Afghanistan should join a list of the “worst of the worst” violators of religious freedom, a U.S. advisory body is recommending to the State Department. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said in its annual report issued Monday, that religious minorities have “faced harassment, detention and even death due to their faith or beliefs” since the Islamic Emirate of […]

Beijing-Nangarhar Construction and Manufacturing Company on Thursday signed a contract with Afghan authorities to develop an industrial complex on the outskirts of Kabul at a cost of $216 million. The complex is expected to be constructed across 650 acres of land in Perozi Township in Deh Sabz district of Kabul. According to officials, the complex will feature 150 factories, a […]

Despite the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) decision to suspend schooling for teenage girls, Human Rights Watch found that a number of girls’ schools, mostly in Balkh province, are still open but have strict dress codes in place. According to the watchdog, many girls’ secondary schools have remained open in the province since the IEA took power but that they […]

Two explosions went off in Afghanistan’s northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, on Thursday evening, killing at least nine people and wounding 13 others, police said. Asif Waziri, a spokesman for provincial police, said that the explosions happened in PD3 and PD10 of the city. Witnesses of one of the blasts said that a magnetic IED, attached […]

A new Pentagon report has revealed that the US left $7 billion of military gear – including 78 aircraft, 12,000 Humvees and thousands of air-to-ground weapons – in Afghanistan after President Joe Biden’s chaotic 2021 withdrawal. The US handed the equipment to the previous Afghan government over the course of 16 years, CNN reported. According to the report, seen by […]

In recent interviews both U.S. officials and the Kyrgyz president have suggested that Bishkek and Washington may be nearing the signing of a new Bilateral Cooperation Agreement. In a mid-April trip through Central Asia, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Civil Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya sat for an interview with AKIpress in Kyrgyzstan in which she stressed […]

Imran Khan’s unceremonious fall from the prime minister’s office has only reinvigorated his devoted supporters. On Thursday, the Pakistan Teheek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, the recently ousted prime minister, Imran Khan addressed one of the biggest rallies of his career at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan. At the rally Khan reiterated his claim of a U.S.-led “global conspiracy” having led to his ouster on April […]

The election of neighborhood representatives in Kabul suggests that the Taliban are in some aspects pragmatic, but this experiment will likely remain limited. This spring, Afghans living in various neighborhoods in the capital Kabul elected their wakilon guzar, or neighborhood representatives, casting their votes in ballot boxes or by raising their hands in gatherings in mosques. While this might be […]

Police in Pakistan said Tuesday three Chinese nationals and their local driver were killed in a suicide bombing of a van in the southern city of Karachi. Senior police officers told reporters the victims had been traveling to the city’s Chinese-built Confucius Institute when the blast hit their van at the entrance.

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres has again expressed concern over the absence of cash in Afghanistan and urged the international community to create conditions so that cash is injected into the economy. Speaking at a joint press conference with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday, Guterres said that the absence of cash and liquidity in the […]