Afghanistan

The United Arab Emirates has accepted the credentials of an ambassador from Afghanistan's Taliban government, officials said, becoming just the second country after China to do so.

The Taliban have barred United Nations-appointed special rapporteur Richard Bennett from entering Afghanistan, the administration's spokesperson told local broadcaster Tolo, accusing the human rights watchdog of "spreading propaganda".

Ten international NGOs have issued a joint statement calling on donor countries to increase their diplomatic engagement with the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate government in Afghanistan. The statement was released ahead of the third anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul on 15 August 2021.

A UN counter-terrorism official warned Thursday that the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan branch poses the greatest external terrorist threat to Europe as it boosts its organizational strength. “ISIL-K has improved its financial and logistical capabilities in the past six months, including by tapping into Afghan and Central Asian diasporas for support,” Vladimir Voronkov, undersecretary-general for counter-terrorism, said.

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban said Tuesday that about 3.7 million former refugees have returned to the country since the Islamist group took power three years ago. The statement was a response to the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, which reported last week that more than twice as many Afghans have left the country since 2020.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a report regarding human rights in the country on Tuesday, providing reports of arbitrary arrest, torture, and killings. UNAMA’s latest report is based on monitoring undertaken by its Human Rights Service and covers the period from April to June 2024.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have announced that they are cutting ties with 14 Afghan diplomatic missions abroad and will cease to accept consular documents issued by those missions, in a move likely to cause further difficulties for Afghan citizens living abroad.

The third round of U.N.-led talks to explore engagement with Afghanistan ended Monday without the Taliban making any reform pledges or winning concessions from the international community.

The United Nations confirmed Friday that a rare meeting of global envoys with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers this month will not address concerns about Afghan civil society and women human rights defenders. … The two-day U.N.-hosted meeting will commence in Doha, Qatar, on June 30. It will be the third session of what is referred to as the “Doha process,” and the Taliban have agreed to attend for the first time.

A quarterly report on the situation in Afghanistan by the United Nations has documented a surge in attacks by armed groups fighting Taliban rule. It also noted “persistent” internal tensions among de facto Afghan leaders. … The report stated that the armed opposition “did not pose a significant challenge” to the Taliban’s hold on territorial control since they regained power in August 2021.