Taliban

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After Taliban Banned Opium, Kids Became Malnourished

Afghans are now heading back to the poppy fields, driven by poverty

(Newser) - Afghanistan's once-empty poppy fields are quietly filling in again, and hunger is a big reason why. After the Taliban's sweeping opium ban that started in 2022 nearly wiped out cultivation, farmers like 28-year-old Mohammad Dawood in the Balkh province shifted to legal crops such as wheat and cotton—...

Taliban Arrest Women for Dress Code Violations

United Nations mission reports more than 50 detentions in 3 months

(Newser) - Afghanistan's Taliban authorities have arrested or detained dozens of women in recent months accused of violating dress codes and restrictions on appearing in public without a male guardian, the United Nations mission in the country said Thursday. At least 52 women and one girl were arrested or detained in...

Some Afghans Have Never Been to Afghanistan. Now, a Forced Return

Deportees are heading 'home' from Pakistan, Iran, though poverty and Taliban restrictions await

(Newser) - A country many of them have never seen has suddenly become "home" for millions of Afghans pushed back over the border. Writing for the BBC , Lyse Doucet travels to the Torkham crossing—aka the "Zero Point"—between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where a vast tide of returnees is...

'To Feed My Other Children, I Had to Sacrifice One of Them'

Taliban rule fuels surge in Afghan girls sold into marriage, 'child mothers'

(Newser) - Afghan girls are increasingly becoming a form of currency, traded away as child brides to pay debts and buy food, according to a joint investigation by the Guardian and Afghan outlet Zan Times. Reporters Neda Noran and Atousa Azar trace how the Taliban's recent removal of any minimum marriage...

Cops: Remote-Controlled Bombs Killed 7 in Pakistan

Suspicion lies with Pakistani Taliban for roadside blasts; group hasn't yet claimed responsibility

(Newser) - Two roadside bombs in restive northwestern Pakistan killed at least seven people on Saturday, authorities said. The first targeted a vehicle, while the second went off as rescuers responded to the blast in Bannu, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, senior police official Yasir Afridi said, adding...

Why Afghans Are Smashing Their Smartphones

Taliban issues directive banning the devices from government workplaces

(Newser) - Afghanistan's bureaucracy is being told to show up to work without the device most of the world now considers essential. The Taliban government has ordered all civil servants, security forces, teachers, and other officials to stop bringing smartphones to their jobs, with violators warned their phones will be smashed...

Ominous News for Afghan Allies Hoping to Resettle in US

President Trump is reportedly mulling sending Afghans stuck in Qatar to Congo

(Newser) - The latest proposed destination for more than 1,100 Afghans who assisted US forces isn't America—it's the Democratic Republic of Congo. An aid worker and advocates say the Trump administration is in talks to relocate the group, which includes interpreters, former Afghan special-ops forces, and more than...

Afghanistan Frees American Held for More Than a Year

Authorities have never said what laws academic researcher Dennis Coyle allegedly violated

(Newser) - Afghan authorities on Tuesday released American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with Afghanistan's Taliban-run foreign ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. A statement from the...

Pakistan Strikes Again After Declaring 'Open War' on Taliban

Cross-border attacks between neighbors continue with overnight hits on Afghan military installations

(Newser) - Pakistan's military, backed by artillery and air power, struck more military installations deep inside Afghanistan overnight and into early Saturday, after Pakistan said it was in "open war" with its neighbor. Pakistan claimed more than 300 Afghan forces had been killed since fighting erupted Thursday night during a...

DC Shooting Suspect Worked With CIA in Afghanistan

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was evacuated to US after Taliban takeover

(Newser) - The Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, DC, fought with CIA-backed forces in Afghanistan before coming to live in the US, the CIA said Wednesday, per the New York Times . Officials identified the suspect as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who served in a "partner force"...

