Over 4 years since the Taliban took Kabul, millions of Afghans have been sent back to a country in crisis

August 16, 2025 Current News Articles

By Trisha Mukherjee

ABC News

August 16, 2025

Over the course of the past four years since the Taliban took control of Kabul, plunging Afghanistan into a humanitarian crisis and stripping away women’s rights, millions of Afghans who initially fled have now been expelled from Iran and Pakistan, according to the United Nations.

Over 1.5 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan so far this year, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM). 700,000 Afghan migrants have returned to Afghanistan from Iran this year as of June 2025, according to the UN.

Some have never set foot in Afghanistan, while others haven’t been in the country since fleeing it decades ago, said Arafat Jamal, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Afghanistan.

Russia became the first country to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s official government, but other countries have not done so.

Many of the returnees arrived at the Afghan border in buses “bewildered, disoriented, and tired and hungry,” according to Jamal.

Earlier this year, Iran ordered all of the estimated 2 million undocumented Afghans — out of the estimated 6 million total Afghans in Iran — to leave the country.

Since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, UN agencies have seen a large increase in the number of Afghans crossing the border from Iran back into Afghanistan, Jamal said.

This increase of Afghans leaving Iran came as the government of Iran intensified their campaign against Afghans, accusing many of them of espionage, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Some experts warn that these actions constitute a violation of the principle of non-refoulement – meaning not forcing refugees or asylum seekers to return to a country where they may be subject to persecution – in possible violation of international law.

In previous years, UNHCR could provide $2,000 in cash assistance to returnee Afghan families, enabling them to build autonomy and get back on their feet once they returned to their home country. In the past few months, cuts in foreign aid funding have decreased that budget to just $156 per family, “simply enabling a person to survive for a week or two on the basic necessities,” Jamal said.

Once inside Afghanistan, returnees’ face difficult conditions back at home. In addition to the Taliban restricting women’s rights by banning their movements outside of the home without a male guardian and by restricting their access to education past age 12, Afghanistan is also facing climate change and environmental challenges — around a third of Afghans don’t have access to basic drinking water, according to Unicef.

Zahra, a journalist living in Afghanistan who asked ABC News to use only her first name due to fear of persecution by the Taliban, said that Afghans have done their best to support returnees, despite having very few resources themselves.

“Even if I have one extra pillow, I should give it to others,” she told ABC News. “It’s enough if we eat lunch and skip dinner to give this meal to another.”

In the last several months, international humanitarian aid funding has been slashed by previously committed allies.

In April 2025, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction announced that it was cutting nearly all assistance programs to Afghanistan. Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, the U.S. had been Afghanistan’s largest donor, according to SIGAR. Soon after the U.S.’s April announcement, the U.K. — another major donor to humanitarian initiatives in the country — reduced its aid to Afghanistan by 19%.

More than 400 health facilities, 400 acute malnutrition centers, and 300 clinics for survivors of gender based violence have shut down as a result, according to the UN.

Zahra said she has witnessed the devastating consequences of these facilities’ closures. She said there was a pregnant woman who needed medical help but couldn’t go to her local clinic, which had shuttered due to aid cuts. The expecting mother could not immediately secure a male chaperone to travel to the nearest open clinic, as mandated by the Taliban, Zahra said. As a result, according to Zahra, both the woman and her baby lost their lives.

Now, as millions of additional Afghans return to a country already facing multiple humanitarian crises, many international NGOs are operating with inadequate funding to address the many issues in the country.

UNHCR, for example, said it has less than a quarter of the funding it needs to address the emergency situation in Afghanistan and neighboring countries. Additionally, the International Rescue Committee has had to suspend some of their education services in Afghanistan.

These international bodies are calling for an increase in funding and support. “More humanitarian aid is urgently needed to protect and assist Afghans forced to flee,” the UNHCR wrote on its website.

