A Taliban Interior Ministry official says Pakistan does not want prosperity, peace or security in Afghanistan, accusing the neighbouring country of opposing a united and stable Afghanistan.
Abdul Hakim Hemmat Akhundzada, head of public relations at the Taliban’s Interior Ministry, made the remarks at a gathering in Paktia.
Without naming Pakistan directly, he said: “Beside us is an ominous enemy that is close to Paktia.”
Addressing those present, the Taliban official said: “If I ask you what enmity these people and this country have with us, we have no religious enmity, no enmity over land and people, and no linguistic enmity. They simply cannot tolerate a united, prosperous, self-reliant Afghanistan that is free of war and at peace.”
He stressed the need for public awareness and shaping public opinion against the country.
The remarks come as Pakistan also accuses the Taliban of fueling insecurity and crisis in the country in cooperation with India. Islamabad also accuses the Taliban of supporting the Pakistani Taliban and Baloch separatists.
Pakistani officials say attacks and insecurity in the country have increased severalfold since the Taliban returned to power. Relations between the two sides are currently in deep crisis, talks have produced no results, and the outlook remains bleak.
Pakistan Cannot Tolerate A Peaceful Afghanistan, Says Taliban Official
Before he leaves for Kabul University each morning, Hashmat* checks his face for the beard he has been ordered to grow. Male students are required to grow their facial hair and wear traditional Afghan clothes and those who fall short are punished. Hashmat says he recently saw a classmate beaten for wearing trousers.
“They look at you before they listen to you. If your appearance is wrong, you are already in trouble before the class begins,” he says.
Five years after the ultra-conservative Islamists of the Taliban retook Afghanistan, students have described to the Guardian a collapsing education system, with women banned, lecturers leaving and teaching increasingly focused on religious subjects and discipline.
Students are required to attend religious lectures and pray in public every day, sometimes for two hours at a time, says Hashmat. The lectures are about Islam, conduct and obedience. They are not optional. In some cases, he says, they are held during time that would otherwise be used for regular academic courses.
“I am missing my actual classes to sit in a lecture about obeying. That is what they [the Taliban] think education is for. Everyone talks about the girls who were banned, but nobody talks about what is happening to the boys who were allowed to stay.”
Another student studying in central Afghanistan said the problem is not only weak teaching, but also the disappearance of debate and questioning from the classroom. “We are expected to listen, not to question,” says Qader*. “Since the fall of Kabul, the university has lost its purpose. It feels more like a madrassa now — a place where curiosity is banned and remaining silent ordered.”
A booklet on Islamic civilisation that students say they are forced to study. Photograph: Handout
Hashmat studies journalism, a subject shaped by digital tools, online platforms, verification, ethics and technology, but as he listens in class, he says he wonders whether the person teaching the course understands the subject well enough to teach it.
“He is teaching us about the modern world while struggling to use PowerPoint in the class. How can you teach journalism technology if you do not understand what technology is?”
Hashmat’s account matches those of more than 20 students interviewed by phone at public and private universities in seven provinces across Afghanistan – Kabul, Kandahar, Helmand, Nangarhar, Bamiyan, Balkh and Wardak.
Afghanistan’s higher-education sector contracted sharply between 2019 and 2024, according to Unesco, with female enrolment down to zero by 2024 and male enrolment falling from 310,369 in 2019 to 188,957 in 2024.
Kabul University still looks like a university from the outside. The buildings are open, male students still attend, exams are held and degrees are issued. But students say much of what makes it a university has been hollowed out.
Experienced professors have left the country, stopped teaching or been pushed aside. And ideologically aligned Taliban lecturers have been hired in their place. In some departments, recent graduates and even undergraduates are teaching.
Hashmat points to one lecturer who, he says, finished his own degree only two years earlier. “Now he is standing in front of us. It is clear he does not know more than we do.”
Zalmay*, a student in Helmand province, describes a similar decline in the quality of teaching. “Some teachers come to class and only read from old notes,” he says. “When we ask questions, they cannot explain beyond what is written in front of them. We are university students, but sometimes it feels like we are back in high school.”
A former Kabul University professor, who has requested anonymity because he fears retaliation, confirms the students’ accounts and says the loss of qualified lecturers has weakened universities that are still expected to produce graduates.
