Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
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 […]
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. […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Afghan women will be allowed to attend university as long as they study separately from men, the Taliban’s new higher education minister said Sunday. Women’s rights in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule, though since returning to power last month the hardline Islamists have claimed they will implement a less extreme rule. But speaking to reporters about the new regime’s plans for the country’s education, Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani was unapologetic about […]
by Peter Hutchison with Sebastian Smith in Washington Agence France Presse Americans mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11 on Saturday with troops finally gone from Afghanistan, but national discord — and for President Joe Biden, political peril — are overshadowing any sense of closure. A whole generation has grown up since the morning of September 11, 2001. In the interim, Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden has been hunted down and killed. A towering new […]
