Balkhi: US Military Equipment Left Behind Belongs to Afghanistan

September 8, 2026
TOLOnews
TV Network
8 September 2026

The spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate has previously described such demands as unreasonable.

Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate, says the military equipment left behind by US forces in Afghanistan is now the property of the Afghan government and that Kabul is not seeking to negotiate or bargain over the equipment.

Responding to US demands for the return of the equipment, he said the United States killed many people in Afghanistan during the war and destroyed a large part of the country and should pay for the consequences of its actions in Afghanistan.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “These are the assets of the Afghan government, and we are not in the business of negotiating or bargaining over the assets of the Afghan government. The Americans did many things. The Americans killed many people and destroyed most of the country. Shouldn’t they first pay for that?”

The military equipment left behind by US forces in Afghanistan remains one of the issues of disagreement between Kabul and Washington. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that the equipment be returned.

The spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate has previously described such demands as unreasonable.

Aziz Maarij, a political analyst, said: “Equipment left behind after a war is considered war booty under Sharia, and under international principles, it is the property of that country. Therefore, all US equipment left behind in Afghanistan belongs to Afghanistan.”

Relations between Afghanistan and the United States have remained uncertain since the fall of the republic on August 15, 2021, with engagement largely limited to prisoner exchanges and certain security issues.

Balkhi: US Military Equipment Left Behind Belongs to Afghanistan
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Saudi Energy Deal Could Pave Way for $10 Billion Afghan Pipeline Project

September 8, 2026
Sep 08, 2026
Saudi Arabia’s Delta Energy Group has signed a series of agreements with Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum to advance hydrocarbon exploration and build a major regional gas pipeline network, the company announced.

At the center of the framework is the proposed “Corridor of Prosperity,” a 700-kilometer regional natural gas pipeline known as CentGas.

The infrastructure project aims to connect a gas receipt point near the Guzara district in Herat province to a delivery point near Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, along the border with Pakistan.

Delta Energy estimates the CentGas pipeline will require approximately $10 billion in investment over the next decade.

Realization of the pipeline remains subject to technical and economic feasibility studies, securing project financing, regulatory approvals, and a final investment decision.

Beyond the pipeline transmission route, the agreements grant Delta Energy exploration rights across the Kushk and Tirpul contract areas in Herat, covering roughly 23,317 square kilometers.

The company will fund geological and geophysical studies, seismic surveys, dynamic reservoir evaluations, and exploratory drilling to gauge commercial resource potential.

Delta Energy will also finance feasibility studies to supply natural gas to Herat city and the Herat Industrial Park for power generation and industrial operations.

Company officials stated that the broader integrated project could unlock tens of billions of dollars in total energy infrastructure investment in the coming years if early exploration yields positive commercial results.

“This is an opportunity to develop an integrated energy ecosystem that could create jobs, support industry, and improve regional connectivity,” said Sheikh Badr Mohammed Al-Aiban, chairman of Delta International Holding Group.

Afghanistan’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Hidayatullah Badri, welcomed the investment framework, stating that cooperation with the Saudi firm could bolster domestic energy security, support broader economic activity, and help tap into previously undeveloped energy resources.

Saudi Energy Deal Could Pave Way for $10 Billion Afghan Pipeline Project
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Mansour: Some Neighbors Cannot Tolerate Afghanistan’s Progress

September 7, 2026
TOLOnews
TV Network
6 September 2026

Mansour stressed that the Islamic Emirate should not allow neighboring countries to interfere in Afghanistan’s affairs.

Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development Abdul Latif Mansour says some neighboring countries cannot tolerate Afghanistan’s progress and do not respect the principles of good neighborly relations in their engagement with Kabul.

Without naming any country, Mansour stressed that the Islamic Emirate should not allow neighboring countries to interfere in Afghanistan’s affairs.

Speaking at a gathering in Panjshir, Mansour said: “Be sincere and do not discredit this system. There are committed people in this system; otherwise, you will create an opportunity for those who cannot tolerate the progress of this system to interfere.”

He also said work has begun on more than 3,200 social and livelihood projects across 23 provinces, funded by the World Bank at a cost of $87 million.

Mansour added: “Some are hostile toward Islam, while some neighboring countries are envious of us. There are also people inside the country who fled and are now only active on social media.”

Panjshir Deputy Governor Asadullah Sinan said: “It is our responsibility to provide people with facilities such as roads and electricity.”

Of the announced projects, 127 projects worth $5.066 million are being implemented in Panjshir.

Panjshir Governor Mohammad Agha Hakim called on the companies implementing the projects to complete them according to the required standards.

Hakim said: “I ask you to complete the projects according to the same standards outlined in the proposals you submitted to the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.”

