Tolo News in Dari – May 27, 2026
Escaping Border Violence, Afghans Struggle To Rebuild Lives
By Daud Khattak
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 27, 2026
Asadullah lives with his wife and six children in a tent on the edge of Asadabad, the capital of Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar.
The 42-year-old is among the tens of thousands of Afghans who have been displaced by deadly border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months.
Pakistan has accused Taliban-controlled Afghanistan of sheltering the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and carried out deadly air strikes in Afghanistan targeting the extremist group. Islamabad’s attacks have triggered retaliatory attacks by the Afghan Taliban and brought the neighbors to the brink of all-out war.
The violence has taken a toll on civilians on both sides of the porous 2,600-kilometer-long border. In Afghanistan, nearly 100,000 people have been displaced, according to UN. While some have returned to their homes, others have become refugees in their own country.
Asadullah owned a home and retail store in Asadabad. But both were destroyed in the border clashes, and he now relies on humanitarian aid and donations from locals to survive.
“My children are also unable to attend school or access health care facilities,” Asadullah, who only goes by one name, told RFE/RL. “There is a cease-fire in place now, but no one knows what will happen next.”
From Allies to Foes
In October 2025, Pakistan carried out unprecedented drone strikes in the center of the Afghan capital, Kabul, as well as air strikes in the country’s east. It came days after the TTP claimed responsibility for an attack in northwestern Pakistan that killed 11 soldiers.
Fierce fighting erupted between Taliban fighters and Pakistani security forces, leaving dozens dead and key border crossings closed.
In February, Pakistan carried out air strikes in two of Afghanistan’s largest cities, heightening fears of an all-out war between the two neighbors.
Pakistani jets on February 27 bombed military targets in Kabul, the southern city of Kandahar, home to the Taliban’s spiritual leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, and in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika, and Laghman.
In retaliation, Afghanistan’s Taliban government said it launched drone and rocket attacks targeting military installations and security forces in northwestern Pakistan.
A Pakistani air strike on a hospital in Kabul in March killed over 100 people, according to the UN. The Afghan Taliban said hundreds of civilians were killed in the deadliest-ever attack carried out by Pakistani forces. Islamabad claimed the strike had targeted military installations and TTP infrastructure.
Since then, sporadic clashes have erupted along the border, despite an unofficial cease-fire.
The Afghan Taliban has repeatedly denied that it is harboring the TTP, with which it has close ideological, organizational, and tribal ties.
The dispute has turned Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban, longtime allies, into foes. Pakistan had supported the Afghan Taliban since the group first emerged in the 1990s, including allegedly during the group’s 20-year insurgency against the US-backed Afghan government.
The TTP leadership is believed to have taken shelter in Afghanistan after the Afghan Taliban seized power in 2021 following the withdrawal of international troops. Many TTP foot soldiers are believed to be operating along the border.
Formed in 2007, the TTP has waged an increasingly deadly insurgency against Islamabad and killed hundreds of Pakistani security personnel in recent years.
‘Significant Humanitarian Needs’
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been affected by the hostilities between Kabul and Islamabad.
The UN said around 1,000 homes were either destroyed or partially damaged during fighting in the past six months. Around 160,000 people — most of them in eastern provinces bordering Pakistan, including Kunar — are experiencing “significant humanitarian needs,” according to the world body.
Afghanistan is already one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world. The impoverished country lost vital Western aid, and the economy collapsed after the Taliban seized power five years ago.
“Our children and women are becoming psychologically broken,” Asmatullah, a resident of Afghanistan’s southeastern province of Khost, told RFE/RL.
“They cannot sleep. When someone accidentally bangs on the door, they mistake it for the sound of mortar shells,” added Asmatullah, who lives in a village only 10 kilometers from the Pakistani border.
In March, a mortar shell landed on his home in the middle of the night, killing his 27-year-old nephew.
Some Afghans displaced by the fighting in recent months have returned to their homes. Others are reluctant, fearing a resumption of violence.
“We are afraid to return to our villages unless the two sides announce a permanent cease-fire,” a resident of the eastern province of Nangarhar told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said his family is currently staying with relatives in a neighboring district.
Ikramullah Ikram of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi contributed to this report.
Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Taliban leader urges opponents to accept his rule, return to Afghanistan
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada
Amu: Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, used his Eid al-Adha sermon on Wednesday to call on political and military opponents to abandon their resistance, return to Afghanistan and accept Taliban rule. “Lay down your weapons. We have no issue with you,” Akhundzada said. “We forgave you before and we forgive you now. Come back. This is your country, your land and your system.” Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan names squads for India Test and ODI series
Amu: The Afghanistan Cricket Board announced its squads for the upcoming Test and One-Day International series against India, with several experienced players returning to lead the team in both formats. The series is scheduled to run from June 6 to June 20 and includes a one-off Test match followed by a three-match ODI series. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban detained 8 locals after blast in Panjshir, residents say
Amu: Taliban have detained at least eight residents in the central province of Panjshir following an explosion claimed by an anti-Taliban armed group, according to local residents and sources. Residents said the arrests took place after an explosion on Monday evening in the village of Manjenesto in Abdullah Khil district. Among those detained are three teachers, according to local sources. Three sources told Amu that Taliban forces began making arrests on Tuesday morning and that the district remains under heavy security control. Residents said interrogations are continuing and that movement in the area is being closely monitored. The detentions came after an explosion in Manjenesto village on Monday evening. Shortly afterward, the Green Unit, the armed wing of the Green Trend movement led by former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, claimed responsibility for the attack. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Demand Absolute Obedience to Akhundzada, Bans All Questioning of His Orders
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada
8am: The Taliban’s Central Fatwa Council (the Fatwa Council), acting on orders from Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, has prepared a treatise titled “The Effects of Obedience in Strengthening the Islamic System” and distributed it widely among the public and the group’s fighters. The Taliban stated that the work was produced for “the general public” and their fighters to instill unconditional obedience to the group’s supreme leader, and to make clear that questioning Hibatullah’s orders and commands is not permissible. According to the Taliban, neither the public nor the group’s members have any right to question Hibatullah’s commands, as those commands contain wisdom the supreme leader does not wish to be made public. The treatise equates obedience to Hibatullah with obedience to God and the Prophet, framing it as foundational to the strength of the Islamic system. Its introduction claims that the fall of the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Ottoman caliphates was not caused by enemy attacks, but by the “rebellion of subjects against their rulers.” The treatise warns that if the Taliban fail to obey their leader, their own regime will face the same fate. Hibatullah, who wrote the foreword to the work, describes obedience as indispensable, claiming that without it, no aspect of life can function properly. The Fatwa Council further asserts that anyone who dies without pledging allegiance will have died “the death of ignorance.” Click here to read more (external link).
More
Russian security chief says ISIS-K recruiting Central Asian nationals in Afghanistan
ISIS Militants
Amu: Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), said on Tuesday that the ISIS regional affiliate in Afghanistan is actively recruiting citizens of Central Asian countries and labor migrants living in Russia. Speaking at a meeting of security chiefs from the Commonwealth of Independent States in Moscow, Bortnikov said ISIS-K, the group’s Afghanistan-based branch, was drawing recruits from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. He said the group was also attempting to establish clandestine networks across the region and prepare potential attacks. The meeting was attended by senior security officials from several countries, including Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban’s defense minister. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News in Dari – May 26, 2026
Taliban Closes Radio Stations In Ongoing Media Clampdown
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
May 25, 2026
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have closed down three local radio stations in the latest move in an ongoing crackdown that has seen the country’s media landscape decimated since the militant group seized power for a second time in 2021.
The radio stations — Tahsin al-Quran, Sanga, and Zama Ziwer — were operating in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, the Taliban’s birthplace and stronghold.
In a statement on May 24, the Taliban’s Department of Information and Culture accused the radio stations of failure to pay their taxes, not being licensed, and of substandard broadcasting.
The same statement also urged other radio stations to align their broadcast with “Islamic principles and ethics.”
The latest move drew immediate criticism from media advocacy and rights groups.
“Pressure on the media has increased, especially on radio stations,” Hamed Obaidi, head of the Afghanistan Media Support Organization, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
Obaidi added that the reasons given for closing the stations were merely a pretext to muzzle public opinion.
Last week, when another local station, Radio Bamyan, was shut down for not renewing its license, a source at the radio told Radio Azadi that the Taliban had actually prevented it from doing so.
Taliban-run Afghanistan ranks 175th in the latest edition of the World Press Freedom Index, released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last month. Only Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, North Korea, and Eritrea were rated lower.
RSF said 43 percent of media outlets in Afghanistan had been closed since 2021, documenting the dismantling of independent media with women journalists being disproportionately targeted.
Since August 2021, more than 165 media professionals have been arrested — including 25 in 2025 — and the media watchdog says “journalism has been choked by relentless censorship.”
The 2025 annual report by the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), released in December, also noted increased censorship and repression.
“Examples include forced confessions from imprisoned journalists, restrictions on the participation of female journalists in press conferences held by senior officials, and the censorship of women’s voices during live news coverage,” it said.
The AFJC report also documented the closure of at least 20 television stations in the country since 2021. The group also condemned the closure of the three Kandahar-based radio stations.
Taliban regulations have also imposed sweeping censorship systems, banned entertainment programming and films, and placed restrictions on women’s participation in media.
Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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