Month: June 2026

Spirale der Vergeltung zwischen Afghanistan und Pakistan

nd, 29 June 2026 For the Berlin-based daily, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig summarises the results of Pakistan most recent airstrikes on three Afghan provinces, in an alleged attempt to attack TTP hideouts but mainly hitting civilians, as confirmed by the UN. He also looks at the background of the Pakistani-Afghan conflict: the colonial and – by […]

29 Jun 2026

After the Schools Closed: For some Afghan girls, learning happens on the airwaves

Rohullah Sorush • Roxanna Shapour •

One of the first things the Taliban did after returning to power in August 2021 was to ban girls from going to school beyond grade six. Nearly five years later, the ban remains in place. For many, the classroom they had sat in only days before was suddenly out of reach. In this instalment of The […]

28 Jun 2026

‘We were beaten, robbed, and left in a snowstorm’: Afghan migrants allege mistreatment at the Turkish border

BBC Turkish service, 27 June 2026 Afghan migrants accused Turkish border forces of beating, robbing and abandoning them in freezing weather near the Iranian border, leaving 11 people with amputations and at least 20 others dead, according to a BBC Afghan Forensic investigation published by BBC’s Turkish service. The investigation is based on interviews with […]

27 Jun 2026

Returning to Uncertainty: How Afghan returnees from Pakistan are struggling to rebuild their lives

Nur Khan Himmat • Jelena Bjelica •

Some six million Afghans have been forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan since September 2023, almost half of them in 2025, making it one of the largest return movements of any nationality in recent decades. 2.26 million people returned from Pakistan, one million in 2025 alone, amid an intensifying deportation campaign launched in September 2023 […]

24 Jun 2026

Untergrundschulen und Online-Kurse: Trotz Taliban-Verboten halten Aktivist*innen in Afghanistan Nischen offen, in denen Frauen und Mädchen weiter Zugang zu Bildung haben

Thomas Ruttig •

Südlink, June 2026: Article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig for the German NGO INKOTA Network’s north-south magazine (in German), looking at the last niches kept open by activists for women and girls to still be able to access education in Taleban-ruled Afghanistan: underground schools and online courses. While the former are illegal, although often Taleban officials […]

22 Jun 2026

The Geometry of Fear and the Lie that There Is No Alternative to the Taliban

Hasht-e Sobh, 17 June 2026 A very interesting analysis (which, however, does not tell us where those alternatives to the Taleban are), which uses AAN analyses of ISKP in the part which says that the group’s atrocities “must not be used to bury the truth and whitewash the Taliban.” AAN sources used: Source 1: Afghanistan […]

17 Jun 2026

Afghan Students in Pakistan: Lost dreams or a life in the shadows?  

Rama Mirzada •

Afghans studying in Pakistan had hoped they might avoid the collective expulsions that, since 2023, have upended life for over two million Afghans living there. However, as the scope of deportations has widened, students have found themselves unable to get study visas. Some have already been detained by Pakistani police and deported. Others have managed, […]

17 Jun 2026

Pakistan’s Drone Strikes Are Hitting Afghan Civilians

New Lines Magazine, 16 June 2026 On-the-ground reportage by Afghan journalist Fazelminallah Qazizai on the civilian victims of Pakistan’s – so far – penultimate air strikes on Afghanistan in mid-June 2026. His conclusion: … what stands out most clearly on the ground is this: So far, nearly all of Pakistan’s strikes inside Afghanistan have targeted civilian […]

16 Jun 2026

The Decline of Ashar: How collective labour is fading in rural Afghanistan

Sharif Akram •

For generations, the tradition of ashar – voluntary, unpaid communal labour – was one of the strongest expressions of solidarity in rural Afghan society. Whether harvesting a neighbour’s wheat, building a home or cleaning an irrigation canal, ashar bound together families, villages and tribes through reciprocal obligation. This tradition has sharply declined across much of southeastern Afghanistan […]

7 Jun 2026

Water, Climate and Survival in Afghanistan: A dossier of reports on the environment 

AAN Team •

The pressures on Afghanistan’s environment are increasingly urgent as the climate crisis bites. Our last dossier of reports on this subject was published in November 2022 when Afghanistan – one of the lightest emitters of greenhouse gases and also one of the hardest hit by climate change – had no representation at the international COP27 gathering (because of the […]

3 Jun 2026

Hell on earth for Afghan women: From the ban on education to the legal rape of girls

El País, 2 June 2026 This report in a leading Spanish daily looks at the situation of Afghan women in the context of the recent Taliban “Code on Judicial Separation of Spouses.” The report quotes AAN’s Rachel Reid: One of the Taliban’s first decisions upon returning to power was to suspend the Constitution, which, among […]

2 Jun 2026

June 2026 Monthly Forecast Afghanistan

Security Council Report, 1 June 2026 This report focusses on two Afghanistan-related activities of the UN Security Council: first, the renewal of the UNAMA mandate which is under pressure by the US which reportedly intends to ‘streamline’ the mission and has already recently been extended for a limited period only, and second, the UN resolution […]

1 Jun 2026