Taliban militants (file photo)
Amu: Taliban morality enforcers detained several women late Thursday near the Parwan Hotel in Kabul’s 11th district, local sources said. The women were taken to a Taliban security facility, where families were told to pay 20,000 afghanis (about $280) and informed that the women would spend one night in jail, according to the sources. Click here to read more (external link).
Life under Taliban rule
Dam in Afghanistan (file photo)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Iran’s deepening water crisis is primarily driven by prolonged drought, chronic mismanagement, and the impacts of climate change. The crisis is so bad that officials say Tehran is becoming uninhabitable and Israel is hoping it will get people to revolt against the Islamic republic. Making an already bad situation worse is the Taliban’s launch of a hydroelectric power station at the Pashdan Dam. Located on the Hari River in northwestern Afghanistan, the dam threatens to cut off the main water supply to Mashhad — Iran’s second-largest city with roughly 3.5 million residents. Click here to read more (external link).
Khaama: Amnesty International UK says asylum approvals for Afghans fell from 98% to 44%. The group warns new immigration laws are unfair, harmful, and undermine refugee protections. Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, described the new policies as “flawed and unfair.” He cautioned that the approach leaves thousands of asylum seekers without protection and risks creating a growing backlog of unresolved cases alongside higher public costs. Click here to read more (external link).
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Amu: Band-e-Amir won the toss and elected to bowl first against Speenghar in the third match of the 8th edition of the X-Bull List A Tournament 2025 in the eastern province of Khost. The tournament, now in its 8th edition, continues to showcase Afghanistan’s domestic cricket talent, with high-scoring matches and strong regional rivalries. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: Residents of the Rashk area in Punjab district of Bamiyan province say the Taliban have seized their homes and handed them over to nomadic Kochis, leaving many families displaced and living in temporary tents. Locals told Amu that the Taliban pressured residents to sign forced land transfer documents. Those who refused have faced arrest warrants and accusations of “causing division,” prompting some families to flee. “They are under pursuit. The Taliban want to arrest those who refused to sign the order giving their land to the Kochis,” said a woman from Punjab district. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Many citizens of the country complain about various methods of extortion, bribery, and blackmail by the Taliban. They say that the Taliban, by employing new methods of bribery and extortion, have not only challenged administrative and social security, but have also created the groundwork for a natural crisis in Kabul. Sources say that Taliban members, if cash payment or providing facilities is not possible, obtain signatures and documents from applicants by setting deadlines. These sources also add that the Taliban issue construction permits in residential area development projects in exchange for receiving bribes; an action that has led to increased substandard construction and population density in the capital, which experts consider a serious threat to citizens’ health and the environment. Click here to read more (external link).
Amu: Pakistan’s envoy to the United Nations warned the Security Council that terrorism originating from Afghanistan poses the most serious threat to regional and global security, pointing to the presence of thousands of fighters from multiple groups operating there. “The situation in Afghanistan remains precarious, with some 2,000 fighters. ISIL-K poses the most serious threat,” Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said. He said while the Taliban administration has fought the Islamic State group’s local affiliate, ISIL-Khorasan, the presence of other groups such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baloch militant factions, and what he called Fitna al-Khawarij remains unaddressed. Click here to read more (external link).
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TIME: Over the past 12 years, the small family-health clinic in Melmastok, a remote mountainous community in Afghanistan’s central Daikundi province, has withstood multiple upheavals—from a Taliban insurgency to the withdrawal of international troops and the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul in 2021. Ever since, as the Taliban returned to power, once again issuing edicts to suppress women and girls, the clinic and its 34-year-old midwife Atifa have continued to provide a lifeline for mothers and young children. Until this summer, that is. Come July, the clinic finally closed its doors. For Atifa, who identifies herself like many local women with only her first name, that means one thing: “Mothers and children will die.” Click here to read more (external link).