index afghanistan
[Link] SAS soldier denies colluding with Ben Roberts-Smith on evidence, defamation trial hears
Read: 6/5/2022 www.theguardian.com
A serving SAS soldier has denied in court that emails between him and Ben Roberts-Smith – including marked-up pictures of a compound in Afghanistan – demonstrated they had colluded on their evidence about a mission, during which the newspaper defendants allege two civilians were murdered.
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[Link] Ben Roberts-Smith to call ex-SAS member alleged to have committed war crime as his first reply witness in defamation trial
Read: 18/4/2022 www.theguardian.com
A former Australian SAS soldier alleged by three newspapers to have ordered the execution of an unarmed elderly man in Afghanistan will be the first witness-in-reply called by Ben Roberts-Smith in his war crimes defamation trial.
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[Link] Maya Assad's family has been stateless for generations, but that could soon change
Read: 10/4/2022 www.abc.net.au
For more than a year the engineer and her businessman husband had been jobless, as the economy in the country in which she was born and raised, Lebanon, imploded.
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[Link] Witness in Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial denies he is a ‘liar and a fantasist’
Read: 2/4/2022 www.theguardian.com
A former SAS soldier who testified that Ben Roberts-Smith ordered him to stage a mock execution of a comrade during a training drill has defended himself in court against accusations he was a liar and fantasist who was trying to justify his own failures as a soldier.
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[Link] 'Rumours expanded tenfold': Defamation trial hears a surprising comparison of elite SAS unit
Read: 13/3/2022 www.abc.net.au
But what they share, according to evidence heard in a Sydney court this week, is a propensity for rumours. The surprising analogy was drawn by a Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) witness at the defamation trial of war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith against three newspapers.
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[Link] The Taliban Have Wished Women a Happy International Women’s Day
Read: 9/3/2022 www.vice.com
The Taliban have wished women across the world a happy International Women’s Day, despite spending the last 6 months in power repressing Afghan women and crushing any dissent.
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[Link] Witness tells court he killed a Taliban fighter credited to Ben Roberts-Smith in Victoria Cross award
Read: 3/3/2022 www.theguardian.com
A soldier who fought alongside Ben Roberts-Smith at the battle of Tizak where Roberts-Smith won his Victoria Cross has told the federal court he killed one of the Taliban machine gunners credited to Roberts-Smith on his official VC citation.
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[Link] Roberts-Smith pressured me to lie about his affair, estranged wife tells court
Read: 14/2/2022 www.smh.com.au
The estranged wife of war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has told the Federal Court she discovered her husband was having an affair when his girlfriend turned up at the couple’s Sunshine Coast home with a black eye and told her she had been pregnant with his child.
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[Link] Ex-soldier charged with wife's murder granted home detention bail
Read: 31/1/2022 www.abc.net.au
WARNING: This story contains content that some people may find distressing. Antony Ogar, 58, is accused of murdering 37-year-old Cherry Gerente Ogar at their Port Hughes home last July.
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[Link] Trump attacks media and Mark Milley in foul-mouthed Mar-a-Lago speech
Read: 6/12/2021 www.theguardian.com
In remarks to diners at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday night, Donald Trump called the American media “crooked bastards” and Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, a “fucking idiot”.
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[Link] The Taliban has Decreed that Men and Women ‘Should Be Equal’
Read: 6/12/2021 www.vice.com
The Taliban has banned forced marriage in Afghanistan, decreeing – for the very first time – that “both (women and men) should be equal,” that women should not be considered “property” and that “no one can force women to marry by coercion or pressure.
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[Link] The Taliban Are Blacklisted by Facebook. Then Why Are They Allowed to Post?
Read: 2/12/2021 www.vice.com
For years, Facebook has prohibited the Taliban from using its platform under its counter-terrorist and hate group community standards.
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[Link] National Geographic green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ evacuated to Italy
Read: 27/11/2021 www.theguardian.com
National Geographic magazine’s famed green-eyed “Afghan Girl” has arrived in Italy as part of the west’s evacuation of Afghans after the Taliban takeover of the country, the Italian government said on Thursday.
