A pool of water located close to the Dead Sea in the biblical region of Moab – modern day Jordan – has mysteriously turned blood red.

The Taliban have shut down internet services in several parts of Kabul following massive protests in the Afghanistan capital. According to media reports, the Islamic militant group has decided to cut internet connections to curb the mobilisation of crowds in the area.

Reports said the Taliban intelligence ordered the internet blockage, fearing the circulation of the message through social media.

Earlier this week, hundreds of Afghans, including women, took to the streets to protest against the Taliban regime. A number of men and women also shouted slogans such as “Long live the resistance” and “Death to Pakistan” while marching in the streets to protest against the Taliban takeover.

Following these protests, the interim Taliban government issued a set of conditions for protests. According to the conditions for protests issued by the Taliban Ministry of Interior, demonstrators will now have to secure prior permission from the Taliban Ministry of Justice before holding a protest

A Taliban spokesperson, rejecting all possibilities of women being included in the Afghanistan government under the Taliban rule, said: “A woman can’t be a minister, it is like you put something on her neck that she can’t carry”.

Quashing all possibilities of women being included in the government under the Taliban in Afghanistan, a spokesperson of the group said women should restrict themselves to giving birth.

Outraged by the formation of a hard-line, all-male Taliban government, scores of Afghan women,risking their lives, have taken to the streets to protest against the same.

Reacting to the protests and the outrage over the all-male government, the Taliban spokesperson Sayed Zekrullah Hashimi, in an interview to Tolo News, said, “A woman can’t be a minister, it is like you put something on her neck that she can’t carry”.

The higher education minister in the new Taliban government said that women will be allowed to study in gender-segregated universities.

Women in Afghanistan can continue to study in universities, including at post-graduate levels, but classrooms will be gender-segregated and Islamic dress is compulsory, the higher education minister in the new Taliban government said Sunday.

The Taliban murdered a pregnant policewoman in front of her family on Saturday night, according to her son. Her death, in the central Afghanistan province of Ghor, adds to mounting concerns about the repression of women under the Taliban’s rule. The victim’s full name was Negar Masoomi, her sister told reporters. Her killing was also confirmed to international reporters by a local journalist in Ghor, who said she worked in Ghor prison and was eight months pregnant when she died. The Taliban told reporters they were not involved in her death, but have launched an investigation.

Video showed her son Mohammad Hanif giving his account of the murder, saying that the Taliban came inside the house where his family lives, then took himself and his brothers outside and tied them up.

The threat of violence has long been a harsh reality for many Afghan women: a survey by the Demographic and Health programme of USAID conducted in 2015 showed that 90% of women in some areas of the country have experienced violence from their husband. Women who manage to leave their abusive partners and families frequently experience further abuse from those who we may think of as trustworthy, including the police, doctors and government officials.

A Taliban spokesman made clear what kind of role women would play under the new regime, and it doesn’t bode well for those hoping for an inclusive government.

In an interview on Afghanistan’s Tolo News on Thursday, Sayed Zekrullah Hashimi said women are incapable of performing government duties.

“A woman cannot do the work of the ministry — you put something on her neck that she cannot carry,” Hashimi said, according to a translation

He dismissed the women who took to the streets to protest against the new government, arguing it does not indicate how most women in the country feel.

“The four women protesting in the streets do not represent the women of Afghanistan,” he said. “The women of Afghanistan are those who give birth to the people of Afghanistan and educate them on Islamic ethics.”

Trump opened his Saturday video message by calling 9/11 a day of “great sorrow for our country” and one for honoring the “the bravery of our police, fire and first responders of every kind.”

“The job they did was truly unbelievable. We love them and we thank them,” the former president said.

The Republican then launched into an attack on Biden over the handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“It is also a sad time for the way our war on those that did such harm to our country ended last week. The loss of 13 great warriors and the many more who were wounded, should never have happened,” he said, referencing the 13 US service members who lost their lives on August 26 in an Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) bombing at the Kabul airport while chaotic evacuation flights were underway.