US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that the United States government will not rest until all Americans detained in Afghanistan are brought home.

“The United States is pleased to welcome home Faye Hall. President of the United States’ commitment to the American people is clear — we will not rest until all Americans detained in Afghanistan, and held hostage around the world, are brought home,” Rubio wrote on X.

The news of Fay Hall’s release was announced three days ago by former US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.

She had been reportedly detained in February.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told a news conference Monday that the US government’s “highest priority is the safety and security of the American people, wherever they may be.”

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has submitted a legal request to temporarily suspend the ban on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), officially designated as a terrorist organization in Russia, state news agency TASS reported Monday.

According to the Supreme Court’s press service, the court has accepted the administrative claim concerning the suspension of the IEA’s status on Russia’s federal list of banned terrorist groups. A closed-door hearing is scheduled for April 17.

The move follows a law signed by President Vladimir Putin in December 2024 that permits the temporary suspension of such bans under specific conditions.

Leonid Slutsky, chair of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), has said the legislative change paves the way for Russia to officially engage with the IEA, which currently governs Afghanistan.

Under the revised legal framework, Russian courts may approve suspension of a ban if the prosecutor general or a deputy presents evidence that an organization has ceased terrorist activities and propaganda. Once a ruling is issued, it must be forwarded to the Federal Security Service (FSB) within five days to update the national terrorist registry.

The IEA has been listed as a banned terrorist organization in Russia since 2003. However, Moscow has recently sought to expand diplomatic and economic ties with it, despite the legal restrictions on formal engagement.

Switzerland’s foreign ministry announced on Monday it re-established its presence in Kabul by opening a humanitarian office to assist Afghanistan’s most vulnerable populations.

The ministry said in a statement that with 24 million people in Afghanistan relying on humanitarian aid and most of the population living below the poverty line, the office aims to provide critical support.

Four specialists from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA), along with ten local employees, are now working on the ground. Their efforts are focused on ensuring that vulnerable communities receive the necessary resources to meet their basic needs, helping to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country, the statement read.

Since the IEA’s takeover in August 2021, Switzerland closed its cooperation office in Kabul and evacuated all its staff.

According to the statement, initially, the SDC team responsible for Afghanistan continued its programmes from Bern. Since February 2023, it has been operating from the Pakistani capital Islamabad and conducting regular visits to Kabul in order to continue the SDC’s programmes for Afghanistan.

This was a much-needed move in order to better respond to the needs of vulnerable communities in Afghanistan, according to the SDC’s deputy director general and head of its Humanitarian Aid Division, Dominik Stillhart.

Effective support for vulnerable communities requires direct dialogue with the people, efficient coordination between the aid organizations on the ground and a comprehensive understanding of the situation. This applies to all crisis areas where humanitarian aid is needed, not just Afghanistan. SHA members must be in a position to provide a flexible and rapid response to local people’s needs. This can only be achieved with a field presence, said Eric Marclay, who heads the office in Kabul.