Zarqa Yaftali, an Afghan women’s rights and girls’ education activist, has received the Zayed International Award for Human Fraternity 2026.

The Taliban’s Disaster Management Authority has said that in the past year, 87 people across the country were killed by mine and explosive ordnance blasts, with children accounting for 67.5 per cent of the victims.

Human Rights Watch has said in its annual report that the repression of women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban intensified in 2025, while the humanitarian crisis in the country worsened at the same time.

A number of women in various provinces say the Taliban’s decision to ban the sale of contraceptive medicines in Afghanistan has placed families under severe pressure and has effectively forced women into repeated childbirth.