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A Taliban fighter guards the entrance to Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul.
Under the now overthrown government, thousands of Taliban as well as many high-ranking al-Qaida fighters were imprisoned in the complex in eastern Kabul.
After the Islamists came to power, the guards fled and the Taliban took control of the facility.
There are currently around 60 people in custody, mainly drug addicts and criminals.
Photo: Felipe Dana / dpa
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The dark history of Pul-e-Charkhi has countless reports of violence, torture and ill-treatment and dates back to the 1970s.
Under the US-backed government, the 5000-person prison was in some cases drastically overcrowded with 10,000 prisoners.
Photo: Felipe Dana / AP
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Here, too, Taliban fighters are now in charge: the palace-like property of the infamous warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum in Kabul.
Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek, is considered one of the most brutal militia leaders in the country and a bitter opponent of the Taliban.
During the bloody conflicts of the past decades, he kept switching sides and was Vice President of Afghanistan between 2014 and 2019.
Shortly before the Taliban came to power, there had been rumors of the return of the exiled Dostum.
Photo: WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP
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Contemplation: A Taliban fighter laid down his weapon during Friday prayers in a Kabul mosque.
Photo: Felipe Dana / AP
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Won the battle, lost the war: in an abandoned US military base at Kabul airport, a Taliban fighter poses with a copy of “Not a Good Day to Die”.
In the book, the American author Sean Naylor tells the story of Operation Anaconda, a battle in 2002 during the invasion of Afghanistan by US troops.
Photo: KARIM SAHIB / AFP
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Everyday life in Kabul: day laborers sit on the side of the road and wait for work.
The economic situation in Afghanistan is tense, food is becoming scarce, and a humanitarian crisis looms.
For this reason, the historian Adam Tooze recently spoke out in an interview with SPIEGEL against using aid funds as leverage against the Taliban.
Photo: Bernat Armangue / dpa
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The situation of women in Afghanistan is oppressive: Many have fought for their freedoms in the last 20 years and now have to fear that they will be marginalized again.
There is little to suggest that the Taliban may have changed and are seriously considering giving women even rudimentary participation in social life.
Rather, the reluctance of the Taliban to date seems to indicate that they do not want to weaken their negotiating position in view of the urgently needed economic cooperation and aid from abroad.
Photo: BULENT KILIC / AFP
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Anti-vaccination demonstration in Thessaloniki: As in other countries, the government's attempt to increase the vaccination rate by putting pressure on the skeptics is polarizing in Greece.
Photo: DIMITRIS TOSIDIS / EPA
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In France, the protests of opponents of the "pass sanitaire" introduced by President Macron, which have been going on since the summer, have lost momentum.
The health pass, which you need in France since the beginning of August to visit cinemas, theaters, restaurants and museums, requires a completed vaccination, a proven Covid disease or a negative corona test.
Almost 80 percent of the French are now double vaccinated.
Photo: BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS
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Employees of a mobile vaccination team are on their way to the floating islands of the indigenous Urus by boat on Lake Titicaca.
The floating islands are a popular destination for tourists, so the members of the ethnic group are particularly exposed and happy to finally get a vaccination offer.
Photo: CARLOS MAMANI / AFP
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Nicole Salgado kisses her parrot during the funeral of her colleague, the "Chinchinero" Hector Lizana, who died of Covid-19 at the age of 93 - just three weeks after his son had already died of the disease.
"Chinchineros" are street musicians whose characteristic is a bass drum on their back, which they hit with long drum sticks while dancing with a string attached to their feet, operating a cymbal mounted on the bass drum.
Photo: Esteban Felix / AP
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20 years have passed since the 9/11 attacks.
As every year, the central commemorations took place in New York and the "Tribute in Light" light installation could be seen.
Photo: CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS
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A firefighter observes the victims of the attacks while observing a minute's silence at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.
Participants in the event will walk nine laps around the amphitheater - the equivalent of 110 floors of the World Trade Center - to honor the 343 New York firefighters who were killed in the attacks.
In the USA there are now more than 40 so-called 9/11 stair climbs every year.
Photo: CHET STRANGE / AFP
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After a two-year pandemic break, another Met Gala was held at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
The annual fundraising event is one of the most important parties in town.
