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: Funcion?rios da prov?ncia de Ghor relataram que um homem ligado a Said Ahmad, comandante local da prov?ncia de Ghor, jogou uma mulher em um vale e depois amarrou seu corpo quase morto a um cavalo, e a arrastou at? 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, arroj? a una mujer a un valle y luego at? su cuerpo casi muerto a un caballo, y la arrastr? hasta la muerte. El incidente ocurri? 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...

TOLOnews.com: A police force member claimed on Monday that he was severely beaten up by the guards of second Vice President Mohammad Sarwar Danish. The footage filmed by TOLOnews shows a policeman, Aimal Qaderi, all covered in blood with his head severely injured. He said that he was beaten up after he stopped the cars of Danish’s guards who he said were trying to cross a road illegally.      Full news...

TruthDig: “The Kite Runner,” Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 novel, featured a pivotal and highly controversial scene in which one of the young male protagonists is raped by an older youth. That harrowing section of the best-selling book highlighted the rampant sexual abuse of children in Afghanistan. Now, a revelation—even more horrifying—has implicated real-life U.S. soldiers serving in that country.      Full news...

RAWA News: The ousting of the Taliban regime and the establishment of a new government in 2001 brought with it a hope for the emergence of a truly just and democratic society. Many were hopeful that the warlords would go behind bars for the atrocities they had committed during the 1990s. On the contrary, they were reinforced during the Karzai’s administration. Regional warlords and power brokers such as Atta Noor in the North, Sherzai in the South and then East and Ismail Khan in the West of the country, turned the country into fiefdoms and often defied the presidential decrees if they were against their personal interests.      Full news...

RAWA.org: Every nation in the world celebrates the people who have contributed constructively to their respective countries. This contribution can be in the fields of education, science, literature, peace, economy or any other field of life that is of benefit to the citizens of the country. These celebrated people are often called the Heroes of Nation.      Full news...

Hambastagi.org (Translated by RAWA): Every year on 9th September, the death anniversary of Massoud, the people of Kabul experience barbarism of the factional kind (reference to factional infighting during the 1992-1996 civil war and the commission of horrendous crimes during that time). A group of reckless men belonging to Shorae Nizar roamed the whole city wildly, spreading terror, and causing disturbance and concern among the residents of Kabul.      Full news...

IRIN: When 30 Kalashnikov-toting men came to Mohammad Miakhil’s house demanding he donate a large sum of money and three tonnes of wheat to their Afghan government-aligned militia, he knew it was time to leave. “They gave us two hours to pay,” said Miakhil. “If not, they would set our house on fire and kill my family.” Miakhil could not afford to hand over such a large portion of his harvest and 120,000 afghanis (about 1,000 USD), so his family joined the exodus from Khanabad, a district in northern Kunduz province...      Full news...

1TV: An Afghan man and a woman received 100 lashes each after they were found guilty of committing adultery in western Ghor province. The punishment was given in public on Monday and after they were found guilty in a primary court. Judges said that the punishment was based on Sharia laws and that the man and woman confessed that they had sexual relations.      Full news...

PAN: Relatives of the two persons killed by bodyguards of the Western Zone Ulema Council chief on Saturday staged a protest demonstration against the council chief, Maulvi Khudadad Saleh. Yesterday at about 8:30pm, a civilian car crashed into a vehicle carrying bodyguards of Saleh as part of his convoy, prompting the guards to open fire at the civilian car, killing two occupants.      Full news...

The Express Tribune: A US raid this week on an illegal weapons cache allegedly belonging to former jihadi leader Jan Mohammad – a close ally of Afghan Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah – has exposed the dangerous presence of warlords in the conflict-ridden country. Since American fighter jets blew up the arms depot at Charikar, the capital of Parwan province on June 29, Afghans have been seeking an explanation as to why pro-government warlords have stored such huge caches of arms, especially in the north when the country has nearly 350,000 security personnel.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: Police in northwestern Faryab has detained a former provincial council member accused of killings and supplying arms and ammunition to the Taliban. Angar Tokhi was arrested from his neighbor’s house, chief of Faryab criminal investigation department told TOLOnews. “Angar Tokhi is accused of murders in Almar district,” he said. “Tokhi has also been accused of handing over arms to the insurgents.”      Full news...