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3 weeks ago | 
rferl.org | Malali Bashir |Abubakar Siddique |A Thread' |Rikard Jozwiak
More than 800,000 Afghans who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover in 2021 live without papers in neighboring Pakistan. These undocumented Afghan refugees and migrants face a rapidly approaching deportation order issued by Islamabad requiring them to leave the country by March 31.
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3 weeks ago | 
rferl.org | Malali Bashir |Abubakar Siddique |A Thread' |Rikard Jozwiak
An American woman has been released by the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan after being detained since February, the second freeing of a US citizen in the past eight days. In a video posted by US President Donald Trump on March 29, Faye Hall said she had been released by the Taliban after being detained in the war-torn country last month. "I've never been so proud to be an American citizen," Hall said in the video.
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3 weeks ago | 
rferl.org | Todd Prince |Abubakar Siddique |A Thread' |Margot Buff
KYIV -- Russia and Ukraine exchanged drone strikes overnight, as Russian forces increased the intensity of attacks on the ground. In a statement, the Ukrainian Air Force said that, on the night of March 28, Russia launched 163 drones of various types. Of the 163 drones launched overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force claimed to have shot down 89 of them. According to the air force, 51 failed to hit their targets, most likely as a result of electronic warfare countermeasures.
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4 weeks ago | 
rferl.org | Todd Prince |Abubakar Siddique |A Thread' |Margot Buff
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s partners to be “at least as resilient as we are” in the face of conditions Russia has placed on the implementation of a Black Sea cease-fire agreement. Zelenskyy, speaking to journalists in Paris ahead of a meeting of European leaders on March 27, said he had agreed to proceed with cease-fire talks in Saudi Arabia to ensure a resumption of US aid and intelligence sharing.
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4 weeks ago | 
rferl.org | Malali Bashir |Abubakar Siddique |A Thread' |Rikard Jozwiak
The new school year started in Afghanistan on March 22, but for the fourth consecutive year, millions of teenage girls were barred from attending classes. Among them was Khalida, who was in the ninth grade when the Taliban seized power and banned education for girls above 12 years old. “The ban has had a big impact on my life,” Khalida, now 18, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “I used to spend all my time on my studies.
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4 weeks ago | 
rferl.org | Todd Prince |Abubakar Siddique |A Thread' |Margot Buff
Russia claimed it downed two Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and seven in other locations overnight, while the mayor of Mykolayiv, a Ukrainian port city near the sea, said emergency power cuts were implemented following reports of a Russian drone attacks in the area. Ukrainian officials also said Russia launched its biggest drone attack yet on the central city of Kriviy Rih and that in all, Ukraine's air defense units shot down 56 of 117 drones launched by Russia.
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1 month ago | 
rferl.org | Abubakar Siddique |A Thread' |Rikard Jozwiak |Farangis Najibullah
For over three years, Syed Abdul Samad Muzoon, a middle-aged former Afghan security official, has lived with his wife and their teenage daughter in Pakistan to pursue immigration to the United States. During Washington’s nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan, he worked for the Afghan security forces in sensitive roles, he said, helping the US war effort.
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1 month ago | 
rferl.org | Rikard Jozwiak |Abubakar Siddique |Farangis Najibullah |Ray Furlong
George Glezmann, an American who was released from detention in Afghanistan on March 20, has arrived in the United States and been reunited with his wife, a State Department spokesperson said. Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said on March 21 that Ryan Corbett, another former American prisoner in Afghanistan who had been held in the same cell as Glezmann, was in a welcoming party for Glezmann at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.
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1 month ago | 
rferl.org | Rikard Jozwiak |Abubakar Siddique |Farangis Najibullah |Ray Furlong
US citizen George Glezmann has been released from detention in Kabul following the first visit by a senior US official to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from the war-torn country in August 2021.
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1 month ago | 
rferl.org | Rikard Jozwiak |Abubakar Siddique |Farangis Najibullah |Ray Furlong
Jalal Shirzad grew up watching his home city of Mazar-e Sharif host the largest celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in Afghanistan every year, with thousands of people coming from all over the country to enjoy several days of festivities. The celebrations would be kicked off by an ancient flag-hoisting ceremony at a religious shrine famous for its blue tiles, followed by food fairs, music and dance parties, traditional sports games, and family picnics.
