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 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

Afghan quake survivors still waiting for help
Zan Times - Sept 5, 2025 - by Shams Rahman
{‘All I have left is this cloth’: Afghan quake survivors still waiting for help
This report has been published in partnership with the Guardian.
In the shattered houses of Wadeer village in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, survivors of Sunday’s devastating earthquake that has killed more than 2,200 people say they are still waiting for the most basic help: food and shelter. The 6.0-magnitude quake, which struck eastern Afghanistan at about midnight, also injured more than 3,600, according to Taliban officials. And across Kunar province, more than 5,700 homes have been destroyed. The district of Nurgal, in the west of Kunar province, where the village of Wadeer lies, was the epicentre of the devastation, with 1,000 people confirmed dead and 2,500 injured. The Taliban, which took control of the country in 2021, have urged charities, business owners and ordinary citizens to contribute to their response. Bank account numbers were circulated online by Taliban spokesmen with a promise that donations would be handled with “transparency”. A Taliban government spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, says rescue efforts are continuing. In areas unreachable by helicopters, commando units have reportedly been airdropped to carry the wounded to safety.
But on the ground, the gap between announcements and action is growing. Some volunteer rescue teams have reached the village of Wadeer and mobile health units have been dispatched, but residents say the support remains insufficient. Damage to roads by the earthquake and recent rains have made access even more difficult. In other villages, some survivors are still waiting to get the bodies of their loved ones out of the rubble. “We urgently need tents and food. People have lost their homes; they don’t even have the means to cook. And we need more doctors. There are too few medical teams, and people are still buried,” a village elder in Wadeer tells the Guardian. “We are still sitting under the sun because there is no tent,” says a grandmother in Wadeer, who is with her two grandchildren. “If there were a tent, I could at least keep them in the shade.” She says her daughter-in-law and husband were taken to a hospital by helicopter, but she has no idea where. No one has returned with information or aid. Nearby, another woman who lost more than 30 relatives says: “I lost my husband, my sons, my grandchildren. Everything. All I have left is this cloth. I don’t even have money to buy a paracetamol.” Aid agencies have said female survivors of the earthquake cannot easily access aid or medical support and that in conservative provinces such as Kunar, it is difficult for a single woman to ask for help from unrelated men. Women’s autonomy and movement are heavily restricted under the Taliban, including a ban on women speaking in public. Despite being one of the most-affected districts, Nurgal has only one functioning hospital, which cannot handle the overwhelming number of casualties. Most of those rescued so far are transferred to the Afghan capital, Kabul, or to the neighbouring Nangarhar province via helicopter for treatment.
International organisations are struggling to scale up relief efforts not just due to the terrain, but also because of severe funding shortfalls, many of which stem from the broader collapse of donor support for Afghanistan. “The situation on the ground is critical,” says the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). “Entire communities are in urgent need of life-saving assistance. Local resources are stretched to the breaking point, and lack of funding is limiting the scale and speed of the humanitarian response.” The NRC says families in Kunar province have been sleeping in overcrowded tents, some sheltering up to 100 women and children with no access to toilets or clean water. Since February 2025, 422 health centres across Afghanistan are reported to have closed after US aid cuts. In eastern Afghanistan alone, 80 health centres have shut down, including at least 15 in Kunar and 29 in Nangarhar, leaving quake survivors even more vulnerable. The NRC says its funding portfolio is 60% of what it was in 2023, significantly limiting its ability to respond to growing humanitarian needs. The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, which helps displaced people in Afghanistan, says funding cuts this year have reduced warehouse capacity and the organisation’s presence on the ground, forcing most supplies to be dispatched from Kabul, which further adds to delays and logistical costs. The World Health Organization and other agencies have deployed emergency health kits, mobile teams and additional ambulances to the region. Yet for many in remote areas, access to care remains impossible. With roads blocked and too few helicopters, villagers must wait, hoping for help to arrive. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says 25 inter-agency teams have reached some affected districts, but admitted that access to the worst-hit valleys remains patchy, and weather conditions have further delayed progress. The UN has allocated $10m (£7.4m) in emergency funds, $5m from the Central Emergency Response Fund and another $5m from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund. But aid officials say this is a fraction of what is needed. For now, in villages such as Wadeer, people sit under scraps of cloth or plastic sheeting, mourning their dead and fearing what comes next.
