KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have arrested or detained dozens of women in recent months for alleged violations of dress codes and restrictions on appearing in public without a male guardian, the United Nations mission in the country said Thursday.
At least 52 women and one girl were arrested or detained in Kabul and the western city of Herat between July and September, the mission, known as UNAMA, said. Alleged violations included wearing colorful scarves or makeup, leaving hair visible or not wearing a chador, an all-enveloping cloak-like garment.
UNAMA said it was “gravely concerned” about the arrests, detentions and threats of arrest.
“The number of cases may be significantly higher due to underreporting linked to protection concerns and stigma,” it said, adding it was “also alarmed by incidents involving verbal abuse, beatings and threats against women, including female shopkeepers.”
The Taliban government did not immediately respond to the statement.
In June, Afghan authorities opened fire on a rare protest in Herat over arrests and detentions of women for alleged dress code violations. At least one person was killed and several were wounded at the time, according to witnesses and the U.N. mission.
Since seizing power in 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban government has imposed rules based on a strict interpretation of Islamic, or Shariah, law. Dissent is not tolerated, and protests against government decisions are illegal.
Women must wear full hijab in public, including a headscarf, a long robe covering the body and a face covering. The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice enforces the rules.
Afghan women facing arrest for wearing makeup and alleged dress code violations, UN says
He Confessed to an Afghanistan War Murder. The U.S. Military Promptly Closed the Case.
In the spring of 2023, on a partly sunny day where the temperature flirted with 70 degrees, an Army veteran of the Afghanistan War walked into the unique Prairie-style police headquarters in Banning, California. In a private room in the detective bureau, the former specialist, who served with the storied 82nd Airborne Division, sat down with a special agent from the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division — better known as CID — to make a confession.
The veteran had served with roughly 20 mortarmen and scouts from a platoon in the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment assigned to Combat Outpost Ware in Afghanistan’s Arghandab River Valley in 2010. A lush land of grape groves and pomegranate orchards, towering sunflowers and marijuana plants, the Arghandab was crisscrossed by canals and was a flashpoint in Kandahar Province, the spiritual homeland of Afghanistan’s once and future rulers, the Taliban.
The soldiers from the 82nd Airborne played a cat-and-mouse game with the Taliban. America’s official policy was counterinsurgency, or COIN: a re-tread of a failed strategy of the Vietnam War that promised a kinder, gentler brand of warfare aimed at winning Afghan hearts and minds. But in the Arghandab Valley, the COIN of the realm was kinetic.
The Taliban seeded the orchards with improvised explosive devices set off by a foot on a pressure plate, a boot on a tripwire, or Taliban hands gripping a remote control. The Americans countered with overwhelming firepower: attack helicopters, armored gun trucks, and infantrymen toting M4 carbines. It was a “rough time for the unit,” another veteran of the platoon remembered. They saw a great deal of “contact,” engaging the Taliban more times than another unit member could recall.
But the former mortarman in Banning had come to talk about one particular incident that, more than a decade later, he could not forget.
The CID agent gave the veteran a “cleansing waiver of rights” to read and sign. It advised the veteran that he had the right to remain silent, that any statement he made could be used against him at trial, and that he was providing testimony “freely and voluntarily.” The veteran waived his rights and signed the document on March 28, 2023 at 1:31 p.m. He acknowledged, according to exclusive criminal investigation documents obtained by The Intercept, that he killed an unarmed man and wounded a woman. More than that, he said that he “needed to be held accountable for his actions.” He told CID that he had “committed a war crime.”
Twenty-five years ago, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, an angry America went to war in Afghanistan. The conflict would become, by some counts, the longest in U.S. history, stretching across four presidential administrations. It ended where it started, with the Taliban in control of the country after a crushing 2021 defeat for the U.S. and the Afghan allies it propped up for two decades.
The U.S. lost around 2,400 troops in Afghanistan at a staggering cost of around $2.3 trillion. Afghans suffered far worse. In October 2001, President George W. Bush announced that “the oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America.” But from almost the opening American salvo, they began dying at U.S. hands.
During just the first five months of the conflict, there were no fewer than 136 media reports of U.S. attacks that killed between 1,200 and 3,155 civilians. Year after year, U.S. and coalition airstrikes killed Afghans – sometimes scores of civilians, sometimes hundreds. The deaths continued to the war’s final moments when an August 2021 drone strike targeting a suspected terrorist in the country’s capital, Kabul, instead killed 10 civilians, seven of them children. More than 70,000 Afghan and Pakistani civilians are estimated to have died as a direct result of the war, according to Brown University’s Costs of War project.
