Exclusive: American Citizen Missing in Balkh for 10 Day
Todd Adam Baker, a 44-year-old American citizen, disappeared in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif 10 days ago, and his whereabouts remain unknown. A 44-year-old American citizen, Todd Adam Baker, has been missing since 3:00 p.m. on Friday, July 17, in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan. Informed sources told me that Baker, who was born in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, had been working in Afghanistan for about a decade. Todd Adam Baker According to the sources, Taliban security personnel raided Baker'…
Taliban Issue Penal Code: From Authorizing the Killing of Opponents to Dividing People into Free and Slave
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada has endorsed a penal code for Taliban courts consisting of 119 articles, which effectively authorizes the killing of armed opponents and sets out punishments for a wide range of alleged crimes. On January 7, the Taliban Supreme Court published the Penal Code of Courts, endorsed by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s leader. The document spans ten chapters, 119 articles, and 60 pages and was released in Pashto. The code took effect immediately upon issuance and covers a broad range of issues. Its provisions w…
Uzbekistan Dismantles ISIS-K Cell Led by 19-Year-Old Woman
A 19-year-old woman who had studied Islamic theology in Turkey was found to be the leader of a secret ISIS-Khorasan Province cell in Namangan, eastern Uzbekistan, according to a statement from Uzbekistan’s State Security Service. The Uzbek state media has reported the arrest of a 19-year-old woman and her associates who are accused of collaborating with ISIS- -Khorasan In its official announcement , the Uzbekistan’s State Security Service revealed that the woman, after attending religious courses in a private Islamic center in Istanbul in 202…
ISKP Issues Warning to Baloch Militants After Deadly Clash
In a new 36-minute video titled “The Mastung Incident and the Conspiracy of the Infidels,” ISKP’s media wing, Al-Azaim Foundation, confirmed for the first time a deadly clash with Baloch militants in Mastung district, located in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The group declared that members of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) will now be among its revenge targets. The clash occurred in mid-March, during which nearly 30 ISKP members from various countries were killed. This marks the first occasion where ISKP has both acknowledged the ba…
Taliban’s War on Books: How Afghanistan’s Vanishing Words Silence a Nation
Since August 2021, restrictions on freedom of expression in Afghanistan have significantly increased. In this speech, delivered at the Dawit Isaak Library in Malmö, Sweden, on May 22, I discuss how recent policies have affected book publishing, cultural production, and access to information in the country. Good afternoon, everyone, Let me begin with a simple but heartfelt thank you. Since the withdrawal of American and NATO forces from Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power, my country has largely disappeared from international he…
Exiled Teachers; Taliban Begins Ideological Purge of Afghanistan’s Schools
Since the Taliban’s return to power, the phenomenon of “exiled teachers” has spread across Afghanistan, systematically pushing experienced educators out of the national education system. Dozens of teachers with years of classroom experience have been removed from their posts by Taliban-appointed officials in the Ministry of Education and exiled to remote village schools. Their “offenses” range from lacking loyalty to the Taliban to resisting the group’s ideological influence over school curricula. This forced relocation is seen as a tactic to…
Afghan Women’s Silent Struggle: Sleeping Pills as Their Only Escape
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…
Terror's Turning Point: When the Jihadist Breeding Ground Faces Its Own War
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…
The Fall of Commanders: IS-K’s War Against Taliban Elites
Over the three and a half years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K) has not only launched deadly attacks on civilians, including students, worshippers, and Hazara, Shia, and Sufi travelers, but also eliminated at least eight influential and powerful Taliban members or ideologues. IS-K's attacks on public places, such as mosques and schools, often involve conventional insurgency tactics like bombings or coordinated assaults by multiple attackers. However, targeting senior Taliban officials, who live …
11 Sufi Worshippers Shot Dead by Unknown Gunmen in Baghlan
Mukhtar Wafayee - Independent Persian - Local sources in Nahrin district, Baghlan province, in northern Afghanistan, told Independent Persian that on Friday night, November 22, 11 Sufi worshippers were killed by unknown gunmen at the Shahr Kohna shrine in the district. According to these sources, the worshippers, who had gathered weekly for years to pray and recite dhikr at the shrine, were shot while seated on their prayer mats. Photos shared with Independent Persian from the scene show prayer mats neatly arranged in a room, with the b…
Rashid Khan Arman: Afghanistan’s First Millionaire Athlete and Global Cricket Icon
RashidKhan_19/X Rashid Khan, 26, is among the highest-earning athletes worldwide, with a monthly income of 59 million Afghanis, equivalent to approximately 883,000 USD. Rashid, who became famous at 15 while playing for Afghanistan’s cricket team, is Afghanistan’s first athlete to become a millionaire through his sports fame. The Indian Premier League (IPL) website reported that Rashid Khan played for the Gujarat Titans for 15 crore Indian rupees (about 1.8 million USD) in a season of the IPL. Established in 2008, the IPL has become one of the …
Taliban Leader's Order: Free Land and Housing for Religious Clerics
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, has ordered that land be distributed free of charge to clerics affiliated with the group and those working within Taliban structures, including religious and jihadist schools. Special settlements for clerics are to be established in every province. Informed sources within the Taliban’s Ministry of Education, confirming this, shared documents with Independent Persian's journalist indicating that after being informed about settlements designated for teachers, the Taliban leader ordered simila…
Sanaullah Ghafari: The Path from Kabul University Student to ISIS-K Leadership
This report was written by Nilofar Langar for Independent Persian . The original version of this report was published in Farsi/Dari. After the deadly attack by ISIS-K on the Crocus concert hall in Moscow on March 2024, which led to the death of over 140 people and the injury of dozens, the name of the young leader of this group once again made headlines. However, there has always been contradictory and often misleading information in the media regarding the true identity of this man behind ISIS-K's deadly attacks. Now, Independent…
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