Afghanistan

Country: Afghanistan

2015 was a troubled year for Afghanistan. With the Taliban and IS achieving temporary success within the country, NATO was forced to revise its troop withdrawal plans. A report by Waslat Hasrat-NazimiMore

Afghanistan: the Taliban′s Kunduz offensive: "There's nothing left to keep me here"After the Taliban attack on Kunduz: Lacking political vision Afghan refugees in Iran: Treated like second-class citizens

Zebulon Simentov, the last Jew in Kabul blows the shofar horn (photo: Reuters)

Judaism in Afghanistan

Kabul's one remaining Jew

Afghanistan's Jewish minority currently consists of one single Jewish man. But the nation on the Hindu Kush has a unique Jewish history that has been largely forgotten after years of conflict. By Emran FerozMore

Interview with Afghanistan expert Thomas Ruttig: "The violence threshold is low"Afghanistan: the Taliban′s Kunduz offensive: "There's nothing left to keep me here"After the Taliban attack on Kunduz: Lacking political vision

Buchcover "Auf der Flucht" von Karim El-Gawhary & Mathilde Schwabeneder; Quelle: Kremayr und Scheriau Verlag

Book review: ″Auf der Flucht″ by Karim El Gawhary and Mathilde Schwabeneder

Born in the wrong place

″Auf der Flucht″ by Karim El Gawhary and Mathilde Schwabeneder tells stirring and disturbing real-life tales of people who have lost everything. Martina Sabra read the bookMore

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Marina Golbahari stars a young women forced to pose as a boy named Osama in the feature film "Osama" (photo: Imago/Entertainment Pictures)

Book review: ″The Underground Girls of Kabul″

Boys for a time

Segregation calls for creativity – in Afghanistan, some parents simply pass off their daughters as boys. Fascinated by the idea, Swedish journalist Jenny Nordberg decided to record the results of her research. Marian Brehmer read the bookMore

Interview with oboist Demetrios Karamintzas: "These children deserve the same opportunities as children anywhere else"Human rights in Afghanistan: The power of women Interview with Ronja von Wurmb-Seibel: "My life in Afghanistan is more normal than people assume"

The German-Afghan photographer Lela Ahmadzai (photo: dpa)

Interview with the German-Afghan photographer Lela Ahmadzai

The undaunted women of Kabul

In her latest photo series, German-Afghan photographer and multimedia journalist Lela Ahmadzai documents the life of four Afghan women who are intent on leading self-determined lives, despite the social pressure to conform. An interview by Felix KoltermannMore

Book review: Christoph Bangert's "War Porn": We must not look away Photo essay: Afghanistan's modern past Interview with Ronja von Wurmb-Seibel: "My life in Afghanistan is more normal than people assume"

Arun Kundnani, author of ″The end of tolerance″ (Pluto Press) and ″The Muslims are coming! Islamophobia, extremism, and the domestic war on terror″ (published by Verso) (photo: Arun Kundnani)

Interview with Arun Kundnani

Violence comes home

After the Paris attacks, what are the logical and tragic consequences of a war with no geographical limits? In this interview, Arun Kundnani unveils and critiques the ramifications of the ″war on terror″, from the conservative and liberal rhetoric of the intellectuals and commentators who have emerged, to the theories of ″radicalisation″ which have fuelled counter-terrorism programmes in the WestMore

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Fighting Afghanistan's brain drain

Initiated by young Afghans, the "Afghanistan Needs You" campaign aims to stem the tide of those leaving the country. Their message: stay and invest in all our futures.More

Qantara-Dossier: Afghanistan

Refugees cross from Serbia into Croatia at Babska (photo: Reuters/D. Ruvic)

Migration and human rights

Refugee versus migrant: what's in a name?