“What’s happening in Afghanistan are crimes against humanity – crimes against the whole of humanity – which should shock our conscience and provoke action by all,” said Richard Bennett, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan. “It is not time to give up.”

‘They do not teach us what we need’: Inside the expansion of religious schools for girls across Afghanistan

August 15, 2025 Current News Articles

Story by Isobel Yeung and Mick Krever

Girls study at a religious school, or madrasa, where the curriculum is largely set by the Taliban government and devoted to Islamic studies. Mick Krever/CNN

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of As Equals, CNN’s ongoing series on gender inequality. For information about how the series is funded and more, check out our FAQs.

Kabul, Afghanistan —

“I want” – the girl stops herself – “I wanted to be a doctor in the future. But when the Taliban came to Afghanistan, all the doors of schools were closed.”

Inside the Taliban-approved Naji-e-Bashra madrasa – a girls-only religious school on the outskirts of Kabul – a teenage girl wearing a full face covering speaks nervously. Her classmate grabs her arm beneath the table, aware that any criticism of the ruling Taliban government is ill-advised.

Imperfect though these religious institutions are, they are the only option for most Afghan girls over the age of 12 who want any education. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world that prohibits girls and women from getting general education at secondary and higher levels.

In July this year, the International Criminal Court sought arrest warrants for two of the top Taliban leaders, citing the persecution of women and girls as evidence of crimes against humanity. The Taliban denounced the court as showing “enmity and hatred for the pure religion of Islam.”

The Taliban had originally stated that the suspension of female education would be temporary, and some leaders said that they wanted mainstream schools to reopen once security issues were resolved. But four years on, the fundamentalist wing of the Taliban seems to be winning. Non-religious schools, universities and even healthcare training centers remain closed off to half the population. According to a report published in March by UNESCO, a United Nations agency, nearly 1.5 million girls have been prohibited from attending secondary school since 2021.

Meanwhile, the number of madrasas educating girls and boys across Afghanistan has grown sharply. According to data from the Ministry of Education, 22,972 state-funded madrasas have been established over the past three years.

At the Naji-e-Bashra madrasa, where CNN gained rare access to film in recent weeks, enrolment has skyrocketed since the Taliban began depriving girls of a “mainstream” education.

Because this is a private facility, funded by parents of students who generally live a more privileged life, staff are given slightly more leeway to also teach languages and science alongside Islamic studies. In public madrasas, which are funded by the Taliban government, the curriculum is almost entirely religious in content.

In 2022, the Taliban announced their plans for the school curriculum, setting out many changes that according to a report by the Afghanistan Human Rights Center, a human rights monitoring group, “not only fail to meet the human development goals of international human rights instruments, but also teach students content that promotes violence, opposes the culture of tolerance, peace, reconciliation, and human rights values.”

The report published last December alleges that the Taliban has “tailored educational goals to align with its extremist and violent ideology.” It says that they have amended history, geography and religious textbooks and prohibited the teaching of concepts such as democracy, women’s rights and human rights.

“The students are very happy with our environment, our curriculum, and us,” says the principal of the Naji-e-Bashra madrasa, Shafiullah Dilawar, a self-declared long-time supporter of the Taliban. “The curriculum that is set in the madrasa is set in a way that it is very beneficial for the role of mothers in society, so they can raise good children.”

He denied any suggestion that such institutions were being used to further the Taliban’s ideological goals.

The Taliban rejected multiple requests for an interview.

Secret schools

But many girls and women in Afghanistan consider madrasas no substitute for the education they were increasingly able to access over the two decades preceding the chaotic US withdrawal in 2021.

Nargis is the model student. She’s conscientious, organized, hardworking and studied diligently throughout her life.

At the time that US troops were withdrawing from her city, Nargis was studying economics at a private university. She’d go to classes in the morning, work a part-time job in the afternoon, then teach herself English in the evening. She’d never tire of learning.

