Biden marks Memorial Day lauding generations of fallen US troops who ‘dared all and gave all’
May 29, 2023 GMTPresident Joe Biden says in a Memorial Day address Americans “must never forget" the price paid by troops who “dared all and gave all” to protect their democracy. Biden marked Memorial Day with a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Aid chief says Taliban agree to consider allowing women to resume agency work in Kandahar
May 25, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The head of a major aid organization said Thursday that the Taliban have agreed to consider allowing Afghan women to resume work at the agency in the southern province of Kandahar, the religious and political center for the country's rulers.
Bodies of 18 Afghan migrants who died while being smuggled into Bulgaria returned to Kabul
May 24, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The bodies of 18 Afghan migrants who died while being smuggled into Bulgaria were returned to Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Taliban government's Foreign Ministry said.
Afghan ministry says helicopter crash kills 2 crewmembers during patrol in country’s north
May 21, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — An Afghan military helicopter crashed in the country's north Sunday after hitting a power line base, killing at least two crewmembers, the Defense Ministry said.
The MD-530 chopper was patrolling in the area after it took off from northern Balkh province and crashed in the Kholim district in Samangan province, a ministry statement said.
Reluctant critic China urges Afghan changes on women’s roles
May 10, 2023 GMTBEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday called on Afghanistan to reform its radical policies excluding women from education and public life and “adopt a more resolute attitude in combating terrorism.”
Pakistan, Afghan Taliban agree to boost trade, lower tension
May 8, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed government have agreed to boost trade and lower tensions along their border amid a surge in militant attacks on security forces, officials said Monday.
UN urges Afghanistan’s Taliban to end floggings, executions
May 8, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — A U.N. report on Monday strongly criticized the Taliban for carrying out public executions, lashings and stonings since seizing power in Afghanistan, and called on the country's rulers to halt such practices.
UN experts warn Taliban restrictions may amount to femicide
May 5, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban restrictions on Afghan women and girls may amount to femicide if they are not reversed, a team of U.N. experts warned on Friday.
Since they seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have barred women from most jobs and workplaces, and girls can’t go to school beyond the sixth grade.
Attacks across Pakistan, including school shooting, kill 14
May 4, 2023 GMTPESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen stormed a school in Pakistan's volatile northwest on Thursday, killing seven teachers and gunning down another teacher from the school in a separate attack. Earlier in the day, a shootout with militants elsewhere in the region killed six Pakistani soldiers.
UN summit in Qatar on Afghanistan ends, another planned
May 2, 2023 GMTDOHA, Qatar (AP) — A closed-door summit on Afghanistan ended Tuesday in Qatar without any formal acknowledgment of the Taliban-run government there, though the United Nations' chief said they would hold another meeting in the future.
AP sources: Biden to allow Afghans to stay longer in US
May 1, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will continue to allow tens of thousands of Afghans who fled Taliban control more than two years ago to stay and work in the U.S., as congressional efforts have stalled that were meant to permanently resolve their immigration status, according to two people familiar with the plan.
UN urges Afghanistan’s Taliban to reverse bans on women
April 28, 2023 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to swiftly reverse their increasingly harsh restrictions on women and girls, which range from severely restricting education to banning women from most jobs, public spaces and gyms.
UN agency: Afghanistan needs $4.62 billion in aid for 2023
April 26, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan needs $4.62 billion in humanitarian aid from the international community this year for nearly 24 million people in need, the U.N.'s humanitarian affairs agency said.
Afghanistan is facing its third consecutive year of drought, its second year of severe economic hardship and the continued consequences of decades of war and natural disasters, the U.N.
Watchdog warns US money could be flowing to Taliban
April 19, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan warned lawmakers Wednesday that American aid to the country could be diverted to the Taliban as he accused the Biden administration of stonewalling his efforts to investigate.
UN says leaving Afghanistan would be ‘heartbreaking’
April 18, 2023 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations is ready to take the “heartbreaking” decision to pull out of Afghanistan in May if it can’t persuade the Taliban to let local women work for the organization, the head of the U.N.
