ReportWire

Tag: afghanistan

  • Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar says

    [ad_1]

    Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It follows more than a week of fighting that has killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.Related video above: After historic hostage release, experts say lasting peace for Israel, Gaza is far from certainThe two sides agreed to establish mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability, as well as hold follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure the ceasefire’s sustainability, the Qatari statement said.Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan were in Doha for talks to resolve the deadliest crisis between them in several years. The talks were mediated by Qatar and Turkey.Both governments had sent their defense ministers to lead the talks, which Pakistan said would focus on “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the border.”Each country has said it was responding to aggression from the other. Afghanistan denies harboring militants who carry out attacks in border areas.Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have called for calm, as the violence threatened to further destabilize a region where groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, are trying to resurface.A 48-hour ceasefire intended to pause hostilities expired Friday evening. Hours later, Pakistan struck across the border.Pakistani security officials confirmed to The Associated Press Saturday that there were strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.The targets were hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. One said the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a security forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there were no civilian deaths, they said.But Afghan officials said the aerial assaults killed at least 10 civilians, including women, children and local cricketers. The attacks prompted the national cricket board to boycott an upcoming series in Pakistan.On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika. They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticized the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan. It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbor and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.””The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.___Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sajjad Tarakzai in Islamabad, and Riaz Khan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

    Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It follows more than a week of fighting that has killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.

    Related video above: After historic hostage release, experts say lasting peace for Israel, Gaza is far from certain

    The two sides agreed to establish mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability, as well as hold follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure the ceasefire’s sustainability, the Qatari statement said.

    Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan were in Doha for talks to resolve the deadliest crisis between them in several years. The talks were mediated by Qatar and Turkey.

    Both governments had sent their defense ministers to lead the talks, which Pakistan said would focus on “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the border.”

    Each country has said it was responding to aggression from the other. Afghanistan denies harboring militants who carry out attacks in border areas.

    Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have called for calm, as the violence threatened to further destabilize a region where groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, are trying to resurface.

    A 48-hour ceasefire intended to pause hostilities expired Friday evening. Hours later, Pakistan struck across the border.

    Pakistani security officials confirmed to The Associated Press Saturday that there were strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.

    The targets were hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. One said the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a security forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.

    The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there were no civilian deaths, they said.

    But Afghan officials said the aerial assaults killed at least 10 civilians, including women, children and local cricketers. The attacks prompted the national cricket board to boycott an upcoming series in Pakistan.

    On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika. They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.

    Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticized the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”

    Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.

    The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.

    Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan. It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbor and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.

    Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.”

    “The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sajjad Tarakzai in Islamabad, and Riaz Khan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Afghanistan withdraws from cricket series after it says local players killed in Pakistan air strike

    [ad_1]

    Afghanistan will no longer take part in an upcoming cricket series after it says three players in a local tournament were killed in an air strike.

    The Afghan Cricket Board (ACB) said it would withdraw from November’s tri-nation T20 series out of respect for the three, who did not play for the national team, who it said were “targeted” in an “attack carried out by the Pakistani regime” on Friday evening.

    Advertisement

    The strike hit a home in Urgon district in eastern Paktika province, where the cricketers were eating dinner together after a match, eyewitnesses and local officials told the BBC.

    Eight people were killed, the ACB said. Pakistan said the strike targeted militants and denied attacking civilians.

    The ACB named the three players who were killed as Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon, calling their deaths “a great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family”.

    The attack came hours after a temporary truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan was due to expire following days of deadly clashes on the border between the two nations. Dozens of casualties have been reported.

    Advertisement

    Pakistan said it had targeted Afghan militants in the air strike and that at least 70 combatants had been killed.

    Pakistan’s Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar said claims that the attack targeted civilians are “false and meant to generate support for terrorist groups operating from inside Afghanistan”.

    On Saturday, large crowds of people were seen gathering at the funeral for the strike’s victims.

    In a social media post, Afghan national team captain Rashid Khan paid tribute to the “aspiring young cricketers who dreamed of representing their nation on the world stage”.

    Advertisement

    Other players for the Afghan national side joined the tributes, including Fazalhaq Farooqi who said the attack was a “heinous, unforgivable crime”.

    [BBC]

    The strike came after Pakistani officials said seven soldiers were killed in a suicide attack near the Afghan border on Friday.

    The 48-hour truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which began on Wednesday at 13:00 GMT, has reportedly been extended to allow for negotiations.

    An Afghan delegation arrived in the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday for peace talks with the Pakistani side.

    The Taliban government said it would take part in the talks despite “Pakistani aggression”, which it says was Islamabad’s attempt to prolong the conflict.

    Advertisement

    Former Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai said Pakistan should “reconsider its policies, and pursue friendly and civilised relations” with Afghanistan.

    Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Saturday that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif would lead the country’s delegation in Doha.

