Thomas Mackintosh BBC News, London AFP via Getty Images A stock image of a man playing chess in a tournament in Kandahar in June 2022 The Taliban government in Afghanistan has banned chess until further notice due to fears the game is a source of gambling. Officials said the game has been prohibited indefinitely until…
Washington’s former envoy to Kabul says an American citizen has been released by the Taliban government after being held for two months. Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as the US special representative for Afghanistan from 2018-2021, said on the social media platform X that Faye Hall will “soon be heading home” after she was arrested by…
The US has removed millions of dollars in bounties from senior members of the Haqqani militant network in Afghanistan, including one on its leader Sirajuddin Haqqani who is also the Taliban government’s interior minister. It is a significant move given that the Haqqani network is accused of carrying out some of the most high-profile and…
The Taliban has told the BBC it will endeavour to release two British nationals who have been arrested and held in Afghanistan “as soon as possible”. Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, were arrested on 1 February while returning to their home in the country’s Bamiyan province. An American national and an Afghan…
The top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) says he will seek arrest warrants against senior leaders of the Taliban government in Afghanistan over the persecution of women and girls. Karim Khan said there were reasonable grounds to suspect Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani bore criminal responsibility for crimes…
Anna Corbett Ryan Corbett pictured with his wife Anna in an undated photo Two Americans held by the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have been exchanged for an Afghan imprisoned in the US on drug trafficking and terrorism charges. The news emerged after Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty were freed. The Afghan, Khan Mohmmad, had…
Malala Yousafzai has urged Muslim leaders to challenge the Taliban government in Afghanistan and its repressive policies for girls and women. “Simply put, the Taliban in Afghanistan do not see women as human beings,” she told an international summit hosted by Pakistan on girls education in Islamic countries. Ms Yousafzai told Muslim leaders there was…
