Page 17 - Afghanistan

Pak targets suspected Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan, tensions rise

Pakistani airstrikes targeted multiple suspected hideouts of Pakistani Taliban inside Afghanistan early Monday, two days after insurgents killed seven soldiers in a suicide bombing and coordinated attacks in the northwest, two security officials said. There was no immediate comment by Pakistan's military, and the Taliban government in Afghanistan denounced the strikes, which are likely to further increase tension between the neighboring countries. Two Pakistani security and intelligence officials said the airstrikes were carried out in Khost and Paktika provinces bordering Pakistan. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media on the record. The officials provided no further details, and it was unclear whether jets went deep inside Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban also confirmed Monday's strikes in a statement. Chief Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that Pakistan's airstrikes in Barmal disti

Pakistan carries out airstrike in Afghanistan Taliban retaliates

Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan on March 18, killing eight people. Watch the video to know more.

Traffic accident in southern Afghanistan leaves 21 dead and 38 injured

A traffic accident in southern Afghanistan left at least 21 people dead and 38 others injured, according to a provincial traffic department. The accident occurred on Sunday morning in Gerashk district of Helmand province on the main highway between southern Kandahar and western Herat provinces, a statement from the department in Helmand said. A motorbike crashed into a passenger bus, which then hit a fuel tanker on the opposite side of the road, said Qadratullah, a traffic official in Helmand. An investigation into the accident was underway, he added. Eleven of the 38 injured people were transferred to hospitals with serious injuries, said Hzatullah Haqqani, a spokesman for the Helmand police chief. Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, mainly due to poor road conditions and driver carelessness.

UN special representative calls on Taliban to reverse restrictions on women

The Taliban has restricted media freedoms and banned women from public places like parks and gyms

Global goals for Afghanistan aligns with India's priorities: Ambassador

India's envoy to the UN has said that the overall objective of the global community in Afghanistan aligns with New Delhi's priorities in the war-torn nation, including the need to combat terrorism. India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, told the UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on Wednesday that New Delhi pays close attention to the situation in the country, which has a direct impact on us". "Our objective is to establish long-term peace, security and stability in Afghanistan, Kamboj said, as she told the top organ of the United Nations that India participated actively in the recent meeting of special envoys on Afghanistan held in Qatar. "The overall objective of the vast majority of the international community aligns with India's priorities with respect to Afghanistan," she said. "These include the need to counter terrorism, bring in inclusive governance, safeguard the rights and interests of women, children and minorities, counter-narcoti

Most UNSC members demand Taliban rescind decrees oppressing women, girls

More than two-thirds of the U.N. Security Council's members demanded Monday that the Taliban rescind all policies and decrees oppressing and discriminating against women and girls, including banning girls education above the sixth grade and women's right to work and move freely. A statement by 11 of the 15 council members condemned the Taliban's repression of women and girls since they took power in August 2021, and again insisted on their equal participation in public, political, economic, cultural and social life -- especially at all decision-making levels seeking to advance international engagement with Afghanistan's de facto rulers. Guyana's U.N. Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett read the statement, surrounding by ambassadors of the 10 other countries, before a closed council meeting on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' conference with more than 25 envoys to Afghanistan on Feb. 18-19 in Qatar's capital, Doha. Afghan civil society representatives, including women, ...

Over 286,000 got respiratory illness in Afghanistan since Jan: WHO

On February 24, the WHO reported hundreds of deaths and infections due to respiratory illness in Afghanistan, coinciding with the onset of winter, according to the report

Taliban has set 'unacceptable' terms for meeting, says UN secy general

The Taliban set unacceptable conditions for attending a UN-sponsored meeting about Afghanistan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday. Taliban demands included the exclusion of Afghan civil society members from the talks in Doha, Qatar, and treatment that amounted to official recognition of the Taliban as the country's legitimate rulers, Guterres said at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Qatar. The Taliban seized power in 2021, as US and NATO forces withdrew following two decades of war. No country recognises them as Afghanistan's government, and the UN has said that recognition is almost impossible while bans on female education and employment remain in place. The two-day meeting in Doha brought together member states and special envoys. But the Taliban didn't attend because their demands had not been met. I received a letter (from the Taliban) with a set of conditions to be present in this meeting that were not acceptable, Guterres told a news conference. These .

