Afghanistan Is Trying to Save Its Child Bombers
In a room full of loud teenagers, 17-year-old Mohammad Ehsan is the quietest. (The names of the boys in this piece have been changed to protect their identities.) The other boys in this juvenile ...
As the sun set, we hurried through the streets of Dasht-e-Barchi on the western edge of Kabul. Our host, 40-year old Baqir Sangari, had called several times to check the instructions to his house in the largely Hazara Shiite community. Arriving a few minutes after iftar, we were welcomed by Baqir and invited to sit...
The grief of Talib Jan Mangal is insurmountable. His voice quivers with emotion as the 66-year-old Afghan fields calls from around the world. They are all asking after his 26-year-old daughter Mina, who shot dead in broad daylight in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Saturday. Despite his sorrow, Mr Mangal answers every calling journalist,...
The sun was setting over the Afghan capital on the second day of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, prayer and good deeds, but municipality cleaners Zabihullah and Fahim were still out on the streets of Kabul, hours after their shifts had ended. “The money we make isn’t enough to survive, which is why after...
It’s hard to imagine a happier face. But it’s a bittersweet story. A joyful video of a 5-year-old Afghan boy, Sayeed Rehman, has gone viral. He had just been fitted with a new prosthetic leg, and he couldn’t stop dancing while flashing a wide smile. He said he was happy to have a leg that...
Five-year-old Sayeed Rehman does not know what resilience means, a word used several times over the last few days to describe him. The young Afghan is just happy that he can dance again with his new prosthetic leg, one of many that he has worn during his short life. “I like to dance, and I...
A car bomb and shooting attack targeting a US-funded NGO in central Kabul on Wednesday left at least five civilians dead, two dozen wounded and Afghan security forces responding to the assault with an hours-long clearance operation. Afghan security forces killed five attackers who stormed the offices of Counterpart International, bringing an end to the...
In a historic first, Forbes magazine featured three young Afghan women social entrepreneurs in their much-talked about ‘30 Under 30’ list for Asia. A total of four Afghans made it to the prestigious list, including the three women — Tamana Asey, 26, director of the Afghanistan Forensic Science Organization (AFSO); Shabana Basij-Rasikh, 29, founder of the School...
The largest gathering of Afghanistan’s loya jirga or grand assembly, convened by President Ashraf Ghani to discuss peace with the Taliban, ended on Friday with a unanimous call for the insurgents to observe an immediate and permanent ceasefire. The loya jirga is a traditional method of reaching a democratic consensus among Afghans on matters of...
The increasing pace of negotiations between the United States administration and the Taliban had renewed hope among many Afghans that perhaps an end to decades of war in Afghanistan may finally be in sight. For those observing the developments of the last few months, one of the sure signs that negotiations were moving to a desired conclusion...
Suicide bombers and gunmen laid siege to the building of the Afghan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) in Kabul on Saturday afternoon, killing at least eight people in an assault that destroyed weeks of relative calm in the capital. The hours-long attack also left at least 10 more wounded, according to the Afghan...
