Abubakar Siddique, a journalist for RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, specializes in the coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is the author of The Pashtun Question: The Unresolved Key To The Future Of Pakistan And Afghanistan.
New videos have emerged that appear to show the mistreatment of Afghan refugees and migrants in Iran, including beatings and abuse. The videos come as thousands of Afghans fleeing Taliban repression cross into Iran every week.
This week’s Gandhara Briefing brings you insights on the treatment of Afghan refugees in Iran, the Taliban’s botched attempt to treat drug addicts, and how mere blasphemy allegations can lead to murderers and lynching.
This week’s Gandhara Briefing brings you insights into why the Taliban reneged on its promise to reopen girls’ schools, the desperate struggle of more than two million Afghan widows amid a mounting hunger crisis, and why poverty is forcing more Afghan children into work.
A staggering 95 percent of people are going hungry in Afghanistan, which is mired in the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Households headed by women are especially vulnerable, including the country's estimated 2 million widows.
For months, the Taliban promised to reopen girls' high schools in Afghanistan. But in a last-minute decision, the militant group reneged on its promise. Experts attribute the move to internal divisions within the Taliban.
This week’s Gandhara Briefing brings you insights on the efforts to evacuate at-risk Afghans, growing self-censorship in Afghanistan, and the Taliban’s renewed push to separate men and women.
This week’s Gandhara Briefing brings you insights on how Afghan women are pushing back against the Taliban, the disappearance and reappearance of an Afghan comedian, and why Islamic State-Khorasan is becoming a major problem for Pakistan.
There has been a sharp increase in attacks carried out by the Islamic State-Khorasan militant group in Pakistan. Experts say the group is shifting its focus to the South Asian nation as it comes under mounting pressure from the Taliban, a rival Sunni extremist group, in neighboring Afghanistan.
A female Afghan-Canadian aid worker and comedian who disappeared in Kabul last month has been released from Taliban detention. Nadima Noor is the latest victim of an enforced disappearance in Afghanistan.
This week’s Gandhara Briefing brings you insights on how thousands of Afghans are scrambling to leave Ukraine after the Russian invasion and why aid workers are worried that the growing humanitarian crisis will take attention away from Afghanistan.
The rapidly growing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is quickly diverting international attention from Afghanistan, where aid workers warn of a looming catastrophe. More than 23 million Afghans face hunger as the country of 39 million slides into universal poverty under Taliban rule.
Generations of Afghans have fled to Ukraine in recent decades to seek refuge from conflict. But now these students, immigrants, and refugees are trying to leave Ukraine due to the war in which Russia is using lethal weapons to attack Kyiv and other big cities.
In this week’s Gandhara Briefing, we bring you insights on how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine overshadowed the Pakistani PM’s trip to Moscow, the Taliban forcing confessions from Afghan women activists, and the trouble of Afghan beauty salons.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the day Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Experts say Russia's invasion overshadowed his trip and likely prevented Khan from achieving much.
Afghanistan's once-thriving beauty salons are now struggling to survive. Business owners and customers say their country's failing economy and the pervasive fear of persecution and restrictions from the ruling Taliban are causing most beauticians to close or make do with fewer customers.
This week’s Gandhara Briefing brings you insights on the first six months of Taliban rule, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, and the Taliban’s deployment of more troops to Afghanistan’s borders with Central Asian neighbors.
Pakistan is taking a strong stance against mob justice following the lynching of a man with a mental disorder accused of blasphemy. But rights campaigners say Islamabad is reluctant to repeal or reform the country's strict blasphemy laws and rein in hard-line Islamists.
Six months after the Taliban seized power, many Afghans are losing hope of a turn for the better. Already burdened by an economic and humanitarian crisis compounded by drought and a chaotic transition of power, Afghans are still waiting for the Taliban to deliver on promises.
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