Taliban

The US special envoy on Afghanistan has met the Taliban’s acting foreign minister in the Qatari capital Doha and stressed international opposition to the group’s expanding curbs on women and girls.

The spokesman of Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front (NRF) says 17 Taliban members have been killed in an ambush by the movement’s forces in the province of Panjshir, in the latest escalation between the two sides in around nine months.

Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi says the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is an inclusive government.

The Taliban on Saturday ruled Afghan women must cover their faces in public, saying Burqa is the best hijab, according to a decree from the group's supreme leader.

A former Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan says recognition of the acting Taliban government is not on Tehran’s agenda for the time being, stressing that the new rulers in Kabul must first accept international regulations and ensure Iran’s share of water from the Helmand River.

The top Taliban leader has called on the international community to recognize the “Islamic Emirate” in Afghanistan, which the group re-established last year after taking over state affairs.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has warned about a surge in threats against Afghanistan and other regional nations. Raisi issued the warning following a new attack targeting civilians in Afghanistan that happened on Friday.

After seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have murdered or kidnapped about 500 former Afghan officials, military personnel, and those believed to have collaborated with the United States, according to a report.

Taliban Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Abolghahar al-Balkhi says the group’s representative has taken over the Afghan embassy in Moscow.

The Taliban have condemned a deadly knife attack on three clergymen at the Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad in the northeastern Iranian province of Khrasan Razavi.

Iran’s special representative for Afghanistan says the issue of Iran’s water right was discussed and resolved during a recent meeting with the Taliban representatives in China.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Kabul on Thursday, a Taliban official confirmed. It comes a week before Beijing hosts a meeting of Afghanistan's neighbours to explore ways of helping the country following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that Taliban's decision to suspend high school for girls in Afghanistan was "a profound disappointment and deeply damaging for Afghanistan."

The Taliban have shut down girls’ school in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have issued a decree on Sunday officially banning the internationally-recognized Afghan tricolor flag and replacing it with the so-called Islamic Emirate flag used by the group.

One of the Taliban's most secretive leaders was photographed openly for the first time Saturday at a passing-out parade for new Afghan police recruits. His only picture on US "most wanted" lists is a grainy semi-covered profile.

The Taliban have rejected as baseless a report by the United Nations saying Al-Qaeda fighters are operating freely in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have ordered its troops not to enter amusement parks while dressed in fatigues and armed with weapons.

The Taliban have rejected a UN report alleging that over 100 officials and security forces of the previous Afghan government were killed by the group or its allies after the US withdrawal from the country.

A group of Iranians have gathered at a border-crossing with Afghanistan to protest the neighboring country’s blocking of the flow of the Helmand River’s water into the Iranian side of the frontier.

The Taliban acting foreign minister Amir Khan Motaqi says talks between the group’s representatives and western officials in Oslo, Norway, have had good results. He added the new rulers in Kabul want good relations with the world, including the neighboring and the European countries.

Taliban and Western diplomats are holding a meeting outside Norway’s capital Oslo. Talks are focusing on Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, which has escalated drastically since last August when the militants stormed back to power.

Taliban’s top spokesperson says new Afghanistan rulers have taken steps to meet the demands of the West. Zabihullah Mujahid added they hope to strengthen their relations with the world countries through diplomacy.

Afghanistan's acting prime minister Mullah Hasan Akhund has called for international governments to officially recognize the Taliban administration.

The Taliban have so far dissociated about 3,000 members accused of abusive practices across Afghanistan, head of Purification Commission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Latifullah Hakimi says.