    It said the talks will focus on ending cross-border terrorism and restoring peace and stability on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Afghans on humanitarian parole now face deportation under Trump

    [ad_1]

    Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, some 200,000 Afghans have found refuge in the U.S. Most were given “”humanitarian parole”” to stay in the country. But the Trump administration has ended those protections and many now face deportation back to Afghanistan, where they fear Taliban retribution. Washington Post reporter John Woodrow Cox joins to discuss one such case.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Pakistan Conducts Airstrike in Afghanistan’s Kandahar, Afghan and Pakistan Officials Say

    [ad_1]

    (Reuters) -Pakistan carried out an airstrike in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province on Wednesday, Afghan and Pakistan officials said, as fresh fighting erupted between the neighbours.

    (Writing by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by YP Rajesh)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

    [ad_2]

    Reuters

    Source link

  • Among the Talibros

    [ad_1]

    Three hostages kneel in front of a camera, their hands tied behind their backs and their heads covered with black plastic bags that obscure their faces. Looming behind them is a group of bearded, glowering militants, dressed in tunics and turbans, some holding assault rifles.

    “We have one message for America,” the man standing in the middle says, with one hand resting on the shoulder of the kneeling figure in front of him, the other hand jabbing the air to emphasize his speech. To people of a certain age, this scene is immediately recognizable. The intense stares, the polemical script, the stillness of the kneeling bodies—it was all eerily reminiscent of the videos of Daniel Pearl and James Foley being beheaded by Islamic figures.

    Thankfully, this video took a different turn. The speaker removes the bag from the face of the man kneeling before him, who then proceeds to flash a Hollywood smile and give an emphatic thumbs-up. “Welcome to Afghanistan!” he says straight into the camera, after which a montage of Westerners posing for pictures in mountain glens and doing pullups on the barrels of tank guns starts to play.

    Yosaf Aryubi, an Afghan American in his late twenties, made the video as an advertisement for his travel agency, Raza Afghanistan, which organizes tours of the country. Aryubi, who splits his time between Afghanistan and California, plays the role of would-be executor, while Jake Youngblood Dobbs, an American travel influencer who was on a tour with Raza at the time, is the ersatz victim whom Aryubi unveils. The video is simultaneously a provocative advertisement for Aryubi’s company—as well as an encouragement for tourists to visit Afghanistan. The pro-Taliban social-media account @afghanarabc shared the post, indicating at least a bit of an official imprimatur for Aryubi’s stunt. (The account has also shared other English-language videos, including a clip from Tucker Carlson’s show, in which he positively contrasts Afghanistan’s punitive drug-treatment programs to those in America.)

    I hate to admit it, but when I first saw this video a couple of months ago, it made me laugh. The tonal whiplash gave it a nonsensical, dark irony, like something an especially cynical Tim Robinson would create. Youngblood and others even have an affectionate nickname for their hosts: Talibros. The dudes-rock montage that followed the execution sketch had some genuinely funny bits. Some guys are fooling around with an assault rifle that has “Property of U.S. Govt” etched on its side. “It’s an American souvenir,” someone jokes. “Oh, it’s not even on safety right now,” the white tourist holding the gun says before the entire group bursts out in the familiar laughter of a group of guys who are doing something stupid and dangerous and, therefore, hilarious.

    Still, the opening scene stuck with me, and, in the weeks that followed, I began to interpret it as something less funny and more sinister. Filmed beheadings were indelible images of the wars of my childhood and adolescence in the two-thousands, graphic pieces of contraband we sought out on bootleg websites. I felt queasy thinking back to those videos, a vivid response that I suspect was the goal of this crop of young influencers. Aryubi’s irreverent references to years of violence in Afghanistan are part of a growing library of irony-soaked travel content that simultaneously asks viewers to stop believing everything the mainstream media tells them about the country while also instructing them not to take what the influencers say too seriously. Call it Frommer’s for edgelords. Several other content creators have spent time travelling through Afghanistan, glowingly sharing stories about how men can still be men, given the Taliban’s preservation of traditional values. A few poke fun at Western assumptions of how women are treated in the country. The wildly popular American YouTuber Addison Pierre Maalouf—better known as Arab to his nearly two million subscribers—toured Afghanistan last winter. In one video, he and his companions visit a women’s market.

    [ad_2]

    T. M. Brown

    Source link

  • UN Agency Says 13.7 Million People Face Severe Hunger Due to Global Aid Cuts

    [ad_1]

    ROME (Reuters) -Almost 14 million people in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan risk severe hunger due to cuts in global humanitarian aid, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Wednesday.

    The WFP’s biggest donor, the United States, has slashed its foreign aid under President Donald Trump, and other major nations have also made or announced cuts in development and humanitarian assistance.

    “WFP’s funding has never been more challenged. The agency expects to receive 40% less funding for 2025, resulting in a projected budget of $6.4 billion, down from $10 billion in 2024,” the Rome-based agency said.

