Andrew North
@NorthAndrew
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My book on Afghanistan 'War+Peace+War' out soon, with drawings too. Pre-order below. Contributor to The Economist. Ex-BBC in Kabul, Baghdad, Delhi, Washington
Joined January 2011
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Excited to announce that the proofs of my book are in and here's the cover. Counting down to publication this summer. Watch this space for more details on how and where to buy it!
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So far it looks like Western sanctions on Afghanistan are far tougher than those imposed on Russia
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Still horrifying chaos at Kabul airport. Deaths reported this morning, children among injured. US troops firing tear gas. Two families I'm in contact with who had visas, correct papers etc forced to turn back again. WH/Pentagon make it sound like order is returning. Clearly not
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Another Afghan family who tried to get into Kabul airport this morning with a valid invite letter/pass had to retreat because of the violent crush and panic. Now hearing US has closed all gates. Biden's claim that things getting under control is total fantasy
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Back home now + overwhelmed by how much effort went into securing our release, a week after we were detained in Kabul. Thank you. It will take a while to respond. But
@McConnellAndrew
, our brave Afghan colleagues and I are so grateful.
#Afghanistan
is on my mind. More soon
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The body language of victory. A picture that tells the story Afghans have been trying to get the world to listen to for the past 20 years
Pakistani ISI Chief Faiz Hameed just arrived in Kabul Serena Hotel. Told me he was here to meet Pakistani Ambassador - wouldn’t say he was meeting Taliban leadership (but he must be of course!)
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A prayer for Afghans in 2022: a people who know better than most that nothing is permanent, and everything is fragile, but who keep having that lesson thrust on them
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Happy Nowruz to friends in Afghanistan and around the world
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Pakistan, which has pulled off the feat of being both the Taliban's main sponsor and a U.S. ally, was no longer being coy about where its real allegiances lay. My take for
@nikkeiasia
with comments from
@husainhaqqani
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The tears of so many Afghans today, not just the girls barred from school
TOLOnews’
@SepehrSebghat
breaks down while discussing the recent ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan. How can these events not get to them? We remain proud of our colleagues for their professional and dignified approach to daily news (and for not losing their humanity)
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Eid Mubarak to friends in Afghanistan, and friends celebrating everywhere else when it comes! (an old photo from springtime Salang)
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I know, more landing in Kabul shots. But the mountains are always stunning
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‘Worse, politicians in France, Germany and Italy want the Ukrainians to give up territory to appease Russia and stop the war. “Why not give up Lake Como?” asks the pundit Hanna Shelest.’ Another bullseye from
@edwardlucas
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An entrance to Kabul airport that’s now infamous as the Abbey Gate. The place where at least 200 men, women and children were killed on 26/8, three months ago today, after a suicide bomber detonated in the crowd of people trying to get onto evacuation flights. A thread 1/8
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All he wanted was a chance to live in peace and strive for his dreams. A face that represents so many RIP Ali Reza Ahmadi.
We lost Ali Reza Ahmadi, a talented journalist and a humble human being, yesterday to the heinous attack on Kabul Airport. He worked on many investigative reports at
@Paykreports
. Can’t believe he is no more with us. Afghanistan is losing it’s best children. Pain, anger, grieve!
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“You won’t have seen a single reporter ask Biden a question about Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis at his rare press conference this week, even though he took questions for 111 minutes”
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Afghans making sure Western troop abuses won’t be forgotten
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On the Kabul-Kandahar road, now a ruin of roadside bomb holes and ruts that look like rail tracks
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Taliban now entering Kabul from at least three directions, I’m hearing from people there. Looks like 15 August is going to be a day that shakes the world. Thinking of many friends there
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So true. US was always vocal in calling out Iran for backing militias attacking its forces in Iraq. But almost always reticent about Pakistan backing for the Taliban - even when it was costing the lives of US troops
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What a picture. Georgians giving their answer
I don't think I've ever seen so many people on the streets of Georgia before.
This comes after Georgian Dream’s mass, Russian-style terror against its people, threats and intimidation via phone calls, arbitrary detentions, severe physical assaults and targeted smear campaigns.
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The crush at Kabul’s passport office. At least 7,000 people coming every a day, more than double the number of passports they can issue, say Taliban officials there
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Lashkar Gah, Helmand. Yesterday the city had its first electricity in 10 days-for a few hours. (Even those who have generators not using much because of spiralling fuel costs)
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One year after Russia annexed Crimea, construction of Nordstream 2 began - regrets the German speaker on the Today program just now
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Some incredible French and British forces have been finding and extracting Afghan families from the deadly crush at Kabul airport's south-side gate -- many in the dark. But the reality still that many thousands of people accepted for evacuation flights cant get in
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Snow in Zabul! At least a little good news to start one new year in Afghanistan. But a lot more good news needed before 1400 ends 🙏
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Always easy for the men to say
VIDEO: "We want Sharia law." "We want the hijab, even if we die for it."