While the carnage of the American air war garnered the biggest headlines, Afghans were also gunned down, again and again, by U.S. ground troops. Following a 2007 ambush, Marines killed 19 civilians and wounded 50. An initial investigation found the Marines used excessive force when they killed civilians after a suicide bombing. Later, the Americans were recast as victims. In 2010, a “kill team” from the Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade slew at least three civilians over four months and mutilated the dead for war trophies. Eleven of the 12 soldiers charged were convicted of crimes, but most were released from prison by the mid-2010s. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales massacred 16 Afghan civilians in 2012. A Special Forces A-Team was accused of killing close to 20 civilians in 2012 and 2013. The remains of 10 victims were later found buried outside their base. A U.S. investigation exonerated the Americans of any wrongdoing. Only one man was punished: Zikria Kandahari, the unit’s Afghan interpreter.
Pete Hegseth, now the self-styled Secretary of War, served with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan during that era. In Trump’s first term, when he was a Fox News personality, Hegseth lobbied on behalf of three men who were convicted or facing charges related to war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Trump intervened in all three cases, granting two pardons and reversing a demotion.
During his confirmation hearing last year, Hegseth complained that “restrictive” rules of engagement had made it “difficult to actually do your job on the battlefield,” repeatedly recalling his own service. “I was the senior counter-insurgency instructor in Afghanistan. My job was to understand how the Taliban and Al Qaeda operated,” he explained. “They knew our rules of engagement, and when they were more restrictive, they took advantage of them.” He continued: “We don’t need burdensome rules of engagement that make it impossible for us to win these wars.”
But what the veteran in Banning described to CID agents was anything but burdensome.
In April or May — he couldn’t recall which — of 2010, that veteran said he was carrying an M4 carbine as his unit moved about 3 kilometers into the Arghandab and occupied an abandoned building at the edge of a village. When the Americans were attacked, they returned fire, killing a couple Taliban members.
The unit readied themselves, expecting the Taliban to regroup and mount another assault. The Americans intercepted a radio transmission. A translator told them that a single male militant on a motorcycle, transporting rocket-propelled grenades, was headed toward them, according to the documents. The unit’s chain of command authorized the use of force.
When a motorcycle rider came into view, a sniper took aim and fired off one round. He missed.
The respite for the motorcycle man was short-lived, however. About 500 feet away, close to 20 Americans raised their rifles.
An M4 carbine — a magazine-fed, gas-operated, air-cooled, shoulder-fired weapon — shoots lightweight bullets at extremely high speeds. In the spring of 2010, M855 5.56-mm bullets were de rigueur for U.S. forces. Fast with low mass, the rounds produce a tremendous amount of kinetic energy. When they slam into a human body, that energy is transmitted to the soft tissue of the victim creating a “wound channel” that causes massive blood loss.
The Banning mortarman fired off one round. Others from the unit opened up, too.
The motorcycle man never reached his destination. If someone was waiting for him to arrive on that spring day in 2010, they still are.
The Banning veteran and others walked up to the Afghan man and “witnessed a military aged male deceased with multiple gunshot wounds to the face and other areas of his body,” wrote the CID special agent, transcribing the mortarman’s testimony. “No RPG’s were present.”
Nobody knew how many rounds hit him, but the damage to the Afghan man’s body was so extensive that he was “unidentifiable,” according to another witness. The mutilation was so devastating that the Americans were unable to even collect his “biometrics”: fingerprints, iris scans, facial images.
The dead man, said the veteran, wasn’t alone. There was a wounded woman, too. He told the CID agent that the “woman was crawling on the ground.” There may also have been a baby or child present as well — CID’s redactions make it impossible to know for certain.
After the veteran made his confession, in late March 2023, Army criminal investigators started consulting U.S. sources. Despite detailed unit records for more than 100 notable incidents in April and May 2010, an Army historian could locate none for the killing of the motorcycle man.
When CID began interviewing unit members, the company commander — by then a lieutenant colonel — said the incident did not sound familiar to him. The unit’s first sergeant told CID that while he saw most “troops in contact” reports, he didn’t recollect the incident. He acknowledged that the details “sounded plausible.”
