AFGHANISTAN

Paranoia riddled the most senior levels of the Afghan government, and chaos overwhelmed the country’s security forces, according to a U.S. government watchdog report

A new report says decisions by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan were the key factors in the collapse of that nation’s military, leading to the Taliban takeover last year.

The 62-page draft reveals the situation on the ground today: Billions of dollars of American weapons lost and Afghan security forces missing.

Author and journalist Wesley Morgan is this year’s winner of the William E.

The United States has taken control of Afghanistan’s embassy in Washington and the country’s consulates in New York and Beverly Hills, California, the State Department said Tuesday. The State Department said that it had assumed “sole responsibility” for the security and maintenance of the diplomatic missions effective on Monday and would bar anyone from entering them without its permission until further notice. The move came after the department determined that the embassy and consulates had “formally ceased conducting diplomatic and consular activities in the United States" at noon on May 16.

The country's hardline Islamist rulers say the body was "not considered necessary," as they continue breaking up freedom-oriented institutions.

Pakistan’s military says security forces have killed two local Taliban commanders in a shootout in a former militant stronghold in the country’s northwest

At the American Freedom Tour In Austin, Texas, Donald Trump compared US deaths in Afghanistan shortly after talking about the Buffalo mass shooting.

Pakistani officials say a suicide bombing near a security forces vehicle has killed three soldiers and three children in the northwest near the border with Afghanistan

A suicide bombing near a security forces vehicle killed three soldiers and three children in northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan on Sunday, while gunmen shot dead two minority Sikhs in Peshawar, officials said. A military statement said the suicide bomber triggered his explosives-laden vest near a vehicle on security patrol in a village near the town of Mir Ali in the tribal district of North Waziristan.

And what that reveals about attitudes toward Afghanistan refugees

This Seamus Murphy photograph shows just one moment captured during a long relationship with a family in Afghanistan.

Attack aircraft unleashed armor-piercing incendiary rounds against up-armored surrogate main battle tanks, rendering them inoperative.

Top U.S. intelligence officials acknowledge they misjudged the durability of the governments in both Afghanistan and Ukraine.

Inspired by the world of Harry Potter, the real-life version of quidditch has taken off in some forty countries. But now some practitioners of the sport want it to break free from its associations with 'the boy who lived' and become a discipline in its own right.

For many of the Afghans evacuated to the United States last August, their journey remains very much a work in progress.

Matthieu Aikins shares details of his journey of posing as a refugee in 2016 to help his friend and interpreter flee Afghanistan.

Escaped inmate Casey White and former jail official Vicky White were taken into custody Monday in Indiana, according to an Alabama sheriff.

The winner of the public service award receives a gold medal, while winners of each of the other categories get $15,000.

The 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography goes to Marcus Yam, the sixth L.A. Times journalist to win a Pulitzer for photography categories.

The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize in public service journalism Monday for its coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, an attack on democracy that was a shocking start to a tumultuous year that also saw the end of the United States’ longest war, in Afghanistan.

Norway has slammed the latest Afghan Taliban edict demanding women cover up head to toe in public and warned that Afghanistan’s new rulers are “steering the country toward a humanitarian, economic and human rights catastrophe.”

A new Taliban decree that demands women cover up from head to toe in public, showing at most their eyes, has left many Afghans angry or fearful

A new Taliban decree that demands women cover up from head to toe in public, showing at most their eyes, has left many Afghans angry or fearful.

Arooza was furious and afraid, keeping her eyes open for Taliban on patrol as she and a friend shopped Sunday in Kabul's Macroyan neighborhood. The math teacher was fearful her large shawl, wrapped tight around her head, and sweeping pale brown coat would not satisfy the latest decree by the country's religiously driven Taliban government. Arooza, who asked to be identified by just one name to avoid attracting attention, wasn't wearing the all-encompassing burqa preferred by the Taliban, who on Saturday issued a new dress code for women appearing in public.

The decree calls for women to only show their eyes and recommends they wear the head-to-toe burqa.

The decree, which calls for women to only show their eyes and recommends they wear the head-to-toe burqa, evoked similar restrictions during the Taliban's previous rule between 1996 and 2001.

Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership has ordered all Afghan women to wear the all-covering burqa in public

The only public event on President Biden’s schedule Thursday is a Cinco de Mayo reception in the Rose Garden at the White House. But behind the scenes, Biden and fellow Democrats are scrambling to respond to the expected demise of Roe v. Wade.

For 9 months, teen girls have been pretty much unable to go to school. Protests have been shut down. Now clerics — including some affiliated with the Taliban – are urging an end to the school ban.

Gen Sir John McColl says hundreds of Afghans who worked for the UK now fear for their lives.

Long a hub for opium production, the country is fueling a new global drug crisis.

