- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
- McIlroy eyes Wentworth glory after Irish Open collapse
- Italy seen overtaking France as world's largest wine producer
- Hezbollah vows vengeance on Israel for pager blasts
- Brook expects unified England after McCullum's white-ball takeover
- Kamindu Mendis century rescues Sri Lanka against New Zealand
- Two dead in botched armed raid on Russian retailer's office
- UK train drivers back govt pay deal to end strikes
- Man who copied French rapist says he deserves to punished
- Eriksen will wait to settle Man Utd future
- Former England striker Carroll signs for fourth-tier Bordeaux
- Van Dijk hails Liverpool's 'calm' response in win over AC Milan
- End of the party? Tupperware files for bankruptcy
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ |
Taliban mark three years since takeover of Afghanistan
Taliban authorities were set to celebrate the third anniversary of their takeover of Afghanistan on Wednesday, with a military parade at a former US military base and festivities in key cities.
Extra security was deployed in the capital Kabul and the Taliban's spiritual home of Kandahar ahead of the "day of victory", with Islamic State group attacks a continued threat in the country.
Taliban forces seized Kabul on August 15, 2021, after the US-backed government collapsed and its leaders fled into exile. The anniversary is marked a day earlier on the Afghan calendar.
"The Day of Victory is historically a significant and proud day for the Islamic Ummah (nation), and particularly for the Afghan people," said Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund in a statement on Tuesday.
"On this date, Allah granted the Mujahid nation of Afghanistan a decisive victory over an international arrogant and occupying force."
In the three years since they ended their 20-year insurgency, the Taliban government has consolidated its grip on the country, implementing laws based on its strict interpretation of Islam, even though it is still unrecognised by any other state.
Their restrictions on women, who bear the brunt of policies the United Nations has called "gender apartheid", remain a key sticking point.
- Banners, flags and poetry -
The days before the celebrations, workers were busy putting up banners and billboards reading "Congratulations" with the anniversary date around Kabul.
Vendors selling flags of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan -- the Taliban government's formal name for the country -- dotted the city, the white and black standard also fluttering over streets.
A military parade and speeches were to be held at the Bagram airbase, the US military's former centre of operations in Afghanistan, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) outside of Kabul.
Celebrations featuring athletes and poetry readings were due to be held in the capital.
Heavy security and decorations also went up in the southern city of Kandahar -- the birthplace of the Taliban movement and home to the reclusive leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who rules through religious edict.
Security has been a key priority for Taliban authorities, and while many Afghans express relief at the end of 40 years of successive conflicts, the economy remains in crisis and the population mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis.
A joint statement from international non-governmental groups warned of the growing aid funding gap to the country, with 23.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reiterated calls for pressure on the Taliban government to lift restrictions on women, who have been squeezed from public life and banned from secondary and higher education.
"The third anniversary of the Taliban's takeover is a grim reminder of Afghanistan's human rights crisis, but it should also be a call for action," said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher for HRW.
burs-sw/sn
R.Veloso--PC