Reuters: Afghans began moving to Iran in large numbers after the Soviet invasion in 1979 and they continued to migrate for work through decades of conflict, sending money to relatives back home that helped bolster Afghanistan’s struggling economy. Iran’s economy has been squeezed since President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran last year after pulling out
Reuters: Bird hunting is an ancient sport in Afghanistan, where local and migrating species have flocked for thousands of years and where even amid the chaos of the past 40 years of conflict, the tradition persists. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV: Afghanistan is ranked third least happy country in the world, according to an annual survey released on Wednesday. The 2019 World Happiness Report, released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, showed that Afghanistan were nine spots down from last year. Afghanistan is only above Central African Republic and South Sudan in the latest index.
Reuters: Kabul’s green zone is a place where diplomats fly in cheesecake from New York and cases of wine from Europe, but many of those residing inside the heavily fortified enclave are not allowed to walk without an armed guard even for a distance of 100 meters. Click here to read more (external link).
Al Jazeera: Fakhria Momtaz, who set up a yoga hub in 2016, explains why women’s wellbeing is important in a war-torn nation. At the Momtaz Yoga Center, Afghanistan’s only yoga studio in Kabul, Fakhria Momtaz gives her daughter advice on how to lead a class. It has served as a hub for female yoga enthusiasts since it
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 12, 2019 Akramullah Karam Frud Bezhan MAYMANA, Afghanistan — Bibi Fatemah hunches on the cold concrete floor of a basement, hand-knotting an Afghan carpet. The 75-year-old is frail, and the work is exhausting. But the grandmother has no other option but to work after becoming the sole breadwinner in her
Mirwais Bezhan Mohammad Habibzada VOA News December 6, 2018 BALKH, AFGHANISTAN / WASHINGTON — For decades in a small village in northern Afghanistan’s Balkh province, dozens of families have lived in one- and two-story houses made from ammunition, where 3-meter-long live rockets are used as ceiling beams. After a few explosions, the villagers now want the
Tolo News: According to the Asia Foundation, a total of 15,012 face-to-face interviews were conducted with Afghan respondents 18 years of age and older, 50.3% male and 49.7% female, and comprising 80.6% rural and 19.4% urban respondents. Click here to read more (external link). Related The Asia Foundation Releases 2018 Survey of the Afghan People Survey
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan | November 26, 2018: Twelve-year-old Ada from the Afghan capital, Kabul, polishes shoes to support her siblings and her parents who cannot work because of poor health. She is one of an estimated 1.9 million child laborers in Afghanistan.
New York Media: In urban centers, young men — and it is virtually all young men — work as content dealers (in Dari, Afghanistan’s main language, it’s called the somewhat more ambiguous Computer kar, or “computer worker”). At the most basic level, a Sneakernet micro-business might consist simply of a plastic stool, an old laptop, and