Deutsche Welle: It’s eight months since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and the country has slipped down the news agenda. ’The world forgets about us,’ says Friba Rezayee, the first Afghan woman to compete at the Olympics. “I wish I didn’t exist," Afghan athlete Amira (name changed) writes. "I didn't do anything wrong. The only crime I have committed is to play sports.” Before the Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021, Amira was one of the best judo fighters in the country. A few weeks ago, the Taliban raided her home for documents that would prove the young woman had been a member of the Afghan national team.      Full news...

Etlaat-e-Rooz: A family in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, claims that Taliban forces killed a teenage boy and wounded two others. Salahuddin, a member of the family, said that the incident took place last night (Saturday, April 24) in the seventh district of Jalalabad. According to him, a 15-year-old boy, his name was Adel, was killed in a Taliban shooting.      Full news...

The New York Times: The blast in Mazar-i-Sharif, one of Afghanistan’s economic hubs, was the latest in a series of attacks on one of its religious minorities and was claimed by an ISIS affiliate. KABUL, Afghanistan — An explosion at a Shiite mosque in northern Afghanistan on Thursday killed at least 10 people and wounded more than two dozen others, local officials said, adding to the toll of a bloody week for one of the country’s religious minorities.      Full news...

Foreign Policy: Violence is intensifying in Afghanistan eight months after the United States’ retreat allowed the Taliban to return to power, fueling concerns that the country may again become a hub of instability and terrorism across South and Central Asia and beyond. Afghanistan has long been a base for militants with ambitions for global jihad. Dozens of groups that have been present since the Taliban’s last turn in power from 1996 to 2001 are again operational, looking for opportunities to expand their reach, said security, diplomatic, and military sources.      Full news...

The Washington Post: KABUL — At least six people were killed and 11 injured by two explosions Tuesday morning outside a large public school in western Kabul, police and school officials said. The death toll was expected to climb, as witnesses and survivors said scores of people had been injured and taken to nearby hospitals. The back-to-back blasts struck at the heart of the capital’s minority Shiite Hazara community, just outside the prominent Abdul Rahman Shahid school, where dozens of students were leaving after morning classes.      Full news...

Amnesty International: Responding to the deaths of at least six people and the injury of 11 others, including children, following bomb blasts in schools in predominantly Hazara Shiite communities in Kabul today, Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner, said:“These reprehensible attacks on schools highlight the violence that Afghan people continue to face in their daily lives. It also shows that the Taliban, as the de-facto authorities, are failing to protect civilians, especially those from ethnic and religious minority groups, from harm.      Full news...

Tolo TV: On Friday night, the Pakistani air strikes targeted civilians in Esperai district in Khost, killing dozens of people. Strong reactions continue at national level against Pakistani military’s air strikes and rocket attacks on Afghan provinces with many blaming Pakistan for violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.      Full news...

Tolo TV: Family members claim that US forces took their wounded six-year-old daughter with them after the attack, and they have no information about her fate.“We raised our voices, but no one heard us,” said Safir Khan, a member of the family. “These children do not have a father and do not have a supporter,” said Hassan Khan, a relative of the family.      Full news...

The Intercept: EIGHT MONTHS AFTER a U.S.-supported government in Afghanistan was defeated by the Taliban, violence against civilians and politically motivated violence persist in the country even as incidents have become harder to report and verify amid an intensifying information blackout, a report published today reveals. Journalists and women, particularly those participating in or covering demonstrations in opposition to Taliban rule, have been increasingly targeted, as have members of the former government and security forces.      Full news...

The Bharat Express News: Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan last year, they have hunted down government officials aided by the United States. Contrary to their promise, they have been investigating these officials for months and, despite their promise of clemency, have finally punished them. According to a report, 500 government officers have been killed or disappeared so far. The Taliban, however, call these allegations baseless. According to media reports, the Taliban used numerous tactics to track the whereabouts of Afghan soldiers and government officials who aided the United States.      Full news...

The Washington Post: HERAT, Afghanistan — Without work, Khangul Sadiqi found himself heavily in debt. His children often went to bed hungry, shivering in their unheated home. And so, six months into Taliban rule, he began to see his three girls through the prism of survival. “Rather than all of my family members die, I decided it’s better to sell one of my girls to save the rest,” Sadiqi said. The daughter he sold is Zahra. She is 3 years old. Her buyer is a wealthy man in search of another wife. He is 50. The cost of the sale: roughly $500.      Full news...

The Print: Even as Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate continues to deny education to girls beyond the sixth grade, more than two dozen top Taliban leaders are educating their daughters at schools in Doha, Peshawar and Karachi, sources familiar with the movement have told ThePrint.The leaders include Health Minister Qalandar Ebad, Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, and spokesperson Suhail Shaheen.      Full news...

8am: Sources in Bamyan province confirm that the Taliban have arrested 11 women in the province on charges of disrupting the group’s support program.The sources told the 8am newspaper on Thursday that 11 women have been detained by the Taliban since Saturday. According to these sources, first three people who had lowered the Taliban banners were arrested and then eight others were arrested on charges of disrupting the program.      Full news...

Etilaat-e-Rooz: Local sources in Bamyan province say female students tore down Taliban banners in response to a “staged” support program. This happened three days ago in Bamyan. According to sources, Bamyan University officials had asked female students to participate in a women’s rights program at the Bamyan Sports Stadium, but when the girls attended the program, they realized that the program was not in support of women’s rights, but in support of the Taliban.      Full news...

GALLUP: WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Taliban’s recent decision to renege on its promise to allow girls to attend school past sixth grade is a stark reminder of how much life has changed for Afghans since the group returned to power last year -- and Gallup's surveys in the country show it hasn’t been for the better. As the Taliban completed its takeover of Afghanistan last year, nearly all Afghans (94%) rated their lives poorly enough to be considered suffering. This was not only a record high for Afghanistan, but also the highest level of suffering that Gallup has measured for any country since 2005.      Full news...

Daily 8am: The Taliban Ministry of Higher Education has written to all public and private universities that female professors are no longer allowed to attend men’s scientific conferences. The letter states that female professors, students and graduates are not allowed to participate in men’s programs.      Full news...

Subh-e-Kabul: “Nafisa worked at the Ali Chopan Clinic”, said the source. Yesterday evening, she was on her way home from work with her sister’s child and a colleague. “The Taliban said why did you get in a car with a non-mahram?”. According to the latest information received by Sobh-e-Kabul newspaper, a young girl who was killed in Balkh province was first tortured by the Taliban and then shot dead.      Full news...