Taliban

An explosion in the Afghan capital kills the Taliban refugee minister

1:36am December 12, 2024

The explosion struck inside the ministry, killing Khalil Haqqani, officials said. His last official photo showed him at a meeting chaired by the deputy prime minister earlier Wednesday.

An Afghan museum that buried its artifacts after Taliban takeover is reborn online

2:39pm December 10, 2024

The Afghanistan Memory Home Museum shares details and belongings from those who've died in conflict. It shut its doors when the Taliban took power, buried much of its collection — but has now reemerged.

Rights Group: Afghan women barred from studying nursing and midwifery

4:26pm December 04, 2024

Several sources confirm the Taliban pronouncement, part of ongoing efforts to curtail education for girls and women. Women studying these subjects say they were barred from classes this week.

'Bread & Roses' is a guerrilla film about Afghan women protesters

10:55am December 03, 2024

Getting footage from the ground was essential for filmmaker Sahra Mani, the director of Bread & Roses. Her documentary, which profiles three women who engage in protests, is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Afghan women sing to protest a law that orders them to keep quiet

7:57am September 12, 2024

A new morality law is full of restrictions. No neckties for men. Photos cannot be reproduced. The harshest rules are for women — who are singing out on social media to protest the ban on singing.

Queue Listen Now

Whatever happened to ... the young Afghan musicians who fled after the Taliban took over?

7:54am September 03, 2024

Nearly 300 young musicians, their teachers and staff from their music school fled Afghanistan in fear for their lives as the Taliban took power. NPR caught up with them during their U.S. tour,

The Taliban has a history of supporting the use of stoning as a punishment for "moral crimes" — reiterated in a statement this year by their supreme leader. Above: In 2015, Afghan Solidarity members gather in Kabul to protest Taliban militants who stoned an Afghan woman to death in the Taliban-controlled area outside Firozkoh, the capital of central Ghor province. She was accused of adultery.

Health & Safety

Taliban affirms that stoning will be punishment for adulterers — especially women

11:52am May 08, 2024

by Ruchi Kumar

In a recording, the group's leader declared: "We will flog the women ... we will stone them to death in public [for crimes]." What does Islamic law say on the matter? And have stonings taken place?

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Matiullah Wesa, a girls' education advocate, reads to students in Spin Boldak district in Kandahar province of Afghanistan on May 21, 2022. The Taliban have freed the Afghan activist who campaigned for the education of girls, a local nonprofit organization said Thursday. Wesa was arrested seven months ago and spent 215 days in prison, according to the group, Pen Path.

Afghan girls' education advocate is freed from Taliban prison

1:33pm October 26, 2023

by The Associated Press

Matiullah Wesa was arrested and spent 215 days in prison. He has been outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school. The Taliban bar girls from school beyond the sixth grade.

Afghan residents clear debris from a damaged house after an earthquake in the Zendeh Jan district of Herat province on Oct. 7.

Health & Safety

Quakes killed thousands in Afghanistan. Critics say Taliban relief efforts fall short

7:01am October 25, 2023

A series of devastating quakes has taken thousands of lives and left thousands more homeless. Aid specialists say the Taliban lacks the equipment and experience to help the survivors.

Matiullah Wesa, cofounder of the education charity PenPath in Afghanistan, speaks to children during a class next to his mobile library in a district of Kandahar Province. Wesa and his brother were among the Afghan men who have called for the Taliban to reverse its bans on higher education for girls. He was arrested in March and has been held in prison since then with no formal charges.

He demanded higher ed for Afghan girls. He was jailed. Angelina Jolie targets his case

12:23pm August 21, 2023

by Ruchi Kumar

It's been 5 months since Matiullah Wesa, an activist who urged an end to Taliban bans on girls' education, was arrested. Media attention has faded. Now Angelina Jolie is making a plea in his behalf.