Nearly all those who have spoken to the Guardian describe some version of the same crisis: weak teaching, underqualified lecturers, mandatory religious lectures, pressure over appearance and a growing belief that education no longer leads to work.
Kabul University once meant something very different. For generations, it trained Afghanistan’s doctors, engineers, journalists, civil servants and political leaders. To be admitted there was a source of pride for a family. It meant a brighter future was possible.
After the fall of Kabul, Hashmat says two of his younger brothers dropped out of school. They no longer believe education would help them find jobs or build a future. For years, school was presented as the safest path forward: study, graduate, work, support the family. Since the Taliban takeover, that promise no longer seems real.
“They do not believe education will help them anymore. I am reaching the same conclusion and find it hard to attend classes.”
Even on campus, Hashmat says, journalism students feel hostility. They are studying an occupation that has been restricted, lost professionals and treated with suspicion. Many independent news outlets have closed. He says he and his classmates have been called shaitan (Satan) by their teachers.
“We are studying journalism in a country where journalism barely exists. What are we being trained for?” he asks.
The question has worn down many of his classmates. Some still attend because their families expect them to; some come because a degree, even a weakened one, still carries social status.
But Hashmat says many fellow students no longer believe in what they are doing. “They come because their families want them to. But inside, they have already given up.
“I keep going because I do not know what else to do. But every day it gets harder to believe it means something,” he says. “The Taliban war on the battlefields has stopped, but their war on education continues in silence.”
* Names have been changed to protect their identities
The Taliban’s war on education: ‘Nobody talks about what is happening to the boys’
Thousands of Afghan families, fearing an uncertain future, have begun pouring into Afghanistan amid a fresh push from Pakistan against what officials describe a “crackdown” on undocumented aliens.
Islamabad had set the July 10 deadline for what the authorities call “undocumented” Afghans to leave the country.
The move comes amid a broader push by authorities around the world who have been pushing Afghans who fled their country to return home.
In Pakistan alone, more than 2.5 million Afghans have been deported since October 2023, the year when Islamabad announced the deportation policy.
“An average 400 to 600 families are crossing the Torkham border daily,” said Islam Badshah, a volunteer from the Jamrud region in Pakistan’s Khyber tribal district, who provides free food, medicines and other basic items to the departing families.
Torkham is the main crossing point between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Badshah, who collects donations from locals to continue his welfare work, says a majority of the families hold UN-issued registration cards, but Pakistani authorities say only Afghans with valid-stay visas such as student, business, or visits in their passports will be allowed to stay.
Afghans Being Sent Home
Zia Rahman was among the hundreds of families who have arrived at the Hamza Baba Transit Center for Afghan refugees near the border on July 13.
With his family awaiting clearance from the authorities to cross the border, Rahman told RFE/RL that he and his elder brothers were born in Pakistan and are being forced to a country they don’t know.
“Neither my children, nor those of my brothers ever visited Afghanistan,” he said. “We are heading to an uncertain future — how to get jobs and if our children will be able to attend schools?” the 36-year-old said.
Escaping Border Violence, Afghans Struggle To Rebuild Lives
Millions of Afghans around the world are being either directly forced to return by states where they have been residing, or have felt compelled to do so because of threats, harassment, and intimidation.
But the situation is most acute in Pakistan.
Decades of conflict in Afghanistan have forced millions of Afghans to take refuge in Pakistan. Islamabad had estimated 1.5 million registered Afghans living in Pakistan before 2021. Another half a million plus fled the country to take refuge in Pakistan following the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
Pakistan and the Taliban were undeclared allies for decades but relations between the two started deteriorating in 2021 with Islamabad accusing Kabul of hosting the Pakistani Taliban, who carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
The Afghan Taliban deny the Pakistani allegations by saying that they would not allow anyone to use the Afghan soil against any other country.
In October 2025, Pakistan carried out air strikes inside Afghanistan triggering bloody border clashes that resulted in numerous casualties and damages to infrastructure on both sides. Pakistan closed all the borders with Afghanistan besides intensifying the deportation of Afghans.
Recently, Pakistan has invalidated the Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) and Proof of Registration (PoR) cards. Earlier, the two documents were recognized as a permission for Afghans’ legal stay in Pakistan. However, Pakistani authorities recently invalidated all other documents except a valid visa to stay in Pakistan.
