A photojournalist who worked in Afghanistan during the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule says the reinstated group's new ban on images of living things is unfeasible today.

In the 1990s, the Afghan photojournalist, who asked to remain anonymous due to his continued links to the country, recalls that “photos were completely prohibited. The Taliban banned it. Even if there was a press conference or something, they said, ‘You cannot take pictures.’”

But during the first Taliban era, in which punishments could be severe for even minor transgressions, taking photos of people was still a regular, risky occurrence for the photojournalist, along with a small number of his fellow Afghans working for Western news agencies.

“We had small cameras, and when we went to do stories we would just go somewhere where there was no more Taliban, and we would take one or two shots, then quickly leave," he says. "It was like a 'stolen picture.'"

During the first Taliban era, he says, the handful of local photojournalists “had to process our film using chemicals. It was very complicated.”

Today, however, “everyone has a phone; it’s digital.”

Additionally, the veteran photojournalist says, “The Taliban themselves like to see Facebook. They have WhatsApp It will be very, very difficult to stop it" since the new generation of Taliban "grew up with the Internet."

The photographer says he was detained several times for taking photos during the Taliban's first rule. One of his colleagues was imprisoned overnight after photographing a man who turned out to be a foreign extremist from an Arab state who leaped up to detain the photographer and took him to the Taliban's "vice and virtue" police.

Some within the Taliban leadership apparently turned a blind eye to the ban on imagery showing living things during the 1990s.

“My pictures were printed many times in a Pakistani newspaper, and the following day the newspaper would be sent from Pakistan to [the Pakistani Embassy in] Kabul,” the photojournalist says. "The Taliban could have called me and asked, ‘Why did you take a picture?’ But this never happened."

But, he adds, “on the ground, it was absolutely not allowed to take photos.”

For ordinary people, indulging in illicit entertainment through the 1990s was a commonplace, if nerve-wracking, experience.

"People would watch TV and listen to music cassettes, but very secretly. They were sitting in the basement or somewhere and completely closing the window," he recalls.

The photojournalist says the second iteration of Taliban rule has been relatively lenient compared to the first, but "little by little, the smell -- the bad smell -- is returning," and referenced the recent shutdown of television stations in northern Afghanistan for screening images of people.

The Taliban leadership in the group's founding city of Kandahar is "very extremist," he says, though some have undoubtedly been changed by what they have seen of prosperity in the outside world -- something the Taliban's first generation of leadership never experienced.

"These Taliban in the past few years have been in Qatar, Iran, Pakistan, India, and they have seen how beautiful the world outside Afghanistan is. When [Taliban founder] Mullah Omar took power [in 1996], they came straight from the madrasahs and took Kabul, but after the civil war it was completely destroyed -- no TVs, no nothing."

This time, the photojournalist says, "the Taliban were handed a beautiful Kabul with construction, beautiful cars, restaurants, buildings. Everything is so superior to what the previous Taliban saw."

The Taliban’s repressive policies and extremist interpretation of Islam has turned Afghanistan into a pariah state.

In 2021, Afghanistan became the only country in the world to ban teenage girls from going to school.

Now, the country has become the first to outlaw any depictions of living things, including humans and animals.

“This decision is absurd and unbelievable,” said Sami Yousafzai, a veteran Afghan journalist and commentator who tracks the Taliban.

SEE ALSO:

'The Taliban Likes Facebook': Why The 'Photo Ban' In Afghanistan Won't Work

Under Islam, idolatry is a sin, and the worship of idols is banned. Under its radical interpretation, the Taliban has cut off the heads of mannequins, prohibited the sale of dolls, and covered or taken down statues in recent years.

Now, the Taliban has expanded the ban on idolatry to include the “production and watching of videos and photos of living things on computers and mobile phones.” The ban is limited to images of things with souls -- meaning people and animals.

“At the core of it is a desire to replicate the initial [Taliban] emirate of the 1990s,” said Obaidullah Baheer, visiting fellow at the South Asia Center at the London School of Economics.

During its brutal rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban also outlawed any depiction of living things, including television and photography, deeming them un-Islamic. The hard-line Islamist group publicly destroyed television sets and video cassettes.

The Taliban also destroyed thousands of historical artefacts, most of them Buddha statues, that it deemed un-Islamic or idolatrous.

Its regime horrified the world in 2001 when it used antiaircraft artillery, anti-tank mines, dynamite, and other explosives to destroy two giant Buddha statues from the 6th century.

After the Taliban regime was toppled from power in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, the group used images and photos in their propaganda. They also maintained a website and a presence on social media.

Since regaining power in 2021, the Taliban has run the state broadcaster and allowed some TV stations to continue operating, albeit with severe restrictions. Senior Taliban officials maintain social-media accounts, and upload videos and photos of their meetings and foreign visits.

Baheer says the Taliban’s ban on images of living things “seems to be a very tricky path to take” given the Taliban’s own widespread use of photography and television.

Concerns Over Press Freedom

The Taliban’s ban on the publication of images of living beings has sparked concerns about the impact it will have on Afghan media and press freedom.

The Taliban has already waged a brutal crackdown on dissent, including beating, detaining, and jailing dozens of journalists. The group has also forcibly shut down independent media outlets and prohibited virtually any critical reporting about its unrecognized government.

