Local sources in Herat say Nawidullah Fitrat, a university lecturer in the province, has been arrested by Taliban forces.

The United Nations says around 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are affected by a dangerous form of malnutrition known as “acute wasting”, with nearly one million suffering from its most severe and life-threatening form.

Amnesty International has described the Taliban’s “Police Law” as another broad assault on human rights in Afghanistan, saying the law has serious implications for fair trial rights, freedom of expression, privacy, children’s rights and police powers.

The Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO) says in a new report that the Taliban use public flogging as a tool to impose their preferred social order and control women’s lives.