Accessibility links

Breaking News

Afghanistan Lifts Ban on US Reporter


FILE - New York Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg.
FILE - New York Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg.

The New York Times reports a correspondent expelled from Afghanistan in August will be allowed to return, effective immediately.

The newspaper reported Sunday the Afghan attorney general's office has issued an order lifting the ban against reporter Matthew Rosenberg.

The Times said Afghanistan's newly installed President Ashraf Ghani called the Times' assistant international editor Sunday to tell him Rosenberg and any other reporters the newspaper wanted to send would be welcomed in Afghanistan.

Rosenberg was expelled and was barred from re-entry into Afghanistan because of an article he wrote about a group of officials considering seizing power and forming a government over the then-unresolved presidential election. Rosenberg refused to reveal his sources.

Afghanistan's attorney general under former president Hamid Karzai said the article was "contrary to the national interest, security and stability of Afghanistan."

The election crisis was finally solved when Ghani was declared the winner and agreed to a power-sharing deal with election rival Abdullah Abdullah, who took the new role of chief executive.

Ghani, who was sworn in last Monday, has also reversed another official decision since coming to power by signing a long-delayed deal to allow 10,000 U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan into next year.

Karzai's refusal to sign such a deal was one of several major differences between his government and the West.

XS
SM
MD
LG