In recent days, Taliban run-media outlets have stopped showing images of living things in some provinces to comply with the new ban. Some TV stations have resorted to audio-only broadcasts.

The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said on October 14 that it is gradually implementing the ban.

Yousafzai said the ban will have wide-ranging ramifications for the media and Afghans’ access to information and entertainment. “It will turn Afghanistan into a vast prison,” he said.

"We thought that animals in Afghanistan have more freedom than women,” Fariba, a reporter in Kabul, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi, referring to the Taliban’s severe restrictions on women’s rights. “But the Taliban has no mercy even for animals.”

Heshmat Wajdani, spokesperson for the Federation of Afghan Journalists in Exile, said the move is detrimental to press freedom. “It amounts to erasing the media and freedom of expression in Afghanistan," he said.

Three people were killed in Afghanistan's central Ghor Province in clashes between Taliban fighters and extremists affiliated with the Khorasan branch of the Islamic State (IS-K), a Taliban source told RFE/RL. The source said the clashes occurred when the Taliban conducted an operation to arrest an IS-K commander near the provincial capital, Firozkoh. During the operation, the commander, a civilian, and a Taliban member were killed, added the source, who said the operation was in response to IS-K fighters killing three Taliban fighters two weeks ago. Since the hard-line Taliban’s seized power in August 2021, deadly rival IS-K has carried out attacks throughout Afghanistan. The Taliban rulers have themselves been accused by watchdog groups of multiple human rights violations in Afghanistan. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

The United Nations and international rights groups have called for an investigation into reports that Iranian border guards fired on and killed Afghan migrants seeking to cross into Iran from Pakistan.

Local reports and rights groups say the incident occurred on October 13 in the Saravan district of Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, an impoverished and volatile region.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan says it has launched an investigation. Iranian officials have denied that the incident took place.

Haalvsh, a Baluch rights group, said gunshots and rocket-propelled grenades fired by Iranian forces killed dozens of Afghans. RFE/RL was unable to independently verify the group's claim.

Videos posted on social media appeared to show images of dozens of corpses wrapped in white cloth strewn on the road. RFE/RL was unable to independently verify the veracity of the video.

Taj Mohammad, a resident of the northern province of Balkh, said his cousin was killed in the incident. "We want international organizations and the government in Afghanistan to probe this incident," he told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.

Jamaluddin, another resident of Balkh, said his son was killed in the incident. "The [Taliban] government does not ask and does nothing."

Why It's Important: Millions of Afghan migrants and refugees have fled to Iran -- either through Afghanistan or Pakistan -- since the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban's seizure of power in 2021.

Many Afghans in Iran have complained of increasing violence and harassment at the hands of Iranian authorities, who have deported over 1 million Afghans in the past year.

Richard Bennett, the UN special human rights rapporteur in Afghanistan, said on X that he was "seriously concerned" about the reports and urged Iran to "investigate transparently."

"Clarity is urgently needed. These reports don't stand in isolation. More dignity and safety is needed for Afghans worldwide," he said on October 16.

What's Next: If the incident is confirmed, Iran is likely to face international pressure over its treatment of the estimated 4 million Afghans living in the Islamic republic.

The incident could also strain ties between the Taliban and Iran. The sides have engaged in deadly border clashes in recent years.

What To Keep An Eye On

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned of rapidly rising malnutrition among Afghan children.

The world's largest humanitarian network said on October 17 that clinics in the country were recording "alarming" cases of acute child malnutrition.

The cases are much more frequent among communities suffering from falling incomes, climate-induced natural disasters, and the consequences of decades of fighting, it said.

"The scale of malnutrition in our country is staggering," said Mohammad Nabi Burhan, secretary-general of the Afghan Red Crescent Society. "Severe acute malnutrition can be fatal if left untreated."

In May, Save the Children warned that three out of 10 -- or some 6.5. million Afghan children --will suffer from "crisis or emergency levels of hunger" this year.

According to the UN children agency, UNICEF, some 815,000 children from six months to 5 years old were admitted for "severe wasting," meaning their body parts had become weaker because of malnutrition.

Why It's Important: Afghanistan is the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

As international funding recedes, an increasing number of Afghan children are likely to die of malnutrition and diseases.

That's all from me for now.

Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.

The Uzbek Foreign Ministry has rejected Afghan media reports saying that the Taliban-led government of Afghanistan requested the cancellation of concerts or other musical events at a trade center located on the shared border.

The statement comes after the Afghan outlet Atlaspress reported on October 14 that the Taliban had requested the Uzbek government stop hosting musical performances at the Termiz International Trade Center.

WATCH: The Taliban announced in August that it had destroyed over 20,000 musical instruments in Afghanistan in the past year. The extremist group considers instruments un-Islamic and permits only unaccompanied singing.

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In Afghanistan, The Taliban Wages War On Music

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According to the publication, the Taliban allegedly warned that if this request was not fulfilled, Afghan citizens might be barred from visiting the facility.

The Taliban, who follow their own interpretation of Islamic law, have been known to oppose music and public musical performances, which they consider contrary to their religious principles. This could explain why such a request may have been made to Uzbekistan, as musical events are held regularly at the center.

In a statement to Gazeta.uz on October 15, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry clarified that no such request had been made.

