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As rumors of friction between pragmatists and ideologists within the leadership of the Afghan Taliban intensified, the leader of the pragmatic faction, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar issued a statement denying reports that he was injured. The central bank, meanwhile, issued a statement saying the Taliban have handed over more than $ 12 million seized from the homes of former officials, according to an AFP report.
Reports of internal rupture are the latest in a series of woes affecting Kabul’s new rulers. A drought, a cash shortage and a lack of food prompted the World Food Program to warn that 14 million people were on the brink of famine in Afghanistan. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has urged the UN to engage with the Taliban, has said any suggestion that the world body can solve Afghanistan’s problems is “a fantasy” and that its mediation capacity for a more inclusive Taliban government is limited.
Here are some of the key stories to follow:
$ 12 million seized from former civil servants amid cash crunch
The Taliban seized more than $ 12 million from the homes of former Afghan officials, the Afghan central bank said amid reports of a lack of liquidity in the country. The sum was seized in gold and cash, AFP reported.
“The money recovered came from senior officials (…) and a number of national security agencies who kept silver and gold in their homes,” the bank said in a statement, according to AFP. “However, it is still unclear for what purpose they were kept.”
Afghan women take to Twitter with photos in traditional dress
Afghan women from different parts of the world took to Twitter to post photos in bright and vibrant Afghan clothes to protest the Taliban dress code for female students. It comes after photos on social media showed a group of people wearing head-to-toe black robes at a rally in Kabul last week.
On Twitter, women shared photographs of traditional Afghan clothing with hashtags like “This is Afghanistan” and “Hands off my clothes”.
Taliban Baradar says reports injured in internal clash are false
Acting Afghan Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar appeared in a video interview released Wednesday to deny reports that he was injured in a clash with a rival faction of the Taliban.
“No, that’s not true; I’m fine and I’m healthy,” Baradar said in a state television interview posted on Twitter by the Taliban’s political bureau in Doha. “The media say that “There are internal conflicts. There is nothing between us, it is not true.
Taliban order quit Afghan squatters from Kandahar
Impoverished Afghans living in a long-abandoned military compound in the southern city of Kandahar say they are devastated by the Taliban’s order to evict them from their homes.
Several hundred of them staged a rally against the order on Monday, claiming they had nowhere to go and had paid ex-Afghan soldiers years ago under the table for the land.
The Taliban came to the compound after the rally and forced several protesters to leave. We do not know where they are currently.
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