times: Despite security risks and the ongoing humanitarian crisis, a growing number of tourists are visiting the country “It is disturbing for us to see western travel vloggers roam freely about the country while Afghan women are banned from public parks, schools and universities,” says Azizzada. “Not to mention that Afghan journalists as well as their fellow Afghan vloggers are being arbitrarily jailed, beaten and punished by the Taliban. Instead . . . anyone travelling to Afghanistan ought to speak with Afghans who have been on the receiving end of the Taliban’s cruel rule.” Click here to read more (external link).