The exhibition "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" opened at the same time as the gala.
Pictured: Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio.
Photo: ANGELA WEISS / AFP
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On the fringes of the event, there were clashes between police and demonstrators during “Black Lives Matter” protests in front of the museum building.
According to leaflets, an autonomous group had called for the protests, which the New York police described as a threat to the People of Color.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was also present at the Met Gala.
Photo: PETER FOLEY / EPA
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More colorful and flashy than the Met Gala in New York this week was probably only the "Bushwig festival of Drag, Music & Love".
Photo:
STEPHANIE KEITH / REUTERS
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The festival had to pause last year due to corona and celebrated its tenth anniversary this year.
Photo: STEPHANIE KEITH / REUTERS
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According to their own statements, the organizers see the festival as a place to present new talent and promote innovation and creativity in performance.
Probably the fun shouldn't be neglected either.
Photo: STEPHANIE KEITH / REUTERS
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The beatification of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski in Warsaw was much more civilized and considerably less diverse.
For decades, Wyszynski was a symbol of the Catholic resistance against the communist leadership in Poland.
In 2019 the Pope approved the beatification of the former Archbishop of Warsaw who died in 1981.
Photo: Czarek Sokolowski / dpa
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An Orthodox Jew performs the "Kapparot" ritual in Beit Shemesh, Israel, as a symbolic gesture of atonement.
In the custom on the eve of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, a chicken is waved over a person's head and then slaughtered.
The sins of the past year should pass on to the chicken.
Photo: Oded Balilty / AP
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Children in the Vila Cruzeiro Favela in Rio de Janeiro watch a movie as part of an aid organization project.
Photo: Silvia Izquierdo / AP
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Burning tires in Beita in the Palestinian Territories and a boy in a lion mask: after the spectacular escape of six Palestinian prisoners from the maximum security prison in Gilboa, there were clashes between demonstrators and Israeli security forces.
Four of the refugees are now back in custody.
Photo: Ilia Yefimovich / dpa
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View of a run-down residential building in the Roma settlement Lunik IX in Kosice, in eastern Slovakia, the day before the arrival of Pope Francis.
Many Eastern European Roma live in extreme poverty and in confined spaces in slums, where there is often no electricity, heating or running water.
During his trip, the Pope also visited Lunik IX and spoke out against the discrimination and ghettoization of the Roma: "The way to peaceful coexistence is integration."
Photo: MARTIN DIVISEK / EPA
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Short break during the potato harvest: a farmer is sitting in his field in Estepona in the province of Malaga.
In the background, clouds of smoke darken the sky.
In southern Spain, almost a thousand people had to leave their homes due to violent forest fires and be brought to safety as a precaution.
Photo: JORGE GUERRERO / AFP
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Saber rattling: During the joint Russian-Belarusian major maneuver "Sapad-2021", the troops spent six days rehearsing the reaction to an imaginary attack by the West.
The maneuver takes place every four years.
According to Russian sources, 200,000 soldiers were involved this time, far more than ever before.
Photo: Vadim Savitskiy / AP
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Premiere: On board a SpaceX Falcon rocket, the four-man "Inspiration 4" crew led by US billionaire Jared Isaacman set out for the first flight into space without a professional astronaut.
Not space travel for everyone, but still exciting, as Christoph Seidler thinks.
Photo: STEVE NESIUS / REUTERS
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He's back: after twelve years, Cristiano Ronaldo is back at Manchester United.
In his first outing against Newcastle, he contributed two hits to the 4-1 victory of his team.
Photo: PETER POWELL / EPA
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Jockey Frankie Dettori celebrates winning the Doncaster Cup Stakes gallop race in England.
The winning horse Stradivarius had already won the race in 2019.
Photo: Mark Cosgrove / News Images / imago images / News Images
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Steven LoBue from the USA cliff diving in Downpatrick Head, Ireland.
Photo: CLODAGH KILCOYNE / REUTERS
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Sunset in Soweto: Young people play football on a football field in the township in the southwest of the South African metropolis of Johannesburg.
Photo: SIPHIWE SIBEKO / REUTERS