Kreshma Fakhri and Freshta Ghani contributed reporting.} Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/09/05/all-i-have-left-is-this-cloth-afghan-quake-survivors-still-waiting-for-help/


Afghan earthquake survivors
Al Jazeera - Sept 3, 2025 - By Abdurahman Sharif
{After the quake, Afghanistan’s children face a crisis within a crisis
Aid cuts have shuttered clinics and stalled relief; restore funding now to save lives. As a ruthless magnitude 6.0 earthquake ripped through eastern Afghanistan this week, it flattened entire mountain villages and shattered the fragile lives of thousands, particularly children, who were already grappling with soaring humanitarian needs and funding cuts. This earthquake, centred in the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, has already killed more than 1,400 people and the number is expected to rise, while aftershocks continue to wreak havoc. Thousands more are injured, with entire villages levelled in remote, mountainous terrain where roads are blocked, and rescue teams – including Save the Children mobile health staff – are battling to reach those in need. But this is not just another natural disaster – it is a collision of disasters for Afghanistan, where nearly 23 million people – or just less than half of the population – need humanitarian assistance this year. More than 9 million people will face acute food insecurity, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, before October. At least 2 million people have been forced to return to Afghanistan this year alone from Iran and Pakistan. The result is catastrophic – and it is children who bear the brunt. Such natural disasters demand a rapid and robust humanitarian response. Children need immediate medical attention, clean water, shelter and psychosocial support to recover from trauma. Yet these essential operations are being constrained – curtailed by aid cuts inflicted upon the global humanitarian system. This year, international donors have cut foreign aid budgets. These decisions have come at exactly the wrong time. About 126 programmes run by Save the Children globally had been shut down by cuts in aid as of May, affecting about 10.3 million people. These are programmes that support millions of children in conflict zones, refugee camps and disaster-prone areas. In Afghanistan, these cuts have meant less staff to respond when disaster strikes and to respond to a disaster such as this earthquake. Medical clinics have been closed, so there are fewer facilities to treat the injured, and the health facilities that are still open are desperately over-stretched, even before this disaster happened. Health services in Afghanistan cannot absorb blows like this earthquake. The effect of aid cuts in Afghanistan has been acutely felt by Save the Children. Save the Children lost funding for 14 health clinics in northern and eastern Afghanistan, although we are using alternative short-term funding to keep them open currently. The loss of these clinics would mean 13,000 children losing access to healthcare in their villages. Earlier this year, I visited Nangarhar province, now lying devastated by the huge earthquake, and I met children and their families struggling to survive. I have seen entire health centres run by our partners shut down. Families told me what that means: Mothers unable to give birth safely, children missing critical vaccinations, and households left without hope. The scale of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, exacerbated by aid cuts and now combined with a sudden-response scenario like the Afghan earthquake, makes for a crisis within a crisis. Aid agencies are stretched thin – or absent – due to staff layoffs and the closure of programmes and offices. This earthquake should be a clarion call – for us to reinvest in humanitarian aid, swiftly and generously. Donor governments must reverse course, unblock emergency funding, and commit to longer-term financing of child-focused services. Without immediate, sustained funding, we anticipate a rapid deterioration – children exposed to waterborne diseases, families forced into negative coping strategies like child labour or early marriage, and rising rates of malnutrition in a country where one in five children already faced crisis levels of hunger before the quake. By October this year, five million Afghan children – or about 20% of children in Afghanistan – were expected to face acute hunger, with funding cuts reducing the amount of food aid available by 40% and 420 health centres closed, removing access for three million people. Even before the aid cuts, 14 million people had limited access to healthcare. We must ensure that when disaster strikes – whether an earthquake or conflict – we have the ability to respond – and quickly. We must make sure children’s rights endure, even when budgets falter. This is a crisis compounding a crisis. We are witnessing the collapse of protective systems for children – medical, nutritional, educational, psychosocial – when they are most critical. No child should die because the world’s attention wanes or budgets shrink. The children of Afghanistan were already vulnerable to hunger, disease, poverty, and isolation, and they have now been plunged into a deeper abyss. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.} Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/9/3/after-the-quake-afghanistans-children-face-a-crisis-within-a-crisis

Jinha - Womens News Center - Sept 4, 2025 - By BEHARAN LEHİB
{UN official: Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis demands urgent response
UNHCR urged urgent aid after Afghanistan’s deadly quake, saying women and children suffer most amid collapsed infrastructure and critical shortages of shelter, healthcare, and essentials.
