DW.com: Afghanistan's Education Ministry is barring schoolgirls older than 12 from singing at public events, media reported on Wednesday. The reports come amid growing fears that the Taliban could regaining power in Afghanistan as the group negotiates a peace deal with the United States.Schoolgirls older than 12 will only be able to sing at events that are "100% attended by women," according to a letter of the decision shared by the Kabul-based broadcaster Ariana News on Twitter      Full news...

Foreign Policy: When Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, his main political opponent, signed a power-sharing deal in May, it ended eight months of bitter post-election dispute. It also came with a disturbing price tag, one hashed out among rounds of backroom deals, tense negotiations, and desperate U.S. attempts to keep the government from imploding.      Full news...

The Hindu: India must not commit the error of placing Indian troops on Afghan soil, says the diplomat who coordinated New Delhi’s secret military assistance to Ahmad Shah Massoud, the military commander of the Northern Alliance, who fought the Taliban and U.S. forces till his assassination in 2001.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: Despite reports that American troops may soon be leaving the country following a deal with the Taliban, the United States Central Intelligence Agency plans to retain a strong presence on the ground in Afghanistan. Reports indicate that Washington has resolved its differences with the Taliban about withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan as the Doha talks are underway.      Full news...

Foreign Policy: The muezzin had just called for the morning prayer when soldiers brandishing guns jumped off their Toyota Hiluxes, surrounded Noor Walli Khan’s house, knocked down the door, and entered the dark rooms where his family slept. Minutes later, they had tied everyone’s hands and feet and started pouring gasoline over the family’s only car.      Full news...

The New York Times: On the television screen in a second-floor room in Kabul last month, Ahmad Ishchi watched it live: how justice in Afghanistan bends to the powerful. Instead of being taken away in handcuffs, those accused of heinous crimes in this country can be seen strolling a red carpet.      Full news...

IWPR: A case in which a widow was beaten, humiliated and had her 12-year-old daughter sold off in marriage by her former in-laws has illustrated the extent of lawlessness in the southern province of Ghor. Although aware of the case, the district governor told IWPR that he was powerless to intervene because local militias had far more power than he did.      Full news...

Hambastagi.org (Translated by RAWA): On July 8, 2018, a woman named Umriaa from the Chah Aab district of Takhar province, was beaten up by the local lord of the area, Mohammadullah. Mohammadullah had led one of Bashir Qanet’s (a Gulbuddini commander) gangs in the past. The painful photo of Umriaa with a bloodied mouth was circulated on the social media.      Full news...

The Washington Post: As Afghan President Ashraf Ghani seeks to build momentum for peace talks with Taliban insurgents, a violent threat Wednesday from supporters of a powerful exiled warlord raised concerns that the government still faces pressure from ethnic minority leaders that could undermine its authority. For a second consecutive day, thousands of people in northern Faryab province protested the arrest of a commander loyal to Abdurrashid Dostum, the exiled ethnic Uzbek strongman who is technically first vice president under Ghani but has fled the country amid charges of abusing a political rival.      Full news...

Hambastagi.org (Translated by RAWA): On February 1, 2018, a 22-year-old woman named Suraya was beaten publicly in Rabaat Amdeen village of Chah Aab district in northern Takhar province. The woman’s husband is living in Iran, and the woman was accused of having relations with another man. Based on this accusation, Faiz, a local commander and one of Bashir Qanet’s (belonging to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezbe-Islami or Islamic Party) thugs, ordered her to be beaten brutally in public, in a mock court ruling.      Full news...

HRW: The Afghan government and US military should investigate reports that Afghan special forces summarily executed civilians in Kandahar province during military operations from January 31 to February 1, 2018, Human Rights Watch said today. Security personnel found to be responsible for abuses, including failing to report possible war crimes, should be held accountable.      Full news...

The Hill: The dangerous ongoing showdown between the Kabul government and Atta Mohammad Noor, a warlord-turned-governor of Balkh province, is inescapably about two things: money and muscle. Although this explosive combination of vying fiercely for power and money has been the cornerstone of Afghan politics for decades, this time it could threaten the current U.S. military campaign and undermine Afghanistan’s fragile security.      Full news...

The New York Time: The senior security official in northeastern Takhar Province was deferential when he telephoned Commander Bashir Qanet. After all, he was talking to one of the most powerful government supporters in the province, who has hundreds of militiamen under his command. “Please could you stop killing your own people?” he asked the commander, whose irregulars had just opened fire on a couple of dozen pro-government worshipers inside a mosque, during prayers, killing five and wounding 37.      Full news...

Khaama Press: A bride was killed and four others were wounded after the security guards of the second deputy chief executive Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq opened fire in mistake. The incident took place late on Sunday night in the vicinity of west of Kabul and close to the residence of Haji Mohaqiq.      Full news...

