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Afghanistan
Free Her Face': Male Afghan Journalists Don Masks, Express Solidarity With Female Colleagues

Free Her Face’: Male Afghan Journalists Don Masks, Express Solidarity With Female Colleagues

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

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
Iran: The Killing Of Revolutionary Guards Colonel Could Complicate Rapprochement With the West

Iran: The Killing Of Revolutionary Guards Colonel Could Complicate Rapprochement With the West

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

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
Afghanistan:  Taliban Faces Rising Armed Resistance From Former Government Factions

Afghanistan: Taliban Faces Rising Armed Resistance From Former Government Factions

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

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 […]

Afghanistan
Historian Adam Michnik: Putin’s Invasion Of Ukraine Will End Like Brezhnev’s Afghan War, And Spark A ‘New Wave’

Historian Adam Michnik: Putin’s Invasion Of Ukraine Will End Like Brezhnev’s Afghan War, And Spark A ‘New Wave’

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

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 […]

Russia
How The Coming Weeks Could Decide The Future Of The Ukraine War

How The Coming Weeks Could Decide The Future Of The Ukraine War

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

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 […]

Afghanistan
Iran, China and Russia face Dilemma of Taliban Control of Afghanistan

Iran, China and Russia face Dilemma of Taliban Control of Afghanistan

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

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 […]

Afghanistan
Armed With Online Option, Afghan Girls Say 'Bring It On' When It Comes To Taliban Education Ban

Armed With Online Option, Afghan Girls Say ‘Bring It On’ When It Comes To Taliban Education Ban

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

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 […]

Human Rights
Hacked Videos Force The Unthinkable In Iran: Official Admission Of Abuses At Evin Prison

Hacked Videos Force The Unthinkable In Iran: Official Admission Of Abuses At Evin Prison

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

( RFE/RL ) – Former inmates, their families, and human rights activists have long complained of mistreatment and torture at Evin prison, a notorious facility in Tehran that is a primary site for political detainees. Regular detainees, as well as surviving political prisoners and other perceived enemies of Iran’s postrevolutionary regime, have alleged torture and […]

Afghanistan
'Ready To Resist,' Residents Of Last Anti-Taliban Stronghold, Panjshir, Brace For Uncertain Future

‘Ready To Resist,’ Residents Of Last Anti-Taliban Stronghold, Panjshir, Brace For Uncertain Future

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Farangis Najibullah | – ( RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi) – As Afghanistan’s last major bastion of anti-Taliban resistance gears up for new fighting against the hard-line Islamist group, there has been an outpouring of support for the effort from residents of the Panjshir Valley. But they are also concerned about the prospect of a prolonged […]

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