News Center - A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan in late August, followed by a series of aftershocks that killed and injured thousands, triggering a humanitarian catastrophe. Rabab Bassam, Head of External Relations at the UNHCR, said on Wednesday, September 4, that the earthquake was “catastrophic by all measures,” leaving behind a massive humanitarian tragedy. She emphasized that the situation now requires “urgent and intensified intervention, as we are facing a deepening humanitarian crisis.” She explained that the conditions in the affected areas are dire, with women and children disproportionately impacted. Homes have been destroyed, health facilities disabled, and supply routes blocked by landslides and road closures, resulting in acute shortages of shelter, healthcare, clean water, sanitation, and food. According to Bassam, UNHCR is working along two parallel tracks: the first focuses on meeting urgent needs—search and rescue, medical care, and emergency shelter—while the second supports returnees with reception, screening, reintegration assistance, and temporary housing. She stressed the urgent need for international support to bridge funding gaps and ensure aid delivery. “We call on the international community to provide immediate assistance to prevent further tragedies, especially as Afghanistan is already facing multiple crises, including severe drought and the mass return of millions of Afghans from neighboring countries,” she said. The death toll from the earthquake in Kunar province has risen to 1,411, with more than 3,000 injured, according to Afghanistan’s Disaster Management Authority, which warned the numbers are expected to rise as rescue operations continue amid ongoing aftershocks. Thousands of homes have collapsed, particularly in mountainous and remote areas where rescue teams face major challenges reaching survivors due to rugged terrain and blocked roads.} Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/un-official-afghanistan-s-humanitarian-crisis-demands-urgent-response-37482

Jinha - Womens News Center - Sept 3, 2025 - By BEHARAN LEHİB
{Afghan earthquake survivor recounts harrowing night
A woman recounts the devastation after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on August 31, killing and injuring thousands and causing widespread destruction across the mountainous region.
Kunar — Hajira Noor, a survivor of the Kunar earthquake, recounted the horrifying scenes that claimed members of her family. She said the lack of roads and medical facilities has worsened the suffering, and aid remains scarce amid looting and delays in evacuating the injured. The 6.0-magnitude earthquake, which struck late at night on August 31, devastated the provinces of Kunar, Laghman, and Jalalabad, causing widespread damage to homes and farmland in the affected provinces. In Jalalabad, several villages in the Darai Nur area suffered severe destruction, including the deaths of four children buried under collapsed houses. Laghman province reported mostly material losses, with no fatalities. The worst devastation occurred in Kunar, where the Chapa Dara and Mazar Dara districts were flattened. Residents continued searching the rubble for bodies two days after the disaster. Taliban statistics indicate that more than 1,000 people were killed and approximately 2,500 injured. Kunar, known for its mountainous terrain and the fast-flowing Kunar River, faces constant challenges due to its geography, which becomes particularly perilous during natural disasters. Hajira Noor described the night of the earthquake: “It was midnight when I heard a terrifying sound and woke up to see the room collapsing. I grabbed my two-year-old daughter and fled with my husband. By the time we got outside, our house had completely fallen. My elderly parents-in-law in the next room couldn’t escape; rescue teams recovered their bodies the next day after hours of searching.” She added that some families lost all members, while others had only one or two survivors. “Every day, we bury our loved ones—mostly children, women, and the elderly who couldn’t escape,” she said. Asked about aid, she simply replied, “None.” Noor explained that the affected valleys lack proper roads and healthcare centers, severely hampering relief efforts, particularly for injured women who face extreme difficulty accessing treatment. Helicopters are often required to deliver aid. She warned that the humanitarian situation is dire, with ongoing looting of aid supplies causing significant delays in evacuating the injured. “The severe shortage of resources threatens lives continuously, making every passing moment a harsh test of survival,” Noor said.} Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/afghan-earthquake-survivor-recounts-harrowing-night-37478


Earthquake Herat 2023
UN News - Sept. 1, 2025
{Aid effort underway after Afghanistan quake ‘wipes out’ villages
Destruction from the deadly earthquake that hit Herat province in October 2023.