    A WFP report, titled “A Lifeline at Risk”, warned that cuts to its food assistance could push 13.7 million people from “crisis” to “emergency” levels of hunger, one step away from famine in a five-level international hunger scale.

    “The gap between what WFP needs to do and what we can afford to do has never been larger. We are at risk of losing decades of progress in the fight against hunger,” WFP executive director Cindy McCain said.

    “It’s not just the countries engulfed in major emergencies. Even hard-won gains in the Sahel region, where 500,000 people have been lifted out of aid dependence, could experience severe setbacks without help, and we want to prevent that,” she added.

    (Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

    [ad_2]

    Reuters

    Source link

  • ICE arrests Afghan man with brain cancer living in Lowell, despite work authorization

    [ad_1]

    LOWELL — When Ihsanullah Garay, 38, came to the U.S. from Afghanistan in the spring of 2021, he brought with him dreams of obtaining his doctorate in finance.

    Those dreams carried him to a university in New York City, his cousin, Abdul Ahad Storay, told The Sun. In the months following Garay’s arrival in the U.S., American troops in his home country would withdraw from the nearly two-decade-long war there and the oppressive Taliban regime would swiftly retake control.

    In the months that followed that, Garay would be diagnosed with a brain tumor, for which his doctors wanted urgent surgery.

    “I was there for his surgery. He needed chemotherapy, radiation and the doctors said he needed somebody to take care of him,” said Storay, who owns Lowell Computer on Central Street.

    Storay brought his cousin to live with him in Lowell while Garay underwent daily chemotherapy at Lowell General Hospital. Garay would eventually move back to New York, but after about six months, Storay said his cousin returned to Lowell because he felt he still couldn’t survive on his own. Garay got his own place this time, and worked by delivering food through apps like DoorDash and Grubhub to support himself.

    On Sept. 14, Garay was in the middle of delivering an order in Methuen when he got lost and had to ask for directions, Storay said, so he asked a man sitting in a car.

    “The guy asked him to show his documents, and when [Garay] argued, he said he was an [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agent,” said Storay.

    Storay said his cousin was in the U.S. legally, has work permits, a driver’s license and had applied for asylum. He fears that Garay will be returned to Afghanistan, where there is a written threat against him by the Taliban due to him having been an employee of the U.S.-backed government as a risk manager for a bank in the country.

    In a statement to The Sun on Saturday, ICE Boston spokesperson James Covington called Garay “an illegal alien from Afghanistan” and confirmed his Sept. 14 arrest in Methuen.

    “Garay lawfully entered the United States April 30, 2021 with permission to remain until September 7, 2021; however, he violated the terms of his lawful admission when he refused to leave the country. Garay will remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of his removal proceedings,” said Covington. “Under the leadership of President Trump and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, aliens residing in the United States unlawfully will be arrested and removed. ICE encourages aliens to self-deport using the [Customs and Border Protection] Home application.”

    Storay said his cousin had likely been brought to the ICE field office in Burlington before being sent to a facility in Rhode Island, where an immigration law firm had been representing him pro bono. Just a few hours after ICE sent its statement to The Sun, Storay said he learned his cousin was moved to a facility in Florida that same day.

    Storay also showed The Sun Garay’s current work authorization card, which was issued in  November 2024 and remains valid until 2029. While in custody, Storay said Garay is missing critical scans and appointments with his oncologist as he continues his fight with brain cancer.

    Storay is also from Afghanistan, but he arrived in the U.S. in 2017 and got his citizenship about a year and a half ago. While some in the Greater Lowell area from Afghanistan “are afraid to come out of [their] homes” amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, Storay said any worries he has about retaliation for speaking up are outweighed by his concern for his cousin.

    “It’s for him. I did not feel any worry. I had to do something for him,” said Storay.

    Garay was scheduled to appear in the Chelmsford Immigration Court on Oct. 16, Storay said, so when an immigration officer called him from the airport as they brought Garay to Florida, Storay questioned the timing.

    “They said it was because he needed medical facilities there,” said Storay, questioning why they didn’t just bring him to a hospital in Boston.

    “When you talk to him, you will feel he is dying at any time,” Storay later said of his cousin. “I don’t know how they don’t see that.”

    Storay said Monday afternoon he has not heard from his cousin since that phone call on Saturday.

    [ad_2]

    Peter Currier

    Source link

  • Pakistan Closes Border With Afghanistan Following Exchanges of Fire

    [ad_1]

    (Reuters) -Pakistan closed border crossings with Afghanistan on Sunday, Pakistani officials said, following exchanges of fire between the forces of the two countries. 

    Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani border posts late Saturday, with the country’s ministry of defence saying this was in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan earlier in the week.

    Pakistan said that it had responded with gun and artillery fire. Pakistani security officials said that a number of Afghan border posts were destroyed in retaliatory attacks. 

    The exchange of fire was mostly over on Sunday morning, Pakistani security officials said. But in Pakistan’s Kurram area, intermittent gunfire continued, according to local officials and residents.