Several hundred Afghan men took part in a demonstration organised by the Taliban in Kabul to protest against women who don't wear a headscarf and other coverings
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Shocking scenes from
#Bucha
. Is this finally the moment when people stop talking about off ramps?
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Devastating and heartbreaking. 7 months of waiting, for this
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How 20 years of blood, treasure and assumptions evaporated in the face of the Taliban's guerrilla army.
My long read on America's Afghanistan disaster for
@NikkeiAsia
with contributions from
@saadmohseni
@ShukryaBarakzai
@DWBarno76
@husainhaqqani
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Lots of takeaways from ex-Pres Ghani's self-pitying BBC interview: Most telling was the lack of empathy he showed for the plight of the Afghan people now.
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'There were a load of conscripts refusing to fight. So the Kadyrovite commander asked them: ‘Who doesn’t want to fight?’ One guy raised his hand and the commander shot him. ‘Now, who else wants to go home?’ he asked. It’s Soviet tactics.”' Bleak and brilliant fr
@dpatrikarakos
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“The story of Ruqia and her family is a snapshot of the new crisis quietly enveloping Afghanistan.” My take on an avoidable disaster for
@NikkeiAsia
with
@ObaidullaBaheer
@SerajMahbouba
@WFPChief
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“…supporters of Boris Johnson would do better to ask why Russia was so keen on Brexit. The answer is all too obvious: because it would weaken the UK. If you want evidence for the mess it has caused, just look around you.” Bang on from
@NickCohen4
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More power to the tireless
@matiullahwesa
and
@PenPath1
in 2022 (and 1401) for his inspiring campaign to make sure all Afghan girls and boys can get an education
2021 was full of turmoils and crises. On this day last year our campaign for girls education was underway and we were only few kilometres away from fierce fighting but it didn’t stop us from doing our work
@PenPath1
#PenPathGirlsEduCampaign
#PenPathHumanRightsCampaign
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Time for Armenia to reconcile with Turkey instead of pushing for global 'genocide recognition'? A challenging, thought-provoking piece from
@HansGutbrod
+ David Wood with lessons for handling difficult histories everywhere
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Excellent thread. The world's biggest country faced no threats and had many choices, but it chose war. So why would appeasement work now?
Just started reading “Ukraine vs. Darkness - Undiplomatic Thoughts” by
@olex_scherba
. Can really recommend if you want to understand the complexity of Ukraine - not an easy read but worth it.
The book came out last year and is now timelier than ever. E.g. here re: off-ramps & co
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My dispatch from Herat, Afghanistan's barometer city, for
@newlinesmag
with some incisive points on girls education from
@matiullahwesa
@PenPath1
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Solar-powered heroin. With no other income, farmers who’ve returned to war-ravaged Marjah in Helmand are sowing opium poppy once again, their irrigation pumps powered by the sun. More in my dispatch for
@BBCRadio4
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At the vast Kandahar exchange market. The afghani at 115 to $1 this morning, stabilising slightly after reports of Taliban intervening to stop its fall. Reports one trader in Farah died of heart attack after yesterday’s frenetic trading
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“Google is helping to whitewash MBS’s reputation, after the murder of Khashoggi.” Saudi activists, former Google workers speak to
@CodaStory
with comments from
@LinaAlhathloul
@aalodah
@_jack_poulson
@mer__edith
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The high mountains above Kabul have seen it all. Now they tell their own story, the un-seasonally thin snow cover a sign of the enduring drought
#AfghanistanCrisis
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I have covered the 'War on Terror' since 2001, from the aftermath of 9/11 in the US to long periods in Afghanistan and Iraq. My take on the wars that ended up in defeat for America and a less safe world, with comments from
@husainhaqqani
and others
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“Countries like Germany, whose irresponsible, sanctimonious pacifism masked unparalleled greed over greed over Russian business, must bear a huge share of the blame.”
@edwardlucas
on Putin’s enablers in the West
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It's editors who have moved on, not the reporters. Lots of brave Afghan and foreign journalists still trying to get the story out
The media has moved on from Afghanistan. But what is really going on there now?
