Tag - afghanistan

 
 

AFGHANISTAN

General elections are scheduled in Pakistan for Feb. 8, with some accusing the military of trying to steer the results.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2024
Can Pakistan keep it together as an election looms?
Next week's elections in Pakistan could further ignite political and ethnic tensions, already running high. Will the army ever agree to share power?
People gather at the scene of explosions during a ceremony held to mark the death of late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, in Kerman, Iran, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 5, 2024
Islamic State claims responsibility for deadly Iran attack
The militant Sunni Muslim group said two IS members had detonated explosive belts in the crowd in Kerman on Wednesday.
Tetsu Nakamura was a Japanese doctor who spent decades addressing some of the root causes of Afghanistan’s health crisis. He was killed, along with five others by still-unidentified armed men in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Dec. 4, 2019.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 5, 2024
New film ensures slain Japanese doctor's Afghan legacy lives on
An English-language documentary is set to introduce the humanitarian feats of Tetsu Nakamura, who spent decades tackling Afghanistan’s health crisis, to a new audience.
An Afghan woman holds her newborn child at a maternity hospital in Khost, Afghanistan. According to the latest World Health Organization figures, from 2017, 638 women die in Afghanistan for every 100,000 viable births, compared with 19 in the United States.
WORLD / Society
Dec 28, 2023
For women in Afghanistan, every birth carries heavy risks
Afghanistan is among the worst countries in the world for deaths in childbirth, "with one woman dying every two hours," according to the U.N.
Ukrainian refugees who were flown to Japan by the Foreign Ministry arrive at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in April 2022. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 20, 2023
Moving beyond ‘checkbook diplomacy’: Japan’s changing refugee policy
Japan's stance on admitting refugees appears to be changing amid greater global engagement by Tokyo.
Afghan youth cricketers take part in a training session at Mohammad Mirza Katawazai Cricket Centre in Kabul on Nov. 25.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Dec 15, 2023
'Crazy for cricket': Young Afghans inspired by national team's success
From pickup games in dusty parks or narrow alleys to high-intensity training at well-kitted academies, young Afghans have cricket fever.
The problems afflicting Afghan society today, such as the repression of women’s rights and conflict, are also global issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2023
Neglecting Afghanistan could have global repercussions
The problems afflicting Afghan society today, such as the repression of women's rights and conflict, are a reflection of those facing the wider world.
A man harvests opium as he works in an opium field outside Loikaw, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 12, 2023
Myanmar overtakes Afghanistan as world's biggest opium producer
Myanmar produced an estimated 1,080 metric tons of opium this year, according to the latest report by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime.
Commuters in Kabul make their way through traffic as construction laborers work on a road on Nov. 21.
WORLD / Society
Nov 30, 2023
The changing face of Kabul: Safer, but more somber
Security threats have eased since the Taliban returned to power, but the harsh restrictions they introduced have made the city less lively.
Afghan refugees sit with their belongings near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border on Nov. 20.
WORLD
Nov 22, 2023
Afghans driven from Pakistan rebuilding lives from 'zero'
Many have lived decades, if not their whole lives, outside their country, with no one left in their homeland to return to.
Afghan refugees arrive in a truck at a holding center as they prepare to depart for Afghanistan, in the town of Landi Kotal, Pakistan, on Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan faced the threat of detention and deportation on the day, as a government deadline for them to leave sparked a mass exodus.
WORLD / Society
Nov 2, 2023
Pakistan rounds up undocumented foreigners, mostly Afghans, early
The interior ministry said 140,322 people had already voluntarily left after days in which trucks full of people have jammed roads out of the country.
Afghan refugees arrive at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border on Monday. Islamabad has issued an order to 1.7 million Afghans it says are living in the country illegally to leave by November 1, or be deported.
WORLD
Nov 1, 2023
Mass exodus of Afghans as deadline to leave Pakistan arrives
Islamabad gave 1.7 million Afghans it says are living illegally in the country until November 1 to leave or be forcibly removed.
The senior leadership of the Taliban government arrives at an inauguration event for a canal project in Hairatan, Afghanistan, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 15, 2023
Taliban to join China's Belt and Road forum, elevating ties
The Taliban's participation underscores Beijing's growing official ties with the group, despite its lack of recognition by any government.
Sher Aqa, left, grieves over the body of his 12-year-old daughter, Roqia, during a funeral in the earthquake-ravaged village of Siaab, in Herat Province, Afghanistan, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Oct 12, 2023
‘The wrath of God’: Afghans mourn unimaginable loss from quake
Wails echoed across what was left of the village when the ambulance arrived. Inside was the body of a 12-year-old girl, Roqia. She had died in a nearby hospital Tuesday morning, days after a devastating earthquake hit this stretch of northwestern Afghanistan and sent her mud-brick home crashing down on top of her.
Afghanistan finished fifth in its Asian qualifying group for the 2022 FIFA World Cup before failing to reach the 2023 Asian Cup.
SOCCER
Oct 11, 2023
'We're not monsters,' says Afghanistan coach ahead of WC qualifiers
Coach Abdullah Al-Mutairi is targeting a berth in the 2027 Asian Cup.
Afghans clear debris from a damaged house after an earthquake in Sarbuland, Herat province, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 8, 2023
Afghanistan earthquakes kill 2,053, Taliban says, as death toll spikes
Amid the confusion, the death toll from Saturday's quakes spiked from the 500 reported on Sunday morning.
Members of the Afghan women's volleyball team spin balls for photos after practice in Hangzhou, China, on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 28, 2023
Games-displaced Afghan women athletes defy Taliban at Asian Games
There are 17 Afghan women competing at the Asian Games
Kabul is diverse and culturally rich, like the rest of Afghanistan. Yet the country has struggled with political inclusivity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 15, 2023
Japan can help pave the way for an inclusive Afghanistan
A new generation of Afghan leaders wants to be included in the country's future. Japan is well-positioned to facilitate dialogue with the Taliban.
Taliban security personnel in Kabul on Aug. 15. So far, U.S. President Joe Biden has not decided to restore any U.S. support to Afghanistan, despite the country's worsening humanitarian crisis.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2023
Two years after exit, Biden resists calls for more Taliban contact
Some analysts and U.S. officials had clung to the hope that the Taliban had moderated since they last controlled Afghanistan in the 1990s.
Afghan women during a protest against Taliban restrictions on women's freedom in Kabul in 2021
WORLD
Aug 14, 2023
Afghan women take protests online as Taliban crush dissent
Organizing through social media and messaging apps, women have posted pictures and videos of the protests, drawing attention to the worsening crisis.

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A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world