Category Archives: Taliban

‘It means death’: Afghan women’s rights activists face deportation from Pakistan

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Police go door-to-door arresting Afghans as government pledges to send millions back home to Taliban rule

More than 50 prominent female Afghan women’s rights activists sheltering in Pakistan are facing deportation home, where they fear they will be imprisoned or killed under Taliban rule.

Under a draconian policy, the Pakistan government has pledged to deport millions of Afghan nationals, after relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan severely deteriorated and attacks by militants in the border areas surged.

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US citizen detained in Afghanistan by Taliban released to Qatari embassy

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Faye Hall had been detained since February along with a British couple before a court order led to her release

A US citizen detained in Afghanistan in February by the Taliban administration has been released, the former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday.

“American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home,” Khalilzad posted on X.

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US man released after being held by Taliban for more than two years

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George Glezmann was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist

A US man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist has been released by the Taliban in a deal brokered by Donald Trump’s hostage envoy, Adam Boehler, and Qatari negotiators.

George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, is the third American detainee to be released by the Taliban since January. He was seized by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022 and was designated by the US government as wrongfully detained the following year.

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British couple held by Taliban due in court on unknown charges, family say

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Peter Reynolds, 79, and wife, Barbie, 75, expected to appear in Kabul on Thursday after detention last month

A British couple in their 70s imprisoned by the Taliban are due in court in Kabul on Thursday but have not been informed of the charges, their family has said.

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province.

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Life of British man, 79, imprisoned by Taliban is in serious danger, say family

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Peter Reynolds, who runs a business in Afghanistan, was held along with his wife last month and needs heart pills, says his daughter

The life of a 79-year-old British man imprisoned along with his wife by the Taliban is in serious danger, his family have warned.

Peter Reynolds and his wife, Barbie, 75, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province.

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Family of elderly British couple held by Taliban call for Foreign Office support

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Daughter of Peter and Barbie Reynolds says government must do ‘everything in their power’ to secure their release

The family of a British couple arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan have called on the government to do “everything in their power” to secure their release.

Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 79 and 75, who run education and training programmes in Afghanistan, were detained by the Taliban on 1 February while returning to their home in the central province of Bamiyan.

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British couple in their 70s arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan

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Peter and Barbie Reynolds were detained in Bamiyan provice for ‘teaching mothers parenting with children’

The Taliban have arrested a British couple in their 70s for “teaching mothers parenting with children”.

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, were detained when returning to their home in Bamiyan province on 1 February.

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Off air: one by one, the Taliban are removing women’s voices from Afghan radio

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As one of the last female-run stations in the country is silenced, a former broadcaster gives an inside view of the crackdown on women working in the media

When the Taliban began marching towards cities across Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, Alia*, a 22-year-old Afghan journalist, found herself doing some of the most important work of her short life and career.

In the weeks leading up to the Taliban takeover in August, Alia’s voice on the radio became familiar to many in northern Afghanistan. She reported on the withdrawal of foreign troops, the siege of government offices and on the detention of former officials in her province.

Above all, Alia reported on the situation for women and their fears and concerns – emotions she was experiencing herself. As the Taliban gradually began imposing restrictions on them, Alia was documenting history repeating itself.

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Two Americans freed from Afghanistan in prisoner swap for Taliban figure

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Ryan Corbett and William McKenty swapped for Khan Mohammed, who was held in California for drug trafficking

A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan’s Taliban has freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug-trafficking and terrorism charges.

The Taliban praised the swap as a step toward the “normalization” of ties between the US and Afghanistan, but that probably remains a tall order as most countries in the world still do not recognize their rule and another two Americans are believed held.

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Lisa Nandy rejects calls for England to boycott Afghanistan cricket match

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Culture secretary says it should go ahead despite pressure for it to be cancelled over Taliban’s treatment of women

England should be allowed to play next month’s cricket match against Afghanistan, the culture and sport secretary has said, despite calls for a boycott over the Taliban government’s treatment of women.

Lisa Nandy backed a decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to allow the game to go ahead, saying on Friday that cancelling it would “deny sports fans the opportunity that they love”.

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Women arrested by Taliban for begging report rape and killings in Afghan jails

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Draconian new laws allow mass incarceration of women and children forced to beg because of work ban

Destitute Afghan women arrested for begging under draconian new Taliban laws have spoken of “brutal” rapes and beatings in detention.

Over the past few months, many women said they had been targeted by Taliban officials and detained under anti-begging laws passed this year. While in prison, they claim they were subjected to sexual abuse, torture and forced labour, and witnessed children being beaten and abused.

