Amir Khan Mutaqi is barred by sanctions from leaving Afghanistan but was granted an exemption for a trip to Islamabad to meet his neighbouring counterpart.

‘If there is no justice, and there is oppression, selfishness, murders and revenge, as well as killings without courts, this country will be ruined,’ Islamic scholar, Hibatullah Akhundzada, said.

The US president’s choices for ending America’s longest war were ‘severely constrained’ by his predecessor’s decisions, the White House says.

Media reports named the men as paramedic Kevin Cornwell, YouTube star Miles Routledge and an unnamed manager of a hotel for aid workers. The UK’s foreign ministry said it was ‘working hard to secure consular contact’ with the men.

The US Congress is moving toward doing something it hasn’t done since the Vietnam war – repealing authorisations for the president’s use of military force.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the regional affiliate of Islamic State has increased attacks since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021.

Since the Taliban came to power in 2021, life for most Afghans has become immeasurably worse. Now, with a ban on female aid workers, delivering foreign assistance has become harder than ever.

The arrest comes more than two years after a damning internal investigation found that 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners had been unlawfully killed by Australian elite special forces.

Beijing has appointed a host of emissaries to take on specific tasks, from ethnic conflicts to climate change.

The explosion went off at the Tabian Farhang centre in Mazar-i Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, as journalists gathered for the awards ceremony, police said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Readers discuss aggressive American rhetoric, the rules-based world, and why some Hongkongers are keeping their masks on.

The Taliban have said they are focused on boosting economic self-sufficiency through trade and investment even as some foreign investors have expressed concerns over a series attacks.

Three security force members and a civilian were killed. Two suicide bombers were killed and at least one blew himself up, officials said.

The jailed WikiLeaks founder risks extradition from the UK to the US to face trial for divulging US military secrets about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has banned most female aid workers and last year stopped women and girls from attending high school and university.

The warning comes despite weeks of condemnation and lobbying by the international community for a reversal on measures restricting women’s freedoms.

Markus Potzel is the first international official to meet Afghan Higher Education Minister Nida Mohammad Nadim since the ban was introduced on December 20, triggering widespread global condemnation.

Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas will invest up to US$150 million in the first year and US$540 million over the subsequent three years to explore five oil and gas blocks that are estimated to hold 87 million barrels of crude oil.

In his autobiography Spare, due out next week, Harry said he undertook six missions as a pilot that led to him ‘taking human lives’, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.

In a thinly veiled reference to Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, Pakistan’s national security council warned that ‘the full force of the state’ would ‘take on all and any entities that resort to violence’.

Markus Potzel, deputy head of UN Mission in Afghanistan, in Kabul to discuss the ban, as well as other measures curtailing women’s rights in the country

Martin Griffiths will seek to meet the highest possible officials within the Taliban-led administration, a senior UN official said on Thursday.

‘The Taliban’s reckless and dangerous order … puts at risk millions … who depend on humanitarian help for their survival’, ministers said.

Any NGO found not complying with the order will have their operating licence revoked in Afghanistan, according to letter from economy minister.

Social media filled with hashtags such as #LetAfghanGirlsLearn in support of Afghan women’s rights to education, clips of distressed students outside campus gates.

A State Department spokesman said no money changed hands, and indicated that the Taliban were holding other US citizens.

The incident reflected the Pakistan’s government’s inability to exercise control over the remote region along the border with Afghanistan.