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 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.
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.
The Taliban have confirmed their delegation met with former governor of the Afghan province of Heart Ismail Khan and former leader of the country’s Panjshir Valley Ahmad Masoud in Tehran.
The Iranian government has reportedly decided to hand over Afghanistan’s embassy in Tehran to the Taliban without recognizing the Taliban government.
According to Tehran-based Asr Iran news website, the ambassador of former Afghan government to Tehran has already left Iran for a European country.
The deputy prime minister in the Taliban’s caretaker government has accused former Afghan officials of involvement in “corruption,” saying they will have no place in the new cabinet.
The Taliban militants opened fire on women participating in a rally in Kabul on Tuesday. The protestors came out on streets calling for ‘employment, freedom and food.’
A senior member of the Taliban says Kabul will not allow any individual or group to break the unity of Afghanistan’s Shia and Sunni Muslims through acts of sedition.
More than 20 countries have expressed deep concern over the extra-judicial killings of former Afghan military personnel and their disappearance by the Taliban.
The Taliban says they have issued the necessary instructions in order to avoid a repeat of incidents similar to the Wednesday shootout which took place along the Iran-Afghanistan border.
A local official in Iran’s Sistan and Balouchestan Province says Wednesday’s clashes between Iranian border guards and the Taliban started after the Afghan forces opened fire on Iranian farmers, but the area is calm now.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry says the Wednesday clashes along the borders with Afghanistan, which media reports said were due to a misunderstanding, have come to an end.
The Taliban officials say Saudi Arabia and India will reopen their embassies in
Kabul soon. Riyadh has already sent a diplomatic delegation to Afghanistan.
A US delegation led by the special representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, held talks with senior Taliban representatives in Qatar on Monday and Tuesday, the US State Department said.
The Taliban have had an underground network of intelligence operatives that helped them seize power from inside, parallel to their military victory, according to a report.
A high-ranking European official says the European Union does not recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen made the remarks at the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).
The Taliban has urged members of the United States Congress to act to release frozen Afghan assets and take responsible steps towards addressing the humanitarian and economic crisis unfolding in the country.
