Afghanistan

KABUL, March 27 (Reuters) - The Taliban have told airlines in Afghanistan that women cannot board domestic or international flights without a male chaperone, two sources told Reuters on Sunday.

The move comes after the Taliban backtracked on their previous commitment to open high schools to girls, a u-turn that shocked many Afghans and drew condemnation from humanitarian agencies and foreign governments.

The United States on Friday cancelled planned meetings with Taliban officials on key economic issues due to its decision on Wednesday.

MES AYNAK, Afghanistan (AP) — The ancient Buddha statues sit in serene meditation in the caves carved into the russet cliffs of rural Afghanistan. Hundreds of meters below lies what is believed to be the world’s largest deposit of copper.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are pinning their hopes on Beijing to turn that rich vein into revenue to salvage the cash-starved country amid crippling international sanctions.

24 March 2022; MEMO: China's Foreign Minister, on Thursday, arrived in Afghanistan on his maiden trip to the country after the exit of US-led foreign forces last year, Anadolu News Agency reports.

As most countries worldwide have taken a wait-and-see approach to the country's Taliban interim government, officials said the visit by Wang Yi sent a "positive message."

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — China’s foreign minister made a surprise stop in Kabul on Thursday to meet Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, even as the international community fumes over the hardline movement’s broken promise a day earlier to open schools to girls beyond Grade 6.

The official Bakhtar News Agency announced Wang Yi will meet with Taliban leaders “to discuss various issues including the extension of political relations, economic, and transit cooperation.”

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — In a surprise decision the hardline leadership of Afghanistan’s new rulers has decided against opening educational institutions to girls beyond Grade six, a Taliban official said Wednesday on the first day of Afghanistan’s new school year.

The latest setback for girls’ education is certain to receive widespread condemnation from the international community that has been urging the Taliban leaders to open schools and give women their right to public space.

18 March 2022; MEMO: Scores of Afghans who escaped their country when the Taliban took over and were left in the UAE while their documents to travel to the US were processed have volunteered to return to Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

The evacuees say their return could put them in danger but they have to support their families.

KABUL, Mar 17 (NNN-ANA) – Afghanistan’s caretaker government, formed a commission, to help Afghans, who left the country after the change of government, return to their homeland, the government said in a statement today.

“The Commission of Liaison and Repatriation of Afghan Personalities has been formed, under the supervision of Sheikh Shahabuddin Delawar, the acting minister of mines and petroleum, to help Afghans return to their motherland,” the statement said.

KABUL, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Film, the state-run film producing company, has screened two recently-made documentaries at its headquarters on Sunday, a local news agency reported on Monday.

The two films were said to be the first batch of works produced by Afghan Film since the Taliban took over the power of the country last year, according to Bakhtar News Agency (BNA).

KABUL, Mar 7 (NNN-ANA) – Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, met with Tariq Ali Bakheet, special envoy of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today.

During their meeting, held yesterday, Muttaqi and Bakheet discussed efforts made by the OIC, concerning implementation of a resolution by an OIC extraordinary session, held in Dec, 2021, in Islamabad, Pakistan, the ministry said in a statement.

KABUL, Feb 27 (NNN-ANA) – The security agencies of Afghanistan have launched clearance operations, in the capital city of Kabul and surrounding provinces, as the latest preventive measures to ensure a high level of security, the government said yesterday.

The clearance operations were launched Friday, by the ministries of interior and defence, as well as, the national intelligence agency, the government said, in a statement.