After a grueling 20-year campaign, America concluded its war in Afghanistan where it started: with the Taliban in charge. But this isn’t your father’s Taliban. In recognition of their need for a firmer ideological base and their desire to establish a purely Islamic system, the Taliban rulers are gradually putting together the framework for their new ideological state. They are […]

For years, the world tried to soften the Taliban’s extremist ideology by exposing them to modernity. As an insurgency they learned diplomacy and negotiation tactics, but their medieval thinking remained just as rigid. Now that the Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the international community continues to appease them, assuming it can convince them to form an inclusive government and ease their […]

Afghanistan’s central bank on Saturday criticized Washington’s plan to use half the bank’s $7 billion in frozen assets soil for humanitarian aid and the rest to compensate victims of the 9/11 attacks. Calls have continued to mount for the US to release the frozen assets in order stop the freefall of the Afghan economy and assist millions of Afghans who […]

Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi left Kabul for Qatar on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. According to the Ministry, Muttaqi, who is leading a senior delegation, will hold meetings with representatives of Gulf countries, the Europe Union, Islamic Scholar Associations, and diplomatic missions operating from Doha instead of Kabul. A number of western […]

Afghans firmly denounce the United States for unfreezing Afghanistan’s central bank assets to compensate victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack, claiming that the blocked assets belong to the Afghan people. US President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order on the blocked property of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the central bank, held in the US, stating half the foreign […]

Suhail Shaheen, Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) designated envoy to the United Nations (UN), said in an interview with Ariana News on Friday night that there in no need to include women in the new cabinet and that the IEA’s current caretaker government is inclusive. He did say however that it was important to ensure women’s rights. “It is not […]

In an action that combines brazen theft, imperialist brutality and unlimited hypocrisy, the Biden administration announced Friday that it will seize control of $7 billion in Afghanistan financial assets, held largely at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, rather than return them to the Afghanistan central bank. Media attention has largely been devoted to Biden’s splitting of the $7 […]

After weeks of disappearance, four women activists have been set free by the Taliban, says the UN mission in Afghanistan. Identified as Tamana Zaryabi Paryani, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, Zahra Mohammadi and Mursal Ayar, the women had gone missing after attending a demonstration. Late on Sunday, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) tweeted: “After a long period of uncertainty about […]

An explosion on the doorsteps of a mosque in northern Afghanistan killed one worshipper and wounded seven others on Friday, a Taliban official said. Baz Mohammad Sarwari of Badghis province said the cause of the explosion is unknown but investigations are ongoing. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion. The local Islamic State affiliate has in the past repeatedly […]

The issue of detentions and disappearances has put a new spotlight on the Taliban’s promises to improve their human rights record under the weight of international sanctions. The Taliban on Friday released two Western citizens and two Afghan colleagues who had been working for the United Nations in Afghanistan, hours after the U.N. had announced that they had been held […]