"We have not received any formal communication from the Afghan side regarding the cancellation of any concerts or music-related events at the Termiz International Trade Center," the ministry's press service confirmed.

The Termiz International Trade Center, which opened in late August, serves as a free-trade zone where visitors, including Afghans, can trade for up to 15 days using multiple currencies without needing a visa.

The center regularly hosts entertainment events, including musical performances and concerts by Uzbek artists.

Despite the claims from Afghan media, the Uzbek government continues to operate the center as usual, with no disruptions to the planned entertainment and cultural programs.

The center remains a key hub for cross-border trade and interaction, further strengthening ties between the two neighboring countries.

With reporting by Atlaspress and Gazeta.ru

Afghanistan's Taliban morality ministry pledged on October 14 to implement a law banning news media from publishing images of all living things, with journalists told the rule will be gradually enforced. "The law applies to all Afghanistan...and it will be implemented gradually" by persuading people images of living things are against Islamic law, a spokesman for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Saiful Islam Khyber, told the AFP news agency. The Taliban government's judiciary recently announced legislation formalizing its strict interpretations of Islamic law. Aspects of the new law have not yet been strictly enforced, however, and Taliban officials continue to regularly post photos of people on social media.

Pakistan's decision to ban a prominent civil rights organization will further alienate the country's large Pashtun ethnic minority, experts say.

The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a grassroots movement that advocates for the rights of Pakistan's estimated 40 million Pashtuns, was designated a "proscribed organization" on October 6 for allegedly undermining security in the South Asian country of some 240 million people.

Rights groups say the ban is aimed at silencing the PTM, which has accused the government and the powerful military of committing human rights abuses against civilians in northwestern Pakistan, a militant stronghold.

WATCH: Tens of thousands of ethnic Pashtuns attended the beginning of a three-day "jirga" or grand assembly on October 11 near Peshawar in northwest Pakistan.

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Analysts say the ban could push the PTM to abandon its nonviolent campaign and further destabilize the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where many Pashtuns live.

"It's going to make Pashtuns much more apprehensive of the state," said Ayesha Siddiqa, senior fellow at King's College London. "There's going to be greater resentment and frustration."

Since its emergence in 2018, the PTM has accused the army of using heavy-handed tactics, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances, against civilians during counterterrorism operations against militant groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The province has been the scene of numerous operations against the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group that have killed thousands of Pashtun civilians and uprooted millions in the past two decades.

Siddiqa said the ban on the PTM was a "knee-jerk reaction" by Pakistan's military, which has an oversized role in the country's domestic and foreign affairs. Its traditional dominance of politics has been undermined in recent years by civil rights organizations like the PTM and opposition political parties.

"PTM is a political movement, and that is something which the state finds much more difficult to control," Siddiqa added.

In recent years, the authorities have arrested and jailed the leaders and hundreds of members of the PTM, whose rallies often attract tens of thousands of people.

Widespread Condemnation

The government's ban on the PTM has been widely condemned.

Amnesty International on October 8 called on Islamabad to revoke the ban, which it termed "an affront to the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly."

Two days earlier, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent rights watchdog, had criticized what it said was "the government's decision to proscribe the PTM, a rights-based movement that has never resorted to violence and always used the framework of the Constitution to advocate its cause."

The PTM has said that over 200 of its members have been arrested in recent days ahead of a jirga, or assembly, planned for October 11-13.

Two days before the assembly, police clashed with PTM supporters in the northwestern town of Jamrud, using tear gas and batons to disperse the crowd. At least four PTM activists were killed in the clashes.

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Despite the ban on the PTM, the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has permitted the group to hold the assembly. On October 11, the provincial authorities said they will urge the central government to revoke the ban.

"The PTM has been raising very legitimate demands," said Farhatullah Babar, a former lawmaker and leader of the secular Pakistan People's Party.

He said the army and government have consistently reneged on promises it made to the PTM, including the removal of military checkpoints in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the clearance of landmines, and the release of civilians forcibly disappeared by the state.

"Stifling its voice will go down very badly with the entire Pashtun people," said Babar. "I think that this will alienate people even more. The incentives for them to remain peaceful will now decrease."

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

The Taliban has threatened Afghan women who served in the police force under the previous Western-backed government, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The threats have forced hundreds of former Afghan policewomen, who were trained by the United States and its allies, to go into hiding, the global rights watchdog said.

HRW said some of the women have received threatening phone calls from Taliban officials who summoned them for questioning or warned them of unspecified consequences for their previous work.

Under the Taliban, some former policewomen in the culturally and religiously conservative country have been apparently killed by their own relatives for bringing “shame” to the families, HRW said.

Many former policewomen have sought refuge in neighboring Iran or Pakistan, or tried to obtain asylum in the West.

Why It's Important: HRW’s report highlights the dangers facing members of Afghanistan’s former armed forces.

After seizing power in 2021, the Taliban announced a blanket amnesty that included all Afghan officials, security forces, and individuals who cooperated with the departed U.S.-led military presence in Afghanistan.

But international rights watchdogs and the United Nations have documented widespread cases of retribution -- including extrajudicial killings and torture.

Before the Taliban takeover, Afghan policewomen suffered widespread sexual abuse and harassment, HRW said.

Afghan policewomen have been “doubly betrayed,” first by the former Afghan government and then by Western nations that ignored the abuse and have not granted them asylum, said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at HRW.

