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UN says Taliban detained journalists over 250 times in Afghanistan since takeover

Reuters The United Nations’ mission to Afghanistan said on Tuesday the ruling Taliban had arbitrarily detained journalists 256 times since their takeover three years ago, and urged authorities there to protect the media. In a reply accompanying the report, the Taliban-led foreign ministry denied having arrested that number of journalists and added that those arrested […]

UN seeks probe into reported mass killing of Afghans migrating to Iran

Herat, Afghanistan Reuters The United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan called on Thursday for an investigation into reports that a large group of Afghan migrants had been shot and killed on the Afghanistan-Iran border. Afghan media outlets including Tolo News, citing witnesses, said more than 200 Afghan migrants who entered Iran illegally were attacked on Iranian […]

UN records torture, deaths of detainees in Taliban custody

Taliban soldiers stand guard at the second-anniversary ceremony of the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan, 15th August, 2023

Reuters The United Nations has recorded over 1,600 incidents of rights violations against people detained by the Taliban authorities, nearly half of them acts of torture and ill-treatment mostly by police and intelligence agents, a report released on Wednesday showed.  The UN Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 18 people had also died in prisons and […]

Over 1,000 Afghan civilians killed in blasts, violence since August 2021 – UN

A Taliban fighter stands guard at the site where an explosive-laden vehicle detonated amidst an attack on a Sikh Temple in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 18th June, 2022.

Reuters Over a thousand Afghan civilians were killed in bombings and other violence since foreign forces left and the Taliban took over in 2021, according to a report by the UN’s mission to Afghanistan released on Tuesday.  Between 15th August, 2021, and May this year 1,095 civilians were killed and 2,679 wounded, according to the […]

Afghan broadcaster airs rare all-female panel to discuss rights on Women’s Day

FILE PHOTO: A female presenter for Tolo News, Khatereh Ahmadi, while covering her face, works in a newsroom at Tolo TV station in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 22, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara

Kabul, Afghanistan Reuters Afghan broadcaster Tolo News on Wednesday aired an all-female panel in its studio with an audience of women to mark International Women’s Day, a rare broadcast since the Taliban took over and many female journalists left the profession or started working off-air. A survey by Reporters Without Borders last year found that […]

UN Security Council denounces Taliban bans on women in Afghanistan

Afghanistan Kabul female students

United Nations Reuters The UN Security Council on Tuesday called for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan, denouncing a ban by the Taliban-led administration on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups. In a statement agreed by consensus, the 15-member council said the ban on women and […]

UN slams killings, rights abuses under Afghanistan’s Taliban

UN UNAMA Markus Potzel

Islamabad, Pakistan Reuters Hundreds of people have been killed in Afghanistan since the Taliban overran the country nearly a year ago, even though security on the whole has improved since then, the United Nations said in a report Wednesday. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan also highlighted the poor situation of women and girls […]

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan at record level in May-June – UN

Kabul, AfghanistanReuters Nearly 2,400 Afghan civilians were killed or injured in May and June as fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan security forces escalated, the highest number for those two months since records started in 2009, the United Nations said on Monday. The UN’s Assistance Mission to Afghanistan said in a report it had documented […]

Afghan province declared landmine-free after 10-year clearance drive

Thomson Reuters Foundation Afghanistan’s deadliest province for landmines has been declared free of the explosive devices after a decade-long clearance effort, the demining group HALO Trust said on Thursday. The organisation said it had cleared more than 600 minefields in Afghanistan’s western province of Herat, opening up 40 million square metres, or 15.5 square miles, […]