Ariana: As the people of Afghanistan wrestle with one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, Afghanistan was listed as one of the top 3 countries on the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) annual Emergency Watchlist 2023, which highlights the 20 countries most in danger of aggravating humanitarian crises in 2023. IRC ranked Afghanistan after Somalia and Ethiopia on its list of the 20 countries that would experience the worst humanitarian disasters in the upcoming year, on Wednesday, December 14, stating that around 340 million people globally would depend on humanitarian aid. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: On Thursday (December 15th), local sources confirmed to Hasht-e Subh that the Taliban commanders in Helmand treated the Kandahari Taliban in a humiliating manner, which caused them to desert military service and leave the 215 Maiwand Corps’ base. Video footage, which was made available to Hasht-e Subh, also shows Taliban fighters leaving the Taliban camp in Helmand collectively in a convoy of military vehicles. 
Ariana: A decision on whether the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) [Taliban] administration and the Myanmar junta can send a United Nations ambassador to New York has been postponed for a second time, but could be reconsidered in the next nine months, according to a UN credentials committee report. Competing claims were again made for the seats of Myanmar and Afghanistan with the IEA administration and Myanmar’s junta pitted against envoys of the governments they ousted last year. 
Tolo News: Clashes have resumed between Islamic Emirate forces [Taliban] and the Pakistan military along the Durand Line in Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, local officials said. The motive behind the fighting is still unclear but the residents said the clashes happened when the Islamic Emirate forces tried to build a checkpoint near the Durand Line. This is the second incident between the two sides in the last week. 
Khaama: Afghan refugees in Pakistan have received warnings from the government of Pakistan that if they stay in the country beyond the specified period with no legal residence permit either from the host country or the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), they will face serious consequences. Over the past months, this is the second time the government of Pakistan is warning foreign nationals, Afghan immigrants, in particular, to extend their stay visas and other legal documents, or else they will have to pay fines to leave the country. 
Khaama: The number of journalists behind bars worldwide has risen to a 30-year high, according to the CPJ’s annual jail census, the Journalists Imprisonment Index, which was released on December 14th. According to the CPJ’s prison census, Afghanistan is globally ranked 17th in a tie with Iraq and Morocco as countries with the 3 journalists behind the bars. 
8am: The Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture has said that it has signed contracts worth $42 million with foreign tourists that allow them to hunt rare birds. Bakhtar news agency, the official Taliban-owned news website, reported on Tuesday (December 13th) that the million-dollar contracts with foreign tourists, especially Arabs, facilitate the legal hunting of some birds. The birds are called houbara bustard whose meat is prized by Arab shaikhs as an aphrodisiac. Falcons, hawks, and geese are also believed to be among their favorites. Farah, Herat, Nimruz and Helmand provinces were every year visited by foreign tourists to illegally hunt rare birds.