Latest Updates

KABUL – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), once a key player in Afghanistan’s development during the Cold War, is now facing allegations of inadvertently funding the country’s booming opium trade, which has enriched the Taliban and fueled global heroin production. A recent White House report has revealed …

KABUL – Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers announced Thursday that they are withdrawing the country from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), declaring the previous government’s decision to join the Hague-based court in 2003 as “unlawful.” The move comes weeks after ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan sought arrest warrants for …

KABUL – A United Nations report has warned that Afghanistan remains a center for more than two dozen terrorist groups, contributing to regional instability. The report, compiled by the UN Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team, highlights the Taliban’s “permissive environment,” which has allowed al-Qaeda to consolidate its presence and facilitated …

KABUL – Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities publicly flogged six individuals on Tuesday after convicting them of offenses such as adultery, sodomy, and eloping, highlighting the group’s continued enforcement of harsh corporal punishments. According to the Supreme Court of the Taliban administration, the punishments were carried out in southeastern Khost and northern …

KABUL – Japan has urged the Taliban to uphold human rights during a rare diplomatic meeting in Tokyo, marking the first known visit by senior members of the hard-line Islamist group to Japan since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Toshihide Ando, head of the …

KABUL – The Afghan embassy in Islamabad has warned that Pakistan is preparing to expel all Afghan refugees, amid reports of widespread arrests and forced relocations in the capital and the neighboring city of Rawalpindi. In a statement on Wednesday, the embassy expressed concern over what it described as an …

KABUL – The World Bank has warned that Afghanistan’s economic recovery remains fragile under Taliban rule, citing persistent policy uncertainty, financial isolation, dwindling foreign aid, and strained trade relations with neighboring Pakistan. In its latest report released Monday, the bank highlighted deepening poverty, unemployment, and weak purchasing power as major …

KABUL – A coalition of 17 female foreign ministers has issued a joint statement denouncing the Taliban’s continued assault on the rights of women and girls, following a new edict banning medical training for women. The statement warns that the decision will further endanger millions of Afghan women and children, …

KABUL – Senior Afghan Taliban officials are in Japan for diplomatic talks with Japanese officials, marking their first known visit outside Central Asia and the Middle East since taking power in 2021. The discussions, facilitated by the grant-making organization Nippon Zaidan, are focused on Afghanistan’s political future, human rights issues, …

KABUL – The dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is set to have severe repercussions for millions of vulnerable Afghans who depend on humanitarian aid for survival. Experts warn that the move will not only diminish US soft power but also deepen Afghanistan’s economic collapse, potentially fueling …