Fresh developments along the disputed Durand Line point to a shift on the ground, with reports suggesting Taliban forces have removed barriers and altered control dynamics at key border points.
The Ministry of Public Health has reported that two million (20 lakh) people visited healthcare centres for treatment of mental health disorders, including anxiety last year.
The latest round of Afghanistan-Pakistan peace talks in Istanbul ended without agreement, with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan accusing Islamabad of insincerity and attempting to shift blame onto Afghanistan.
Heavy fighting between Pakistani forces and Afghanistan’s Taliban militia along the Durand Line bordering the two nations has left scores dead and hundreds injured, according to reports on Wednesday.
The award-winning wordsmith expressed deep disappointment over the grand reception given to Afghan Foreign Minister and senior Taliban figure, Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Monday’s advisory has directed drivers not to play music in their cars carrying women. Still more crucially, drivers have been told not to pick up female passengers, if they are not wearing the hijab, covering the hair. Taliban’s police have erected checkpoints across the capital of Kabul to keep track of taxi drivers and ensure whether they were complying with the government’s orders. Of a piece with these directives is the Taliban decision to shut down all public bathhouses for women in Afghanistan’s northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Muttaqi arrived in Tehran on Sunday for talks with Iranian officials on political, economic, and transit issues, as well as on the Afghan refugees in Iran.
Mohammad Yaqoob, the Taliban defence minister, is the son of the movement’s founding spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who had approved the use of suicide attacks in 2003.
The UN commissioner for refugees further said that Afghan women and girls must be allowed to attend schools, and minorities must be represented, reported Tolo News.
Many Afghans have voiced their anger at the Taliban's religious policing