Humanitarian Crisis
The mass deportations also have created a humanitarian crisis in parts of Afghanistan, overwhelming local infrastructure and leaving returnees vulnerable.
A majority of the departing Afghans say they have wrapped up their businesses and sold their properties on throw-away prices to avoid arrests during police raids, which have become more frequent since July 10.
In the Board Bazaar in Peshawar, one of the largest hubs for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, some 5,000 businesses such as bakeries, dry fruits, clothes and shoe outlets, pulse with shoppers.
Afghan Migrants In Iran Face Growing Hardship Amid War Fallout
But these days, police patrols compete with shoppers, forcing retailers to find novel ways to avoid arrest.
“We’ve hired locals to avoid arrests during police raids,” said one shop owner who wished not to be named for fear of an action by the authorities.
“Whenever there is a police raid, we skip out and hand over the business to the local. This saves us as well as our business…but this may not continue for a longer period.”
Another entrepreneur, Zakir Ayaz, whose family runs a well-established business in Peshawar, says police raids have become routine since July 10.
“My family migrated to Pakistan at the beginning of the Afghan jihad 40 years ago. We established our business over 25 years,” Ayaz, who occasionally visits Afghanistan but wants to stay in Pakistan, said.
“Now, we’ve got to wrap it up with no future in sight.”
Daud Khattak is a senior international correspondent covering the Near East in RFE/RL’s Central Newsroom. He was previously the managing editor of RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal.
Afghans Under Pressure Again In New Pakistani Deportation Drive
PHoto: US launched fresh strikes on Iran’s Chahbahar port.
US strikes targeting infrastructure at Iran’s Chabahar Port have raised fresh concerns over Afghanistan’s access to regional trade, threatening one of the country’s main alternatives to Pakistani transit routes at a time when Kabul is seeking to reduce its dependence on Pakistan for overseas commerce.
US military strikes targeting infrastructure at Iran’s Chabahar Port have intensified concerns over Afghanistan’s external trade, with analysts warning that any prolonged disruption could undermine one of Kabul’s most important alternatives to Pakistani transit routes.
According to reports by The Times of India, the strikes damaged Chabahar’s vessel traffic control tower, disrupting operations at the strategic port that India has developed since 2016 to connect with Afghanistan and Central Asia while bypassing Pakistan.
The attacks come amid escalating military exchanges between Washington and Tehran, adding uncertainty to commercial shipping and regional logistics across the Gulf.
For Afghanistan, the significance extends beyond India. Chabahar has become a cornerstone of efforts to diversify trade routes and reduce reliance on Pakistan, whose border closures, political tensions and recurring transit restrictions have repeatedly disrupted Afghan imports and exports over the past several years.
Relations between Pakistan and the Taliban administration have deteriorated over disputes involving border security, cross-border militancy and the deportation of Afghan migrants. The tensions have frequently spilled over into trade, with prolonged closures at key crossings such as Torkham and Spin Boldak, stricter customs procedures and periodic restrictions on Afghanistan transit goods, prompting Kabul to seek more reliable regional alternatives.
The Taliban administration has increasingly promoted Iran as a strategic trade partner. In November 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar urged Afghan traders to expand the use of Iranian ports, particularly Chabahar, as part of a broader policy to diversify Afghanistan’s trade corridors and reduce dependence on Pakistani transit.
The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) has stated that most Afghanistan imports and exports pass through Bandar Abbas, while Chabahar remains an important complementary gateway, particularly for trade with India.
According to World Bank data, Afghanistan exported goods worth $79.2 million in May 2026, with India accounting for 34 percent of total exports, making it the country’s largest export destination during the month. Maintaining uninterrupted access to Indian markets is considered critical for Afghanistan exports, particularly fresh and dried fruits, carpets, medicinal plants and minerals.
Economists also note that Chabahar provides Afghanistan with access not only to India but also to Gulf markets, East Africa and Southeast Asia, reducing the country’s dependence on a single transit corridor and strengthening its long-term trade resilience.
The latest strikes underscore how regional conflicts increasingly affect Afghanistan’s economy despite the country not being directly involved in the fighting. With Pakistan remaining an unreliable transit route and Iran’s transport infrastructure now facing growing security risks, Afghan traders are confronting renewed uncertainty over access to international markets.
US Attacks on Chabahar Port Disrupt Cargo Traffic, Threatening Afghanistan’s Trade Routes
Afghanistan’s leader has exerted full control over a city that once enjoyed looser social norms, even under Taliban rule.