Russia, China FM attend high-level conference on Afghanistan
April 13, 2023 GMTThe top diplomats from Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan attended a conference Thursday that focused on ensuring regional security in light of the situation in Afghanistan.
Taliban: Raid kills 8 rebel fighters in Afghanistan’s north
April 11, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A raid on a rebel hideout in northern Afghanistan killed eight fighters from a resistance movement including a commander, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
The National Resistance Front vowed to fight the Taliban after they overran the country and seized power in August 2021.
UN food agency: $800m urgently needed for Afghanistan
April 10, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.N. food agency said Monday it urgently needs $800 million for the next six months to help Afghanistan, which is at the highest risk of famine in a quarter of a century.
Aid agencies have been providing food, education and health care support to Afghans in the wake of the Taliban takeover of August 2021 and the economic collapse that followed it.
Official: Afghan special forces kill 2 IS fighters in raid
April 9, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's special forces killed two Islamic State fighters and arrested a third during an operation in the country's west on Sunday, a regional official said.
The raid on the hideout in the district of Sayed Abad in Nimroz province sparked a clash lasting 30 minutes, said Mufti Habibullah Ilham, the province’s information and culture director.
Afghan religious scholars criticize girls’ education ban
April 8, 2023 GMTJALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan religious scholars Saturday criticized a ban on female education, as a key Taliban minister warned clerics not to rebel against the government on the controversial issue.
Key Taliban spokesman moved from Kabul to southern city
April 6, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban's chief spokesman has relocated his office from the capital to the city of Kandahar, an official said Thursday, as the southern city's role grows as a spiritual and political center for Afghanistan's rulers.
Cyprus relocates 76 Afghan, Syrian asylum-seekers to France
March 30, 2023 GMTNICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ Interior Ministry said Thursday 76 Afghans and Syrians seeking international protection have been relocated to France under a European Union program to ease the burden on Mediterranean countries receiving large numbers of migrants.
Calls mount for Taliban to free girls’ education activist
March 29, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Calls mounted Wednesday for the Taliban to free a girls' education activist arrested earlier this week in Kabul, as a minister in the Taliban-led government defended the detention.
Portugal: Refugee held as suspect in Muslim center stabbings
March 28, 2023 GMTLISBON, Portugal (AP) — A man wielding a large knife killed two Portuguese women and wounded several other people at an Ismaili Muslim center in Lisbon on Tuesday, authorities said. Police said they were investigating the stabbings as a possible terror act.
UN says Afghan girls’ education activist arrested in Kabul
March 28, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — An Afghan rights activist who has campaigned for girls' education has been arrested in Kabul, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said Matiullah Wesa, founder and president of Pen Path — a local nongovernmental group that travels across Afghanistan with a mobile school and library — was arrested in the Afghan capital on Monday.
House GOP to subpoena Blinken over Afghanistan dissent cable
March 28, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans plan to deliver a subpoena to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday for classified cables related to the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, marking an unprecedented effort to force the release of sensitive documents to Congress.
Suicide bomber kills 6 people near foreign ministry in Kabul
March 27, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber struck Monday near the foreign ministry in Kabul, killing at least six people and wounding several, according to officials. It was the second time this year that there has been an attack near the ministry.
Snowfall, heavy rain in Afghanistan kill at least 3
March 25, 2023 GMTJALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — Snowfall and heavy rain killed at least three people in Afghanistan, including a child, a government spokesman said Saturday.
The severe weather hit nine provinces in different parts of the country on Friday and Saturday: Balkh, Zabul, Faryab, Uruzgan, Nimroz, Nangarhar, Kunar, Nuristan, and Laghman.
Taliban want control of more Afghan diplomatic missions
March 25, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban government is trying to take charge of more Afghan embassies abroad, a spokesman said Saturday, amid their continued international isolation because of restrictions on women and girls.
