Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 19, 2020 The long-awaited result of Afghanistan’s bitterly disputed presidential election was expected to end months of uncertainty. Instead, President Ashraf Ghani’s reelection has triggered a political crisis that has threatened to spill over into violence and derail a historic peace deal between the United States and the Taliban.
Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 6, 2020 Considering he is a fugitive Afghan warlord, Nizamuddin Qaisari has done little to conceal himself. The militia commander fled arrest in December following deadly clashes between his fighters and government forces in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif. Since that December 16 incident, which killed eight
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal January 29, 2020 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan closed a key border crossing with Afghanistan for about 10 hours after mortar shells landed on Pakistani territory from across the border. Vehicles lined up on both sides of the border began moving across the Torkham crossing on the afternoon of January 29 after the gates were
By RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan January 28, 2020 ISLAMABAD/KABUL – Thousands of protesters have gathered in Pakistani and Afghan cities and towns to voice anger over the detention of an ethnic Pashtun rights activist in Pakistan. Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of a civic rights group that has criticized the Pakistani military’s operations
Ariana: Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Idrees Zaman [is] accused of ethnic cleansing in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after he dismissed several directors from their positions in a short period of time. A number of lawmakers on Monday called on the Afghan parliament to prevent “such illegal dismissals”. Click here to read more
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan: Afghan children must have IDs to go to school. And each family must have a permanent residence in order to get their IDs. Many members of the Jogi minority, a formerly nomadic people, have neither, and are unable to vote, own land, or attend school.
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 16, 2019 Turnout in Afghanistan’s presidential election was already a record low, at around 26 percent. But it could sink more as election authorities sift through the votes cast in the September 28 poll. The election commission could discard more than 700,000 of the 2.7 million votes
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan September 28, 2019 KABUL — Polls have closed in Afghanistan’s presidential election with voting marred by several attacks and reports of problems at polling stations. Fifteen candidates were on the ballot, but the race was widely seen as a two-horse race between President Ashraf Ghani, who is seeking another five-year
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 27, 2019 Fifteen men will contest Afghanistan’s presidential election on September 28 in a race among old power brokers — ex-government officials, prominent technocrats, and a notorious former warlord. The twice-delayed September 28 election is slated to be only the second-ever democratic transition of power in the
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 25, 2019 A bitter, fraud-marred presidential election in 2014 pushed Afghanistan to the brink of civil war before a power-sharing deal was reached between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, who became president and chief executive officer. Five years on, even as 13 other candidates vie for the