“If four years ago you asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I had lots of goals, dreams, and hopes,” she said wistfully. “At that time, I wanted to be a very big businesswoman. I wanted to import from other countries. I wanted to have a big school for girls. I wanted to go to Oxford University. Maybe I’d have my own coffee shop.”

But what broke her heart was seeing the faces of her younger sisters, at the time 11 and 12 years old, who came home one day and told her their school had been closed.

“They didn’t eat anything for one month. They were distraught,” recounted Nargis. “I realized they will go crazy like this. So, I made the decision to help them with their studies. Even if I lose everything, I will do this one thing.”

Nargis began collecting all her past textbooks and started teaching the girls everything she’d learned. Other relatives and neighbors began asking for help too – and she found it difficult to say no.

And so, every morning at 6 a.m. sharp, before the Taliban security guards have arisen, around 45 female students from as young as age 12 sneak across the city to Nargis’s family home. Nargis has no support or funding – and often the girls huddle around one textbook, sharing notepads and pens.

Together, they learn mathematics, science, computing and English. Nargis racks her brain for all the knowledge she’s ever accumulated and imparts it to her students.

When the time comes for them to return home, she worries endlessly.

Two months ago, members of the Taliban came to raid the home she was teaching from. She spent a night in jail and was reprimanded for her work. Her father and other male family members begged her to stop, telling her it was not worth it. But terrified though Nargis is, she says she refuses to abandon her students. She switched locations and carried on.

Up until earlier this year, USAID (the United States’ Agency for International Development) had been funding secret schools across the country – known as “community-based education” – as well as study abroad programs and online scholarships. With the cancellation of $1.7 billion worth of aid contracts (of which $500 million was yet to be disbursed) under the Trump administration, several of those educational programs are now winding down.

Nargis herself had been a beneficiary of one such program, studying online for a Bachelor of Business Administration at a US-funded program. Last month, she says, that program was cancelled. It was the nail in the coffin for Nargis’s ambitions. Not just the cancellation of her studies, but “the cancellation of my hopes and dreams.”

“My mum was never educated. She always told us how it was under the previous Taliban government, and so we studied hard… But what is the difference between me and my mum now?” she asked. “I have an education, but we are both at home.

“For what are we trying so hard? For what job and what future?”

Travel influencers boost tourism to Taliban-run Afghanistan

August 15, 2025 Current News Articles

By Astha Rajvanshi

NBC News

August 5, 2025

The influencers gain attention by gushing over visits to the Central Asian nation, although one critic notes that their trips legitimize its “gender apartheid.”

The influencers gain attention by gushing over visits to the Central Asian nation, although one critic notes that their trips legitimize its “gender apartheid.”
Margaritta, a 33-year-old travel influencer from Germany, embarked on a three-month solo trip through Afghanistan in May 2024. Despite a “media echo that Afghanistan was not safe,” she said, “I was not scared.”

She “felt fantastic,” Margaritta, who asked that only her first name be used for security reasons, told NBC News. “I was treated like a queen.”

The trip was “one of those amazing experiences that also pushed me,” she added in a post on her TikTok channel, @margarittasworld, which has over 18,000 subscribers.

Margaritta is among a handful of travel influencers who have gone to Afghanistan since the Taliban took power following a chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in 2021.

They are seen exploring the country’s landlocked, mountainous terrain and its tribal culture in videos posted online, contesting perceptions that the country is unsafe and hostile to women. While thrilling for the influencers and their followers, critics accuse these carefully edited travelogues of whitewashing the harsh realities of life in Afghanistan, particularly for women, and rehabilitating the country’s autocratic rulers.

Internationally renowned Afghan activist and scholar Orzala Nemat, currently a visiting fellow at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said that the surge of foreign influencers in Afghanistan was deeply concerning.

“What we’re seeing instead is a curated, sanitized version of the country that conveniently erases the brutal realities faced by Afghan women under Taliban rule,” Orzala told NBC News.

