In 2015, Turkey became a kind of human superhighway for refugees fleeing to Europe from Syria and elsewhere, a migration of at least 1.3 million people that had a seismic impact on the politics of the European Union. Many of the bloc’s leaders now fear a repeat, yet it is far more difficult for desperate … Read more
Negin Khpalwak was sitting at her home in Kabul when she got word that the Taliban had reached the outskirts of the capital. The 24-year old conductor, once the face of Afghanistan’s renowned all-female orchestra, immediately began to panic. The last time the Islamist militants were in power, they banned music and women were not … Read more
It was November 13 , 2001. The sun had just begun to rise over the Hindu Kush Mountains when the Taliban disappeared from Kabul, the battered capital of Afghanistan. The bodies of foreign Arabs who had stayed behind were mutilated and bloodied. They had been found and killed by advancing Afghans of another faction who … Read more
The Taliban said that a US airstrike targeted a suicide bomber in a vehicle Sunday who wanted to attack the Kabul international airport amid the American military’s evacuation there. There were few initial details about the incident, as well as a rocket that struck a neighbourhood just northwest of the airport, killing a child. The … Read more
Until last week, Shabeer Ahmadi was busy covering the news in Afghanistan. But after a hasty and excruciating decision to leave his Taliban-controlled country for an uncertain future in Spain, he’s helplessly glued to news feeds on his cellphone, following every twist in the dramatic end of the evacuation of Afghans from Kabul. The 29-year-old … Read more
An Afghan baby girl born on a C-17 military aircraft during an evacuation flight from Afghanistan will forever carry that experience with her. Her parents have named her after the plane’s call sign – Reach. The head of US European Command told reporters on Wednesday that officials had spoken to the mother and father of … Read more
At least 1,500 US citizens remain in Afghanistan with just days left before the scheduled US withdrawal from the country, but officials on Wednesday acknowledged the reality that tens of thousands of Afghan allies and others at high risk of Taliban reprisals would be left behind. The sound of gunfire, and clouds of tear gas … Read more
Occupying the presidential palace in Kabul, the triumphant Taliban leaders with bazookas in their hands proclaimed that “War has ended in Afghanistan”. Yet, from all around Afghanistan, we see images of anxiety, desperation, chaos, and fear. Winter has finally arrived in Afghanistan. The situation demands grappling with some serious questions: How has the Taliban regained … Read more
Occupying the presidential palace in Kabul, the triumphant Taliban leaders with bazookas in their hands proclaimed that “War has ended in Afghanistan”. Yet, from all around Afghanistan, we see images of anxiety, desperation, chaos, and fear. Winter has finally arrived in Afghanistan. The situation demands grappling with some serious questions: How has the Taliban regained … Read more
Panic and desperation rose Saturday among thousands of Afghans struggling to flee the week-old Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, as gates to the Kabul airport were closed off and the US Embassy warned US citizens to stay away from the airport, citing “potential security threats outside the gates.” The US Embassy’s warning that Americans should stay … Read more