Province by province, the Taliban government’s leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, has tightened his grip over Afghanistan. With a recent show of force in the western city of Herat, he has asserted control over one of the last havens where people had still been able to quietly ignore some of the Taliban’s restrictions.
Since retaking power in 2021, the Taliban have enforced a rigid set of rules about religious practice, dress and daily life. Across Afghanistan, women and girls face restrictions on access to education, most jobs and travel. But in some parts of Herat, the country’s third-largest city, men kept their beards short and women wore heels and makeup — despite the Taliban’s dress codes.
Now, that’s changing.
I traveled to Herat in June and found that these pockets of resistance to the Taliban are disappearing.
Sheikh Akhundzada’s morality police have arrested dozens of people over the last few weeks. Many women said they now avoided leaving their homes out of fear of being caught in the wave of arrests. Some people had even protested, a rare act of public resistance, but the Taliban cracked down on them, too.
“They are spreading fear like a virus,” said Hengameh, a Herat resident in her 30s.
She and most of the two dozen other residents, religious leaders, human rights defenders and teachers interviewed in Herat asked to be identified only by their first names, or to remain anonymous because of fear of retaliation by the Taliban.
They described an intense new climate of fear and intimidation that has settled over vast parts of one of Afghanistan’s most cosmopolitan cities.
The Taliban government has already silenced most dissenting voices. But critics say that it may be squeezing Afghanistan’s diverse society to the point of upheaval.
“Why are they intensifying religious pressure every day?” Ayatollah Gholam Abbas Waezi Zadeh, a leading Shiite cleric, said in a speech in May. “When the pressure becomes too high, an explosion will inevitably occur.”
A quiet resistance
Herat, home to a large Shiite Muslim population, has never been a stronghold for the Taliban, who are Sunni Muslims. During the civil war that led to the Taliban’s first rule in the 1990s, Herat was the home base for some of the group’s fiercest rivals. And it was among the last cities to fall to the group in August 2021.
Herat may not be as liberal as other cities like Kabul, the capital, or Mazar-i-Sharif, in the country’s north. Still, on my previous trips to the city, last summer and in March, I saw schoolgirls wearing loose head scarves that let a sliver of hair show, and many women wearing jeans or colorful shawls.
One neighborhood, Jebrail, has long embodied that quiet resistance. It is home to tens of thousands of families from the predominantly Shiite Hazara community and a hub for cross-border trade with Iran, 70 miles to the west.
There were cafes in Jebrail where young men and women could meet freely, and markets where groups of female friends wandered unbothered in makeup and heels.
Directives issued by the Taliban’s morality police to local religious leaders in early June meant an end to that. The police said women who did not respect orders to cover themselves from head to toe, including their faces, would be arrested and could face prison.
On June 6 and 7, at least 30 women were arrested on charges of violating the orders, according to the United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan. Local human rights groups say they have registered more than 200 arrests so far and expect more.
“Some generations accept orders, others don’t,” Hussain, a Shiite cleric in Herat, said about the new crackdown on women’s clothing. “The new generation isn’t coping; it is not accepting.”
On June 9, dozens of residents gathered in Jebrail to protest the tightened rules and the arrests.
Among them was Hamayoon, 19, who said she had come with a friend even though their mothers had urged them not to.
“I told myself, ‘If I don’t go, and others don’t go, then who will participate?’” Hamayoon said. “Tomorrow might be my mother and sister’s turn to be arrested.”
Hamayoon and other demonstrators chanted, “Work, education, freedom.” As the chants grew louder, and armed Taliban officers walked toward the demonstrators, some threw stones at the Taliban, who fired warning shots and then aimed for their feet, according to five protesters. Footage of the tense face-off quickly circulated on social media.
The police officers chased demonstrators down Jebrail’s alleys, beating and arresting dozens of them, according to protesters and five others who witnessed the clashes. One teenager died after suffering gunshot wounds, and several others were injured.
A spokesman for the Herat police, Sayed Masoud Hussaini, said the protesters had been “agitators” seeking to disrupt public order. He denied that the police had arrested or beaten protesters, and he said the police had brought the area back under control “in the shortest possible time.”
The protest in Jebrail started at 8 a.m. By 10 a.m., the Taliban had dispersed everyone.
