It never happened during the entire Cold War. But all these years later, Russia's border with NATO is about to double in size. Finland remains unmoved by threats out of the Kremlin over its bid to join the US-led alliance. The same goes for neighbouring Sweden, which is so concerned by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine that it is ready to call time on two centuries of neutrality.

Finland has formally announced its intent to join NATO, marking a monumental shift from a long-held position of military nonalignment. DW reports from the Russian-Finnish border on the dramatic turnaround in popular opinion following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Fifty prominent Austrians are openly questioning the country's stance on neutrality. Yet, Austria, unlike Sweden and Finland, lacks majority support for joining the NATO defense alliance. Here's why.

Turkey is forcing Finland and Sweden to keep knocking on NATO's door a bit longer despite other allies’ eagerness to let them in. Teri Schultz takes a look at how the accession process may now unfold.

The Taliban has made face veils mandatory for all Afghan women appearing in public, including those on television. This edict was ignored by presenters on Saturday, but they relented a day later.

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan last year, international aid for the country has dried up. The pandemic and the ongoing food crisis have complicated an already dire economic situation. Unicef says that as more families are pushed deeper into poverty, they are forced to make desperate choices, such as putting children to work and marrying girls off at a young age. Our France 2 colleagues report.

Afghanistan is heading back to the pre-2001 dark days of the Taliban, and Western powers were naive if they ever thought this wouldn't be the case. That's the view of Heather Barr, associate women's rights director at Human Rights Watch. As women are told to cover their faces in public again and female television presenters are told to do the same, she spoke to us on Perspective about the how the Taliban are rolling back women's rights and what, if anything, the West can do about it. "Life has become a prison for most women and girls," she told us.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine "fundamentally" changed the way Swedes thought about joining the NATO military alliance, Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told DW.

According to the United Nations, some 23 million people are suffering from acute hunger n Afghanistan, including 10 million children who urgently need help in order to survive. Since the start of the year, humanitarian organisations have been able to help 8.2 million people by providing food assistance, including emergency food rations and supplements for breastfeeding mothers and their infants. But this aid is dwindling fast and the situation, which has continually worsened since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, is reaching a critical stage. Our team reports from Herat, in north-western Afghanistan.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO members must do more to help Ukraine. Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy says the outcome of fighting in the Donbas will indicate the course of the war. DW has the latest.

Heads of NATO defense are meeting ahead of the alliance's summit in Madrid later in June. NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg said the Ukraine war posed the "biggest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades."

Markus Potzel will be the United Nations' new deputy representative to Afghanistan. Between 2014 and 2016 he was Germany's ambassador to Kabul.