Ghani fled Kabul with less than a million dollars, says report

Ghani fled Kabul with less than a million dollars, says report

The SIGAR report, compiled based on interviews of at least 30 former officials, including those close to Ghani, suggests a little over $500,000 million in cash on board the helicopters. Significantly, the fund that Ghani took away was not the government fund but was the leftover amount that the UAE government had provided to Ghani to support his 2019 presidential campaign.

More on Afghanistan

Taliban snub Qatar, sign deal with UAE-based company to run three Afghan airports

However, the extent of Qatar’s leverage over the hardline Islamist group has recently come into question, as Doha failed to influence the behavior of the group on key issues, including some most concerning to western countries such as the formation of inclusive government and protecting rights of women and girls.

Hold the Taliban accountable for systematic discrimination against women and girls, say rights organisations

“Women journalists are just the latest casualties in what has become the most serious women’s rights crisis in the world. But the Taliban are not immovable, and coordinated pressure has the potential to impact their decisions,” HRW said in its

Division appears within Taliban as some leaders openly back girls’ education

The remark is significant as it comes ahead of a crucial Taliban meeting where the group is scheduled to revisit the issue pertaining to education for girls. Prior to Stanekzai, who is widely considered a moderate within the ultra-conservative group, senior leaders of the infamous Haqqani Network had also backed the education rights for girls.

Taliban tightens its moral policing, orders female television presenters to cover their faces; university girls with colorful headscarves barred entry

Since coming to power in August last year, the ultra-conservative group has imposed several restrictions, including ban education for secondary level girls, and barring women from driving and traveling without male relatives

Taliban dissolves Human Rights Commission, bans private security companies, saying these were no longer needed

The ministry also ordered companies to hand over their weapons, operation information, contracts signed in the last two decades, and a list of the people and organizations they guarded so far. Importantly, a number of firms were also providing security to foreign embassies and international aid groups operating in the country

Pakistan’s former spy chief holds peace talks with TTP in Kabul

Significantly, the attacks by the TTP in the last few weeks have reduced significantly, as a result of the ceasefire announced last month, reportedly brokered by the intervention of the Afghan Taliban and tribal elders.

India extends special exemption for Afghan agricultural exports; traders happy

The extension of exemption will help Afghan traders. Earlier, New Delhi also provided 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat to the country in the grip of a humanitarian crisis

Afghan women must cover their faces in public, orders Taliban, imposing more restrictions on women in public spaces

When the Taliban was ousted from power in 2001, Afghan women had made tremendous gains —including the right to education and work. Most of these gains have already been erased in the group’s eight months' rule now

Barred from schools, Afghan girls face psychological problems as career dreams crash

Tragically, the trend of early and forced marriages is growing across Afghanistan, aided by the ongoing ban on girls' education and escalating humanitarian crisis. There are several reports indicating the selling of children, particularly girls, by desperate parents.

Taliban needs to implement its commitments to gain legitimacy, says US special envoy for Afghanistan; women must work and girls must return to school

Rina Amiri, US special envoy for Afghanistan’s women, girls, and human rights, said the Muslim-majority countries needed to champion the cause of Afghan women and girls. “Taliban policies denying girls and women education and jobs aren’t seen in any other Muslim-majority country,” she said.

We won't tolerate 'invasions', says Taliban defense minister to Pakistan; Kabul-Islamabad ties taut

The airstrikes by Pakistan in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nangahar provinces resulted in the death of almost 20 children, sparking a series of protests against Afghanistan across several Afghan cities

33 killed in yet another bombing in northern Afghanistan as the ISKP threat grows

For the country’s ethnic Shiite Hazaras, a historically persecuted community, the week has been the deadliest in recent months, with their places of worship and other community spaces being targeted by Sunni Jihadist ISKP. Over three dozen people were confirmed killed in these attacks

Afghanistan’s Shiite Hazaras under attack as bombings claim over two dozen; question marks on Taliban control

The relative calm of the last few months had also given rise to the notion among some analysts that the Taliban might have effectively controlled the ISKP. Recent development put a question mark on it

At least six killed in multiple explosions in Kabul’s Shiite neighborhood; higher toll feared

The bombings, the first in recent months after a winter lull, reignited the fear among the country’s persecuted minority Hazaras who have been targeted by Sunni extremists repeatedly in the past

Iran summons Afghan envoy after protestors pelt stones at its consulates in Afghanistan; Kabul-Tehran tension grows

The videos that went viral showed Afghans being brutally thrashed and beaten by what seemed to be personnel of Iranian security forces, and in some cases even by certain groups of civilians