The Taliban are due to form a government despite fighting in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley where forces battling the hardline Islamists say they are enduring “heavy” assaults. The Taliban face the enormous challenge of shifting gears from insurgent group to governing power, days after the United States fully withdrew its troops and ended two decades of war. But they are still battling to extinguish …

In their first press conference since seizing control of the Afghan capital, the Taliban have assured women their rights would be respected “within the limits of Islam”. They said women will have a right to education and work, but exactly what life will look like under a new Taliban government is unclear. Many Afghan women are terrified of a return of the repressive laws that were imposed under …

Witnesses say at least three people have been killed in anti-Taliban protests in the city of Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, as the militant group moves to consolidate power across the country Two witnesses and a former police official told Reuters Taliban fighters opened fire when residents tried to raise Afghanistan’s national flag at a square in the city. Three people were …

Who are the Taliban and what do they want? Here’s what you need to know about Afghanistan’s militant extremists The President of Afghanistan has fled and Taliban insurgents have taken the capital Kabul after a lightning offensive. Returning from a 20-year exile from power, the Taliban hardliners are expected to impose harsh restrictions on the lives of Afghans, to the dismay …

The Taliban entered Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan on Sunday, bringing the extremist group close to taking over the country two decades after they were overthrown by a US-led invasion. It was not yet clear where Ghani was headed or how exactly power would be transferred following the Taliban’s lightning sweep in recent weeks across Afghanistan. Their advance …

Former US president Donald Trump called for his successor Joe Biden to resign on Sunday over the swift takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban militants, as US troops withdrew from the country after nearly 20 years on the ground. “It is time for Joe Biden to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen to Afghanistan,” Trump said in …

The Tokyo Olympics ended behind closed doors with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach calling them “Games of hope, solidarity and peace” amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to tradition, Bach closed the July 23 to August 8 Summer Games in the presence of Japanese crown Prince Akishino and speaking French invited the youth of the world to the Games of …

The hack exposed tens of thousands of organisations across the world and allowed both Chinese security agencies — as well as criminal groups allegedly working with them — to access vast troves of valuable data and intellectual property. So why did the United States and its friends and allies decide to pin the attack on China? What are the risks for Australia? And …

Scott Morrison says the world has not faced a period of such global upheaval since the 1930s. Then, it was a time of depression, still reeling from World War I, the 1918 flu that had killed more people than the war was still virulent, fascism was sweeping Europe and the world was sliding to another catastrophic conflict. Today we are …

Peter Dutton has blocked a decision by Chief of Defence Angus Campbell to strip unit citations from special forces troops who served in Afghanistan. More than 3000 soldiers will no longer have their awards taken away. Instead, only those convicted of war crimes will lose their meritorious unit citations. Mr Dutton said while it was important to ensure people who’d …