India and the EU need to speak up together about human rights in Afghanistan says the European Union’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Tomas Niklasson, who visited Delhi for consultations on the way forward. In an interview to The Hindu, Mr. Niklasson said the Taliban’s increased restrictions on women and the ban on girl’s education is … Read more
CNN — The United States is imposing new visa restrictions on certain current and former Taliban members, non-state security group members and others who are believed to be involved in repressing the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Wednesday. The announcement comes more than a month … Read more
Islamabad, Pakistan CNN — The death toll from a suspected suicide bomb that ripped through a mosque at a police compound in northwestern Pakistan Monday has risen to at least 88, as the Pakistani Taliban gave conflicting claims of responsibility for one of the deadliest attacks in the country in years. Mohammad Asim Khan, spokesperson … Read more
KABUL: Under the Taliban, the mannequins in women’s dress shops across the Afghan capital of Kabul are a haunting sight, their heads cloaked in cloth sacks or wrapped in black plastic bags. The hooded mannequins are one symbol of the Taliban’s puritanical rule over Afghanistan. But in a way, they are also a small show … Read more
Sydney CNN — Australia’s men’s cricket team has withdrawn from a series of upcoming matches against Afghanistan in protest over the ruling Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls’ education and employment, Cricket Australia (CA) said in a statement Thursday. The teams were scheduled to play three One Day International (ODI) games in the United Arab … Read more
Image for representative purpose | Photo Credit: AFP Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration is to sign a contract with a Chinese company to extract oil from the Amu Darya basin in the country’s north, the acting Mining Minister said on Thursday. The contract would be signed with Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co (CAPEIC), officials told … Read more
CNN — A Kabul professor tore up his diplomas live on television in Afghanistan in protest over the Taliban’s barring of women from higher education. The man, named Ismail Mashal, is founder of the private Mashal University in Kabul and also a lecturer at Kabul University. With tears in his eyes and his voice quivering, … Read more
CNN — The United Nations announced Wednesday it has suspended some of its “time-critical” programs in Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s ban on female NGO workers. In a joint statement released by UN aid chief Martin Griffiths and other humanitarian groups, it warned that further activities will likely need to be paused as … Read more
CNN — The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday said it was “deeply alarmed” by the ruling Taliban’s ban on women attending university or working for aid groups in Afghanistan. In moves widely condemned by the international community, the Islamist group last week ordered all local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to stop their female … Read more
CNN — Three foreign aid groups said Sunday that they were moving to temporarily suspend their operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban barred female employees of non-governmental organizations from coming to work. “We cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without our female staff,” aid organizations Save the Children, Norwegian … Read more