Fox News: He is known simply as the “Butcher of Kabul” and, after 20 years in self-imposed exile, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned last week to the Afghan capitol he once mercilessly massacred. President Ghani and members of his national unity government warmly welcomed the warlord. After fighting the Soviet Union and the Afghan communist government during the 1980s with his Hezb-e-Islami militia, Hekmatyar, 69, and other warlords eventually sparked civil war within Afghanistan.      Full news...

Salam Watandar: Funcionários da província de Ghor relataram que um homem ligado a Said Ahmad, comandante local da província de Ghor, jogou uma mulher em um vale e depois amarrou seu corpo quase morto a um cavalo, e a arrastou até a morte. O incidente ocorreu na aldeia de SamK, distrito de Dawlatyar.      Full news...

Salam Watandar: Funcionarios de la provincia de Ghor han informado que un hombre atado a Said Ahmad, comandante local en la provincia de Ghor, arrojó a una mujer a un valle y luego ató su cuerpo casi muerto a un caballo, y la arrastró hasta la muerte. El incidente ocurrió en la aldea de Samk, distrito de Dawlatyar.      Full news...

Salam Watandar (Translated by RAWA): Officials in Ghor province have reported that a man tied to Said Ahmad, a local commander in Ghor province, threw a woman into a valley and then tied her half-dead body to a horse and dragged her till she was dead. The incident occurred in Samk village of Dawlatyar district.      Full news...

Newsweek: A 20-year-old Afghan woman was allegedly gang-raped after escaping violence in her home, according to local media. The woman, a newlywed, was lured by a group of men and encouraged to elope with one of them after fleeing domestic violence perpetrated by her new husband, Afghan news outlet Khaama Press reports. The incident took place in northeastern Takhar province amid a surge in violence in the country over the past year.      Full news...

IWPR: A profusion of local militias in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan are presenting a serious threat to security, according to participants in a recent IWPR debate. The situation is further complicated by the semi-legal status of some of the armed groups, recruited by the government to try and help keep order.      Full news...

The Guardian: The US military and the CIA are turning a blind eye as Afghanistan’s spy agency spends foreign donor money on militias which are committing human rights abuses that help destabilise the fragile country, according to local and western officials. The Afghan national directorate of security (NDS) arms strongmen ostensibly to fight the Taliban and other militants.      Full news...

The Washington Post: For 30 years, Gen. Abdurrashid Dostum has reigned as northern Afghanistan’s untouchable warrior-king: first as a ruthless pro-communist general, later as an armed U.S. ally against the Taliban and finally as a reliable, if unsavory, political boss who could deliver votes from his ethnic Uzbek followers.      Full news...

Hambastagi.org (Translated by RAWA): The heart wrenching cries of a father of two young girls who were forced into marriage with a warlord in Khewa district of Nangahar province, has been echoing in the media and social networking websites for days, wounding the conscience of everyone. This incident had occurred months back but officials in Nangarhar province had threatened and deceived the father to silence this case, like they had in hundreds of other cases of crimes and atrocities committed by local powerful men.      Full news...

IWPR: Large numbers of unregistered madrassas, or religious schools, operating in Afghanistan may be serving as a source of extremist recruitment, according to speakers at a series of IWPR debates. Public events held in August and September heard that the government urgently needed to crack down on institutions with no specific curriculum and no official oversight.      Full news...

Asia Times: One of the most colorful figures of the Afghan jihad, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, recently signed a peace deal with Kabul which is also seen as a back-to-back US-Pakistan deal. Hekmatyar, who lives in Pakistan with his family, is known for his anti-Indian views. As India openly supports Baluchi nationalists in Pakistan, Islamabad wants to sever the ties between Delhi and Kabul and Hekmatyar can guarantee that in future. India has reason to be worried.      Full news...

Human Rights Watch: The Afghan government should prosecute militia members responsible for killings and other abuses against civilians in Afghanistan’s northern Faryab province in late June, 2016, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch interviewed villagers in the aftermath of the attack.      Full news...

RAWA.org: On July 13, 2016, the people of Rostaq district of Takhar province protested against the crimes and savagery of warlords under the leadership of Pirum Qul (supported by Abdul Rashid Dostum) once more. Pirum Qul’s gunmen opened fire on the peaceful protest and injured a number of people, but the people are fed up and have sworn to continue their struggle against the current situation.      Full news...

Khaama Press: A video purportedly showing parts of an interview with the Afghan MP and Cleric Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanafi has put him under fire as the video has rapidly gone viral on the internet. The video shows a female foreign reporter asking questions from Qazi Hanafi regarding violence against women.      Full news...

Dawn.com: City police are hunting a man accused of raping an 18-year-old dancer after inviting her to perform at his residence in Peshawar. The suspect is believed to be a member of the Afghan parliament. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered at Hayatabad Police Station on the victim's complaint.      Full news...

The New York Times: A series of home raids by C.I.A.-trained Afghan counterterrorism forces in the last month resulted in the deaths of at least six innocent civilians, according to Afghan government officials, reviving an issue that has been a chronic source of tension between Afghanistan and the United States.      Full news...