A show of strength
The Taliban swarmed Jebrail and installed checkpoints. As rumors spread of another planned demonstration, they issued warnings in mosques and schools to the neighborhood’s residents: Do not go out to protest again.
They have not.
Instead, a climate of fear has fallen on Jebrail. Residents said the Taliban are stopping people and arresting them because of their beards or clothing and, in some cases, intimidating schoolgirls.
Zahra, 15, said she had to line up at her school with hundreds of her classmates in a courtyard one morning last month, under the close watch of officers from the Taliban’s morality police.
The students were already fully covered in black chadors from head to toe, but the officer ordered them to cover their faces as well, in line with the new instructions, Zahra said. The officers then filmed as the girls held pieces of paper describing their outfits as “the flag of the Afghan woman’s honor.”
Some of the girls cried under their veils. “We were all frightened,” Zahra said, because they were unable to reach their parents for help.
On a recent evening, I saw a dozen armed officers who stopped drivers at every major intersection.
Fully covered women walked in the streets as the sunset brought respite from the 105-degree heat. A local market was almost empty.
The crackdown and fear of arrests have brought economic activity to a standstill. Shakila, the owner of a food packaging workshop in Jebrail, said three of her employees had not come to work for weeks.
A principal in Herat said that some parents had stopped their daughters from attending school.
Some who do face ridicule from adults who don’t agree with the Taliban rules. At Zahra’s school, some students who comply and attend class with a mask or a veil covering their faces said they had faced insults from passers-by calling them “Taliban donkeys,” according to a teacher there.
Pressuring Shiites
The Taliban’s effort to assert control goes beyond social norms around dress. Taliban officials have increasingly sought to suppress public signs of devotion by members of the Shiite community across the country in recent months, according to religious officials, education professionals and human rights groups.
They have instructed all male university students to sign a document certifying that they follow the Taliban’s Sunni school of thought. In Herat, they have ordered some principals to provide lists of their Shiite students.
And as Afghan Shiites in Herat prepared for the holy commemoration of Ashura last month, their leaders received orders from the Taliban to remove flags from shrines and to cancel outdoor processions.
They relented when Shiite officials objected. Worshipers were allowed to celebrate, but with limitations.
Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s spokesman, said in an interview that the authorities had imposed restrictions on the celebrations because of security threats to Shiite communities from the Islamic State. The Taliban government has, over the years, said it has mostly eliminated the Islamic State threat from Afghanistan.
Between 10 and 15 percent of Afghanistan’s 45 million people are estimated to be Shiite, but they, like other minorities, have been largely shut out of power in the Taliban government.
“They do not accept recommendations, they do not accept guidance,” Ayatollah Waezi Zadeh, the Shiite cleric, said about the Taliban government in his speech in May. “Perhaps their foundation is to make every decision themselves, to be single-minded.”
Anisa Shabir contributed research.
Elian Peltier is The Times’s bureau chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan, based in Islamabad.
Inside Herat, Where a Taliban Campaign Targets a Cosmopolitan Outpost
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the closure of more than 150 health centres across Afghanistan since the beginning of 2026 is restricting access to essential medical care for millions of people and threatening efforts to eradicate polio as funding for humanitarian health services continues to decline.
In a statement, WHO said the health facilities have suspended operations because of severe funding shortages, leaving many communities without access to primary healthcare, maternal services, disease prevention and emergency treatment. The agency warned that the closures are placing additional strain on Afghanistan’s already fragile healthcare system, with women, children and people in remote areas among those most affected.
According to WHO, more than 22 million people in Afghanistan require humanitarian assistance, including over 14 million who need healthcare services. However, only 17 percent of the funding required for the country’s health response had been received by the end of June 2026, leaving critical programmes at risk of further disruption.
The agency said the funding gap threatens routine immunization campaigns and disease surveillance, raising concerns over efforts to eliminate wild poliovirus. Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the only two countries where wild poliovirus transmission has never been interrupted, making continued vaccination campaigns a global public health priority.
The warning followed a visit to Afghanistan by Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, who traveled to Kabul and Kandahar with representatives of international partners. During the visit, she met officials from the Taliban administration, healthcare workers, United Nations agencies and donor representatives to discuss the country’s growing health and humanitarian needs.
