All posts tagged: Afghanistan

22 killed as truck carrying refugees overturns in Afghanistan | Newsfeed

22 killed as truck carrying refugees overturns in Afghanistan | Newsfeed

NewsFeed At least 22 people have been killed and 36 others injured when a truck carrying recently returned Afghan refugees overturned in eastern Afghanistan’s Laghman Province. Officials say the driver lost control of the vehicle and authorities have launched an investigation. Published On 30 May 202630 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Source link

Truck carrying returning refugees crashes in eastern Afghanistan, killing 22

Truck carrying returning refugees crashes in eastern Afghanistan, killing 22

KABUL, Afghanistan — A truck carrying Afghan refugees returning from neighboring Pakistan overturned on a highway in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least 22 people and injuring about 36 others, most of them women and children, officials said. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. The accident occurred in Laghman province on the main highway linking Kabul, the Afghan capital, with Nangarhar province, said Abdul Malik Niazai, the spokesperson for the provincial governor. He said among the dead were 10 children and five women, and the injured were taken to hospitals in Nangarhar. The provincial director of public health. Aminullah Sharif, said 22 people were killed and about 36 injured. He said the accident occurred when the truck fell into a ditch after the driver fell asleep. The passengers were among thousands of Afghans who recently returned from Pakistan, which launched a crackdown on migrants in 2023, and has since deported or pressured many to leave. Iran also intensified expulsions of Afghan migrants around the same …

Russia has signed a military pact with the Taliban. Could its fighters start turning up in Ukraine?

Russia has signed a military pact with the Taliban. Could its fighters start turning up in Ukraine?

Russia has signed an agreement to increase its military cooperation with the Taliban, deepening its ties to the hardline Islamist group and enshrining its outlier status as the only country in the world to recognise its regime in Afghanistan. The deal was ratified at an event in Moscow dubbed the “International Security Forum”, hosted by Russia and attended by the Taliban’s defence minister and senior leader Mohammad Yaqoob on Wednesday. This is the first high-level summit attended by Taliban officials after Russia recognised the group as the official government of Afghanistan in July 2025. No other nation in the world has done so. Neither Russia nor the Afghan side shared details of the military technical agreement, but it will raise concerns that the Taliban could begin providing its seasoned fighters to join Russia’s war effort against Ukraine. North Korea sent thousands of troops to the front lines of the war in Europe after Pyongyang and Moscow signed their own military pact in June 2024. Mr Yaqoob said the Taliban and Russia have expanded their bilateral …

Russia signs military partnership with the Taliban – POLITICO

Russia signs military partnership with the Taliban – POLITICO

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and spent the next decade fighting a bloody war against the mujahideen, Islamic guerrilla fighters resisting the occupation, many of whom would later found the Taliban. In the years after Soviet troops withdrew, relations between Moscow and Kabul remained tense. However, following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Russia was accused of supplying arms to the Taliban as the group moved to consolidate its control over the country. On Wednesday, Shoigu called for Western countries to “unfreeze” sanctions on the Taliban and “fully acknowledge their full responsibility for their 20-year presence in Afghanistan.” In April 2025, Russia removed the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist groups, a designation that had been in place since 2003. Then, in July of the same year, it became the first and only country to formally recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. Earlier this month, the European Commission confirmed that it had invited Taliban officials to Brussels, although a spokesperson said that the invitation “does not by any means constitute a …

After refugee aid cuts, faith groups help Afghan women connect through sewing

After refugee aid cuts, faith groups help Afghan women connect through sewing

DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — The Refugee Community Partnership, a mutual aid organization that supports immigrants, used to offer a sewing circle for Afghan women whose families had recently been resettled in the Triangle region of North Carolina. But the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to refugee admissions as well as refugee-support organizations meant the partnership no longer had the resources or staff to run the program, which included transportation for the women, many of whom do not drive, and daycare for their young kids. Now, two Durham-based congregations have stepped in to fill the gap. The Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and Judea Reform Congregation raised money and sought volunteers to offer these new immigrants a place to improve their sewing skills, meet fellow Afghans and pick up some English skills. Volunteers from the congregations drove the women from their homes to the UU fellowship, where the class has been meeting; arranged for an Afghan class instructor and a translator; and looked after the children. The two congregations also arranged for donations of at least a …

