Afghanistan Archives - TPR: The Public's Radio

A crowd gathers outside Kabul's Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, where the United Nations says an airstrike killed more than 100 people on March 16.

NPR

As Pakistan and Afghanistan declare truce, civilians in Kabul count the cost of war

by Fazelminallah Qazizai March 19, 2026March 19, 2026

At the Emergency Hospital, dozens crowded around a thick book to check the names of the victims killed in an airstrike on a rehabilitation center. The U.N. says over a hundred people were killed.

Residents and Taliban police gather the remains of a projectile at the site of a strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 13.

NPR

Afghanistan says 400 people killed in Pakistan strike on Kabul hospital

by The Associated Press March 16, 2026March 16, 2026

Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of targeting a hospital for drug users in the Afghan capital with an airstrike, marking a dramatic escalation of a conflict that began late last month. Pakistan has dismissed the accusation.

Illustration for a story on girls who disguise themselves as boys in Afghanistan

NPR

Why young girls are disguised as boys in Afghanistan

by Ruchi Kumar March 9, 2026March 9, 2026

The Taliban has released a video of an interrogation of a girl who passed as a boy. It’s an age-old practice in this patriarchal society but now appears to be happening with some frequency.

NPR

Pakistan’s defense minister says that there is now ‘open war’ with Afghanistan after latest strikes

by The Associated Press February 26, 2026February 27, 2026

Pakistan’s defense minister said that his country ran out of “patience” and considers that there is now an “open war” with Afghanistan, after both countries launched strikes following an Afghan cross-border attack.

A woman in Herat, wearing a burqa, This photograph taken on January 8, 2026 shows an Afghan burqa-clad woman walking with her child at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) centre inside a hospital in Herat. In the country of more than 40 million people, there are relatively few medical centres that can help treat malnutrition. Some families travel hundreds of kilometres (miles) to reach Herat hospital as they lack healthcare facilities in their home provinces.

NPR

For years the Taliban told women to cover up in public. Now they’re cracking down

by Fariba Akbari February 20, 2026February 20, 2026

At hospitals, at seminaries and on buses, the Taliban is stepping up enforcement of rules on women’s dress in the city of Herat.

Truck drivers eat on the ground by their stalled vehicles near Torkham, Pakistan, on Oct. 13, 2025. More than three months later, the Torkham border remains closed with no end in sight.

NPR

Pakistan-Afghanistan border closures paralyze trade along a key route

by Betsy Joles February 10, 2026February 10, 2026

Trucks have been stuck at the closed border since October. Both countries are facing economic losses with no end in sight. The Taliban also banned all Pakistani pharmaceutical imports to Afghanistan.

Afghan refugee girl Laylama is pictured during a September 2025 interview with AFP in Islamabad, where she was living after President Trump suspended refugee admissions to the U.S.

NPR

Republicans divided on policy toward Afghan immigrants after shooting

by Ximena Bustillo December 16, 2025December 16, 2025

The signs of Republican pushback come as President Trump has pursued a campaign of mass deportations and crackdown on migration from certain countries.

Pictures of National Guard members Andrew Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom, who were shot on November 26 in Washington, are displayed next to a picture of the suspect of the shooting, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, on the day of a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro and other authorities, in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 27, 2025.

NPR

Afghan CIA fighters, like National Guard attack suspect, face stark reality in U.S.

by Brian Mann December 10, 2025December 10, 2025

The fighters led by the CIA found themselves spiraling into despair because of what they saw as bureaucratic neglect and abandonment by the U.S. government. Among their ranks was Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the man charged with killing one National Guard soldier and seriously injuring a second after opening fire on them in Washington, D.C. on Thanksgiving Eve.

Afghan and US flags are raised as a policeman keeps watch during a ceremony to hand over security control in the rugged mountains of the Panjshir valley on July 24, 2011.

NPR

Some U.S. veterans say Trump asylum freeze puts Afghan allies at risk

by Brian Mann December 4, 2025December 4, 2025

After an Afghan national was charged with shooting two National Guard members, veterans who worked closely with Afghan refugees who were once frontline allies are scrambling to respond to the blowback.

Members of law enforcement, including the U.S. Secret Service and the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, respond to a shooting near the White House on November 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. Two West Virginia National Guard members were shot blocks from the White House.

NPR

Afghan suspect in DC National Guard attack appeared to suffer personal crisis

by Brian Mann December 1, 2025December 1, 2025

Rahmanullah Lakanwal an Afghan national, is accused of shooting two National Guard soldiers on November 26. One of those soldiers, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died from her wounds.