Others recalled the incident in detail but excused it. One soldier who never saw the motorcycle man before he was killed said, for example, that it “sounded like” the man handed off the RPG to someone before he was shot. Another former specialist — who by 2023 was a warrant officer — told CID that unit members “fired on the military age male on the motorcycle.” He also recalled that “a woman was on the motorcycle,” too. He told the Army investigators that it was “unfortunate that no RPGs were present” but believed “the incident was handled properly” since “they were authorized to fire from their command team.”
Having never even attempted to identify the Afghan man, the woman on the scene, or the possible child; having never sought out any evidence beyond the testimony of members of the unit; and despite a signed, sworn confession by one of the shooters, Army CID concluded — within six weeks — that there was not “probable cause to believe that any soldier committed the offense of murder.”
CID refused to make the special agent in charge of the case available for an interview. “Unfortunately, we are unable to support your request to interview DACID personnel involved,” Special Agent Mark Lunardi told The Intercept, before leaving his job. More than a year ago, after multiple follow-up requests for information, Thomas Hamilton of CID’s press office wrote: “I will get back to you as soon as I can.” He has, despite repeated follow-ups, failed to respond.
A 2020 study of post-9/11 civilian casualty incidents found most have gone uninvestigated. When they did come under official scrutiny, the “military too often relies solely on its internal records and sources —which can be flawed and incomplete — to assess civilian harm,” the Center for Civilians in Conflict and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute reported.
“There were probably hundreds of incidents that were just like it that we’ll never know about.”
These findings were bolstered by the groundbreaking work of the podcast “In the Dark.” Their 2024 investigation — a corollary to a reexamination of the 2005 killings of civilians in Haditha, Iraq — found U.S. troops had committed 781 possible war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq that the U.S. military actually investigated. In at least 65 percent of cases analyzed by “In The Dark,” investigators didn’t believe that a crime had taken place — even in cases where perpetrators had, like the Banning veteran, confessed. The 2010 killing of the Afghan motorcycle man is, however, not one of the cases in their database.
In the 151 cases in which investigators found probable cause that a crime had occurred, that the rules of engagement had been violated, or that a use of force hadn’t been justified, true accountability was rare. While 572 alleged perpetrators were involved in these cases, only 130 were convicted; the records show they rarely received significant prison terms. Much more often, their cases were dealt with by commanders with broad discretion to punish their troops with extra duty, demotions, or reprimands, in lieu of formal prosecutions. Fewer than 1 in 5 perpetrators, investigators found, appeared to have been sentenced to any type of confinement. The median sentence was just eight months.
Todd Huntley, an active-duty Judge Advocate for more than 23 years who deployed to Afghanistan twice with a Joint Special Operations Task Force, believes killings like the one described by the Banning veteran were a common occurrence. “There were probably hundreds of incidents that were just like it that we’ll never know about,” he told The Intercept. A current government official, who was involved in the wars in the Greater Middle East, said the total could reach into the thousands.
Since taking the helm of the Pentagon last year, Hegseth has launched overlapping efforts to weaken transparency, scuttle accountability, hobble military justice, and undercut protections for civilians in conflict zones — from replacing the Pentagon press corps with pro-administration sycophants, and firing the top legal authorities of the Army and the Air Force, to pursuing changes that would encourage lawyers to approve more aggressive tactics and take a more lenient approach to those who violate the laws of war.
The Intercept has previously reported on Hegseth’s gutting of civilian harm mitigation and response efforts. In late April, Hegseth repeatedly dismissed congressional concerns about civilian harm and respect for the laws of war in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. “The Department of War fights to win,” Hegseth replied when asked if he stood by his statement that the U.S. would afford enemies “no quarter” — a war crime. A recent report by the Pentagon’s top watchdog says cuts to civilian harm mitigation and response efforts have been so severe under Hegseth that the United States cannot adequately protect civilians in conflict zones. This was driven home at the outset of the Iran war when the U.S. attacked the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, killing more than 150 people, most of them children.
The CID records of the motorcycle man investigation are redacted in ways that make it impossible to ascertain key facts about additional civilian harm. “An [REDACTED] woman was on the motorcycle with the military aged male and [REDACTED] from the engagement,” according to the summary of a statement by one unit member. The Banning veteran also “stated he [REDACTED] an unarmed [REDACTED] woman during his deployment.”