Iraq WMD failures shadow US intelligence 20 years later
March 23, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — In his U.S. Capitol office, Rep. Jason Crow keeps several war mementos. Sitting on a shelf are his military identification tags, the tailfins of a spent mortar and a piece of shrapnel stopped by his body armor.
Senate votes to keep 2001 authorization for war on terror
March 23, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to continue congressional authorization for the use of military force in the global fight against terror, turning back an effort by Kentucky Sen.
US review of Afghanistan withdrawal to be released in April
March 22, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The results of the long-delayed government review of the chaotic U.S.
New bill aims to outlaw caste discrimination in California
March 22, 2023 GMTCalifornia may become the first state in the nation to outlaw caste-based bias, a safeguard people of South Asian descent say is necessary to protect them from discrimination in housing, education and the tech sector where they hold key roles.
11 killed as strong earthquake rattles Pakistan, Afghanistan
March 22, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — A magnitude 6.5 earthquake rattled much of Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday, sending panicked residents fleeing from homes and offices and frightening people in remote villages. At least nine people died in Pakistan and two in Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday
Veterans testify of ‘catastrophic’ impact of Afghan collapse
March 9, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Active-service members and veterans provided firsthand testimony Wednesday about the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, describing in harrowing detail the carnage and death they witnessed on the ground while imploring Congress to help the allies left behind.
Number of imprisoned veterans concerns former defense chiefs
March 3, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Two former Iraq and Afghanistan War-era defense secretaries are recommending that the government consider new ways to ensure that military service is taken into account when courts prosecute former service members.
Taliban raid kills 2 IS; embassy in Tehran changes control
February 27, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban security forces killed two militants from the Islamic State group and detained a third in an overnight raid in the Afghan capital of Kabul, the spokesman for the Taliban government said Monday.
Putin, Afghans among top gift givers to Bidens in 2021
February 23, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Russia’s president and the deposed leader of Afghanistan were among the top gift givers to President Joe Biden and his family in 2021, according to federal documents published on Thursday.
Pakistan defense minister in Kabul over shut border crossing
February 22, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's defense minister was in Afghanistan on Wednesday, meeting with officials there in an effort to resolve this week's closure by the Taliban administration of a key border crossing between the two neighboring countries, officials said.
GOP opens another investigation of Afghanistan withdrawal
February 17, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Several Biden Cabinet members, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received a letter Friday from House Republicans as they launched the second investigation into the chaotic U.S.
Taliban: Former Afghan female lawmaker’s killer arrested
February 17, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Security forces have arrested a man allegedly behind the killing of former Afghan female lawmaker Mursal Nabizada, a Taliban spokesman said Friday.
Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the capital Kabul's police chief, claimed that the arrested man had “confessed to his crime” of killing Nabizada and her bodyguard earlier this year.
Afghan men, women, children chase rumor to Kabul airport
February 9, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Dozens of desperate Afghans, including women and children, dashed toward the Kabul airport following a rumor that claimed aid flights were leaving for Turkey to help rescue earthquake victims.
Media watchdog urges release of journalist detained in Kabul
February 6, 2023 GMTPARIS (AP) —
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders along with 14 French media outlets and production companies on Monday called on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to release a journalist imprisoned for a month in Kabul.
Militant who killed 101 at Pakistan mosque wore uniform
February 2, 2023 GMTPESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber who killed 101 people this week at a mosque in northwestern Pakistan had disguised himself in police uniform and did not raise suspicion among the guards, the provincial police chief said Thursday.
Taliban asks Pakistan not to blame them for violence at home
February 1, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed foreign minister Wednesday asked Pakistani authorities to look for the reasons behind militant violence in their country instead of blaming Afghanistan.
Afghan soldier seeking US asylum hopes for ‘American dream’
January 28, 2023 GMTHOUSTON (AP) — In the months he was held in detention in Texas during his legal fight to remain in the U.S., Afghan soldier Abdul Wasi Safi thought he would eventually be returned to his home country and meet a likely death at the hands of the Taliban because of his work with the U.S.