The Taliban has effectively barred Afghan women from many aspects of public life, including access to education and jobs. In July, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two of the Taliban’s top leaders, accusing them of persecuting women and girls in Afghanistan, which the group dismissed.

Influencers continue to go to Afghanistan despite clear warnings from the U.S. State Department that Americans should not travel to the country “for any reason” and that “there is a risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals.”

The European Union and Britain have issued similar travel advisories, while none of these countries have operational embassies in Afghanistan, limiting the provision of consular assistance to citizens.

Margaritta traveled solo through Afghanistan for three months.

Margaritta, while acknowledging that the Taliban had imposed strict laws on women, said she viewed them instead as a sign that “women have value, and they are valued as precious.”

Her comments were echoed by 31-year-old Zoe Stephens, a British travel vlogger and tour guide from Liverpool, England, who has visited Afghanistan three times.

“All we see of the women in Afghanistan is shapes behind burqas,” she told NBC News. “But when I got there, I realized that … there’s a lot more nuance to it.”

Having spent time with some Afghan women behind closed doors, she added that much of this was not on video or photographed because “it’s very private.”

Stephens regularly shares her experiences in Afghanistan and North Korea, the other destination covered by her travel company Koryo Tours, with over 70,000 followers on her Instagram accounts, @zoediscovers and @zoediscoversnk.

Like Margaritta, Stephens said that during her time there, she saw that “the strength of the Afghan women is that they don’t have to just show it.”

In one of her posts, Stephens appears dressed in a headscarf and an abaya, a traditional robe, as she holds a selfie stick on a tour bus as it zooms through rugged landscape. The video cuts to show her laughing with local Afghan women as she explores lakes, mosques and mountain trails.

Her caption reads: “It might surprise you to hear that travelling Afghanistan as a woman is actually often safer than travelling as a man. Why? The things to watch out for in Afghanistan is not the government and what it controls; rather, what it can’t control.”

Still, Stephens then lists a few safety tips for women that include dressing appropriately, exuding modesty, avoiding crowded spaces and not making one’s location public in real time.

Margaritta says she was “treated like a queen” in Afghanistan.

Orzala, of RUSI, said that while influencers with Western passports “roam freely, pose for photos and gain online fame,” those privileges are denied to Afghan women, who are barred from schools, jobs or even walking freely in public without being accompanied by male guardians.

There are also moral and ethical dilemmas, she added, because profits from tourism risk indirectly legitimizing and financially sustaining a regime that has institutionalized “gender apartheid.”

As for videos from influencers that show Afghan women smiling in the background, Orzala said, “This should never be confused with contentment or consent to the current reality.”

“This is not cultural exchange; it’s neocolonial tourism dressed up as adventure,” she added.

Visitors to Afghanistan are still in the low thousands as the war-torn country tries to rebuild its image under strict Taliban-run Islamic laws and customs. Nearly 9,000 foreigners visited in 2024, while nearly 3,000 visited in the first three months of this year, according to a report from The Associated Press.

Along with travel influencers, some tourism companies are creating jaw-dropping videos that have since been reshared by Taliban accounts on social media in a bid to attract more visitors.

One outlandish 50-second video made by vlogger Yosaf Aryubi begins with an eerie scene of three people with bags over their heads, presumed to be held hostage by the men standing behind them, who are dressed like the Taliban with rifles slung over their shoulders.

“We have one message for America,” one of the armed men says, before pulling the bag off one of the hostages, only to reveal a grinning tourist who gives a thumbs-up and says, “Welcome to Afghanistan!”

The video then cuts to male tourists diving into scenic lakes and walking through waterfalls and even holding M4 rifles that are revealed to be replicas.

Not every influencer sees Afghanistan in that way. In another video, YouTuber Nolan Saumure, whose channel Seal on Tour has 650,000 subscribers, acknowledges that he only interacted with men during his trip there.

In a 35-minute video titled “Afghanistan Has Too Much Testosterone,” Saumure spins the camera around to show a large crowd of Afghan men swarming him.

