Afghanistan

A crisis of incredible proportions is unfolding in Afghanistan as conflict, combined with drought and COVID-19, is pushing Afghans into a humanitarian catastrophe, the UN food relief agency said on Wednesday.

UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet led calls on Tuesday for Afghanistan’s new Taliban leaders to respect the rights of all Afghans and warned that the treatment of women and girls is a “fundamental red line” that should not be crossed.

Thousands of Afghans have made their way to Panjshir, according to a spokesman for anti-Taliban forces.

It is too soon to know for sure what Afghanistan’s new government will look like and what policies it will pursue. This briefing note highlights several key issues to watch.

Taliban fighters have taken over some UN compounds in Afghanistan, searching and ransacking offices and in one case demanding the guards provide meals for a commander and his men, according to an internal UN report seen by Reuters. … The United Nations had some 300 international staff and 3,000 Afghan staff when the Taliban seized power on Aug. 15. The world body has started moving about 100 of them to Kazakhstan to continue working.

The Taliban is intensifying a search for people who worked with US and Nato forces, a confidential United Nations document says, despite the militants vowing no revenge against opponents.

9/11 and the US-led invasion of Afghanistan that followed have been defining events for the development of global jihadism during the past twenty years. With the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and IS are back in the international spotlight.

The Taliban are continuing to consolidate power in Afghanistan amid reports of violence against protesters in the eastern part of the country, a day after the Islamist group announced the “war is over” and there would be no retribution.   

US President Joe Biden has said US troops may stay in Afghanistan beyond his withdrawal deadline, as armed Taliban fighters kept desperate evacuees from reaching Kabul's airport. Mr Biden wants US forces out by the end of this month, but up to 15,000 US citizens are stranded in the country.

Almost as soon as the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other large internet companies confronted an uncomfortable decision: What should they do about online accounts that the Taliban began to use to spread their message and establish their legitimacy?