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Afghan men walk past the blue dome of a mosque a day after the blast on the outskirts of Kabul

At least 21 killed in blast at Kabul mosque

At least 21 people were killed after a blast tore through a Kabul mosque during evening prayers yesterday, Kabul police said.

World • 18 Aug 22

Women cover their faces when walking down a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday

World 'must not forget' Afghan women and girls, says UN

The United Nations has implored the world to not forget the plight of Afghanistan's women and children despite other international crises, one year after the Taliban's return to power.

World • 15 Aug 22

A US soldier is handed a baby at Kabul Airport as people try to flee Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Major challenges a year after troops left

A year after US and Western forces withdrew from Afghanistan, Fiona Mitchell looks at the challenges facing the country.

World • 14 Aug 22

Taliban security forces on patrol in Kabul (File image)

Taliban fighters fire in air to disperse Kabul protest

Taliban fighters beat women protesters and fired into the air as they violently dispersed a rare rally in the Afghan capital, days ahead of the first anniversary of the hardline Islamists' return to power.

World • 13 Aug 22

Rahimullah Haqqani had recently spoken publicly in favour of girls being allowed to attend school

Taliban cleric killed by bomb hidden in artificial leg

A prominent Taliban cleric, Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, was killed today in an attack in a seminary in Kabul, Afghanistan when the attacker detonated explosives hidden in a plastic artificial leg.

World • 11 Aug 22

Fawzia Koofi described how painful it was 'to advocate for our basic rights, the right to be visible, the right to not be erased'

Afghan women being 'erased from public life'

An exiled former member of the Afghan parliament has told an urgent debate at the UN Human Rights Council that women there are in danger of being "erased from public life".

World • 01 Jul 22

A man sells stickers picturing Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada at market in Kabul (File image)

'Stop interfering in Afghanistan', says Taliban leader

The Taliban's reclusive supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has called for the world to stop telling them how to run Afghanistan, insisting sharia law was the only model for a successful Islamic state.

World • 01 Jul 22

Nisar Nabil, presenter for TOLOnews, wearing a black mask speaks during a live broadcast

Afghan male TV presenters wear masks in protest

Seconds before he presents a news bulletin, Afghan television anchor Nisar Nabil puts on a black mask as a symbolic protest against the Taliban authorities for ordering women presenters to cover their faces on air.

World • 26 May 22

The decree orders authorities to fire women government employees if they fail to follow the dress code

Female TV presenters cover faces on air in Afghanistan

Female presenters on Afghanistan's leading news channels went on air today with their faces covered, a day after defying a Taliban order to conceal their appearance on television.

Afghanistan • 22 May 22

Members of Afghanistan's Powerful Women Movement take part in a protest in Kabul on 10 May, 2022.

TV presenters defy Taliban and show their faces on air

Female presenters on Afghanistan's leading TV channels have gone on air without covering their faces, defying a Taliban order that they conceal their appearance.

World • 21 May 22

Women wait to receive a food donation from the Afterlife foundation during Ramadan in Kandahar

Taliban supreme leader urges world to recognise govt

Afghanistan's supreme leader has called again for the international community to recognise the Taliban government, saying the world had become a "small village" and proper diplomatic relations would help solve the country's problems.

World • 29 Apr 22

An injured student is taken from the scene of the blasts

At least six dead as explosions hit school in Kabul

At least six people were killed after three blasts hit a boys' school in a Shia Hazara district of the Afghan capital, police said.

World • 19 Apr 22

Taliban say women cannot board domestic or international flights without a male chaperone

Afghan women facing travel curbs - reports

The Taliban have told airlines in Afghanistan that women cannot board domestic or international flights without a male chaperone, sources have said.

World • 27 Mar 22

The Taliban have not given a clear reason for their decision to shut girls' secondary schools

'Open the schools': Afghan girls protest in Kabul

About two dozen girls and women chanting "open the schools" have protested in the Afghan capital against the Taliban's decision to shut their secondary schools just hours after re-opening them this week.

World • 26 Mar 22

Girls smiling as they arrived at school this morning before they were told to go home

Taliban orders Afghan girls' schools to remain closed

The Taliban ordered girls' secondary schools in Afghanistan to shut today just hours after they reopened, sparking heartbreak and confusion over the policy reversal by the hardline Islamist group.

World • 23 Mar 22

Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban last August

Inside Afghanistan: Some still believe in its future

RTÉ's Foreign Editor Eimear Lowe recently travelled to Afghanistan, where she visited UNICEF's operations as aid agencies warn that the country is on a knife edge following the Taliban takeover last summer.

World • 19 Mar 22

Most women in Afghanistan have been barred from their government jobs since the Taliban took control

Taliban says women workers must cover up

Women working in Afghan government departments must cover up - even with a blanket if necessary - or they may lose their jobs, the Taliban's religious police said.

World • 22 Feb 22

'Cruel' Afghan admission scheme 'a missed opportunity'

A scheme allowing members of the Irish-Afghan community to apply for family members to join them here has been criticised as being "stressful", "cruel" and a "missed opportunity".

Ireland • 21 Feb 22

Women and children are pictured at a health centre in Kabul in January

WHO says measles cases, deaths surging in Afghanistan

A measles outbreak in Afghanistan infected tens of thousands and killed more than 150 people last month alone, the World Health Organization has said, warning of more deaths.

World • 11 Feb 22

A Taliban fighter (right) inspects documents of people queuing to enter the passport office in Kabul today

Taliban govt to resume issuing passports in Kabul

Afghanistan's Taliban authorities said today they will resume issuing passports in Kabul, giving hope to citizens who feel threatened living under the Islamists' rule.

World • 18 Dec 21

People wait to cross into Pakistan at the border with Afghanistan

Afghans in hiding from Taliban plead for global help

Almost four months after the Taliban returned to power, Afghanistan is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis.

World • 09 Dec 21

A woman collects money during a World Food Programme cash distribution in Kabul

Afghanistan faces 'unprecedented' economic shock - UN

Afghanistan's GDP could contract 20% within a year, the UN predicted in a new report, saying that the withdrawal of international aid after the Taliban's return to power is an "unprecedented fiscal shock."

World • 01 Dec 21

Members of the Taliban delegation at a meeting in Qatar

Taliban forbid use of foreign currency in Afghanistan

The Taliban has announced a complete ban on the use of foreign currency in Afghanistan.

World • 03 Nov 21

Road blocks are set up after a bomb attack at the largest hospital in Kabul

At least 19 dead, 50 wounded in Kabul hospital attack

At least 19 people were killed and 50 wounded when two explosions followed by gunfire hit Afghanistan's biggest military hospital in Kabul, a Taliban security official said.

World • 02 Nov 21

A Taliban fighter stands at a gate as people wait with their documents outside the passport office in Kabul

US, Taliban first in-person talks since Afghan pullout

The United States and the Taliban will this weekend hold their first in-person talks since the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August.

World • 09 Oct 21