India fears that a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan would benefit Pakistan. The government is trying to protect its strategic interests.

Amid a mounting economic crisis, the Taliban has pledged to pay three months' worth of lost wages to public employees. The group boasted of new revenue, but did not specify where it came from.

A Taliban ministry has asked TV networks to stop broadcasting programs that the ultra-conservative group deems immoral. They have said that the directives are not obligatory, but rather "a religious guideline."

Humanitarian workers are racing against time to deliver aid as winter looms in Afghanistan, UN officials told DW. The situation on the ground is already desperate and "looks like it's going to get worse."

African voices are at the heart of conversations at the COP26 climate summit. Despite contributing the least to greenhouse gas emissions, the continent is on the frontline of changes that threaten the environment and livelihoods. In Mauritius, there are fears all the country's beaches could be gone in just 50 years. Meanwhile, the Rwandan capital Kigali is being transformed into a green city with a pedestrian-only centre and self-service bikes.

At least one person has been killed in an explosion in Kabul. The largely Shiite neighborhood has previously been targeted by attacks by the Islamic State-Khorasan group.

By imposing new restrictions on the media and female actors, the Taliban have once again reaffirmed their misogynistic ideology, rights advocates have said.

When Gambia's president Adama Barrow came to power in 2016, he promised to step down after three years. His decision to extend his term from three to five years - and seek another - has unsurprisingly divided the country. Edith Kimani meets young Gambians in the heat of the election campaign to hear from both sides.

East Africa has been ramping up efforts to expose its citizens to Chinese culture - particularly through language. In Kenya Mandarin is offered as a selective language in the national curriculum, while in Uganda it’s now a compulsory subject in some schools. But is this simply an exchange of cultures, or is there more to it?

Human Rights Watch says that more than 100 former Afghan security personnel have disappeared or been killed by the Taliban since they came to power in August. The actual number could be much higher than that.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Foreign Affairs Committee that the previous presidency left Joe Biden little choice but to complete the withdrawal. Republicans called it "an unmitigated disaster."

For almost a decade, international forces in Mali have been trying to help fight Islamist groups that threatened to take over the country in 2012. But today, the government still only controls the capital and a small area around it. DW's Fred Muvunyi reports.