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[Link] We Spoke to the Unlucky Company With the Same Name as the Investor of Taliban’s Marijuana Center
Read: 25/11/2021 www.vice.com
On Wednesday night, the Twitter account for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior Affairs (MOI) announced that a foreign company was investing $450 million into setting up a hashish processing factory within the country.
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[Link] Court blocks bid to release secret Ben Roberts-Smith report
Read: 23/11/2021 www.abc.net.au
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing The Age, Federal Capital Press and Fairfax Media, which reported serious allegations against him, including multiple unlawful killings in Afghanistan, which he denies.
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[Link] The deadly new risk Afghan women face: It starts with a strange phone call and can end with murder
Read: 22/11/2021 www.abc.net.au
Her body was found riddled with bullets alongside three other women who had also been killed. Ms Ayoubi is a journalist and activist who left Afghanistan over concerns for her own safety.
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[Link] Can Reaganism Rise Again?
Read: 15/11/2021 www.nytimes.com
For a long time, longer than I’ve held this job, my advice to Republican politicians and policymakers has been consistent: It isn’t the 1970s or 1980s anymore.
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[Link] The CIA’s Afghan Proxies, Accused of War Crimes, Will Get a Fresh Start in the U.S.
Read: 7/11/2021 theintercept.com
Before the Taliban took control of Kabul in August, the U.S.-backed Afghan commandos known as Zero units were the ghosts of the Afghan battlefield. Along with their CIA advisers, they were feared and, in recent years, virtually invisible.
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[Link] Ex-Nato head says Putin wanted to join alliance early on in his rule
Read: 4/11/2021 www.theguardian.com
Vladimir Putin wanted Russia to join Nato but did not want his country to have to go through the usual application process and stand in line “with a lot of countries that don’t matter”, according to a former secretary general of the transatlantic alliance.
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[Link] ‘Honest mistake’: US strike that killed 10 Afghan civilians was legal, says Pentagon
Read: 4/11/2021 www.theguardian.com
A US drone strike in Kabul in August that killed 10 Afghan civilians was a tragic mistake but did not violate any laws, a Pentagon inspector general said after an investigation.
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[Link] Afghanistan’s neighbours gather in Tehran to discuss its future
Read: 4/11/2021 www.aljazeera.com
Iran says the main goal of the event is to emphasise the call for the formation of an ‘inclusive’ government in Afghanistan.
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[Link] Behind a Billboard of Bowe Bergdahl, Khost Maintains Anti-Taliban Ways
Read: 4/11/2021 coffeeordie.com
KHOST, Afghanistan — It’s one of few stretches of road among these winding hills and twisting valleys that remains paved and intact, untouched by the two-decade war that crippled most of Afghanistan’s land arteries.
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[Link] The Taliban Have a Growing ISIS-K Problem
Read: 2/11/2021 www.vice.com
The Taliban face a growing insurgency from ISIS-K, a jihadist group inspired by Islamic State and founded by former Taliban fighters in early 2015.
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[Link] Reclusive Taliban supreme leader makes rare public appearance
Read: 1/11/2021 www.theguardian.com
The Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, made a rare public appearance in the southern city of Kandahar, Taliban officials announced on Sunday, contradicting widespread rumours of his death.
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[Link] Tucker Carlson Made a Jan. 6 ‘Documentary’ and it Looks Completely Unhinged
Read: 28/10/2021 www.vice.com
Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here. It’s come to this: Fox News and Tucker Carlson are producing a new documentary on the Capitol riot that appears to portray the insurrection as a false flag operation against Trump supporters.
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[Link] ‘Hard Not To Respect That’: Why White Nationalists Are Toasting the Taliban
Read: 21/10/2021 www.vice.com
When the Taliban captured Kabul in August, sealing a remarkable victory in its nearly 20-year war of attrition against the world's leading superpower, jihadist networks around the world erupted in jubilation.