Dr. Balkhy said sustained international support is essential to maintaining life-saving health services and achieving the goal of eradicating polio. She stressed that ending transmission requires a functioning healthcare system, trained health workers, uninterrupted vaccination campaigns and predictable long-term funding.
Afghanistan’s healthcare system has faced repeated financial shocks since international aid declined following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. Humanitarian organizations say reductions in donor funding have forced hundreds of health facilities to scale back or suspend services, disrupting access to medicines, maternal and child healthcare, nutrition programmes and emergency medical treatment.
The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that Afghanistan’s health sector remains heavily dependent on international assistance. Aid organizations say continued financial support is critical to preventing further deterioration in healthcare access, particularly in rural provinces where humanitarian services often provide the only source of medical care.
WHO called on international donors to increase funding for Afghanistan’s health response, warning that without urgent financial support, more health facilities could close, leaving millions of Afghans without essential care and undermining progress against preventable diseases, including polio.
WHO Warns Closure of 150 Health Centres Threatens Healthcare and Polio Eradication in Afghanistan
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mohammad Naser Akhund said that since the Islamic Emirate returned to power, 13 tax relief measures have been introduced.
The leader of the Islamic Emirate has approved a series of tax relief measures in four key sectors, a move officials say is aimed at encouraging investment, boosting economic activity, and easing the financial burden on citizens and the private sector.
Speaking at a ceremony announcing the new measures, Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs Abdul Salam Hanafi said the tax reductions apply to legal entities, individual taxpayers, property transfers, and fuel imports, including oil and gas.
Hanafi said that, with the exception of mining companies, the income tax on all legal entities, including companies and private hospitals, has been reduced to 10 percent.
He added that the annual tax exemption threshold for individual taxpayers has been doubled from AFN 60,000 to AFN 120,000, meaning individuals earning up to AFN 120,000 per year will be exempt from paying income tax.
“Previously, the income tax rate was 20 percent. From now on, it has been reduced to 10 percent for all eligible entities,” Hanafi said.
According to Hanafi, the tax on oil and gas imports has also been reduced from AFN 100 to AFN 50 per metric ton, while the property transfer tax has been cut from 1 percent to 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mohammad Naser Akhund said that since the Islamic Emirate returned to power, 13 tax relief measures have been introduced.
“The taxes you pay today finance the Islamic Emirate’s defense, security, intelligence, and ordinary government expenditures,” Akhund said.
At the same event, Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi urged the private sector and investors to pay their taxes transparently and avoid tax evasion.
“We ask taxpayers to uphold transparency and remain committed to fulfilling their tax obligations,” Azizi said.
Officials of the Islamic Emirate described the latest tax relief measures as part of broader efforts to support investment, stimulate economic growth, and improve the business environment in Afghanistan.
Islamic Emirate Leader Announces Tax Relief Measures in Four Sectors
The United Nations estimates Afghanistan’s population will reach 48.6 million in 2026, while the Taliban-controlled statistics authority puts the figure at 37.2 million, highlighting a major gap in demographic data as the country marks World Population Day.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and Afghanistan’s Taliban-controlled National Statistics and Information Authority released different population estimates on Saturday, July 11, to mark World Population Day.
UNAMA said in a statement that Afghanistan’s population is projected to reach 48.6 million people in 2026, adding that accurate demographic data is essential for informed policymaking, improving healthcare services, promoting gender equality, strengthening resilience and advancing sustainable development.
Meanwhile, the Taliban-controlled National Statistics and Information Authority estimated Afghanistan’s population at 37.2 million in the current solar year 1405, a figure more than 11 million lower than the UN projection.
The authority said men make up 51 percent of Afghanistan’s population and women account for 49 percent. It estimated that around 70 percent of the population — nearly 26 million people — live in rural areas, while 26 percent, or about 9.8 million people, reside in urban areas. Nomadic communities account for the remaining 4 percent, or approximately 1.5 million people.
According to the Taliban-run statistics agency, Kabul is Afghanistan’s most populous province with an estimated 6.4 million residents, followed by Herat with around 2.4 million.
The agency said Afghanistan’s population increased from 36.4 million last year to 37.2 million this year, representing annual growth of about 2.2 percent, or approximately 800,000 additional people.
The UN has also warned that Afghanistan faces growing pressure from climate change, including drought, flooding, rising temperatures and water shortages. Around 75 percent of Afghans depend on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods, leaving many communities vulnerable to environmental shocks.
