U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights, Rina Amiri, said on Friday that Afghans, especially women and girls, are facing a devastating mental health crisis due to the policies of the Islamic Emirate.

“As we commemorate World Mental Health Day, I want to draw attention to the devastating mental health crisis faced by Afghans, especially women & girls, due to the Taliban’s (IEA) alarming & extreme policies.” Amiri said.

“We must all be resolute in supporting them in the struggle for their rights,” she added.

The Islamic Emirate has always emphasized that it is committed to ensuring the rights of women and girls in accordance with Sharia and has called on countries not to interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

An Afghan man living in Oklahoma state of the United States who allegedly plotted to conduct an attack on Election Day on behalf of Daesh worked a security job for the CIA in Afghanistan, Fox News reported.

Authorities believe Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, became radicalized after he arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 9, 2021, weeks after the American troops pulled out of Afghanistan, a senior Biden administration official said.

He entered the U.S. on a special immigrant visa (SIV) and is on parole status pending adjudication of his immigration proceedings, the Department of Homeland Security said this week. Those facts were disputed by the State Department.

Officials have since clarified that Tawhedi came to the U.S. via humanitarian parole and later applied for SIV status.

Humanitarian parole is a process by which Tawhedi would have been held in a third country for screening and vetting and then flown to the U.S.

After moving to the U.S. in 2021, he applied for special immigrant status, a pathway for a green card, and was approved. He hadn't finalized his status, which is why the State Department denied a DHS claim made this week that Tawhedi arrived with an SIV.

It was still unclear when the State Department approved him for an SIV after DHS approved him for humanitarian parole in 2021. Tawhedi applied for SIV status immediately after arriving in the U.S.

There were no red flags that would have barred him from entry into the U.S., officials said.

Tawhedi was arrested Monday and is charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and receiving a gun to be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism.

In his seized communications, Tawhedi allegedly indicated that his attack was planned to target large gatherings of people on Election Day. He was busted after speaking with an FBI confidential informant, the Justice Department said.

The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Roza Otunbayeva, has said that there is a lack of adequate legal aid services for vulnerable prisoners, especially women.

Otunbayeva emphasized in a meeting with the head of the Office of Prison Administration that all prisoners have fundamental rights and these rights must be respected to the fullest extent.

She also welcomed the continued commitment of the Office of Prison Administration to ensure UN’s human rights teams have the necessary access to prison facilities across the country, including those housing female detainees.

Otunbayeva said that the high volume of arrests and lengthy custodial sentences imposed by the IEA’s judicial authorities place unsustainable pressure on prison facilities.

Based on UNAMA’s statement, the officials of the Office of Prison Administration said in the meeting that the number of prisoners in Pul-e-Charkhi prison, which is home to more than 5,000 inmates, is increasing.

They also called for greater UN assistance to prisoners, especially in the areas of healthcare and nutrition, and education and vocational training to improve the prospects of livelihoods.