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Supporters drive past Taliban flags along a road in Kabul

Taliban marks two years since return to power

Afghanistan's Taliban government has marked the second anniversary of their takeover of the country with celebrations and a public holiday, issuing a defiant statement commemorating their surge back to power.

World • 15 Aug 23

Afghan women hold placards as they protest for their right to education

UN short on solutions to Afghan 'gender apartheid'

Two years after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the United Nations has accused the group of shocking and systematic human rights abuses. But the Taliban shows little sign of changing course.

World • 15 Aug 23

Khwaja Lutfullah Sediqi said there were 'a lot of tears' when he left Afghanistan

Return of Taliban rule 'a black day' for Afghanistan

Khwaja Lutfullah Sediqi described 15 August, 2021 as "a black day" in his life and in the lives of the Afghan people, "especially the young generation".

Ireland • 15 Aug 23

New figures on the Government's Afghan Admission Programme

Govt programme likely to accept more than 500 Afghans

More than 500 people are likely to be accepted under the Government's Afghan Admission Programme, established in response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power there almost two years ago.

Ireland • 31 Jul 23

Women protest the order shutting beauty salons

Taliban order will shut thousands of Afghan salons

Thousands of beauty salons across Afghanistan were due to close permanently following an order by Taliban authorities that cuts off one of the few revenue streams available to women, as well as a cherished space for socialising.

World • 25 Jul 23

The order issued last month forces the closure of thousands of beauty parlours nationwide run by women

Afghan women protest against beauty parlour ban

Security officials have shot into the air and used firehoses to disperse dozens of Afghan women protesting in Kabul against an order by Taliban authorities to shut down beauty parlours, the latest curb to squeeze them out of public life.

World • 19 Jul 23

An Afghan beautician attends a customer at a beauty salon in Mazar-i-Sharif

Taliban order closure of beauty parlours in latest curb

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have ordered beauty parlours across the country to shut within a month, forcing the closure of thousands of businesses run by women, in what is the latest curb to squeeze them out of public life.

World • 04 Jul 23

UN chief Antonio Guterres addresses international envoys during talks on Afghanistan in Doha

UN leader slams Taliban over women's rights

UN chief Antonio Guterres has slammed the Taliban government's "unprecedented" curbs on Afghan women's rights as he highlighted international fears over stability in the crisis-stricken country.

World • 02 May 23

UN Secretary General António Guterres will host the meetings in Doha

UN meets envoys about Taliban but without Afghan women

The UN Secretary General is hosting meetings today and tomorrow in Doha, to talk about the future of Afghanistan and what to do about the Taliban's ongoing abuse of women's rights.

World • 01 May 23

The UN Security Council said the ban 'undermines human rights and humanitarian principles'

Taliban: Ban on women working for UN an internal matter

The decision to ban Afghan women from working for the United Nations is an "internal social matter", the country's Taliban authorities have said, a day after the UN demanded the ruling be overturned.

World • 28 Apr 23

The Taliban has imposed severe restrictions on women's rights since returning to power

Female staff ban sees UN review Afghan operations

The UN is reviewing its presence in Afghanistan following a ban on female aid workers, raising fears it could pull out of the country.

World • 19 Apr 23

Mission head Roza Otunbayeva has initiated an 'operational review' of the UN's Afghan operations

Taliban ban on women forces UN into 'appalling choice'

The UN has said it is being forced into making an "appalling choice" over whether to continue operations in Afghanistan while the Taliban government banning women from working for the organisation.

World • 11 Apr 23

Scenes from Kabul airport during the US exit from Afghanistan in 2021

White House admits intelligence failure in Afghan exit

The White House has released a long-awaited review of the traumatic US exit from Afghanistan, admitting there had been a massive intelligence failure in not predicting rapid Taliban victory, but defending overall US conduct.

World • 06 Apr 23

A worker cleans the corridor of Esteqlal High School in Kabul

Afghanistan school year starts but no classes held

Afghanistan's schools reopened for the new academic year this morning, but no classes were held as students were unaware of the start and hundreds of thousands of teenage girls remain barred from attending class.

World • 21 Mar 23

Afghan women wait to receive food aid from the Afghanistan Disaster Management in Herat

Afghan women 'most repressed in the world' - UN

Afghanistan under the Taliban government is the "most repressive country in the world" for women's rights, with authorities effectively trapping women and girls in their homes, the United Nations has said.

World • 08 Mar 23

Mursal Nabizada was an MP from 2018 to 2021

Former Afghan MP shot dead at her home in Kabul

A former Afghan politician and one of her bodyguards have been shot dead in a night-time attack at her home in the capital Kabul.

World • 15 Jan 23

Afghan men stand in queues to receive food aid from an NGO in Kabul

NGOs torn over Taliban ban on women staff

Aid groups say they have been "pushed against a wall" by the Taliban prohibiting Afghan women from working for NGOs, a ban that has left a dangerous gap in life-saving support.

World • 05 Jan 23

Millions of people in Afghanistan this December are at risk of famine

Afghans taking extraordinary measures to survive

Millions in Afghanistan this December are at risk of famine and are taking extraordinary and devastating measures to survive.

World • 29 Dec 22

Basira Pigham was a human rights activist in Afghanistan before she fled

'Colour and vibrancy drained' from Kabul in August 2021

As the United Nations warns of a human 'catastrophe' unfolding in Afghanistan and women see the collapse of their rights, Basira Pigham, an Afghan woman in Ireland, reflects on what led her to leave her country after the Taliban took power across the country.

World • 29 Dec 22

A student protesting alone outside the Kabul University as members of Taliban stand guard

UN Council denounces latest female bans in Afghanistan

The UN Security Council has called for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan, denouncing a ban by the Taliban-led administration on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups.

World • 27 Dec 22

The ban is the latest blow against women's rights in Afghanistan

NGOs stop work in Afghanistan after ban on women staff

Several international aid groups have announced that they were suspending their operations in Afghanistan after the country's Taliban rulers ordered all NGOs to stop women staff from working.

World • 25 Dec 22

Women in Kabul this week protesting against the ban on women attending university

EU & US condemns female NGO workers ban by Taliban

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers ordered all national and international NGOs to stop their women employees from working after "serious complaints" about their dress code, the Ministry of Economy said.

World • 24 Dec 22

Afghan women protest in Kabul against the Taliban ban on women accessing university education

Taliban defends banning women from universities

Afghanistan's Taliban-run administration has said it has closed universities to women partly due to female students not adhering to its interpretation of the Islamic dress code, in a decision that was condemned globally.

World • 22 Dec 22

Groups of students gathered outside universities in Kabul, barred from entering by armed guards and shuttered gates

Afghan women stopped from entering universities

Hundreds of young women have been stopped by armed guards from entering Afghan university campuses this morning, a day after the nation's Taliban rulers banned them from higher education in another assault on human rights.

World • 21 Dec 22

A woman sits snowy road after snowfall in Kabul, Afghanistan

Losing hope: Afghans wait for word on Government scheme

Ali says he joined the Afghan armed forces because he says he wanted to make his country a better place, but it is a decision he now he regrets.

World • 16 Dec 22