Tag: Afghanistan

West links Afghan humanitarian aid to human rights

by Pierre-Henry DESHAYES and Viken KANTARCI Agence France-Presse OSLO, Norway (AFP) – Western diplomats Tuesday linked humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to an improvement in human rights after meeting a Taliban delegation on a landmark visit to Europe. On the final day of the Taliban’s first official trip to Europe since returning to power in August, the fundamentalists held talks behind closed doors with several Western diplomats. The Taliban are seeking international recognition and financial aid. […]

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Virtuoso keeps Afghan music alive despite Taliban ban

by Anna MALPAS Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Homayoun Sakhi closes his eyes and runs his fingers along the long neck of his wooden instrument encrusted with mother-of-pearl. “I feel like I have my Afghanistan in my hand,” says Sakhi, one of the world’s most renowned performers on the country’s national instrument, the rubab. He is jet-lagged after flying in from California to perform at London’s Barbican concert hall to raise funds for […]

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Taliban, Western officials meet for talks in Oslo

by Pierre-Henry DESHAYES Agence France-Presse OSLO, Norway (AFP) – Taliban and Western diplomats meet in Oslo on Monday for talks on Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis and human rights, especially those of women whose freedoms have been curbed by the hardline Islamists. In their first visit to Europe since returning to power in August, the Taliban will meet representatives of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, the European Union and Norway. The Taliban delegation is headed […]

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Rescue workers search for survivors after deadly Afghanistan quake

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — Rescue workers on Tuesday searched for survivors after an earthquake in a remote western region of Afghanistan killed at least 26 people and damaged hundreds of houses, officials said. Monday’s 5.3-magnitude shallow quake jolted the province of Badghis and wrecked houses, mostly in Qadis district — a rural area not easily accessible by road. “The earthquake caused massive damage to houses, about 700 to 1,000 have been damaged,” Badghis provincial spokesman […]

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At least 26 killed in Afghan earthquake

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — At least 26 people were killed after an earthquake hit western Afghanistan on Monday, an official said. The victims died when roofs of their houses collapsed in Qadis district in the western province of Badghis, spokesman for the province Baz Mohammad Sarwary told AFP. The shallow quake was magnitude 5.3, according to the US Geological Survey. “Five women and four children are among the 26 people killed in the earthquake,” said […]

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Spoils of war: Taliban put victory over US on display

by Elise BLANCHARD Agence France-Presse GHANZI, Afghanistan (AFP) – In the governor’s compound of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, a new historical exhibit is unveiled before a rapt audience of Taliban fighters — sections of blast walls from a former US military base. One concrete slab is inscribed with the names and regiments of US troops who served in the province during America’s longest war. Like soldiers throughout history, US troops regularly daubed their names on the […]

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Taliban supreme leader makes first public appearance

  KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada addressed supporters in the southern city of Kandahar, officials announced Sunday, his first public appearance since taking control of the group in 2016. Akhundzada has been the spiritual chief of the Islamist movement since 2016 but has remained a reclusive figure, even after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. His low profile has fed speculation about his role in the new Taliban government, formed after […]

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At least 32 dead, 53 wounded in Afghan Shiite mosque blast: medic

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — At least 32 people were killed and 53 wounded when explosions hit a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday, a hospital spokesman told AFP. “Thirty-two bodies and 53 wounded people have been brought to our hospital so far,” the medic in the southern city’s central hospital said. The cause of the blasts was not immediately identified, but it came exactly a week after a suicide bomb attack […]

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Suicide bomber kills at least 55 at Shiite mosque in Afghanistan

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (AFP) — A suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz has killed at least 55 people in the bloodiest assault since US forces left the country in August. Scores more victims from the minority community were wounded in Friday’s blast, which was claimed by the Islamic State group and appeared designed to further destabilise Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover. The regional branch […]

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20 killed, hundreds injured as quake rattles southern Pakistan

  by Banaras KHAN with Maaz KHAN in Quetta Agence France Presse HARNAI, Pakistan (AFP) — At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured when a shallow earthquake hit southwestern Pakistan in the early hours of Thursday, with rescuers trying to reach coal miners reportedly trapped underground. Many of the victims died when the roofs and walls of their mud brick houses collapsed after the 5.9 magnitude quake struck Balochistan province in darkness at […]

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Over 2,000 health facilities shuttered in Afghanistan: Red Cross

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghanistan’s health system is on the verge of collapse, a top Red Cross official warned Thursday, saying more than 2,000 health facilities had been shuttered across the conflict-ravaged country. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned that a dire lack of funding was pushing Afghanistan’s health system to the brink. “People might agree to work without salaries for a few more weeks,” Alexander Matheou, IFRC’s Asia […]

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ICC to focus Afghan probe on Taliban, IS-K: prosecutor

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor said Monday he wants to focus his investigation in Afghanistan on the Taliban and Islamic State-Khorasan, and to “deprioritise” alleged war crimes by US forces. Karim Khan said he had asked judges to allow him to relaunch the probe — put on hold last year at the request of Kabul’s then-government — because the Taliban takeover in August meant there was “no longer […]

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