Afghanistan

07 July 2022; MEMO: The Taliban and the United Arab Emirates are poised to strike a deal for the Gulf nation to run Kabul Airport and several others in Afghanistan that could be announced within weeks, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, Reuters reports.

The Taliban, whose government remains an international pariah without formal recognition, have courted regional powers, including Qatar and Turkiye, to operate Kabul airport, landlocked Afghanistan's main air link with the world, and others.

BARMAL, Afghanistan, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Mawlawi Mansoor, head of Natural Disaster Management Authority of Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province, on Saturday thanked China for sending humanitarian assistance to quake-affected families.

"We are thankful to China for sending assistance particularly tents to the quake-affected people here and I am also hopeful that the neighboring country could help rebuild the ruined houses," Mansoor told Xinhua.

KABUL, Jul 2 (NNN-ANA) – Eight people were injured, after unknown elements threw a hand grenade into a religious school, in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province today, a local television channel reported.

The grenade attack on Usman Zonurain seminary, in Rodat district, took place early today, and all the injured have been taken to a hospital, Tolonews quoted police spokesman, Abdul Basir Zabuli, as saying.

The attack came amid a three-day gathering of religious scholars and elders, in the capital, Kabul which conclude today.

KABUL, July 2 (Reuters) - A Taliban-run gathering of thousands of male religious and ethnic leaders ended on Saturday by asking foreign governments to formally recognise their administration, but made no signals of changes on international demands such as the opening of girls' high schools.

The Afghan economy has plunged into crisis as Western governments have withdrawn funding and strictly enforced sanctions, saying the Taliban government needs to change course on human rights, especially those of women.

GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — The death toll of children in last week’s devastating earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan has risen to at least 155, the United Nations said as the scope of the deadliest quake to hit the impoverished country in two decades comes into focus.

GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — When the ground heaved from last week’s earthquake in Afghanistan, Nahim Gul’s stone-and-mud house collapsed on top of him.

He clawed through the rubble in the pre-dawn darkness, choking on dust as he searched for his father and two sisters. He doesn’t know how many hours of digging passed before he caught a glimpse of their bodies under the ruins. They were dead.

GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — An aftershock took more lives Friday and threatened to pile even more misery on an area of eastern Afghanistan reeling from a powerful earthquake that state media said killed 1,150 people this week.

Wednesday’s magnitude 6 quake struck a remote, mountainous region already grappling with staggering poverty at a time when the country as a whole is spiraling deeper into economic crisis after many countries pulled back critical financing and development aid in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover.

GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — Survivors dug by hand Thursday through villages in eastern Afghanistan reduced to rubble by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 1,000 people, as the Taliban and the international community that fled their takeover struggled to aid the disaster’s victims.

In Paktika province’s hard-hit Gayan district, villagers stood atop the mud bricks that once was a home there. Others carefully walked through dirt alleyways, gripping onto damaged walls with exposed timber beams to make their way.

22 June 2022; MEMO: The United Nations does not have search and rescue capabilities in Afghanistan and Turkiye is "best positioned" to provide it following a deadly earthquake in Afghanistan on Wednesday, a senior UN aid official said, Reuters reports.

KABUL, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's central bank, the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), said Sunday it would further inject 12 million U.S. dollars into the local market to boost the national currency afghani.

The DAB said in a statement that it was requesting all eligible banks and monetary service providers to participate in the auction scheduled for Monday.

"In auction bids, partial settlement of currencies is not allowed and the winners of the auction must deposit in the Da Afghanistan Bank their money at one time in cash," the statement said.