Facilities at the main northwestern border crossing of Torkham have been increased three times to cater for the rising number of returnees.

Pakistan says deportations protect its ‘welfare and security’, amid growing anti-Afghan sentiment from economic woes and cross-border militancy.

Islamabad has given hundreds of thousands of Afghans it says are living illegally in Pakistan until November 1 to leave voluntarily or face deportation, with the order coming amid a rise in attacks blamed on militants operating from Afghanistan.

Taliban’s acting minister for commerce and industry, Haji Nooruddin Azizi, will travel to Beijing, ministry spokesman tells Reuters, in move underscoring China’s growing ties with Kabul.

The UK ordered an inquiry last year after the BBC reported that soldiers from the elite Special Air Service (SAS) had killed 54 people in suspicious circumstances during the war in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.

Two-thirds of those with severe injuries following the latest devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan are children and women, WHO’s Dr Alaa AbouZeid said.

Most foreign nations – including India – do not officially recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which seized power following the collapse of the Western-backed government more than two years ago.

Afghan women have become increasingly isolated and restricted, often by male relatives tasked with upholding the Taliban’s decrees, the UN’s women chief told the Security Council.

Beijing is in the unusual position of maintaining an ambassador and embassy in a country ruled by a regime it does not officially recognise.

A report from the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crimes said the country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban declared a war on narcotics in August 2021.

The mining contracts are the Taliban’s biggest such round of deals since seizing power two years ago.

The Vice and Virtue Ministry says women have not been properly wearing the hijab at the Band-e-Amir park, while Human Rights Watch says ‘step by step the walls are closing in … as every home becomes a prison’.

Supporters celebrated Tuesday, marking the day two years ago when the US-backed government collapsed, but others denounced the increasing restrictions on women’s lives.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada barred women from universities last December. A Higher Education Ministry adviser said universities were ready to readmit female students as soon as Akhundzada gives the order for the ban to be lifted.

But the risk of sanctions and security factors mean Chinese companies are still reluctant to invest in Afghanistan, says academic.

More professional women are enrolling in nursing and midwifery courses, fed up with being cooped up and unemployed since the Taliban seized power.

State media heralded the departure of a cargo from Lanzhou, a key transport hub, but analysts said its main importance is the symbolism.

Working as nurses and doctors are now the only jobs for women in Afghanistan. The restrictions are forcing women to secretly work from home as teachers and make-up artists.

Moral injury could stem from missions where members of the armed forces feel a ‘personal dilemma’ due to the commands they have been given, says Professor Walter Busuttil.

Decision comes after Chinese foreign ministry’s external security affairs chief holds first such meeting with Iranian and Pakistani counterparts in Beijing.

It is thought to be the first assault of its kind since the Taliban swept to power in 2021 and began to crack down on the rights of Afghan women and girls.