U.S. Senate to Draft Bill Blocking Aid to Islamic Emirate

January 19, 2026 Current News Articles

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19 January 2026

According to Risch, the meeting is scheduled for January 29, and the main focus will be ensuring that no U.S. financial aid goes to the Taliban.

Republican Senator James Risch says the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Working Group is drafting a bill in its first session of 2026 to stop any U.S. taxpayer money from reaching the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

According to Risch, the meeting is scheduled for January 29, and the main focus will be ensuring that no U.S. financial aid, direct or indirect, goes to the Taliban (Islamic Emirate).

Risch wrote: “We must do all we can to ensure no U.S. money is going to the Taliban.”

Political analyst Janat Faheem Chakari said: “The Islamic Emirate must be prepared to fund its normal and development budgets independently.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy says this proposed bill, aimed at blocking the transfer of U.S. taxpayer funds to Afghanistan, will have no impact on the country’s economic development.

Deputy Minister of Economy, Abdul Latif Nazari, said: “The U.S. had already halted its aid to Afghanistan. The Islamic Emirate’s policies rely on internal capacity and national revenues to drive development.”

Previously, several U.S. Congress members, including Tim Burchett, had made similar claims.

Analysts argue that U.S. humanitarian aid should not be used as a tool of political pressure, and such assistance is vital for the Afghan people. Continuing it can help prevent a worsening humanitarian crisis.

They believe reducing or limiting aid for political reasons will mostly harm ordinary citizens.

Economic analyst Iraj Faqiri warned: “A drop in foreign currency inflows may cause instability in exchange rates in the local market.”

Since the Islamic Emirate returned to power, financial and humanitarian aid has been one of the most controversial topics in U.S. foreign policy toward Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate has repeatedly stated that none of the foreign aid goes to the government or military bodies, and that all assistance is delivered to those in need through international organizations.

UN report shows sharp decline in Afghan opium cultivation; warns of synthetic drug threat

January 19, 2026 Current News Articles

Ariana News

January 18, 2026

A new United Nations report reveals that opium poppy cultivation and opium production in Afghanistan fell significantly in 2025, continuing the steep contraction of Afghanistan’s traditional opiate economy — but shifts in drug markets and economic pressures pose new challenges for the country and the region.

According to the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2025 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the total area under opium poppy cultivation this year was estimated at about 10,200 hectares, a 20% decrease compared with 2024 and a dramatic drop from levels recorded before the Islamic Emirate’s nationwide ban on narcotics cultivation in 2022.

The survey also shows that opium production fell even more sharply — by 32% — to an estimated 296 tons in 2025. At these levels, the raw material could yield between 22 and 34 tons of export-quality heroin, substantially lower than in previous years, the report stated.

UNODC analysts point to a combination of factors behind the decline. The strict ban imposed by Afghanistan’s authorities continues to be enforced in many regions, and many farmers have shifted to growing cereals and other lawful crops.

However, worsening drought and low rainfall have left more than 40% of farmland uncultivated, undermining legitimate production and incomes.

The northeastern provinces of Afghanistan remained the centre of opium production in 2025, a pattern that has continued since 2023, while cultivation in southern and southwestern provinces such as Helmand and Kandahar continues to decline.

Economic indicators in the report suggest that farmers’ income from opium sales fell sharply — from about US $260 million in 2024 to around $134 million in 2025, reflecting both lower production and changes in market conditions.

While this contraction marks a notable shift in Afghanistan’s illicit crop landscape, the UNODC warns that the evolving dynamics of drug trafficking present serious concerns.

The agency notes a rise in synthetic drugs, particularly methamphetamine, which are easier to produce, harder to detect and more resilient to climate shocks than traditional opiates.

Organized crime groups may increasingly favour these substances, complicating regional law-enforcement and public health responses, UNODC stated.

Rising threat of synthetic drugs

The UN report warns however, that synthetic drugs are emerging as a growing threat.

According to UNODC, criminal networks are increasingly turning to substances such as methamphetamine, which can be produced year-round and do not rely on agricultural cycles or large areas of farmland. This makes synthetic drugs less vulnerable to crop bans, drought and seasonal disruptions.

Unlike opium poppy cultivation, which is highly visible and geographically concentrated, synthetic drug production can take place in small, concealed laboratories, making detection and enforcement significantly more difficult.

UNODC notes that this shift poses serious challenges for law enforcement agencies in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries.

The report also highlights that synthetic drugs are often cheaper to produce, easier to transport and highly profitable, increasing their appeal to organised crime groups.

