Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty May 19, 2020 The son of Ahmad Shah Masud, the revered anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander, says he and several members of his family have tested positive for the coronavirus. In a May 19 post on Twitter and Facebook, Ahmad Masud said his COVID-19 symptoms were not “so serious,” while warning that
Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 26, 2020 When most of Afghanistan was under Taliban rule in the late 1990s, the fundamentalist regime drafted a new constitution. The document was never officially ratified, and it was unclear how much of it was ever implemented before the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the extremist Islamic
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 5, 2020 By Frud Bezhan KABUL — Ahmad Zia was sitting behind his wooden registration table when a suicide bombing ripped through Kabul’s Maiwand Wrestling Club, where scores of athletes were in the middle of a training session. The blast flung Zia, the club administrator, off his chair and into
Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 23, 2020 In the mid-1990s, U.S. oil company Unocal attempted to secure a gas-pipeline deal with the Taliban, which had seized control of the Afghan capital, Kabul, after a devastating civil war. It was the United States’ first attempt to forge a partnership with the fundamentalist Taliban regime,
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 19, 2020 By Freshta Jalalzai Five years ago — on March 19, 2015 — a 27-year-old Afghan woman was beaten and burned alive in the very heart of Kabul by a mob of angry men. Hundreds of people watched the killing of Farkhunda Malikzada, a student of the Koran and Islamic
Tolo News: Afghans across the country on Saturday marked the 31st anniversary of former Soviet Union troops withdrawal from the country. Meetings and gatherings were held in various parts of the country where the speakers paid homage to the “bravery” of those who fought against the then Soviet forces and forced them to end the
Al Jazeera: The narrow road that leads to the Yu Aw synagogue in the ancient city of Herat in western Afghanistan is lined with traditional mud homes that, despite their rough exterior, are fine examples of centuries-old architectural dexterity. Ghulam Sakhi, the caretaker of some of the heritage sites, leads the way, taking short quick
The Art Newspaper: The recovery of an ancient limestone temple sculpture stolen from the National Museum of Afghanistan almost 30 years ago sends out a “powerful message” that related pieces looted at the same time can now be tracked down, says St John Simpson, assistant keeper of the Middle East department at the British Museum.
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 15, 2020 It was in the late 1980s when Ismail Qaani — then a local commander in Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) — first became active in Afghanistan. It was to be the start of Qaani’s decades-long involvement in Iran’s eastern neighbor, where Tehran has
Phys.org: After bearing the brunt of jihadist dynamite and looting by thieves, the archaeological treasures of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province are facing a new and possibly more daunting threat: climate change. Afghan officials warned in a 2016 United Nations report that the structures “may collapse and suffer from severe erosion”due to conditions directly linked to climate change. The Global