Stories from South Asia
Supporters of a prominent university professor, and one of Afghanistan’s most vocal critics of the Taliban, are calling for his release after he was arrested on Saturday. Faizullah Jalal, a professor at Kabul University, was detained by the Taliban after the group […]
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 […]
When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August, Mohammad Yasin had to make some difficult decisions very quickly. As the country reeled from the shock of the insurgent takeover, the 21-year-old—whose name has been changed to protect his safety—snuck into […]
Afghan television personalities say the Taliban’s new rules controlling women on screen will exclude half of the population from popular culture. The Taliban’s reinstated Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued eight guidelines on Sunday, including a […]
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 […]
At 32 years old, Dr. K is old enough to remember the first time the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1995. She was 7 when girls were banned from school. “For years, my mother ensured that we continued our […]
About three months ago, Ahmad Zia’s family noticed that the boy of 2 was unable to move his legs. Despite their concern, they were unable to take him to a doctor because of the fighting between Taliban militants and government […]
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 […]