″All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights″: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights couldn′t be much clearer. Still the political response to the current flood of refugees is inevitably proving insufficient. Pia Oberoi, advisor on migration and human rights with the UNHCR, examines the issueMore

Juergen Habermas awarded Kluge Prize for Philosophy: ″Asylum is a human right″Migration and xenophobia: Europe's refugee problem, then and now Afghanistan: the Taliban′s Kunduz offensive: "There's nothing left to keep me here"

An Afghan woman holds her new passport at the passport office in Kabul (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Bandari)

Afghanistan: the Taliban′s Kunduz offensive

"There's nothing left to keep me here"

The security situation in Afghanistan continues to escalate. After bitter fighting in Kunduz, the mood is also tense in Kabul. Meanwhile thousands of Afghans are leaving the country every day. Impressions from Kabul by Emran FerozMore

After the Taliban attack on Kunduz: Lacking political vision Interview with Afghanistan expert Thomas Ruttig: "The violence threshold is low""Islamic State" versus "Taliban Emirate": One caliph too many

A Syrian woman in Aleppo flees an air raid by Assad′s regime (photo: Khaled Khatib/AFP/Getty Images)

The global risks of an imploding Middle East

A region in flames

Among today′s geopolitical risks, none is greater than the long arc of instability stretching from the Maghreb to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. With the Arab Spring an increasingly distant memory, the instability along this arc is deepening. An analysis by Nouriel RoubiniMore

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German soldiers in conversation with village dwellers near Kunduz in 2011 (photo: dpa/picture-alliance)

After the Taliban attack on Kunduz

Lacking political vision

The blood-letting goes on in Afghanistan, and as usual, it is the civilians who are suffering most. Forced to shoulder the political burden, coalition troops in the country were unable to create the right conditions for peace. Commentary by Sandra Petersmann in KabulMore

Interview with Afghanistan expert Thomas Ruttig: "The violence threshold is low"Drone war in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Living in the shadow of the "angels of death"Afghanistan as the Western troop withdrawal nears: The failure of dialogue

The German philosopher, Juergen Habermas (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Juergen Habermas awarded Kluge Prize for Philosophy

″Asylum is a human right″

What holds society together and what's our role in it? Philosophers Juergen Habermas and Charles Taylor have recently been honoured in the US for their work on these issues. By Klaus Kraemer and Stefan RecciusMore

Refugee crisis in Europe: The price of European indifference Migration and xenophobia: Europe's refugee problem, then and now Syrian refugee children: A lost generation in the making

An unmanned US Predator drone flies over Kandahar Air Field, southern Afghanistan, on a moonlit night, 31 January 2010 (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/K. Wigglesworth)

Interview with journalist Chris Woods on drone warfare

"It's not risk-free war, it's displaced war"

For more than a decade now, the US has been using drones in warfare. During this time, thousands of people, especially civilians, have been killed by the unmanned machines. In this interview, Chris Woods, one of the leading investigative journalists on drone warfare, explains to Emran Feroz why use of drones is on the rise and what the consequences areMore

Drone war in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Living in the shadow of the "angels of death"Interview with the Pakistani Lawyer Mirza Shahzad Akbar: Fighting the injustice of the US drone programme The emergence of Islamic State in Pakistan: "They don't negotiate, they don't make partners"

Demetrios Karamintzas (photo: Demetrios Karamintzas)

Interview with oboist Demetrios Karamintzas

"These children deserve the same opportunities as children anywhere else"

Demetrios Karamintzas studied music at the Julliard School of Music in New York and is a professional oboist. Having worked with Daniel Barenboim's Barenboim-Said Foundation and the Al Kamandjati Music Schools in Palestine, he recently volunteered to teach at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul. Ceyda Nurtsch talked to him about teaching music amid poverty and terror attacksMore

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Members of the Baloch community protesting against the Pakistani government (photo: DW/A. Ghani Kakar)

The Baloch community in Pakistan and Iran

A forgotten conflict that is very much alive

Ever since colonial borders were drawn in Central Asia over 120 years ago, the Baloch people in both Iran and Pakistan have faced oppression and struggle – largely unnoticed by the international community. By Emran FerozMore

Minorities in the Islamic Republic: Fear of separatists Islam in Pakistan: The myth of the Muslim monolith Interview with Daniyal Mueenuddin: "Pakistan's instability is the world's instability"

Jamila, an elderly Hindu from North Waziristan, and her grandson in a shelter in Bannu, Pakistan (photo: Kiran Nazish)

Hindus in Pakistan

"I want to preserve my Hindu bloodline in North Waziristan"

All around the Islamic world, people are being forced from their homes for religious reasons or are fleeing religious violence and conflict. Many leave, intending never to return in the hope of being able to start a new life in a different country. Others, however, want to return home and carry on. Just like this elderly Hindu lady who wants to go back to the predominantly Muslim region of North Waziristan to rebuild her destroyed home and keep the Hindu population there alive. She told her story to Kiran NazishMore

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Country: Afghanistan

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