After a magnitude six earthquake struck remote areas of eastern Afghanistan overnight reportedly killing hundreds and wiping out villages, UN chief UN António Guterres on Monday pledged to “spare no effort” in helping those affected. “I stand in full solidarity with the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the country earlier today,” the Secretary-General said in an online message. “I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured. The @UN team in Afghanistan is mobilized and will spare no effort to assist those in need in the affected areas.” On the ground, several UN agencies reported devastation across four eastern provinces of Afghanistan including Nangarhar and Kunar, where staff and humanitarian partners are already supporting relief efforts.
Trapped inside
Witnesses reported that the earthquake happened at around midnight local time, heightening fears that many Afghans may still be trapped in the rubble of their homes. The tremor’s epicentre was eight kilometres (six miles) underground, causing buildings to shake in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and in Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad, according to reports. Among those providing assistance are the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and many more. “As reports of deaths and injuries from the #earthquake in eastern region of #Afghanistan continue to emerge, @WHOAfghanistan teams are on the ground in hospitals and health facilities, supporting the treatment of the wounded and assessing urgent health needs,” the UN health agency said. “We are actively delivering essential medicines and supplies and deploying health teams to affected areas to help #SaveLives.”
How the UN helps
United Nations teams are on the ground in more than 160 countries, working with the authorities and partners on joint programmes in communities to promote climate action, food security, gender equality and safety of civilians. The UN has been present in Afghanistan since 1949; the global body’s work there is driven by the Resident Coordinator, Indrika Ratwatte, as head of a country team which includes around 20 UN agencies and international organizations such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.} Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165752


Forcedly returned refugees
UN News - August 29, 2025
{Despite Taliban ban, over 90 per cent of Afghans support girls’ right to learn
Afghan women with their families arrive from Pakistan with their belongings at the Torkham crossing point, facing a bleak future where women and girls' rights have become severely restricted. Despite the ongoing ban on girls’ secondary education, more than 90 per cent of Afghan adults support girls’ right to be in class, according to a new alert from the UN’s gender equality agency, UN Women. Four years after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the scale and severity of the women’s rights crisis continues to intensify. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are prohibited to attend secondary school. Yet, in a nationwide door-to-door survey of over 2,000 Afghans, more than nine in 10 supported girls’ right to learn.
“It is clear: Despite the existing bans, the Afghan people want their daughters to exercise their right to education,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women’s Chief of Humanitarian Action, at a press conference in Geneva on Friday.
'Education is the difference'
A protracted humanitarian crisis continues in Afghanistan coupled with systemic and institutionalised restrictions on women and girls’ rights. Ms. Calltorp insisted that it is more important than ever to continue investing in Afghan women’s community organizations, which offer healthcare, mental health support and a chance to connect. “In a country where half the population lives in poverty, education is the difference between despair and possibility,” she said, voicing their yearning to be back in a school environment. “This is almost always the first thing girls tell us – they are desperate to learn and just want the chance to gain an education,” said UN Women’s Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson. A year after the introduction of a stricter so-called morality law codified a sweeping set of restrictions, the new alert highlights the deepening normalisation of the women’s rights crisis.