Trafficking routes for these substances frequently overlap with existing smuggling networks used for opiates, allowing criminal groups to adapt quickly to changing conditions.

Public health risks are another major concern. Synthetic drugs are associated with higher addiction rates, unpredictable potency and severe health consequences, placing additional strain on already fragile healthcare systems across the region, the agency stated.

UNODC warns that without comprehensive counter-narcotics strategies that address both traditional drugs and emerging synthetic markets, the decline in opium production could be offset by the expansion of more dangerous and harder-to-control substances.

The agency is calling for increased regional cooperation, improved chemical precursor controls, and sustained international support to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a key hub for synthetic drug production and trafficking.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior has previously announced that activities related to the cultivation, trade and smuggling of drugs in Afghanistan have reached zero. According to the ministry, in the past year, about 200,000 kilograms of various types of natural and synthetic drugs have been discovered and seized, all of which have been burned and destroyed.

Qasim Khalid, Deputy Minister of Counter-Narcotics at the Ministry of Interior, says that during the republic era, high-ranking officials were involved in drug trafficking and skillfully smuggled them to foreign countries.

According to Khalid: “In the past year, about 200,000 kilograms of various types of natural and synthetic drugs have been discovered and seized, all of which have been burned and destroyed.”

Khalid added that in the past year, about 750 drug traffickers have been arrested and prosecuted.

Deputy Minister of Borders: Islamic Emirate ‘Not Dependent on East or West’

January 18, 2026 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

TV Network

18 January 2026

UN Warns 17.4 Million Afghans Could Face Severe Food Insecurity in 2026

January 18, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

January 18, 2026

The UN warns that 17.4 million Afghans, over one-third of the population, may face acute food insecurity in 2026 amid worsening crises.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that approximately 17.4 million people in Afghanistan, over a third of the population, could face acute food insecurity in 2026. Of these, around 4.7 million are expected to reach Phase 4 of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), indicating a crisis-level emergency.

OCHA highlighted that Afghanistan is likely to experience one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises next year. Years of conflict, economic fragility, low investment in essential services, and the rapid erosion of basic rights have left vast segments of the population highly vulnerable.

The report also notes that chronic pressures are worsening due to escalating food insecurity, mass returns of displaced populations, climate-induced droughts, frequent natural disasters, and systematic exclusion of women and girls from public life. These intersecting crises amplify the country’s humanitarian challenges.

International agencies emphasize that food shortages are compounded by political instability and limited government capacity to respond to emergencies. Humanitarian access in remote and conflict-affected areas remains a critical challenge, making timely interventions difficult.

According to OCHA, nearly 22 million people in Afghanistan may rely on humanitarian assistance in 2026, underscoring the urgent need for international support, funding, and coordinated relief efforts.

Afghanistan’s food insecurity has been escalating for years, fueled by ongoing conflicts, droughts, and high inflation rates. In recent months, local reports indicate that staple food prices have risen sharply, leaving many families unable to afford basic nutrition.

Previous United Nations assessments have warned that without sustained international intervention, malnutrition rates, especially among children under five, could spike dramatically, leading to long-term health and developmental challenges across the country.

Humanitarian experts stress that immediate, large-scale assistance is essential to prevent widespread famine and social collapse. Without urgent action, millions of Afghans could face a humanitarian catastrophe in 2026, requiring global coordination and political commitment.

Islamic Emirate Recalls 13 Diplomats from Germany, Plans New Appointments

January 18, 2026 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

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17 Jan 2026

Shelter Crisis Deepens as Afghan Returnees Increase

January 17, 2026 Current News Articles

Bibi Amina Hakimi

TOLOnews’ Reporter

17 Jan 2026

Officials from the Islamic Emirate say efforts are underway to address this issue, with land distribution continuing in several provinces.

With the growing number of Afghan refugees returning to the country, securing shelter has become a serious challenge for many of them.

Officials from the Islamic Emirate say efforts are underway to address this issue, with land distribution continuing in several provinces. According to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, over 3,000 plots of land have been distributed so far to forcibly deported returnees.

He stated: “So far, 3,046 plots of land have been distributed in various provinces among returnees who were forcibly expelled. The distribution process is ongoing. Also, under the directive of the esteemed Amir al-Mu’minin, emergency aid for returnees has accelerated, including food, non-food items, and cash assistance.”