Top UN woman urges Muslims: Move Taliban into 21st century
January 26, 2023 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The highest-ranking woman at the United Nations said Wednesday she used everything in her “toolbox” during meetings with Taliban ministers to try to reverse their crackdown on Afghan women and girls, and she urged Muslim countries to help the Taliban move from the “13th century to the 21st.”
Taliban official says 9 men lashed in public in Afghanistan
January 17, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Nine men were lashed in public in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday as punishment for different crimes under the country's new rulers, a Taliban-appointed official said.
The lashings were the latest example of harsh policies imposed by the Taliban since they seized power in the country in August 2021 — policies that reflect their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
Tributes pour in for slain former Afghan female lawmaker
January 16, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Tributes poured in on Monday for a former Afghan female lawmaker who was shot and killed by gunmen in her home in the capital of Kabul the previous day. The slaying was the first time a lawmaker from the previous administration was killed in the city since the Taliban takeover.
Police: Ex-Afghan female lawmaker, guard shot dead at home
January 15, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A former Afghan female lawmaker and her bodyguard have been shot dead by unknown assailants at her home in the capital, Kabul, police said Sunday.
Mursal Nabizada was among the few female parliamentarians who stayed in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
UN: Afghan bank’s cash remarks ‘misleading, unhelpful’
January 15, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.N. criticized Afghanistan’s Taliban-controlled central bank for making “misleading and unhelpful” remarks about cash destined for humanitarian work. It comes amid growing tension between the global body and the country's rulers over bans on female education and employment.
IS claims responsibility for Kabul attack that killed 5
January 12, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Thursday for a deadly bombing that killed at least five people near the Foreign Ministry in the Afghan capital the previous day.
Official: Explosion near Foreign Ministry in Kabul kills 5
January 11, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosion near the Foreign Ministry in the Afghan capital on Wednesday killed five people and wounded several others, a Taliban police spokesman said, the second prominent attack in Kabul so far in 2023.
Aid chief: Taliban decrees against women paralyzing NGO work
January 8, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban’s “internal debates and extreme decrees” are paralyzing humanitarian work in Afghanistan, the head of a major aid agency told The Associated Press on Sunday, after he arrived on a week-long trip to talk to Taliban leaders about reversing a ban on women working for national and international non-governmental groups.
UN envoy meets with Afghan higher-ed chief over ban on women
January 7, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A top U.N. envoy met with the Taliban-led Afghan government’s higher education minister Saturday to discuss the ban on women attending universities. Markus Potzel is the first international official to meet with him since the ban was introduced last month.
Pakistan frees 524 Afghan migrants from Karachi jail
January 7, 2023 GMTKARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of Afghan migrants, including women and children, have been released from a jail in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, Afghan authorities said Saturday.
Pakistani police in multiple raids last month detained at least 1,200 Afghan nationals who entered Karachi without valid travel documents.
Prince Harry’s book exposes grief, war, drugs, family rifts
January 6, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — Bereaved boy, troubled teen, wartime soldier, unhappy royal — many facets of Prince Harry are revealed in his explosive memoir, often in eyebrow-raising detail.
From accounts of cocaine use and losing his virginity to raw family rifts, “Spare” exposes deeply personal details about Harry and the wider royal family.
Islamic State claims Afghanistan airport checkpoint bombing
January 4, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a bombing near a checkpoint at the Afghan capital's military airport that killed and wounded several people.
IS said in a statement late Tuesday that Sunday's attack on the checkpoint in Kabul was carried out by the same member who took part in an assault on a hotel in the capital in mid-December.
Pakistan says it won’t allow countries to shelter militants
January 2, 2023 GMTISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's political and military leadership on Monday vowed that no nation will be allowed to shelter militants who stage attacks against the country — an apparent reference to neighboring Afghanistan.
UN official meets Taliban deputy premier over women NGO ban
January 1, 2023 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A senior U.N. official in Afghanistan met on Sunday the deputy prime minister of the Taliban-led government to discuss a ban on women working for non-governmental groups that Afghan authorities have announced in a series of measures rolling back women's rights.