Afghanistan’s border with Iran has become a lifeline for desperate refugees after the country plunged into economic crisis following the withdrawal of American and NATO troops last summer

The Taliban members who killed her activist husband offered Zahra Husseini a deal: Marry one of us, and you'll be safe. Husseini, 31, decided to flee. As Afghanistan plunged into economic crisis after the United States withdrew troops and the Taliban seized power, the 960-kilometer (572-mile) long border with Iran became a lifeline for Afghans who piled into smugglers’ pickups in desperate search of money and work.

A Taliban spokesman says a powerful explosion at a Sunni mosque in Kabul has killed at least 10 worshippers and wounded 20

The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for two bombings in the country’s north that targeted the country’s minority Hazara ethnic group

A spokesman for a Taliban-appointed police chief says two explosions within minutes of each other killed at least nine people and wounded 13 in a key northern city

The US pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021 as the Taliban resurged to power. It left behind an array of planes, guns, and vehicles.

Many human rights advocates hail the administration’s response to the exodus triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while others feel deeply frustrated that those left behind in Afghanistan have not received equal attention.

Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton garnered laughter and applause during her eulogy for her predecessor at the State Department, Madeleine Albright, held at Washington's National Cathedral Wednesday. (April 27)

Approximately 15,000 Russian troops died in the invasion of Ukraine, per UK's Defense secretary.

A U.S. advisory body says that Afghanistan should join a list of the world's worst violators of religious freedom.

After Trump eviscerated the refugee-resettlement system, the government was unprepared for Afghans displaced by their country’s collapse. A new program lets civilians step up to help.

Pakistan’s army says militants in Afghanistan have fired heavy weapons across the border into a military outpost overnight, killing three personnel

Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings that targeted the country’s minority Shiite Muslims

A Taliban official says a bombing at a mosque and religious school in northern Afghanistan has killed at least 33 people, including students of a religious school.

An Afghan official says two children in Kabul have been wounded by a roadside bomb

Explosions across Afghanistan have killed at least 10 people and wounded scores more.

In total, the United States has agreed to provide 16 Mi-17s to Ukraine. All were undergoing U.S.-contracted maintenance outside of Afghanistan in August when the Taliban took over the country and seized billions of dollars in Western-supplied military equipment, said Capt. Mike Kafka, a Pentagon spokesman.

The explosions occurred inside a high school and near an education center. It wasn't immediately clear how many children were there at the time.

The explosions occurred inside a high school and near an education center. It wasn't immediately clear how many children were there at the time.

An Afghan police spokesman says explosions targeting educational institutions in Kabul have killed at least six civilians and injured 17 others.

Pakistan has fired off a sharp warning to Afghanistan’s hard-line religious rulers

Pakistan fired off a sharp warning Sunday to Afghanistan's hard-line religious rulers to stop sheltering homegrown Pakistani Taliban militants who have staged increasingly deadly attacks against the country’s military. The warning followed Afghan reports that Pakistani aircraft late Friday carried out bombing raids in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost and Kunar provinces, killing civilians. Pakistan has so far refused to comment on the Afghan allegations, instead accusing the Afghan Taliban of doing nothing to stop attacks against Pakistan by militants in Afghanistan.

A conversation with Afghan-Australian entrepreneur Saad Mohseni on launching the country’s first independent broadcaster 20 years ago — and why keeping it in business is more vital than ever.

Iran has summoned Afghanistan’s envoy in Tehran over attacks the previous day on Iranian diplomatic missions in the neighboring country

After taking control of Afghanistan last summer, the Taliban made promises for more inclusive and less repressive leadership in Afghanistan. Many of those promises involved maintaining women's rights. But now, education for girls has become more limited, and other restrictions have been placed on women. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports on what the uneven implementation of those policies suggests about Taliban leadership. And Kathy Gannon of The Associated Press reports on how the Taliban backtracking on some of its promises bodes for Afghanistan's future.Additional reporting in this episode also comes from NPR's Fatma Tanis.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Months of economic discontent in Pakistan have been capped by days of tense drama.

State media says Iran’s Foreign Ministry has urged the Taliban to provide better security at Iranian diplomatic sites in neighboring Afghanistan

A ruthless Islamic State affiliate, known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province or IS-K, emerged in eastern Afghanistan in 2014

Basheer was a young Taliban fighter barely out of his teens when the Islamic State group took over his village in eastern Afghanistan, nearly eight years ago. The militants rounded up villagers identified as Taliban and killed them, often beheading them, forcing their families to watch. Basheer escaped and lived in hiding during the following years when IS controlled several districts in Nangarhar province.

A rare video has appeared of al-Qaida’s chief praising an Indian Muslim woman who in February defied a ban on wearing the traditional headscarf, or hijab.

