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☆ Afghanistan: 50 killed, dozens missing after flooding in Ghor province
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-18 | by ( Masoud Popalzai | Ehsan Popalzai | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Fifty people were killed and dozens are missing after heavy rains and flooding in Afghanistan’s province of Ghor on Friday, according to the Afghan Ministry of Refugees. The Ministry said in a post on X on Saturday that 2,000 homes had been completely destroyed and up to 4,000 partially destroyed by recent flooding. Hundreds of people have been killed by flash flooding in Afghanistan over the past several weeks, according to the UN. Areas in northern Afghanistan have been ravaged by the heavy floods, including the provinces of Ghor, Badakhshan, Baghlan, and Herat. In April, unseasonal rainfall and floods killed more than 100 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to authorities.

Persons: Zabihullah Mojahid, Zabihullah Mujahid Organizations: CNN, Afghan Ministry of Refugees, UN Locations: Afghanistan’s province, Ghor, Afghanistan, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Herat, Pakistan

☆ Flash floods in Afghanistan kill at least 200 people as humanitarian emergency looms
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( Niamh Kennedy | Radina Gigova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Flash flooding that has ravaged northern Afghanistan in recent days has killed at least 200 people, UN agency the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told CNN Saturday. An Afghan man walks near his damaged home after heavy flooding in Baghlan province Saturday. Afghan men shovel mud from a house following flash floods. The flash floods add to a string of recent natural disasters that the region has had to endure. Flash floods also swept away dozens in Afghanistan in July, less than three months before thousands were killed by a powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck the western part of the country.

Persons: ”, Salma Ben Aissa, Mehrab, Gulbudeen, Zabihullah Mujahid, “, ” Mujahid, Mujahid Organizations: CNN, UN, International Organization for Migration, IOM, Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, Rescue, Reuters, AFP, Getty Locations: Afghanistan, Badakhshan, Ghor, Herat, “, Afghan, Baghlan, Laqayi, AFP, Pakistan

☆ Pakistani Airstrikes in Afghanistan Kill at Least 8, Taliban Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | Zia Ur-Rehman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Pakistan launched two airstrikes into Afghanistan on Monday morning that killed at least eight people, Afghan officials said, escalating simmering tensions between the two countries. The pre-dawn strikes were carried out in the Paktika and Khost provinces in eastern Afghanistan around 3 a.m., Afghan officials said. Three children were among those killed, according to Taliban officials, who condemned the strikes as a violation of Afghan territory. Pakistani officials have blamed militants harbored on Afghan soil and protected by the Taliban administration for the attacks. Taliban officials have denied those claims.

Persons: Zabihullah Mujahid, “ Locations: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Khost

☆ Four survive charter jet crash in Afghanistan but condition of two others unclear, Russia says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-21 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Two Taliban provincial officials said four survivors were now with Taliban administration officials who had reached the remote, mountainous site of the crash. The Taliban administration’s top spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the pilot of the plane was among four who had survived. The Russian-registered charter plane with six people on board disappeared from radar screens over Afghanistan a day earlier, Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsia said on Sunday, after Afghan police said they had received reports of a crash. The pilot then reported that one engine had stopped, and then that the second one had also stopped, SHOT reported. Afghanistan police had received reports of a plane crash in a remote, mountainous region of Badakhshan in Afghanistan’s far north, a provincial police spokesperson said on Sunday.

Persons: Zabiullah Mujahid, ”, Rosaviatsia, “, Zabihullah Amiri Organizations: CNN, Taliban, Thailand’s Utapao, Dassault Aviation, Falcon, Reuters, Russia’s, Athletic Locations: Moscow, Afghanistan, Islamic, Thailand’s, Pattaya, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russian, Indian, Thailand’s Pattaya, Bangkok, “, Russia, Badakhshan, Afghanistan’s, Fayzabad

