Afghanistan

Taliban rule marked by killings, denial of women’s rights – U.N.

More than 100 former Afghan national security forces and others have been killed since the Taliban takeover in August, most at the hands of the hardline Islamist group which is recruiting boy…

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UK Afghan evacuation chaotic and dysfunctional -whistleblower

Britain's handling of the evacuation of vulnerable Afghans from Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August was dysfunctional and chaotic, a Foreign Office whistleblower said in evidence disputed by former…

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France, Europeans working to open joint mission in Afghanistan – Macron

DOHA, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Several European countries are working on opening up a joint diplomatic mission in Afghanistan that would enable their ambassadors to return to the country, French…

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Taliban release decree saying women must consent to marriage

ISLAMABAD, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban government on Friday released a decree on women's rights which said women should not be considered "property" and must consent to marriage but…

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World Bank works to redirect frozen funds to Afghanistan for humanitarian aid only

The World Bank is finalizing a proposal to deliver up to $500 million from a frozen Afghanistan aid fund to humanitarian agencies, people familiar with the plans told Reuters, but it leaves out…

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Facebook says hackers in Pakistan targeted Afghan users amid government collapse

Hackers from Pakistan used Facebook to target people in Afghanistan with connections to the previous government during the Taliban's takeover of the country, the company's threat investigators said in an…

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Detained Afghan pilots preparing to fly out of Tajikistan on U.S.-brokered flight

More than 150 U.S.-trained Afghan pilots and other personnel, held in neighboring Tajikistan for nearly three months since escaping with their planes as the Taliban seized their country, were preparing to depart…

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At least 15 killed as blasts, gunfire hit Kabul hospital, official says

At least 15 people were killed and 34 wounded when two explosions followed by gunfire hit Afghanistan's biggest military hospital in Kabul, a Taliban security official said on Tuesday. The explosions…

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Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader appears, belying rumours of his death

KABUL, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Taliban's reclusive supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, made a rare public appearance in the southern city of Kandahar, Taliban sources said on Sunday, belying widespread rumours…

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Blast at Shi’ite mosque in Afghan city of Kandahar kills dozens

KABUL (Reuters) -Suicide bombers attacked a Shi'ite mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killing at least 35 people, the second week in a row that militants bombed Friday…

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At least 30 killed in Afghanistan mosque blast

A bomb blast hit a Shia mosque in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province during Friday prayers, killing at least 30 people, an official confirmed. Murtaza Zarifi, a security officer at the mosque, claimed…

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Unicef warns 3.2 million children at risk of malnutrition in Afghanistan

Afghan children who were displaced from other parts of the country live in temporary shelters at a camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, 09 October 2021. Some 3.2 million children under the…

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Taliban say forces destroy Islamic State cell hours after Kabul blast

Taliban government forces destroyed an Islamic State cell in the north of Kabul late on Sunday in a prolonged assault that broke the calm of a normally quiet area of the…

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Afghan army collapse ‘took us all by surprise,’ U.S. defense secretary

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress on Tuesday that the Afghan army's sudden collapse caught the Pentagon off-guard as he acknowledged miscalculations in America's longest war including corruption and damaged morale…

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Russia’s Lavrov says Taliban recognition ‘not on the table’

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that international recognition of the Taliban was not currently under consideration. Lavrov was speaking on the sidelines of…

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Taliban hang up bodies of alleged kidnappers in Afghan city

Taliban authorities in the western Afghan city of Herat killed four alleged kidnappers and hung their bodies up in public to deter others, a local government official said on Saturday.…

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Taliban to resume executions and amputations as punishment

One of the founders of the Taliban has said that the group will resume executions and amputations as punishment. Mullah Nooruddin Turabi warned the world against interfering in the plans,…

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Malala pleads with world to protect Afghan girls’ education

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan as she left school in 2012, pleaded with the world not to compromise on the…

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Three killed in blasts in Afghan city of Jalalabad, sources say

(Reuters) - At least three people were killed and about 20 wounded in a series of blasts in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Saturday, two sources in the…

