The Japanese doctor who watered Afghanistan
Slain Japanese doctor and canal builder Tetsu Nakamura gets his dream honored and 20 mile canal opens this year
Taliban
The Taliban bans women’s voices, non-Muslim friendships and visits to national park
Women in the Taliban-controlled country of Afghanistan are already banned from showing their bodies and faces in public. A new blow to dehumanizing women is the ban of the sound of women's voices in public. Like the regime in Iran that controls women singing in public and showing their hair, the restrictions in Afghanistan are more fierce and among them bans women from being friends with non-Muslims and from entering national parks:
Rain and floods kill dozens in Afghanistan
Afghanistan farm uses solar panels to pump water to the farm. Water management, climate change mitigation is needed to stop unrest, violence and conflict in the Middle East. The Taliban currently controls Afghanistan.
Pakistan forces Afghan refugees back to the Taliban
Millions of Afghans had fled to Pakistan over the years as refugees - some from since the Taliban takeover in 2021, many from decades before. They are now being forced back to the hands of the Taliban.
Solar panels driving opium trade in Afghanistan
The Taliban walks between hypocrisy and holiness while trying to figure out how to profit from poppies and not damage its local economy.
The hijab is the bombshell sportswear in this Afghan gym
While some women may dream of going to a post-workout Starbucks in Lululemon hot pink workout pants - in Afghanistan women are fighting for the right to work out at all.
Afghanistan’s Skateistan Skater School for Girls Not Allowed to Ride Bikes (video)
The Skateistan skateboarding school first established in Kabul shelters girls and street kids from Afghanistan's harsh realities. Since then, it has been so successful, the non-profit NGO has established two more locations.
Kazakh Children Keep Ramadan Caroling Alive
Children in Central Asia practice a tradition in the lead-up to iftar (the evening breaking of the Ramadan fast - read our green iftar guide here) that has a decidedly Western resonance: they go Ramadan caroling.
Use heroin? Fund Terror
There are many ways to fund terror, and one way is by consuming opium or heroin