Taliban

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.

A former Iranian diplomat says the Taliban have denied Iran the right to use water from the Helmand River, and monoplolized it for their own benefit.

A former Iranian diplomat believes that the Taliban administration in Afghanistan will not back down in a dispute over Iran’s water share from the Helmand river with negotiations, suggesting that the Islamic Republic has to consider non-diplomatic ways.

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called for shedding light on the circumstances surrounding the Taliban killing of Iranian diplomats and a journalist in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan 25 years ago.

The Taliban sent thousands of troops and hundreds of suicide bombers to the area, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, claiming the group is prepared for war with Iran over a water dispute. Tehran has issued a warning to the Taliban, urging them to honor Afghanistan’s water-supply agreement or face the consequences.

The Taliban rulers of Afghanistan have shut down the offices of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, a major Iranian charitable organization, in the Afghan cities of Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat.

Islamabad retains the option of launching a counterterrorism operation inside Afghanistan if the Taliban government fails to take action against terrorists operating along its borders, Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has warned.

An Iranian lawmaker says Iran is studying “non-diplomatic” ways to restore its right to water shares from the Helmand River, which the Taliban government in Afghanistan is currently not allowing to be fulfilled.

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.

Iran’s former ambassador to Afghanistan has said chances of the international community recognizing the Taliban are diminishing.

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”.

An Iranian MP says a parliamentary delegation of the Islamic Republic is going to visit Afghanistan to pursue Iran’s right to the water of Helmand River.

Afghanistan has created a new public holiday to mark the date the last US soldier left the war-torn country. According to the Taliban, the departure of foreign troops will be celebrated each year on August 31.

Iranian and Afghan media say Tehran and the interim Taliban government have reached an agreement on exchanging prisoners, and that four Iranian inmates have been released as per the deal.

The Taliban have condemned as “baseless and biased” a United Nations Security Council report that branded the ruling Afghan administration “highly “exclusionary” and “repressive”.

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.

Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Monday that the country's border areas with Afghanistan is tranquil following the recent skirmishes between Iranian border guards and Taliban forces.

Iran’s ex-ambassador to Afghanistan says the interim Taliban rulers are using shared water resources as well as the closure of Dogharoun border with Iran as lever against Tehran, calling for vigilance in the face of risks of fresh clashes with the Afghan side.

Two Iranian border guards have been killed in an exchange of fire with Afghanistan’s Taliban forces near a border post between the two countries, amid escalating tensions over Kabul’s violations of Tehran’s water rights.

Clashes have broken out between Iranian border guards and Afghanistan’s Taliban forces on the joint border between the two countries, media reports say.

An Iranian lawmaker and ex-envoy to Afghanistan says the southeastern border province of Sistan and Baluchestan will face numerous problems if the water shortages, caused by the Taliban’s blocking of Helmand River’s inflow, drag on for three more months.

Newly-released satellite images show a considerable amount of water at the two controversial dams built by Afghanistan on the Helmand River shared with Iran, contrary to the Taliban’s claims of water shortages there.