Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) has started the construction of a very large waiting area inside the Afghanistan Passport Department compound in Kabul in order to make the wait more bearable for Afghans. Until now, Afghans applying for passports spend hours lining up on the road outside the office. AWCC officials said on Saturday that the waiting room will be […]

The first two weeks of this year have brought a reminder that Central Asia’s relationship with the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are far from smooth and could potentially turn bad very quickly. The Tajik government does not communicate directly with the Taliban and made clear in August when the militants captured Kabul that until the Afghan government is “inclusive” — […]

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan accelerated the country’s human rights crisis and humanitarian catastrophe, Human Rights Watch said Thursday in its World Report 2022. After the Taliban took control of the country on August 15, 2021, they rolled back women’s rights advances and media freedom – the foremost achievements of the post-2001 reconstruction effort. Many secondary schools for girls remained […]

Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets of a provincial capital on Thursday to protest against the Taliban’s arrest of a local commander from the Uzbek ethnic minority. Uzbek Taliban fighters demonstrated in Maimana, in the northern province of Faryab, after an Uzbek Taliban commander named Makhdom Alam, also the police chief of Faryab, was sacked. “He was accused of […]

Bayat Foundation officials said on Thursday that they have distributed food to hundreds of needy families in Paktika province this week in a bid to bring relief to as many local residents as possible. According to the officials, the food parcels included flour, rice and oil. This is part of Bayat Foundation’s ongoing efforts to help desperate Afghans survive the […]

Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has departed Kabul for Ashqabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, on Friday to discuss bilateral trade with Turkmen officials. Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, stated that Muttaqi, who is leading a high-level delegation, will discuss the TAPI project, and bilateral trade with Turkmen officials. He added Acting Foreign Minister is […]

Blast occurred when a food cart struck an old, unexploded mortar shell in Nangarhar province, local officials say. An explosion in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan has killed at least nine children and wounded four others, according to local officials. The blast on Monday took place when a cart selling food items struck an old, unexploded mortar shell […]

Khalid Balti, former spokesperson for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, has been killed in Nangarhar province. A senior leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban or TTP) has been killed in eastern Afghanistan, Pakistani security officials say, as a peace talks process between the armed group and the government remain stalled. Khalid Balti, also known by the nom de guerre Muhammad Khorasani when […]

The Taliban are pressuring exiled diplomats in an attempt to take back Afghanistan’s embassies. The Taliban have begun more aggressively to replace Afghanistan’s exiled diplomats who have resisted the militant group’s rule, current and former Afghan officials told Foreign Policy, using surprise diplomatic appointments and the threat of violence as a first step toward seeking wider political recognition. In the […]

Afghanistan’s ruling Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) government has asked Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to return Afghan Air Force planes and helicopters that were flown to neighboring countries by fleeing pilots in August last year as the former government in Kabul collapsed. Addressing a Ministry of Defense ceremony in Kabul on Tuesday, IEA Defense Minister Mohammad Yaqoob said his government would […]