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani security forces on Wednesday rounded up, detained and deported dozens of Afghans who were living in the country illegally, after a government-set deadline for them to leave expired, authorities said. According to the U.N. agencies, there are more than 2 million undocumented Afghans in Pakistan, at least 600,000 of whom fled after the Taliban takeover in 2021. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration have become strained over the past two years because of stepped-up attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group that is allied with the Afghan Taliban. Since the government deadline was announced on October 3, more than 200,000 Afghans have returned home from Pakistan. Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Islamabad and Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Persons: Sarfraz Bugti, ”, Zabihullah Mujahid, ” Mujahid, “, Ahmad Banwari, Banwari, ___ Khan, Rahim Faiez, Abdul Sattar Organizations: ” Interim, Taliban, Afghanistan’s, Pakistani Taliban, Associated Press Locations: ISLAMABAD, Islamabad, Pakistan, Afghanistan, “, ”, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, The New York, Kabul, Nangarhar, Pakistani, Taliban Pakistan, United States, Peshawar, Quetta

☆ Students on the Run, Schools Taken by Troops and a Generation’s Catastrophe
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Abdi Latif Dahir | More About Abdi Latif Dahir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The young girls and boys, wearing colorful scarves, tattered shirts and flip-flops, ran across the dusty ground to form jagged lines and face the teachers at the start of the school day. The children, hundreds of them gathered in makeshift classrooms, had arrived in this aid camp in recent months after fleeing the war in their homeland of Sudan. But even as they began to gain a sense of normalcy in their schooling, many were still burdened with memories of the vicious conflict they endured, which had left loved ones dead and their homes destroyed. “We know that pain is lasting inside their hearts,” said Mujahid Yaqub, a 23-year-old who fled Sudan and now teaches English at the school in the Wedwil refugee center, in Aweil in South Sudan. Many of the children, he said, were unable to focus in class and often cried over the memories of their terrifying escape from shellings and massacres.

Persons: ”, Mujahid Yaqub Locations: Sudan, Aweil, South Sudan, shellings

☆ Herat, Afghanistan earthquake: Aid group warns devastation 'worse than we imagined'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Heather Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Herat city in the western Herat province – the third largest in Afghanistan. The world must not look away now.”A badly destroyed house, one of thousands across Herat province in western Afghanistan. UNICEF teams on the ground are calling for more urgent action and aid for families devastated by the latest earthquake. UNICEF“We will make every effort to bring quick relief to those affected,” said Fran Equiza, its representative in Afghanistan. International aid groups have said their ability to respond to calls during major disasters was heavily hampered by the Taliban’s takeover and called for more urgent global aid but only a handful of countries have publicly offered support.

Persons: ”, Thamindri de Silva, de Silva, ” “, ” de Silva, Mark Calder, “, MUHAMMAD BALABULUKI, Stéphane Dujarric, ” Dujarric, António Guterres, UNICEF “, Fran Equiza, Zabihullah Mujahid Organizations: CNN — International, World, CNN, Getty Images UN, UN, UNICEF, Sunday, Bank Locations: Afghanistan, Herat, Herat province –, Kabul, ”, AFP, Washington, Khost, Pakistan, Neighboring China

☆ Afghan Refugees Not Involved in Pakistan's Security Problems - Taliban
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Oct. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: 1 min

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan's security problems, a spokesman for the Taliban administration in Kabul said on Wednesday, calling on Islamabad to reconsider plans to expel illegal Afghan immigrants. Zabihullah Mujahid also said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that the refugees should be "tolerated" by Pakistan as long as they did not leave voluntarily.

Persons: Zabihullah Mujahid Locations: ISLAMABAD, Kabul, Islamabad, Pakistan

CNN —The Taliban has welcomed Zhao Sheng as China’s new ambassador to Afghanistan during a lavish ceremony held at the presidential palace in Kabul on Wednesday. China is among a handful of countries, including Pakistan, Iran and Russia that have maintained a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan since the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021. In the palace ceremony, Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund shook hands with Zhao and “accepted the credentials of the new Chinese Ambassador,” the prime minister’s office said on X, formerly known as Twitter. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement the appointment was the “normal rotation of China’s ambassador to Afghanistan” and was “intended to continue advancing dialogue and cooperation” between the two countries, according to Reuters. The ministry said, “China’s policy toward Afghanistan is clear and consistent.”CNN has reached out to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Persons: Zhao Sheng, Mohammad Hasan Akhund, Zhao, “, Mr Zhao Sheng, Zabiullah Mujahid, ”, Mujahid, Afghanistan ”, Qin Gang Organizations: CNN, Taliban, Honorable, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Reuters, Pakistan Economic Locations: Afghanistan, Kabul, Wednesday, China, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, China’s, Islamabad, Xinjiang