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U.S. says Kabul drone strike killed 10 civilians, including children, in ‘tragic mistake’

WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A drone strike in Kabul last month killed as many as 10 civilians, including seven children, the U.S. military said on Friday, apologizing for what…

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MEPs call for protection of vulnerable people in Afghanistan

The European Parliament has deplored the violent takeover of Afghanistan, calls for more humanitarian aid and a coordinated response to protect those most vulnerable. MEPs are appalled by reports of…

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EU says it has no option but to talk to Taliban

The European Union has no option but to talk to the Taliban in Afghanistan, the bloc's top diplomat said on Tuesday, adding that Brussels would seek to coordinate with EU governments to organise a…

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Taliban deny their deputy prime minister, Mullah Baradar, is dead

The Taliban have denied that one of their top leaders has been killed in a shootout with rivals, following rumours about internal splits in the movement nearly a month after its lightning…

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Afghanistan blame game shifts to U.S. Congress as Blinken testifies

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will testify twice to Congress this week about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, as lawmakers kick off what could be a long series of high-intensity hearings…

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Afghans face ‘their most perilous hour’, warns U.N. boss

GENEVA, Sept 13 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for donors to pledge hundreds of millions of dollars for Afghanistan, saying that poverty was spiralling and many…

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Taliban response to Afghan protests increasingly violent, UN says

The U.N. rights office on Friday said that the Taliban response to peaceful marches in Afghanistan has been increasingly violent, with authorities using live ammunition, batons and whips that have…

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UPDATED: Qatari official says Kabul airport 90% operational, expects gradual reopening

Afghanistan's Kabul Airport is about 90% ready for operations but its re-opening is planned gradually, a Qatari official said, speaking on the tarmac on Thursday. Reopening the airport, a vital…

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Exiled Ghani apologizes to Afghan people

Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled Kabul as Taliban forces reached the outskirts of the city last month, apologized on Wednesday for the abrupt fall of his government but…

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UPDATED: Taliban interim government agrees to let foreigners leave Afghanistan

Two hundred Americans and other foreigners who remain in Afghanistan are set to depart the war-ravaged country on charter flights from Kabul on Thursday after the new Taliban government agreed…

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Afghan protests persist, posing a problem for new Taliban government

A group of Afghan women crouched on the side of a Kabul street and took cover after armed members of the Taliban fired shots into the air to disperse hundreds…

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Blinken denies Taliban blocking Americans from leaving Mazar-i-Sharif

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied on Tuesday reports that the Taliban had blocked Americans attempting to fly out of of a northern Afghan city, but said the group had not…

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Taliban name new Afghan government, interior minister on U.S. sanctions list

Sept 7 (Reuters) - The Taliban named Mullah Hasan Akhund, an associate of the movement's late founder Mullah Omar, as the head of Afghanistan's new government on Tuesday, with Mullah…

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UN says basic services in Afghanistan are collapsing

Afghanistan is facing the collapse of basic services and food and other aid is about to run out, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on…

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Taliban tells Berlin it will welcome German companies, aid

The Taliban would welcome German investment in Afghanistan and help in areas including humanitarian aid, health care, education and infrastructure, the group's spokesman told Bild newspaper. The Taliban took power…

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UPDATED: Taliban claim complete control of Afghan province of Panjshir

The Taliban claimed victory on Monday over opposition forces in the Panjshir valley northeast of Kabul, completing their takeover of the country following the stunning capture of Kabul last month…

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Photo Story: Afghan airports reopen for domestic travel

Passengers arrive to board a Boeing 737-4Y0 of Ariana Afghan Airlines for a domestic flight, after flight operations resumed across Afghanistan, at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar, Afghanistan,…

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Taliban and opposition forces battle for control of Panjshir Valley

Taliban and opposition forces battled on Saturday to control the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, the last Afghan province holding out against the militant group, as the top U.S. general…

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Taliban sources say last Afghan holdout region falls; resistance denies claim

Sept 3 (Reuters) - Three Taliban sources said the Islamist militia had on Friday seized the Panjshir valley north of Kabul, the last province of Afghanistan holding out against it,…