NGO work ban
The Taliban’s ban on women working for NGOs – announced nearly three years ago – continues to have a devastating impact, said UN Women. More than half of NGOs in Afghanistan report that it has affected their ability to reach women and girls with vital services. A UN Women survey conducted in July and August found that 97 per cent of Afghan women said it had negatively impacted them.} Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165744

Earlier news


White shoes
Zan Times - August 28, 2025 - By: Azadah
{Imprisoned for white shoes: Kabul’s women speak of Taliban arrests
In the past month, a wave of arrests — really abductions — has swept across Kabul. Women and girls accused of “improper hijab” have been dragged off the streets, out of markets, and even from restaurants by the Taliban’s morality police. I spoke with several who endured these detentions. Their faces are etched with grief and tears as they recount the terror they felt when taken. Tarana was walking with her cousin near her home in Qala-e-Naw, in the Dasht-e-Barchi area of Kabul, when Taliban enforcers stopped them. “Even though our hijab was completely proper and we were only not wearing masks, one of those women grabbed my hand, pulled me to the side of the street, and said, ‘Your hijab is not correct! Get in the car,’” says Tarana. The two young women were held inside the vehicle for about half an hour before being released, thanks to their protests and the intervention of onlookers who had surrounded the car. Three weeks later, Tarana is still in shock. Withdrawn, she sits in a darkened room with the curtains drawn. She no longer joins her family or plays with her younger siblings. “How easily one can be kidnapped and imprisoned just for being a woman,” she repeats to herself.
Tarana’s story is not unique.
There’s a War on Women in Afghanistan.
Negar, who lives in the Karte Sakhi area of Kabul, recalls her ordeal: “My mother was sick, so I hurriedly got ready to visit her. Near the main road, the ‘white coats’ [Taliban enforcers] stopped me and mocked me, saying, ‘Where are you going, movie girl?’” The Taliban arrested her for wearing white shoes, wearing makeup, and leaving her home without a male guardian. Taken to Police District 3, she was allowed to call her husband. “While I was detained, I felt death there,” she says. “They hurled insults at my husband, repeatedly calling him dishonourable.” The Taliban warned him that “a woman has no right to leave the house without a mahram [male guardian], and in such an appearance,” explains Negar.  Since then, she finds that  stepping outside her home is a nightmare. Tabasom was returning from an English course when she was detained in Pul-e-Khoshk, Dasht-e-Barchi, and taken to Police District 18. “My hijab was proper. They only called me a ‘dancer’ because my clothes were bright-coulored,” she explains. Taliban officers told her she must wear all-black, warning that bright clothing “attracts men’s attention.” She spent more than four hours in detention, enduring insults, humiliation, and beatings.  Released after her parents guaranteed her freedom, Tabasom has not left the house since. “After that incident, I have nightmares every night. Everywhere feels terrifying to me,” she says. During her confinement, the Taliban warned her not to speak of her arrest: “They told me not to post about it on Facebook, or they would imprison me and my entire family.” These arrests have sown fear across the capital. Mohammad, a driver who works in Kabul, says he has repeatedly seen women and girls taken away. “They gathered both veiled and unveiled women and loaded them into vehicles,” he recalls. For him, the Taliban’s goal is clear: “They want to create an atmosphere of terror so that no woman dares to leave her home.” Ali, another minibus driver, has also witnessed women being pulled off public vans. “They dragged women and forced them into their vehicles with beatings,” he says. The experience has changed his own family’s life. As the father of two teenage daughters who had been studying English, Ali now forbids them from attending classes. “I stopped my daughters from going to their course. My heart would shatter if one day I saw them beaten like that and taken away. It’s better they stay home,” he explains. The terror is not isolated to Kabul. Across Afghanistan, women and girls find themselves imprisoned in their own homes — too afraid to go out because they are terrified of arrest or imprisonment by the Taliban. Yet, they also find that remaining at home brings fear of its own, especially a darkening future where no girl goes to school. For the women of Afghanistan, the terror they experience has no end. They live with destinies shaped by pain.} Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/08/28/imprisoned-for-white-shoes-kabuls-women-speak-of-taliban-arrests/


Khadija Haidary
Zan Times - August 26, 2025 - by Khadija Haidary
