Five years after the Taliban’s return to power, armed opposition groups have yet to shift the balance. The Taliban still controls Afghanistan’s territory, state institutions and main economic resources.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei says Tehran’s water rights remain a top priority and a constant, vital and strategic issue in relations with the Taliban.
Darul Ifta at Darul Uloom Karachi has said women may pursue education, including medicine, under Islamic conditions, in response to a request from an Afghan refugee woman about female education in Afghanistan.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has issued a new report on accountability for Taliban security forces and officials accused of misconduct and ill-treatment.
Reporters Without Borders says the Taliban has turned Afghanistan into a prison for information over the past five years, with each new directive further restricting journalists and independent media.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says the Taliban and Pakistan have cooperated well with Tehran under wartime conditions and prevented foreign elements from entering Iran.
The Taliban’s Information and Culture Department in Badakhshan said Abdul Wakil Munib, commander of the 219 Omar-e-Salis Division, inspected security conditions along the borders with Tajikistan and China.
Anti-Taliban fronts say they carried out at least 15 attacks on Taliban positions across nine Afghan provinces over the past week, claiming that around 30 Taliban members were killed.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has again called for those behind the 1998 attack on its consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif to be identified and brought to justice, marking the 28th anniversary of the killings.
The Guardian and Zan Times have documented 231 cases of alleged femicide across 10 Afghan provinces since August 2021, reporting a rise in killings of women and fatal violence under Taliban rule.
The United Front of Afghanistan said on Saturday that its forces killed a Taliban morality police officer in a park in Kandahar’s Aino Mina township.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front said on Friday that two Taliban members were killed and another wounded in an attack on a Taliban intelligence office in Jalalabad’s sixth district on Thursday evening.
Judges at the International Criminal Court have asked prosecutors to consider allegations of the Taliban’s gender-based persecution in a separate investigation, according to a decision issued in mid-July 2026.
The United Front of Afghanistan said on Friday that its forces seized a Taliban base in Al-Farooq district of Ghor in an offensive operation on Thursday night, killing two Taliban members and wounding four others.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front said on Friday that its forces targeted Kabul military airport with missiles on Thursday night. Sources earlier told Afghanistan International they heard at least two powerful explosions nearby.
The recent attack by the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF), in which its forces took control of parts of Zebak district in Badakhshan, has challenged the perception of the Taliban as an invincible military force.
The Peshawar High Court has rejected asylum and temporary residence requests by two former Afghan soldiers, ruling that they failed to establish a violation of their fundamental rights.
More than 50 leading international law and human rights experts have called for gender apartheid to be recognised as a crime under international law, with a focus on the situation of Afghan women.
Local sources told Afghanistan International that Taliban positions in Argo district of Badakhshan came under rocket attack on Thursday evening, 6 August.
Uzbek and Kazakh business representatives have agreed to jointly expand exports to third markets, particularly Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, following a trade forum in Tashkent.
A Fatemiyoun Division commander told Afghanistan International that Tehran’s warm relations with the Taliban had fuelled growing discontent within the militia’s ranks.
Local sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban’s opposition fighters seized a Taliban outpost in Deh Salah of Andarab district on Wednesday night seizing weapons and equipment following a rocket attack and clash.