Taliban

Whatever happened to ... the young Afghan musicians who fled after the Taliban took over?

7:54am September 03, 2024

Nearly 300 young musicians, their teachers and staff from their music school fled Afghanistan in fear for their lives as the Taliban took power. NPR caught up with them during their U.S. tour,

The Taliban has a history of supporting the use of stoning as a punishment for "moral crimes" — reiterated in a statement this year by their supreme leader. Above: In 2015, Afghan Solidarity members gather in Kabul to protest Taliban militants who stoned an Afghan woman to death in the Taliban-controlled area outside Firozkoh, the capital of central Ghor province. She was accused of adultery.

Health & Safety

Taliban affirms that stoning will be punishment for adulterers — especially women

11:52am May 08, 2024

by Ruchi Kumar

In a recording, the group's leader declared: "We will flog the women ... we will stone them to death in public [for crimes]." What does Islamic law say on the matter? And have stonings taken place?

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Matiullah Wesa, a girls' education advocate, reads to students in Spin Boldak district in Kandahar province of Afghanistan on May 21, 2022. The Taliban have freed the Afghan activist who campaigned for the education of girls, a local nonprofit organization said Thursday. Wesa was arrested seven months ago and spent 215 days in prison, according to the group, Pen Path.

Afghan girls' education advocate is freed from Taliban prison

1:33pm October 26, 2023

by The Associated Press

Matiullah Wesa was arrested and spent 215 days in prison. He has been outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school. The Taliban bar girls from school beyond the sixth grade.

Afghan residents clear debris from a damaged house after an earthquake in the Zendeh Jan district of Herat province on Oct. 7.

Health & Safety

Quakes killed thousands in Afghanistan. Critics say Taliban relief efforts fall short

7:01am October 25, 2023

A series of devastating quakes has taken thousands of lives and left thousands more homeless. Aid specialists say the Taliban lacks the equipment and experience to help the survivors.

Matiullah Wesa, cofounder of the education charity PenPath in Afghanistan, speaks to children during a class next to his mobile library in a district of Kandahar Province. Wesa and his brother were among the Afghan men who have called for the Taliban to reverse its bans on higher education for girls. He was arrested in March and has been held in prison since then with no formal charges.

He demanded higher ed for Afghan girls. He was jailed. Angelina Jolie targets his case

12:23pm August 21, 2023

by Ruchi Kumar

It's been 5 months since Matiullah Wesa, an activist who urged an end to Taliban bans on girls' education, was arrested. Media attention has faded. Now Angelina Jolie is making a plea in his behalf.

In 2022, a man in Kabul covered his face to protect his identity, as he showed his harmonium musical instrument. The Taliban have begun to burn these instruments, and others.

Opinion: The Taliban is cracking down on music, and joy

9:30am August 12, 2023

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on two years since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, including the recent burning of musical instruments and equipment.

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Shafi Amani and his daughter, Yousra, 3, in Alexandria, Va., on Aug. 3, 2023.

How one Afghan family made the perilous journey across the U.S.-Mexico border

11:54am August 09, 2023

Kabul fell to the Taliban close to two years ago, but desperate Afghans continue to flee, even taking the dangerous route into the U.S. across the Mexican border. Here's the story of one such family.

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Relatives and mourners gather around the caskets of victims who were killed in Sunday's suicide bomber attack in the Bajur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Monday, July 31, 2023.

World News

The death toll in the Pakistan suicide bombing rises as families hold funerals

5:29am July 31, 2023

by The Associated Press

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's bombing, which killed dozens and wounded nearly 200 people.

An Afghan beautician applies makeup to a client at a beauty salon in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Health & Safety

'I am crying at my salon': Taliban orders Kabul beauty parlors to shut down

9:54am July 14, 2023

All beauty salons in Kabul must close by the end of July. These businesses are one of the few places where women can work and congregate under the Taliban regime.

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A woman walks past beauty salons with window decorations that have been defaced in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021.

World News

The Taliban say they are outlawing women's beauty salons in Afghanistan

4:09am July 05, 2023

by The Associated Press

The announcement is the latest curb on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls, following edicts barring them from education, public spaces and most forms of employment.