    Pakistan’s two main border crossings with Afghanistan, at Torkham and Chaman, were closed on Sunday, local officials said. At least three minor crossings, at Kharlachi, Angoor Adda and Ghulam Khan, were also closed, local officials said. 

    There was no immediate comment from Kabul on the closing of the border. Afghanistan’s ministry of defence had previously said that their operation had finished at midnight local time. 

    “There is no kind of threat in any part of Afghanistan’s territory,” the Taliban administration’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Sunday. 

    Landlocked Afghanistan has a 2,600-km (1,600-mile) -long border with Pakistan. Islamabad accuses the Taliban administration of harbouring militants who attack Pakistan, a charge that Kabul denies. 

    The Pakistani airstrikes, not officially acknowledged by Islamabad, had targeted the leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group in Kabul on Thursday, according to a Pakistani security official. It is unclear if he survived.

    The TTP has been fighting to overthrow the Islamabad government and replace it with a strict Islamic-led system of governance. It has had a close relationship with the Afghan Taliban. 

    (Reporting by Mushtaq Ali, Saud Mehsud; additional reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; writing by Saeed Shah; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    [ad_2]

    Reuters

    Source link

  • German minister: Talks with Taliban on deportations ‘well advanced’

    [ad_1]

    Discussions between Germany and the Taliban on deportations of offenders to Afghanistan are “well advanced,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Thursday.

    In a debate in the German parliament, Dobrindt said “technical discussions” recently took place in Kabul with employees from his ministry.

    “I want to tell you that these talks are well advanced and we will continue along this path consistently,” the minister told lawmakers in Berlin. “Criminals have no place in Germany. We will regularly deport them to Afghanistan.”

    Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s administration has pledged to step up deportations since taking office in May.

    Contacts with the Taliban are controversial, as the German government does not officially maintain diplomatic relations with the Islamist organization, which returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

    The group is internationally isolated due to its disregard for human rights and women’s rights in particular.

    Since 2021, Afghan criminals have been deported from Germany on two occasions with the help of Qatar.

    According to Dobrindt, one issue in the Kabul talks was whether it would be possible to regularly deport people to Afghanistan using scheduled flights as well as chartered ones.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Man fears family ‘at risk’ over Afghan data breach

    [ad_1]

    An Afghan man who worked with British forces for nearly a decade has said he fears family members still in Afghanistan are at “very high risk” after a major data breach.

    It emerged in July that personal details of about 19,000 people who had asked to come to the UK to flee the Taliban were accidentally leaked in 2022.

    Ahmad, not his real name, who came to West Yorkshire with his wife and children in 2021, said he understood the Taliban had “all the information” on family members who had remained in Afghanistan.

    In a statement, a Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson said a review had concluded that being named in the leak was “highly unlikely” to mean someone was more likely to be targeted.

    Ahmad said before the summer of 2021, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan again, he had worked with the British military for almost 10 years.

    “No one thought the past regime would take over. We thought we had a bright future and there was lots of investment,” he explained.

    As the country fell to the Taliban, Ahmad said he received an email which told him he could go to Kabul Airport where, along with his wife and children, he would be airlifted to the UK.

    He said that once in the airport, things were calm: “No scare, no fear, because there was no Taliban.”

    Gagging order

    Ahmad’s mother, father and members of his extended family had accompanied him and his wife and children as they fled, but they were then separated due to a blast at the airport and Ahmad and his immediate family eventually had to leave without them.

    Ahmad said that once he was safely in West Yorkshire, he had applied for his extended family to join him, via what is known as the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, believing their lives were at risk due to his work for British forces.

    His fears for their safety then grew earlier this year when the media were first allowed to report details of the MoD data breach which had happened in February 2022.

    Details of the leak, the response and the number of Afghans granted the right to live in the UK as a result only came to light in July after a High Court judge ruled that a gagging order should be lifted.

    It emerged that the leak had contained the names, contact details and some family information of 19,000 people potentially at risk of harm from the Taliban.

    The leak had only come to light in August 2023, when the names of nine people who had applied to move to the UK appeared on Facebook.

    Defence Secretary John Healey made a statement to the House of Commons about the data breach in July 2025 [House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire]

    Ahmad said while he, his wife and children had built a new life in West Yorkshire, the picture was very different for those who had worked with the British forces and who remained in Afghanistan – and even more so for their families.

    He said their “futures went to zero within a week when the Taliban took over”.

    Ahmad said that until his extended family could join him in the UK, he feared for their safety in Afghanistan – especially following news of the data leak.

    He said one of his brothers-in-law had been arrested and killed by the Taliban, while another was tortured to the point of “insanity”.

    “I don’t know if it is because of me and my work, or something else, but when you watch the news in Afghanistan no one can speak out against the Taliban,” he said.

