Tag - taliban

 
 

TALIBAN

A general view of Kabul on Tuesday following a nation-wide telecom outage
WORLD
Oct 1, 2025
'I couldn't reach them': Afghans abroad despair at blackout
The internet blackout spells worse conditions for those living in one of the world's poorest countries after having already endured decades of conflict.
A boy flies a kite in Kabul on Monday as Taliban authorities severed Afghanistan's fiber optic connections in multiple provinces "until further notice."
WORLD / Politics
Sep 30, 2025
Taliban shut down communications across Afghanistan
It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 that communications have been shut down in the country.
An Afghan woman after a lip filler procedure at a beauty clinic in Kabul. Despite widespread poverty and the strict theocratic rule of the Taliban, cosmetic surgery clinics thrive in Afghanistan's capital.
WORLD / Society
Sep 29, 2025
Botox under burqas: Cosmetic surgery in vogue in Afghanistan
Twenty or so clinics in Kabul have thrived in recent years despite widespread poverty and the strict theocratic rule of the Taliban.
A July 24 U.N. report warns that the Islamic State group's ISKP affiliate, al-Qaida and related groups remain active in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, posing serious threats to regional and international security.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2025
Is the Taliban's Afghanistan a safe haven for terrorist organizations?
“The de facto authorities in Afghanistan continued to maintain a permissive environment for a range of terrorist groups," a U.N. report says
Taliban security personnel gather at Massoud square as they celebrate the fourth anniversary of their takeover of Afghanistan, in Kabul on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 16, 2025
Taliban mark fourth year in power in Afghanistan
Celebrations were buoyed by Russia's official recognition of their government last month, a step they hope other countries will follow.
Ahmad Habibi and his younger brother Mahmood Habibi pose for the camera in Canada in 2014.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2025
How a CIA hit on al-Qaida ensnared a U.S. citizen in Afghanistan
Interviews reveal that the Taliban likely detained Mahmood Habibi because the CIA had penetrated the company where he worked.
Afghans expelled from Iran arrive at a processing center in the border town of Islam Qala, Afghanistan, on July 10.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 28, 2025
Iran forcing out Afghans en masse after Israel spying claims
Iran is rounding up Afghan nationals due to accusations that non-documented migrants from the country spied for Israel and helped it launch missiles.
Members of the Taliban carrying flags participate in a rally to mark the third anniversary of the fall of Kabul, in Kabul on Aug. 14, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2025
Trump vowed to save Afghans, but UAE had already sent some evacuees back, cable shows
The United Arab Emirates, a close security partner of the United States, agreed in 2021 to temporarily house several thousand Afghans evacuated from Kabul.
John Healey, Britain's defense minister, apologized for the 2022 leak that included details about members of Parliament and senior military officers who supported applications to help Afghan soldiers who worked with the British military and their families relocate to the U.K.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025
Thousands of Afghans secretly moved to Britain after data leak
The data leak ranks among the worst security breaches in modern British history because of the cost and risk posed to the lives of thousands of people.
Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi (right) shakes hands with Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, during their meeting at the foreign ministry in Kabul on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2025
Russia becomes first country to recognize Taliban government
Moscow has taken recent steps to normalize relations with the Taliban authorities.
A mosaic portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin exhibited at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 19, 2025
'Russia's Davos' yet to recover Western appeal despite thaw with Washington
The annual Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum is designed to attract foreign investment and is the biggest showcase of Russian technology and business.
Pakistan spent decades backing the Taliban as a tool to control Afghanistan and gain “strategic depth” against India. Now it has a monster it cannot control.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2025
The Pakistan-Taliban divorce gets messy
With Afghanistan now serving not as a strategic asset for Pakistan, but as a grave liability, India must wait and watch how this drama on its western flank plays out.
Afghan refugees walk through a refugee camp in Islamabad on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 7, 2025
'No one to return to': Afghans fear Pakistan deportation
Islamabad announced at the start of March that 800,000 Afghan Citizen Cards would be canceled.
A female soccer player controls a ball during a training session at the Golab Trust Sport Complex in Kabul, Afghanistan on March 10, 2014. Many women's soccer players have since fled the country after fear of persecution when the Taliban retook control of the Afghan government in 2021.
SOCCER
Mar 26, 2025
Afghan women players call for global support as they seek FIFA recognition
Many players from the Afghanistan women's team fled the country for fear of persecution when the Taliban took control of the Afghan government.
A shopkeeper displays women's wigs at his shop in Kabul on March 13. Until the Taliban took power, Afghan women could freely sell their hair to be made into wigs, bringing in crucial cash. But last year Taliban authorities imposed vice and virtue laws regulating everyday life for men and women, including banning sales of "any part of the human body" such as hair.
WORLD / Society
Mar 25, 2025
Afghan women risk Taliban wrath over hair trade
A ban imposed last year has forced women to brave punishment by covertly trading hair for crucial cash.
A soldier stands guard at a railway station in the Sibi district of southwestern Balochistan province, Pakistan, on March 12 as part of a security operation after militants hijacked a passenger train the previous day.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2025
Pakistan’s economy is back. But so is terrorism.
The disconnect between the grim drumbeat of terror attacks on the country’s margins and the positive economic news from its heartland is startling.
U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on a TV screen in Kabul. Trump’s first term resulted in talks that eventually led to the Taliban’s return to power, but this time around, Afghans hope that the president will take a tough stance against the brutal regime.  
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2025
What Trump’s return could mean for Afghanistan
Despite Afghan refugees being denied admission to the U.S., at least for now, there is hope that the new Trump administration will undermine the brutal Taliban regime in Kabul.
A Taliban security personnel stands guard as Afghan men wait to receive winter aid packages in Kandahar in January.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2025
Japan urges Taliban officials to cooperate with international society
The Taliban officials came to Japan at the invitation of the nonprofit Nippon Foundation.
Taliban representatives Abdul Latif Nazari (center) and Mutiul Haq Nabi Kheel (right) attend a meeting of international special representatives in Oslo in January 2022.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2025
Taliban officials visit Japan
The Afghan delegation left Kabul in a visit that local media said would last one week.
The International Criminal Court is pursuing arrest warrants for Taliban leaders accused of human rights abuses against Afghan women and girls, but legal and political obstacles complicate the process.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2025
The long road to justice for Afghan women
Afghan women and girls need every bit of global support they can get to push back against the Taliban’s unhinged misogyny.

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Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?