What's Next: HRW has called on Western nations that helped train and hire former Afghan policewomen, including the United States, to resettle them.

But it is unclear if the United States and European countries are willing or able to grant asylum to the women, some of whom remain inside Afghanistan.

What To Keep An Eye On

Germany has announced that it is planning to deport more Afghans to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told parliament on October 9 that Afghans convicted of serious crimes in Germany would be deported.

In August, Berlin deported 28 Afghan citizens for the first time since the Taliban takeover. The authorities said all were convicted criminals, although they did not disclose their crimes.

Why It's Important: Germany has granted asylum to tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans in recent years.

But Berlin has tightened the country's asylum policies as anti-immigration parties rise in popularity.

Germany’s announcement of more deportations has fueled panic among the country's large Afghan community -- which numbers around 475,000. Many Afghans fear they could be next.

“I am apprehensive about this unfolding situation,” an Afghan asylum seeker in Germany, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

“We all should not be punished for the mistakes of individuals,” said another asylum seeker.

That's all from me for now.

Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.

The FBI's arrest of an Afghan man who allegedly planned a U.S. Election Day attack has underscored the growing threat posed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group to the West.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, an Afghan citizen living in the United States, plotted an attack on November 5 in the name of IS-K, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Based in Afghanistan, IS-K has carried out a series of devastating, high-profile attacks in Russia, Iran, and Tajikistan in recent years.

"IS-K poses a dangerous threat to both the region and the West," said Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based researcher who tracks militancy in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

"IS-K is not confined to Afghanistan alone,” Sayed added. “It operates with a global agenda and has a network functioning both regionally and internationally."

Resilient Force

IS-K is considered the most active and potent of all the regional affiliates of Islamic State (IS), the extremist group that overran large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014. IS was largely defeated by a U.S.-led coalition.

IS-K was founded in Afghanistan in late 2014 and captured small pockets of territory in the country as part of IS’s broader aim of expansion throughout South and Central Asia.

But it soon came under fire from Afghan and international forces as well as the Taliban, a rival militant group.

The threat posed by IS-K has increased since the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government in 2021, analysts say.

The Taliban, which then seized power, has waged a brutal war against IS-K, killing or capturing its key commanders and hundreds of its fighters. But IS-K has embarked on a strategy of urban warfare and remains a resilient force.

The group's ranks have been boosted by foreign fighters, particularly those from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.

That has allowed IS-K -- which seeks to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, in Khorasan, a historical region that includes parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Central Asia -- to continue its attacks in Afghanistan and conduct complex assaults in the region.

In March, IS-K militants stormed the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow, killing around 140 people, underlining the threat it poses in the region.

Exploiting Grievances

Experts say extremist groups like IS-K have tried to exploit the grievances among Muslims since Israel launched its devastating war in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave.

SEE ALSO:

Palestinians Count The Toll Of Israel's Devastating War In Gaza

That came after Hamas, a U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist group, carried out an attack on Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people.

Israel has recently expanded its war by launching a deadly aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, the armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.

Lucas Webber, senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism, an UN-backed project that monitors extremism online, says IS-K has been vocal in calling for attacks against the West in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East.

"[IS-K] has a robust, multilingual propaganda apparatus," Webber told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. "They can reach a diverse range of diaspora communities to build support and mobilize supporters to violence."

Webber says IS-K and its recruiters have targeted Europe. Now, he said, "we're starting to see an increase of activity in North America and the United States, specifically."

U.S. authorities said they have arrested an Afghan citizen and charged him with conspiring to conduct a terrorist attack on Election Day in the United States in the name of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

The Justice Department said in a statement late on October 8 that Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, a resident of Oklahoma City, confirmed to U.S. investigators after his arrest that he was plotting an attack aimed at large crowds of people at an unspecified location.

Tawhedi and a co-conspirator, who has not been named because he is a minor, "expected to die as martyrs" during the attack, the statement said.

The Afghan national arrived in the United States on a special immigrant visa in 2021 and was waiting for the conclusion of his immigration proceedings, the Justice Department said.

He acquired two AK-47 firearms and ammunition and initiated the sale of his house and other assets while arranging for his family members to be resettled back in Afghanistan.

SEE ALSO:

Iran Tries To 'Storm' U.S. Election With Russian-Style Disinformation Campaign

"As charged, the Justice Department foiled the defendant’s plot to acquire semiautomatic weapons and commit a violent attack," Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said.

The arrests come as U.S. authorities are facing heightened concerns over the possibility of terrorist acts on U.S. soil in the run-up and during the presidential election on November 5.

The FBI searched Tawhedi's phone and obtained communications between him and an individual who he understood to be affiliated with IS and allegedly facilitated "recruitment, training, and indoctrination" for the terrorist group, according to the criminal complaint, which also said Tawhedi appeared in a video recorded in July reading to two children about "the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife."

He also allegedly accessed and stored IS propaganda on his iCloud and Google account, was a member of pro-IS Telegram groups, and donated to a charity that gathers funds for IS.

“This defendant, motivated by [IS], allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on Election Day, here on our homeland," said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The complaint, which does not say how Tawhedi came to the authorities' attention, says an FBI informant posing as a buyer of personal property listed by the suspect on Facebook got in touch with him ostensibly to buy a laptop for his firearms business.