The day is “full of honor and pride for Afghans,” Taliban deputy spokesperson Bilal Karimi told CNN. “Afghanistan was freed from occupation, Afghans were able to regain their country, freedom, government and will. “There is no such thing as women’s freedom anymore,” said Mahbouba Seraj, an Afghan women’s rights activist and 2023 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. “The women in Afghanistan are being slowly erased from society, from life, from everything – their opinions, their voices, what they think, where they are.”Video Ad Feedback 'They can't go to school? “The only reason why I’m in Afghanistan and I’m staying here is to be next to my sisters and try to help them,” said Seraj, the women’s rights activists.

Persons: Zahra, ”, “, ” Zahra, Bilal Karimi, Zahra –, Mahbouba Seraj, CNN “, I’m, who’ve, ” Zabiullah Mujahid, haven’t, Heather Barr, Seraj, Mahbouba, “ They’re, they’re, Barr, what’s Organizations: CNN, “, Nations, United Nations, CNN “ I’m, UN, Taliban, Human Rights Locations: Afghanistan, Kabul, States, “ Afghanistan, Zahra, Afghan, United

[1/4] Taliban soldiers stand guard at the second-anniversary ceremony of the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2023. Taliban parades were expected through the day and several departments, including the education ministry, held gatherings to celebrate. For many women, who enjoyed extensive rights and freedoms during the two decades of rule by Western-backed governments, their plight has become dire since the return of the Taliban. OBSTACLE TO RECOGNITIONGirls over the age of 12 have been mostly excluded from classes since the Taliban returned to power. For many Western governments, the ban is a major obstacle to any hope of formal recognition of the Taliban administration.

Persons: Ali Khara, Ashraf Ghani, Zabihullah Mujahid, Mujahid, It's, Amina Mohammed, Matiullah, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Charlotte, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Taliban, Islamic, U.S . Federal Reserve Bank of New, Swiss, Thomson Locations: Kabul, Afghanistan, Ali Khara KABUL, U.S, Western, U.S . Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Charlotte Greenfield, Islamabad

☆ Suspected Pakistan suicide bombing kills at least 55, injures 135 more at political rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Mushtaq Yusufzai | Associated Press | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

At least 16 people were killed and dozens more wounded on July 30 by a bomb blast at a political gathering of a radical Islamic party in northern Pakistan, police said. At least 55 people were killed and 135 were wounded in what one official said was a suicide attack. Jalil Jan, a spokesperson for the political party, told NBC News the death toll had risen to 55 and that some of the 135 injuries were critical. Party officials said Rehman was not in the rally. Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad.

Persons: Farooq NAEEM, FAROOQ NAEEM, Nazir Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Khan, Jan, Azam Khan, Jalil Jan, Mohibullah Khan Yousufzai, Maulana Ziaullah, Abdur Rasheed, Maulana Jamaluddin, Rehman, Zabihullah Mujahid, Mujahid Organizations: Getty, Sunday, Senior, NBC News, Islam, NBC, Government, Islamic State Locations: Bajaur district, Pakistan, AFP, Bajur, Afghanistan, Khar, Peshawar, Islamabad, Islamic Emirate

[1/2] Rescue workers and other people transport an injured person to the hospital, after a blast in Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan July 30, 2023. Rescue 1122/Handout via REUTERSDERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, July 30 (Reuters) - At least 40 people were killed and over 130 injured when a suicide bomber set off explosives at a political rally in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, police said. The provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat told Reuters the explosion was caused by a suicide bomb. "The JUI-F organised a workers convention in Khar town of Bajaur in which 40 people lost their lives and more than 130 were injured," Khan said. Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad broke down.

