• TALIBAN EXPECTS SANCTIONS TO BE LIFTED AT UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY THIS WEEK – Bilal Karimi, a spokesman for the regime says the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) expects the UN to remove sanctions and to recognize the defacto regime based on its record of success over the past two years during this week’s meeting of the General Assembly in New York. No representative from Afghanistan has been invited to the meeting but there are rumors that some states may lobby on their behalf in the corridors between sessions. The topic of gender discrimination in Afghanistan is scheduled to be discussed but there were no indications that sanctions relief or recognition would be on the table. Even if it were, it does not appear likely that any real support would be forthcoming while the Taliban policies remain in place. Clearly, the Taliban brain trust believes that limited success against ISIS-K and incremental economic advances are enough to outweigh the draconian domestic policies they have instituted. Ultimately, this regime has been imposed on the people in an undemocratic transfer of power, is not ethnically/religiously/gender inclusive, and has relegated half of the population to a faceless existence. Even nations that are prone to overlooking such flaws will be loathe to support recognition.


• KABUL-JALALABAD HIGHWAY STILL CLOSED, ALTERNATE ROUTE ESTABLISHED – The Taliban Ministry of Defense said it had opened an alternative route to Jalalabad from Kabul and was directing traffic that has been backed up for several days due to a landslide to use the new route. We are waiting on details about the new route and there are rumors that busses that normally make the daily runs between the two cities have instituted temporary price hikes for fees in order to offset the additional fuel required to negotiate the new detour.


• AFGHAN COMMANDER IN SYRIA ARRESTED FOR COOPERATING WITH COALITION FORCES – An unidentified Afghan citizen who is reputedly a Commander of a militia in the Idlib Province of Syria was taken into custody along with 2 unidentified companions and stands accused of working for the Coalition forces. The Afghan Commander was arrested by the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militia forces which have ties to al-Qaeda and evolved from the Nusra Front. It is not clear where the men are being held and what their disposition is.


• BODY OF AFGHAN MINER DISCOVERED IN BALOCHISTAN – The body of a man identified only as Saifullah who was reportedly an Afghan coal miner working in the Duki District was discovered Sunday near the Malizai coal mine. The man’s body had been mutilated and his feet and hands had been tied behind his back. Authorities took the body to a hospital in Duki and an investigation has been launched.

• TALIBAN MOVES TO ERADICATE GULBUDDIN HIKMATYAR’S POLITICAL PARTY – Several reports on social media show Taliban security forces removing office equipment and forcing employees out of Hikmatyar’s political party offices. The Hizb-e-Islami party was blacklisted by the Ministry of Justice earlier in 2023 but the day-to-day operations had continued.


• INDIA ANNOUNCES ESTABLISHMENT OF 1,000 SCHOLARSHIPS DESIGNATED FOR AFGHAN STUDENTS – The Indian Council for Cultural Relations announced a new initiative to offer 1,000 scholarships for both graduate and undergraduate students from Afghanistan. To be considered for the scholarships, applicants must:


• Be Afghan nationals;


• Have an age between 18 and 35 years as of July 1, 2023;


• Possess adequate English language proficiency;


• Meet the minimum academic qualifications required by the respective Indian Universities/Institutes for their chosen program or course.

Applications will begin being accepted on 22 September 2023 and must be completed online through the iLearn Portal.


• TALIBAN TO CRACK DOWN ON YOUTUBERS – A source in Kabul said that Taliban Ministers were alarmed at the recent spike in YouTube accounts that had been registered in Afghanistan over the past four months and intended to establish a procedure to regulate the accounts by mid-October. Many of the accounts have released content that is critical of the Taliban and subscriptions for some of the more popular channels have exceeded 100,000 people. The Taliban have been largely unsuccessful at controlling online social media activity and the source said that China has failed to provide assistance in this regard but things could change soon.


• MINISTRY OF VICE AND VIRTUE HALTS SALE OF ‘THIN, TIGHT, SHORT’ CLOTHING IN BAMYAN – Shopkeepers in the Province received notification from the Provincial Vice and Virtue offices to remove any women’s clothing that was deemed to be ‘too revealing’. The Department has been ordering residents to stop wearing such clothing in public. It is not clear what penalties will be imposed for ignoring the new rules.

American helicopters ferried the commandos into position after midnight, surrounding a house in Atmeh, a town close to the border with Turkey in rebel-held Idlib Province, according to eyewitnesses, social media reports and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a conflict monitor based in Britain.

A long, tense standoff ensued, with loudspeakers blaring warnings in Arabic for everyone in the house to surrender, neighbors said. After about two hours, the house’s occupants had not emerged and a major battle erupted, with heavy machine gun fire and apparent missile strikes that damaged the house, collapsed some of its walls and blew out its windows.

He had not appeared in public, and rarely released any audio recordings. His influence and day-to-day involvement in the group’s operations was not known and it is difficult to gauge how his death will affect the group.

His killing, however, is a significant blow just as the group had been trying to reassert itself in Syria and Iraq.

By the time the fighting was finished and the devastated prison was back in the hands of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, more than 500 people were dead, about three-quarters of them suspected militants, the SDF reported. And scores, maybe hundreds, of prisoners had escaped, free to raise the Islamic State’s black flag and fight again.

Biden announces that US Special Forces have eliminated Baghdadi successor and ISIS Leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in raid in Syria last night. pic.twitter.com/W5JsReA5K3

— Enemy Slayer (@EnemySlayer24_7) February 3, 2022

Turkish Air Force TAI Anka combat UAV downed in Idlib Province by Syrian Government Forces. pic.twitter.com/ZaUYkGF7yT

— Aldin 🇧🇦 (@aldin_ww) February 25, 2020