“It’s a complete sausage fest in here,” he says.

Astha Rajvanshi is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London. Previously, she worked as a staff writer covering international news for TIME.

Caroline Radnofsky and Jay Ganglani contributed.

Afghanistan’s Healthcare System Near Collapse Amid Aid Cuts and Facility Closures

August 15, 2025 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

August 15, 2025

Afghanistan’s healthcare system nears collapse as aid cuts force closure of 425 facilities, leaving 23 million people in urgent need of food, clean water, and medical care.

Afghanistan’s healthcare system is on the verge of collapse following the Taliban’s return to power, as international aid, once the backbone of medical services, has been almost entirely cut off.

The U.S.-based New Lines newspaper reported on Thursday, August 14, that more than 23 million people, nearly half of the population, now need assistance to access food, clean water, or basic healthcare.

This crisis has deepened significantly since the withdrawal of most foreign aid and the exit of international relief agencies, leaving millions without reliable access to medical treatment.

According to the World Health Organization, over 425 health facilities have shut down, forcing many patients to travel for hours to reach the nearest functioning hospital or clinic.

Despite the end of large-scale fighting, hospitals remain in a state of emergency. Doctors say they now treat injuries from domestic violence, stabbings, and road accidents, along with medical complications caused by the lack of primary healthcare.

Health experts warn that without a rapid restoration of international funding and supplies, the country faces a complete breakdown of its health system, leading to a sharp rise in preventable deaths.

Aid organizations are urging the global community to act immediately, stressing that Afghanistan’s health crisis is now as severe as it was during the height of the war.

Hundreds of Afghans in Pakistan Arrested and Deported After Germany Halts Resettlement Program

August 15, 2025 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

August 15, 2025

Around 400 Afghans awaiting relocation to Germany have been arrested in Pakistan, with several deported to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, sparking urgent calls from rights groups to halt removals and resume transfers.

Hundreds of Afghans awaiting relocation to Germany have been arrested in Pakistan following Berlin’s suspension of its resettlement program for vulnerable Afghans. Humanitarian groups warn that some detainees have already been deported to Afghanistan.

According to a Politico report on Thursday, August 14, Pakistani authorities have detained around 400 Afghans in recent weeks, with several forcibly returned. The arrests have intensified fears for those left stranded.

Germany’s decision to freeze the program, which was designed to relocate Afghans at risk under Taliban rule, has left more than 2,200 people in legal limbo in Pakistan. Among them are women’s rights defenders and members of the LGBTQ community who face severe persecution if returned.

August 15 Marked with Calls for Stability and Balance

August 15, 2025 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

TV Network

15 Aug 2025

The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also stressed the Islamic Emirate’s balanced foreign policy during the event.

At a ceremony in Kabul marking the fourth anniversary of the Islamic Emirate’s return to power, the acting Minister of Interior described the preservation of the current system as vital.

Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani stated that some people fail to understand the nationwide security and the current state of the country, emphasizing that Afghanistan has always responded firmly to any aggression.

He added: “This security and current situation are intolerable for the enemies. Afghanistan is a land of sacred people who, throughout history, have never been subdued by invaders; and whenever an attempt was made, it was met with a strong response.”

The acting Interior Minister further said that, contrary to claims by some countries and organizations, the Islamic Emirate remains committed to the Doha Agreement, and currently, no threat emanates from Afghan soil to other countries.

He also said: “The current system, as it pledged in Doha, is committed to its obligations. Anyone who has issues with this system, our doors are open to them.”

The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also stressed the Islamic Emirate’s balanced foreign policy during the event.

He said that Afghanistan is no longer a battleground for international rivalries, but has instead become a connecting point between nations.

“Balanced policy means that from now on, we will not become enemies with one country for the sake of another. Afghanistan will no longer be a field for negative rivalries, but a hub of connectivity and economic cooperation,” he added.