The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development says the projects include the construction of roads, canals, bridges and culverts. The projects are part of social and economic support programs for vulnerable families across the country.

Mansour: Some Neighbors Cannot Tolerate Afghanistan’s Progress
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Guterres Calls for Immediate Lifting of UN Work Ban on Women in Afghanistan

September 7, 2026
Khaama Press

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on the Taliban to immediately lift their ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations, warning that the restriction undermines humanitarian operations and violates international law as it enters its second year.

In a statement issued ahead of the first anniversary of the ban, Guterres urged the Taliban to ensure the safe and unrestricted access of Afghan women employed by the United Nations to their workplaces across the country.

The appeal comes one year after the Taliban prohibited Afghan women from working in all U.N. offices and agencies operating in Afghanistan, a decision announced on Sept. 7, 2025. The ban marked a significant expansion of restrictions imposed on Afghan women since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Guterres also called on the Taliban to remove all restrictions imposed on Afghan women and girls and to support their full, equal and meaningful participation in every aspect of Afghanistan society.

“The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned by the Taliban’s discriminatory policies against women and girls,” Dujarric said, adding that the measures affect virtually every aspect of their lives, including employment, education and public participation.

Guterres said restrictions preventing women from participating fully in public life, education and many professions violate their fundamental rights and pose a major obstacle to Afghanistan’s economic development, long-term stability and reintegration into the international community.

The U.N. chief also said the ban is inconsistent with international law, including the U.N. Charter, and weakens the organization’s ability to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance and other essential services at a time when humanitarian needs in Afghanistan remain among the highest in the world.

According to the United Nations, millions of Afghans continue to rely on humanitarian assistance for food, healthcare and protection services. U.N. agencies have repeatedly warned that the exclusion of Afghan women from humanitarian work has made it significantly more difficult to reach women and girls, particularly in conservative communities where female aid workers are essential for delivering assistance.

Guterres Calls for Immediate Lifting of UN Work Ban on Women in Afghanistan
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25 years after Sept. 11 attacks, Taliban rules Afghanistan again, but now with $7 billion in U.S. firepower

September 7, 2026

CBS News

September 7, 2026

Kabul — As Americans reflect this week on the 25 years that have passed since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, CBS News has returned to Afghanistan, where the war those attacks triggered ended five years ago with the Taliban’s stunning return to power.When the last U.S. and allied soldiers left after a brutal two-decade war, the Taliban’s fighters seized billions of dollars worth of American-purchased military hardware. President Trump, whose first administration negotiated the deal to end the war with the Taliban, has accused the Biden administration of “totally botching” the withdrawal.

Five years later, the hardware of America’s longest-ever war is still easy to spot on the streets of Kabul. Taliban fighters patrol in armored vehicles once supplied to Afghan forces, wearing American tactical gear and carrying American weapons.

CBS News saw one Humvee in the Afghan capital still adorned with a faded Green Bay Packers decal — a remnant from its past operators.

President Trump has been fiercely critical of the former Biden administration, accusing his predecessor of allowing the U.S. military to abandon billions of dollars in military hardware. Mr. Trump has demanded that the Taliban hand it back.

But the Taliban has proudly shown off its American-funded arsenal, even staging military parades through Kabul’s streets.

Pentagon figures released last year show some $7 billion in hardware and weaponry fell into the group’s hands when the Afghan National Army collapsed.

Asked about President Trump’s determination to reclaim the equipment, Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi told CBS News the hardware now belongs to “the state of Afghanistan, and we are not in the business of doing transactions and deals on the assets of the state of Afghanistan.”

When it was pointed out that American taxpayers purchased the equipment, Balkhi said: “The Americans did a lot of things. Americans killed a lot of people, destroyed the majority of the country. Should they not be paying for that first?”

The Taliban waged a vicious insurgency during a war that killed more than 2,400 U.S. service members and tens of thousands of innocent Afghans.

But critics of the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. withdrawal say it’s allowed the Taliban to transform from insurgents into a state military force armed with billions of dollars in American-funded firepower.

They have used those weapons to impose a draconian interpretation of Islamic rule on Afghanistan’s people, almost completely depriving women and girls of the right to work and study, and restricting life for everyone in the country in ways that some analysts say are even harsher than during the group’s previous reign.

Biden has offered little public commentary on the Afghanistan withdrawal, but he said in September 2021, a month after the Taliban took back control, that he “was not going to extend this ‘forever war,’ and I was not extending a ‘forever exit.'”

“If anything, the developments of the past week reinforce that ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision,” said the then-president in August 2021, as the Taliban reasserted their rule 20 years after being ousted by the U.S.-led military campaign. “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”

In 2023, the Biden White House released a 12-page summary of a classified review of the Afghanistan exit that largely blamed the Trump administration for the deal it struck with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. forces from the country by May 2021.