    “Once I saw the data breach, I understand why the Taliban has all the information about my family, why they were searching for each person I put on that list.”

    Ahmad said he wanted the UK government to get the rest of his family out of Afghanistan, along with everyone else whose data was leaked.

    He said he believed the data breach had put them all at “high risk”.

    Ahmad added that for females in Afghanistan, such as his sister, the situation was “very critical”.

    Their “hopes of being doctors, nurses, midwives and lawyers went to zero once the Taliban took control”, he said.

    ‘Incredibly alarmed’

    Sara De’Jong from the Sulha Alliance, which supports Afghans who worked for the British Army, said the data breach had a “huge impact” on the lives of people whose details were leaked.

    Ms De’Jong explained: “Normally, any other data breach – if an insurance company loses our data – we would have to be informed.

    “This wasn’t the case. People found out years later,” she said.

    Those affected were “incredibly alarmed and it made a lot of people who were safe in the UK worried about family at home”, Ms De’Jong said.

    She backed Ahmad’s calls, saying she would like to see the “interest of Afghans put front and centre – and that is something they are not confident has happened”.

    Ms De’Jong said she believed the MoD needed to restore confidence in the system as “the information the MoD is handling is extremely sensitive” and people needed to have confidence their data was being protected.

    An MoD spokesperson said: “We are committed to honouring the moral obligation we owe to those Afghans who stood with us and risked their lives, and we have brought nearly 36,000 individuals to safety under our Afghan resettlement schemes.

    “As the public would rightly expect, anyone coming to the UK must pass strict national security and eligibility checks before being able to relocate to the UK. In some cases people do not pass those checks.

    “The independent Rimmer Review concluded it is highly unlikely that merely being on the spreadsheet means an individual is more likely to be targeted, and this is the basis on which the court lifted its super-injunction.”

    Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.

    More on this story

    Related internet links

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Afghan man freed after viral arrest and over 100 days in ICE custody

    [ad_1]

    After a video of his arrest by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents went viral in June, Afghan Sayed Naser was released on September 26 following 106 days of detention.

    On July 17, Naser’s attorney Brian McGoldrick filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus requesting his immediate release. McGoldrick argued that “attempts to detain, transfer, and deport [Naser] are arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the law.”

    According to court documents shared with Reason, the government opposed the petition, but Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the Southern District of California scheduled a hearing of Naser’s habeas petition on September 25. McGoldrick told Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, that during the hearing, Curiel was “very inquisitive” and sounded “very friendly to our position.”

    On September 26, Curiel put out a summarized opinion ordering Naser’s immediate release. Curiel found that Naser “could not have been legally subjected to and detained” given his status at the time of his arrest, and that by revoking Naser’s parole without providing notification, the government had denied “his due process rights.”

    In an October 2 press conference, McGoldrick said that Naser was released at 9:45 p.m. last Friday, and added, “we’ve been celebrating ever since.” Naser expressed gratitude for all the Americans who supported his case, telling assembled press that his time in detention was “the hardest piece of my life.” “I thought that the time is stopped,” Naser said, adding that every day felt “like a month.” 

    When asked if his ordeal had changed his mind about wanting to be an American citizen, Naser replied, “I still believe in America. I do not feel betrayed. I feel hopeful because of how many Americans stood up for me when I was arrested.”

    McGoldrick also expressed gratitude for Naser’s supporters, particularly the volunteers who filmed Naser’s arrest, saying that without their documentation, “nobody would know what happened.”

    Following Naser’s release, Curiel has restored the terms of the parole Naser received when he legally entered the U.S. through the CBP One App in July 2024. Curiel has also ordered that “Respondents shall not cause [Naser] to be re-detained during the pendency of his removal proceedings without prior leave of this Court.”

    Now, Naser and McGoldrick must return to square one and prepare his asylum claim once more before a new judge in San Diego immigration court.

    The Taliban murdered Naser’s brother in 2023. A Special Immigrant Visa applicant who had worked with U.S. forces for two years during the Afghanistan War, Naser fled to Brazil in April 2024 and made his way to the U.S.-Mexico border. Like many parolees who utilized the CBP One App to claim asylum, Naser was told that his parole was revoked in a letter from the Department of Homeland Security in April.

    It was after presenting his asylum case in immigration court in June that Naser was arrested. The government said that Naser’s notice to appear had been “improvidently issued,” but provided no further information about their allegation. On June 26, a federal judge dismissed Naser’s asylum case, which placed him in expedited removal proceedings.

    While Naser’s release is a positive development, McGoldrick said he is now representing another Afghan, Habib, who is currently in ICE custody.

    Like Naser, Habib had entered the U.S. on parole in 2024. McGoldrick says that Habib had received work authorization and had filed an asylum claim when he was arrested on September 19. McGoldrick explained that Habib had been performing a delivery at a U.S. military base in California when base personnel noticed that he had a limited license.

