'I screamed so loud, I blacked out': Afghans tell of the Taliban's return to their old torture playbook
CNN
Mohammad Zafri's memory is patchy after surviving relentless beatings by the Taliban, he says. He and other Afghans say the militant group has returned to its old playbook of fear to repress dissent since seizing power in August 2021.
But one event that's hard to forget is being summoned last spring to the militant group's headquarters to collect documents he had left behind, having been an employee of the previous, internationally-backed administration. Not wanting to cause trouble, he went -- only to realize too late that it was a trap.
Zafri -- whose real name CNN is withholding for security reasons -- said he was outside the Taliban's offices when he felt a sharp punch to the back of his head. He fell to the ground and was then dragged indoors, he recalled.
The CIA has sent the White House an unclassified email listing all new hires that have been with the agency for two years or less in an effort to comply with an executive order to downsize the federal workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter – a deeply unorthodox move that could potentially expose the identities of those officers to foreign government hackers.
Trump administration officials are hurrying to catch up to the president’s audacious and improbable plan for the United States to take ownership of Gaza and redevelop it into a “Middle Eastern Riviera,” trying to wrap their heads around an idea that some hope might be so outlandish it forces other nations to step in with their own proposals for the Palestinian enclave.