War and peace and war: Twenty years in AfghanistanAn extract from a new book by Andrew North who spent 20 years in Afghanistan – and was even kidnapped by the Taliban Aug 21 24August 21, 2024Article at opendemocracy.net
Afghans fled the Taliban in droves. Now Pakistan wants to send them backHe was eating dinner with his family when the knocking began. Like many Afghans, Omid, a translator, had fled from Afghanistan in 2021 after the Taliban took over. He and his family snuck across the border to Pakistan, where they tried to keep a low… Dec 19 23December 19, 2023Article at The Economist
Eyewitness: Afghanistan As winter closes in on Afghanistan, a 12-year-old tries to save his familySaeed Gul wants to go to school. Instead he’s picking up rubbish on the streets of Kabul In the chilly half-light of a Kabul dawn, two girls are walking to school, engrossed in conversation, their backpack straps neatly arranged over the folds of… Dec 13 21December 13, 2021Article at The Economist
Divided Asia must face looming Afghan refugee crisisAndrew North is a journalist who covers Afghanistan and was previously based in Kabul as a correspondent for the BBC. "Do not come, do not come." That was the stern injunction from Vice President Kamala Harris this June to people from Central America… Oct 20 21October 20, 2021Article at Nikkei Asia
Two decades after 9/11, how delusion led to defeat in AfghanistanLate on Sept. 11, 2001, Najib was at home with his family in Kabul listening to a radio bulletin on the Pashto language service of the BBC. There was no such thing as the internet in Afghanistan then, and with almost no other information sources… Sep 08 21September 08, 2021Article at Nikkei Asia
Taliban triumph: anatomy of a disaster in AfghanistanInstead of a ladder to the last helicopter out of Saigon, a new image of desperation and collapse seared itself into the world's mind this week. A crowd of Afghans swarming a whale-like U.S. Air Force transport, grasping at its oblivious sides as it… Aug 18 21August 18, 2021Article at Nikkei Asia
No exit: A generation of young Afghans faces the end of the US eraTBILISI/KABUL -- "I can't get off social media these days," says 29-year-old Sharifi. The signal may be in and out. Keeping digital devices charged is a challenge amid constant power outages. But millions of Afghans, especially the urban young, are… Jul 14 21July 14, 2021Article at Nikkei Asia
We would all be better off if politicians left history aloneIndian and Pakistani flags are lowered during a daily retreat ceremony at the India-Pakistan joint border check post of Attari-Wagah in July 2015: if this colorful spectacle does not come back to life, that may be no bad thing. © AP Andrew North is a… Jun 05 21June 05, 2021Article at Nikkei Asia
How COVID-19 gave renewables an energy boostThe International Energy Agency predicts that renewables will be the number one source of electricity within five years, overtaking natural gas and coal. © Reuters Andrew North is a journalist based in Tbilisi. He has reported widely across the… Mar 27 21March 27, 2021Article at Nikkei Asia
The dangerous fault line linking Trump cultists to 9/11A mob of Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6: it is a warning to any government that has tried to co-opt hyper-nationalistic, populist movements. © Reuters Andrew North is a journalist based in Tbilisi. He has reported widely across the… Jan 15 21January 15, 2021Article at Nikkei Asia
Donald Trump's reckless Afghanistan retreatU.S. Army soldiers arrive home from Afghanistan on Dec.8 in Fort Drum, New York: all U.S.-led coalition forces are due to leave Afghanistan by next May. © Getty Images Andrew North is a freelance journalist based in Tbilisi. He has reported widely… Dec 23 20December 23, 2020Article at Nikkei Asia
Turkey's disruptive Caucasus power play risks regional warThe blast site hit by a rocket in Ganja, Nagorno-Karabakh region, pictured on Oct. 11: in a hyper-nationalistic world the danger of smaller conflicts fueling regional wars is much greater. © Reuters Andrew North has reported widely from across the… Oct 15 20October 15, 2020Article at Nikkei Asia
Is the United Nations fading into irrelevance?Andrew North has reported widely from across the Middle East, South Asia, and Central Asia. He is a regular commentator on Asian affairs. As the closest thing we have to a world government, the United Nations should have been tailor-made to handle a… Sep 20 20September 20, 2020Article at Nikkei Asia
Rushed US exit from Afghanistan will reward Taliban drug baronsBlack smoke billows after an explosion outside the provincial police headquarters in Kandahar in July 2019: Taliban fighters are advancing ever closer to Kabul. © AP Andrew North has reported widely from across the Middle East, South Asia, and… Sep 04 20September 04, 2020Article at Nikkei Asia
India and Elon Musk show Asia the way in discount race to MarsJapan's H2A rocket carrying the UAE's Hope probe takes off on July 20: the Emiratis are basking in their status as the Arab world's space leader. Andrew North has reported widely from across India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and central Asia, and is a… Jul 31 20July 31, 2020Article at Nikkei Asia
A Trump and Modi Bromance?With Donald Trump now ensconced in the White House, self-styled, anti-establishment populists are in charge of the world’s two largest democracies: India and the United States. Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, believes that this is no… Mar 08 17March 08, 2017Article at Foreign Affairs
The World War on WomenIn Turkey, a conservative Muslim president announces that women who don’t stay home and bear children are “deficient.” In Russia’s Duma, a campaign is afoot to decriminalize domestic violence. In India, the editor of a liberal investigative magazine… Oct 26 16October 26, 2016Article at The Village Voice
The rubbish collector left on the scrap heap as his city goes greenAndrew North India's prime minister has ordered a drive to rid the streets of rubbish, but his Clean India campaign could spell the end for Delhi's army of informal rubbish collectors. I went to speak to them, with my sketchpad. "Junk, bring out your… Nov 28 14November 28, 2014Article at BBC
Why are India's air force planes falling out of the sky?AP Are India's ageing air force planes falling out of the sky? All air forces have accidents, but accounts of Indian warplanes crashing on training flights have become almost routine news. The latest incident came earlier this week, when a… Oct 16 14October 16, 2014Article at BBC
Narendra Modi lawsuit revisits Gujarat riots on US visitAFP/PIB The lawsuit charging India's Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi with crimes against humanity during the 2002 Gujarat riots was timed to cause maximum embarrassment during his five-day American charm offensive. With US officials… Sep 27 14September 27, 2014Article at BBC.com
