Ruchi Kumar

Many provinces have seen an ex­cep­tion­al­ly cold win­ter, with tem­per­a­tures drop­ping to as low as -21 de­grees Cel­cius.

Alia, an Afghan men­tal health pro­fes­sion­al, said the Tal­iban’s ban on women work­ing with NGOs hurts the vul­ner­a­ble.

The Tal­iban’s de­ci­sion to sus­pend women from ac­cess­ing high­er ed­u­ca­tion has ex­tin­guished a rare source of hope for many.

In Afghanistan, pub­lic flog­gings and ex­e­cu­tions bring back mem­o­ries of harsh Tal­iban rule in the 1990s.

Call for fund­ing grows for diplo­mat­i­cal­ly iso­lat­ed Afghanistan, which is fac­ing dis­as­ters be­cause of cli­mate change.

Women had strug­gled long and hard for the right to di­vorce, but since the Tal­iban’s takeover, the sit­u­a­tion wors­ened.

A judge and a pro­fes­sor say they de­cid­ed to stay back – de­spite threats and ad­verse con­di­tions – to help oth­er Afghans.

While new regime has not di­rect­ly fired fe­male gov­ern­ment em­ploy­ees, it has re­strict­ed women from en­ter­ing work­places.

For­mer of­fi­cials es­caped to lux­u­ry homes in Dubai and the US while mil­lions of Afghans live in mis­ery.

Sanc­tions and the chal­leng­ing ter­rain of af­fect­ed ar­eas make it hard to pro­vide rapid in­ter­na­tion­al aid to sur­vivors.