The Latest Breaking News from Kabul

A rare public show of division is emerging in the ranks of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban

In a chilly classroom in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement, teenage girls pore over Islamic texts as the disembodied voice of a male scholar emanates from a loud speaker.

The media protection organisation Reporters Without Borders and 14 French news organisations have called for the immediate release of the franco-afghan journalist Mortaza Behboudi, detained by the Taliban in Kabul since 7 January.

Josie Stewart said officials saw it as their job to protect ministers rather than to serve the public.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights called on Afghanistan's Taliban administration on Friday to release a university lecturer and education activist detained by security forces in the capital Kabul.

Exclusive: Civil servant who gave anonymous interview to BBC about Afghan withdrawal says service ‘dangerously politicised’

The Taliban confirms the detention of Ismail Mashal, who tore up his degrees to protest against women’s education ban.

It seems like a profound contradiction; trying to convince Afghanistan's Taliban authorities to accept foreign humanitarian help for their own starving population. Thus as beleaguered Afghan civilians endure a brutal winter, the sanctimonious Islamic fundamentalist regime in Kabul has largely restricted international aid agencies because they employ women.

Shamila doesn't have a photo of the baby son who died in her arms in freezing temperatures at their home in Kabul this month, but she remembers his face perfectly.