Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator told a Security Council meeting this week that 97 percent of Afghans live in poverty. He also said that two thirds of the population need humanitarian assistance and 20 million people face acute hunger. According to Griffiths, half the population in Afghanistan urgently needs access to clean […]

In September, the U.S. created a foundation that was supposed to unfreeze Afghanistan’s foreign assets. Yet, interviews with trustees reveal that, in three months, no funds have been disbursed—or concrete plans made—to help the Afghan people. The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and, in response, Europe, the United Arab Emirates and the United States froze the Afghan central bank’s roughly […]

But will it succeed in persuading the world that India is a perpetrator of terrorism in the region rather than a victim? A flurry of developments over the last week in Pakistan suggest a visible shift in Pakistan’s policy towards India, particularly over the question of New Delhi’s alleged involvement in fueling militancy in the country. Earlier this week, Pakistan’s […]

Pakistan’s security forces killed 25 of 35 Islamist militants holed up in a counter-terrorism centre in the northwestern city of Bannu, while one hostage and two commandos died in the operation to retake the compound, the army said. Militants being held at the centre took control of the compound on Sunday after overpowering their interrogators and taking their weapons, leading […]

The leader of an outlawed militant alliance waging terrorism in Pakistan praised his fighters Tuesday for taking several security officials hostage inside a provincial police counterterrorism interrogation center and urged them not to surrender, come what may. Noor Wali Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban or TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan), issued the statement from his shelter in Afghanistan, raising renewed […]

The Taliban on Tuesday released two Americans who had been detained in Afghanistan, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. The releases were announced as the United Nations Security Council was meeting about Afghanistan. The move was a goodwill gesture — not part of a prisoner swap, he said. “We are providing these two U.S. nationals with all appropriate assistance,” Price […]

On December 12, 2022, supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) published posts on social media celebrating a reported attack on a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan and speculating that it was planned and carried out by ISIS operatives in Afghanistan. As of this reporting, no statement has been issued by ISIS official media about the attack. ISIS Supporters Celebrate Attack “Allah […]

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Tuesday released two American nationals in what appeared to be a goodwill gesture, said State Department spokesperson Ned Price, who indicated that the IEA were holding other US citizens. Price declined to identify the freed Americans, and he said they were not released as “part of any swap of prisoners or detainees. There was […]

Sheikh Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, minister of vice and virtue, visited Panjshir province on Wednesday where he called for unity and brotherhood. Addressing a gathering of provincial officials, religious scholars and influential people, including the provincial governor, the chief of intelligence and the head of the army corps, Hanafi said that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) decision to suspend university education for women and girls has drawn strong condemnation from international organizations and foreign governments. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that preventing half of the population from contributing meaningfully to society and the economy will have a “devastating impact” on the whole country. “It will expose […]