Persons: DERA ISMAIL, Fazl, Akhtar Hayat, Nazir Khan, Khan, Zabihullah Mujahid, Shehbaz Sharif, Saud Mehsud, Dera Ismail Khan, Jibran Ahmad, Nilutpal, Gibran Peshimam, Andrew Cawthorne, Christina Fincher Organizations: Sunday, Ulema, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Bajaur district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Bajaur, Afghanistan, Peshawar, Khar, Taliban Pakistan, Islamabad, Islamic State

☆ Taliban halt Swedish activities in Afghanistan after Koran burning
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, July 11 (Reuters) - The Taliban administration said on Tuesday all activities by Sweden in Afghanistan must stop after the burning of the Koran outside a mosque in the Swedish capital last month. The order was likely to affect the Swedish non-governmental organisation, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, which has thousands of aid workers at work throughout the country in health, education and rural development. An Iraqi immigrant to Sweden burned the Koran outside a Stockholm mosque last month, causing outrage in the Muslim world. The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Taliban order. The Taliban administration did not provide details on which organisations would be affected.

Persons: Zabiullah Mujahid, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Charlotte Greenfield, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Swedish Committee, United, Thomson Locations: KABUL, Sweden, Afghanistan, Swedish, Emirate, Iraqi, Stockholm

☆ The Taliban promised to provide security to Afghans. New data shows threat from ISIS is growing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Eliza Mackintosh Ehsan Popalzai Antonio Jarne Lou Robinson | Eliza Mackintosh | Ehsan Popalzai | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

“Currently we don’t have security in Afghanistan at all, whenever we go out we don’t know if we will come home alive or not,” he added. Taliban security forces guard a checkpoint near the foreign ministry in Kabul on March 27, after an ISIS-K suicide bomber struck the site. The data, which is available in a live map, includes 367 pieces of open-source evidence — largely videos and images shared on social media — about 70 ISIS-K attacks since August 2021. As the Taliban try to minimize the threat ISIS-K poses, attacks on civilians continue. Taliban security forces have been waging ongoing operations and night raids against ISIS-K.

☆ Taliban ban on Afghan women working for U.N. an 'internal' issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A group of women wearing burqas crosses the street as members of the Taliban drive past in Kabul, Afghanistan October 9, 2021. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File PhotoKABUL, April 12 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban administration has said forbidding Afghan women from working for the United Nations was an "internal issue," after the global organisation expressed alarm at the decision and said it would review its operations there. On Tuesday, the U.N. Mission to Afghanistan said the Taliban administration would be responsible for any negative humanitarian impacts stemming from the ban. Taliban authorities in December said most Afghan female NGO workers would not be allowed to work. The U.N. humanitarian agency has said a huge funding plan for Afghanistan for 2023 is less than 5% funded.

☆ Taliban officials praise Afghanistan's first sports car. It has an engine from a 2000 Toyota Corolla.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The car's power relies on a modded 2000 Toyota Corolla engine, according to a Tolo News report. The Taliban's spokesperson shared a video of the car, called Mada 9, doing donuts in the snow. There are no videos of the car moving at high speeds or making difficult maneuvers outside of the video shared by the Taliban's spokesperson. Mohammad Riza Ahmadi, the designer of Mada 9, told Tolo News that he hopes the car will be a beacon for the embattled country. Ahmadi, the car designer, told Tolo News that the car has received offers but is not for sale.

☆ Taliban asks to keep getting UN aid money despite ending education for women
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Taliban in Afghanistan recently banned women from universities, and working with NGOs. In response, the UN has said it cannot continue to supply the Taliban with humanitarian aid. But the Taliban still asked for support, arguing humanitarian aid shouldn't be "linked" to politics. Then, less than a week later, it banned women from working for non-governmental organizations. UN flights carrying stacks of cash for humanitarian aid into Kabul had already been suspended, he said.

☆ Afghanistan's Taliban administration in oil extraction deal with Chinese company
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Mohammad Yunus Yawar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KABUL, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban-led administration is to sign a contract with a Chinese company to extract oil from the Amu Darya basin in the country's north, the acting mining minister said on Thursday. It will be the first major public commodities extraction deal the Taliban administration has signed with an foreign company since taking power in 2021. "The Amu Darya oil contract is an important project between China and Afghanistan," China's ambassador, Wang Yu, told the news conference. China has not formally recognised the Taliban administration but it has significant interests in a country at the centre of a region important for its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. The Chinese company will invest $150 million a year in Afghanistan under the contract, the spokesperson for the Taliban-run administration, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter.

