Afghanistan

The U.S. Is Leaving Afghanistan, the Taliban Is Growing in Power, and Education for Girls and Women Is Already at Risk

It was one of the key success stories of the U.S.-led intervention. Can it ...

It was one of the key success stories of the U.S.-led intervention. Can it survive the withdrawal?

An Afghan soldier plays a guitar that was left behind after the American military departed Bagram air base, in Parwan province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 5, 2021. The U.S. left Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years, winding up its forever war, in the night, without notifying the new Afghan commander until more than two hours after they slipped away.

U.S. Pulls Out of Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield in the Middle of the Night—Without Telling the New Commander

The U.S. left Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutti...

The U.S. left Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base's new Afghan commander

Hosna Jalil, then deputy minister of the interior, at a government meeting where only one other woman, Kabul's deputy governor, was present, in Kabul on June 20, 2020.

How a Rising Female Minister Is Fighting to Dismantle Afghanistan's Patriarchy

Afghanistan’s newly-appointed deputy women’s minister Hosna Jalil is only 2...

Afghanistan’s newly-appointed deputy women’s minister Hosna Jalil is only 28, but she has made huge progress

Members of Mirman Baheer, a nationwide women’s literary society meet in an office in Kabul, the capital. Mirman Baheer meets in a different secret location each week.

How Poetry Societies Are Giving Women in Afghanistan a Voice During Coronavirus Lockdown

On a frosty February morning in Kabul, Lima Aafshid’s face glows in the pal...

On a frosty February morning in Kabul, Lima Aafshid’s face glows in the pale blue light of her smartphone. She is reciting the words of 13th century Afghan poet Jalaluddin Rumi. Speaking in Dari, her...

Nurses with newborns at Ataturk hospital in Kabul on May 13, 2020. These newborns were rescued during an attack on a maternity clinic a day earlier.

‘They Came to Kill the Mothers.’ After a Devastating Attack on a Kabul Maternity Ward, Afghan Women Face Increased Dangers

Published in partnership with The Fuller Project, a non-profit newsroom tha...

Published in partnership with The Fuller Project, a non-profit newsroom that reports on issues impacting women. When Fawzia Rawof heard gunfire and screams, she knew there were only three options: run, hide—or die. The doctor...

A U.S. Army helicopter flies outside of Camp Shorab in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on September 11, 2017.

'I Didn’t Think We’d Get Out Like That.' Veterans Have Mixed Feelings as U.S. Withdraws Troops From Afghanistan

Most veterans of the 18-year war in Afghanistan wouldn't have predicted thi...

Most veterans of the 18-year war in Afghanistan wouldn't have predicted this was how the fightback after the attacks of 9/11 would end: with the U.S. President calling the conflict a waste of American blood...

US President Donald Trump (L) and Vice President Mike Pence (C) observe the dignified transfer of two US soldiers killed in Afghanistan, at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, on Feb. 10, 2020.

President Trump's Disgraceful Peace Deal with the Taliban

There is a difference between peace and retreat. The Trump administration’s...

There is a difference between peace and retreat. The Trump administration’s agreement with the Taliban represents a full retreat. It’s an agreement that most Republicans would deplore if a Democrat president made the deal, and...