{My father, my First teacher
On Wednesday, July 23, at noon, my father fell into eternal sleep. The news of his death struck me like a blow. Since then, I feel as though nothing is left that could truly shake me. I carry a heavy grief, but also the memory of a man whose devotion changed the course of my life. As a child, I saw my father clearly: a man who, despite holding a high government position, personally enrolled me and my sisters in school. He taught me the alphabet himself and, in the middle of his official duties, still sat with me over homework. By the third grade I could read, and he encouraged me with small rewards. If I correctly read the title and author of the books he was reading, he gave me ten afghani. Now I understand: he wanted me to know books and writers, to nurture a love of reading. By the time I reached high school, he had left government service to become a teacher. A teacher who devoted himself entirely to his daughters. At times I grew tired of his constant attention, but he carried within him a mission: to raise daughters who could stand on their own feet. When I sat the Kankor, Afghanistan’s university entrance exam, he searched for tutors, insisted I learn well, and later reproached me when I confessed to struggling in physics. When the results came, I was admitted to economics. He was quietly pleased but told me I should have pursued engineering, pointing to girls he had seen succeed in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. Yet he respected my choice and turned his attention to guiding my younger sisters. After graduation, it was again my father who found job opportunities, who accompanied me to every exam, traveling between provinces, never tiring of the effort he poured into us. When I left our district to continue studying, he did not hold me back. Instead, he accompanied me to Kabul, pressing money into my hand so I could buy a computer. In 2018 and 2019, as I studied and worked in Kabul, our district became a battlefield. In one fight, a bullet passed close by my father’s ear. Frightened, my brother and I begged him to move the family. He agreed, abandoning his house, cattle, farmland, orchards, and grain stores to bring us to Kabul. We had barely settled three years when the Republic collapsed. In the first week after the fall, my father packed again and returned to our village. He told me: “You too can seek refuge with me.” Since the collapse of 2021, I too have fallen many times—in spirit and in life. Each time, it was he who pulled me back from the edge. More than once, he walked from Takhar to Kabul, brought me home, and cared for me until I regained my strength. When he saw me looking well on camera, he would smile and say, “You look good,” before breaking into a laugh. When I crossed into Pakistan, I called him. He asked why I had turned myself into a wanderer, why young people could not stay together. He urged me to write, often hurrying me: “Write it now!” Perhaps he sensed his time was short. In exile, I often called him in tears over the smallest struggles, seeking his help, sometimes reproaching him for not being able to fix my life. I always believed he could solve anything. I was still that little girl, following in his footsteps, waiting for him to say: “Bravo, you walk like a great man.” When I heard of his death, I cried: “Did life take my father too, in the very days when I was fighting it with all my strength?” Now I think of his quiet efforts that shaped my life, lifting me from a rural girl who milked cows to a writer and journalist. He pushed me to write more serious articles, to cite reliable sources, and to send my work to newspapers. In Afghanistan, for a girl to become literate—for a girl to become a writer—requires a father who sees his daughters’ education as his sacred duty. My father could have sought power and wealth, but he chose instead the modest life of a schoolteacher, fixing his eyes on us, his daughters. Three of us advanced by skipping grades, all under his guidance. Today’s Afghanistan is different. Fathers no longer have the freedom to give wings to their daughters’ dreams. My father lived our dreams as though they were his own, rejoicing in even our smallest achievements. Even now, there are fathers who sacrifice everything for their daughters’ education—who migrate, who endure hardship again and again in neighbouring countries just so their daughters can study. In war-torn countries like Afghanistan, a girl needs immense support to finish high school, to reach university. Every successful girl today knows her father as her first supporter, her first hero. Without fathers like mine, it would not have been possible for girls to leave remote villages, go to big cities, and pursue an education.} Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/08/26/my-father-my-first-teacher/

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