The so-called Doha Agreement brokered by the first Trump administration laid out a series of conditions for the Taliban to fulfill in order for U.S. forces to leave. Another report partially declassified and released by the State Department in 2023 faulted both the Trump and Biden administrations for “insufficient” planning surrounding the withdrawal.

25 years after Sept. 11 attacks, Taliban rules Afghanistan again, but now with $7 billion in U.S. firepower
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UN Rapporteur Raises Concerns Over Expansion of Madrassas in Afghanistan

September 7, 2026
Khaama Press

The expansion of religious schools (Madrassas) under current rule could permanently reshape Afghanistan’s social fabric and deepen the country’s education crisis, Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, has warned in a new report.

Bennett said that while religious education has long been part of Afghanistan’s education system, the rapid expansion of madrassas is raising concerns because they are increasingly replacing rather than complementing formal education.

According to Bennett’s report, the number of registered religious schools increased from about 5,000 before the Taliban returned to power to more than 23,000 by September 2025.

The report describes the expansion as part of a broader centralisation of religious education. Bennett warned that the trend, combined with restrictions on formal education, particularly the continued exclusion of girls from secondary schools and universities could have lasting social and economic consequences for Afghanistan.

For girls barred from secondary education, madrassas have become one of the few remaining avenues for continued learning. However, Bennett said concerns remain about the content of instruction, the restrictions placed on students and the activities permitted within these institutions.

His findings are consistent with separate reporting on Afghanistan’s expanding madrasa system. An Al Jazeera report based on news-agency material found that madrasa enrollment had increased significantly as families sought alternatives amid weaknesses in the formal education system. It also noted that many madrassas focus primarily on Quranic memorisation, Islamic jurisprudence and Arabic, with some incorporating basic subjects such as mathematics and English.

Bennett said he had heard repeated concerns from families about changes in the attitudes and behaviour of children attending religious schools.

Women and girls have also reported that some boys and male relatives studying in madrassas have become more controlling toward female family members, including over their clothing and behaviour, according to the report.

The report cites the account of a girl whose sister attended a madrasa in Kabul and had a strong interest in painting. After a teacher told her that drawing was contrary to Sharia, she stopped painting.

Bennett warned that the growing influence of religious education should be considered alongside the wider restrictions imposed on Afghanistan’s formal education system. The UN has repeatedly called for inclusive and equitable access to education for Afghan women and girls, while the Taliban continue to bar girls from secondary and higher education.

Recent research by the HAMRAH Network has similarly described the madrasa expansion as the development of a parallel, state-aligned religious education system. The organisation reported more than 23,000 registered madrassas with more than 3.65 million students by September 2025 and warned of the system’s potential implications for gender relations and Afghanistan’s long-term stability. Bennett has discussed the findings in international human rights forums.

The expansion of religious schools comes as Afghanistan faces a deepening education crisis, particularly for girls. Human rights organisations and UN bodies have warned that the exclusion of girls from secondary and higher education is depriving millions of Afghan women and girls of educational opportunities and narrowing the country’s future pool of skilled professionals.

Bennett’s warning suggests that the consequences of Afghanistan’s changing education system may extend beyond access to schooling, potentially affecting family relations, gender norms, employment opportunities and the country’s broader social development for years to come.

UN Rapporteur Raises Concerns Over Expansion of Madrassas in Afghanistan
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Karzai: Girls’ Education Essential for a Vibrant Society

September 7, 2026
TOLOnews
TV Network
7 September 2026

He added that some Islamic Emirate officials also privately support girls’ education and women’s employment.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in an interview with the Financial Times, has called for schools to be reopened to girls and for women to return to work.

Karzai said Afghanistan needs educated women in various sectors, ranging from education and healthcare to the economy, engineering, the judiciary and the media, in order to build a vibrant society.

He added that some Islamic Emirate officials also privately support girls’ education and women’s employment.

“We need them everywhere — in business, in schools, as teachers, as economists, as doctors, as engineers, as judges, as journalists. We must have Afghan girls go to school and women go to work if we are to be a vibrant society, a living society,” Karzai said.

In another part of the interview, the former president described the Islamic Emirate’s performance in providing security as a positive point.

“The Taliban are very good at providing security. That’s a plus without a doubt,” Karzai said.

He also said the ongoing US-Iran war is affecting Afghanistan’s economy and regional stability, adding that Afghanistan wants the conflict to end.

Karzai: Girls’ Education Essential for a Vibrant Society
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WFP: Nearly 14 Million Afghans Facing Acute Hunger

September 7, 2026
TOLOnews
7 September 2026

He added that conflict with Pakistan and the crisis in the Middle East have disrupted trade and supply routes.

