Stories from South Asia
In the brightly lit lobby of an Albanian hotel hosting Afghan refugees, a group of women gather to discuss how to counter the repressive rules introduced by the Taliban. The group includes Afghan lawyers and prosecutors who are among about […]
Every night, after putting his 2-year-old son to bed, Muhajir sits down in the corner of his family’s small room in a refugee centre in Albania and starts writing in a notebook. For months he has been documenting his family’s […]
On the afternoon of August 15, the day Kabul fell to the Taliban, Ahmad Javid, a 37-year-old soldier in the Afghan security forces, was preparing to head north to test a new weapon system that his unit had finished training on the day […]
It was a chilly Friday afternoon when an extended roar of more than two dozen motorbikes pierced the silence in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province. To an outsider, the sudden invasion earlier this month by a large group of men on […]
IN MARCH OF LAST YEAR, Rabia and her two young daughters were forced to leave their home in northern Afghanistan. While facing the threat of increased violence, their village was also in the midst of a severe drought that strained the […]
Negina Azimi felt shock and fear like never before when she heard that Taliban fighters had entered Kabul on 15 August. As an outspoken female artist in Afghanistan, she knew they would come for her. “We heard reports that the Taliban […]
As the Taliban marched into Kabul on August 15, Zarifa*, a 32-year-old Afghan lawyer, knew she had to make some difficult decisions, fast. She faced threats from the insurgent group for her work in protecting women’s legal rights, and risked […]
At least 47 people were killed when a large explosion tore through a Shiite mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar during Friday prayers. Over 70 people are wounded, a Taliban official said. A suicide bomber detonated his vest […]
YEARS BEFORE BECOMING a journalist, I learned about Afghanistan as a child growing up in Mumbai. Afghanistan holds a significant place in Indian history and mythology, and in school, I learned about places like the ancient region of Gandhara — located […]
For five days after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban insurgency, Mariam (not her real name) didn’t leave her house. As a professional athlete, this was very unusual. However, 23-year-old Mariam is also one of the city’s up and […]