Amu: According to the sources, Taliban officials visited the Islam Qala center in Herat on Saturday afternoon (February 8) and warned male employees that shaving or trimming their beards would result in imprisonment. This directive follows previous bans on beard trimming in government institutions and academic environments, reflecting the Taliban’s continued enforcement of strict social
Amu: Local sources alleged that Abdullah Sarhadi, the Taliban governor of Bamiyan, coerced and threatened members of the Shia community in the province to denounce the ICC’s actions. According to reports, Sarhadi contacted several Shia elders in Bamiyan, instructing them to publicly condemn the ICC prosecutor’s request. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Previously, the Middle East Research Institute (MERI) reported that of the 1,137 senior Taliban officials, 891 were Pashtun, 53 Tajik, 28 Uzbek, and 6 Hazara. According to this research, 40 of the top-tier Taliban Supreme Leaders, including the Supreme Leader, prime minister, and ministers of defense, higher education, education, culture, rural development, labor and
Afghanistan International: According to research by Afghanistan International – Pashto, detainees at the Taliban’s intelligence Agency prisons are subjected to 31 different types of torture during their custody. This research is based on interviews with 38 individuals who had been detained and tortured by the agents of the Taliban’s intelligence agency. It also includes data
Afghanistan International: Mortaza Behboudi, an Afghan-French journalist who was imprisoned by the Taliban for seven months, told France 2 that the Taliban “pulled out his teeth and tortured him with electric shocks and injected fluids into his body”. He said that he was tortured every day during the first three months of his imprisonment. In
The Guardian (UK): It was a normal summer morning in July last year when 19-year-old Samira* made her way to the carpet-weaving shop where she worked in Kabul to pick up her wages. She had no way of knowing that in just a few hours, her life as she knew it would be over. She
Afghanistan International: Julia Parsi, a women’s rights activist, has claimed that she lost hearing in one of her ears as a result of the Taliban’s torture in the group’s prison. Julia Parsi, who had been in Taliban custody for more than three months, said that she underwent surgery for a deep wound in her right
Amu: Kandahar Province, regarded as the Taliban’s power base, is hosting a three-day exhibition showcasing domestic products from 150 Afghan manufacturers. However, as the event entered its second day on Sunday, sources reported that women had been barred from attending. Despite the prominent role women play in producing these items, they have been excluded from
8am: Several former military personnel and their family members have complained about extortion, torture, and retaliation by the Taliban. Some relatives of these ex-soldiers report that in recent weeks, the Taliban have harassed former security forces and their families in various ways. In less than a month, the group has accused at least ten former
The Conversation: The economic cost could potentially reach over a billion dollars – and this doesn’t include the wider social costs associated with lower levels of education for women. For context, Afghanistan’s entire gross domestic product was just $17 billion in 2023. Our study demonstrates how catastrophic the newest education ban could be, not just