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Taliban to be taken to international court over gender discrimination

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Afghanistan would have six months to provide response before ICJ would hold hearing

The Taliban are to be taken to the international court of justice for gender discrimination by Canada, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands in a groundbreaking move.

The move announced at the UN general assembly is the first time the ICJ, based in The Hague, has been used by one country to take another to court over gender discrimination.

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Taliban’s curbs on women add to risk of polio outbreak, health officials warn

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Regime suspends polio campaign across Afghanistan over security concerns and women’s role in vaccination drive

Afghanistan is at risk of a polio outbreak, health officials have warned, after the Taliban suspended the vaccination campaign over security fears and restrictions on women.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 18 new cases of polio infection in the country so far this year, a significant increase from the six cases reported in 2023. Local healthcare workers say these numbers could be higher as many cases will not yet have been detected.

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Afghan women sing in defiance of Taliban laws silencing their voices

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Women push back at law stating they must not sing or read aloud in public by posting videos of themselves singing

Afghan women, both inside and outside the country, have posted videos of themselves singing in protest against the Taliban’s laws banning women’s voices in public.

Late last month the Taliban published new restrictions aimed, it said, at combating vice and promoting virtue. The 35-article document, which includes a raft of draconian laws, deems women’s voices to be potential instruments of vice and stipulates that women must not sing or read aloud in public, nor let their voices carry beyond the walls of their homes.

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‘Frightening’ Taliban law bans women from speaking in public

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New vice and virtue restrictions offer ‘a distressing vision of Afghanistan’s future’, says UN

New Taliban laws that prohibit women from speaking or showing their faces outside their homes have been condemned by the UN and met with horror by human rights groups.

The Taliban published a host of new “vice and virtue” laws last week, approved by their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, which state that women must completely veil their bodies – including their faces – in thick clothing at all times in public to avoid leading men into temptation and vice.

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Afghan women arrive in Edinburgh to finish medical degrees denied under Taliban

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Three-year campaign by parents of aid worker killed in Afghanistan brings 19 trainee doctors to Scotland

A group of trainee female doctors from Afghanistan have travelled to Edinburgh to complete their medical degrees after the Taliban forced them to quit studying.

The 19 women arrived in the UK on Tuesday after a three-year campaign by the parents of Linda Norgrove, the kidnapped Scottish charity worker who was killed during a botched rescue attempt by US special forces in 2010.

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UK should restore diplomatic presence to help Afghan women, says aid chief

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Hugh Bayley says NGOs would also benefit as he releases report on impact of UK programme in Afghanistan

The UK should consider restoring its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan to support Afghan women and to help monitor the impact of British aid, a commissioner for the official UK aid watchdog has suggested.

Hugh Bayley, who visited Kabul in May, said he believed Afghan women and NGOs would welcome more western diplomats to represent the opinions of women to the Taliban as he released a report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) on the effectiveness of the UK programme, which is the second largest operated by Britain.

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Video appears to show gang-rape of Afghan woman in a Taliban jail

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Exclusive: Activist claims she was threatened with release of the footage in order to silence her, amid multiple reports of sexual violence inflicted upon imprisoned Afghan women

The Guardian has seen video evidence of a female Afghan human rights activist being gang-raped and tortured in a Taliban jail by armed men.

There have been mounting reports that sexual violence is being inflicted on women and girls being held in detention in Afghanistan, but this video is believed to be the first direct evidence of these crimes occurring.

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Afghan girls accuse Taliban of sexual assault after arrests for ‘bad hijab’

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Reports surface days before UN summit on Afghanistan that will exclude Afghan women and debate on women’s rights

Teenage girls and young women arrested by the Taliban for wearing “bad hijab” say they have been subjected to sexual violence and assault in detention.

In more than one case the arrests and sexual abuse that young women faced while in custody earlier this year led to suicide and attempted suicide, reporters from the Afghan news service Zan Times were told.

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Shutting Afghan women out of key UN conference to appease Taliban ‘a betrayal’

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Group allegedly demanding Afghan participation in Doha meeting this month be limited to men and that women’s rights be excluded from the agenda

Excluding Afghan women from an upcoming UN conference on Afghanistan would be a “betrayal” of women and girls in the country, say human rights groups and former politicians.

The Taliban are reportedly demanding that no Afghan women be allowed to participate in the UN meeting in Doha starting 30 June, set up to discuss the international community’s approach to Afghanistan, and that women’s rights are not on the agenda.

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