Khaama Press: The Afghan government could face new challenges from the unofficial religious Madrasas – seminaries, according to a new survey report which suggests extremists thoughts have been adopted and are widely spreading among the students and teachers of these Madrasas. The report has been prepared by Afghanistan Institute for Strategic Studies which covers 50 unofficial Madrasas in ten different provinces of the country.      Full news...

RAWA News: The ousting of the Taliban regime and the establishment of a new government in 2001 brought with it a hope for the emergence of a truly just and democratic society. Many were hopeful that the warlords would go behind bars for the atrocities they had committed during the 1990s. On the contrary, they were reinforced during the Karzai’s administration. Regional warlords and power brokers such as Atta Noor in the North, Sherzai in the South and then East and Ismail Khan in the West of the country, turned the country into fiefdoms and often defied the presidential decrees if they were against their personal interests.      Full news...

RAWA.org: Every nation in the world celebrates the people who have contributed constructively to their respective countries. This contribution can be in the fields of education, science, literature, peace, economy or any other field of life that is of benefit to the citizens of the country. These celebrated people are often called the Heroes of Nation.      Full news...

The Guardian: Mohammad Qassem had been chained to a wall for 13 days. Locked in a tiny concrete cell with his hands and feet shackled, he had 27 days left before he would be declared healthy. During that period, the keeper of the holy shrine where Qassem was held would feed him only tea, bread and black pepper, ostensibly to rid him of what his family said was insanity.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: Tens of thousands of Afghans have swelled the ranks of those seeking refuge in Europe this year. Second only to Syrians, Afghans represent the next largest group - 13 percent - of those making the journey so far in 2015, Human Rights Watch reported this week. This is because, for many Afghans, the war is only getting worse - something that’s easy to forget as international interest in Afghanistan wanes and most foreign troops are long gone.      Full news...

Khaama Press: The former Afghan President Hamid Karzai had ordered the security officials not to attack the training centers belonging to the Taliban militants in central Logar province, it has been reported. According to the local security officials quoted by BBC, the former president had ordered to prevent military operation on the training center despite the Taliban militants were using the center as launching pad for suicide attacks in Logar and capital Kabul.      Full news...

Khaama Press: A man and woman have been stoned to death by Taliban militants in northern Sar-i-Pul province for having immoral contacts. Abdul Jabar Haqbin, acting governor of Sar-i-Pul province said that Taliban had kidnapped the man and woman three days before. He said Taliban planned to execute the hostages on Friday but it was delayed due to an airstrike by Afghan forces.      Full news...

Hambastagi.org (Translated by RAWA): Every year on 9th September, the death anniversary of Massoud, the people of Kabul experience barbarism of the factional kind (reference to factional infighting during the 1992-1996 civil war and the commission of horrendous crimes during that time). A group of reckless men belonging to Shorae Nizar roamed the whole city wildly, spreading terror, and causing disturbance and concern among the residents of Kabul.      Full news...

IRIN: When 30 Kalashnikov-toting men came to Mohammad Miakhil’s house demanding he donate a large sum of money and three tonnes of wheat to their Afghan government-aligned militia, he knew it was time to leave. “They gave us two hours to pay,” said Miakhil. “If not, they would set our house on fire and kill my family.” Miakhil could not afford to hand over such a large portion of his harvest and 120,000 afghanis (about 1,000 USD), so his family joined the exodus from Khanabad, a district in northern Kunduz province...      Full news...

NPR: In 2010, photographer Gabriela Maj was working on a project about an artist in Afghanistan when one of her editors suggested she take a look at Afghan women’s prisons. Maj recalls: “He said, you know there are all these stories kind of floating, kind of bubbling up in the international media about women being incarcerated for something known as ’moral crimes.’ And they’re being put into these prisons with their kids.’”      Full news...

IBTimes: At least 300 girls have been admitted to hospitals after facing suspected gas attacks in their schools. Authorities believe the mysterious gas poisoning was carried out by those with suspected links to Taliban extremists. The girls’ age ranges from nine to 18. Three separate gas attacks were reported from Herat province.      Full news...

IRIN: The United States has allocated 950 million USD for assisting Afghan refugees and returnees, but much of that money has been lost to corruption while those in need remain in dire conditions. That’s just one finding in a scathing report released today by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)...      Full news...

1TV: An Afghan man and a woman received 100 lashes each after they were found guilty of committing adultery in western Ghor province. The punishment was given in public on Monday and after they were found guilty in a primary court. Judges said that the punishment was based on Sharia laws and that the man and woman confessed that they had sexual relations.      Full news...

NBC News: Nearly 100 Afghan schoolgirls fell sick on Monday, prompting officials in the western city of Herat to investigate whether they were poisoned by Taliban militants. “Our initial finding shows some kind of spray was used by some of the students to freshen up the classrooms,” provincial police spokesman Col. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi told NBC News. “Our investigation is ongoing to determine if it was an act of sabotage or poor quality spray.”      Full news...

