Human Rights Watch has said that since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, they have carried out an unprecedented crackdown on press freedom and have nearly eliminated women’s presence in the media.

Amid the Taliban’s sweeping restrictions that have severely limited the work of women journalists across Afghanistan, a new radio station called (Nawai Zan) has begun broadcasting in Herat, focusing exclusively on the work of female reporters.

Bashir Hotak, a 23-year-old Afghan asylum seeker in the United Kingdom, appeared in court on Tuesday charged with sexual assault and assault against a woman in London. He is accused of attacking and sexually assaulting a woman on 29 June this year at a bar in the West End area of London.

Harriet Harman, the United Kingdom’s Special Envoy for Women and Girls, has said that Afghan women have not surrendered despite the Taliban’s repression and restrictions, and that the UK remains firmly committed to defending their rights.