Taliban

It is the first officially confirmed public execution since the hardline Islamist group seized power last year.

Reuters reports the execution in Farah province was of a man accused of stabbing another man to death in 2017, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said, and was attended by senior Taliban officials.

The execution was carried out by the father of the victim, who shot the man three times, Mujahid said in a subsequent statement.

The Taliban say one of their soldiers was killed in Sunday's fighting, which occurred in the border area between Afghanistan's Nimroz province and Iran's Hirmand region.

Each country blamed the other for the incident.

There have been several clashes at the border since Taliban militants took over Afghanistan a year ago.

The exact circumstances of the latest skirmish are unclear.

"We have one killed and one wounded," Nimroz police spokesman Bahram Haqmal told Reuters news agency.

At a press conference, the Afghanistan Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue announced that all women would have to cover their face in public.

The decree also said if women have no important work outside then they should stay at home.

Akif Muhajir, spokesman for the ministry, told the BBC the order was based on the Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

During the conference, the ministry spelled out punishments for the male guardians of the women who failed to obey the new rules.

In a joint statement, the 22 nations demanded that the Islamist regime respect its pledge not to harm former government or security personnel.

"We are deeply concerned by reports of summary killings and enforced disappearances", the statement says.

It follows a damning report on killings and abductions by the Islamist regime.

Released by the Human Rights Watch earlier this week, the report documented more than 100 executions and abductions of former Afghan government officials since the Taliban took control of the country almost four months ago.

The so-called Doha agreement was signed in February 2020 and set a date for the US to withdraw its troops.

Gen Frank McKenzie said the deal had a "really pernicious effect" on the Afghan government and military.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin agreed, saying the agreement had helped the Taliban get "stronger".

In addition to setting a withdrawal date, the Doha agreement included broad obligations on the Taliban to take steps to prevent groups such as al-Qaeda from threatening the security of the US and its allies.

The group's foreign minister made the request in a letter on Monday. A UN committee will rule on the request.

The Taliban also nominated their Doha-based spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, as Afghanistan's UN ambassador.

The group, which seized control of Afghanistan last month, said the envoy for the ousted government no longer represented the country.

The request to participate in the high-level debate is being considered by a credentials committee, whose nine members include the US, China and Russia, according to a UN spokesperson.

The BBC spoke with six singers who crossed the border to Pakistan illegally and are now living in hiding. One said he feared he would be executed if he stayed in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have banned music and are accused of executing a folk singer in northern Baghlan province in August.

The militant group has not responded to the allegation.

Singer Fawad Andarabi's son Jawad told the Associated Press that his father was shot in the head at the family's farm in the Andarab valley.

Footage from a dusty roadside in Panjshir shows a man wearing military gear surrounded by Taliban fighters. Gunfire rings out and he slumps to the ground.

It is not clear if the man killed was an army member - combat uniforms are common in the region. In the video a bystander insisted he was a civilian.

The BBC has established there have been at least 20 such deaths in Panjshir.

One of the victims was a shopkeeper and father-of-two called Abdul Sami.

The group posted footage online of their fighters raising their flag there on Monday.

Resistance fighters however said they were still present in "all strategic positions" and "continue to fight".

Their leader has called for a "national uprising" against the Taliban.

In an audio recording posted on social media Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), blamed the international community for legitimising the Taliban and giving them military and political confidence.

Shaky video footage distributed by the Taliban showed fighters entering the airport after the last US troops flew out on a C-17 aircraft a minute before midnight, ending a hasty and humiliating exit for Washington and its NATO allies.

"It is a historical day and a historical moment," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference at the airport after the troops left. "We are proud of these moments, that we liberated our country from a great power."