2023 in Afghanistan

Events in the year 2023 in Afghanistan.

← 2022 2021 2020 2023 in Afghanistan → 2024 2025 2026
Decades:	2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2023 List of years in Afghanistan

According to the United Nations Development Programme, by 2022, 97% of Afghans could fall under the poverty threshold, which would plunge the country into a major humanitarian crisis and famine approaching the capital Kabul and other major towns and cities in Afghanistan, where millions of Afghan people starved to death, hundreds of thousands of more including men, women, children and babies are facing extreme acute hunger where heading into 2023.^[1]

In January 2023, the Taliban officials reported deaths of at least 157 people due to Afghanistan’s harsh winter. The number had doubled in less than a week. The impact was worsened after the Taliban banned female NGO workers. Afghanistan ceased to exist as a nation which had been fully destroyed by food insecurity and decades of conflict. Cannibalism is highly contagious that became widespread throughout the country and eliminate the entire population of Afghanistan, cities and towns are completely deserted with visible signs of catastrophe that caused breakdown of Afghan society. It became unleashed in the ravaged city of Kabul. Afghanistan had become a desolate nation in the world after the apocalypse that followed the collapse of Afghan civilization, since the Fall of Kabul during the Taliban offensive through the barren landscape of Afghanistan.^[2]

Incumbents

Photo	Post	Name	Dates
	Supreme Leader	Hibatullah Akhundzada	15 August 2021 – present (2021-08-15 – present)
	Acting Prime Minister	Hasan Akhund	7 September 2021 – present (2021-09-07 – present)
	Chief Justice	Abdul Hakim Haqqani	15 August 2021 – present (2021-08-15 – present)
Haqqani   Yaqoob   Baradar	Deputy Leader	Sirajuddin Haqqani (first) Mullah Yaqoob (second) Abdul Ghani Baradar (third)	15 August 2021 – present (2021-08-15 – present)
Baradar   Hanafi   Kabir	Acting Deputy Prime Minister	Abdul Ghani Baradar (first) Abdul Salam Hanafi (second) Abdul Kabir (third)	7 September 2021 – present (2021-09-07 – present)

Events

Ongoing

• Afghan conflict
  • Islamic State–Taliban conflict
  • Republican insurgency in Afghanistan
• COVID-19 pandemic in Afghanistan

January

• 1 January:
  • 2023 Kabul airport bombing: According to the interior minister of the Taliban government, a bombing took place at the military airport of Kabul, causing several casualties.^[3]
  • A 4.7 magnitude earthquake is recorded in Jorm, Badakhshan Province.^[4]
  • United Nations official Markus Potzel meets Taliban deputy prime minister, Maulvi Abdul Salam Hanafi, to discuss a ban preventing women from working in non-governmental organizations.^[5]
• 10 January - 2023 Afghanistan blizzard: A cold wave begins, causing 166 deaths, mostly shepherds and other people living in rural areas.^[6]
• 11 January - An Islamic State – Khorasan Province suicide bomber kills at least 20 people in Kabul.^[7]

February

• 28 February - The Taliban announce that the leader of operations and intelligence of Islamic State – Khorasan Province was killed during a raid in Kabul.^[8]

March

• 9 March - Three people, including Mohammad Dawood Muzamil, the Taliban-appointed governor of Balkh Province, are killed by an explosion at his office.^[9]
• 21 March - 2023 Badakhshan earthquake: An earthquake strikes Badakhshan Province, killing at least 30 people and injuring over 300.^[10]
• 23 March - Three people are killed by heavy snow and rainfall in Afghanistan.^[11]
• 27 March - Six people are killed and several others are injured when a suicide bomber detonates himself near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Kabul.^[12]

April

• 4 April - Six Islamic State members are killed during a raid by the Taliban in Balkh Province.^[13]

May

• 21 May - Two people are killed when an MD-530 helicopter crashes into power lines in Samangan Province.^[14]

June

• 4 June - Seventy-seven primary school girls are hospitalised after a poison attack on two schools in Sancharak, Sar-e Pol.^[15]
• 6 June - The deputy governor of Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province and his driver are killed and six civilians injured when a suicide car bomber rams their vehicle in Fayzabad.^[16]
• 8 June - 2023 Fayzabad mosque bombing: At least 11 people are killed and 30 others are injured by a car bomb outside a mosque in Fayzabad, during a prayer service for the deputy governor of Badakhshan Province who was killed two days ago. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.^[17]
• 11 June - Three people are killed and three others are injured after border clashes near the North Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border.