Afghan families evacuated to the United States when the Taliban regained power are celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has issued strong backing for Afghanistan at a regional conference, while making no mention of human rights abuses by the country's Taliban leaders.

The head of the United Nations says nearly all Afghans don’t have enough to eat and some have resorted to “selling their children and their body parts” to get money for food.

China’s ambitions to have a major hand in Afghanistan under the Taliban while boosting its own stature are on display at multinational meetings hosted by Beijing.

Celebrated U.S. cellist Yo-Yo Ma has joined refugees from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in the Portuguese capital Lisbon for a performance of Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

Taliban hard-liners are turning back the clock in Afghanistan with a flurry of repressive edicts over the past days that hark back to their harsh rule from the late 1990s.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers are working to protect ancient Buddha statues in caves carved into cliffsides outside Kabul.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have refused to allow dozens of women at Kabul's international airport to board their flights because they were without a male guardian.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have decided against reopening schools to girls above the sixth grade, reneging on a promise and opting to appease their hard-line base, at the expense of further alienating the international community.

Two journalists working for Fox News were killed in Ukraine after the vehicle they were traveling in with another reporter came under fire, the network said Tuesday.

A first group of Afghan refugees have arrived at a new temporary housing facility in Northern Virginia as the U.S. works to resettle people who fled the Taliban takeover of their country.

Not long after winding down 20 years of war, President Joe Biden now finds the United States entrenched in a conflict in Ukraine.

Afghan refugees who fled their country following the Taliban takeover six months ago are struggling to find affordable housing in the high-cost U.S. cities where they’ve chosen to settle.

The Taliban's acting interior minister says Taliban security police guilty of misconduct in Afghanistan are being penalized after many abuse allegations.

The House has passed legislation that would dramatically boost health care services and disability benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Biden administration is seeking to assure financial institutions and other businesses that U.S. sanctions on the Taliban aren’t intended to interfere with trade that could help Afghanistan emerge from an economic and humanitarian crisis.

UNICEF's top chief says the Taliban have committed to allowing Afghan girls to go to school next month.

The U.S. and British governments, as well as a family member, say Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have detained several British citizens and an American.

Afghanistan has undergone a dramatic transformation in half a year of Taliban rule.

Pakistan is allowing nuclear rival India to deliver tons of wheat to ease food shortages in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s former president has called a White House order to unfreeze $3.5 billion in Afghan assets held in the U.S. for families of 9/11 victims an atrocity against the Afghan people.

Demonstrators in Afghanistan’s capital have condemned President Joe Biden’s order freeing up $3.5 billion in Afghan assets held in the U.S. for families of America’s 9/11 victims.

UNHCR says the Taliban freed two foreign journalists working with the U.N. refugee agency and several of the aid organization’s Afghan staff.

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to split $7 billion in Afghan assets frozen in the U.S. to fund humanitarian relief in Afghanistan and create a trust fund to compensate Sept. 11 victims.

Democrat Hillary Scholten says she will run for a newly drawn House seat in western Michigan, looking to seize the party’s best shot at representing Grand Rapids in Congress in decades.

A pregnant New Zealand journalist who was stranded in Afghanistan by her home country’s COVID-19 border policy says she will return home after her government offered her a pathway back.

Afghan evacuees in Albania have opened an exhibition on their impressions on the tiny Western Balkan country.

The United Nations secretary-general says the world body has received “credible allegations” that more than 100 former members of the Afghan government, its security forces and those who worked with international troops have been killed since the Taliban takeover of the country on Aug. 15.

President Joe Biden is calling for the release of U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, who was taken hostage in Afghanistan nearly two years ago.

A pregnant New Zealand reporter has chosen Afghanistan as a temporary base for her uphill fight to return home because of her country's stringent COVID-19 entry rules.

A pregnant New Zealand journalist says she turned to the Taliban for help and is now stranded in Afghanistan after her home country has prevented her from returning due to a bottleneck of people in its coronavirus quarantine system.

President Joe Biden will host the ruling emir of Qatar at the White House on Monday.

A grim situation in Afghanistan is getting worse.

The Pentagon has declassified and publicly released video footage of a U.S. drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians in the final hours of a chaotic American withdrawal that ended a 20-year war in Afghanistan.

The International Labor Organization says more than a half million people in Afghanistan have lost their jobs since the Taliban takeover in mid-August.

A year-old report by Washington's Afghanistan watchdog has now been declassified and shows that it warned back in early 2021 that the Afghan air force would collapse without critical U.S. aid and training.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff says Chairman Gen. Mark Milley has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing very minor symptoms.

The Taliban are promising to try to open all schools for girls across Afghanistan after the Afghan New Year, which starts in late March.