All posts tagged: Afghan

Former Australian Soldier Speaks Out Against Allegations of Afghan War Crimes

Former Australian Soldier Speaks Out Against Allegations of Afghan War Crimes

Published by Sam Flores

(Corrects day to Sunday in first ⁠paragraph) SYDNEY, ⁠April 19 (Reuters) – Australia’s most ⁠decorated soldier, charged with war crimes related to Afghanistan ​deployments more than a decade ago, on Sunday publicly denied the allegations ‌against him and said he ‌was proud of his service. Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, freed this week ⁠on bail, ⁠is charged with five counts of war crimes over the ​alleged murder of five unarmed Afghan civilians between 2009 and 2012. Each charge carries a maximum jail term of life. The former Special Air Service (SAS) ​corporal has consistently denied the accusations of wrongdoing, many first reported ⁠by Nine ⁠Entertainment newspapers in a ⁠series ​of articles starting in 2018. Speaking to the media on Queensland’s Gold Coast, ​Roberts-Smith said he ⁠always acted within the rules of engagement in Afghanistan. “I categorically deny all of these allegations, and while I would have preferred these charges not be brought, I will be taking this opportunity to finally ⁠clear my name,” he said. “I’m proud of my service in Afghanistan.” After ⁠more than a week …

Afghan Man Arrested For Series Of Rapes Of Goats And Sheep In France

Afghan Man Arrested For Series Of Rapes Of Goats And Sheep In France

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via Remix News, A 19-year-old Afghan national has been arrested and charged following a series of brutal sexual attacks on goats and sheep in Pennes-Mirabeau, a municipality in Bouches-du-Rhône, near Marseille. The suspect was taken into custody by the anti-crime brigade (BAC) on the night of April 9-10, 2026, after local sheep and goat owners alerted police. Since early 2026, several owners had discovered their animals injured, with incidents reported in both February and March. The animals had their legs tied and showed clear signs of rape, according to French newspaper La Provence. After multiple similar episodes, the owners installed motion-sensor cameras on their properties in an attempt to identify the perpetrator. The footage revealed the silhouette of a young man visiting their livestock at night, and the images were handed over to police, who were eventually able to identify a matching suspect. The man appeared before a judge on Saturday, April 11, who ordered his placement in pre-trial detention. He was set to appear in court on Monday, April 13. He faces up to three …

Afghan mother seeks justice after Pakistani bombing kills hundreds

Afghan mother seeks justice after Pakistani bombing kills hundreds

Published by Sam Flores

LITTLE CHANCE OF PROSECUTIONS Seventeen international humanitarian NGOs, including War Child UK, condemned the bombing, noting that hospitals must not be attacked. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights have called for an independent investigation. The latter said those responsible should be “held to account in line with international standards”. The Taliban government told AFP that it has given media, diplomats and NGOs access to the site and has “shared the evidence”. Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on Afghanistan, told AFP: “The initial responsibility actually falls on the alleged perpetrator of human rights violations, which is Pakistan.” Kenneth Roth, a visiting professor at Princeton University in the United States, said he “would hope that Pakistan would want to know what went wrong” after “many innocent people died”.  States are generally reluctant to question themselves, but “even the Pentagon investigates why it struck and killed so many children in a school in Iran”, said Roth, a longtime former Human Rights Watch executive director. Several victims’ relatives said they would …

Afghan asylum seeker jailed for abducting and raping 12-year-old | News UK Video News

Afghan asylum seeker jailed for abducting and raping 12-year-old | News UK Video News

Published by Sam Flores

An Afghan asylum seeker has been jailed for 15 years after abducting and raping a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton. Ahmad Mulakhil was found guilty of rape and two counts of sexual assault following a trial last month, having already admitted a further rape charge. He was also convicted of child abduction and taking an indecent video of the girl by the jury at Warwick Crown Court. The court heard that Mulakhil arrived in the UK four months before committing the offences. Image: Ahmad Mulakhil. Pic: Warwickshire Police He had made an immigration application linked to “problems” he had experienced in Afghanistan. The 23-year-old told the court he believed his victim to be 19 years old, and said she initiated a sexual encounter on 22 July last year. But prosecutor Daniel Oscroft said Mulakhil’s attempts to blame his victim were “stomach-churning” and “pretty revolting”. The victim, who cannot be named, said she was approached in a Nuneaton park by Mulakhil after playing on the swings. She said she had told her attacker to stop and that …

Afghan man kidnaps teenager off UK street and rapes her days after sex attack on woman | UK | News

Afghan man kidnaps teenager off UK street and rapes her days after sex attack on woman | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Najeebullah Arab (Image: Thames Valley Police) A 39-year-old Afghan man has admitted kidnapping a teenager off a UK street and raping her just days after sexually assaulting a woman in her twenties. Najeebullah Arab pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping and two counts of sexual assault at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday. The vile attacks happened in separate incidents in the Oxfordshire towns of Wantage and Grove in January. The first assault took place at around 9.30pm on January 21 when a woman in her late 20s was approached by Arab on Cane Lane, Grove. Read more: Labour torn to shreds as bombshell number of new homes ‘to be given to migrants’ Read more: The little UK town where women are followed by groups of migrants at night After a brief interaction, she continued walking along Main Street towards Grove Garage. Arab followed her and sexually assaulted her. Just six days later, a second horrific attack took place. The victim, a woman in her late teens, was walking alone at around 11.15pm on January 27 along …

