Afghanistan

Migration crackdownWorld

President Donald Trump speaks during an event signing a proclamation honoring the fourth anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Afghan dilemma: Save CIA allies or send them to execution?

A key insider who helped run the evacuation of Afghans following the fall of Kabul says the US had a moral obligation to accpet them and their lives will be at risk if they’re returned home.

Joe Kelly

Migration crackdownWorld

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt takes questions from reporters during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 1, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

‘Complete betrayal’: Trump begins purging Afghans Biden let in

The White House is doubling down on a major migration crackdown after the attack on two National Guard members, including reopening 90,000 Afghan resettlement cases.

Joe Kelly

washington shootingThe Wall Street Journal

A passerby shared images of the suspected shooter holding a revolver and a U.S. National Guardsman shooting back. A National Guardsman and the suspect at the scene of Wednesday’s shooting in Washington, D.C.

Eye-witness captures Washington attack on National Guard | WATCH

A passer-by shared images with the WSJ of the suspected shooter holding a revolver and a National Guardsman shooting back in the attack in which a female soldier died.

Michael Gordon

ambushThe Wall Street Journal

This photo combo shows, National Guard members, from left, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and Specialist Sarah Beckstrom. (U.S. AttorneyÃ¢â¬â¢s Office via AP)

Female National Guard dies after Washington shooting

Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from wounds suffered in the attack, Donald Trump has confirmed as the CIA confirms the Afghan suspect worked with the agency in Afghanistan.

Gareth Vipers, C. Ryan Barber and Sadie Gurman

‘evil act of terror’World

An unidentified man in military fatigues lies on a stretcher inside an ambulance on November 26, 2025 in downtown Washington, DC. Two National Guard soldiers were shot a few blocks from the White House, according to law enforcement. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)

Afghans’ US status to be reviewed after National Guard shooting

Donald Trump labelled the shooting of two members of the National Guard near the White House by a 29-year-old Afghan national as an ‘evil’ act of terror.

Joe Kelly

EditorialEditorials

We must be resolute on Kabul

Rejection of the monstrous Taliban regime must be clear amid the emerging complexities around the Afghanistan embassy.

Editorial

ExclusiveNation

Taliban security personnel stand guard as an Afghan burqa-clad woman (R) walks along a street at a market in the Baharak district of Badakhshan province on February 26, 2024. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)

Taliban ‘calling the shots on embassy’

The future of the Afghan embassy in Canberra is in doubt, with the federal government advising the ambassador his credentials will not be renewed, in line with a Taliban directive.

Amanda Hodge

ExclusiveDefence

19/11/2020 Former SAS Squadron Commander Peter Tinley, in Perth Pic Colin Murty The Australian

Defence spending cuts alarm new RSL head

New RSL president Peter Tinley has warned that Defence risks hollowing out Australia’s military capabilities as resources are diverted to the massive AUKUS program.

Paul Garvey

COMMENTARYThe Weekend Australian Magazine

Burqa-clad girls aged 14 and 16 and would-be suicide attackers talk with media following their arrest by security forces in Madyan, a town in restive Swat Valley, 09/01/2010 tell how they were brainwashed into becoming suicide bombers with the Taliban and they would go straight to heaven after carrying out their attacks, but changed their minds when they learnt the Talban were destroying schools and public infrastructure.

What does the Taliban tell us about male insecurities?

This monstrously cruel regime, created wholly by men, has erased the ability of women to compete with them. The aim, a ruling order unstymied by the threat of female competition.

Nikki Gemmell

UN aidWorld

(FILES) Taliban fighters walk through the compound of the Hazrat-e-Ali shrine or the Blue Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif on December 23, 2021. The Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif, a 15th-century landmark famed for its vibrant tiles, was damaged by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck northern Afghanistan overnight, an AFP journalist saw on November 3, 2025. (Photo by Mohd RASFAN / AFP)

Famed Blue Mosque damaged as deadly quake rocks Afghanistan

At least 20 people were killed when a strong earthquake struck northern Afghanistan on Monday, just months after another deadly tremor that left the country reeling.

