A scholarship programme for Afghan women to study at Oxford University is to be expanded. The
@YaldaHakimFund
is looking to expand the number of places it offers to Afghan women to study at Oriel College in light of the Taliban’s rule
Unbelievable courage- Afghan girls protesting for their right to an education. They continue to show such bravery and resilience. We hear you
#LetAfghanGirlsLearn
"Mum, they didn't let me enter my school. They're saying girls aren't allowed" Hopes and dreams shattered once again for millions of Afghan girls left in tears and devastated by the continued Taliban ban
Every evening Ukraine's President
#Zelenskyy
addresses his nation. Tonight for the first time, he did it in English. Calling on people everywhere to show their solidarity "Come out of your offices and homes, show your support to the Ukrainian people"
#UkraineRussiaWar
The Taliban have prohibited girls from secondary school in Afghanistan. In solidarity, many boys have been refusing to go to school themselves. “We don’t go to school without our sisters”, reads this sign.
A wonderful note about Lviv from someone born here - "You can be born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, educated in Poland, married under the Third Reich, work and retire in the USSR and draw your pension in Ukraine and never have left the town.. LVIV"
“They closed the schools, the world remained silent, they closed our universities, silence, now they’ve come for our courses. What are we supposed to do? Kill ourselves?” Devastated Afghan girls mourn the loss of their education after the Taliban’s ban
BREAKING: BBC has been banned in China. The report said the BBC was responsible for a 'slew of falsified reporting' on issues including Xinjiang and China's handling of coronavirus. It went on to say that 'fake news' is not tolerated in China
Women in
#Herat
, now under Taliban control are telling me when they tried to enter the grounds of their University today they were told to go home. Women working in offices also turned away. Schools have been shut down. 60 percent of University students in Herat were women.
For those who insist that Afghanistan has not changed: almost 60% of Herat University students are women. And their scores are higher than their male counterparts. Now that is what I call progress (and something to be proud of)
@TOLOnews
I had the opportunity to interview India's top military commander
#GeneralBipinRawat
two years ago at the
@raisinadialogue
. My thoughts are with his family today
A video message sent to us
@BBCWorld
from one of the leaders of the anti-Taliban resistance, fmr VP
@AmrullahSaleh2
who says they're under attack from terrorists and points the finger of blame at Pakistan. Pakistan of course deny they support Taliban forces
#Panjshir
#Afghanistan
Female students attempt to enter their university in Badakhshan only to be whipped by a member of the Taliban who prevents them from entering. The women chant ‘education is our right’ & ‘woman, life, freedom’ which is also what protesters in Iran have been chanting
#Afghanistan
Afghanistan TV - surreal
This is what a political debate now looks like on Afghan TV, Taliban foot soldiers watching over the host. The presenter talks about the collapse of the Ghani govt & says the Islamic Emirate says the Afghan people should not to be afraid
#Afghanistan
BREAKING: Ukrainian MP Dmitry Gurin tells me a maternity complex has been bombed in the southern port city of Mariupol "It's all one complex -- a maternity and children's hospital. A lot of dead and wounded women. We don’t know about children and newborn yet"
“We found 18 bodies in there. They had been torturing people. Some of them had their ears cut off. Others had teeth pulled out. There were kids like 14, 16 years old, some adults. They just took the bodies away yesterday.”
#UkraineRussiaWar
Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul today. Mass exodus. These are the lucky ones. I'm told, we don't want to go but we have no choice, we need to survive and so do our children
#Afghanistan
Gut-wrenching image - father consoling daughter who turned up to school today only to learn the Taliban continue their ban on the education of girls in Afghanistan.
pic via
@bsarwary
Today I addressed the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan, with a particular focus on my reporting about women and girls education
Anger mounting on the streets of Kabul, people chanting "freedom" and "death to Pakistan". The demonstrators, many of them women, are in the centre of the Afghan capital
#Afghanistan
330 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls from school. The Taliban continue to deprive Afghan women and girls their basic human rights but they will not be muted. Their bravery is awe inspiring
Afghan women have been left devastated after the Taliban announced they’d no longer be allowed to attend university. It’s now 459 days since girls were banned from attending secondary school with the group reverting back to their hardline policies of the 90s
My last show on BBC News. It has been the privilege & honour of my life to be in this position. I’ll forever be grateful for the opportunities I've had to share your stories & to the best of my ability report accurately & objectively on the events that matter most to our world.