The redactions also prevented The Intercept from identifying the veteran and fellow unit members to gather additional information. “If it wasn’t for the soldier involved coming forward, this incident would never have come to light,” Huntley, now the director of the National Security Law Program at Georgetown University Law Center, told The Intercept. “The 13-year delay in reporting made any investigation difficult as others involved couldn’t remember details and the redactions in the report make it impossible to learn anything else about the incident.”
Only one member of the unit contacted by The Intercept agreed to speak about the incident. The veteran acknowledged, on background, that the incident occurred, but would not say if he was one of those interviewed by CID.
Still, the case of the motorcycle man offers a stark counter-narrative to Hegseth’s assertions about the war on terror — and the basis for his efforts to undermine protections for civilians today.
The rules of engagement in Afghanistan in 2010 were so lax that a man was killed for no reason and with no repercussions.
It was so unremarkable that no record of the engagement could be located. It was so commonplace that senior unit members couldn’t recall it.
It was so typical that only one man even thought to report it — and he waited 13 years.
It was so characteristic of U.S. military policy that no inquiry was conducted into the rules of engagement in force at the time.
And the incident was so in keeping with U.S. military tradition that, despite a murder confession and little question that an unarmed man was gunned down, Army CID and the 82nd Airborne’s chief of military justice quickly concluded there was no probable cause for charges, and the investigation was closed.
Rabab Fatima, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), has called for continued support from Khalilur Rahman, president of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, for the mission’s work in Afghanistan.
Fatima said on Tuesday that she met with Rahman and appreciated his commitment to supporting “the world’s most vulnerable countries” and addressing their priorities during the 81st session of the General Assembly.
During the meeting, Fatima also sought Rahman’s continued support for UNAMA’s mandate. She said she was counting on his backing for the mission, including in his new role as president of the General Assembly.
Rahman, a Bangladeshi diplomat and former foreign minister, assumed the presidency of the 81st General Assembly session in September. He was elected to the position in June, succeeding Germany’s Annalena Baerbock.
The appeal comes as UNAMA enters a period of strategic review. The UN Security Council unanimously extended the mission’s mandate in June until June 17, 2027, while requesting the Secretary-General to conduct a strategic review and submit a report by March 31, 2027.
UNAMA has continued to play a central role in political engagement, humanitarian coordination and human rights monitoring in Afghanistan. The mission has also remained a key channel between the United Nations and Afghanistan’s de facto authorities amid continuing concerns over human rights and restrictions on women and girls.
Fatima, a Bangladeshi diplomat with more than three decades of experience in national and international public service, became UNAMA’s new head in July 2026. She is the third woman to lead the UN mission since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
UN Afghanistan Envoy Seeks Continued Support for UNAMA from General Assembly President
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the failure of Afghanistan and Pakistan to agree on a joint statement at the eighth Moscow Format consultations as an “unpleasant” but predictable development, as tensions between the two neighbors overshadowed regional talks on Afghanistan.
Speaking at a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday, Lavrov said the disagreement should not be treated as a tragedy, arguing that the differences between Kabul and Islamabad had been foreseeable. The dispute prevented participants from adopting a final joint statement after the talks on October 5.
Lavrov attributed the strained relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan in part to the presence and activities of Islamic State and affiliated groups, which he said carry out attacks in both countries. He argued that the broader lesson was the need to end what Moscow describes as interference by countries outside the region.
The Russian foreign minister also linked the emergence of Islamic State to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and said additional militant groups emerged following NATO’s intervention in Libya. These comments reflected Moscow’s longstanding criticism of Western military interventions and were presented by Lavrov as part of his explanation of the region’s security problems.
The failure to issue a joint statement was earlier explained by Russia’s special presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov. He said Afghan and Pakistani representatives disagreed over the wording of the draft, with the Taliban objecting to what it considered excessive references to Afghanistan in the context of terrorism. Kabulov said similar language had appeared in the previous year’s statement but that relations between Kabul and Islamabad had since changed.
The disagreement reflected a broader deterioration in Afghanistan-Pakistan relations. Pakistan has accused the Taliban authorities of allowing militants, particularly the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghanistan territory and stage attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban rejects the allegation and has accused Pakistan of military aggression and interference in Afghanistan. Reuters reported that Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said at the Moscow talks that the two countries’ problems could be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.
The absence of a joint statement underscored the widening gap between Kabul and Islamabad and highlighted the difficulty regional powers face in building consensus on Afghanistan’s security and political future. Russia has offered to help mediate between the two sides if both parties request assistance.
