Mehrdad Mirdamadi | RFE/RL Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter. I’m Mehrdad Mirdamadi, a senior editor and journalist at RFE/RL’s Radio Farda. Here’s what I’ve been following and what I’m watching out for in the days ahead. The Big Issue […]
Women Protest Iran’s Hijab And Chastity Day By Removing Their Veils In Public
By RFE/RL’s Radio Farda | – Iranian women’s rights activists posted videos of themselves publicly removing their veils on July 12 to coincide with National Day of Hijab and Chastity. The videos appeared on social media networks as women — and in some cases men — expressed their opposition to Iran’s law mandating that women […]
Free Her Face’: Male Afghan Journalists Don Masks, Express Solidarity With Female Colleagues
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi | – (RFL/RE ) – Male Afghan TV presenters have donned face masks on air in a show of solidarity with female colleagues who were ordered by the Taliban to cover their faces. The Taliban issued a decree earlier this month that ordered women to cover their faces in public by […]
Iran: The Killing Of Revolutionary Guards Colonel Could Complicate Rapprochement With the West
By Hannah Kaviani | – ( RFE/RL ) – I’m Hannah Kaviani, a senior broadcaster and editor at RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, filling in this week for senior correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following and what I’m watching out for in the days ahead. The Big Issue Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodaei, a shadowy figure […]
Afghanistan: Taliban Faces Rising Armed Resistance From Former Government Factions
By Abubakar Siddique | – ( RFE/ RL )- For nearly two decades, the Taliban launched an annual deadly spring offensive in a bid to regain the power it lost in 2001. As the snows melted in the Afghan mountains, Taliban fighters hastened their attacks on officials and troops of the pro-Western Afghan republic and […]
Historian Adam Michnik: Putin’s Invasion Of Ukraine Will End Like Brezhnev’s Afghan War, And Spark A ‘New Wave’
By Vadim Dubnov | – ( RFE/RL ) – Vladimir Putin “has driven Russia into a trap” by invading Ukraine, the former Polish dissident Adam Michnik has said, predicting ultimate defeat for the Russian leader and a chance for much-needed liberal reforms afterward. “In Russia, changes took place after wars were lost — after the […]
How The Coming Weeks Could Decide The Future Of The Ukraine War
By Reid Standish | – ( RFE/RL ) – This is not the war that Moscow was expecting. Ukrainian forces have put up stronger resistance than many military analysts predicted prior to Russia’s February 24 invasion, with Russian forces facing growing losses and a series of logistical setbacks that have left it regrouping and changing […]
Iran, China and Russia face Dilemma of Taliban Control of Afghanistan
By Ron Synovitz | – ( RFE/RL ) – The chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan and the lightning collapse of the internationally recognized government in Kabul in August spelled the end of the West’s nearly 20-year foothold in the war-torn country. Now, with the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan, other […]
Armed With Online Option, Afghan Girls Say ‘Bring It On’ When It Comes To Taliban Education Ban
By Michael Scollon of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi | – ( RFE/RL – Radio Azadi) – Hundreds of school-aged girls in Afghanistan are getting around the Taliban’s efforts to stymie their education by going online, giving them the opportunity to continue to learn everything from computer programming to sculpting to yoga psychotherapy. “It sends a clear […]
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