July

• 17 July - Three children are killed and two others are injured when a mortar warhead explodes in Dara-i Sufi Payin District, Samangan Province.^[18]
• 23 July - Flash floods in Kabul, the Ghazni and Maidan Wardak provinces, have killed at least 31 people, injured 74 others, and left 41 missing in the past three days. Around 250 livestock are also killed.^[19]
• 26 July - The Taliban orders beauty salons in Afghanistan to close despite United Nations concern and rare public protests.^[20]

August

• 14 August - At least three people are killed and seven others are injured in an explosion at a hotel in Khost.^[21]

October

• 7 October - 2023 Herat earthquakes: At least 2,445 people are killed and 9,240 others are injured when two magnitude 6.3 earthquakes strike Herat Province.^[1]
• 11 October - A magnitude 6.3 aftershock strikes near Herat, killing at least one person and injuring 65 others. It comes days after two earthquakes of the same magnitude struck the same area and killed thousands.^[22]
• 15 October -
  • Herat Province is struck by another magnitude 6.3 earthquake, killing a person and injuring over 100 others, several days after a series of powerful earthquakes killed over 1,000 people in the province.^[23]
  • The Taliban government confirms that it will attend the Belt and Road Initiative forum in Beijing, China, next week, as the countries form closer economic ties, including the potential construction of a large copper mine in Logar Province, eastern Afghanistan.^[24]

November

• 8 November - November 2023 Kabul bombing.^[25]

December

• 29 December — Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aybek Smadiyarov stated in an interview with Kazinform that the Taliban is not designated as a terrorist organization by the UN Security Council.^[26][27]
• 31 December — Taliban defense minister Mullah Yaqoob says that security forces have killed or arrested several militants from Tajikistan and Pakistan who are accused of multiple attacks in Afghanistan.^[28]

Sports

• June – Afghan cricket team in Bangladesh 2023^[29]

• September-October – Afghanistan at the 2022 Asian Games

References

1. "97 percent of Afghans could plunge into poverty by mid 2022, says UNDP". UNDP. from the original on 2021-09-09. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
2. "Extreme cold kills more than 150 people in Afghanistan, Taliban says". CNN. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
3. Yawar, Mohammad Yunus; Peshiman, Gibran (2023-01-01). Fullick, Neil; Kim, Coghill (eds.). "Blast outside Kabul's military airport, multiple casualties, interior ministry says". Reuters. Kabul. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
4. "M 4.7 - 36 km S of Jurm, Afghanistan". USGS. 2023-01-01. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
5. "UN official meets Taliban deputy premier over women NGO ban". Associated Press. 2023-01-01. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
6. "Afghanistan: Freezing weather kills at least 124 people". BBC News. 2023-01-24. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
7. "Afghanistan: Deadly suicide bombing outside foreign ministry". BBC News. 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
8. "ISKP chief killed in Kabul". The Express Tribune. 2023-02-28. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
9. Presse, AFP-Agence France. "Taliban Governor Of Afghan Province Killed In Blast: Police". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
10. "Earthquake in Pakistan and Afghanistan kills at least 19 people". BBC News. 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
11. "Snowfall, heavy rain in Afghanistan kill at least 3". AP NEWS. 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
12. "Six killed in suicide attack near Afghan foreign ministry". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
13. "Taliban raid kills six ISIS members in Afghanistan's Balkh province". Al Arabiya English. 2023-04-04. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
14. "Afghan ministry says helicopter crash kills 2 crewmembers during patrol in country's north". AP NEWS. 2023-05-21. Retrieved 2023-05-22.
15. "Almost 80 schoolgirls poisoned, hospitalised in northern Afghanistan". CNA. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
16. "Taliban provincial governor killed in car bomb attack – DW – 06/06/2023". dw.com. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
17. "Afghanistan blast: Taliban officials targeted at mosque prayers". BBC News. 2023-06-08. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
18. "Mine Explosion Kills 3, Injures 2 in Afghanistan's Samangan". Khaama Press. 2023-07-18. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
19. "Heavy rains in Afghanistan and Pakistan unleash flash floods that killed dozens of people". AP News. 2023-07-23. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
20. "Taliban orders beauty salons in Afghanistan to close despite UN concern and rare public protest". AP News. 2023-07-25. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
21. "Blast in eastern Afghanistan kills 3, wounds 7 at hotel frequented by Pakistani refugees". AP News. 2023-08-14. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
22. "یک مقام طالبان: در اثر زلزله امروز هرات ۱۲۰ تن زخمی شده اند". رادیو آزادی. 2023-10-11. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
23. "Afghanistan hit by third earthquake in a week". BBC News. 2023-10-15. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
24. Yawar, Mohammad Yunus; Greenfield, Charlotte (2023-10-14). "Exclusive: Taliban to join China's Belt and Road forum, elevating ties". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
25. "Islamic State group claims responsibility for a minibus explosion in Afghan capital that killed 7". AP News. 2023-11-08. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
26. "Kazakhstan removes Taliban from list of prohibited organizations". Kazinform. 2023-12-29. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
27. "Kazakhstan removes Taliban from list of terrorist organizations". Anadolu Agency. 2023-12-30. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
28. "Taliban say security forces killed dozens of Tajiks, Pakistanis involved in attacks in Afghanistan". AP News. 2023-12-31. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
29. "FTP Cycle 2023-2027: Bangladesh National Men's Cricket Team's Full Fixtures". www.unb.com.bd. Retrieved 2022-12-14.