Afghanistan

The supreme leader of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhunzada, has called on the international community to recognise the “Islamic Emirate” of Afghanistan in a message ahead of Eid holidays without touching on the issue of girls’ education.

With the onset of the “fighting season” in Afghanistan, small pockets of anti-Taliban resistance appear to be forming across much of the country.

The Pakistani military has not commented on the attacks, but on Sunday the foreign ministry in Islamabad urged the Taliban authorities in Kabul to take “stern actions” against armed fighters launching attacks against Pakistan from Afghan soil.

The Taliban prohibition on girls' education shows the movement's ultra-conservatives retain tight control of the Islamist group and exposes a power struggle that puts at risk crucial aid for Afghanistan's desperate population, experts say. The ban has triggered international outrage and even left many in the Taliban movement baffled by the decision.

[…] UNAMA has called on the Taliban to stop the "intimidation of media."

The Taliban have outlawed cultivation of drugs, including opium poppy, across Afghanistan, the world’s biggest opium producer, which accounts for 85 percent of global production.

Islamic countries formally launched Monday a trust fund to help ease the humanitarian and economic crisis in Afghanistan where millions of people face hunger and poverty.

Seven months after Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban, the Security Council on Thursday renewed the mandate of the UN special political mission in the country, charging it with a robust set of priorities, ranging from coordinating humanitarian aid delivery to human rights monitoring and facilitating dialogue.

It is the first major human rights report since the Taliban seized power from the former US-backed government in August.

A senior leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban, listed by the United States as a global terrorist, made a maiden public appearance Saturday, his first since the Islamist group seized power in August, days before U.S.-led international forces withdrew from the country.