PAN: Emboldened by lingering insecurity, gunmen are digging up historical sites to plunder the national wealth in parts of remote northeastern Badakhshan province -- home to the region’s rich cultural heritage and a key link between China and South Asia.With a diverse ethno-linguistic and religious community, the people of Badakhshan retained opulent cultural heritage and they have preserved unique ancient forms of music, poetry and dance. Badakhshan was an important trade centre during antiquity.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: A man in northern Baghlan province reportedly beheaded his wife after a court failed to grant her a divorce. The woman, Trina, apparently married her husband nearly a year ago but was so unhappy she filed for a divorce a few months back. According to Trina’s sister: “Trina got married nearly a year back and she was not happy with her marriage and she wanted to break up...      Full news...

ABC News: The American soldier who murdered 16 Afghan civilians was based at an Army post with Special Forces teams immersed in a culture of drugs, booze and casual racism – one not overseen by Special Forces leadership because they chose to take a “hands-off” approach, according to newly released military report. The damning assessment by U.S. military officials came in the aftermath of the 2012 massacre by Sgt. Robert Bales, now serving a life sentence after being convicted in a court-martial of multiple counts of murder.      Full news...

1TV: More than half of teachers in Afghanistan are incompetent to carry out the task, an independent anti-corruption body warned Saturday. The finding by the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee alleged favoritism and patronage widely prevail over merit and ability in appointment of teachers.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives on Saturday afternoon, killing at least 12 people and injuring over 60 others, officials have confirmed. According to Kabir Amiri, head of Kabul Hospitals, 12 people including a foreigner were killed in the attack. In addition, 67 people were injured – of which seven were women and five were children.      Full news...

1TV: A 10-year-old boy is in hospital after being sexually assaulted in northern Kunduz province, police said Thursday adding the culprit was arrested. The culprit man had taken the victim to a house threatening him with knife before he carried out the rape, the provincial police chief said.      Full news...

1TV: Former officials with Olympic committee and Directorate of Physical Education and Sports have embezzled tens of millions of Afghanis, the country’s top anti-corruption body said Sunday. The officials embezzled the money when Zahir Aghbar was in-charge of Olympic committee while the Directorate of Sports and Physical Education was directed by Kiramuddin Karim, the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption.      Full news...

The Killid Group: Mohammad Naser, Kabul, who considers himself an activist, blames the national unity government for all the present problems. “Problems increased in all areas – for instance security, lack of employment, poor health and social services – as soon as the government came into being. I don’t think anyone is satisfied with this government,” he says.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: In a telephonic interview with TOLOnews, Assadullah Khurram, a member of Sar-e-Pul provincial council on Friday reported that a young girl and her father were beaten up by the head of the development council of Balkhab district in Toghi village after being accused of robbery. According to Khurram, the person who claimed his house had been robbed consulted a fortune teller who accused the man and his daughter of being involved in the crime.      Full news...

PAN: Claiming that the Shah Shaheed incident was not suicide bombing but an airstrike, dozens of protesters on Monday demanded the government thoroughly investigate the carnage and inform the nation about its findings. However, earlier security forces said the incident took place due to vehicle bombing in the locality. Some media outlets also released CCTV footages, showing an explosive-laden truck exploded in the area.      Full news...

1TV: In a shocking incident, a woman has been raped in front of her family members by Taliban militants before she was executed in northern Badakhshan province, officials said Saturday. The incident happened overnight in Wardoj district’s Tirgaran village where Taliban recently seized a key police base.      Full news...

AFP: Multiple bombings rocked Kabul Friday, killing at least 35 people and wounding hundreds more in the first major attacks in the Afghan capital since the announcement of Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s death. The explosions, which devastated buildings and overwhelmed hospitals with casualties, mark the deadliest day in Kabul since the end of the NATO combat mission in December.      Full news...

NBC News: The highest number of women and children on record were killed or wounded by the conflict in Afghanistan during the first six months of the year, according to a U.N. report released Wednesday. The number of women who died or were injured jumped 23 percent in the six months to June, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) study showed. From January to June, 164 women were killed and 395 were wounded, according to the report.      Full news...

The Killid Group: Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, the former minister of borders and tribal affairs, has spent 19 million Afs (315,150 USD) from the developmental budget allocated to the Khushal Khan High School located in Padola desert on a strategic plan. An investigation. Documents and evidence collected by Killid show that the former minister, in the second quarter of the last fiscal year (March 21, 2014 to March 20, 2015) requested the budget department of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for money for a new project called strategic and research plan.      Full news...

PAN: Relatives of the two persons killed by bodyguards of the Western Zone Ulema Council chief on Saturday staged a protest demonstration against the council chief, Maulvi Khudadad Saleh. Yesterday at about 8:30pm, a civilian car crashed into a vehicle carrying bodyguards of Saleh as part of his convoy, prompting the guards to open fire at the civilian car, killing two occupants.      Full news...

The Fiscal Times: The U.S. is dealing with the most severe heroin epidemic the country has seen in years, but the public health crisis here is dwarfed by the severity of the problem in Afghanistan. And the billions of dollars the U.S. is spending to fight the epidemic in the central Asian nation seems to be having little effect.      Full news...