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Friday prayers at Kabul’s Pul-e Kheshti mosque today. The imam’s message: look after refugees and others displaced by war
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Second that. Belarusians have been the inspiration of 2020 and thanks to you for making sure they are not forgotten
My heart is with amazing Belarusians who are in prison - my friends who I admire immensely. Every day, my colleagues and myself remind ourselves that we have to work harder to get them released as soon as possible. Cheers to their courage - and Merry
#Christmas
to everyone
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One month after reporting on Ruqia’s severe malnutrition, we visited her and her family at home in northern Afghanistan to check on their progress
@NikkeiAsia
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Only took three Russian invasions, Georgia 2008, Ukraine 2014 + 2022 but at least they finally acknowledge
"We should have listened to those who know Putin. To Anna Politkovskaya, & all the Russian journalists, who exposed the crimes and paid the ultimate price. To our friends in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, & the opposition in Belarus," Commission President
@vonderleyen
says in SOTEU.
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It's 43 years ago today that the full Russian invasion of
#Afghanistan
began. So many waves of conflict since, but always worth remembering how the war began
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The Taliban’s road to Kabul through Doha. How the US deal paved the way. Great explainer from
@BBCRosAtkins
If you’re in the US and just getting going - here’s my look at the connection between Trump’s deal with the Taliban in 2020 and what Biden has subsequently done in 2021.
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The crushing reality of Afghanistan’s economic crisis through the eyes of 12yr-old Saeed Gul, who wishes he could go to school but has been forced to leave home and scavenge for trash in Kabul to support his family. My report for
@1843mag
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A terrible bookend to America’s war in Afghanistan certainly. A symbol of extremist terror also. Ultimately, the Abbey Gate is a memorial to some 200 Afghans whose only crime was to want a better life for themselves and their families, and that’s worth remembering 8/8
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On this day in 1991, the US bombed this shelter in Baghdad's Amiriya suburb, killing 408 women, men and children. But most of the time the site and its memorial are locked, as I found when I visited last year and did this drawing. Today at least, they are remembered
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Another powerful story of how Afghanistan is going into reverse from
@SecKermani
. Taliban politics stopping most girls going to school. Poverty stopping growing numbers of boys
Such a sad story: More and more Afghan children are having to drop out of school to help support their families during this economic crisis
We followed 13-year-old Pervez and his cousins who have started shining shoes in Kabul, just to be able to afford a few pieces of bread
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How has life changed for Afghans under Taliban 2.0? Some life stories from around the country by
@RuhullahKhapalw
and me for
@1843mag
#Afghanistan
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Missing as usual is any Russian acknowledgment that the people in these “ownerless” territories have a right to chose their destinies. It’s precisely because Georgians and Ukrainians have experienced Russian “ownership” that they want to join NATO
It's a key sentence which reveals the essence of Kremlin's perception of the European security order. The literal translation is even more revealing: "... territory that seemed "ownerless" after the disappearance of the Warsaw Pact and after the collapse of the Soviet Union."
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It’s hard but isn’t talking to your enemy ultimately the only option? And after the US effectively recognised the Taliban by signing a withdrawal deal with them, is Norway really out on a limb by trying to facilitate more dialogue now?
A
#Norwegian
journalist was killed in a suicide attack by Haqqani Network on a 5 star hotel in Kabul in 2008.
Guess what? The mastermind of that attack, Anas Haqqani has been invited by
@NorwayMFA
to
#Norway
& right now he is being treated like a global celebrity with red carpet.
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All the traffic was on the newer, better lane for those who asking
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“I’m very worried about the winter,” Mullah says, looking at his barefoot children. “If we don’t get more help, may Allah forbid, we will have to beg.” The plight of Afghanistan��s homeless IDPs for
@Refugees
with
@mcconnellandrew
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And worth noting that Afghanistan has been cut off from SWIFT since last summer
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Excellent from
@smithkabul
But as the US effectively gave the Taliban a green light to enter Kabul on 15 Aug (by saying evacuation was only US mission) even that plank of its sanctions case looks weak. Pride and politics still coming before the Afghan people
The West should ease restrictions and help to revive the Afghan economy. This would reinforce regional stability, stem the drug trade, and curb the migration crisis. Saving millions of Afghans from destitution might also redeem U.S. prestige (1/2)
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Taliban were checking everyone entering Herat’s central mosque for today’s Friday prayers. First time they’ve done this, worshippers said. Follows recent IS suicide attacks on Friday prayers at (Shia) mosques in other cities.
#Afghanistan
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Snow-free on the way to Kabul. These are not the highest peaks but they’d usually have white caps by now. Sign of the
#drought
fuelling Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis
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They returned home hoping to rebuild. Instead Afghans forced out of their home in the former battleground of Marjah in Helmand are fighting to keep hunger at bay. My latest dispatch for
@BBCRadio4
From Our Own Correspondent
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It seems significant that Russia, the world’s No2 oil producer, is having so many early problems fuelling its army - and after months of preparing for this invasion. Another sign that Putin thought this would be quick and easy?