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[Link] Ben Roberts-Smith’s backers at Seven commissioned secret report into war crime allegations, court hears
Read: 19/10/2021 www.theguardian.com
Ben Roberts-Smith’s TV station backers commissioned a secret report into war crimes allegations made against him by newspapers, the federal court has heard.
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[Link] Afghan embassies don’t recognise the Taliban
Read: 19/10/2021 www.economist.com
THE TALIBAN prevent girls from going to secondary school in Afghanistan. Yet the country’s ambassador to America is a woman. That is not because the group has decided that women’s rights are a good thing after all. It is just that they cannot replace her.
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[Link] Afghan refugee stabbed to death in London in front of schoolchildren
Read: 14/10/2021 www.theguardian.com
A teenage Afghan refugee was stabbed to death on a sports field in south-west London in front of schoolchildren playing rugby.The victim, named by the Evening Standard as 18-year-old Hazrat Wali, was attacked at about 4.
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[Link] Australia expresses ‘sorrow’ after Afghan army deserter Hekmatullah, who killed three ADF soldiers, set free
Read: 11/10/2021 www.theguardian.com
The Australian government has expressed “sorrow” after a former Afghan soldier convicted of murdering three Australian soldiers in Afghanistan was released from custody in Qatar.
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[Link] The Taliban says US will provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan
Read: 11/10/2021 www.abc.net.au
The US has agreed to provide humanitarian aid but refused to give political recognition to Afghanistan's new rulers, the Taliban says. The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the chaotic withdrawal of Coalition troops at the end of August.
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[Link] Afghanistan Fears Literal Darkness As Taliban Fails to Pay Electric Bills
Read: 5/10/2021 www.vice.com
There are fears Kabul could face a mass blackout, and a subsequent humanitarian crisis, if the Taliban don’t start collecting money for utility bills and paying the city’s electricity suppliers.
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[Link] With No U.S. Support, Leaders of Afghan Resistance Flee the Country
Read: 22/9/2021 theintercept.com
Ahmad Massoud, son of the late Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, fled to Tajikistan shortly after the Taliban seized control of the Panjshir Valley on September 6, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, a Pentagon consultant, and two former senior Afghan government officials.
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[Link] With just two ways to flee Afghanistan, this is what it's like at one exit
Read: 16/9/2021 www.abc.net.au
As Rohulla Sediqi and his wife and son emerged from a tunnel and squinted into the sun, they felt the tension slightly lift from their shoulders for the first time in a month.
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[Link] Taliban to give Al-Qaeda covert, not overt support: analysts
Read: 6/9/2021 www.france24.com
The Taliban will offer support to Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan more discreetly than during their first period in power when they openly embraced the terror network, analysts say.
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[Link] Biden sets himself apart by placing Afghanistan blame at predecessors’ feet
Read: 1/9/2021 www.theguardian.com
Victory speeches are easy; conceding defeat is much harder. On Tuesday, Joe Biden tacitly blamed his predecessors for the failure of America’s longest war but implied that, against all odds, one winner had emerged: him.
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[Link] Does the fall of Kabul increase the terror threat to the west?
Read: 1/9/2021 www.theguardian.com
In three days in earlier this month Islamist militants killed more than 120 civilians in a series of attacks in the Sahel, a belt of increasingly anarchic and violent territory across Africa, where such groups have gone from strength to strength in recent years.
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[Link] Women can continue working in Afghan government, say Taliban
Read: 1/9/2021 www.theguardian.com
Women can continue to work in government in Afghanistan but are not guaranteed cabinet or other senior positions, a Taliban spokesman has said.
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[Link] Afghanistan’s neighbours offered millions in aid to harbour refugees
Read: 1/9/2021 www.theguardian.com
Countries neighbouring Afghanistan have been offered millions in aid if they are prepared to temporarily harbour tens of thousands of refugees, prior to security checks clearing them for transit to Europe and the US, but Pakistan and other bordering states have warned they will not take more refugee
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[Link] Taliban Carry Coffins Draped With US Flag in Celebration of Their Victory
Read: 1/9/2021 www.vice.com
August 31 has been declared “Freedom Day” in Afghanistan by members of the Taliban, who celebrated the final departure of the United States by parading through the streets with coffins draped in American and NATO flags.
