VOA News By Homa Wahaj November 22, 2024 Washington — Saliha began taking online classes after she lost hope of returning to school to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor in Afghanistan. She was in ninth grade when U.S.-led forces withdrew from the country and the Taliban seized power in August 2021, banning girls’ secondaryRead More...
Amu: The Taliban’s police command in Baghlan Province reported that 10 people were killed in an armed attack on a shrine in the Nahrin district late Thursday night. In a statement, the Taliban described the incident as “mysterious,” adding that the attack took place at a khanqah, or Sufi lodge, within the shrine. Abdul GhayoorRead More...
Khaama: The spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, stated that terrorist groups have found safe havens in Afghanistan and are launching attacks on Pakistan from there. Over the past three years, attacks by the Pakistani Taliban on Pakistan’s security forces have intensified. Analysts suggest that the Pakistani militants are allies of the AfghanRead More...
8am: Sardar Mohammad Rahimi, a regional affairs expert, argued that Afghanistan’s neighbors have never viewed the Taliban strategically but have been compelled by geography to maintain ties with the group. According to Rahimi, these countries’ experiences with the Taliban have shown that they cannot trust the group domestically or regionally. Rahimi also stated that theRead More...
8am: The Taliban, too, claim to enforce God’s Sharia and incessantly speak of Islam and Islamic law. Yet, their actions practically fulfill the aspirations of ethnonationalists, achieving their goals and dreams. It is no coincidence that some ethnic nationalists sympathize with the Taliban, ecstatic that political and military power has fallen into their hands. TheRead More...
8am: The Taliban, despite widespread complaints from citizens about distributing humanitarian aid to their relatives and interfering in the aid process, persist in unfairly allocating and misusing assistance across Afghanistan. Residents of Herat Province claim that aid from organizations and relief agencies is distributed not based on need but rather to individuals close to theRead More...
The Independent (UK): The UK trained and paid special forces to fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. As hundreds of these fighters live in danger while Britain delays decisions on whether to give them sanctuary, the UK’s adversaries are circling. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: The mines and underground resources of a country are not the property of its government but belong to the people of that country. Governments can only extract and utilize these resources when they are legitimate and lawful representatives of the people. This legitimacy stems from citizens granting authority to individuals or entities through electionsRead More...
Ariana: Afghanistan’s national football team went down 3-1 to Tajikistan in Dushanbe on Tuesday. Afghanistan’s only goal was scored by Jamshid Achakzai. This comes after Afghanistan’s 2-0 loss to Nepal on Saturday, also in Tajikistan. Click here to read more (external link). Other Sports News Colorado middle schoolers from Afghanistan find new home for theirRead More...
Afghanistan International: Pakistani media reported that Islamabad had shared “convincing evidence” about the sanctuaries of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terror groups on Afghan soil with China’s special envoy for Afghanistan Yue Xiaoyong. Xiaoyong held talks with Pakistani Foreign Ministry officials in Islamabad on Monday. Pakistani authorities have provided Xiaoyong with information about theRead More...
By RFE/RL’s Tajik Service November 18, 2024 One Chinese national was killed and five others, four of them Chinese, were injured in a cross-border attack in Tajikistan’s Zarbuzi Gorge, two sources close to a Tajik investigation told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service on November 18. The incident, which occurred in the southeastern Shamsiddin Shohin district, bordering Afghanistan, has not yetRead More...
Afghanistan International: In an investigative report, the Guardian described the Taliban’s destruction of thousands of homes in Kabul as a catastrophic purge with an “ethnic motive”. In a report prepared in cooperation with four Afghan news organisations, it has been stated that large areas in mainly Hazara and Tajik-populated areas have been completely cleared. ClickRead More...
Forbes: Australia has strengthened its support for Afghanistan women’s cricket, but one of the sport’s thorniest issues remains in limbo. It was announced recently that an Afghanistan women’s team, consisting of refugees who moved to Australia, will play a match in Melbourne in January. It will be the first time an Afghanistan’s women’s cricket teamRead More...
8am: Continuing their widespread restrictions on publishers and booksellers in Afghanistan, the Taliban have seized thousands of books without compensation, and this process is ongoing. The Hasht-e Subh Daily obtained a copy of the list of books banned by the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture, revealing that over 400 titles have been confiscated andRead More...
8am: Given that anti-Taliban movements are also gaining momentum, the group faces two main options: either submit to negotiation or continue fighting against the people of Afghanistan. The situation is far from resolved, contrary to what the Taliban would have people believe. A large portion of Afghan citizens and politicians, both inside and outside theRead More...
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 16, 2024 One of the world’s poorest countries, Afghanistan is also among the leading nations affected by climate change. Decades of war and environmental degradation have made Afghanistan the fourth most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures have exacerbated the frequency andRead More...
Khaama: The spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry urged the Taliban on Thursday to take immediate and effective action against Pakistani militants based in Afghanistan, deeming any support for them unacceptable. Mumtaz Zahra Baloch warned the Afghan Taliban not to “test the patience of the Pakistani people.” In a weekly press briefing reported by The ExpressRead More...
Roshan Noorzai Noshaba Ashna VOA News November 15, 2024 The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation announced plans this week to return millions of internally displaced people (IDP) to their home villages and provinces in Afghanistan, a move analysts warn could worsen the country’s humanitarian crisis. “In the first phase, 5,000 displaced families in KabulRead More...
Michael Hughes: The Taliban stroked President Donald Trump’s ego with a love letter that directly led to the administration’s decision to accelerate negotiations, strike the Doha deal, and withdraw forces from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year conflict. However, the Trump 2.0 administration is dangerous because the man does not need to get re-elected. Trump does notRead More...
Afghanistan International: Rainbow Afghanistan has published a report stating that LGBTQIA+ individuals are being tortured and sexually assaulted in Taliban prisons. The report shows that over the past three years, at least 98 LGBTQIA+ individuals have been publicly punished on various charges in 14 provinces of Afghanistan. Jannat Gul (pseudonym), who spent eight months inRead More...
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 14, 2024 Islamabad — The World Health Organization has labeled a forced repatriation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan as a “major setback” for polio eradication efforts, contributing to the regional resurgence of the paralytic disease. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two polio-endemic nations, reporting 49 and 23 cases respectively,Read More...
Amu: Several taxi drivers in Herat say they cannot afford the required 25,000 to 40,000 Afghanis (approximately $370 to $590) to repaint their vehicles under a regulation implemented by the Taliban’s traffic department. The drivers say the law, enforced by the Taliban-run Herat’s traffic management office, mandates that all taxis undergo the color change, placingRead More...
8am: The Taliban continue to sign illegal contracts for the extraction and exploitation of Afghanistan’s mines. They now control the country’s natural resources—wealth that once funded their war efforts through illegal mining—and have gained increased opportunities for exploitation as their criminal economic networks expand. Recently, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs announced the launchRead More...
Amu: Afghanistan has moved ahead of Bangladesh in the latest ICC One Day International rankings following their recent three-match series, where Afghanistan claimed a 2-1 victory. Bangladesh now drops to ninth, while Afghanistan climbs to eighth. Both teams have three more ODIs scheduled this year: Bangladesh will play the West Indies in the Caribbean inRead More...
Khaama: The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a report stating that 23 cases of polio in children have been recorded in Afghanistan since the beginning of this year. On Tuesday, November 12, WHO reported in its weekly update that three new polio cases were registered in October, two in the Maiwand and Ghorak districtsRead More...