Multiple videos on social media of Russian military out of fuel, food and stuck on highways
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Important difference is that Pakistan spy chief is public and negotiating from a position of strength
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Bomb damaged bridge and graffiti on the makeshift barrier: “This is Afghanistan and we are Afghans”
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When I first went to Afghanistan, there was no internet. 20yrs later, I set up an interview with a Taliban spokesman on WhatsApp, he showed off his new Macbook and denounced Facebook for restricting free speech. More in my podcast for
@Audible
@CodaStory
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"Afghanistan has become the ultimate symbol of a war that changes nothing -- except to spill more blood."
My latest for
@NikkeiAsia
on the past 20 years with stories of those caught up in it and comments from
@husainhaqqani
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Signs of the past. The Italian flag still on the military side of Herat airport
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While the world focuses on the Ukrainian exodus, the Afghan exodus speeds up. Everyone going west
As the weather improves the numbers of migrants leaving Afghanistan increase. This is from a few days ago. Last Wednesday there were reports of 700+ pickups departing zaranj for Dak & onward travel to Iran-that’s over 14,000 people. An indicator of the unfolding economic crisis.
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Time someone in the White House press corps asked Pres. Biden a simple question: why are you strangling the Afghan economy?
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What r UK aid agencies doing to help Afghan local staff? Ive had many requests for help from NGO workers I know from reporting trips. Bt many cut loose by UK HQ, saying nothing they can do. Journalists, Mil interpreters can apply for special visas, why not NGO staff at risk?
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“With the help of Allah, our nation has beaten America.” Painters today finishing off a new Taliban slogan on the wall of the US embassy compound
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Nowruz Mubarak to all my friends in Afghanistan. Here's hoping for a path to peace in 1400
#Nowruz
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Sickening news to wake to. Thoughts first with the people of Ukraine now under unprovoked attack. All they wanted was to be allowed to choose their own path. The paranoid leader of the world’s largest country wouldn’t let them. How did we humans come to this yet again
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How did the Taliban go from total defeat to total victory against the US 20 years later? Still amazing how little the role of Pakistan is considered even now.
@Sarah_Chayes
spells it out clearly here
“It’s not so much especially the Taliban who used this time so strategically – it was the Pakistani military intelligence agency,” says
@Sarah_Chayes
. “Starting about 2003, I began seeing signs that the ISI… was reconstituting the Taliban.”
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Looking forward to this event next Thursday 25 April with
@ramitanavai
for
@on_front_line
With
#Afghanistan
out of the global spotlight, there's lots to talk about. Please come if you can.
Live Event: 20 years in Afghanistan
@NorthAndrew
in conversation with
@ramitanavai
25 April | Mayfair
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Smart move
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One more hand wave 👋 and big thank you to
@ramitanavai
and
@pranveras
for a great evening’s discussion. And thank you everyone who came for my preview event! Publication on 4 July, please pre-order if you can with the link in my profile 🙏🙏
“Tell us about your kidnap?”
“I was terrified. I was told I would be hanged. My 12 Afghan cellmates decided I should have one of the blankets and bed-mats. ‘You are our guest, they said’”
3 months before publication of WAR & PEACE & WAR, Andrew North interviewed by Ramita Navai
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When I visited the Abbey Gate, there were children playing at the same place where so many died on 26/8. In a country scarred by endless war, enduring memorials are too often a luxury. Everyone will have their own ideas of the meaning of this place..7/8
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The story of how 120 Afghans were evacuated to France, with the help of police special forces in Kabul, a brother and sister in Paris and a journalist in Tbilisi. Spoiler: I was the journalist. Grateful to
@1843mag
for the opportunity to tell the tale
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Many Afghans did get to the Abbey Gate and onto flights, some helped by ad hoc volunteer groups. I was part of one and wrote about it for
@1843mag
But we always knew it should never have been this way 6/8
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The insurgents are now the security forces. IS now challenging the Taliban in the heart of Kabul with the same suicide tactics they used with such devastating effect in the past. Taliban putting on big show of force in response to IS attack yesterday
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In touch with many trying to get in. "This is hell," said one. But unless a way is found to handle the crush more effectively and get people in safely, this terrible, avoidable situation will continue and more people will die
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The torn canvas and blackened wall of the adjacent Baron hotel compound are the only obvious reminders of the horror that unfolded here, and the blood-stained mud in the ground beneath. An unknown number of Afghans were killed by US troops opening fire after the explosion 2/8
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