Taliban

May 23, 2025 2:53 PM

Taliban in talks with Russia, China for trade transactions in local currencies

The Taliban administration is in advanced talks with Russia for banks from both sanctions-hit economies to settle trade transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars in their local currencies, Afghanistan's acting commerce minister said. The Afghan government has made similar proposals to China, the minister, Haji Nooruddin Azizi, told Reuters on Thursday. Some discussions have been held with the Chinese embassy in Kabul, he said. The proposal with Russia, Azizi said, was being worked on ...

April 16, 2025 3:30 PM

ICC pledges funding to support exiled Afghan women cricketers in defiance of Taliban restrictions

A funding pledge from the International Cricket Council (ICC) has given Afghanistan's exiled women cricketers hope of recognition and the chance to play on the international stage in defiance of the Taliban. The game's global governing body said on Sunday it would set up a dedicated fund to support the Afghan women, most of whom have resettled in Australia after fleeing Afghanistan when the Taliban swept to power in 2021. The ICC declined to provide financial details or a timeline for the disb...

March 4, 2025 4:04 PM

Afghanistan border clashes ease, thousands seek shelter

Overnight clashes between Pakistani and Afghan security forces at the main border crossing between the countries caused thousands of people to flee their homes but the situation had calmed down by Tuesday morning, residents and officials said. The conflict started on Monday, the first working day of Ramadan, when food imports from Pakistan usually peak in Afghanistan. Around 15,000 local residents fled to Landi Kotal due to the clashes, an official said. Afghan border guards had opened fire wi...

August 27, 2024 4:07 PM

UN rights chief calls for repeal of Afghan law turning women into ‘shadows’

The United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday called for Afghanistan's Taliban to immediately repeal a set of "egregious" laws that it said were attempting to turn women into shadows. High Commissioner Volker Turk said the passing of new laws last week "cements policies that completely erase women's presence in public, silencing their voices and depriving them of their individual autonomy, effectively attempting to render them into faceless, voiceless shadows." "This is utterly intolerable,...

July 20, 2024 4:51 PM

Panel studying US war in Afghanistan holds first public hearing

A commission created by Congress to conduct an independent review of the 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan held its first public hearing on Friday, pledging to be "unflinching" in examining how and why key decisions were made and who made them. But, while accountability "is centrally important, our focus is less on assigning credit or blame ... than on extracting and applying its lessons" for future conflicts, said co-chair Colin Jackson. The panel's first public hearing came just over a month b...

September 16, 2024 6:37 PM

Russia invites Afghanistan’s Taliban to major economic forum

Russia has invited Afghanistan's Taliban to its biggest annual economic forum as Moscow moves to remove a ban on the Islamist movement, a senior Russian diplomat was quoted as saying on Monday. Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war, Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban, though the movement is still officially outlawed in Russia. Russia's foreign and justice ministries have reported to President Vladimir Putin on the iss...