Afghanistan International: The report alleges that the Taliban block and redirect aid to ensure it reaches Pashtun communities rather than Tajik and Hazara populations. It says only 30 to 40 percent of all aid sent to Afghanistan has reached those truly in need. The United States has provided nearly $4 billion in humanitarian assistance to
Khaama: Russia emphasizes the need for an inclusive political structure in Afghanistan, stressing the importance of ethnic representation in governance. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, at the conclusion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in China, called for “national unity” in Afghanistan and the involvement of various ethnic and political groups in
Amu: Local sources confirmed on Thursday that tensions among local Taliban commanders have flared in the northeastern province of Badakhshan where similar rifts were also reported previously. The new round of such rifts emerged in Jurm after efforts by senior Taliban commanders to detain a fellow commander of Tajik ethnicity was failed, sources said. The
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
8am: The Taliban, too, claim to enforce God’s Sharia and incessantly speak of Islam and Islamic law. Yet, their actions practically fulfill the aspirations of ethnonationalists, achieving their goals and dreams. It is no coincidence that some ethnic nationalists sympathize with the Taliban, ecstatic that political and military power has fallen into their hands. The
Afghanistan International: Richard Bennett, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, in his new report said that some “credible sources” testified about sexual harassment and rape of women inside Taliban prisons. Bennett added that he was deeply concerned by the numerous reports of sexual violence against women inside the Taliban’s prison. The United
8am: In their efforts to spread their ideology among the Pashtuns, the Taliban have killed many tribal leaders and intellectual youths. During the republic era, the National Security Council published a book titled “Thousands of Crimes”, documenting the Taliban’s killing of tribal leaders and intellectual youths, most notably in Kandahar. It is evident that if
8am: Many Uzbek citizens in Afghanistan argue that the Taliban’s ethnic biases have excluded them from political power, denying them a meaningful role in national decision-making. They criticize the Taliban’s mono-ethnic regime, which they claim has failed to provide any significant benefits to Uzbeks over the past three years. Instead, they say, the Taliban have
8am: Recent intelligence indicates potential connections between Khorasani and the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). Video evidence and social media posts suggest his unit includes former ISKP operatives, raising suspicions of a strategic pivot toward this rival group. His vocal criticisms of the Taliban’s ethnic policies and the emerging power struggle within its ranks further
Khaama: The former Taliban district governor of Ahmadabad in Paktia province, Abdul Hamid Khorasani, says that when everyone in Panjshir was against the Taliban, he stood against his own “ethnic group” and supported the Taliban. Abdul Hamid Khorasani stated that now the leadership of the Taliban is in the hands of “one ethnic”, and others