Category: Afghanistan

Torture and bodies dumped in the street: A Zan Times investigation into the Taliban crackdown of protests in Mazar-e-Sharif

A police vehicle stopped in a shopping area in the Chah-Baba neighbourhood of Mazar-e-Sharif on March 3. Five Taliban gunmen got out of the car and dropped two bodies wrapped in black cloth on the road. “Control your women or else this will be their fate,” the commander told bystanders. Mohammad was an eyewitness. “They dumped the bodies near a […]

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Extended Troika on Afghanistan may become a ‘five’ without US

The dialogue format on Afghanistan, known as the extended Troika, may be reformed into a ‘five’, with India and Iran participating instead of the US, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Alexander Venediktov told state news agency TASS. He said in the past the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry held talks with Washington and Afghanistan “in the bilateral format as well as […]

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Stanikzai urges countries to play active role in Afghanistan security, economy

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, deputy foreign minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, on Tuesday called on countries to play an active role in ensuring peace and security in Afghanistan, and in the development of its economy. Stanikzai made the remarks during a ceremony to inaugurate a new power supply network at Balkh airport. “As Afghans played a key role […]

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US State Department confirms Afghan banknotes to be printed in Europe

Cash-reliant Afghanistan is set to get new banknotes, that will be printed in Europe, as those in circulation crumble and disintegrate, the US State Department’s Spokesman Ned Price confirmed Wednesday. Price said at a press conference in Washington that two transactions to pay to print Afghani banknotes has been facilitated by the US. “These two transactions have been underway for […]

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IEA calls on OIC members to be the first to recognize new government

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has called on Islamic countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to recognize them as the new government and to engage positively with the new regime. The Islamic Emirate has also called on Islamic countries to interact with them on both a political and economic level. Fourteen months ago the IEA swept to […]

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Taliban Claim to Have Killed 9 ISIS-K Fighters

The Taliban said Saturday their special forces had killed nine Islamic State operatives and captured two others in overnight raids in the capital, Kabul, and elsewhere in Afghanistan. Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban government, said that intelligence information had led security forces to an “important hideout of Daesh” in Kabul late Friday. He used a local name for […]

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Afghan Taliban’s Urdu-Language Website Publishes Article Supporting Russian-Afghan Deal For Oil, Gas, And Wheat: ‘Governments Can Run Without Recognition’ By The UN

During the last week of September 2022, it emerged that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) and Russia have signed a provisional agreement to import oil, gas, and wheat from Russia. Following this announcement, the Urdu-language website of the Islamic Emirate published an article defending the Russian-Afghan deal even though the Taliban government is yet to […]

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Central bank confirms new Afghani banknotes to enter circulation

Da Afghanistan Bank, the country’s central bank, confirmed Sunday that new banknotes would soon enter circulation and replace the old, crumbling AFN. DAB’s announcement came on the heels of US special envoy Thomas West’s comments on Friday that a decision had been made to replace the old banknotes with new notes. Afghanistan’s central bank said in a statement that the […]

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Over 350 key figures return to Afghanistan in past year: IEA

The Contact Commission with the Afghan Personalities of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), said that at least 370 Afghan personalities have returned to Afghanistan in the past year. The commission’s spokesman Ahmadullah Wasiq told Bakhtar news agency that since the establishment of the commission, 370 people including ministers, deputies, and members of parliament, national security employees, journalists and prominent […]

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IEA leader meets MoD’s intelligence officials

The supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, chaired a meeting with officials from the defense ministry’s intelligence agencies Sunday and called for their cooperation in a number of areas. “Intelligence is an important organ for the success of a system,” Akhundzada said, adding that it was this that “breaks the back of the enemy […]

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