Deputy Administrative Chief of the Prime Minister’s Office, Abdul Salam Hanafi, emphasized that the Islamic Emirate does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and expects the same in return.

He said: “We never want to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, and we expect the same from them.”

24th Asad marks the anniversary of the fall of the Republic and the return of the Islamic Emirate to power in Afghanistan.

In previous years, the Islamic Emirate had also commemorated this day with military parades at the Bagram Airbase.

Achievements, Challenges As Fifth Year of Islamic Emirate Rule Begins

August 15, 2025 Current News Articles

Bibi Amina Hakimi

TOLOnews’ Reporter

15 Aug 2025

The fourth year of the Islamic Emirate’s rule was a year between consolidating power internally and seeking legitimacy externally.

The fifth year of the Islamic Emirate’s rule arrives as the caretaker government faced serious challenges in both domestic and foreign policy over the past year.

The fate of the constitution and the formation of a permanent cabinet remain unclear, while efforts for the recognition of this government also continued.

Despite these challenges, the Islamic Emirate managed to establish good relations with some countries in the world. Russia was the first country to officially recognize the caretaker government, a move widely welcomed by current officials.

Dmitry Zhirnov, Russia’s ambassador to Kabul, said: “This decision, which was made in principle by the President of Russia at the suggestion of the Foreign Minister, demonstrates our sincere desire to establish a full partnership with Afghanistan. More than 100 years ago, Russia was the first country to recognize Afghanistan’s independence. All this testifies to our friendly relations with the people of Afghanistan.”

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, also said: “We call on other countries to fulfill their responsibilities in developing relations with Afghanistan and to cooperate with Afghans in general. They should recognize the system and the government for stability, economic growth, connectivity, and the creation of interactions.”

Over the past four years, officials of the Islamic Emirate have consistently sought to expand diplomatic relations with countries in the region and the world.

Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that in the past year, Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions in China, the UAE, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Russia, and Pakistan were upgraded to ambassador level, and diplomats were also appointed to Germany, Norway, India, and Indonesia.

The number of active political representations of the Islamic Emirate abroad reached more than 40, and the number of other countries’ representations in Kabul approached 20.

Muttaqi added: “Kazakhstan has promised to accept an ambassador of the Islamic Emirate, who will be introduced in the near future, and last year we appointed diplomats to four new countries.”

Over the past year, Kabul hosted senior officials from the United States, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia), as well as the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). At the same time, more than twenty senior officials of the Islamic Emirate, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Amir Khan Muttaqi, traveled to over twenty regional and extra-regional countries.

Muttaqi said: “In the past nearly four years, we have succeeded in ensuring nationwide security, ending the threats of Daesh and other disruptive elements, abolishing the feudal system and drug cultivation, and reducing administrative corruption to zero.”

The Islamic Emirate also took part in several regional meetings, including, for the first time, the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) meeting, the Russia security meeting, the Kazan Forum, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Termez Dialogue.

In June 2024, Kazakhstan became the first country to remove Islamic Emirate officials’ names from its list of terrorist groups. Then, Kyrgyzstan also removed the Islamic Emirate from its list of banned organizations. Subsequently, the Russian Supreme Court announced the suspension of the name “Taliban” from its list of banned organizations.

Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s special representative for Afghanistan, said: “This decision is an important step for all state institutions of the Russian Federation. Now, a major legal obstacle to the expansion of political, economic, and other official cooperation with the Afghan government has been removed. We will not stop here, and further measures are on the way.”

Abdul Salam Hanafi, Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs, said: “The statement issued yesterday by the President of Kazakhstan regarding the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was a just and proper decision, and our request is that other neighboring and regional countries also take similar actions. We want good relations with everyone.”

Over the past year, three American citizens, Ryan Corbett, Phy Day Hall, and George Glezman, were also released from prison by the Islamic Emirate as a “goodwill gesture” toward the United States.