    According to McGoldrick, base personnel called military police to the scene, and Habib was told that he could not depart the base until ICE arrived and took him into custody.

    Habib has a wife and two young children. With no money coming in, McGoldrick reports that Habib’s wife cannot afford rent and is facing eviction. McGoldrick is working pro bono on Habib’s case and filed a habeas petition for his release on September 29.

    After Naser’s release, VanDiver noted that while the judicial system has been successful in achieving assistance for Afghans in detention, the U.S. cannot go about rectifying “just one case at a time. We need Congress, companies, and citizens to step up.”

    [ad_2]

    Beth Bailey

    Source link

  • Afghanistan’s Bonn Consulate Staff Resign Over Accreditation of Taliban-Appointed Officials

    [ad_1]

    BERLIN (Reuters) -The staff of Afghanistan’s consulate in Bonn resigned this week in protest at Germany’s decision to accredit two representatives appointed by the Taliban government, denouncing the move as a threat to sensitive information about Afghans living in Germany.

    Only Russia has so far recognised the Taliban government that seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces staged a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.

    However, Germany’s accreditation of two diplomats in July represented a step forwards in bilateral relations.

    Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said then that the appointment had followed talks with Afghan authorities over the deportation of convicted criminals of Afghan nationality to their home country. These deportations resumed in August 2024.

    The two new representatives will help to coordinate further deportation flights, he said, as Germany seeks to crack down on migration, a topic that has pushed many voters to support parties on the far-right. 

    The Acting Consul of the Afghan consulate in Bonn, Hamid Nangialay Kabiri, posted a video to its website in which he announced the staff’s collective resignation.

    “Given the illegitimacy of the Taliban and their widespread violations of the rights of the Afghan people, this decision is unacceptable and poses a serious threat to the security of citizens’ sensitive documents and information,” he said.

    All documents, equipment and other assets would be handed to the German foreign ministry, he said.

    “We remain hopeful that we will soon witness a free Afghanistan governed by the rule of law and arising from the will of its people.”

    The German foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The Afghan embassy in Berlin could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Some 442,000 Afghan nationals live in Germany, which until recently had a relatively open door for migrants as well as an extensive asylum infrastructure.

    Russia recognised Afghanistan’s new Taliban government in July – a milestone for the Taliban administration as it seeks to ease its international isolation. China, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Pakistan have all designated ambassadors to Kabul, a step towards recognition.

    (Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

    [ad_2]

    Reuters

    Source link

  • Afghanistan’s Cellphone, Internet Services Down, Monitoring Shows

    [ad_1]

    KABUL -Afghanistan’s internet and mobile telephone services were down nationwide on Tuesday, residents and monitoring services said, but the Taliban administration offered no immediate explanation.

    In the past, the Taliban have voiced concern about pornography online, with authorities having cut fibre-optic links to some provinces in recent weeks, as officials cited morality concerns.

    NetBlocks, an international internet access monitoring organisation, said the internet was disconnected in phases.

    “Afghanistan is now in the midst of a total internet blackout as Taliban authorities move to implement morality measures,” NetBlocks said on its website. 

    (Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Saeed Shah; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    [ad_2]

    Reuters

    Source link

  • Taliban Release American Amid Talks With U.S. on Ties

    [ad_1]

    Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban released a U.S. citizen from custody, a display of goodwill by Kabul that comes when the country is in broader economic and political talks with the Trump administration.

    On Sunday, the Taliban released Amir Amiri, making him the fifth American to be released from Afghanistan this year. The talks, which were led by U.S. envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, were mediated by Qatar. Qatar enjoys a close security relationship with Washington and has been integral to the release of detained Americans.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    [ad_2]

    Tripti Lahiri

    Source link

  • American citizen released by Taliban after 9-month detention in Afghanistan

    [ad_1]

    Amir Amiri, an American citizen detained nine months ago in Afghanistan, was released Sunday and is on his way back to the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced.

    “Today we welcome home Amir Amiry, an American who was wrongfully detained in Afghanistan,” wrote Rubio in a social media post. “I want to thank Qatar for helping secure his freedom.”

    A source with knowledge of the release previously told CBS News that Qatari diplomats had coordinated with the office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs to facilitate it. After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, Qatar signed an accord to represent U.S. interests in the country. Before Amiri, it had helped secure the release of four other American citizens from Afghanistan earlier this year.

    Amiri was detained in December 2024. Qatar began negotiating for his release in March, at first arranging a meeting between Amiri and the U.S. Special Envoy Adam Boehler during his visit to Afghanistan, according to the source with knowledge of his release. Qatari diplomats monitored Amiri’s health and maintained close communication with U.S. officials throughout his detention, the source told CBS News.

    Amir Amiri, second from left, was released Sunday, Sept. 28, after he was detained for nine months in Afghanistan.

    Qatar Foreign Ministry


    Negotiations persisted for several months until Qatar reached a breakthrough this weekend, which resulted in Amiri’s release, the source said.