Tawhedi and his co-conspirator tested firearms together with the FBI informant before "buying" two AK-47 assault rifles and 500 bullets from him on October 7.

Once Tawhedi took possession of the guns and ammunition at a location in the Western District of Oklahoma, the two were arrested.

If found guilty, Tawhedi, who was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to IS and receiving a firearm to be used to commit an act of terrorism, faces up to 20 years in prison.

The program under which Tawhedi obtained a U.S. visa was meant to allow Afghans who helped U.S. forces in Afghanistan to relocate to the United States.

U.S. and international forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, leading to an almost immediate takeover of the country by the Taliban.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said a decision to remove the Taliban from a list of terrorist organizations had been "taken at the highest level," the TASS state news agency reported. The decision needs to be followed up with various legal procedures in order to make it a reality, President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was quoted as saying on October 4. Putin said in July that Moscow considered Afghanistan's Taliban movement an ally in the fight against terrorism. Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban since the extremist group seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

Russia has urged the West to lift sanctions on Taliban-led Afghanistan and called for the inclusion of its government in discussions about the country's future in direct opposition to the U.S. position of keeping sanctions against the regime in place. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a session of the "Moscow Format" consultations on October 4 that it's necessary to engage with the Taliban administration despite its lack of formal recognition by Moscow. Despite the Taliban being unrecognized internationally, the Taliban administration's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi participated in the forum, highlighting Russia's ongoing engagement with the Taliban. The U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, Karen Decker, said a day earlier that Washington remained opposed to easing sanctions or recognizing the Taliban, stressing that progress on human rights, particularly women's rights, was necessary before any steps toward legitimacy or economic engagement could occur.

The Taliban's repressive policies and widespread rights abuses have made its unrecognized government in Afghanistan a global pariah.

To boost its international image, the hard-line Islamist group has tried to woo foreign tourists to the country, where violence has significantly dropped since the Taliban seized power in 2021.

SEE ALSO:

Taliban Arrests Suspects In Deaths Of 3 Foreign Tourists

But even as the Taliban looks to cash in on propaganda and financial benefits of foreign visitors, the groups' widespread restrictions on the movement of Afghans, especially women, have stifled the growth of the local tourism industry.

"The Taliban promote tourism because it has a major propaganda advantage for its government," said Sami Yousafzai, a veteran Afghan journalist and commentator who tracks the Taliban.

"The Taliban want to cash in on the interest in tourism to project a positive image of the country it rules," he added.

The number of tourists visiting Afghanistan has steadily increased in recent years. In 2021, there were 691. In 2022, that number increased to 2,300. Last year, there were 7,000, according to Taliban officials.

Foreign visitors have been drawn to the country's ancient history and scenic landscape. Chinese tourists make up the largest group of visitors. Major airlines stopped flying to Afghanistan after 2021, but several have resumed flights.

Taliban officials have also been keen to stress that foreign tourism also provides a financial boost to Afghans, many of whom are struggling to survive mass unemployment and rising poverty.

But the burgeoning tourism industry in Afghanistan faces formidable challenges.

Visas are expensive and difficult to obtain. Many countries cut ties with Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. No country in the world recognizes the Taliban regime. Many Afghan embassies, especially in the West, have shut or suspended their operations.

The Taliban is also selective in who it chooses to grant a visa. Foreign journalists and rights activists are barred from entering and working in the country.

Even with a visa, foreign tourists must obtain written permission from the Taliban to visit tourist spots and take photos or videos of their interactions with Afghans and Taliban fighters.

Safety is also still a concern. The Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group, a rival of the Taliban, killed six foreign and local tourists in the central city of Bamiyan in May.

IS-K militants have previously targeted foreigners and embassies in Afghanistan.

'Dark And Bleak'

The Taliban has been keen to exploit the rosy picture of the country presented in videos and photos taken by foreign tourists, including YouTubers.

"The Taliban know these YouTubers are not interested in stirring controversies," said Yousafzai. "So, they plan to send these YouTubers to places where they can do their ‘positive' reporting."

Many YouTube videos produced by foreign tourists show the Taliban in a positive light, portraying them as welcoming hosts. The videos also highlight the relative safety in the country and suggest that Afghans are happy under Taliban rule.

The Taliban, which is increasingly active on social media, often promotes the videos on various platforms.

The militant group has also made exceptions for female tourists to visit historical sites and national parks that are off-limits to Afghan women.

The Taliban has imposed severe restrictions on the appearances, behavior, and movement of women in what rights group have described as gender apartheid.

"This is dangerous and distorts the truth," said Nazifa Haqpal, a British-based Afghan researcher.

"The truth under the Taliban's cruel rule is dark, bleak, and ugly," she said. "Unlike journalists, YouTubers are not bound by impartiality or professional ethics, which makes it easy for the Taliban to manipulate them."

Some Afghan women said that foreign tourists are playing into the Taliban's hands and whitewashing their suffering.

"Conditions for us are worsening with each passing day," Arezo, a young woman in the central province of Bamiyan, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.

Even as the Taliban tries to woo foreigners, the group's restrictions have prevented the growth of local tourism.

Last year, the Taliban banned women from visiting Band-e Amir, a national park in Bamiyan. Consisting of crystal-blue lakes and soaring cliffs, it is one of the most popular tourist sites in the country.

