Afghanistan

The Taliban on Wednesday banned all political parties in Afghanistan, stating that such activities are against Islamic law, or Sharia.

More than 30 independent UN human rights experts have called for the international community to recommit to support the people of Afghanistan, in a statement issued on Monday marking two years since the Taliban took power. 

De facto Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are presenting an impressive list of achievements in the fight against narcotics about a year after their reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, outlawed drug production. 

The supreme leader of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban has labeled cross-border attacks, including those on Pakistan, as “haram” or forbidden under Islam. Senior Taliban leaders communicated the “diktat” or decree from Hibatullah Akhundzada to Pakistani officials during recent bilateral talks to underscore their determination not to allow anyone to threaten other countries from Afghan soil.

U.S. officials told Afghanistan's Taliban that Washington was open to technical talks on economic stability and discussions on combating narcotics trafficking, the U.S. State Department said on Monday following two days of talks in Qatar.

A rights watchdog said Wednesday that human rights in Afghanistan, especially those of women and girls, should be at the center of a U.N. Security Council-mandated independent assessment of the global response to the country's crisis.

The United Nations says Taliban authorities in Afghanistan continue to arbitrarily arrest and detain individuals suspected of being opposition forces and journalists, in addition to increasing restrictions on women's access to work and education.

The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) announces the release of a comprehensive new report offering a critical analysis of the evolving security landscape in Afghanistan following the Taliban's takeover in 2021. … The report details three major security trends in Afghanistan: (1) fragmentation within the Taliban; (2) the presence of regional and global terrorist and violent extremist organizations; and (3) the emergence of anti-Taliban resistance groups. 

The US State Department released 24 pages of its 85-page After Action Review (AAR) report Friday on the controversial US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The remaining 61 pages of the report are still classified.

The supreme leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban declared Sunday that their campaign against illicit drug production in the country had eradicated the cultivation of opium poppies, which are used to make morphine or heroin.