popMATTERS: Matthew Heineman’s remarkable Retrograde—a National Geographic film showing at some festivals now and hitting theaters and streaming later this year—is one of the most unsettlingly intimate examples of this kind of filmmaking. Ostensibly, it’s a document of the last nine months of the Western-backed Afghanistan government in 2021. The film’s scope ranges from furious
Ayaz Gul VOA News September 19, 2022 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban Monday freed Mark Frerichs, the only American hostage remaining in Afghanistan, in exchange for a Taliban drug lord, Bashir Noorzai, who was serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told reporters in Kabul the prisoner swap between his
Ayaz Gul VOA News September 16, 2022 KABUL — Afghanistan’s Taliban Friday denounced the U.S. decision to transfer $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank reserves to a Swiss-based trust fund, declaring it an “illegal venture” and vowing to impose financial penalties on entities that facilitate it. Washington said Wednesday it would move the previously frozen financial
VOA News September 14, 2022 The United States said Wednesday it is setting up fund in Switzerland to manage $3.5 billion of Afghan reserves to be used to help stabilize Afghanistan’s economy. A board of trustees will manage the Afghan Fund. The U.S. Treasury said the fund will “protect, preserve and make targeted disbursements” of
Michael Hughes: President Joe Biden remains on the defensive over the administration’s handling of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than a week after the exit’s one-year anniversary, as Republican rivals sharpen their knives seeing an issue ripe for exploitation ahead of the midterm elections. With control of Congress hanging in the balance in November
Amin Saikal via aspistrategist.org.au: As the world marks the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks this weekend, two other events should be remembered. Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated on 9 September 2001 by al-Qaeda agents, two days before the attacks on New York and Washington. Massoud had fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in
8am: A source told Hasht-e-Subh that the attack took place on Thursday night, 17 September, on a Taliban brigade base in Grishk district of Helmand province. As a result of this air attack, including the commander of the Taliban brigade, 21 other Taliban have been killed. According to the source, in addition to the casualties,
Inkstick: A year after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the world is still coming to terms with the full extent of the costs of that war — not only the budgetary costs, but also the lost human lives, the destruction of health facilities and other infrastructure, and the impacts on the environment. At first glance,
Ariana: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) [Taliban] said Wednesday the United States’ practice of using drones to patrol Afghan airspace was in violation of the Doha Agreement and of international law and requested Washington to stop. According to Muttaqi, so far the world still does not have a
8am: The Chinese Foreign Ministry Zhao Lijian tweeted on Tuesday that 51 thousand of civilians have been killed in the US war over the past 20 years in Afghanistan. According to Lijian, 69,000 security forces of the Afghan government and 2,448 American soldiers have also been killed in Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external