The Taliban is "denying the most fundamental rights of Afghan women," Arezo said.

"Unfortunately, Afghan women are banned from tourism and leisure by the Taliban," Zala, a housewife in the capital, Kabul, told Radio Azadi.

"We are banned from enjoying the natural beauty and historic places of our ancient homeland," she added.

In recent years, the militants have barred Afghan women from using gyms and visiting public bathhouses and city parks.

Afghanistan's Taliban-led government has announced the arrest of several alleged members of a regional branch of Islamic State who are suspected of killing three foreign tourists in Bamiyan in May and involvement in a mid-September attack on compliance officials in Kabul.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on X on September 30 that the unspecified number of suspected Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) members includes one Tajik national.

He alleged that the Tajik national had come from neighboring Pakistan to carry out attacks in Afghanistan and said other IS-K fighters are in hiding in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces of Pakistan with support from certain intelligence agencies. He did not provide evidence.

Islamabad has rejected past accusations that it provides shelter to militants.

Mujahid added that Taliban operations had forced IS-K militants out of Afghanistan, their former base.

SEE ALSO:

Picking Up The Pieces: Efforts To Preserve Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage Continue Under New Management

The September 12 attack on employees of the High Directorate of Supervision and Prosecution of Decrees and Edicts -- which took over duties from the former UN-backed government's attorney-general's office -- resulted in six deaths and 13 injuries, according to the Taliban.

The Afghan Prosecutors Association said at least 16 prosecutors were killed.

The May 17 attack on a group of tourists at a market in the central Bamiyan Province killed three foreigners and an Afghan, and injured seven others, according to Taliban officials at the time.

An anonymous Taliban source, however, put the number of dead at eight in comments to RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Radio Azadi could not confirm that account.

Spain later confirmed that some of its nationals had been "murdered" in the attack, and simultaneous reports cited injured citizens from Australia, Norway, and Lithuania.

Four suspects were said to have been detained at the scene.

Bamiyan has remained a tourist destination despite a previous Taliban leadership's destruction in 2001 of two massive sixth-century Buddha statues to prosecute the hard-line fundamentalist group's extreme ban on idolatry.

The Afghanistan Journalists' Support Organization (AJSO) has expressed concern at the 10-year prison sentences reportedly given to two reporters by a Taliban military court after their arrest in Kabul two months ago. The AJSO, a support nonprofit established by media professionals and German academics, said the court sentenced Mohammad Arif Hijran and Ahmed Kamran to prison immediately after their detention on July 16. It said they were convicted of reporting on and taking photographs of ceremonies to mark Ashura, an Islamic day of commemoration. The AJSO condemned the sentences and called on the international community to put pressure on Afghanistan's Taliban-led government to release the men. Government officials have not commented on the claims. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.

Every day, hundreds of Afghans, some holding their children, are deported from neighboring Iran.

Many of them crossed into Iran illegally to escape the brutal rule of the Taliban and the devastating humanitarian and economic crises gripping Afghanistan.

In the Afghan border town of Islam Qala, where the deportees are registered with the United Nations, many say they were mistreated by the Iranian authorities.

"They grab Afghan migrants and take them to camps," Yaqub Mohammad told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, adding that they received little food and water. "They treated us like criminals."

Gul Lalai, another recent deportee, told Radio Azadi that he was "humiliated and beaten up" at a police station in Iran before being expelled from the country.

Iran's deportation of Afghans has intensified in recent months, according to Taliban officials who say as many as 3,000 Afghans are deported from Iran daily. Over half a million Afghans have been forcibly evicted from Iran so far this year, Taliban officials said.

Anti-Afghan Sentiment

The rate of deportation has increased as anti-Afghan sentiment soars in Iran, which witnessed a major influx of Afghan refugees and migrants following the Taliban's forcible seizure of power in 2021.

Earlier this month, Iranian police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said the country planned to expel some 2 million Afghans by March 2025.

The announcement came soon after Iranian lawmakers drafted a bill that would reduce the total number of migrants, mostly Afghans, living in the Islamic republic by 10 percent every year.

The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that some 4 million Afghans reside in Iran, most of them undocumented migrants. Iranian media say there are up to 8 million Afghans in the country.

Iran's military on September 23 said it had built a wall along more than 10 kilometers of its 900-kilometer eastern border with Afghanistan, the main entry point for refugees and migrants.

Reports have recently emerged of Afghans being banned from buying subsidized bread in the southern Kerman Province, home to a large Afghan community.

Rising Harassment, Abuse

Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said earlier this month that the issue of illegal migrants was a "sensitive" topic and warned that the government's policies should not fan anti-migrant sentiment.

His comments came amid a rise in attacks against Afghans in Iran.

In August, a video of an Afghan teenager being violently pinned to the ground by Iranian police sparked outrage.

Afghans in Iran have long faced discrimination and harassment. But they say the pressure on them is now growing.

"We have lots of problems here," Omid Poya, an exiled Afghan journalist living in Iran, told Radio Azadi. "Afghans here are facing discrimination and persecution."

Hudaya Sahibzada, an Afghan human rights activist, called on Iran to stop the deportation of Afghans, particularly those at risk of retribution from the Taliban.

"The forcible deportation of Afghan refugees from Iran has intensified," she told Radio Azadi. "Among those deported have been journalists, former soldiers, and activists. Some of them have been killed."

