The Taliban has arrested four young Afghan men for "promoting alien culture” because they wore outfits like those of the leading male characters in the British historical crime drama Peaky Blinders.
The Taliban announced in August that it had destroyed over 20,000 musical instruments in Afghanistan in the past year. The extremist group considers instruments un-Islamic and permits only unaccompanied singing. In an interview with RFE/RL, an exiled Afghan musician condemned the move.
U.S. authorities say they have arrested an Afghan citizen and charged him with conspiring to conduct a terrorist attack on Election Day in the United States in the name of the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group. Experts say the case highlights the growing threat posed by IS-K to the West.
The wife of a French-Afghan journalist held in custody by the Taliban in Afghanistan says she's deeply concerned for his physical and mental well-being. Aleksandra Mostovaja told RFE/RL's Zhakfar Ahmadi that she had spoken to her husband Mortaza Behboudi only once since his detention in January.
Afghan authorities have made arrests and are investigating the alleged rape of a minor girl at a madrasah in a conservative northwestern province of Afghanistan.
Violence, threats, harassment, taboos and uncertainty has forced some 100 Afghan women journalists to abandon the profession with some even fleeing the country.
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.
Thousands of families have fled while tens of thousands more face worsening conditions as Afghan forces and the Taliban fight over a key provincial capital in northern Afghanistan.
An impoverished couple in the western Afghan city of Herat are trying to sell their kidneys to pay off their debts.
Afghanistan's national unity government is undergoing trying times as it confronts defections, political opposition, and a major national assembly to decide the future political system for the country this year.
Afghan authorities are troubled by a new radio station that has been broadcasting antigovernment propaganda in the eastern province of Nangarhar and seeking recruits for the militant group Islamic State.
A seasoned observer says the Taliban capture of a provincial capital in Afghanistan aims to replenish its arsenal.
A northern Afghan province is being ravaged by armed gangs some of whom were once involved with providing security to reconstruction projects in the region.
Despite years of protests in Afghanistan and relentless lobbying by Kabul, the execution of Afghan prisoners, mostly on drug smuggling charges, is on the rise in Iran.
Afghan authorities are investigating a presidential candidate over allegations that he used force and threats against journalists when an interview about his presidential ambitions turned personal.
