Afghanistan

The Taliban governor’s spokesman in Baghlan Province said on Friday that at least 15 people were killed in overnight floods, which also destroyed more than 200 homes and vast areas of farmland.

Pina Picierno, Vice-President of the European Parliament, has warned that any agreement with the Taliban would amount to recognising a regime accused of committing crimes against humanity against women.

World Health Organization says women and children are the main victims of natural disasters in Afghanistan, accounting for 75 percent of people displaced by such events.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, Taliban's deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said on Thursday he hopes travel between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan will eventually take place without visas or passports.

Afghanistan Freedom Front says it carried out rocket attacks on a Taliban base at Kabul’s military airport on Wednesday night, claiming the site stored key equipment and trained Taliban fighters.

European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution condemning the Taliban’s penal code and calling for an end to public floggings and executions, as well as sanctions against Taliban leaders.

A high-level delegation including the Taliban's ministers of mines and agriculture and the director-general of the Breshna electricity company has travelled to Turkmenistan.

The Taliban's Ministry of Refugees has announced that 307 Afghans were released from Pakistani prisons this week. The ministry said they returned to Afghanistan via the Torkham and Spin Boldak crossings.

Following the Russian President's visit to China, Moscow and Beijing expressed concern in a joint statement over the major threat of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.

Sources have told Afghanistan International that the Taliban have dispatched convoys of forces and military vehicles to Badakhshan province. The convoys are said to be heading towards Faizabad. The move follows heightened tensions over gold mining in the province.

A spokesperson for the Taliban's police in Kabul has confirmed that General Shaoor Gul Pashtun, a former deputy minister of defence of Afghanistan, has been detained on charges of murdering two women.

Naseer Ahmad Faiq, Representative of Afghanistan to UN, says that representation at the UN is the legitimate right of those governments that have come to power through lawful means and based on the people's will.

Sources have told Afghanistan International that Safiullah Rasouli, a 25-year-old man, has died under torture in a Taliban prison after 21 days in detention in Herat.

India's National Investigation Agency has announced that its special court in Bengaluru has sentenced a man to seven years' rigorous imprisonment in a case involving radicalisation and recruitment for the Taliban and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

The Collective Security Treaty Organisation has announced that a joint meeting with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Commonwealth of Independent States will be held on Central Asian security and the situation in Afghanistan.

Abdul Matin Rahimzai, Badakhshan's new director of mines, has warned that no one is any longer permitted to extract minerals from the province without authorisation. He also threatened local armed groups with severe punishment if they intervene in mining.

Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan's Prime Minister, said during a visit to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, that Operation "Ghazab-Lil-Haq" against the Afghan Taliban is continuing with full resolve to protect Pakistani citizens and target militant sanctuaries.

Afghanistan Green Trend says it attacked a Taliban military recruitment centre in Firozkoh, the capital of Ghor Province, on Monday, May 18, using explosives planted inside the facility.