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.
Continue reading...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.
Civil servant Josie Stewart found to have been unlawfully dismissed in 2022 after she told BBC about failures
A civil servant who blew the whistle about the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and Boris Johnson’s involvement in a decision to evacuate a pet charity from Kabul has won her case for unfair dismissal against the government in a legal first.
An employment panel of three judges unanimously found the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) unfairly dismissed Josie Stewart in 2021 after she leaked information in the public interest.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Exclusive: records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’
Afghan citizens who fled the country with American assistance after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan remain stranded in third countries, new documents shared exclusively with the Guardian suggest, some at prison-like facilities and many with no clarity about their prospects for resettlement.
US officials won’t say exactly how many Afghans remain at such sites, where they were taken after the withdrawal that involved hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives during the Taliban’s lightning takeover in 2021. Some advocates estimate that “hundreds” remain stranded in temporary facilities in up to three dozen countries.
Continue reading...The president defended his record on Ukraine, Gaza and Afghanistan but foreign policy successes have been few
On paper, few US presidents could boast the foreign policy bona fides of Joe Biden, a veteran statesman with nearly a half-century of experience before he even stepped into office.
But as his term comes to an end, critics have said that the president will leave a legacy of cautious and underpowered diplomacy, as even allies have conceded that the administration is still grasping for a cornerstone foreign policy success.
Continue reading...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”.
Continue reading...Inquiry hears elite forces had a ‘kill all males on target whether they posed a threat or not’ policy in Afghanistan
Afghans who were killed by members of the SAS in Afghanistan were described dismissively as having been “flat packed” according to revealing testimony given by a former member of the elite force’s sister unit to a public inquiry.
The soldier, known only as N1799, said he had been party to a conversation with a member of the SAS in 2011 who had served in Afghanistan, in which he had been “shocked by the age and methods” used to kill Afghans.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Estimated 500 rejected cases expected to be overturned after fresh evidence they were employed by the UK government in Afghanistan
An estimated 500 elite Afghan soldiers who fought alongside the British are expected to become eligible to come to the UK after a previous decision rejecting their applications was overturned.
Fresh information has been discovered in about a quarter of the 2,000 rejected cases proving that the at-risk veterans were paid and employed by the UK government in Afghanistan, despite previous claims that no such evidence existed. A review had been launched by the Conservatives in February.
Continue reading...ECJ ruling follows Afghan women’s challenge to Austrian court refusal to give them refugee status
The European court of justice (ECJ) has ruled that gender and nationality alone are sufficient grounds for a country to grant asylum to women from Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban have sharply curtailed women’s rights.
Authorities in Austria refused refugee status to two Afghan women after they applied for asylum in 2015 and 2020. The women challenged the refusal before the Austrian supreme administrative court, which in turn requested a ruling from the ECJ, the top European Union court.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Organisers of international summit hope to create pressure to reverse laws including a ban on women speaking in public
More than 130 Afghan women have gathered in Albania at an All Afghan Women summit, in an attempt to develop a united voice representing the women and girls of Afghanistan in the fight against the ongoing assault on human rights by the Taliban.
Some women who attempted to reach the summit from inside Afghanistan were prevented from travelling, pulled off flights in Pakistan or stopped at borders. Other women have travelled from countries including Iran, Canada, the UK and the US where they are living as refugees.
Continue reading...Report reveals how US Christians, Catholic schools and Islamists fight sex education, LGBTQ+ and equal rights
Extreme religious groups and political parties are targeting schools around the world as part of a coordinated and well-funded attack on gender equality, according to a new report.
Well-known conservative organisations aim to restrict girls’ access to education, change what is on the curriculum, and influence educational laws and policies, according to Whose Hands on our Education, a report by the Overseas Development Institute.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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