Afghan journalists, female judges, female members of parliament, human rights activists have all fought so hard for what they've achieved. They don't want to leave Afghanistan. Many of them are on hit-lists and still they chose to stay. Now? they have little choice
Extraordinary image from yesterday’s protest by these brave Afghan women. One year ago, Afghan girls went to school – Afghan women held positions of authority across Afghan society – all this was overturned with exceptional speed when the Taliban swept to power
#Afghanistan
Hazara students Marzia and Haajar were both killed in a suicide bombing at an education institute in Kabul yesterday. The United Nations says at least 35 people, most of them female students, died in the blast
#Afghanistan
The Taliban have used barbed wire and armed guards to prevent Afghan women from entering universities. Yet, despite the intimidation, they protest alongside brave Afghan men, demanding women and girls be given their basic rights
Afghan women take to the streets, protesting for their basic human rights despite the Taliban’s attempts to silence and intimidate them. They tell me they have nothing to lose
The sense of abandonment is so real in Afghanistan right now. So many women begging for help, afraid of a Taliban take over and what that would mean for them.
Schools reopened across Afghanistan today, for all boys. Teenage girls now being denied an education. This young girl asks "why shouldn't we go to school?" Life under Taliban rule seems to be reverting back to the 90s.
When the Americans invaded in 2001, the Taliban did not control the entirety of the country. Twenty years later, as the US departs, the Taliban control all of Afghanistan
"I'd like to spend 100% of my energy to stopping executions in Iran. Now I have to deal with this mess which takes a lot of energy of the European Parliament. This is a self made problem. The real problems, I don't want them to fall down priority agenda" German MEP
@HNeumannMEP
An anti-Taliban coalition seems to be forming, including Vice President
@AmrullahSaleh2
and Ahmad Massoud, son of Ahmad Shah Massoud - they are in Panjsher, about three hours drive from Kabul
#Afghanistan
When India went into lockdown, millions of migrant workers were left stranded, with no way of getting home. Some walked hundreds of km. In the past 2 mongths
@SonuSood
has helped thousands by organising buses. He joins me
@1600BST
@BBCWorld
to discuss
Incase you missed it: Today Afghans were clinging to the undercarriage of US planes taxiing along the apron, then falling to their death, one by one, as the plane took off.
The US military aircraft took off with citizens and diplomatic staff.
This happened in Kabul today
Afghan women have been protesting in several cities across the country following an attack on an education centre in Kabul. The suicide bombing on Friday killed mostly female Hazara students aged between 18 to 24 years. The UN says the death toll is now more than 60.
A room full of men have decided that face veils for women will now be mandatory in Afghanistan. If she doesn’t comply, her male guardian could face three days in prison.
#MinistryofVice
&Virtue
#Taliban
#Afghanistan
Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahman says he will not abandon the Afghan people "we are with you, don't worry, this too shall pass" following an Afghan singer's performance to mark Tajikistan's independence day
A terrified Afghan female protester says “the Taliban terrorised us at our demonstration today, beat women up and lashed us. We’ve now fled but some women have been detained by them. We don’t know what is going to happen next” The Taliban have banned women from education
Helplessness, desperation, the sense of abandonment in Afghanistan right now. So many messages tonight especially from young women pleading for help, afraid of what the future holds should the Taliban come back to power.
Afghsn girls crying after discovering the ban on their education continues. The Taliban had promised they would be able to return to their schools today. A broken promise. Cruel to put these teenage girls through this
#LetAfghanGirlsLearn
Holding back tears, this Afghan girl begs the Taliban to let her get an education "We want to study, please let us study." Heartbroken Afghan girls have been denied access to their schools. A broken promise by the Taliban who said they could return today
#LetAfghanGirlsLearn
Update from the Anti-Taliban resistance - they tell me: Taliban ambushed in Andarab of Baghlan province. At least 300 Taliban fighters were killed. The group is lead by
#AhmadMassoud
&
@AmrullahSaleh2
#Afghanistan
Horrendous news for Afghan women and girls. The Taliban have announced the closure of universities for women in Afghanistan, according to a letter by the higher education minister. It is expected to take effect immediately
Pakistan's national security advisor
@YusufMoeed
says the regions that have fallen to the Taliban happen to be on the other side of Afghanistan, in the west and north... "even if you create an allegation, it should be logical"
The Afghans forced to leave their homes, fleeing violence & persecution, do not want to become refugees. They do not want to beg for asylum, trapped in a camp on a border somewhere. They lived dignified lives and wanted to remain in their homes & communities
Terrified Kabul residents tell me they are hearing rumours Taliban are at the gates of Kabul. The women I've been speaking to say they are looking for safe houses
#AfghanistanBurning
Why does she have to beg to go to school? Why is she being denied her basic rights? Education is not a privilege. It is a human right.
