Afghanistan

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Women’s rights have been quashed since the Taliban retook Afghanistan during August 2021.

‘Gender apartheid’: Why we can’t forget the women of Afghanistan

Afghani men are now permitted to beat their wives as long as it does not cause “broken bones or open wounds”.

  • Liz Gooch

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‘Arrogant powers’: How the era of the ayatollahs began

Iran’s leader Ali Khamenei has been killed in a strike by the US and Israel. Here’s how he and his predecessor came to power – and held on to it.

  • Angus Holland
Local residents and civil defence workers look on as a bulldozer clears the rubble of a house hit by a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, on February 22.

Pakistan says it’s in ‘open war’ with Afghanistan. What’s behind the latest fighting?

Markets, mosques, airports, military bases and police stations have been hit and dozens of people have been killed in border clashes.

  • Lucy Craymer, Saad Sayeed and Asif Shahzad
Australian SAS soldiers in Afghanistan.

‘Not justice’: RSL blasts delay in resolving Afghanistan war crimes allegations

The nation’s peak veterans’ organisation argues delays are sapping morale and unfairly smearing those who have served in uniform. 

  • Matthew Knott
Ben Roberts-Smith and Nick McKenzie outside the Federal Court in Sydney last year.

Nine loses bid to keep settlement with Ben Roberts-Smith’s lover secret

The media company sought a 50-year suppression order over a settlement it reached with a woman who gave evidence against Roberts-Smith in his defamation case.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
Trump meets King Charles at Windsor Castle during his British state visit last year.

King’s concerns over Trump’s Afghanistan slur relayed to White House

An intervention from the King is thought to have influenced the president’s decision to walk back remarks that British soldiers avoided the conflict’s front line.

  • Poppy Wood and Victoria Ward
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Albanese must demand apology for Trump insults

Readers criticise Donald Trump’s suggestion that non-US armed forces (including Australia’s) held back from front-line fighting in Afghanistan.

Donald Trump did not apologise directly for his original comments, nor retract them.

‘Great and very brave’: Trump backtracks on NATO troop comments

The US president has heaped praise on British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan in a partial reversal of comments that drew a cascade of criticism from allies.

  • Pan Pylas
U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer look at each other as they shake hands during a press conference at Chequers near Aylesbury, England, Thursday Sept. 18, 2025, at the conclusion of President Trump’s second UK state visit, with the previous one taking place in 2019 during his first presidential term. (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP)

Trump triggers fury in Europe over ‘insulting’ Afghanistan claim

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the US president should apologise for claiming allied troops “stayed a little back”, as Prince Harry joined in the condemnation.

  • David Crowe
Sayed Anas Hashemi, now aged 3, has been separated from his family since he was a month old.

Facing a terrible choice, Husna handed over her sleeping newborn. She hasn’t held him since

The last time she saw her son he was bundled in blankets. Now the twisting saga to reunite them has hit another dead end, thanks to a snap decision by Donald Trump.

  • Anna Griffin