At the same time, the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing announced that the Joint Permanent Committee for the Resettlement of Migrants has distributed land to over 2,800 families in Kunar, Laghman, Maidan Wardak, Kandahar, Kunduz, Paktia, and Bamyan. Land distribution for another 5,000 families has also begun in Nangarhar.

Kamal Afghan, the ministry’s spokesperson, said: “The Ministry of Urban Development and Housing has launched land distribution step-by-step in all provinces, and the program will, God willing, expand to ensure fair distribution of plots to all returnees.”

Meanwhile, some returnees from Pakistan say the lack of shelter and basic living necessities is a major difficulty. They are calling for faster land distribution and provision of essential services.

Yar Mohammad, a returnee, said: “Now I’m going to Baghlan, but I have nothing there. We sold everything we had just to pay rent. We ask the Islamic Emirate to help us with land and food distribution.”

Another returnee, Sher Mohammad, added: “Our request from the government is to give us blankets and cash aid because it’s cold here and we’re struggling.”

According to statistics, nearly seven million Afghans have returned from various countries since the return of the Islamic Emirate to power, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive planning to resettle and support them sustainably.

Pakistan Detains Over 130,000 Afghans in Five Months, UN Finds

January 17, 2026 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

TV Network

17 Jan 2026

A Refuge for Afghan Music Is at Risk of Falling Silent

January 17, 2026 Current News Articles

By Elian Peltier

Reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan

The New York Times

Jan. 17, 2026

Peshawar is a haven for Afghan artists who fled from the Taliban, which has banned music. A new policy of deportations by Pakistan threatens this community of exiles.

The Pakistani city of Peshawar once offered refuge to generations of Afghans, including musicians who preserved their country’s rich tradition of songs and ballads beyond the Taliban’s reach.

But the rhythms that resonate in wedding halls, concert stages and apartment blocks are falling silent, as the Pakistani government pursues a wave of expulsions that has already forced out a million Afghans since last year.

The musicians are part of a community of Afghan artists that has flourished over decades, and that also includes carpet weavers and dancers. Pakistan provided a haven for millions of Afghans fleeing war and political instability, first from Soviet invaders in the 1980s and later from the Taliban, who first seized power in the 1990s.

The Taliban have banned music, persecuted artists and burned or smashed instruments, both in the 1990s and since reclaiming power in 2021.

Since 2023, the Pakistani authorities have publicly accused the Taliban government of supporting insurgents targeting Pakistan, and in retaliation have declared millions of Afghans illegal — including those who fled after the Taliban takeover.

“I cannot bring them to Afghanistan because the Taliban will torch them,” Mr. Zamri said about his 2,000 cassette tapes, half of which bowed the crumbling wooden shelves of his shop. Mr. Zamri, who is 52 and fled Afghanistan in the 1980s, said he had already hidden the other half of his collection — a private archive of recordings dating back to the 1950s.

He did not know what might happen to them if he were sent back to Afghanistan.

Exiled Afghan artists have also kept Afghan music alive in other neighboring countries, in Europe and in the United States. But nowhere have musicians flourished across as many generations as in Pakistan, and in Peshawar in particular.

The first wave of emigration, in the 1980s, brought artists like Qamar Gula, one of Afghanistan’s most famous female singers. Exiled Afghan musicians, mostly from the Pashto community, also recorded songs of resistance against the 1979 Soviet invasion on cassette tapes that were smuggled back across the border to bolster the mujahedeen fighting the Red Army.

As Afghanistan plunged into civil war in the 1990s, more artists arrived in Pakistan, performing to the rhythm of tabla drums and rubab, an instrument like a lute. Among them was Homayoun Sakhi, a rubab master who fled to Peshawar as a teenager and later performed in concert halls across the United States, Europe and Asia.

Local Pakistani artists and fellow Afghan musicians have accommodated the newcomers. Tiny apartments became makeshift talent agencies visited by Pakistanis seeking to hire Afghan bands for weddings. Recording studios provided professional equipment to cultural icons like Sadiq Fitrat Nashenas, a star from a golden era for Afghan music before the Soviets came.

By the early 2000s, Peshawar was home to more than 500 Afghan musicians, according to local news reports.

The second Taliban takeover, in 2021, pushed a new generation of Afghan artists to Peshawar. Now, their songs are promoted on TikTok and YouTube.

Baryali Wali, a Pashto singer, hid his instruments in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, and fled across the border a month after the Taliban seized power in 2021. He has not been back since and missed his daughter’s wedding last summer.