America’s way of war isn’t working – POLITICO

America’s way of war isn’t working – POLITICO

Decades later in Afghanistan, U.S. officials marveled at their own ingenuity — special forces on horseback, precision bombs and a regime toppled in mere weeks. Yet it was only days before the bombing started that Bush asked “who will run the country” once the Taliban was toppled — a fair question no one thought to ask before fueling the B-52s. The men on horseback were brilliant, but there was no theory as to what came next. Moreover, al Qaeda’s longtime leader Osama bin Laden remained at large. Then came Iraq, with the war’s architects predicting a cakewalk in which U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators. But the occupation disbanded the Iraqi army, sending hundreds of thousands of armed, humiliated men into the streets with no jobs or prospects. The insurgency that followed should have surprised no one, and yet it surprised everyone. The logic collapsed even faster in Iran. The strategy, such as it was, amounted to this: Kill the country’s supreme leader and hope for a more moderate successor. According to the New …

Floods kill 24 across Afghanistan in recent days

Floods kill 24 across Afghanistan in recent days

KABUL: Heavy rain and floods have killed at least 24 people in the past 48 hours across Afghanistan, local and disaster officials said on Friday (May 22). In the last 24 hours, 15 people were killed in the northern province of Baghlan, two in northeastern Badakhshan and one in central Wardak due to flash floods. “Fifteen people have lost their lives, and dozens more have been injured due to the floods,” said Farooq Akhplawak, spokesman for the Baghlan governor. A local official in Badakhshan said: “Two people have died, two others are missing, more than 100 residential houses have been destroyed.” Heavy rain has battered much of Afghanistan since Wednesday, causing floods in multiple provinces. Another six people were killed on Thursday in several provinces of the country. “In the past 24 hours … six people were martyred, and eleven people were injured,” Afghanistan’s disaster management authority spokesman Mohammad Yousuf Hammad said on Thursday. Stormy weather has brought rain across Afghanistan since late March, causing floods and landslides and damaging homes and crops. Source link

Afghans sell their children in grim reality of life under Taliban | World | News

Afghans sell their children in grim reality of life under Taliban | World | News

Men in Afghanistan have been selling their children to survive poverty under the Taliban, a report from the country has revealed. The Taliban has taken over the country since the US withdrew its troops back in 2021. Since then, the Taliban offensive reestablished the Islamic Emirate, bringing Afghanistan back under their rule. The group intensified their crackdown on human rights, especially against females. The collapse of the economy almost entirely dependent on foreign aid pushed over 90% of the population into poverty and caused a near-total degradation of the local economy. The country is now facing record levels of hunger, with 4.7 million – more than a tenth of Afghanistan’s population – estimated to be one step away from famine. One resident of the badly-affected province Ghor, Abdul Rashid Azimi, told the BBC about his plans about his seven-year-old twins Roqia and Rohila. “I’m willing to sell my daughters,” he said. “I’m poor, in debt and helpless. I come home from work with parched lips, hungry, thirsty, distressed and confused. My children come to me …

Residents pay the price as Afghanistan-Pakistan border remains closed – Focus

Residents pay the price as Afghanistan-Pakistan border remains closed – Focus

The border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been completely closed for six months, a direct consequence of the conflict between Kabul and Islamabad. Despite several mediation attempts, negotiations have failed, and the two countries remain at a diplomatic impasse in a war that has already displaced tens of thousands of people and claimed numerous lives.  For Afghanistan, a landlocked country facing a serious humanitarian crisis, the situation is even more critical: the war in Iran is blocking its only other route for international trade and severely restricting air links. The situation has plunged thousands of residents dependent on cross-border trade into unemployment and uncertainty.   FRANCE 24’s Shahzaib Wahlah and Ondine de Gaulle report, in collaboration with Sayed Aman Sadat. Source link