US President Joe Biden said hostage-taking by the Taliban is an act of "cowardice." Meanwhile, the UN accused the fundamentalist group of killing dozens of members and security forces of the former government.

Speaking to DW, former Afghan MP Mariam Solaimankhil blamed Pakistan, particularly its spy agencies, for the Taliban's seizure of power in Afghanistan. She also stressed that "people around the former president Ghani" brought the country down.

When Taliban fighters took over Afghanistan it spelled disaster for female judges, who faced threats of violent retribution. But 150 women and their families managed to escape. DW's Matthew Moore met with two of them who are now in Germany.

The Taliban has said they want to allow girls to continue attending school. That does not mean, however, an education in the Western sense of the word.

Domingos Simoes Pereira, opposition leader in Guinea-Bissau, speaks to DW

Is tying humanitarian assistance to human rights the right course for Afghanistan? Aid agencies are this week imploring the West and in particular the US Treasury to allow money transfers to flow unhindered and to unblock desperately needed funds.

The Taliban promised to bring peace – but now that they are the government of Afghanistan, the war against the 'Islamic State' group is just beginning. There has been a series of attacks by 'IS' and bloody reprisals by the Taliban.

We focus on the plight of women in Afghanistan six months after the Taliban retook the country. For those women and girls left behind, many have found their lives shrunk to the four walls of their homes, either due to losing their jobs or being unable to continue their education. This as a number of women's rights activists have gone missing in recent weeks as the Taliban continue to seek international recognition.

The Pul-e-Sukhta bridge in Kabul is synonymous with hard drug use. After many NGOs and charities fled Afghanistan, drug addicts have been largely left on their own. And the number of users is swelling, residents say.

Prior to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the country's tourism industry provided much-needed employment for tour guides, boat operators, and other professions. But due to the current economic crisis, all that has dried up.

EU governments start advising nationals 'to get out of Ukraine' – DW's Teri Schultz

Thousands of Tunisians have demonstrated in the capital after President Kais Saied granted himself new judicial powers in a decree. Saied can now unilaterally fire and block appointments of judges.