#Taliban
#Afghanistan
Brave Afghan women are still protesting in the streets of Kabul - despite the Taliban crackdown on demonstrations. They continue to demand their basic human rights
"Fmr first lady Imelda Marcos has the image of excess - images of shoes, jewellery, real estate & paintings. He benefits from being attached to late Ferdinand Marcos. A significant chunk of his base are loyalists of his father." Filipino journalist
@lianbuan
on rise of Marcos jr
Afghans who received Scholarships from the UK government to study in the UK this year have now been told they will not be granted visas due to "administration issues".
#Chevening
"Pakistan is fully supporting the Taliban... Taliban is in a way an instrument of Pakistan's strategic depth in Afghanistan. Pakistan is very happy with Taliban advances; Pakistani generals I mean, the civilian govt has no role in shaping policy"
@a_siab
fmr Pakistani senator
Day 100 of Taliban ban on girls returning to secondary school in Afghanistan. All boys are back at school but girls remain stuck at home
#LetAfghanGirlsLearn
The battle for Panjshir - intense fighting tonight as the Taliban launch their biggest attack yet on the anti-Taliban resistance, just north-east of the capital. The fighters led by Ahmad Massoud and fmr VP
@AmrullahSaleh2
are refusing to give up despite being entirely surrounded
So much to admire about
@SerajMahbouba
who remains in Afghanistan & says she will continue to fight for the rights of women. She called on Afghan women - describing them as her warriors - to return to the country & continue the struggle with her. She is the mother of the nation
After more than a decade with
@BBCWorld
@BBCNews
I have decided to depart the organisation. I do so with profound gratitude to all of my extraordinarily talented colleagues for their support and collaboration over the years
BREAKING: Mariupol's deputy mayor, tells the BBC that Russian bombing hit the city's drama theatre where civilians were being sheltered. He estimates that between 1,000 and 1,200 people were there. The number of casualties is still unknown. via
@BBCNews
The father of Mahsa Amini - the 22-year-old whose death in police custody three weeks ago sparked protests across Iran tells me “All of the documents the authorities are showing are fake. They are lying. My daughter was beaten, and that’s the reason she died”
#Mahsa_Amini
#Iran
One of the gains of the past twenty years was Afghanistan's vibrant and free press. Today, this is what the Taliban say freedom looks like. Female television presenter forced to cover their faces.
Indian journalist
@RanaAyyub
tells me Narendra Modi's government is intimidating and harassing journalists and she now faces jail time over a tweet. "They're coming after me because I'm a Muslim"
Another day, another protest in Kabul. Yesterday the spokesperson for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid said the demonstrations were illegal. Today these women are out on the streets again
#Afghanistan
“I don’t have the right to work, I don’t have the right to exist. I don’t have the right to be a woman anymore. Being a woman is a crime” Naila Mirza, a medical student on life since the ban on women’s education by the Taliban authorities.
When six year old Nazdana from Kandahar was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said a dentist.
She is now in a camp in Kabul having fled the fighting.
When the Taliban were in power they banned all girls from going to school
#Afghanistan
Vice President
@AmrullahSaleh2
forming a resistance force and want to start from Panjshir province which is about three hours from Kabul. Ahmad Shah Massoud's son and defence minister Bismillah Mohammadi with him. It doesn't feel like they are about to give up without a fight
It's hard to fathom the sheer courage of these Afghan women. Despite Taliban attempts to silence them, they continue to protest and demand equality for themselves and for all the women & girls across Afghanistan
On this
#InternationalWomensDay
thinking of all the Afghan women and girls who continue to be deprived of their basic rights. It’s been 900 days since the Taliban prevented Afghan girls from going to school
#LetAfghanGirlsLearn
I tweeted that there had been an announcement about the death of the Queen. This was incorrect, there has been no announcement, and so I have deleted the tweet. I apologise.
Brave female airport staff guiding thousands of passengers at Kabul Airport. Will they be able to work and operate so freely if the Taliban are back in power?
#Afghanistan
An Afghan interpreter who has made it to Scotland safely with his family, has told
@BBCNews
that many interpreters were tortured. He said he feared being beheaded.
The Taliban has said that there will not be any revenge attacks or reprisals
#Afghanistan
BREAKING: The European Parliament has decided to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, arguing Moscow's military strikes on civilian targets such as energy infrastructure, hospitals, schools and shelters violate international law
#UkraineRussianWar
Remarkable - The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia are travelling to Kyiv for talks with President Volodomyr Zelensky. Their train has crossed the Polish- Ukrainian border on its journey to the Ukrainian capital, which remains under Russian attack
This is very exciting and why the BBC World Service is so special - we’ve just launched “Dars” – the first multi-platform education series for Afghan children barred from school hosted by Afghan female journalists.