The United Nations rights chief has accused Afghanistan's ruling Taliban of a "shocking level of oppression" of women and girls and cautioned that human rights in the Asian country were in a state of collapse.
Iran’s foreign minister has highlighted the need to support regional initiatives within the framework of neighboring countries to help resolve challenges facing Afghanistan.
Methamphetamine trafficking in and around Afghanistan has surged in recent years, even as the Taliban have curbed heroin trafficking since taking power, according to a United Nations report on Sunday.
Human rights groups have condemned the Taliban’s latest restrictions on Afghan women’s education and movements. The ruling Taliban administration has recently barred women from visiting one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks and stopped them from leaving for the United Arab Emirates to study on academic scholarships.
Members of the Taliban government have prevented 100 female Afghan students who were given a scholarship to study at the University of Dubai from boarding their flight to the UAE.
The United Nations global education envoy urged the International Criminal Court to prosecute gender discrimination in Afghanistan by the Taliban rulers.
More than 30 independent UN human rights experts have called for the international community to recommit to support the people of Afghanistan. They made the call in a statement issued on Monday marking two years since the Taliban took power.
The United Nations humanitarians warn of critical aid funding gaps for more than 21 million people in Afghanistan, saying that some relief has already been trimmed.
Acting Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with ambassadors and special representatives from several countries based in Qatar and called on them to reopen their embassies in Kabul.
The United Nations has been forced to cut food, cash payments and assistance to millions of people in several countries — including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen — because of “a crippling funding crisis” that has seen its donations plummet by about half as acute hunger is hitting record levels, a top official has confirmed.
US officials are set to meet with representatives of the Taliban and "technocratic professionals" from Afghan ministries during a visit to Qatar's Doha this week, the State Department has said. Both sides will discuss security, narcotics and women's rights.
At least 31 people have been killed and dozens more are missing due to heavy flooding from seasonal rains in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, more than a dozen people died as heavy rains and landslides hit neighbouring Pakistan.
The Taliban has issued a one-month closure notice to all beauty salons in Afghanistan, in the latest curb on the rights and freedoms of women and girls in the country.
More than 1,000 civilians were killed and nearly 2,700 others wounded in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country in 2021, a UN report says.
The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has said that it will be “nearly impossible” for the international community to recognize the Taliban government as long as restrictions on women and girls remain in place in the war-ravaged country.
A United Nations expert has stated that the treatment of Afghan women and girls by the Taliban could amount to “gender apartheid” as their rights continue to be undermined by the governing authorities. The Taliban have accused the UN of “spreading propaganda against the Islamic Emirate”.
The Taliban have condemned as “baseless and biased” a United Nations Security Council report that branded the ruling Afghan administration “highly “exclusionary” and “repressive”.
A bomb explosion ripped through a memorial ceremony for the deputy governor of Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan Province, a Taliban official has confirmed. A health official has said at least 15 people were killed and 50 others were injured in the blast.
The deputy governor of Badakhshan Province in northern Afghanistan was killed in a car bomb attack on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the province has confirmed. The region’s police chief was killed in a similar attack claimed by an affiliate of Daesh group months ago.
An Australian court has found that war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith who was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery, probably killed unarmed civilians in Afghanistan. According to media reports, Roberts-Smith, now 44, had murdered at least six unarmed Afghan civilians when he was a member of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) in Afghanistan.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani held secret talks with leader of the Taliban Haibatullah Akhunzada this month on resolving the ruling Taliban's tension with the international community, a source briefed on the meeting has revealed.
Severe food shortage is likely to grow in 18 "hunger hotspots" in 22 countries further in 2023, according to a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme published on Monday.
Foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan have, in a meeting in Islamabad, pledged to further strengthen trilateral cooperation in security and counterterrorism.
Beijing is ready to strengthen coordination with Pakistan on the Afghan issue in order to promote the peace and reconstruction process in the war-torn country, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has said.