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[Link] The Taliban Captured Lots of Very Expensive Aircraft in Kabul. None of Them Work.
Read: 31/8/2021 www.vice.com
America’s longest war is over after 20 years following the final withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
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[Link] US Marines officer relieved of duties after video seeking ‘accountability’ over Afghanistan
Read: 28/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
A US Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who posted a video demanding accountability from military leaders over the evacuation of Afghanistan has been relieved of his duties and will leave US service, the Marines and the officer involved said on Friday.
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[Link] ‘Unprecedented’ numbers crossing from Afghanistan to Pakistan
Read: 28/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
An “unprecedented” number of people are travelling from Afghanistan to Pakistan through the official border crossing, according to local officials, as the carnage in Kabul after the airport suicide attack has driven more to try to flee the country.
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[Link] ‘We Will Hunt You Down’: Biden Promises U.S. Retaliation for ISIS Attacks in Kabul
Read: 27/8/2021 www.vice.com
President Joe Biden has indicated that the United States will retaliate against the ISIS-affiliated suicide bomb attacks at Kabul’s international airport on Thursday afternoon – promising to “hunt down” the terrorists responsible. At least 90 Afghans and 12 U.S. Service Members – 11 U.S.
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[Link] Who is ISIS-K, the Islamic State offshoot in Afghanistan that has the Taliban worried?
Read: 27/8/2021 www.abc.net.au
Deadly explosions have rocked the edge Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport overnight killing and injuring locals wanting to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban's takeover, as well as US military personnel trying to help the evacuation effort.
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[Link] The Unexpected Places the Taliban Got Rich From Before Taking Over Afghanistan
Read: 26/8/2021 www.vice.com
The extremist group made a staggering $1.6 billion last year, a key factor that helped them gain control of Afghanistan at lightning speed. On the streets of Kabul after the Taliban takeover, Afghans were running from one empty ATM to the next. Prices soared, the U.S. froze $9.
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[Link] Afghan Soldier Killed As Unknown Sniper Opens Fire at Kabul Airport
Read: 26/8/2021 www.vice.com
An unknown sniper opened fire on US and German troops guarding the entrances to Kabul airport killing an Afghan soldier and wounding three others on Monday.
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[Link] We Were With Afghan Soldiers as the Taliban Took Kandahar
Read: 26/8/2021 www.vice.com
Since the Taliban took control of Kabul earlier this month, a lot of the focus has been on the failures of the U.S.-trained Afghan military—why they seemed to put up little resistance to the Islamist extremists in some of the provinces, and then, finally, in the capital.
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[Link] YouTube says it bans accounts believed to be owned by the Taliban
Read: 26/8/2021 www.reuters.com
Aug 17 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube said on Tuesday it bans accounts believed to be owned and operated by the Taliban, as U.S. social media companies scrambled to publicly clarify their rules on the group that is in control of Afghanistan. After U.S.
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[Link] Twitter Refuses to Ban Taliban Accounts, Vows to Remain ‘Vigilant’ Moderating Content
Read: 26/8/2021 www.yahoo.com
Twitter will allow Taliban-affiliated accounts to continue using its platform despite its policies against glorification of violence and threats.
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[Link] WhatsApp Can’t Ban the Taliban Because It Can’t Read Their Texts
Read: 26/8/2021 www.vice.com
The Taliban have effectively taken control of Afghanistan, entering the capital Kabul as U.S. diplomats and allies flee the country.
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[Link] Taliban have captured more than 100 military helicopters, Russia says
Read: 26/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
The Taliban have captured more than 100 Russian-made helicopters in various states of operability, the head of a Russian state arms exporter has said, but will be largely unable to use them with little access to maintenance crews and spare parts.
