Taliban ban Covid jab in Paktia, claims report; Video shows them partying after fall of Jowzjan

Afghanistan's ambassador to Turkmenistan Khan Wali Khan Basharmal has on social media announced that he will be leaving his position for one week to represent "my people as an honorary ambassador of the people of Afghanistan".

The Taliban have banned the Covid vaccine in east Afghanistan's Paktia and put up a notice in this regard at Paktia Regional Hospital, Afghanistan-based radio and television platform Shamshad News has reported. The region was captured last week when they allegedly removed Nishan Sahib from a gurdwara in the province.

Stranded people crossing the border between Pakistan Afghanistan, in Chaman, Pakistan, Friday, August  13. (AP)

 

A video has emerged on Facebook showing how Taliban leaders partied at the residence of Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum in Sheberghan of Jowzjan after the provincial capital in the country's north was captured last week. The video, which was not independently authenticated by Hindustan Times showed Taliban leaders sitting at a huge hall that reportedly belongs to 67-year-old Afghan warlord Dostum.

An estimated 65 per cent of Afghan territory have been captured by Taliban insurgents as the force is now nearing the gates of Kabul. On Friday, the Taliban captured Kandahar, Logar province, Lashkar Gah and Herat. The situation escalated after US president Joe Biden on April 14 announced the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan starting May 1. This led to Taliban insurgence and all cities, one by one, have started to fall in front of Taliban forces. Talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government on a political solution has hit a deadlock as no significant progress has been made on that front.

As Afghanistan is on the threshold, videos of what exactly is happening in the country and what the civilians of the country are doing are flooding social media platforms. While civilians are taking out rallies in support of Afghan security forces, women of war-torn families who have now taken refuge in Kabul are pouring out their pain in front of cameras.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's ambassador to Turkmenistan Khan Wali Khan Basharmal has on social media announced that he will be leaving his position for one week to represent "my people as an honorary ambassador of the people of Afghanistan". Giving his charge to Chris Alexander, Basharmal wrote, "I suggest to my government your name to announce as an honorary ambassador of the people of Afghanistan for a lifetime."