Lavrov Calls Kabul-Islamabad Rift ‘Unpleasant’ as Moscow Talks End Without Joint Statement
Meanwhile, according to him, civilians, including women and children, have also been harmed in attacks carried out against Afghanistan.
The Director General of the Administrative Office says Afghans have made their position clear toward countries and groups that, according to him, do not want Afghanistan to progress.
Sheikh Noor-ul-Haq Anwar says the people have demonstrated in unity that they will no longer fall victim to conspiracies and that they have identified their friends and adversaries.
He stresses: “The people of Afghanistan strongly expressed their resentment and condemned these actions. They demonstrated in unity that we will no longer fall victim to conspiracies. We have correctly identified our friends and adversaries. The Islamic Emirate has repeatedly stressed that our interests are important to us so that we can rebuild war-torn Afghanistan.”
Mr. Anwar adds that the Islamic Emirate harbors no ill intentions toward any country and does not want to take any action that could cause insecurity for others.
He adds that military centers were targeted in attacks carried out by the Islamic Emirate.
Meanwhile, according to him, civilians, including women and children, have also been harmed in attacks carried out against Afghanistan.
He also stresses resolving differences and tensions through dialogue.
Sheikh Noor-ul-Haq Anwar added: “The Islamic Emirate remains committed to its principles and fulfills its commitments. No action has been taken to cause anyone unjustified harm, and it seeks to resolve any tensions that have arisen through peaceful means.”
Abdul Jamil Shirani, a political analyst, says regarding tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan: “Pakistan is bombing innocent people in Afghanistan and is using bombs that Israel and the United States used in the war with Iran. Their objective is to take advantage of the situation on that side and draw the attention of the world and their own people toward themselves.”
These remarks come as relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have faced heightened tensions following recent clashes and attacks.
Afghanistan–Pakistan Tensions Rise Amid Recent Clashes and Attacks
Noori said that Pakistan is violating Islamic and international principles of good neighborliness.
Noorullah Noori, the Minister of Borders, Tribes and Tribal Affairs, reacting to Pakistan’s attacks on Afghanistan, said that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies should learn from their past experiences in Afghanistan and should not test the patience and tolerance of Afghans.
Noori said that Pakistan is violating Islamic and international principles of good neighborliness, adding that Afghans have the full capability to defend their territory.
Speaking at a gathering in Ghazni, he said: “Do not take advantage of the patience and tolerance of Afghans. Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies should learn lessons from the experiences of past revolutions.”
The Minister of Borders, Tribes and Tribal Affairs also said that there is no place in the country for armed and political groups opposed to the Islamic Emirate, adding that these groups have lost the trust of the people over the past twenty years.
Noori called on opponents of the Islamic Emirate not to facilitate foreign conspiracies in Afghanistan, saying that if they wish to live peacefully, they can return to the country without facing any obstruction.
Noorullah Noori said: “Under what name and title do you govern? What is the name of your government? There is no place inside Afghanistan for these groups to create problems for the Islamic Emirate. However, if they wish to live peacefully in the country, there is a place for them.”
Meanwhile, a number of participants at the gathering criticized the policies of some neighboring countries, particularly Pakistan, toward Afghanistan and called on them to respect Afghanistan’s national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
Sayed Hassan Fazelzada, a resident of Jaghori district in Ghazni and a participant in the gathering, said: “Afghanistan today is not the Afghanistan of past decades; do not make a mistake. Enter a new phase of building good relations based on respect for Afghanistan’s national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. Refrain from interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and stop hostile actions.”
Sayed Jawad Balkhabi, another resident of Jaghori district in Ghazni and a participant in the gathering, said: “Pakistan should learn a lesson from the Soviet Union, the United States and NATO and should no longer violate Afghanistan’s territory. It should apologize to the Islamic Emirate.”
The gathering was organized by the Ministry of Borders, Tribes and Tribal Affairs with the aim of strengthening unity among ethnic groups and promoting the implementation of Islamic Sharia.
Around 2,000 Shia religious scholars and members of the public from Ghazni, Kabul, Maidan Wardak, Uruzgan, Sar-e-Pul and several other provinces attended the gathering.
Participants also emphasized the need to eliminate divisions among ethnic groups and expressed support for the Islamic Emirate.
Noorullah Noori: Pakistan Should Not Test Afghans’ Patience
However, the attack took on a different dimension on the ground in Afghanistan and turned into a prolonged war.
