As global pressure mounts on the Taliban and their senior leaders, Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s minister for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, has called on their members to remain steadfast in the face of foreign scrutiny.

In an audio message broadcast by Taliban-controlled National Television, Hanafi urged followers to practice “patience, perseverance, and piety” in response to external pressures.

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More than two years after the Taliban’s 2022 ban on narcotics, poppy cultivation levels in Afghanistan remain historically low, but opium continues to be grown, cultivated, and sold in some areas, according to a new report from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

Afghanistan’s opium trade remains active due to large reserves of stored opium and a decline in opiate prices.

SIGAR also noted that while Afghanistan has seen a reduction in opium production, the country continues to produce far more methamphetamine than what is seized by authorities downstream.

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A senior World Health Organization official cautioned Wednesday that the eradication of polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only countries where the paralytic virus persists, is threatened by the suspension of funding from the United States.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered an unprecedented 90-day suspension of almost all foreign aid to give his administration the time to evaluate whether to continue funding the numerous humanitarian, development and security programs that receive U.S. assistance.

On his first day back in the White House, Trump announced he was withdrawing the United States from WHO.

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https://www.voanews.com/a/7955883.html

Refugee cricketers hope the charity match in Melbourne, Australia can help ‘open doors for Afghan women in education and sport’ in the future.

Read more: 

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/1/30/afghan-women-cricketers-reunite-in-first-game-after-fleeing-taliban#ixzz8z38pkQtC

The Taliban are taking over the operations of Afghanistan’s only luxury hotel in Kabul, more than a decade after they launched a deadly attack there that killed nine people.

The Serena Hotel said Friday it was closing its operations in the Afghan capital on Feb. 1, with the Hotel State Owned Corporation taking over. The corporation is overseen by the finance ministry.

The Taliban first targeted the Serena in 2008 and again in 2014. Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani acknowledged planning the 2008 attack, which killed eight, including U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla.

Last year, in a sign the country was preparing for more overseas visitors, the Serena reopened its women’s spa and salon for foreign females after a months long closure, only to shut them again under pressure from Taliban authorities.

The Taliban have barred women from gyms, public spaces including parks, and education. Last year, they ordered the closure of beauty salons, allegedly because they offered services forbidden by Islam.

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https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-serena-hotel-33e96bd3366e656622abaabca43e0e20

Thor David Hesla was working out in the gym at the Serena when he was killed. The seasoned humanitarian aid worker had come to Kabul only in November 2007 to work on a USAID-funded project in communications. Here is his official obituary:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/atlanta/name/thor-hesla-obituary

Veteran organisations have largely supported efforts to bring Afghan citizens to safety in the US, particularly if they worked with US forces or the US-backed government.

But in the first days of Trump’s second term, the government paused the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), leaving some already approved Afghan applicants stranded abroad.

Another executive order halted foreign aid. That, in turn, has caused interruptions to the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programme for Afghans who worked with the US military.

While Trump’s orders have not directly stopped processing under SIV, they have snarled a pipeline for those seeking relief under the programme, which requires federal funding to operate.

Earlier this month, 10 national organisations that rely on federal support to provide “reception and placement services” received an order to stop work immediately — and incur no further costs.

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/1/trump-at-odds-with-us-military-veterans-over-snarled-afghan-relocations

The office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, the watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan, said on Friday the Taliban have no legal right to billions of dollars in funding set aside for the country because they are not recognized as its government and are under sanctions.

In 2022, the U.S. transferred $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets previously frozen in America to the Swiss-based Fund for the Afghan People. The fund has grown 

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Salaam. Wanted to ask if anyone by any chance knows any good apps on firestick to watch afghan channels. I’ve tried searching for a few and tried one, but some channels just don’t work since the stream is outdated. If you have any good pointers, let me know. Thanks

Congratulations to the Afghanistan Women's Cricket team (and Cricket Without Borders) for getting back out onto the pitch yesterday. https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/articles/c1m53y700plo

I have seen many people claiming that many Afghans (outside of Afghanistan, obviously) are turning to atheism. I personally haven't met one that identifies as anything other than muslim even if they aren't religious. Besides, there are no datas, as expected, proving that claim. Can someone else verifies this if they had met any atheist Afghan? I find it really fascinating and actually want to know more about that part of our community.

I'm a student teacher and my class just had a new student start who speaks Dari. Fortunately my school has some really great resources for students who don't speak English, but I still want to be able to communicate with him in some way, at least enough to greet him. I was hoping someone could teach me an appropriate greeting for a teacher to use when talking to a young child, as I know that in many languages there are different norms for conversation. Any other conversational phrases that may be used in school are also welcome!

Thank you so much in advance!!

https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/AFG/afghanistan/birth-rate#:~:text=The%20birth%20rate%20for%20Afghanistan,a%202.05%25%20decline%20from%202021.

This is my source. Maybe there is something wrong with my source.

Hi everyone. I recently took a DNA test, and to my surprise, it showed that 4.8% of my ancestry is connected to the Nuristani people from Afghanistan. While I have read a little about Nuristan and its history, I would love to learn more about the Nuristani people.

Are there any Nuristani people here who could share more about their traditions, language, or any other interesting facts? I'd also appreciate any book or article recommendations to dive deeper into their history and culture.

Like if women can't be doctors, nurses, and midwives but women can't see male doctors then are they just going to Russian roulette their lives? Logically wouldn't you want women healthy especially to have children and to use as a slave? Also why are they trying to ban women from speaking?

I don't even think Afghanistan 500 years ago was this strict and illogical.

Last week, the Trump administration halted refugee flights across the globe, froze almost all foreign assistance, and cut off assistance for newly arrived refugees in the United States.

There are around 3,000 Afghans currently in Qatar and 500 in Albania who are awaiting onward travel to the US, according to Anna Lloyd of Task Force Argo, a volunteer group that works to relocate vulnerable Afghans. For those who are now in limbo in third countries like Qatar, the Trump-ordered US freeze on all foreign aid means they have lost access to services and even goods like diapers and toiletries that were funded by the US government, sources told CNN.

The freeze on foreign assistance abruptly halted services – including mental health services, education for children, sewing or music classes, and even the distribution of things like diapers and toiletries – provided by organizations in these third-party countries.

Lloyd explained that Afghans who were told they were on future flights have likely “sold everything” and left their homes to await their flights.

Full story: https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/politics/afghans-lose-access-to-critical-resources-trump/index.html

i tried to do some research but id just like to make sure! any advice/comment is appreciated 😄

Don't ban the Afghanistan men's side from playing international cricket but do expect them to do more for the women and girls who don't have the same rights they do. That's the opinion of two formerly contracted Afghanistan women's players living in exile in Australia.

Firooza Amiri and Benafsha Hashimi fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021 and have narrated their story of escape to a new life on ESPNcricinfo's Powerplay podcast. Both women continue to play club cricket in Australia, with hopes of representing their country someday even though that will not be possible until the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) put up a women's team. Under Taliban rule, the ACB cannot do that because of the country's laws, which forbid women from playing sport, studying and working.

Given that Afghanistan are ICC Full Members, and that one of the conditions of that status is to have a women's side, there has been debate over whether or not to sanction the Afghanistan's men's team. 

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/exiled-afghanistan-women-players-to-men-team-please-be-the-voice-of-the-girls-1469959