Opinion: Civilization in ruins: Bamiyan after Bamiyan
Professor Llewelyn Morgan of the University of Oxford and the author of The Buddhas of Bamiyan writes about the Taliban’s destruction of the Buddhas by the Taliban in March 2021.
80 Afghan refugees drowned off the coast of Italy
The Taliban’s ministry of foreign affairs said that 80 Afghan citizens, including women and children, drowned in the migrants shipwreck off the coast of Italy last Sunday morning.
Pakistan threatens direct action against TTP sanctuaries inside Afghanistan
A senior Pakistan security official revealed that the Pakistani delegation, headed by the country’s defense minister and the ISI chief, warned Taliban leaders in Kabul last week that they were prepared to target TTP fighters inside Afghanistan.
Mullah Baradar: The US is not allowing the world to engage with Taliban
Speaking at a gathering in Kabul on Wednesday to commemorate the third anniversary of the US-Taliban Doha agreement, Mullah Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister, criticised the US for not allowing the world to engage with the group.
“We are tired of killing you”, US general told the Taliban during talks
“We are tired of killing you. It is enough, and we no longer want to be engaged in this endless war,” Akmal Dawi quoted Austin Scott Miller, then the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, as saying to Taliban negotiators in Doha.
Michael McCaul lambasts the Biden administrations’ “wilful failure” on Afghanistan
Michael McCaul, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the US Congress, urged the Biden administration to impose stricter sanctions on Taliban officials as a response to their treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan.
My husband’s captivity is “really, really killing me,” says the wife of French -Afghan journalist
Aleksandra Mostovaja, the wife of the French-Afghan journalist, Mortaza Behboudi, who has been in Taliban captivity since 7 January 2023, expressed concerns about her husband’s well-being and lack of information about his status.
Amnesty International calls for an end to Taliban impunity
In a public statement released on Friday, the human rights organisation urges the UN Human Rights Council to urgently establish an independent investigative mechanism in Afghanistan, with a mandate to hold the Taliban to account.
SIGAR: Taliban are going after former Afghan army personnel daily
The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported that the Taliban is actively pursuing former Afghan defense and security forces on a daily basis, through searches and raids on homes, as well as detaining family members.
Taliban supreme leader meets senior ministers over internal rift
The Taliban said its reclusive supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, met the group’s senior figures, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, Mullah Yaqoob and Amir Khan Muttaqi. Akhundzada has recently been openly criticised by Haqqani and others.
US Congress set to begin investigation on Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal
The US Congress’s House Foreign Affairs Committee is set to hold its first hearing as part of its investigation into the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 on 8 March.
Taliban opponents criticise Iran for embassy handover
The Taliban appointed seven new diplomats to Afghanistan’s embassy in Tehran, which it took over on 27 February. The group’s appointed Chargé d’Affaires, Fazal Mohammad Haqqani, officially assumes control of the embassy’s affairs in Iran today.