Just 5% of Afghan Opium Fields Remain

New UN report finds more than 40% of available farmland is now uncultivated

(Newser) - Afghanistan's opium production has plummeted following a ban put into place by the Taliban in 2022, according to a new United Nations report . The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) found that the total area used for opium poppy cultivation shrank by 20% in the past year, while...

The US Got Them Out of Afghanistan. Now They're Nowhere

Evacuated Afghans face uncertainty on a former US military base in Qatar

(Newser) - Hundreds of Afghan families who aided the US military and fled the Taliban now find themselves stranded in a former US military base in Qatar, caught in bureaucratic limbo with no clear path forward. The Wall Street Journal tells their story through the lens of Mohammed Ibrahim, who spent more...

Taliban and Pakistan Reach Ceasefire After Border Clashes
Taliban and Pakistan Call Truce
Oct 19, 2025 11:00 AM CDT

Taliban and Pakistan Call Truce

Qatar, Turkey broker agreement after civilian deaths

(Newser) - After a week of deadly cross-border clashes, Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban government announced Sunday that they have brokered an immediate ceasefire. Mediated by Qatar and Turkey, which said both sides will work to set up mechanisms supporting lasting peace, the deal calls for halting the violence that has...

'Spineless:' Taliban Bars Female Reporters in India

Indian government under fire for allowing it to happen at press conference

(Newser) - Afghanistan's foreign minister held a news conference in India on Friday, and it's making headlines not for anything he said but because of a rule enforced as he spoke: No female journalists were allowed in the room with Amir Khan Muttaqi, reports NDTV . The incident at the...

The Internet Is Back in Afghanistan
Afghanistan Is Back Online
Oct 1, 2025 10:55 AM CDT

Afghanistan Is Back Online

Though the reasons for the 2-day nationwide outage are murky

(Newser) - After two days of what watchdog group NetBlocks called "a total internet blackout as Taliban authorities move to implement morality measures," the modem lights are back on in at least parts of Afghanistan. As the New York Times reports, the official reasons are muddled: "I still don'...

'Total Internet Blackout' in Afghanistan

Taliban are 'implementing morality measures'

(Newser) - Afghanistan has gone dark online as its Taliban rulers cut off the country's internet, intensifying its latest crackdown and leaving millions disconnected. The country "is now in the midst of a total internet blackout as Taliban authorities move to implement morality measures, with multiple networks disconnected through...

Taliban Free US Citizen From Prison After Qatar Intervenes
Taliban Release American
Sep 28, 2025 2:29 PM CDT

Taliban Release American

Qatar intervened to secure Amir Amiri's freedom

(Newser) - The Taliban on Sunday freed an American from an Afghan prison, weeks after saying they had reached an agreement with US envoys on a prisoner exchange as part of an effort to normalize relations. A spokesperson for the Taliban Foreign Ministry identified the man as Amir Amiri, the AP reports....

Trump Wants Bagram Air Base Back. The Taliban Isn't Having It

'If they don't do it, you're going to find out what I'm going to do,' says president

(Newser) - The Taliban government on Sunday rejected President Trump's bid to retake Bagram Air Base, four years after America's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan left the sprawling military facility in the Taliban's hands. Trump on Saturday renewed his call to reestablish a US presence at Bagram, even saying "we're talking now...

Taliban Releases Elderly British Couple

Qatari intervention ends ordeal for longtime Afghanistan residents

(Newser) - A British couple, Peter and Barbie Reynolds, have been freed after spending almost eight months in Taliban custody in Afghanistan. The pair, aged 80 and 76, have lived in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years. Their detention began in February, when they were stopped while heading to their home in...

Taliban Yanks Women's Books, Courses From Colleges

Women's voices and key subjects, including human rights, are scrubbed from nation's universities

(Newser) - The Taliban government has ordered Afghan universities to remove all books authored by women and has banned the teaching of nearly 20 subjects, including human rights and sexual harassment, according to new guidelines issued in late August. Among the 680 books flagged as problematic, about 140 were written by...

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