Afghanistan

Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban government have agreed to an "immediate ceasefire" after more than a week of deadly fighting. The foreign ministry of Qatar, which mediated talks alongside Turkey, said both sides had agreed to establish "mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability".

At least 15 civilians have been killed and dozens more wounded in renewed border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Afghan officials said Wednesday. Cross-border violence has flared since Kabul was rocked last week by explosions blamed on Pakistan, which in turn accuses Afghanistan of harbouring militant groups that carry out attacks on its territory.

India on Friday upgraded ties with Afghanistan's Taliban administration, giving a boost to the diplomatically isolated group, by announcing it would reopen its embassy in Kabul that was shut after the Taliban seized power in 2021.

Cell phone and internet services were restored in Afghanistan on October 1 two days after the Taliban imposed a nationwide shutdown of telecommunications, a move that largely cut off the country from the rest of the world.

US President Donald Trump threatened Afghanistan with unspecified "bad things" if it doesn't turn Bagram Airfield back to the United States, an action previously rejected by the country's Taliban rulers. … Trump has cited the base's proximity to China as a major reason for regaining US control of the facility, which was originally built by the Soviet Union in the 1950s.

The humanitarian response to the disaster has been hampered by the Taliban leadership’s ban on Afghan women staff members and contractors from entering UN compounds in the capital, Kabul, effective since 5 September. “The ban is impacting us because our women staff are not allowed to come to the office to work,” the UN Women representative said. 

Afghanistan’s de-facto Taliban rulers said they have reached an agreement with visiting US officials on an exchange of prisoners. … Following the September 13 meeting, the Taliban released photos of the meeting in Kabul involving US President Donald Trump's special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, and Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The ongoing humanitarian response to the devastating Afghanistan earthquake disaster continued on Friday, although essential services have been cut for operational reasons following reinforced Taliban restrictions on women working with the UN, the global body said. “All of us at the United Nations are suffering from a reinforcement of the ban on females working with us…We are simply unable to operate without females,” said Arafat Jamal, UNHCR Representative to Afghanistan.

Despite the ongoing ban on girls’ secondary education, more than 90 per cent of Afghan adults support girls’ right to be in class, according to a new alert from the UN’s gender equality agency, UN Women. 

Mining, Belt and Road participation feature in trilateral meetings between China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Kabul.