Faye Hall, released American citizen: “Mr. President, I voted for you twice. I’m so glad you’re in the office. It’s the new era and in this situation, I’m glad you’re the president. And thank you for bringing me home. And I’ve never been so proud to be an American citizen.”

The caretaker cabinet continued its work without a final decision on its status, but some changes were made in its composition; among them, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, Deputy Political Prime Minister, was appointed as acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation.

Zabihullah Mujahid said regarding this: “The reshuffle in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office and the appointment of respected Mawlawi Abdul Kabir as acting Minister of Refugees is a normal process and has been done to improve affairs. This is not something new for Islamic Emirate officials.”

The fourth year of the Islamic Emirate’s rule was a year between consolidating power internally and seeking legitimacy externally.

On one hand, there was official recognition from Russia, upgrading relations with regional countries, and participation in international meetings; on the other, the continued uncertainty over the formation of a permanent cabinet and the fate of the constitution.

All this presents a dual picture of the year; the future, especially regarding the formation of a permanent government and achieving broad international recognition, remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Kabul Citizens Celebrate 4th Anniversary of Islamic Emirate Rule

August 15, 2025 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

TV Network

15 Aug 2025

My family may be killed if deported, says son of Afghan caught in UK data breachand end four years of injustice and impunity

August 15, 2025 Current News Articles

Azadeh Moshiri

Pakistan correspondent

Reporting from Islamabad

BBC News

15 Aug 2025

An Afghan man, whose details were accidentally leaked by the UK in a major data breach, has been detained in Pakistan for imminent deportation alongside several family members, his son told the BBC.

The BBC has seen documents which appear to confirm the man was part of Afghan special forces units who worked alongside British forces in Afghanistan, known as the Triples.

The threat of deportation comes as Pakistan continues its drive to remove what they say are “illegal foreign nationals” to their countries.

But the Afghan man’s son said their case is particularly urgent, as if they are deported to Afghanistan, he fears they will be killed because of his father’s Triples association.

The man and his family initially applied to the UK’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) – which was set up to relocate and protect Afghans who worked with British forces or the UK government in Afghanistan – shortly after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

The family were in Pakistan waiting for a final decision on the application – which was endorsed by the Ministry of Defence last year – when Pakistani authorities came to take them away.

The man’s son, Rayan, whose name we are changing for his safety, told the BBC he avoided being rounded up after hiding in a hotel bathroom in the capital Islamabad with his wife and baby son as several of his family members were taken to a holding camp.

“Some of my family are just children, the youngest is only eight months old, we kept begging the police to leave them.”

His brother later called from the camp to say officials informed them they would be deported, Rayan added.

“My brother told me they were kept in a room with about 90 other people, and were then singled out by name and separated,” Rayan said. “I’m so scared they will suddenly be deported.”

Rayan explained the family had been in limbo in Pakistan since October 2024, when the family had their biometrics recorded.

But they are still waiting.

“We have just been waiting with no explanation. They kept telling us to wait, and now it is too late,” Rayan said.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said it does not comment on individual cases. “We remain fully committed to honouring our commitments to all eligible people who pass their relevant checks for relocation,” the statement added.

The situation is made more worrying by the fact the family’s details were among those of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to resettle in the UK which were inadvertently leaked in February 2022. Families involved in the leak fear it has made them vulnerable.

Rayan is now terrified police will come back to detain him, his wife and their child next, and said he has been pleading with the British High Commission in Islamabad to be relocated to another hotel for protection.

Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP who worked alongside the Afghan Triples as an RAF commander, told the BBC’s Newsnight programme that the situation is “incredibly upsetting”. He said Rayan’s father and the Triples were “people that we need to help and we owe a duty to and we must ensure that they receive more than the minimum protection”.

Bailey went on to add that he hopes the government and the British High Commission is engaged behind the scenes, even though that work is not always public.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Talal Chaudry, told the BBC it “should ask the UK authorities why they are delaying these resettlements”.