The significant difference between the UN and Taliban population estimates reflects longstanding challenges in Afghanistan’s demographic data collection. The country has not conducted a comprehensive national census for decades due to prolonged conflict, displacement and limited statistical capacity.
Experts say reliable population data is critical for planning healthcare, education, humanitarian assistance and development programs, particularly as Afghanistan continues to face economic hardship and humanitarian challenges.
Afghanistan’s Population Growth Raises New Challenges
Afghanistan’s population has surpassed 43 million, according to United Nations estimates, making it one of the world’s youngest countries. But as the population continues to grow, many Afghans say economic hardship is changing attitudes toward family size.
Residents in Kabul say rising living costs, unemployment and limited access to education and health care are making it increasingly difficult to support large families.
“As technology advances, people’s expectations also increase,” said Abdul Hamid, a Kabul resident. “Children and adults today have greater needs than before.”
According to the World Bank, Afghanistan’s fertility rate stood at 4.66 births per woman in 2025. Although the rate has declined over the past two decades, it remains well above the global average and continues to contribute to the country’s youthful population.
Some residents said families should have fewer children to improve their quality of life.
“Parents should think about their children’s future and be able to raise them properly,” said Salim, a Kabul resident. “Personally, I think having three children is better.”
Another resident, Hamed, echoed that view.
“Having many children brings its own challenges,” he said. “There’s a saying: fewer children, a better life.”
Others said raising children has become significantly more expensive than it was in previous generations.
“I raised eight children — four daughters and four sons,” said Rasul Dad, another Kabul resident. “I don’t even know whether they grew up on their own or whether I raised them.”
For younger Afghans, economic pressures are affecting even the decision to marry.
“I want to get married,” said Tabish, a Kabul resident. “But under the current circumstances, I can’t because of the economic difficulties.”
Economists say population growth is neither inherently an advantage nor a burden. Its impact depends largely on whether governments can create jobs, expand education and strengthen public services.
“In some situations, a smaller population is better, especially when the economy is weak,” said Sayed Massoud, an economist. “If the economy is stronger, a larger population can become an advantage. Traditionally, Afghans have lived in large extended families.”
Afghanistan continues to face widespread poverty, high unemployment and one of the world’s youngest demographic profiles. International organizations have repeatedly warned that without sustained investment in education, health care and employment, the country’s growing youth population could place increasing pressure on limited public resources.
According to global population estimates, India is the world’s most populous country, followed by China. The United States, Indonesia and Pakistan complete the top five. Afghanistan’s population is far smaller, but its rapid growth and youthful demographics present a distinct set of economic and social challenges.
Growing population meets economic reality in Afghanistan
Hurriyat, a Taliban-affiliated media outlet, reported on Saturday that dissident Taliban commander Juma Khan Fateh had returned to Darwaz after pledging loyalty to the Taliban administration.
He had travelled to Faizabad for talks under guarantees provided by Taliban army chief Fasihuddin Fitrat.
No details of the talks or any agreement between the two sides have been released. However, Hurriyat Radio quoted Badakhshan Taliban governor Mohammad Ismail Ghaznavi as describing Fateh as a “committed and loyal” member of the Taliban who would remain with the group.
A video published by Hurriyat shows Fateh boarding a helicopter and bidding farewell to armed Taliban members. This came a day after the outlet dismissed reports of his transfer to Badakhshan’s provincial capital as “rumours” and “baseless”.
Fateh recently travelled to Faizabad under guarantees from Taliban army chief Fasihuddin Fitrat to discuss his disputes with the Taliban leadership. Sources say the disagreements centred on local appointments, efforts to disarm fighters loyal to him and the management of Badakhshan’s gold mines.
The Taliban’s order to prevent illegal gold mining has directly affected Fateh’s economic interests. The group has also sought to disarm his loyalists who do not hold official positions within the Taliban structure.
Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had previously removed Fateh from his post as deputy governor of Zabul and planned to appoint him to a government position outside Badakhshan.
However, according to information obtained by Afghanistan International, Fateh rejected those proposals and refused to accept a post outside Badakhshan.
Sources said one of the positions offered to him was to head a Taliban intelligence department in Kabul, but Fateh also declined that role.
Dissident Taliban Commander Returns To Darwaz After Renewing Loyalty
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
