Ariana Afghan Airlines resumed some flights in Afghanistan between Kabul and three major provincial cities on Saturday, the carrier said, after a technical team from Qatar reopened the capital’s airport for aid and domestic services. Flights between Kabul and the western city of Herat, Mazar-i Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Kandahar in the south have … Read more
Taliban and opposition forces battled on Saturday to control the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, the last Afghan province holding out against the militant group, as the top U.S. general warned of a “civil war” if the Islamists failed to consolidate power. Both sides claimed to have the upper hand in Panjshir but neither could … Read more
Dozens of women gathered on the streets of Herat, a city in western Afghanistan, on Thursday, protesting against the Taliban and demanding more rights and inclusion in a new future government that may be announced as soon as Friday. “Don’t be afraid,” the women chanted as they marched toward the governor’s office, holding signs. “We … Read more
Sitting in the home of the spy chief of the fallen Afghan government, cradling a Beretta submachine gun in his lap, Mawlawi Habib Tawakol recounted how he and his fighters were surprised at how quickly they were ordered to enter Kabul Aug. 15, even after the Taliban’s rapid advance across Afghanistan. That morning, Tawakol’s Taliban … Read more
As the last U.S. troops prepared to leave Afghanistan, Hussain, a U.S. passport holder who worked with the U.S. military, scrambled with his six daughters through Taliban checkpoints to the gates of Kabul airport for several days in a row, hoping to catch a flight to safety. He had called and emailed the U.S. Embassy … Read more
A divided U.N. Security Council pressed the Taliban on Monday to live up to pledges to let people leave Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrew its forces, but China and Russia refused to back the resolution, which they portrayed as diverting blame for chaos surrounding the U.S. pullout. Sponsored by the U.S., Britain and France, the … Read more
Walking down the tarmac of the U.S. military air base about 2:00 am recently, the Afghan woman lunged for a handgun strapped to an American airman’s leg. As service members rushed to restrain her, she shrieked and thrashed — determined to kill herself. Then, she crumpled into a ball and sobbed. Her family had been … Read more
As the Taliban swept through Afghanistan this month, a Gen Z alt-right group ran a Twitter account devoted to celebrating their progress. Tweets in Pashto juxtaposed two laughing Taliban fighters with pictures meant to represent American effeminacy. Another said, the words auto-translated into English, “Liberalism did not fail in Afghanistan because it was Afghanistan, it … Read more
The Americans are all but gone, the Afghan government has collapsed, and the Taliban rule the streets of Kabul now. Overnight, millions of Kabul residents have been left to navigate an uncertain transition after 20 years of U.S.-backed rule. On Tuesday, nine days after the Taliban walked back into power, government services were still largely … Read more
Britain would have to turn to Russia and China to exercise a “moderating influence” over the Taliban, despite a mistrust between the UK and those governments, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said. “We’re going to have to bring in countries with a potentially moderating influence like Russia and China, however uncomfortable that is,” Raab told The … Read more