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Evacuated Afghans, hoping to resettle in U.S., face extended limbo in third countries

In mid-August, Ahmad got an urgent call from his nephew, Zia, telling him to come immediately to Kabul airport to try to get on an evacuation flight. Members of the…

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Taliban sources say Mullah Baradar to lead new Afghanistan government; Rebels hold out in Afghan valley

Mullah Baradar, the head of the Taliban's political office, will lead the new government in Afghanistan, at least three sources in the Islamist group said on Friday. Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob,…

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Taliban preparing to reveal new Afghan government amid economic turmoil

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers were preparing on Thursday to unveil their new government as the economy teetered on the edge of collapse more than two weeks after the Islamist militia captured…

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EU says it will not rush into recognising the Taliban

The European Union will need to engage with the Taliban but it will not rush into formally recognising the Islamist militant group as the new rulers of Afghanistan, a senior…

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With airport closed, fearful Afghans scramble for the border

Crowds seeking to flee Afghanistan gathered on its borders while long queues formed at banks on Wednesday, as an administrative vacuum after the Taliban's takeover left foreign donors unsure how…

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Biden says Afghanistan exit marks the end of U.S nation-building

Facing sharp criticism over the tumultuous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said it was the best available option to end both the United States' longest war and decades…

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Out of Afghanistan: Joe Biden and the future of America’s foreign policy

President Joe Biden’s decision to press ahead with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has prompted the first major foreign policy crisis of his presidency. The harrowing pictures after the bombing…

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Britain denies pushing to leave Kabul airport gate open before blast

Britain co-ordinated closely with the United States and did not push to keep a gate open at Kabul airport where a suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. troops and scores of Afghan civilians, British…

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Taliban celebrate ‘complete independence’ as last U.S. troops leave Afghanistan

Celebratory gunfire echoed across Kabul as Taliban fighters took control of the airport before dawn on Tuesday following the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, ending 20 years of war that left…

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U.S. completes troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday said it had completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan in a chaotic airlift nearly 20 years after it…

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UPDATE – Rockets target US troops as core diplomats fly out of Kabul

Aug 30 (Reuters) - U.S. anti-missile defences intercepted rockets fired at Kabul's airport on Monday as the United States flew its core diplomats out of Afghanistan in the final hours…

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Islamic State attack signals West’s least bad option for Afghanistan: the Taliban

The deadly attack on Kabul airport has underlined the realpolitik facing Western powers in Afghanistan: engaging with the Taliban may be their best chance to prevent the country sliding into…

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Afghan commandos could fight for British Army like Gurkhas

Afghan special forces personnel could become a new regiment of the Army akin to the Gurkhas under proposals put forward to ministers, The Telegraph reported. Hundreds of commandos from Afghanistan…

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UPDATED: Rockets fired at Kabul airport, Islamic State takes responsibility

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Kabul airport on Monday, the group's Nasher News said on its Telegram channel. "By the grace of God Almighty, the soldiers…

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“Far greater humanitarian crisis” looms in Afghanistan – UNHCR

As evacuations from Kabul wind down in coming days, "a larger crisis is just beginning" in Afghanistan and for its 39 million people, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on…

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Around 500 Russian troops in drills near Afghanistan

Around 500 Russian motorised infantry troops are carrying out drills in the mountains of Tajikistan against the backdrop of instability in neighbouring Afghanistan, Russia's defence ministry was quoted as saying…

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EU says Afghanistan shows need for rapid-reaction force

EU governments must push ahead with a European rapid reaction force to be better prepared for future crises such as in Afghanistan, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.…

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UPDATED: EU to seek to stop mass Afghanistan migration flows, draft statement says

European Union states are determined to prevent uncontrolled migration from Afghanistan following the takeover of the country by the Taliban, a draft statement prepared for a meeting on Tuesday says.…

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U.S. drone strike destroys Islamic State car bomb in Kabul, officials say

WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - American forces launched a drone strike in Kabul on Sunday that killed a suicide car bomber suspected of preparing to attack the airport, U.S. officials…

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