The United States has been a massive funder of Afghanistan since its 2001 invasion to topple the Taliban, setting aside roughly $130 billion for security, governance and development and humanitarian needs.
Fighters from the National Resistance Front (NRF), made up of anti-Taliban militia fighters and former Afghan security forces, are understood to have significant weapon stockpiles too in the valley, which lies around 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Kabul.
Cricket was barely known in Afghanistan until the early 2000s, and its explosive rise in popularity is linked with conflict -- the sport was picked up in Pakistan by Afghan refugees who then seeded it in their home country.
Chinese experts had previously travelled to Egypt to inspect equipment and materials for producing the Sinovac vaccine at factories belonging to state firm Vacsera.
With the Taliban now in control of the country, Akram said Pakistan hopes its leaders “will listen to a sincere friend in trying to form an inclusive government” where all the ethnic groups and minorities including Tajiks, Hazaras and Shiite Muslims are represented.
In 2020, South Korea announced its new Hyunmoo-4 short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) could carry a 2-ton warhead, while in March North Korea tested an SRBM that it said could deliver a 2.5-ton payload.
A top UN concern is over the treatment of women and girls under the hardline Islamist Taliban. Women's liberties were sharply curtailed during the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan.
Findings on air quality legislation in 194 countries and the European Union (EU), reveal that despite the international movement of pollutants which impact air quality, only one third of the countries studied, have legal mechanisms for managing or addressing transboundary air pollution.