ABDUL QAHAR

MAGAZINEThe Weekend Australian Magazine

Defence Supplied Pics. Special Operations Task Group soldiers make their way to a waiting UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter after a Shura in Sha Wali Kot. Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) partnered with Australian Special Forces from the Special Operations Task Group conducted a deliberate operation to clear a Taliban insurgent stronghold in the Shah Wali Kot region of northern Kandahar province. The Shah Wali Kot Offensive comprised synchronised and deliberate clearance operations involving Australian Commandos combined with a number of surgical helicopter-born assaults from Special Air Service (SAS) troops on key targets. Removing Taliban insurgents from Afghan communities allows the Government of Afghanistan to establish a presence and gain the trust of the community to provide them with necessary infrastructure and security that was not provided by the insurgents.

How Afghan comrades betrayed our Diggers during their fiercest battle

Pinned down by Taliban fighters during the Battle of Shah Wali Kot, Australian soldiers heard voices speaking to the enemy. The Afghan police were making an offer: if they swapped sides, could they leave the valley?

Aaron Patrick

‘pretty chilling’World

Fayaz Khan, 26, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, is on trial accused of threatening to kill Farage in October 2024.

Nigel Farage feared for his safety after ‘death threat’ from migrant

Fayaz Khan who arrived in the UK on a small boat, is on trial, accused of threatening to shoot Nigel Farage.

AFP

Art mattersCulture

Lunch with Haji Nabi, early 2000s. Picture: Alexandra & Leigh Copeland

How a carpet weaving project became a lifeline for women under Taliban rule

From Afghanistan to Australia, a Melbourne artist and Afghan refugee defy the regime’s restrictions to preserve ancient tradition.

Stephanie Sekulovska

HEART OF THE NATIONThe Weekend Australian Magazine

EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 20 SEPTEMBER 2025. ONE TIME USE. FEES APPLY. A person sleeping in a food court in Melbourne. Photo: Jesse Marlow

Joseph Olbrycht-Palmer

disasterWorld

A local resident walks through a partially collapsed house in an area devastated by Sunday's powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake that killed many people and destroyed villages in eastern Afghanistan, in Dara Noor, Kunar province, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025,. (AP Photo/Wahidullah Kakar)

Fresh quake hits Afghanistan as death toll climbs to 1400

Rescuers continue to search for survivors in the rubble of homes.

AFP

World

A local resident walks near a wall partially collapsed bySunday's powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake that killed many people and destroyed villages in eastern Afghanistan, in Dara Noor, Kunar province, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025,. (AP Photo/Wahidullah Kakar)

Scramble for survivors after Afghan earthquake kills more than 900

Rescuers desperately searched on Tuesday for survivors in the rubble of homes flattened by an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan, killing more than 900 people.

AFP

Kunar provinceWorld

Injured Afghan people receive treatment at a hospital after an earthquake in Afghanistan's Jalalabad on September 1, 2025. Nine people died when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake and powerful aftershock rattled eastern Afghanistan, the provincial Nangarhar government said on September 1. (Photo by Aimal Zahir / AFP)

Afghanistan earthquake death toll more than 800

An earthquake has destroyed numerous villages in eastern Afghanistan, killed more than 800 people and injured more than 1300, says a spokesman for the Taliban government.

Million asylum seekersThe Times

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 4, 2015 a migrant girl holds a poster of then German Chancellor Angela Merkel as migrants walk in downtown Budapest after leaving the transit zone of the main train station, intenting on walking to the Austrian border.

‘Crisis’: the legacy of Angela Merkel

The long-serving chancellor of Germany famously vowed that her nation could cope with throwing open its borders to migrants. Was she right?

Peter Conradi and Peter Conradi

PTSD TREATMENTMental Health

Scott Griffin , shown relaxing after work, turned to alternative medicines for relief from his PTSD symptoms. He poses for a portrait at his home in Allison Park, Pennsylvania, on June 27, 2025. Nate Smallwood for The Wall Street Journal

‘Combat cocktail’: how America overmedicates veterans

US veterans from conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are being prescribed combinations of multiple powerful drugs to treat post-traumatic stress. The outcomes can be disastrous.

