Asia

The Taliban has requested an opportunity to speak to the United Nations in New York this week, according to a report.

Amnesty International detailed cases of human rights abuses purportedly carried out by the Taliban about a month after the militant group took over Afghanistan.

The Taliban expanded its interim cabinet on Tuesday, announcing a list of deputy ministers but failed to name any woman despite facing an international backlash.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with newly appointed UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Monday and discussed various issues including Iran and Afghanistan.

Renowned Afghan commander and former Herat governor says what the Taliban has introduced as the caretaker government in Afghanistan will not last as they represent only one ethnic group. In an exclusive interview with the news website Entekhab, Ismail Khan also says Iran can pressure the Taliban into forming an inclusive government and avoid a war given Iran has friends in the region and with the help of other neighbors. The last part of the interview follows:

A political analyst says the United Nations General Assembly meeting is an ideal opportunity for countries to reinforce their alliances and resolve their differences.

The United Nations atomic watchdog has warned that North Korea’s nuclear program is progressing “full steam ahead”.

North Korea has blasted South Korea’s recent submarine-missile launch, slamming Seoul’s attempt as “sloppy” and “self-comforting”.

Hundreds of Thai demonstrators have taken to the streets of Bangkok to mark the 15th anniversary of the 2006 military coup that overthrew former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, calling on premier Prayut Chan-o-cha to step down.

The head of Iran-Afghanistan chamber of commerce Hossein Salimi says the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan will have no impact on economic relations between the two countries.

Female workers in the city of Kabul have been told to stay home, with work only allowed for women who cannot be replaced by men, the interim mayor of Afghanistan’s capital says.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has issued a new guideline for Afghan news outlets.

The Taliban has condemned the US drone attack that killed 10 Afghan civilians, including children, in Kabul last month.

The Daesh terror organization has claimed responsibility for the recent deadly attacks that rocked eastern Afghanistan, the group's statement on Telegram says.

Iconic Afghan commander, Amir Ismail Khan, known as the Lion of Herat, says the recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has been a ‘coup’ and the result of the betrayal of former President Ashraf Ghani. The news website Entekhab, has conducted an exclusive interview with Ismail Khan who was briefly captured by the Taliban before escaping from the militant group. The first part of the interview follows:

Satellite images show North Korea is expanding a uranium enrichment plant at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex.

Tehran-based political and international relations expert Hassan Beheshtipour believes Iran’s full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will allow the Islamic Republic to speak louder about multilateralism and pursue it more vigorously.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has welcomed the reopening of schools in Afghanistan but stressed girls must not be kept away from the classrooms.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban co-founder and current acting prime minister of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, has been sidelined after a dramatic shootout in the presidential palace in Kabul, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Iranian president says all terrorist groups must be eradicated from Afghanistan and that Iran will not allow the Daesh terror group to find a safe haven in that country.

The junta in Myanmar will try former leader Aung San Suu Kyi for corruption, her lawyer said Friday, adding to a slew of pending proceedings that may land her in prison for decades.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with newly appointed UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss on Friday and discussed issues including Iran, China as well as Afghanistan.

Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld has resigned over the government’s handling of evacuations from Afghanistan. The move comes one day after the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag stepped down regarding the same case.

A US drone strike in Afghanistan last month killed 10 civilians – including seven children – and not Daesh extremists as first claimed, the Pentagon admitted on Friday.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon have underlined the need to enhance relations and cooperation between the two countries.