Afghanistan

Sept 16 (Reuters) - Afghanistan needs urgent and sustained support from the international community to prevent a larger humanitarian crisis, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said, warning of global implications if that were to happen.

"The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan remains desperate," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement after a three-day visit to the South Asian nation.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Friction between pragmatists and ideologues in the Taliban leadership has intensified since the group formed a hard-line Cabinet last week that is more in line with their harsh rule in the 1990s than their recent promises of inclusiveness, said two Afghans familiar with the power struggle.

The wrangling has taken place behind the scenes, but rumors quickly began circulating about a recent violent confrontation between the two camps at the presidential palace, including claims that the leader of the pragmatic faction, Abdul Ghani Baradar, was killed.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan man who was killed in a U.S. drone strike last month was an enthusiastic and beloved longtime employee at an American humanitarian organization, his colleagues say, painting a stark contrast to the Pentagon’s claims that he was an Islamic State group militant about to carry out an attack on American troops.

15 Sep 2021; MEMO: Passenger flights between Iran and Afghanistan resumed today, Iran's state-run Al-Alam TV channel reported.

According to Reuters, an Iranian Mahan Air plane landed in Kabul with 19 passengers on board, coming from the city of Mashhad today.

Regular passenger services to Kabul had stopped after the Taliban gained control of the Afghan capital last month.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s new foreign minister said Tuesday that the Taliban governing the country remain committed to not allowing militants to use their territory to launch attacks. But he refused to say when or if the country’s new rulers would create a more inclusive government.

Sept 14 (Reuters) - The Taliban have denied that one of their top leaders has been killed in a shootout with rivals, following rumours about internal splits in the movement nearly a month after its lightning victory over the Western-backed government in Kabul.

Sulail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, said Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, former head of the Taliban political office who was named deputy prime minister last week, issued a voice message rejecting claims he had been killed or injured in a clash.

KABUL (AP) — Once, Kabul’s main prison was crowded with thousands of Taliban captured and arrested by the government. On Monday, a Taliban commander strolled through its empty halls and cell blocks, showing his friends where he had once been imprisoned.

It was a sign of the sudden and startling new order in Afghanistan after the militant group swept into the capital nearly a month ago and threw out the crumbling, U.S.-backed government it had fought for 20 years.

KABUL, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The newly appointed Taliban government's acting Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund met with visiting Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Sunday, the state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported.

During the meeting held in Afghanistan's Presidential Palace, the two sides discussed bilateral relations, humanitarian assistance, Afghanistan's future economic development and the international engagement with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the agency reported.

KABUL, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- An Afghan expert has described the so-called U.S.-led war on terror in Afghanistan as a total failure that has plunged the war-torn country into turmoil.

"No doubt, the U.S.-led war on terror in Afghanistan has utterly failed and the American forces have been defeated, of course (it's) a humiliating defeat," Abu Muslim Khorasani, a professor of Rana University in Afghanistan said Saturday.

The professor made the comments as the United States is marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in the country.

Sept 12 (Reuters) - Women in Afghanistan will be allowed to study in universities as the country seeks to rebuild after decades of war but gender-segregation and Islamic dress code will be mandatory, the Taliban's new Higher Education minister said on Sunday.

The minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, said the new Taliban government, named last week, would "start building the country on what exists today" and did not want to turn the clock back 20 years to when the movement was last in power.