Shalini Ramachandran and Betsy McKay

commentaryCommentary

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, left, Britain's Foreign Secretary, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy, second left, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, right, hold a press conference at Admiralty House following the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) in Sydney, Australia, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

An old friendship is ready for new era of security threats

From the battlefields of northern Europe to the frontlines of Korea and Afghanistan, our two nations have stood together when it mattered most. Today, we face a new era of threat, which demands a new era of Australian-British partnership.

David Lammy and John Healey

Compensation pushThe Times

A Taliban security personnel stands guard at a checkpoint in Jalalabad on August 14, 2023. (Photo by Shafiullah KAKAR / AFP)

Brother of Afghan soldier ‘killed by Taliban over data leak’

The claim heaps pressure on the British government days after a superinjunction was lifted, revealing that the details of more than 50,000 Afghans had been leaked in 2023.

Tom Witherow and Steven Swinford

MAGAZINEThe Weekend Australian Magazine

Illustrations by Nina Krause for The Times

‘Dear Ms Kate, I write because my thoughts are free from any chains…’

A pen pal like no other: as Afghanistan once again becomes the worst place on Earth for women, best-selling author Kate Mosse exchanges heartbreaking letters with a woman risking her life to share her story.

Kate Mosse

Taliban ‘kill list’World

Soldiers from C Company The Royal Dragoon Guards, patrol around the Shinkalay area of Nad-e-Ali, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on 23rd September2010. The areas around Nad-e-Ali are patroled on a regular basis giving security to the local population. Picture: MOD UK

Spies, special forces unmasked in Afghan data breach

The personal details of British spies and special forces personnel were included in the mistakenly released spreadsheet.

AFP

Defence errorThe Wall Street Journal

*** BESTPIX *** KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - AUGUST 21: In this handout image provided by the Ministry of Defence, the British armed forces work with the U.S. military to evacuate eligible civilians and their families out of the country on August 21, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. British armed forces have been evacuation UK citizens and eligible personnel out of the Afghan capital after the Taliban took control of the country last week. (Photo by MoD Crown Copyright via Getty Images)

Disaster UK leak risked thousands of Afghan lives

A UK Defence official’s data blunder disclosed the names of many who worked with armed forces and forced the British government to secretly relocate thousands of Afghans.

Max Colchester

DEFENCE REPORTDefence

ADF personnel receiving Care of Battle Casualty training in the Middle East prior to deployment on Operation Slipper.

Aspen Medical at heart of ADF health services

Aspen Medical has deployed medical staff all over the world for 22 years, supporting the ADF and providing health services in conflict zones and fragile states, and disease outbreaks.

Sian Powell

HOW TO PREPAREMedical

15/11/24: Health and Wellbeing editor, Natasha Robinson at Redleaf Public Ocean Pool, Double Bay. John Feder/The Australian.

I had a hip replacement. Here’s everything I wish I knew

So you’re thinking about a hip replacement. Here’s what you can learn from my experience before and after surgery, from pain management to when to get your teeth cleaned … and will you be able to manage the dog?

Natasha Robinson

analysisThe Wall Street Journal

Benjamin Netanyahu is right to arm Gaza's clans to defeat Hamas.

Netanyahu is wise to arm Gaza clans to fight Hamas

Critics assail Israel for employing a strategy the US used in World War II, Afghanistan and Iraq. In Gaza, the mission is clear; destroy Hamas as a military force and governing power.

John Spencer

EXCLUSIVENation

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos MAY 19, 2025: SAS Regiment trooper Oliver Jordan Schulz appears at Downing Centre Court on Monday. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

SAS murder trial looms after 13 years

In a local courtroom in Sydney, two former special forces members watched footage of their ex-colleague Oliver Schulz shoot an Afghan man – 13 years after they witnessed it.

Joanna Panagopoulos

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/topics/afghanistan