Pakistan says its forces killed 67 Afghan troops in cross-border clashes. Kabul rejects the claim

Pakistan says its forces killed 67 Afghan troops in cross-border clashes. Kabul rejects the claim

Published by Sam Flores

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghan forces attacked Pakistani military positions along the border early on Tuesday, triggering intense clashes that left 67 Afghan troops and one Pakistani soldier dead, officials in Islamabad said as cross-border fighting between the two countries entered its fifth day. The Taliban defense ministry in Kabul, the Afghan capital, rejected Pakistan’s claim. A ministry spokesman said Afghan forces in the past 24 hours repelled Pakistani attacks, destroying about a dozen military posts and killing four Pakistani soldiers. The latest Afghan-Pakistan escalation erupted last week with Afghanistan launching attacks on Thursday in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous weekend. Since then, Pakistan has carried out operations along the border and declared it was in an “open war” with Afghanistan, alarming the international community. On Tuesday, Pakistan said Afghan forces attacked Pakistan’s military in two sections of the two countries’ border. It said 16 locations were attacked along the southern part of the border, in the southwestern districts of Qilla Saifullah, Nushki and Chaman in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Pakistani troops killed 27 members of …

Afghan labourers say Pakistani strikes hit migrants’ site

Afghan labourers say Pakistani strikes hit migrants’ site

Published by Sam Flores

TAKHTA PUL: Afghan construction workers in rural Kandahar said they were building homes for migrants who had recently returned to the country when Pakistani air strikes hit the area on Saturday (February 28). A major escalation following months of cross-border violence has seen deadly fighting along the frontier and multiple Pakistani strikes on Afghanistan since Thursday. Construction worker Noor Agha, 21, said he was busy tiling “when the Pakistani planes attacked” the site near Takhta Pul village on Saturday. “They bombarded the sheds, then we went inside the mountain,” he told AFP, with hills visible in the distance. “Some people were martyred, two or three were wounded.” The head of the facility gave a figure of three killed and seven wounded. Agha said two strikes hit the site, where a destroyed car sat in front of a building covered in shrapnel marks. The Pakistani military did not respond to an AFP request to comment on the incident. Construction was underway to support Afghan returnees from Pakistan and Iran, local officials said. Around 5.4 million Afghans …

Afghan migrant jailed for raping ‘vulnerable’ woman | UK News

Afghan migrant jailed for raping ‘vulnerable’ woman | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

A migrant from Afghanistan has been jailed for 10 years for the rape of a “vulnerable, intoxicated” woman. Musafar Hotak, 25, was convicted after a trial at Southampton Crown Court of the rape and sexual assault by penetration of the woman in the early hours of 12 July 2022. The court heard that the victim had left the Cafe Parfait bar in Southampton after being asked to leave by the bouncers for being drunk. As she attempted to contact her girlfriend, Hotak, who was 22 at the time, started to follow her before a voicemail sent on the victim’s phone heard her telling him to stop. Reading her personal impact statement to the court, the victim said she lived in “constant fear” and that the attack had “left scars in every part of my life”. The court was told how the complainant remembered waking up in Hotak’s home with him lying on top of her and sexually assaulting her then raping her. She repeatedly told him to stop, but she felt unable to prevent him …

Analysis-Pakistan’s Afghan Salvo Risks Turning ‘Open War’ Into Long Crisis

Analysis-Pakistan’s Afghan Salvo Risks Turning ‘Open War’ Into Long Crisis

Published by Sam Flores

KARACHI, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Weeks after the Taliban’s lightning offensive in 2021 wrested control of ⁠Afghanistan ⁠from a U.S.-led military coalition, Pakistan’s then intelligence chief flew into ⁠the capital Kabul for talks, where the serving lieutenant general told a reporter: “Don’t worry, everything will be okay.” Five years on, Islamabad – long ​seen as a patron of the Taliban – is locked in its heaviest fighting with the Islamist group, which Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif described on Friday as an “open war”. The turmoil means that a ‌wide swathe of Asia – from the Gulf to the ‌Himalayas – is now in flux, with the United States building up a military deployment against Afghanistan’s neighbour Iran even as relations between Pakistan and arch rival India remain on edge after four days ⁠of fighting last May. At ⁠the heart of the conflict with Afghanistan is Pakistan’s accusation that the Afghan Taliban provides support to militant ​groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), that have wreaked havoc across inside the South Asian country. The Afghan Taliban, which …

Afghan migrant jailed after rape leaves woman ‘feeling broken and empty’ | UK | News

Afghan migrant jailed after rape leaves woman ‘feeling broken and empty’ | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

A migrant from Afghanistan has been jailed for 10 years for the rape of a “vulnerable intoxicated” woman. Musafar Hotak, 25, was convicted after a trial at Southampton Crown Court of the rape and sexual assault by penetration of the woman in the early hours of July 12, 2022. The victim, 22 at the time, was asked to leave the Cafe Parfait bar in Southampton by bouncers for being drunk, the court was told. Hotak then followed her while she attempted to contact her girlfriend. She can be heard telling him to stop on a voicemail sent from her phone. The next thing the victim remembered was waking up in Hotak’s home with him lying on top of her. He then sexually assaulted and raped her, the court heard. She repeatedly told him to stop, but felt unable to get him off because he was using “a lot of force”, the court was told. She contacted the police after she escaped, and an intimate swab taken from her matched Hotak’s DNA. In an impact statement …