Mr. Wali said he feared that the collective soul of Afghan music would vanish if artists were expelled to Afghanistan. “There are Afghan musicians in exile across the world, but it’s important to have a group component like we have here,” he said in a recording studio in Peshawar.

Expulsions and forced returns have increased in Peshawar and its surrounding province in recent weeks, according to data collected by the International Organization for Migration. “We’re all keeping our heads low now,” Mr. Wali said.

On a recent evening at Mafkoora, the cultural center, the singer Saidullah Wafa performed a tune of longing. “This is my beloved country, this is my life, this is my Afghanistan,” he sang to the notes of two acolytes playing the drums and rubab.

The band played one last song — a jab at the Taliban — before packing up their instruments. “With the Taliban over there or the police here, we feel the same fear,” Mr. Wafa said.

When one of the musicians, Ikram Shinwari, tried to flee Afghanistan in 2021 with his harmonium, the Taliban ordered him to destroy it with his own hands, he said.

Ahmad Sarmast, the exiled founder of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, said that since reclaiming power, the Taliban had gradually imposed repressive cultural policies similar to those of their first era of rule.

“Now Afghanistan might be the only silent nation in the world,” he said.

Wasim Sajjad and Zia ur-Rehman contributed reporting.

Elian Peltier is an international correspondent for The Times, covering Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Afghanistan Faces Triple Crisis of Drought, Mass Returns and Funding Shortfalls, UN Says

January 17, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

January 17, 2026

The United Nations said Afghanistan is facing a triple crisis driven by drought, returning migrants and funding shortfalls, worsening food insecurity and limiting access to health and basic services.

Afghanistan is facing a convergence of three major crises, drought, mass migrant returns and shrinking global aid, that are pushing millions toward severe hardship, the United Nations’ top humanitarian official has warned.

Andrika Ratwatte, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, said prolonged drought has hit around 70% of Afghans who depend on agriculture, sharply undermining food security across the country.

He said the return of about 2.5 million migrants from Iran and Pakistan, combined with a wider global funding crunch, has further strained already fragile communities and aid operations.

Afghanistan remains heavily dependent on international assistance after decades of conflict and economic collapse, with humanitarian agencies struggling to maintain basic services amid falling donor contributions.

Restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment have also weakened household resilience, limiting families’ ability to cope with economic shocks and rising food prices.

Ratwatte said only 37% of the UN’s humanitarian funding appeal for Afghanistan has been met, forcing the closure of 400 health facilities and 300 nutrition centres nationwide.

Those closures have cut off healthcare for more than three million people and nutrition support for at least 80,000 children, breastfeeding mothers and other vulnerable groups, he said.

The UN official stressed that programmes covering health, education, social protection and livelihoods are “life-saving” and must be preserved or expanded, particularly for women and girls who make up half the population.

In a separate assessment, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Afghanistan will remain among the world’s largest humanitarian crises in 2026, citing food insecurity, climate shocks, migrant returns and systemic exclusion of women.

UN agencies estimate that 21.9 million Afghans, about 45% of the population, will require humanitarian assistance in 2026, warning that without urgent funding increases, conditions could deteriorate further.

UN Rights Envoy Urges Release of Detained Journalist and Female Sports Coach in Afghanistan

January 17, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

January 17, 2026

The UN human rights rapporteur for Afghanistan called for the immediate release of a journalist and a female sports coach detained by authorities.

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has called for the immediate release of two women detained in separate incidents in northern and western Afghanistan.

In a post on X on Saturday, Bennett said he was deeply concerned about the arrest of a female journalist in Kunduz and a female taekwondo coach in Herat, urging Taliban to ensure their safety.

Local sources reported that Nazera Rashidi, a journalist based in Kunduz, was detained on January, 10 by intelligence forces. Authorities later confirmed her arrest, claiming she and four other women were being held in connection with a criminal case.

In a separate incident, Khadija Ahmadzada, a women’s taekwondo coach in Herat’s Jebrail district, was detained last week by officials enforcing moral conduct regulations, according to local residents.

Bennett said the detentions reflect a broader pattern of intimidation and repression targeting women professionals, journalists and civil society figures across the country.

International rights groups say arrests are often carried out without due process, leaving families uninformed and detainees without access to legal representation.

The incidents come amid mounting restrictions on women’s participation in public life, including bans on education, employment and sports.

The United Nations and foreign governments have repeatedly warned that continued rights violations risk further isolating Afghanistan diplomatically and worsening its humanitarian and economic crises.

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