Afghanistan

The report, filed under Section 7044 of the foreign operations appropriations legislation, outlines multiple fronts on which Washington plans to back human rights, education, and free expression – particularly for Afghan women and girls – even as the Taliban remain in control of most of the country.

This was the first major disaster to strike since the Trump administration suspended US foreign aid to Afghanistan in January. While Washington released statements of sympathy, it has made no formal pledge of direct financial assistance to quake relief.

Large projects like the Mes Aynak copper deposit, the vast iron ore reserve at Hajigak, the Balkhab copper prospects, and rich gemstone deposits in Badakhshan have long drawn interest from potential foreign partners.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement this week that the continued exclusion of girls from classrooms was “a tragic violation of their fundamental rights.” She warned that the ban is denying an entire generation the opportunity to learn and jeopardizing Afghanistan’s future.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan says it has reached an agreement in principle with the United States to carry out a prisoner swap.

Daniyal’s arrival is not a miracle story – it's a chilling symbol of the desperate circumstances confronting Afghan refugees in Pakistan today.

At the Sixth Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue held in Kabul on 20 August 2025, Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar reached a landmark agreement to extend CPEC into Afghanistan.

In the quiet classrooms of Pakistani universities, thousands of Afghan students – many in the last stretch of their advanced degrees – are living with an unrelenting countdown. On 31 August 2025, Pakistan’s government has ordered that all Afghan nationals must leave the country or face arrest and deportation.