‘It was heaven nearly everywhere’: Veteran traveller shares his incredible photo album from a 1970s road trip in a Citroen 2CV through Syria, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan before the Taliban

Syria, Iran and Afghanistan are considered high-risk for Westerners to visit today – but when one European travelled around them in the 1970s, he discovered ‘heaven nearly everywhere’. Dutch native Frank van den Berge, 73, took incredible photographs of his time in these countries, showing Afghanistan before the Taliban, Iran in an era when people … Read more

Taliban Sends Female Victims Of Gender-Based Violence To Prison

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has been sending female abuse survivors to prison while claiming that it is for their “protection,” a new United Nations report has revealed. These survivors of gender-based violence are sent to prison in case they don’t have a male guardian or a male relative with whom they could feel “safe”. … Read more

Donors Pay Afghan Health Workers While Number of Female Doctors Shrinks

Since the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan in 2021, the nation’s public health sector has been on life support, with foreign aid agencies stepping in to pay health workers and sustain hospitals and local health centers. The country’s donor-dependent economy has teetered on the brink of collapse as foreign donors cut off development assistance … Read more