Twenty-five years ago, on 7th October, 2001, then-U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the launch of an attack on Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
At the time, Bush said the operation was being carried out in response to the September 11 attacks, with the aim of combating the al-Qaeda network and eliminating terrorist threats.
“On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and the military infrastructure of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These carefully targeted actions are designed to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a terrorist base of operations and to strike at the military capability of the Taliban regime.”, Said Bush on the day.
However, the attack took on a different dimension on the ground in Afghanistan and turned into a prolonged war.
As a result of the attack, the then-Taliban movement’s government in Afghanistan was overthrown, thousands of Afghan civilians were killed and wounded, and many families were displaced from their homes.
In addition, millions of Afghans faced the security, economic and social consequences of the war.
The Islamic Emirate, which is once again in power in Afghanistan 25 years after that day, has described October 7 as one of the bitter days in the country’s history and said it resulted in thousands of Afghans being killed and wounded.
After 20 years of war, the last U.S. troops and their allies left Afghanistan on August 30, 2021. With the end of the U.S. military presence, a new chapter began in Afghanistan’s political history.
The 20-year U.S. presence in Afghanistan began with the overthrow of the then-government of the Afghan Taliban movement and ended with the Islamic Emirate’s return to power.
25 Years Since the Start of the U.S. War in Afghanistan
Muttaqi also said the Islamic Emirate is ready for sustained cooperation with regional countries on border security.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Emirate, told the eighth meeting of the Moscow Format on Afghanistan that the country seeks to become a key hub for economic cooperation and connectivity between Central and South Asia and other regions, rather than an arena for regional rivalries.
Muttaqi said Afghanistan’s foreign policy is based on “open doors, balanced engagement, mutual respect and shared interests,” adding that Kabul does not define its relations with one country as being against another.
He called on regional countries to increase investment in Afghanistan’s energy, mining, agriculture, industry, transit, logistics and infrastructure sectors. According to him, Afghanistan views regional projects such as TAPI, TAP, CASA-1000 and the Trans-Afghan Railway as important for economic growth and regional connectivity.
The foreign minister also addressed relations with Pakistan, saying security, political and economic issues between the two countries should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. He said Pakistan is using military pressure against Afghanistan and violating the country’s sovereignty.
Muttaqi also said the Islamic Emirate is ready for sustained cooperation with regional countries on border security and efforts to combat drug trafficking and organized crime.
On Afghanistan’s economy, he said the country’s real gross domestic product grew by 1.5% during the 1404 fiscal year, while private-sector investment reached 200.9 billion afghanis.
The foreign minister described Russia’s recognition of the Islamic Emirate as an important development and expressed hope that other countries would follow a similar approach.
Muttaqi stressed that direct engagement with Afghanistan is a practical way to address issues and urged countries outside the region to base their policies toward Afghanistan on “ground realities, direct relations and mutual interests” rather than pressure and isolation.
Muttaqi: Afghanistan Should Be a Hub for Regional Cooperation
U.S. Army soldiers with the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division and Afghan National Army soldiers conduct a combined patrol in the village of Shabila Kalan, Zabul, Afghanistan, on Nov. 30, 2009. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez, U.S. Air Force. (Released)
Human Rights Watch has called on the United States and other countries involved in the Afghanistan war to investigate alleged war crimes and serious abuses by their forces and provide compensation to victims and their families, saying Afghans still have no clear path to justice 25 years after the conflict began.
In a statement marking 25 years since the U.S.-led war began on October 7, 2001, HRW said successive governments have failed to provide adequate accountability or redress for Afghans subjected to abuses by foreign forces. The organization said many people detained by U.S. forces were held for months or years without being charged with crimes and that victims have largely been left without an effective mechanism to seek compensation.
Patricia Gossman, senior associate Asia director at HRW, said Afghans tortured in U.S. custody and families of people who were wrongfully killed still lack a clear avenue to file claims or obtain redress from the U.S. government. HRW documented abuses including beatings, humiliation, waterboarding, prolonged sleep deprivation and mock executions.
HRW also highlighted alleged abuses by other coalition forces. It said investigations into alleged summary killings and mistreatment by Australian and British forces have made limited progress. In Australia, the Brereton inquiry into alleged war crimes by special forces resulted in only two arrests, while trials had not begun and victims or their families were not known to have received compensation, according to HRW.
The organization cited several cases involving U.S. forces, including the 2012 conviction of Robert Bales for killing 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar. HRW also pointed to the “Kill Team” case, in which several U.S. soldiers were convicted over the killing of Afghan civilians, while saying other serious allegations, including the deaths of civilians in Wardak province, did not result in prosecutions.
