HRW: A senior UK commander in 2011 feared a British military unit in Afghanistan had a “deliberate policy” of killing Afghan men, even when “they did not pose a threat” – which the commander called “indefensible behaviour” that “could be criminal.” Nine years later, the UK government is doing its best to ensure it is
Press TV March 11, 2020 After nearly two decades of military intervention in Afghanistan, the UK finally looks set to depart the country following the US peace deal with the Afghan Taliban. According to the Times newspaper, “hundreds” of British troops are set to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by “mid-July” as part of the “first
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.
BBC News: On 18 October 2012, a UK Special Forces soldier shot dead four young people in an Afghan village. Their families say three of them were children. It looks like a war crime but nobody has been prosecuted. The soldier who killed the boys had reportedly claimed to detectives that he acted in self-defence. He told
Tolo News: Sculptures of nine buddha heads, and a torso, are being returned to Afghanistan from Britain. Experts believe that nine clay heads and a torso carved from schist shipped to London in 2002 were made in Buddhist monasteries in Afghanistan between 4 and 6 AD. The heads may have been broken off from torsos during
Tolo News: Afghans across the country celebrated 100th Independence Day by holding gatherings in different provinces, mainly in Helmand, Balkh, Herat, Kabul, and Nangarhar. President Ashraf Ghani laid a wreath at the Azadi Memorial minaret on Independence Day before appearing at a ceremony at Darul Aman Palace. Click here to read more (external link). Related Google
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: It’s 100 years since the end of Afghanistan’s 1919 War of Independence, also known as the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Fought between Afghan and British-Indian forces, the conflict reestablished full Afghan independence after decades of British control over Afghan foreign policy.
The Independent (UK): Ancient Buddhist clay heads and other precious artefacts looted from Iraq and Afghanistan and illegally exported to the UK will soon be returned to their country of origin. The British Museum is working with the UK Border Force and other agencies to help to return the items seized during recent conflicts. Click here to read more (external link).
Middle East Eye (MEE): A former Royal Marine says that one of his officers confessed to his men that he had been responsible for the fatal shooting of an Afghan boy, aged around eight, after the child’s father carried his body to the entrance of their forward operating base and demanded an explanation. Another ex-soldier who
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 29, 2018 ISLAMABAD — A British security contractor, G4S, says five of its employees, including a Briton, were killed and 32 others injured in an overnight gun-and-bomb attack against one of its compounds in the Afghan capital Kabul. The company said Thursday five employees have been “seriously” injured. Afghan officials confirm