In August, the Taliban published “vice and virtue” laws that banned women’s voices being heard in public. Weeks later, more than 130 women travelled to Tirana in Albania to attend the All Afghan Women summit to talk about the Taliban’s human rights abuses. The Guardian reporter Annie Kelly spoke to Afghan women at the conference … Read more
Afghan women are raising their voices in song to protest restrictive laws enacted by the Taliban, which ban women from singing and reading aloud in public. The laws were issued last week by the ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice,” which was established in 2021 after the Taliban seized control of … Read more
Three years after the suicide bomber attack at Afghanistan’s Abbey Gate that killed 13 US service personnel and about 170 Afghan civilians, the network behind the perpetrator is “pretty degraded” but not eliminated, the Pentagon’s civilian commando chief said. “A lot of allied and partner disruptions” of the ISIS-K network have reduced its “capability to … Read more
Life as a woman in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan just got even more restrictive as a government ministry enacts new laws on “vice and virtue” in the country, banning women’s voices and uncovered faces from public life. The laws were issued Wednesday by the ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice,” which was … Read more
The Taliban defence ministry on Wednesday rejected Pakistan’s allegations that Afghans were involved in an attack on Chinese engineers, as ties between the neighbouring nations sour amidst rising insecurity. Pakistan’s military had said at a press conference on Tuesday that a suicide bomb attack in March in Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, that killed five … Read more
Ottawa has plans to finally stop blocking Canadian development aid to Afghanistan this year. But by the time its new system is fully up and running, the Taliban will have been in control of the country for about three years. Humanitarian organizations say that’s an interminable delay for those who need help, especially since other … Read more
At the international arrivals gate at Calgary International Airport, Ahmadullah Yaqoobi paced back and forth Friday morning, carrying three bouquets of flowers. “For one daughter, another… and this is for my wife,” he beamed. He hasn’t seen his family since his sudden departure from Afghanistan about three years ago. As a government worker, he was … Read more
The Taliban carried out a double public execution at a stadium in southeastern Afghanistan on Thursday. A crowd of thousands, including an AP journalist, witnessed the executions, which occurred in the Ali Lala area of Ghazni city. The Taliban did not respond to requests for information about the people who were executed or their alleged … Read more
Amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and Iran, Afghanistan’s Taliban administration has urged the two countries to show restraint. Taliban spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi on Thursday tweeted, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers the recent violence between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan alarming, and … Read more
The Taliban government is not officially recognised by any country or world body. (File) Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities on Saturday criticised the UN Security Council’s plan for a special envoy to promote gender and human rights in the country as “unnecessary”. The Taliban government is not officially recognised by any country or world body, and the … Read more
