Is the fall of Kabul the kick European defense needs?

Before the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan, Kabul was a city with a vibrant nightlife and arts scene. But since then, there has been a radical transformation. Thousands of longtime Taliban fighters have poured into the capital, now working in round-the-clock security patrols. Meanwhile, financial disputes and quarrels between neighbours are being settled by Islamic judges. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris-Trent and Roméo Langlois report from Kabul.

In Kabul's main children's hospital, the crumbling of Afghanistan's health system can be seen in the eyes of the exhausted staff who have remained in the city, ekeing out their fast-diminishing stocks of medicines. As crowds of mothers and sick and malnourished children fill the waiting rooms of the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital, medical staff are squeezing three babies into a single incubator and doubling up in infant warmer beds. Nurses who once took care of three or four babies each, are now having to look after 20 or more to make up for the absence of staff who fled the country when the Taliban seized power in August.

After taking power in August, the Taliban now need to put in place a functioning state in Afghanistan. Official declarations and policies are scarce for now, but no doubt the most tangible sign of the Taliban takeover are the security patrols of thousands of former fighters who have poured into the capital. They're now police officers who are enforcing a strict interpretation of Sharia law. Our reporters Catherine Norris-Trent and Roméo Langlois were able to follow Taliban fighters on patrol in Kabul and also gain access to a hearing of an Islamic court.

Local traders and residents reacted to the Taliban ban of foreign currencies for trade, at the Sarai Shahzada market in Kabul on Wednesday after the Taliban made the announcement on Tuesday. The US dollar has been used widely in Afghanistan’s markets before the ban.

Kabul residents on Tuesday said the first 100 days after the Taliban takeover had been difficult, expressing ongoing concerns about security and girls' education.

In Afghanistan, women have now been waiting for three months for their fate to be decided by the Taliban government. One key question is whether older schoolgirls will be able to return to high school. With winter school holidays coming up, women in Kabul fear that the Taliban will simply play for time and postpone any decision on the issue. In the meantime, some Afghan provinces have been able to reopen their schools, but not others. Our team on the ground reports from Kabul.

At least one person has been killed in an explosion in Kabul. The largely Shiite neighborhood has previously been targeted by attacks by the Islamic State-Khorasan group.

US probe concludes that a lone bomber was responsible for the 2021 Kabul airport blast that killed 183, as thousands tried to flee Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power.

The Pul-e-Sukhta bridge in Kabul is synonymous with hard drug use. After many NGOs and charities fled Afghanistan, drug addicts have been largely left on their own. And the number of users is swelling, residents say.

In 2016, Matthieu Aikins was a journalist living in the Afghan capital Kabul. When the war finally pushed his Afghan friend Omar to flee his homeland and leave everything he knew in a bid to reach Europe, Aikins decided to join him. "The Naked Don’t Fear the Water" is the book that came out of the friends' journey, one that is both extraordinary but also painfully commonplace for the millions of Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees who have made similar gut-wrenching decisions to seek out a better life. Aikins joined us for Perspective to tell us more.

India had supported Afghanistan's previous, Western-backed government. Since the Taliban took over, Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis has left millions of people at risk of hunger.

A small group of women rallied in the Afghan capital for the first time in months, demanding a return of their freedoms, after the Taliban reneged on promises to maintain the marginal gains women made in recent years.