HRW said accountability should extend to all parties to the conflict, including Taliban forces, Afghan government forces and other armed groups. It accused Taliban fighters of attacks on civilians, aid workers, government officials and election-related targets, while also pointing to alleged torture, sexual violence and enforced disappearances involving powerful figures linked to the former Afghan government.
The organization said the International Criminal Court initially investigated alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by various parties in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, Islamic State, Afghan government forces, U.S. forces and the CIA. However, HRW said the ICC’s Afghanistan investigation has not publicly advanced against several of those actors.
A potential avenue for broader accountability emerged in October 2025, when the UN Human Rights Council established an independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan. The body is mandated to collect, preserve and analyze evidence of international crimes and serious violations of international law by all sides and prepare files to facilitate future criminal proceedings.
HRW said governments should ensure that the new UN mechanism receives sufficient resources and begins its work without delay. It argued that the passage of time and government inaction should not prevent Afghan victims and survivors from obtaining justice, recognition and reparations.
HRW Urges US, Allies to Investigate Alleged War Crimes in Afghanistan and Compensate Victims
The United Nations says 64 incidents involving explosive remnants of war and unexploded ordnance have been recorded in eastern Afghanistan since the beginning of 2026, resulting in 64 civilian casualties.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said the figures were recorded by the UN Department of Safety and Security. He warned that Afghanistan remains among the countries with the highest civilian casualty rates from unexploded ordnance worldwide.
Dujarric said explosive remnants of war continue to pose a serious threat to civilians, particularly children. The danger persists from abandoned and unexploded weapons left behind by years of conflict and continues to affect communities even after fighting in many parts of the country has declined.
The warning came after an abandoned mortar round reportedly exploded in Nangarhar while four children were handling it. The incident killed three children and injured another, according to UN humanitarian officials cited in the briefing.
The UN and its partners are continuing mine-risk education, clearance operations and assistance for communities and survivors affected by explosive hazards. However, Dujarric said severe funding shortages are limiting mine-action activities.
The wider humanitarian response in Afghanistan is also facing a major funding gap. The UN said its $1.7 billion Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for 2026 was only 30 percent funded at the time of the briefing, with $537 million received. The shortfall has already forced some aid partners to suspend assistance in certain areas.
The continued presence of explosive remnants highlights the long-term humanitarian consequences of Afghanistan’s decades of conflict. UN and international mine-action programmes have for years focused on clearing contaminated land, educating communities about explosive hazards and supporting survivors.
UN: 64 Civilians Killed or Injured by Explosive Remnants in Eastern Afghanistan This Year
The United Nations says aid workers are still in a “race against time” to remove rubble and rebuild after the devastating earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan last month, killing at least 2,200 people and cutting off remote areas.
The 6.0-magnitude quake on Aug. 31 was shallow, destroying or causing extensive damage to low-rise buildings in the mountainous region. It hit late at night, and homes — mostly made of mud, wood, or rocks — collapsed instantly, becoming death traps.
Satellite data shows that about 40,500 truckloads of debris still needs to be cleared from affected areas in several provinces, the United Nations Development Program said Wednesday. Entire communities have been upended and families are sleeping in the open, it added.
The quake’s epicenter was in remote and rugged Kunar province, challenging rescue and relief efforts by the Taliban government and humanitarian groups. Authorities deployed helicopters or airdropped army commandos to evacuate survivors. Aid workers walked for hours on foot to reach isolated communities.
“This is a race against time,” said Devanand Ramiah, from the UNDP’s Crisis Bureau. “Debris removal and reconstruction operations must start safely and swiftly.”
People’s main demands were the reconstruction of houses and water supplies, according to a spokesman for a Taliban government committee tasked with helping survivors, Zia ur Rahman Speenghar.
People were getting assistance in cash, food, tents, beds, and other necessities, Speenghar said Thursday. Three new roads were under construction in the Dewagal Valley, and roads would be built to areas where there previously were none.
“Various countries and organizations have offered assistance in the construction of houses but that takes time. After the second round of assistance, work will begin on the third round, which is considering what kind of houses can be built here,” the spokesman said.
Afghanistan is facing a “perfect storm” of crises, including natural disasters like the recent earthquake, said Roza Otunbayeva, who leads the U.N. mission to the country.
Afghanistan Peace Campaign
