Malali Bashir is the managing editor of RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
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.
Mahmood Shah Habibi’s daughter hasn’t seen her father since she was 11 months old. That was in 2022, when the American was abducted in Kabul and detained by the Taliban’s intelligence agency, US officials say. “We have had no news of his fate for four years,” his mother told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
Millions of teenage Afghan girls were barred from returning to classes as the school year resumed in Afghanistan this month.
Afghan women face more than 100 restrictions -- controlling everything from their appearance and movement to their right to work and study. Those accused of violating the Taliban’s so-called "morality laws" are often detained and arrested by the Taliban.
Millions of women around the world have to fight for basic human rights. In places like Afghanistan, Iran, and the Balkans, the challenges women face vary, but they remain resilient. Under the Taliban’s rule, Afghan women are being erased from public life and denied basic freedoms.
Conflict and sectarian attacks have driven almost all of Afghanistan's Sikhs and Hindus from the country. Many have sought refuge in India where they have found safety but face economic hardship.
Receding foreign aid has directly impacted the lives of Afghans, many of whom are reeling from the devastating economic impact of the Taliban takeover.
Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. I'm Malali Bashir, senior editor for women’s programs at RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.
Through their art, eight Afghan women depict life under Taliban rule, leaving their homeland, and their aspirations for a better future.
Mahbouba Seraj, an Afghan women’s rights activist, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Even as many activists fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, Siraj remained in Kabul to operate a network of women’s shelters.
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.
In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, Afghanistan's former national security adviser details the fall of the Western-backed government.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has proposed a new peace plan to U.S. officials and the Taliban that envisages a snap presidential election within six months or a year right after a peace deal is signed with the militant group, a senior Afghan government official told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan.
With no officially sanctioned women's league to play in, a 16-year-old in Kabul has set up her own cricket team to get on the pitch.
During their rule in the 1990s, Afghanistan’s hard-line Taliban banned photography, television, and the Internet by declaring that taking pictures of living things was forbidden in Islam.
Hundreds of underage girls selling pens, calendars, plastic bags, tissues, books, magazines, and chewing gum to passing cars. While afflicted by poverty and misfortune, they have to put up with constant harassment.
Afghan authorities have issued arrest warrants for two members of an armed mob that stormed a police station and killed a young Afghan couple. The two suspects are the brother and the husband of the woman, in the latest brutal example of so-called "honor" killings.
On December 17, 2016, five women and their driver were gunned down and killed on their way to work at Kandahar International Airport. They were employed by a private company to carry out luggage and body searches for female passengers. Their names were Asila, Shafiqa, Noorzia, Najla, and Farida. They were individuals with unique aspirations, hardships, and histories.
After courting Islamabad for nearly 15 years, Washington is turning to India to help shore up Kabul through diplomatic engagement and military aid.
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!["The problem is not going to be solved if we don't sit down and talk [with the Taliban]," Mahbouba Serajshe, seen here in Kabul in April 2021, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. "We must have a country in which we can all live in."](https://gdb.rferl.org/42fab024-d8af-4aef-ae7f-305332ef6fbe_cx0_cy10_cw0_w100_r1.jpg)
!["The problem is not going to be solved if we don't sit down and talk [with the Taliban]," Mahbouba Serajshe, seen here in Kabul in April 2021, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. "We must have a country in which we can all live in."](https://gdb.rferl.org/42fab024-d8af-4aef-ae7f-305332ef6fbe_cx0_cy10_cw0_w66_r1.jpg)