VIENNA -- Riding the crest of dissatisfaction that's made it Austria's front-running party for nearly two years, the far-right opposition Freedom Party wants voters to believe their increasingly crowded ship is doomed.

"If a ship gets a hole, the hole needs to be plugged or the ship will sink," its caustic chairman, Herbert Kickl, told a rally this month in Graz, Austria's second-largest city, to kick off official campaigning for national elections on September 29.

His nativist, Euroskeptic party owes its resurgence to post-pandemic anger, inflation, and fears around the war in Ukraine, in addition to anti-immigrant sentiments.

"If I let the water in and just spread it around the cabins, and maybe pump out a few liters, the ship will go under, and I don't want Austria to go under. That's why we will plug the hole and will not accept any more asylum claims," Kickl said.

Accusations Of Racism

The 55-year-old Kickl is anathema to political rivals and among the most disliked politicians in the country. His party has been widely criticized both at home and abroad for what its detractors say are its xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism. Critics say the party's nationalist and anti-Muslim policies promote division and undermine social cohesion, and its Euroskepticism threatens Austria's role in the European Union.

And yet, as the face of the party's Fortress Austria, Fortress Of Freedom platform, he has his Freedom Party poised to become the first far-right party to win an Austrian election since World War II.

WATCH: Austria's election comes amid growing concerns in the migrant community over the Freedom Party's agenda.

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Forming any government will doubtless prove tricky, and Chancellor Karl Nehammer's ruling conservative People's Party could still emerge as the kingmaker.

But if the Freedom Party has its way, it is expected to try to use the country's outsized influence emanating from Austria's place at the crossroads of Europe to steer the continent toward tighter borders and more inward-looking policies.

Gabriela Greilinger, a researcher of the far right at the University of Georgia, says a Freedom Party-led government would also stiffen a "blocking minority" in the EU, with Austria joining neighboring Hungary and Slovakia in pushing back hard on rights issues, support for Ukraine, and sanctions against Russia.

Plan To Send Back Migrants

On migration, Freedom Party plans include sending back some foreigners, which the party calls "remigration," as well as slashing allowances for unauthorized migration and asylum seekers and ending the reunification of family members abroad with migrants already in the country.

Bahro Kacapor, a Bosniak cafe owner who arrived as a refugee from Serbia in 1991, worries about the focus on expelling migrants instead of giving them "a chance to prove themselves." He's had his business for 20 years now and still employs Turkish, Syrian, and Balkan immigrants to help them get on their feet.

"I was in the right place at the right time with the right people," Kacapor tells RFE/RL. "Policies of that time gave me, a migrant and a refugee, a chance to start working and building myself up."

The Freedom Party has consistently led national polls since November 2022, cresting a year ago at around 30 percent. Polls last week showed it at 27 percent, compared to the People's Party at 25 percent and the Social Democrats (SPO) at 21 percent.

Nehammer's People's Party has been in government since 1987, including as the senior partner in coalitions with the Freedom Party in 2000-02 and 2017-19. Their first linkup incurred EU diplomatic and other sanctions against Vienna for "legitimiz[ing] the extreme right in Europe."

After joining forces again in 2017, the People's Party and Freedom Party governed for 18 months before video from a sting operation caught Vice Chancellor and then-Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache hinting at corruption and influence peddling in what was known as the Ibiza Affair. The People's Party has governed in coalition with the Greens since 2020.

Marcus How, head of analysis at risk advisory VE Insight, says that while the main appeal of the Freedom Party to certain voters is its hard-line stance on immigration and especially the asylum process, "They're also more generally the party of protest for voters who are disillusioned with the status quo, with the political establishment, which they see as having betrayed Austrian values, [and] as having disenfranchised them economically."

They are, How says, "offering a little bit of everything."

Migrant Fears

"We want to get people out of the country who are here illegally," said Freedom Party lawmaker Harald Stefan. "[People] who behave criminally here and who do not contribute anything here. That is our 'remigration' policy."

SEE ALSO:

The West Cautiously Extends Migrant Worker Options For Central Asia

The Austrian Chancellor's Office said last year that "immigrants are more likely to be both perpetrators as well as victims of crime," adding the situation on crime "has not changed much over the longer term."

Parties such as the Greens and Social Democrats argue immigration boosts the economy by filling labor shortages and that the country benefits from the innovation cultural diversity brings.

Meanwhile, more recent immigrants than Kacapur fear getting sucked into a spiral of anti-migrant sentiment the Freedom Party has helped create and whose consequences are difficult to foresee.

"I'll be very scared, terrified even, if [the Freedom Party] get the votes," Mohammad, an Iranian immigrant, says at the Brunnen international street market in Vienna where he works. He's been in Austria for seven years, he tells RFE/RL, and he and other migrants "work full days and pay taxes and don't want a government coming to power that will make life difficult."

Written by Andy Heil based on reporting in Vienna by RFE/RL Balkan Service correspondent Andi Moic and multimedia editor Austin Malloy

The Afghan Embassy in London closed its doors as scheduled on September 27 after staff members were fired by the country’s de facto Taliban rulers looking to break ties with diplomats who had remained loyal to the ousted government.

