Afghanistan

While many Afghans have desperately sought ways to flee the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan, a handful of former Afghan government officials returned to Kabul this week to be welcomed by the Taliban.

[…] Just a few hours’ drive north of Kabul, the province has long been an anti-Taliban stronghold and remains the only significant pocket of resistance to the group since the fall of Kabul last August.

Germany urged the global community Tuesday to collectively tell Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban rulers that they "are heading in the wrong direction” and called for strictly linking any economic aid for the war-torn country to the human rights of Afghans.

The Afghan Taliban have turned down renewed calls by the United Nations for the Islamist rulers to reverse restrictions on the human rights of women in Afghanistan, saying they are in line with local religious and cultural values.

Afghanistan is at a crossroads and the de facto authorities, the Taliban, must pursue a path towards stability and freedom for all citizens, especially women, the UN independent expert on human rights there said in the capital, Kabul, on Thursday. Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett was speaking to journalists at the end of an 11-day visit to the country.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released an interim report titled, “Collapse of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces: An Assessment of the Factors That Led to Its Demise.”

Scores of civilians have fled fighting in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley after an insurgent group launched an offensive against Taliban forces, residents said Saturday.

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan dissolved five key departments of the former U.S.-backed government, including the country's Human Rights Commission, deeming them unnecessary in the face of a financial crunch, an official said on Monday.

The upcoming harvest is expected to bring some relief to Afghanistan’s dwindling food stocks. But World Food Program Deputy Regional Director for Asia, Anthea Webb warns this relief is expected to be short-lived.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) issued a statement of deep concern on Saturday in response to an announcement made by the Taliban de facto authorities saying that women should only leave their homes in cases of necessity and then, with their faces covered in public.