Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 14, 2018 An online campaign in Afghanistan calling for the boycott of the ancient festival of Norouz has prompted a backlash among many Afghans, who have vented their exasperation at the growing influence of fundamentalist Islamic ideology in the war-torn country. Heralding the arrival of spring, the pre-Islamic Persian new
BBC News: Wakhan province in the far east of Afghanistan is one of the most remote places on earth, accessible only on foot. Along with his team, Ershad Honaryar from BBC Persian made the five-day trek to a place called the “roof of the world”. There, he asked people he met to smile for a photograph
Tolo News: Hindu and Sikh residents of Paktia called on government to provide the opportunity for their relatives to return their home country, Afghanistan. From a big number of Hindu and Sikh citizens of Afghanistan who lived in Paktia province, in the east of the country, only three have remained in the province while the remaining
The Washington Post: “Music has always been in the blood of Afghans, but it was silenced for a long time,” said Massood Sanjer, program manager for Tolo Television and a founder of the show, in its 13th season. “ ‘Afghan Star’ has created a revolution in music at the same time the country has moved to democracy.” But not
Ayaz Gul VOA News / November 30, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan says high-level discussions “away from public glare” are under way with the United States to bridge differences stemming from the new Afghan strategy U.S. President Donald Trump announced in August. Pakistan did not agree with the U.S. policy because “there was a difference in understanding
DW: Former President Hamid Karzai briefs DW on the continued security problems in Afghanistan. He advocates an immediate appraisal of what’s gone wrong, saying Afghanistan’s future is in the hands of the younger generation. Click here to read more (external link). Other Security News Explosion kills eight civilians in South Afghanistan
Tolo News: The Asia Foundation’s 13th annual public opinion survey of the Afghan people has found that this year there is a slight increase in optimism among the public which has risen marginally from 29.3 percent last year to 32.8 percent this year. The report stated that this year’s slight increase in optimism is difficult to explain.
The Diplomat: Afghanistan has recently been the scene of a debate on what the real name of one of its official languages is. Afghanistan has two official languages, Pashto and Dari. However, most Dari speakers natively call their language Farsi or Persian. According to Radio Free Europe, the dispute over the name of the language was
Reuters: The BBC is facing an angry reaction in Afghanistan after it changed the name of one of its local language Facebook pages to BBC Dari, the official name of the Afghan version of Persian or Farsi but one rejected by many local Persian speakers. Click here to read more (external link). Related Dari Or Farsi?
Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 12, 2017 Ahmad seems like any other teenager in the Afghan capital, Kabul. He goes to school, hangs out with friends, and lives at home with his parents. But the 18-year-old is hiding a dangerous secret that could get him imprisoned or killed: He is homosexual. Homosexuality is