☆ Major aid groups suspend work in Afghanistan AS Taliban bar women
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

KABUL, Afghanistan — Four major international aid groups on Sunday suspended their operations in Afghanistan following a decision by the country’s Taliban rulers to ban women from working at non-governmental organizations. Excluding women from schools and NGO work in Afghanistan “can and will lead to catastrophic humanitarian consequences in the short to long term,” the International Committee of the Red Cross warned. Half of Afghanistan’s population, or 24 million people, are in need of humanitarian aid, according to the group. The International Rescue Committee said it was dismayed by the Taliban decision, adding that more than 3,000 of its staff in Afghanistan are women. The Economy Ministry’s order comes days after the Taliban banned female students from attending universities across the country, triggering backlash overseas and demonstrations in major Afghan cities.

☆ Save the Children, others suspend Afghanistan efforts after Taliban bar on female staff
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The administration on Saturday ordered all local and foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to send female staff home until further notice. The joint statement also highlighted the effect of the ban on female staff on thousands of jobs in the midst of an enormous economic crisis. Earlier, international aid agency AfghanAid said it was immediately suspending operations while it consulted with other organisations, and that other NGOs were taking similar actions. Chargé d'Affaires Karen Decker had posted on Twitter questioning how the Taliban planned to prevent hunger amongst women and children following the ban. She pointed out that the United States was the largest humanitarian aid donor to the country.

☆ Kabul hotel attack ends as three gunmen killed; two foreigners injured
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Armed men opened fire on Monday inside a hotel in central Kabul popular with Chinese nationals in an attack that ended when at least three gunmen were killed by security forces, the Taliban-run administration said. Two foreigners were injured while trying to escape by jumping from the hotel balcony, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter. Kabul's Emergency Hospital, run by an Italian non-profit near the attacked hotel in the Shahr-e-Naw area, reported receiving 21 casualties - 18 injured and three dead on arrival. Taliban sources said the attack was carried out at Longan Hotel where Chinese and other foreigners usually stay. China's state-run Xinhua news agency said the attack happened near a Chinese guesthouse and its embassy in Kabul was closely monitoring the situation.

☆ The Taliban has reintroduced public floggings and executions in Afghanistan, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Taliban have reintroduced public floggings and executions in Afghanistan under sharia law. On Wednesday, the Taliban performed the first public execution since seizing Kabul in August 2021. Girls attend class at a secret school on August 14, 2022 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo by Nava Jamshidi/Getty ImagesAn Afghan woman spoke to Al Jazeera about her experience living under the Taliban regime and her fear of public floggings or execution. Sadaf told Al Jazeera she was sentenced to a public flogging and whipped around 30 times until she passed out.

☆ Taliban carry out first public execution since Afghan takeover
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

ISLAMABAD — The Taliban authorities on Wednesday executed an Afghan convicted of killing another man, the first public execution since the former insurgents took over Afghanistan last year, a spokesman said. The execution, carried out with an assault rifle by the victim’s father, took place in western Farah province before hundreds of spectators and many top Taliban officials, according to Zabihullah Mujahid, the top Taliban government spokesman. The executed man, identified as Tajmir from Herat province, was convicted of killing another man five years ago and stealing his motorcycle and mobile phone. Taliban security forces had arrested Tajmir after the victim’s family accused him of the crime, said a statement from Mujahid, the spokesman. During the previous Taliban rule of the country in the late 1990s, the group carried out public executions, floggings and stoning of those convicted of crimes in Taliban courts.

☆ Taliban carry out first public execution since returning to power in Afghanistan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Sahar Akbarzai | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The Taliban on Wednesday put an alleged murderer to death in the first public execution held in Afghanistan since the Islamist group returned to power. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the man was shot three times by the father of his alleged victim in an execution attended by senior Taliban officials in southwestern Farah province. The man had been accused of stabbing the victim to death in 2017 and stealing a cell phone and bicycle. It is the first public execution since Kabul fell to the Taliban following the withdrawal of US forces from the country in August 2021. During the Taliban’s earlier period of rule, from 1996 to 2001, public executions were common, as were other violent punishments.

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