Nearly 150 years after the last local monarchy of Darwaz in the vast mountainous region of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, Mullah Juma Khan Fateh, a 40-year-old Taliban warlord, has emerged as the "Sultan of Darwaz"—a title that speaks to his brutal rule over the region’s religious minorities. Darwaz is located along the Amu River, bordered by Tajikistan to the north and Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province to the south. Nestled in the Pamir Mountains, it was once a small independent kingdom in historical Khorasan until Emir Abdur Rahman Khan …
As the Taliban’s severe restrictions on women’s lives in Afghanistan continue, the prevalence of mental health disorders is increasing, leading to a growing reliance on sleeping pills. Sources in several cities, particularly Herat, Kabul, and Mazar-i-Sharif, told Independent Persian that many women and girls, under intense psychological and social pressure, have turned to sleeping pills as their only escape for a few moments of peace. Zohra Peyman, a second-year psychology student at Herat University, was among the thousands of female students…
Mohammad Sharifullah, the man whom officials in the Trump administration described as a “monster” and who was arrested in Pakistan following Trump’s direct order to apprehend those responsible for the killing of 13 U.S. soldiers, is now facing American justice. Security sources from the former Afghan government told Independent Persian that Sharifullah has a long track record of carrying out ISIS-K’s deadliest attacks and is one of the group’s most bloodthirsty commanders. In a statement, the U.S. Department of Justice accused Mohammad Sharifu…
The Haqqani Madrasa in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, known as the "University of Jihad in South Asia" and the ideological and military stronghold of the Taliban that legitimized suicide attacks in Afghanistan, has now itself become the target of an attack. On Friday, March 1, a deadly explosion struck the mosque of the Haqqani Madrasa in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The target was Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and head of one of Pakistan’s largest religious seminaries. The 57-year-old cleric was kill…
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