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The Taliban

September

John Kirby: “Ending wars is more difficult than starting them.”

White House dismisses Republicans’ savage Afghanistan report

Security spokesman John Kirby derided what he called the “one-sided partisan nature” of the findings and noted that it was not the only one issued by the GOP.

  • Peter Baker
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Chalmers open to RBA deal; Khuda’s migration push; $6trn PE squeeze

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

Afghan women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in KabuL

As the Taliban silences Afghan women, we must raise our voices

Since 2021, the world has stood by and watched as the basic rights of women in Afghanistan have been dismantled.

  • Suzanne Moore

July

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019.

On any measure, India has disappointed

It was never meant to be this way. India was to be in the corner of the democracies in the contest with the autocracies.

  • Geoff Raby

June

Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak. The head-to-head debate in Nottingham was the prime minister’s last chance in a set-piece event to try to turn around a Conservative campaign.

Rishi Sunak uses TV debate to try to avert Tory electoral meltdown

With new opinion polls pointing to a massive Labour majority, the PM came out fighting, insisting that Sir Keir Starmer would raise taxes and allow spending to spiral.

  • George Parker, Lucy Fisher and Rafe Uddin
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May

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping leave a concert marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and China.

China and Russia have one bed but different dreams

Russian weakness has enabled China to emerge as Eurasia’s dominant power. But it also limits the partnership of the two.

  • Geoff Raby
Hossein Amirabdollahian was also involved in efforts to reach a détente with regional rival Saudi Arabia in 2023.

Foreign Minister another hardliner close to Revolutionary Guard

Hossein Amirabdollahian represented the hardline shift in Iran after the collapse of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers when Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew.

  • Jon Gambrell
Smartphone sales are soaring in Afghanistan.

For the Taliban, Afghans’ best status symbol is a $2120 iPhone

Commerce is thriving for some entrepreneurs despite the difficulties imposed by the country’s rulers.

  • Riazat Butt

March

Arefeh 40-year-old, an Afghan woman leaves an underground school, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 30, 2022.

With Russia distracted, China makes its move in Central Asia

China is the only major country to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan, a move that could give it access to large lithium and copper deposits.

  • Geoff Raby

October 2023

Andrew Quilty at the Financial Review’s photographic studio on Wednesday.

A combat photographer driven by guilt, not ego

The fall of Kabul was the most terrifying experience of Australian Andrew Quilty’s life. He’s disappointed more people don’t ask him about it.

  • Aaron Patrick

June 2023

Lara Logan

The 60 Minutes star who became a voice of the far right

Lara Logan was one of the world’s best-known television journalists. She now promotes wild conspiracy theories. What happened?

  • Elaina Plott Calabro

January 2023

Women risk Taliban ire to play the sports they love

Afghanistan’s rulers are enforcing a ban on women taking part in sports by intimidating them with visits and phone calls.

  • The Associated Press

Sibling rivalry is a tale as old as time

For every Old Testament Cain that murders Abel, there is a Jacob who outwits a slow-witted, elder brother Esau to win his father’s inheritance.

  • Martin Ivens

November 2022

How novels are helping the women of Afghanistan

For a decade, author Deborah Ellis has used fiction to tell the real stories of those whose lives have been upended by the brutal Taliban regime.

  • Deborah Ellis

October 2022

Afghan women during a protest in Kabul late last year.

A year under the Taliban

I hardly could remember how life was before the Taliban came back into power. It was as if they had never left.

  • Kiana Hayeri
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June 2022

An Afghan girl stands near a house that was damaged by an earthquake in the Spera District of the south-western part of Khost Province, Afghanistan.

Afghanistan quake kills more than 1000, injures 1600, officials say

Heavy rain and strong winds were frustrating search and rescues efforts late on Wednesday after a massive earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan.

  • Haq Nawaz Khan, Adela Suliman, Karina Tsui and Shaiq Hussain

May 2022

An Afghan woman in full body covering waits to receives food rations in Kabul last month.

The burqa is back: Taliban orders women to cover up

If a woman does not cover her face outside home, her father or closest male relative faces prison or the sack, under the Taliban’s latest decree.

  • Reuters

January 2022

Police and prosecutors say Zulkarnaen is the former military commander of Jemaah Islamiyah, a south-east Asian militant group with ties to al-Qaeda.

Indonesian prosecutors seek life for Bali bombing suspect

Aris Sumarsono, 58, better known as Zulkarnaen, sat impassively as the prosecution announced the sentencing demand before a panel of three judges.

  • Niniek Karmini

December 2021

Amir Khan Muttaqi: “Sanctions against Afghanistan would . . . . not have any benefit.”

Taliban seek ties with US, other ex-foes

Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said the country wants good relations with all countries and has no issue with the United States.

  • Kathy Gannon

November 2021

Saraya, a software engineer who fled Syria in 2012, is one of the first refugees to secure work in Australia, under the government’s new pilot program designed to connect skilled refugees with local companies hungry for talent.

The refugees who could solve Australia’s tech skills crisis

Software engineer Sarya fled Syria in 2012, but thanks to a new government program she has found work at an Aussie tech company, hungry for skilled workers.

  • Jessica Sier

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/the-taliban-1nt7