An explosion ripped through a mosque in Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital of north Afghanistan's Baghlan province, on Friday, inflicting casualties, Provincial Director for Information and Culture Asadullah Mustafa Hashimi says.
The death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck Afghanistan on Saturday has risen to 2,445 while more than 9,200 people have been injured, the Xinhua news agency reported. According to the outlet, 13 villages in the Zanda Jan district of Herat have been completely wiped out and many victims remain trapped under the rubble.
The death toll from strong earthquakes that jolted western Afghanistan has risen to more than 2,000, a Taliban government spokesman confirmed Sunday. It’s one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike the country in two decades.
Back-to-back earthquakes have jolted Afghanistan as well as Khorasan Razavi Province in northeastern Iran, but there are no reports of any possible damage in the Iranian province, which borders Afghanistan.
Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan has stated the United States’ main policy on Afghanistan is to create insecurity and instability for the country’s neighbors.
Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has called for international aid for Afghanistan during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, saying that the country’s frozen assets should be used to address its “acute” humanitarian issues.
Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Zhaparov highlighted instability in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in 2021.
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”.