    Two American citizens were freed in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and the Taliban in January, one of whom, Ryan Corbett, had been abducted in 2022 while on a work trip. The Taliban agreed to release them from Afghanistan in exchange for Khan Mohammed, a Taliban figure who had been imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges, officials told the Associated Press at the time. 

    Another two Americans were released from Afghanistan in March. Faye Hall, who had been detained earlier in the year on charges of using an unauthorized drone, was arrested with a British couple who remained in Taliban custody, sources told CBS News after Hall’s release. The British couple, Peter and Barbie Reynolds, were freed earlier this month. Separately, American George Glezmann was also freed in March after being detained during a tourist visit to Afghanistan in 2022, in a move that the former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan called “a goodwill gesture” to President Trump by the Taliban. 

    Emily Mae Czachor

    Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social justice. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Harris recalls stun over Biden’s botched debate response about fallen service members in Afghanistan

    [ad_1]

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris revealed in her new political memoir, “107 Days,” that she was stunned by then-President Joe Biden’s debate response about his administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which left 13 service members dead. 

    Biden’s debate performance against Donald Trump in 2024 was viewed as an abject failure, with the Democratic president tripping over his words, losing his train of thought and displaying a raspy voice attributed to a cold during the event. 

    Harris argued that Biden whiffed an easy question on the military and omitted any acknowledgment of the 13 U.S. service members who died during the Afghanistan withdrawal. She also pointed to his claims that he was “the only president this century” and “this decade” who did not have any troops “dying anywhere in the world.” 

    KAMALA HARRIS REJECTS IDEA THAT BUNGLED ‘VIEW’ INTERVIEW WAS TIPPING POINT IN CAMPAIGN

    Harris in her book, however, identified those who were killed as “13 marines,” — except it was not all Marines who died during the withdrawal. Eleven Marines, one soldier and one Navy corpsman were killed in a suicide bombing at the Kabul Airport’s Abbey Gate. 

    Harris explained in her book that Biden first faced a question on the economy during his debate in June 2024, which she said was rushed, with Biden showing “no light in his eyes, no expression in his voice.”

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris published a book Sept. 23, 2025, recapping her experiences on the 2024 campaign trail while also taking shots at former President Joe Biden.  (Saul Loeb/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

    The next question was on the military, and included Biden omitting an acknowledgment of the horrific attack that plagued his administration as one of its greatest failures. 

    “He’s got so much material on this—Trump calling our fallen soldiers ‘suckers and losers,’” Harris wrote of what ran through her head when Biden was asked about his role as commander-in-chief. 

    KAMALA HARRIS BREAKS SILENCE ON BIDEN DROPOUT, ADMITS SHE HAS REGRETS ABOUT HER HANDLING OF SITUATION

    President Biden at debate

    President Joe Biden during his debate against President Donald Trump June 27, 2024, in Atlanta.  (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    “He managed to get off that line but had stepped on it earlier by saying no one had died in wars overseas on his watch, seeming to forget the thirteen marines who died in the bomb blast at the airport during the evacuation of Afghanistan. I’d been on Air Force Two when it happened, and we had to change our flight plan to get back to DC in the face of that tragedy. How could he overlook that day?” she wrote, expressing her surprise over the response, but misidentifying those who were all killed as members of the Marines Corps. 

    “I know his deep feelings for those men and women. It’s personal to him,” she added. 

    KAMALA HARRIS REVEALS WHAT BIDEN TOLD HER JUST BEFORE CRUCIAL DEBATE WITH TRUMP THAT LEFT HER ‘ANGRY’

    Afghan Taliban

    Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Aug. 14, 2024. (Siddiqullah Alizai/The Associated Press)

    The Biden administration repeatedly came under fire for its handling of the Afghan withdrawal. It was viewed as paving the road for adversaries such as Russia to invade Ukraine, as the U.S. looked weak on the international stage, critics such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at the time. The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan upon the U.S.’ withdrawal. 

    The families who lost loved ones during the botched withdrawal previously slammed Biden and Harris for their deaths, including launching a scathing defense attack against Harris when she was running for president. Parents and other loved ones claimed that the “administration killed my son” and that they “have not seen any support from you or your administration.”

    KAMALA HARRIS COMPLAINS ABOUT ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ LACK OF SUPPORT FROM BIDEN’S COMMS TEAM, INNER CIRCLE

    Biden added fuel to the fire of the botched withdrawal criticisms when he appeared on a tarmac during a dignified transfer ceremony of those killed in 2021 and was seen looking at his watch. 

    Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’ office for comment on the section of the book, including a response as to why Harris stated the 13 service members were all identified as “marines,” but did not immediately receive responses. Biden’s office declined to comment. 