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[Link] 2 ‘Moronic’ Congressmen Went to Kabul But No One Wanted Them There
Read: 25/8/2021 www.vice.com
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[Link] One of the World's Most Wanted Terrorists is Strolling Freely Through Kabul
Read: 23/8/2021 www.vice.com
One of the United States’ most wanted terrorists and a senior member of a group with strong ties to al-Qaida appeared in the Afghan capital of Kabul late last week.
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[Link] Nosedive in UK-US relations is another casualty of Afghanistan’s fall
Read: 23/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
So much for the special relationship. As the Afghanistan crisis has unfolded, it has precipitated a high-speed deterioration in Anglo-American relations.
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[Link] Fears of neo-Nazis in military ranks after ex-soldier’s passport cancelled
Read: 22/8/2021 www.theage.com.au
The first neo-Nazi to have his passport cancelled on national security grounds is a former Australian soldier, raising fears the Australian Defence Force is at risk of infiltration by extremists.
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[Link] Monsters, Inc: The Taliban as Empire’s bogeyman
Read: 22/8/2021 www.aljazeera.com
The dominant narrative on the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan erases the decades of imperial violence Afghans suffered.
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[Link] Biden Assured Allies in June U.S. Would Ensure Kabul’s Stability
Read: 22/8/2021 www.bloomberg.com
President Joe Biden told key allies in June that he would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan to ensure they could continue to operate in the capital following the main U.S.
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[Link] The Taliban Have Seized U.S. Military Biometrics Devices
Read: 22/8/2021 static-theintercept-com.cdn.ampproject.org
The Taliban have seized U.S. military biometrics devices that could aid in the identification of Afghans who assisted coalition forces, current and former military officials have told The Intercept.
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[Link] Australian military rescue mission to Afghanistan launched
Read: 18/8/2021 www.abc.net.au
An urgent and dangerous Defence Force mission to evacuate Australians and Afghans from Kabul’s besieged international airport has begun, with an RAAF transport aircraft flying out of the capital this morning.
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[Link] Afghanistan will be Asia's first narco-state
Read: 18/8/2021 thehill.com
The Taliban once again control Afghanistan, which means they also control the world’s premier source of opium.
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[Link] A Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 was able to land in and take off from Kabul on Monday despite chaos at the airport
Read: 18/8/2021 www.businessinsider.com
While military and civilian aircraft were scrambling to get out of Kabul, Afghanistan, one Turkish Airlines plane was trying to get in. Turkish Airlines flew what is likely its last flight to Kabul on Monday amid an exodus of civilians following the Taliban's rapid advance through the capital.
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[Link] British Student ‘Lord Miles’ Evacuated from Afghanistan
Read: 18/8/2021 www.vice.com
Miles Routledge, the 21 year old university student who traveled to Kabul on Friday just before the Taliban overthrew Afghanistan's government, has been evacuated to Dubai, according to updates and video he posted to his Facebook page.
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[Link] U.S. Government Politely Asks for Volunteers To Help Process Afghan Refugees
Read: 18/8/2021 www.vice.com
As shocking images of Afghans desperately clinging to airplanes destined for the U.S. and other allied countries played out on cable news, the Biden administration was scrambling to figure out what to do with the thousands of refugees expecting to come stateside.
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[Link] Human Remains Found in Landing Gear of Kabul Evacuation Plane
Read: 17/8/2021 www.vice.com
Human remains have been found in the landing gear of a U.S. Air Force plane that took off from the Kabul airport, after Afghans were seen clambering onto evacuating aircraft in a desperate attempt to flee the country.
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[Link] Swift Taliban takeover proves US and UK analysis badly wrong
Read: 17/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
Joe Biden could not have been clearer: a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was “not inevitable”, the US president said on 8 July.
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[Link] Expected Afghan influx reopens divisions over refugees in Europe
Read: 17/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
The fall of Kabul has reopened divisions over immigration in European countries as government leaders brace themselves for an inevitable surge in refugees.
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[Link] Coalition accused of being too slow to organise evacuation mission to Afghanistan
Read: 17/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
The Australian government has been accused of waiting far too long to organise a military evacuation mission to Afghanistan, as it sends 250 defence force personnel to the region in a last-ditch bid to help people flee the Taliban.