“It’s already been years,” he said. “Do you really think they will give any leniency to Pakistani nationals who are overstaying in the UK?”

Since September 2023, the year Pakistan launched its “Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan”, 1,159,812 individuals have returned to Afghanistan, according to the United Nations migration agency.

The government has maintained its policy is aimed at all illegal foreign nationals.

About three million Afghans are living in Pakistan, according to the UN’s refugee agency – including around 600,000 people who came after the Taliban takeover in 2021. The UN estimates that half are undocumented.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has called on Pakistan to “ensure that any return of Afghans to Afghanistan is voluntary, safe and dignified”.

Amid police raids and deportations this summer, UNHCR has urged the government “to apply measures to exempt Afghans with continued international protection needs from involuntary return”.

Additional reporting by Usman Zahid

Men celebrate fourth anniversary of Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan

August 15, 2025 Current News Articles

Guardian staff and agencies

Fri 15 Aug 2025

Thousands gathered for Kabul ‘flower showers’ while women, banned from the events, staged protests

Thousands of men gathered across Kabul on Friday to watch flowers being scattered from helicopters to mark the fourth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power – a celebration that women were barred from attending.

Three of the six “flower shower” locations were already off-limits to women, who have been prohibited from entering parks and recreational areas since November 2022.

The Taliban seized Afghanistan on 15 August 2021 as the US and Nato withdrew their forces at the end of a two-decade war. Since then, they have imposed their interpretation of Islamic law on daily life, including sweeping restrictions on women and girls, based on edicts from their leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Friday’s anniversary programme, which also included speeches from cabinet members, was only for men. An outdoor sports performance, initially expected to feature Afghan athletes, did not take place.

Rights groups, foreign governments and the UN have condemned the Taliban for their treatment of women and girls, who remain barred from many jobs, education beyond sixth grade and most public spaces.

Members of the United Afghan Women’s Movement for Freedom staged an indoor protest against Taliban rule on Friday in the north-eastern Takhar province.

“This day marked the beginning of a black domination that excluded women from work, education, and social life,” the movement said in a statement shared with Associated Press. “We, the protesting women, remember this day not as a memory, but as an open wound of history, a wound that has not yet healed. The fall of Afghanistan was not the fall of our will. We stand, even in the darkness.”

There was also an indoor protest in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Afghan women held up signs that said “Forgiving the Taliban is an act of enmity against humanity” and “August 15th is a dark day.” They were fully veiled, except for their eyes, in the photographs.

Earlier in the day, the Taliban leader had said God would severely punish Afghans who were ungrateful for Islamic rule in the country, according to a statement.

Akhundzada, who is seldom seen in public, said in a statement that Afghans had endured hardships and made sacrifices for almost 50 years so that Islamic law, or sharia, could be established. Sharia had saved people from “corruption, oppression, usurpation, drugs, theft, robbery, and plunder”, he said.

“These are great divine blessings that our people should not forget and, during the commemoration of Victory Day, express great gratitude to Allah Almighty so that the blessings will increase,” Akhundzada said in comments shared on X.

“If, against God’s will, we fail to express gratitude for blessings and are ungrateful for them, we will be subjected to the severe punishment of Allah Almighty,” he said.

Last month, the international criminal court issued arrest warrants for Akhundzada and the chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accusing them of crimes against humanity for the persecution of women and girls.

The ICC said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” they had ordered policies that deprived women and girls of “education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion”.

This year’s anniversary celebrations are more muted than last year’s, when the Taliban staged a military parade at a US airbase, drawing anger from Donald Trump about the abandoned American hardware on display.

Afghanistan is also gripped by a humanitarian crisis made worse by the climate crisis, millions of Afghans expelled from Iran and Pakistan, and a sharp drop in donor funding.

Story by Isobel Yeung and Mick Krever

Secret schools

Guardian staff and agencies

Fri 15 Aug 2025

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