This is Beirut - Afghanistan

ICC Seeks Arrest of Taliban Leaders over Persecution of Women

This is Beirut, 08/07 17:14 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

ICC Taliban Haibatullah Akhundzada Afghanistan

The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of crimes against humanity for persecuting women and girls. Judges said there were "reasonable grounds" to suspect Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani of committing gender-based ...

Mass Influx of Afghans Expelled from Iran Before the July Deadline

This is Beirut, 06/07 16:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Afghanistan Iran Migration

Tens of thousands of Afghans streamed over the border from Iran in the days before a return deadline set for Sunday, the United Nations said, sparking an "emergency" situation at border points. In late May, Iran said undocumented Afghans must leave the country by July 6, potentially impacting four million people out of the six million ...

Pakistan Army Kills 30 Militants Trying to Cross from Afghanistan

This is Beirut, 04/07 10:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Pakistan Afghanistan Taliban

Pakistan's army said Friday it had killed 30 militants attempting to cross the border from Afghanistan over the last three days, after a suicide attack killed 16 soldiers in the same region. The militants belonged to the Pakistan Taliban or its affiliated groups, the military said in a statement, accusing arch foe India of backing them. "The ...

UN Sees 'Alarming' Surge in Afghan Families Deported from Iran

This is Beirut, 03/06 17:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Afghanistan Iran International Organization for Migration

The UN migration agency on Tuesday voiced concern over a surge in Afghan families deported from Iran, recording a more than two-fold increase in May from the previous month. There was a "sharp rise in the forced return of Afghan nationals" from Iran in May, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement. "Particularly ...

Marginalizing Women a Major Curb on Afghan Economy: UNDP

This is Beirut, 01/05 16:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Donald Trump United Nations USA Afghanistan women

Restrictions on women and girls imposed since the Taliban authorities took power are projected to cost Afghanistan almost six percent of its GDP over two years, the UN development agency country director said on Thursday. Taliban authorities have squeezed women out of education, jobs and public life since 2021, creating what the United Nations ...

Russia Allows Taliban to Have Moscow Ambassador

This is Beirut, 23/04 21:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Taliban Russia Afghanistan Diplomacy

Russia said Wednesday it will allow the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan to have an ambassador in Moscow, in a symbolic move days after it lifted a "terrorist" designation for the militant group. Moscow has taken steps to normalize relations with the Islamist Taliban administration since the group seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 ...

Islamabad Says More Than 100,000 Afghans Left Pakistan in April

This is Beirut, 22/04 12:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Afghanistan

More than 100,000 Afghans have left Pakistan in the past three weeks, the interior ministry reported on Tuesday, following Islamabad's announcement of the widespread cancellation of residence permits. Calling Afghans "terrorists and criminals," the Pakistani government launched its mass eviction campaign on April 1. Analysts suggest that the ...

In Kabul, Women Sell Their Hair to Survive Taliban Repression

Maroun Chahine, 26/03 12:30 - Reading : less than a minute

Afghanistan Kabul Taliban hair

In Kabul, Afghanistan, after every shower, Fatima carefully collects the hair that has fallen into the bathtub plug and keeps it preciously. When she reaches a few hundred grams, she discreetly sells it, like many Afghan women, to earn a modest income, despite the ban imposed by the Taliban authorities. Before the Taliban returned to power in ...

Iran and Afghanistan Call for more Ties in High-Level Kabul Talks

This is Beirut, 26/01 16:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Tehran Afghanistan

Iran and Afghanistan called for increased cooperation during a trip to Kabul by Tehran's foreign minister on Sunday, the highest-level Iranian official to visit the Afghan capital since the Taliban's takeover in 2021. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with his Afghan counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Taliban government Prime Minister ...

ICC Prosecutor Seeks Arrest of Taliban Leaders over Persecution of Women

This is Beirut, 23/01 16:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Haibatullah Akhundzada Afghanistan Taliban Karim Khan ICC

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on Thursday said he was seeking arrest warrants against senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan over the persecution of women, a crime against humanity. Karim Khan said there were reasonable grounds to suspect that Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani "bear ...

UNESCO Spotlights Rubab as Afghanistan’s Symbol of Resilience

This is Beirut, 2024-12-30 10:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

UNESCO Culture Afghanistan Heritage Iran Music

Wood shavings littered the floor of Sakhi's cramped workshop in the Afghan city of Herat as another rubab, the national musical instrument of his homeland, took shape under his deft hands. Sakhi has crafted two rubabs a month for decades, and he refuses to set down his tools even as a Taliban crackdown strangles music in Afghanistan. "I know only ...

Afghan Bread, the Humble Centrepiece of Every Meal

This is Beirut, 2024-12-23 09:35 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

bread kaboul afghanistan

Every day before dawn, Jamil Ghafori gets to work on the floor of a cramped Kabul bakery with five other men churning out thousands of traditional flatbreads, the staple of every Afghan meal. This photograph taken on November 27, 2024 shows an Afghan baker arranging traditional flatbreads locally known as Naan. © Wakil KOHSAR / AFP The ...