UN deputy secretary-general initiates women-centric talks in Afghanistan

According to The Khaama Press, Wignaraja maintains her role as the Regional Director for Asia-Pacific at the UN Development Office

'Taliban decrees on clothing, guardian leave Afghan women scared to go out'

Afghan women feel scared or unsafe leaving their homes alone because of Taliban decrees and enforcement campaigns on clothing and male guardians, according to a report from the UN mission in Afghanistan. The report, issued Friday, comes days before a UN-convened meeting in the Qatari capital is set to start, with member states and special envoys to Afghanistan to discuss engagement with the Taliban and the country's crises, including the human rights situation. The Taliban which took over Afghanistan in 2021 during the final weeks of US and NATO withdrawal from the country have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they imposed despite initial promises of a more moderate rule. They are also restricting women's access to work, travel and health care if they are unmarried or don't have a male guardian, and arresting those who don't comply with the Taliban's interpretation of hijab, or Islam

Terror groups have more freedom in Afghanistan than before: UN report

There are no recent signs that the Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, has taken steps to limit the activities of foreign terrorist fighters in the war-torn country, according to a report by UN chief Antonio Guterres. The report also voiced member nations' concern that terrorist groups enjoy "greater freedom in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan than at any time in recent history, especially noting the spike in the strength of the dreaded ISIL-k terror group which has nearly doubled from earlier estimates of 2,200 fighters following the release of several thousand individuals from prison. The security landscape in Afghanistan changed dramatically on August 15, following a Taliban military campaign that seized 33 of 34 provincial capitals, including Kabul, according to the '14th report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIL (Da'esh) to international peace and security and the range of United Nations efforts in support of Member States in countering the threat'. T

Foreign aid drops sharply as Taliban abuses jeopardise Afghan health system

Human Rights Watch said on Monday that Afghanistan's public health system has been hit hard following a sharp reduction in foreign assistance, coupled with serious Taliban abuses against women and girls, jeopardising the right to healthcare of millions of Afghans. In a new report, the New York-based watchdog said this has left the Afghan population increasingly vulnerable to severe malnutrition and illness among other effects of inadequate medical care. The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 drove millions into poverty and hunger after foreign aid stopped almost overnight. Sanctions against the Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers and frozen billions in Afghanistan's currency reserves, have cut off access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of US and NATO forces. In 2023, the World Food Programme warned that malnutrition rates in Afghanistan were at a record high with half the country suffering

UN expresses concerns over arbitrary detention of women, girls by Taliban

The experts also noted that females were detained in the provinces of Bamyan, Daikundi, Panjshir, Balkh, and Kunduz

US urges Taliban govt to take steps to gain international legitimacy

The spokesman for the US State Department, Matthew Miller, said Washington would continue to call on the 'Taliban' to take steps to gain international legitimacy

International organisations request Taliban to reopen schools for girls

International organisations have called for lifting the ban on girls' education, as for over two years now, girls have been barred from accessing education in Afghanistan, TOLO News reported

UN body in Afghanistan thanks India for aid in combating locust threat

Earlier, the Taliban-controlled Ministry of Agriculture also expressed gratitude for this assistance made through the Chabahar port

Trade resumes as Pak and Afghanistan reopen Torkham border after 10 days

Trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan resumed on Tuesday after the two sides reopened a key northwestern border crossing shut for more than 10 days. Truckers for years have been able to cross the border without documents, so they generally do not have them. But Pakistan began mandating truck drivers get visas last week. The two sides after a series of meetings agreed to reopen the Torkham border crossing but Pakistan set a new deadline of March 31 for the truck drivers to get visas, said Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, a director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Abdul Basir Zabali, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the police chief in Nangarhar province, said the Torkham crossing was reopened after the two sides talked, but he didn't give details. The Torkham border crossing has been closed a number of times in recent months, mainly following clashes between the security forces for varied reasons including repairs of the border fence by Pakistan.

Taliban enforcing restrictions on single, unaccompanied Afghan women: UN

The Taliban are restricting Afghan women's access to work, travel and healthcare if they are unmarried or don't have a male guardian, according to a UN report published Monday. In one incident, officials from the Vice and Virtue Ministry advised a woman to get married if she wanted to keep her job at a health care facility, saying it was inappropriate for an unwed woman to work, it said. The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking power in 2021, despite initially promising more moderate rule. They have also shut down beauty parlors and started enforcing a dress code, arresting women who don't comply with their interpretation of hijab, or Islamic headscarf. In May 2022, the Taliban issued a decree calling for women to only show their eyes and recommending they wear the head-to-toe burqa, similar to restrictions during the Taliban's previous rule between .

4 survivors of Russian plane crash in Afghanistan in 'good health': Taliban

Video footage released by Mujahid's office showed the four men, some of whom had bruising visible on their faces and one with blood stains on his clothes, stepping off a helicopter with Taliban

Russian private jet carrying six people likely crashed in Afghanistan

A Russian private jet carrying six people is believed to have crashed in a remote area of rural Afghanistan, authorities said Sunday. The plane had been operating as a charter ambulance flight on a route from Gaya, India, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, onward to Zhukovsky International Airport in Moscow. The crash happened Saturday in a mountainous area near Zebak district in Badakhshan province, regional spokesman Zabihullah Amiri said, adding that a rescue team had been dispatched to the area. Badakhshan police chief's office also confirmed the report of the crash in a statement. From Moscow, Russian civil aviation authorities said a Dassault Falcon 10 went missing with four crew members and two passengers. The plane stopped communicating and disappeared from radar screens, authorities said. Russian officials said the plane belongs to Athletic Group LLC and a private individual. The Associated Press could not immediately reach its owners. A separate Taliban statement described the p