    Former Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House

    Then-Vice President Kamala Harris listens during an event with President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sept. 26, 2024. (Susan Walsh, File/AP Photo)

    Harris’ book, “107 Days,” hit store shelves Tuesday and reflects on the former vice president’s truncated presidential campaign cycle after Biden dropped out of the race amid mounting concern over his mental acuity. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Harris is set to go on tour promoting her book in cities such as New York, San Francisco and London. 

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Today in History: September 27, Taliban take power in Afghanistan

    [ad_1]

    Today is Saturday, Sept. 27, the 270th day of 2025. There are 95 days left in the year.

    Today in history:

    On Sept. 27, 1996, the Taliban, the extremist Islamic movement in Afghanistan, drove the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul, the capital, and executed former President Najibullah.

    Also on this date:

    In 1779, John Adams was named by Congress to negotiate the Revolutionary War’s peace terms with Britain.

    [ad_2]

    The Associated Press

    Source link

  • How

    [ad_1]

    The new documentary “Bodyguard of Lies” from See It Now Studios looks back at America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, featuring testimony from government insiders and newly released footage. John Sopko, the former Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, joins “CBS Mornings Plus” for more.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Taliban rejects Trump’s bid to take over Afghan air base that U.S. controlled for almost 20 years

    [ad_1]

    The Taliban government on Sunday rejected U.S. President Trump’s bid to retake Bagram Air Base, four years after America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan left the sprawling military facility in the Taliban’s hands.

    Mr. Trump on Saturday renewed his call to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram, even saying “we’re talking now to Afghanistan” about the matter. He did not offer further details about the purported conversations. Asked by a reporter if he’d consider deploying U.S. troops to take the base, the president demurred.

    “We won’t talk about that,” Mr. Trump said. “We want it back, and we want it back right away. If they don’t do it, you’re going to find out what I’m going to do.”

    Mr. Trump followed up with a social media post saying “If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” 

    On Sunday, chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected Mr. Trump’s assertions and urged the U.S. to adopt a policy of “realism and rationality.”

    Afghanistan had an economy-oriented foreign policy and sought constructive relations with all states on the basis of mutual and shared interests, Mujahid posted on X.

    It had been consistently communicated to the U.S. in all bilateral negotiations that Afghanistan’s independence and territorial integrity were of the utmost importance, he said.

    “It should be recalled that, under the Doha Agreement, the United States pledged that ‘it will not use or threaten force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Afghanistan, nor interfere in its internal affairs,’” he said. The U.S. needed to remain faithful to its commitments, he added.

    Mujahid did not reply to questions from The Associated Press about conversations with the Trump administration regarding Bagram and why Mr. Trump believed the U.S. could retake it.

    ‘Ceding Afghan soil is out of the question’

    Earlier Sunday, the chief of staff at the Defense Ministry, Fasihuddin Fitrat, addressed Mr. Trump’s comments. “Ceding even an inch of our soil to anyone is out of the question and impossible,” he said during a speech broadcast by Afghan media.

    In August last year, the Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of their takeover at Bagram with a grand military display of abandoned U.S. hardware, catching the eye of the White House. Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, for his “gross incompetence” during the withdrawal of U.S. forces after the country’s longest war.

    Mr. Trump last week, during his state visit to the United Kingdom, hinted that the Taliban, who have struggled with an economic crisis, international legitimacy, internal rifts and rival militant groups since their return to power in 2021, could be game to allow the U.S. military to return.

    “We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,” Mr. Trump said of the Taliban. While the U.S. and the Taliban have no formal diplomatic ties, the sides have had hostage conversations. An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist was released by the Taliban in March.

    The Taliban also said they reached an agreement with U.S. envoys on an exchange of prisoners as part of an effort to normalize relations between the United States and Afghanistan.

    They gave no details of the detainee swap, and the White House did not comment on the meeting in Kabul or the results described in a Taliban statement. The Taliban released photographs from their talks, showing their foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, with Mr. Trump’s special envoy for hostage response, Adam Boehler.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Trump says ‘bad things’ will happen if Afghanistan’s Taliban does not return Bagram air base

    [ad_1]

    “If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN,” US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post.

    US President Trump said on Saturday that if Afghanistan does not give back control of the Bagram air base to the United States, “bad things” will happen.

    “If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

    Trump said on Thursday that the United States had sought to regain control of the base used by American forces following the attacks of September 11, 2001. He told reporters on Friday that he was speaking with Afghanistan about it.

    The withdrawal of American forces in 2021 led to a takeover of the base by the Islamist Taliban movement.

    Afghan officials have expressed opposition to a revived US presence.

    A Taliban soldier enters a helicopter at Bagram Air Base in Parwan, Afghanistan, September 23, 2021. Picture taken September 23, 2021. (credit: WANA VIA REUTERS)

    Taliban foreign ministry calls for bilateral engagement

    “Afghanistan and the United States need to engage with one another … without the United States maintaining any military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” Zakir Jalal, an Afghan foreign ministry official, said in a post on X on Thursday.

    This is a developing story.

    [ad_2]

    Source link