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[Link] The Panjshir Valley: what is the main bastion of resistance against the Taliban advance in Afghanistan
Read: 17/8/2021 marketresearchtelecast.com
Panjshir province and its valley, a hundred kilometers north of Kabul, once again became the main stronghold against the Taliban, after the rest of the 34 Afghan provinces, including the capital, fell into insurgent hands. on a quick offensive.
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[Link] Joe Biden says he stands by US withdrawal from Afghanistan
Read: 17/8/2021 www.abc.net.au
US President Joe Biden says he stands squarely behind his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, after the Taliban seized power in just over a week. Mr Biden said the collapse of the Afghan armed forces was quicker than anticipated, but insisted contingency plans were in place.
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[Link] This Taliban directive is a stark warning of what lies ahead for Afghan women and girls
Read: 16/8/2021 www.abc.net.au
Since the withdrawal of American and NATO forces from Afghanistan in July, the Taliban have swiftly taken control of large parts of the country. The president has fled and the government has fallen.
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[Link] As Taliban Forces Close In, Women Journalists Fear For Their Lives
Read: 15/8/2021 www.vice.com
Her voice cracked during the call every so often, but Zahra Joya carried on. “Sorry about the connection. The war, it seems, has impacted our phone connections and internet,” the 28-year-old journalist said over a call from Kabul.
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[Link] Taliban seize symbolic victory with capture of Kunduz
Read: 9/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
The Taliban have claimed a huge symbolic victory after their fighters seized a large city for the first time in northern Afghanistan as part of a seemingly unstoppable offensive in which they have captured four provincial capitals in just three days.
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[Link] Afghan refugee may lose permanent residency in Australia – for supplying identity document
Read: 9/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
Apermanent resident of Australia – an Afghan refugee who has lived in Brisbane for a decade – has been threatened with having his visa cancelled, and possible deportation, over an identity document the Australian government asked him to produce.
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[Link] Taliban assassinates Afghan government's top media officer in Kabul
Read: 8/8/2021 www.abc.net.au
The Taliban shot dead the head of the Afghan government's media information centre at a mosque in the capital, the ministry said, days after warning they would target senior administration officials in retaliation for increased air strikes.
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[Link] Federation of Anarchism Era on Iran and Afghanistan
Read: 8/8/2021 thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org
The collective we spoke to for this episode began as a series of remotely-hosted blogs and communication methods among Iranian anarchists at home and abroad.
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[Link] Afghan Interpreters Escaping the Taliban Are Being Flown to Canada
Read: 5/8/2021 www.vice.com
Flights carrying Afghani interpreters and support staff who helped the U.S. and Canadian militaries during the Afghanistan War touched down in North America over the past week, as a new Taliban offensive surges across the country.
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[Link] How an Islamic concept distorted by the alt-right is part of Ben-Roberts Smith’s defamation case
Read: 5/8/2021 www.crikey.com.au
A barrister acting for Ben Roberts-Smith has alluded to an obscure Islamic juridical concept — popularised by anti-Muslim alt-right figures — to discredit an Afghan witness describing alleged war crimes committed by Australian troops.
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[Link] Home affairs minister ordered into mediation with Afghan refugee detained in Australia
Read: 4/8/2021 theguardian.com
The Australian home affairs minister has been ordered into mediation with an Afghan refugee who assisted coalition forces during the Afghanistan conflict and remains in detention in Australia after eight years.
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[Link] Afghanistan stunned by scale and speed of security forces’ collapse
Read: 14/7/2021 www.theguardian.com
Last autumn, with the departure of American troops from Afghanistan looming after the US signed a withdrawal deal with the Taliban, several of the most senior security officials in Kabul urged President Ashraf Ghani to make some hard choices.
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[Link] Australian Federal Police launch investigation into Ben Roberts-Smith over fresh allegations
Read: 15/4/2021 www.sbs.com.au
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