https://www.rferl.org Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is an international news organization serving Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, the Middle East and Balkan countries https://www.rferl.org/Content/responsive/RFE/en-US/img/logo.png https://www.rferl.org en Copyright 2026 - RFE/RL, Inc. 60 Wed, 19 Aug 2026 03:47:24 +0200 Pangea CMS – RFE/RL Malali Bashir, the managing editor of RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, recalls how she and her colleagues in Prague and Afghanistan covered the Taliban takeover of Kabul and collapse of the Afghan government on August 15, 2021. https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-takeover-kabul-rferl-remembers/33829677.html https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-takeover-kabul-rferl-remembers/33829677.html Sat, 15 Aug 2026 09:18:33 +0200 VideosAfghanistanThe Rundown Stories A senior Taliban official has been assassinated in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan, where violence has flared in recent weeks. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-badakhshan-assassination/33830288.html https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-badakhshan-assassination/33830288.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:15:54 +0200 NewsAfghanistanTajikistanThe Rundown Stories Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, due in large part to poverty, poor infrastructure, and inadequate health care. After five years of Taliban rule, international groups say the risks to mothers and babies are greater than ever. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-women-maternal-mortality/33825295.html https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-women-maternal-mortality/33825295.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:14:58 +0200 AfghanistanVideo ArchiveVideosThe Rundown Stories At least 23 people died and around 100 others are missing after floodwaters swept away buildings in Afghanistan's eastern Nuristan Province. Search crews hunted for survivors on July 21 in the provincial capital, Parun, but more heavy rain and flood warnings hampered their efforts. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-flooding-seep-away-homes-parun/33809146.html https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-flooding-seep-away-homes-parun/33809146.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 17:37:05 +0200 VideosAfghanistanVideo ArchiveThe Rundown Stories Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan five years ago as international military forces withdrew, the country's economy has sputtered, inflation has spiked, and international investment has all but dried up, leaving ordinary Afghans reliant on remittances from abroad to survive https://www.rferl.org/a/remittances-lifeline-afghanistan/33804312.html https://www.rferl.org/a/remittances-lifeline-afghanistan/33804312.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:39:04 +0200 AfghanistanFeaturesThe Rundown Stories Pakistani air strikes on Afghanistan were blamed for dozens of deaths in eastern areas of the country on June 29, according to Afghan authorities. Pakistan officials say the strikes targeted Taliban military sites, not civilian areas. RFE/RL has not been able to independently verify the claims. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-pakistan-air-strikes-casualties-deaths-border-taliban-hospital/33791351.html https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-pakistan-air-strikes-casualties-deaths-border-taliban-hospital/33791351.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:44:30 +0200 AfghanistanVideo ArchivePakistanVideos Afghanistan's Taliban leaders said Pakistani air strikes killed dozens in the border regions between the two countries that Islamabad claimed were being used by militants as bases to launch attacks on Pakistan. https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-strike-along-afghan-border-leave-dozens-dead/33791093.html https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-strike-along-afghan-border-leave-dozens-dead/33791093.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 11:13:34 +0200 NewsAfghanistanPakistanThe Rundown Stories Officials from Afghanistan's Taliban rulers held talks in Brussels for the first time on the repatriation of Afghans despite sharp criticism from rights groups that the European Union was legitimizing the hard-liners amid continued signs they are cracking down further on women. https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-taliban-meeting-outcry-activists-deportations/33787206.html https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-taliban-meeting-outcry-activists-deportations/33787206.html Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:08:09 +0200 NewsAfghanistanThe Rundown HeadlineEurope The Taliban has begun restricting the use of smartphones by government employees, although the order appears to be unevenly enforced across the country. In some areas, civilians' mobile devices have reportedly been targeted as well, sparking concern that the ban may eventually extend nationwide. https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-smashes-smartphones-as-restrictions-deepen-in-afghanistan/33785685.html https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-smashes-smartphones-as-restrictions-deepen-in-afghanistan/33785685.html Sun, 21 Jun 2026 17:46:11 +0200 VideosAfghanistanVideo ArchiveThe Rundown Stories The United Nations said it was “gravely concerned” by the arrests of at least 30 women in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat over the past week for allegedly violating a new dress code imposed by the Taliban government. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-women-hijab-un/33779247.html https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-women-hijab-un/33779247.html Fri, 12 Jun 2026 19:15:14 +0200 NewsAfghanistanThe Rundown Stories Afghanistan’s Taliban government used live fire to disperse a protest in the western city of Herat over new restrictions on women, eyewitnesses told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-women-afghanistan-new-restrictions/33776929.html https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-women-afghanistan-new-restrictions/33776929.html Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:47:56 +0200 AfghanistanNewsThe Rundown Stories Afghan Talliban forces used gunfire to disperse a women’s rights protest in the western city of Herat on June 9 after residents demonstrated against the recent arrest of women accused of violating the mandatory dress code. One eyewitness said at least one person was killed. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-women-protest-dress-code-shooting/33776891.html https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-women-protest-dress-code-shooting/33776891.html Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:17:27 +0200 AfghanistanVideo ArchiveVideosHuman Rights Afghanistan's Taliban authorities have closed down three local radio stations in the latest move in an ongoing crackdown that has seen the country's media landscape decimated since the militant group seized power for a second time in 2021. https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-closes-radio-stations-media-clampdown/33764361.html https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-closes-radio-stations-media-clampdown/33764361.html Mon, 25 May 2026 15:08:13 +0200 NewsAfghanistanThe Rundown Stories Iran supplies about 90 percent of the world's saffron. But since Iranian authorities shut down Internet access at the start of the war two months ago, growers have been cut off from their usual clients in Europe and China. That has meant a windfall for Afghan saffron dealers. https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-saffron-farming-internet-shutdown-afghanistan/33747226.html https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-saffron-farming-internet-shutdown-afghanistan/33747226.html Fri, 01 May 2026 20:03:54 +0200 IranVideo ArchiveVideos Afghanistan's Taliban government announced the release and Dennis Coyle, a US citizen held for more than a year, after his mother plead for a pardon on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-taliban-release-us-citizen-coyle-rubio/33714600.html https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-taliban-release-us-citizen-coyle-rubio/33714600.html Tue, 24 Mar 2026 18:48:01 +0100 NewsAfghanistanThe Rundown Stories Afghans attended a mass funeral on March 18 for victims of an air strike that destroyed a drug rehab hospital in Kabul. Volunteers from the Afghan Red Crescent Society assisted with the burial of victims whose bodies were not claimed by relatives. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-funerals-hospital-bombing-kabul/33710095.html https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-funerals-hospital-bombing-kabul/33710095.html Wed, 18 Mar 2026 21:44:13 +0100 AfghanistanVideo ArchiveVideosThe Rundown Stories Doctors in Kabul treated the survivors of an air strike that destroyed a drug rehabilitation hospital late on March 16. Taliban leaders said Pakistan was responsible for the strike, which they said killed hundreds. Pakistan denied the claim, saying it had targeted military installations in Kabul. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-air-strike-rehab-hospital-pakistan/33709202.html https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-air-strike-rehab-hospital-pakistan/33709202.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 23:14:14 +0100 AfghanistanVideo ArchiveVideos At least 400 people were killed and 250 injured in a Pakistani air strike on a hospital in Kabul, the Afghan Taliban said, while Pakistan rejected the claims. https://www.rferl.org/a/at-least-400-dead-in-kabul-hospital-air-strike/33708653.html https://www.rferl.org/a/at-least-400-dead-in-kabul-hospital-air-strike/33708653.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 08:53:52 +0100 NewsAfghanistanPakistanThe Rundown Stories The United States has designated Afghanistan a “state sponsor of wrongful detention,” accusing the unrecognized Taliban government of holding American citizens as bargaining chips. https://www.rferl.org/a/us-designates-afghanistan-state-sponsor-wrongful-detention-taliban/33700635.html https://www.rferl.org/a/us-designates-afghanistan-state-sponsor-wrongful-detention-taliban/33700635.html Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:17:22 +0100 NewsAfghanistanThe Rundown Stories Pakistani war planes bombed Kabul just hours after Afghanistan and Pakistan traded strikes on each other in their volatile mountain border region as days of escalating tensions boiled over into what one senior official from Islamabad called "open war." https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-afghanistan-attacks-dozens-dead-border-region/33689094.html https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-afghanistan-attacks-dozens-dead-border-region/33689094.html Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:12:44 +0100 NewsAfghanistanPakistanThe Rundown Stories