The staff announced on September 8 that the move was "made based on the requirements of the host country's authorities," following similar action by other countries that had allowed the diplomatic outposts to operate despite lacking ties to the Taliban, which seized power from the Western-backed government in August 2021.

There was no official announcement on September 27 on the London closure, but a reporter for AFP saw a notice on the gate to the consular section reading: "The embassy of the Republic of Afghanistan is closed."

The reporter said no one answered the door but that the Afghan flag was still visible at the site.

British authorities said the closing of the embassy did not represent official recognition of the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, which no country recognizes due to concerns over a woeful human rights record and other failures to live up to promises it made before taking power.

But London acknowledged there was "no alternative to engaging pragmatically with the current administration of Afghanistan."

Activities of Britain's mission to Afghanistan are carried out in the Qatari capital, Doha.

SEE ALSO:

Closure Of Afghan Embassies In Europe Paves Way For More Taliban Engagement

Experts have said the embassy closure in London -- along with others in the West -- are likely to pave the way for more engagement with the Taliban, which controls all of Afghanistan's territory and has increased its hold on power.

Afghan embassies in many nations continued to operate with diplomatic staff loyal to the previous government despite the Taliban takeover at home, angering the de facto rulers.

The Taliban announced in July that it was cutting ties with 14 such missions in Western countries and that it would not accept any consular documents they processed, a critical source of funding to keep them running.

The affected sites included those in Canada, Australia, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany.

The Taliban "has repeatedly urged the Afghan political and consular in European countries to engage with Kabul to at least address consular service-related issues of Afghans and provide better services for Afghan citizens," the statement released by the group’s Foreign Ministry said on July 30.

Russia, Pakistan, and China host Afghan embassies working with approval of the Taliban-led government.

With reporting by AFP

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

The Taliban has imposed new restrictions on Afghan broadcasters, banning live broadcasts of political shows and on-air criticism of its policies.

Afghan broadcasters must now prerecord their shows, obtain prior approval of their guest lists, and remove criticism of the Taliban’s laws.

Media outlets and individual media workers will face consequences for failing to adhere to the new rules.

Afghan and international media watchdogs have condemned the new restrictions.

The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on September 24 called on the Taliban to immediately reverse its “draconian media restrictions and stop dragging Afghanistan back to the Stone Age.”

“[It is yet] another attempt to further weaken and suppress free media in the country,” the Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC) said in a September 23 statement.

Why It's Important: The new rules are the latest setback to Afghanistan’s once vibrant media scene.

Since the Taliban seized power, it has waged a brutal crackdown on dissent, including beating, detaining, and jailing dozens of journalists.

The hard-line Islamist group has forcibly shut down independent media outlets and prohibited virtually any critical reporting about its unrecognized government.

“These new restrictions signal the end of fundamental media freedoms in Afghanistan,” where the Taliban is attempting to transform the press into a “propaganda tool,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi.

AFJC said the Taliban wants media organizations to “remove weak points, sensitive topics, and criticisms” of its government and leaders.

According to the organization, the Taliban has issued at least 21 directives to the media in recent years that have “significantly” limited press freedom in the country.

What's Next: Despite local and international criticism, the Taliban is unlikely to halt its war against the free press.

The extremist group is likely to keep targeting journalists and others who are critical of its brutal rule.

What To Keep An Eye On

Some Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed new legislation that would halt all aid to Afghanistan until the Taliban frees three American citizens.

Fox News on September 25 published a draft of The No Funding Without Freedom Act, which if passed would require the State Department to regularly update Congress about U.S. citizens detained in Afghanistan regularly.

The United States has provided over $2.5 billion to Afghanistan in humanitarian assistance through the United Nations and other NGOs since American military forces withdrew from the country in 2021.

The Taliban has held three American citizens since 2022. They are aid worker Ryan Corbett, tourist George Glezmann, and Mahmood Shah Habibi, who led the Afghan Aviation Authority under the previous Afghan government.

Why It's Important: The suspension of American aid to Afghanistan would be a significant blow to more than 23 million Afghans currently in need of humanitarian assistance.

While the Taliban benefits from U.S. aid dollars pouring into the country, the most vulnerable Afghans will be hit the hardest as they reel from the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

That's all from me for now.

Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.

Poland's Border Guard Service said its officers detained a Belarusian woman who was attempting to smuggle three illegal migrants from Iran and one from Afghanistan into Lithuania in her car.

The border guards stopped the car with Warsaw license plates after it entered the country from Lithuania.

The foreigners had no documents allowing them to legally enter Poland, the Border Guard Service said. Some were seated in the car, while the others were discovered in the vehicle's trunk. Polish authorities handed the four migrants to Lithuania and impounded the car as evidence in the case.

The Belarusian woman, whose identity was not disclosed, was released and ordered to return to Belarus. She was also banned from entering Europe's visa-free Schengen travel zone for 10 years.

The European Union has accused Belarusian authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka of waging a “hybrid war” by allowing migrants to fly in, then funneling them to the bloc’s borders in retaliation for the EU's sanctions imposed over the brutal crackdown on Belarus’s pro-democracy movement following the disputed presidential election in August 2022.

Tens of thousands of the migrants have come from the Middle East and South Asia to the EU's eastern flank, sparking a major border crisis.

Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland have since introduced states of emergency along the border and erected high fencing along the frontier with Belarus to stem the flow.