Afghanistan

Russia hosted a multilateral meeting Wednesday where participants renewed a call for the United States to unblock Afghanistan’s central bank assets and urged the Taliban rulers to ensure women access to public life and education in Afghanistan.

[…] Special Afghan envoys from China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are expected to attend the gathering of what is known as the Moscow format of consultations on Afghanistan.

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday ruled that prosecutor Karim Khan can resume his investigations into atrocities in Afghanistan, a probe that had been put on hold for more than two years.

After completing his 12-day visit to Afghanistan today, Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, concluded that the country continues to experience a serious crisis and urgent action is needed from all parties to avert a further deterioration of the situation.

The Taliban have signed a provisional deal with Russia to supply gasoline, diesel, gas and wheat to Afghanistan, Acting Afghan Commerce and Industry Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters.

“Patience is running out” for many in the international community when it comes to effectively engaging with Afghanistan’s de facto rulers, the Taliban, senior UN envoy for the country, Markus Potzel, told the Security Council on Tuesday. Despite some positive developments over the past few months, the Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan said they have been “too few and too slow and they are outweighed by the negatives”.

Taliban security forces in Afghanistan have launched a large-scale “clearance operation” against insurgent forces in parts of the turbulent northern Panjshir province, killing dozens of them and capturing many more.

The United Nations said Monday that 6 million Afghans are on the brink of famine, with winter around the corner and humanitarian appeals dramatically underfunded.

As the Taliban intensifies its war against Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), religious clerics associated with the rival militant groups are being caught in the crossfire. IS-K militants have been blamed for the assassination of several pro-Taliban clerics in Afghanistan in recent weeks.

Since taking power last year, the Taliban have issued more than 700,000 passports to Afghan nationals inside the country, earning about $50 million in revenue, according to officials.