Video from Amnesty International about the Taliban's approach towards some social media content providers:

Afghanistan: Since assuming power, the #Taliban have been using intimidation, harassment, and violence ...

Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, ORF, Mobilising to a Victorious Insurgency: Locating Identity, Grievance, and Greed in the Taliban’s Strategy "Analysts attribute the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021 to various factors. These include geopolitical ...

Deutsche Welle, Afghanistan: Taliban ban fighters from taking guns to amusement parks, 2 Feb 2022 "Taliban fighters will not be able to take weapons with them when visiting theme parks, a spokesperson says. The group has been ...

Washington Post, Pakistan using informal intelligence channels to prop up Taliban fight against ISIS "As the Islamic State-Khorasan is ramping up attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan is using a network of informal channels to feed intelligence ...

Ian Burrell, i Newspaper, A media war has broken out among extremists, with IS hating the Taliban for its ability to steal the limelight

Ian Burrell's article on 'media war' in Afghanistan:

"“There is a media war,” says Mina Al-Lami, ...

Secunder Kermani, BBC News, Afghanistan: Life under Taliban rule one month on

Recommended: "At Afghanistan's border with Uzbekistan a cargo train rolls over a bridge and into the newly created "Islamic Emirate". The Taliban's white and black flag flutters next to the Uzbek ...

Stefani Glinski, The National, Taliban fighters eat ice cream as a slowly changing Kabul watches a month on

"Two Taliban fighters sit waiting for fruit juice, guns resting on their legs, while children ...

Time, The Untold Story of How Afghanistan's Fighting Female Governor Salima Mazari Escaped the Taliban,

Technological elements within this story on Salima Mazari:

"On Aug. 24, just after dawn, Mazari received Signal messages in English, sent via an unknown Afghan number, claiming ...

ODI, 'Taliban narratives on Al Qaeda in Afghanistan'

"Much has been written about the Taliban’s links to Al Qaeda since 2001, but there is little consensus. Based on more than 100 interviews with insurgent commanders and others, this report examines ...

Associated articles on Taliban approaches towards gender issues:

BBC News, Afghanistan: Taliban announce new rules for female students

"The Taliban have said they will not prevent women from being educated or having jobs. But since they seized control on 15 August, they have ...

On TOLO News, a spokesperson comments on an approach towards women in politics in Afghanistan. This is counter to the discussions heard a few weeks ago:

A Taliban spokesman on @TOLOnews: "A woman can't be a minister, ...

Updates on the situation in Afghanistan:

طالبان حکومت جدید خود را به ریاست حسن آخوند اعلام کرد, BBC Farsi

Just in: A group of young all-female protesters from Dasht-e-Barchi can be seen marching peacefully towards

Moyuru Baba, Nikkei Asia, Jobs and smartphones: Taliban adapt to new era to woo Afghan youth

"Taliban leaders recognize that without an online presence, they cannot win over the internet ...

Chris Stokel-Walker, Wired, The battle for control of Afghanistan’s internet, 7 Sep 2021 "“The internet is a microcosm of all these questions about what is the future of Afghanistan,” says Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, a network observability ...

Al Jazeera, Panjshir, the last pocket of resistance, falls to Taliban

"The Taliban claimed total control over Afghanistan after claiming capture of the Panjshir Valley on Monday."

Taliban and dress-code issues:

This is a video response to a question about dress-code issues, although I don't have further details at this stage. The response itself went viral.

A Taliban official in an interview in Kabul on the importance of Hijab: “Do you buy a sliced melon ...

Protests in various provinces in Afghanistan continue to be picked up in social media, where the Taliban is in some cases making its responses in the light of world media interest. The 'live' aspects of these protests has been particularly prominent on Twitter, although the messages are also getting out on other channels. A few indicative examples ...

Sarah Atiq, BBC News, The Taliban embrace social media: 'We too want to change perceptions', 6 Sep 2021

"When the Taliban first came to power in Afghanistan in 1996, they banned the internet and confiscated or destroyed television sets, cameras, and video tapes. In 2005, the official ...

Social media responses are being presented on all sides relating to the conflict in Panjshir Valley.

Al Jazeera, Taliban claims victory in Panjshir as it calls to end war: Live

"The group’s spokesman says it has taken ...

Greg Norman , Andrew Murray , Matt Wall, Fox News, Taliban spokesperson warns US not to interfere with their culture, treatment of women

"Suhail Shaheen spoke to Fox News about terrorist group’s future relationship with US"

This is quite ...

Some of today's coverage is below. It's interesting to view this first item from the Hurat channel (via Bilal Sarwary) Some faces in the audience are pixelated for some reason. The video shows (some of) the extent of arms' acquisition by the Taliban.

#AFG ...

Plenty of coverage from Kabul Airport during the transition process.

Following the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, video shows Taliban fighters entering a hangar at the Kabul airport and examining what was left behind by the US military https://t.co/Thf0PkaMRB ...

Spare a thought for the local journalists and reporters who continue their work in Afghanistan. Some news channels continue to operate, under pressures and in some cases intimidation, while the Taliban has one eye - at this time - on its social media and international broadcasting profile.

Freedom ...

Andrew Quilty, Harper's Magazine, Letter from Sher Toghi: When the Raids Came

The human dimension of conflict and its implications are explored in this article:

"Nabil agrees that along with ideological and cultural forces, ...

Independent, Taliban vows to purge education system of anything ‘against Islam’ as Afghan folk singer shot dead

"The Taliban is planning to ...

Emerson T. Brooking, New Atlanticist, Before the Taliban took Afghanistan, it took the internet

"This information conflict will not end with the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan. Already, anti-Taliban fighters are appealing ...

Bhaskar Chakravorti, Foreign Policy, Facebook’s Taliban Ban Will Prove Costly for Afghans

". Pro-Taliban users can still freely use WhatsApp, the wildly popular Facebook-owned messaging app. This is because the app is end-to-end encrypted, which ...

Disturbingly, many eligible people have been 'left behind' in the evacuation process. There are several stories on social media associated with this.

‘My name was never called.’ The voices of those left behind in Kabul (The Guardian), 28 Aug 2021
https://t.co/o2OUfVwU0Y

— ...

I'm going back to individual posts on the Taliban situation in Afghanistan, as the evacuation phase is reaching its initial conclusion. You can track back on earlier posts by clicking the 'Taliban' category (above). The inordinate file sizes for the pages meant that they were becoming difficult to access. I am prepping a chapter on this for my next ...

Charlie Winter, Abdullah Alrhmoun, Abdul Sayed, Wired, The Taliban’s vast propaganda machine has a new target "The reality is that the Taliban has been working towards this moment for years, ...

Richard Stengel, New York Times, The Taliban Want You to Keep Your Phone On, 23 Aug 2021

"For months, on social media, the Taliban have sought to project an image of strength and moderation, an aura of inevitability within Afghanistan and an air ...

Amy Chew, SCMP, Afghanistan: Taliban’s return ‘boosts morale’ of militant groups in Southeast Asia

"“Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern ...

Timur Khan, Newlines, ‘Vagabond, Wicked and Turbulent’: Afghanistan’s Lawless Border

"From the Mughals to the War on Terror, Pashtuns in the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderlands have been described as “lawless.” That emphasis on the rule ...