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KABUL, June 22, 2022 (AFP) – A powerful earthquake struck a remote border region of Afghanistan overnight killing at least 255 people and injuring hundreds more, officials said Wednesday, with the toll expected to rise as rescuers dig through collapsed dwellings. The 5.9 magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged terrain of the east, where people already live hardscrabble lives in a country in the grip of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban […]
by Aysha Safi Agence France Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Days after the Taliban staged a cruel U-turn on allowing Afghan girls back to school, Adeeba Haidari feels as if she is in prison. The 13-year-old was one of thousands of jubilant girls who flocked back to secondary schools reopening across the country on Wednesday, for the first time since the Taliban seized power in August. But just hours into classes, the education ministry […]
by Jay DESHMUKH and Aysha SAFI Agence France-Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) – Groups of girls headed back to class in the Afghan capital Wednesday after Taliban authorities announced the reopening of secondary schools, more than seven months after seizing power and imposing harsh restrictions on the rights of women to be educated. All schools were closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic when the Taliban took over last August — but only boys and some younger […]
by Cyril Belaud with AFP bureaus around the world Agence France-Presse ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) – Afghan embassies around the world that have refused to recognise the new Taliban regime are struggling to stay afloat and facing increasing pressure from Kabul to accept loyalist replacements. None of the country’s 60 or so ambassadors, consuls or heads of diplomatic missions who were appointed by Western-backed former president Ashraf Ghani have agreed to serve the hardline Islamist group […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – The World Bank on Tuesday announced more than $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, stating the money will go to UN agencies and international NGOs while remaining “outside the control” of the country’s Taliban rulers. The reallocation from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) follows the $280 million in ARTF funds disbursed last December, and is aimed at supporting the humanitarian response over the critical winter months. The […]
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – A five-year-old boy trapped for three days down a well in a remote Afghan village has died, several Taliban officials said Friday. The child, named Haidar, slipped Tuesday to the bottom of a well being dug in Shokak, a parched village in Zabul province, around 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul. Rescuers worked non-stop to try to reach the boy, who officials said was still alive Friday morning […]
by Rouba EL HUSSEINI Agence France-Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) – One after the other, quickly, carefully, keeping their heads down, a group of Afghan women step into a small Kabul apartment block — risking their lives as a nascent resistance against the Taliban. They come together to plan their next stand against the hardline Islamist regime, which took back power in Afghanistan in August and stripped them of their dreams. At first, there were no […]
by Mohd RASFAN Agence France-Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) – In the six months since taking back control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have erased all visible signs of the former government from the capital. Gone are flags of the former republic, murals of national heroes, and memorials honouring those killed in Taliban attacks. Blast walls are now covered with slogans of the new Islamic Emirate. “With the help of God, our nation defeated the Americans,” reads […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)– President Joe Biden seized $7 billion in assets belonging to the previous Afghan government on Friday with the aim of splitting the funds between victims of the 9/11 attacks and desperately needed aid for post-war Afghanistan. Biden formally seized the assets in an executive order. The money had been stuck in the New York Federal Reserve since the fall of the US-backed government in Kabul and takeover by the Taliban […]
KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) – The United Nations has demanded the Taliban provide information on two more women activists allegedly detained by the group this week — bringing to four the number missing this year. Since returning to power in August the Taliban have cracked down on dissent by forcefully dispersing women’s rallies, detaining critics and beating local journalists covering protests. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said late on Thursday it had sought […]
by Jay Deshmukh with Rouba El Husseini Agence France-Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) – The Taliban are inching closer towards international recognition but any concessions Afghanistan’s new rulers make will be on their terms, the regime’s foreign minister said in an interview with AFP. In his first interview since returning from talks with Western powers in Oslo, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi also urged Washington to unlock Afghanistan’s assets to help ease a humanitarian crisis. No […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – A United Nations report seen Sunday says the Taliban and its allies allegedly killed more than 100 former Afghan government members, security personnel and people who worked with international forces. The report, an advance copy of which was seen by AFP, describes severe curtailing of human rights by Afghanistan’s new fundamentalist rulers. In addition to the political killings, women’s rights and the right to protest have also been curbed. […]
