https://www.scmp.com/rss/329912/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com As the world awakened earlier this month to the full severity of the coronavirus public health emergency, governments across the globe rushed to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan – the Chinese city at the epicentre of the outbreak. India, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran were among the countries taking part, but neighbouring Afghanistan was conspicuous by its absence from the evacuation effort. When 45 Afghan students stranded in Wuhan asked to be repatriated, the initial response... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3051933/coronavirus-comedy-do-bad-taste-jokes-disguise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3051933/coronavirus-comedy-do-bad-taste-jokes-disguise?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Feb 2020 07:00:10 +0000 Shafiq Did not know if he would never go home again, after escaping war in Afghanistan for a life in the refugee camps of Peshawar, Pakistan. The United States toppled the Taliban government in 2001, but even then his home country was in the grip of a terrible drought. By 2006, however, Shafiq had found hope enough to return – as a result of Dr Tetsu Nakamura’s efforts to bring water to Afghanistan’s previously dry lands. For nearly 30 years, Nakamura worked and lived in Afghanistan, helping... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3046588/afghanistan-remembers-japans-tetsu-nakamura-slain-doctor-who?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3046588/afghanistan-remembers-japans-tetsu-nakamura-slain-doctor-who?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Jan 2020 06:00:10 +0000 Joy was in short supply for Mohammad Imran. The high school senior studies in Afghanistan’s Gardez city, capital of the eastern province of Paktia; needing a break, he planned a short trip to his home village in the province’s Zurmat district. Once there, however, he was almost caught up in a battle between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents, and his trip back to Gardez was a struggle. His next attempt at recreation proved a lot more fruitful and a lot less potentially deadly – a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021788/how-cricket-gave-afghanistan-its-hope-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021788/how-cricket-gave-afghanistan-its-hope-back?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Aug 2019 01:30:14 +0000 At the turn of the millennium, vast tracts of Afghanistan were under the control of the Taliban – the fundamentalist militant movement that emerged from a civil war in the 90s to seize power and establish a self-styled Islamic emirate. While the Taliban ruled, television, music and cinemas were banned. Men were made to grow beards and women had to wear the all-enveloping burka. The group imposed a brutal version of sharia law that mandated public executions and amputations, and barred women from... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3006340/afghanistans-millennials-fear-peace-taliban?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3006340/afghanistans-millennials-fear-peace-taliban?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Apr 2019 05:16:29 +0000 Every AFTERNOON, as the neighbourhood of Pul-e-Surkh in the Afghan capital of Kabul starts to come alive, 10-year-old Breshna takes her bag of socks and chewing gum and starts working the local cafes, shops and supermarkets. In scrappy clothes and with hands numb from the cold, she walks from business to business bearing her items for sale – as well as the heartache of losing her mother and father. Breshna was six years old when her father died of cancer, thrusting her into a life of work while... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2180767/afghanistans-school-street-kids-and-singaporean-doctor-behind-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2180767/afghanistans-school-street-kids-and-singaporean-doctor-behind-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Jan 2019 10:04:35 +0000