Afghanistan’s hunger and malnutrition crisis is worsening as millions of people face rising food prices, unemployment and declining humanitarian assistance.

John Aylieff, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan, says nearly six million Afghans have been forcibly returned from neighboring countries over the past three years, while there are not enough job opportunities in the country to meet the livelihood needs of the returnees.

He added that conflict with Pakistan and the crisis in the Middle East have disrupted trade and supply routes, causing prices of essential food items in Afghanistan to rise by 20% to 30%.

“Poor people can no longer afford to buy food in the market. Nearly 14 million Afghans are currently facing acute hunger. In recent months, due to severe funding cuts, WFP has only been able to provide food assistance to one in every nine of them,” Aylieff said.

Aylieff also warned that the situation of children has deteriorated alarmingly. Acute child malnutrition, considered one of the deadliest forms of malnutrition, has reached critical levels in one-third of Afghanistan’s provinces, while the number of children being brought to health facilities for treatment has increased.

“It has now reached critical levels in one-third of the country’s provinces. The number of children arriving at health facilities in severe condition has increased sharply, and we are seeing this very clearly,” Aylieff said.

Abdul Zahoor Modaber, an economic analyst, said: “To reduce our dependence on foreign aid, we need to focus on several areas, including increasing the country’s production capacity, boosting GDP, and at the same time finding markets for investment.”

The WFP official stressed that the organization needs $500 million to continue its emergency food and nutrition programs over the next six months, particularly as winter approaches and pressure on vulnerable families and levels of hunger are expected to increase.

WFP: Nearly 14 Million Afghans Facing Acute Hunger
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Canada Urges Citizens Not to Travel to Afghanistan

September 3, 2026
Farhad Farhaad
Hasht e Subh daily
3 September 2026
The Canadian flag flies against a city skyline in Canada as the government warns citizens against travelling to Afghanistan. (Photo credit: nationaltoday)

nationaltoday

Canada has urged its citizens to refrain from all travel to Afghanistan due to the unstable and dangerous security situation.

The Canadian government said in a statement on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, that the risk of terrorist attacks, armed conflict, kidnapping, arbitrary arrest and detention, and high levels of crime in Afghanistan remains.

The statement said that the security situation in Afghanistan is highly unstable and dangerous, and that Canadian citizens currently in the country should exercise caution if they need to travel within the country.

The Canadian government also said that its embassy in Afghanistan has suspended its operations and that its ability to provide consular services and other assistance in Afghanistan is “very limited.”

According to the statement, Canadian authorities may not even be aware of the whereabouts or circumstances of Canadian citizens in Afghanistan, even if assistance is requested.

Canada has also urged its citizens who have left Afghanistan and require consular assistance to contact the nearest Canadian government office.

Canada Urges Citizens Not to Travel to Afghanistan
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Qani: Pakistan’s Attempts to Destabilize Badakhshan Thwarted

September 3, 2026
TOLOnews
TV Network
3 September 2026

The ministry’s spokesperson added that these attempts have been thwarted and that the security situation is now normal.

The Ministry of Interior says Pakistan has repeatedly attempted to create security challenges in some districts of Badakhshan and other areas near the Durand Line.

The ministry’s spokesperson added that these attempts have been thwarted and that the security situation is now normal in areas near the hypothetical Durand Line and along other official borders, including the border with Tajikistan.

Abdul Matin Qani, said: “We are committed to countering these attempts and projects. We have effectively thwarted their projects at the outset, and we will not allow them to affect Afghanistan’s domestic or cross-border security. Significant budgets are being spent on managing the country’s borders and the Durand Line.”

Recently, a senior member of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party also claimed during a session of the Balochistan Assembly that thousands of soldiers from Afghanistan’s former government had been transferred to areas near the Durand Line.

Fazal Qadir Mandokhail, a senior member of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, said: “Now, after four years, thousands of people who were military personnel during Ashraf Ghani’s government have arrived in our areas, and they have brought weapons with them. We want to ask our government where these Afghan forces were during the past three years and where they have come from. Who brought them here? We should be given an explanation. Our situation is getting worse day by day.”

University lecturer Omar Mukhtar Nikzad said: “Whenever Afghanistan’s relations with neighboring countries improve, Pakistan tries to disrupt these ties because Pakistan does not want Afghanistan to free itself from dependence on Pakistan.”

This is not the first time Pakistan has been accused of undermining security in areas near the hypothetical Durand Line and the border with Tajikistan.

Previously, the Central Commission for Security and Clearance Affairs said in a report that newly recruited forces were being transferred from Karachi and Islamabad airports to centers in Balochistan and the tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the aim of carrying out attacks in countries across the region and the world, particularly Afghanistan.

Qani: Pakistan’s Attempts to Destabilize Badakhshan Thwarted
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