The fighting follows Pakistan’s controversial airstrikes on Afghan territory over the weekend. 

Nehemiah with FMI explains the bigger picture of those strikes: “Pakistan is blaming Afghanistan that terrorists are using their soil to attack Pakistan,” he says. However, Afghanistan’s Taliban administration denies this, saying that Pakistan’s own failures are to blame for its security crises.

Wherever the blame lies, a real problem remains. A series of deadly suicide bombings has shaken Pakistan this month. The worst was the February 6 attack on an Islamabad mosque, which killed at least 32 people and injured 170 more. 

“It was described as the deadliest attack in Islamabad in more than a decade, and the deadliest nationwide since the January 2023 Peshawar mosque bombing,” says Nehemiah. 

Pakistan says its weekend airstrikes targeted suspected hideouts for two terrorist groups: the Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP), and Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP). Islamabad has blamed Afghanistan for not taking action against groups like these. However, Kabul says Pakistan’s weekend strikes did not kill 70-80 militant fighters; instead, they say Pakistan hit civilian buildings and killed or injured dozens, including women and children.

More instability for believers to face

Pakistan and Afghanistan share culture, food, and language, says Nehemiah. But their good relationship has deteriorated since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021. Since then, Pakistan has dealt with rising militancy concerns. In 2025 alone, there were 2,425 incidents, according to data from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED).

A gospel worker in Pakistan (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“This escalating tension deeply affects our ministry in both countries,” says Nehemiah. He says FMI partners face travel limitations, communication disruption, and security concerns during times like these. It makes discipleship and outreach even more complex. Stand with these gospel workers in prayer. 

“Pray for boldness and wisdom, that believers would minister with discernment, courage, and sensitivity in such an unpredictable environment,” says Nehemiah. “Pray for gospel opportunities that even in the midst of this situation, instability, God would use suffering to draw many to Himself and strengthen His church.”

Learn more here about FMI’s work of supporting local, indigenous missionaries across the world.

Header photo: Stock photo courtesy of Amar Preciado via Pexels. 

On Friday, new clashes broke out in a district in southern Afghanistan. Afghan authorities say Pakistan’s shelling killed five people. 

Yet Greg Kelley from Unknown Nations says the gospel is crossing borders, too. One way is through outreach to the Afghan diaspora.

“There are more than a million Afghans who are in neighboring countries that include Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey,” says Kelley. Unknown Nations’ indigenous partners work to disciple believers in these countries. 

“We heard a story recently of three Afghan families who are refugees in Nairobi, Kenya, receiving Christ, being water baptized, and now being equipped and trained up,” says Kelley. “They will become incredible ambassadors and advocates for the gospel and will ultimately have an impact inside the country of Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan flag (Photo courtesy of Farid Ershad via Unsplash)

Persecution is not a maybe but a guarantee for believers in the Muslim-majority culture, Kelley says.

“They have a devout faith that is focused on Islamic tradition,” he says. “They highly value community. And when I say that, I mean family. The family structure is critically important. They fellowship. They eat meals together regularly. They don’t live in isolation.”

Yet despite persecution from non-Christian family members, these close bonds can prove to have an advantage, “because usually when [the gospel] hits one person, they’re in close proximity to a lot of other people,” Kelley explains.

Please watch and pray with Afghan believers during these uncertain times with Pakistan. Pray in line with the Great Commission for more gospel workers to rise in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and beyond. 

Header photo: Street scene in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Stock photo courtesy of Farid Ershad/Unsplash)

Deadly clashes at the border surged in the past week after explosions in Kabul and another Afghan province on October 10. Pakistan didn’t officially claim responsibility for those attacks. But it continues to allege that Afghanistan’s government is allowing the nation to be a base for terrorism in Pakistan.

Street scene in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Stock photo courtesy of Farid Ershad/Unsplash)

The situation is complicated. Mike Grandy with Unknown Nations explains that Afghanistan’s Taliban-run government is conservative. “But then there’s also very far right conservative movements in Afghanistan, and they cross the border into Pakistan, and they do terrorist activities.” 

Both countries are majority Muslim, but for groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (the Pakistani Taliban), there’s a problem that may spur their attacks.

“Some of it has to do with [terrorists seeing] Pakistan as ‘they don’t have Sharia law.’ There’s maybe some revenge for previous things, retaliation. There’s maybe these thoughts that their culture is lost, that they’re not sticking to the strict Islamic fundamentalism that they should,” says Grandy.

Sadly, the border fight between the two nations has been going on for decades. But Grandy says that this week, “It’s a much more confrontational situation as far as bringing in the military and bombing. In the past, it was more border skirmishes or targeting certain areas. But now it’s been much more widespread.” 

Third-party mediators like Qatar may be able to help cool the latest escalations, which have affected gospel workers. 

“There’s a self-preservation mode that happens. You have to take care of your family, you have to survive,” says Grandy. “So those things [attacks] have an impact on ministry, but they [local Christians] are used to navigating this complicated situation.”

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan have growing Christian movements. Join them in praying simple, Great Commission prayers for more believers to reach others and more people to hear the gospel of Jesus.

“We know the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. So what we want to pray is that there’s more laborers, more multiplication,” Grandy says.

Header photo: man in Lahore, Pakistan courtesy of Lumensoft Technologies via Unsplash.

U.S. Air Force loadmasters and pilots assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, load passengers aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), Afghanistan, Aug. 24, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen)

Yesterday, on the anniversary of a suicide attack on Kabul that killed 13 U.S. servicemembers, presidential candidate Donald Trump emphasized rival Kamala Harris’s support of the chaotic withdrawal process.

Harris also affirmed her continued support of the withdrawal decision without commenting on servicemembers’ deaths.

While politicians use the withdrawal as an election talking point in the U.S., Afghans mourn yet another freedom lost under strict Taliban rule. New laws forbid women from speaking outside the home.

“Afghanistan [has] been in a continual state of decline since the pullout three years ago,” Unknown Nations’ Greg Kelley says.

For example, the Taliban continues to execute Christians when militants discover underground churches or individual believers. “On almost a weekly basis, we hear of people being captured, punished, and killed,” Kelley says.

“It’s a regular event, yet Christians are multiplying. They’re passionate about reaching their fellow Afghan brothers and sisters with the Gospel.”

Unknown Nations’ training center equips Afghan refugees in a neighboring country to reach their people for Christ. A recent graduation ceremony celebrated and launched the newest batch of Gospel workers.

“They cannot wait to go to Afghanistan and share the Good News because the power of the Gospel has transformed them,” Kelley says.

“The crazy thing is they understand that [surviving] even three years is probably beyond what would be expected.”

Ask the Lord to provide more laborers to make disciples and train believers in Afghanistan. Pray that training center “graduates” can start disciple-making movements in their homeland.

“Converts will not survive in a place like Afghanistan. The pressures are beyond description,” Kelley says.

“You have to have come to [an understanding as] Paul did in Galatians 2:20 where he said, ‘I must die so that Christ can live.’”

Header image depicts women in burqas. Photo courtesy of FMI.

International Assistance Mission is working with the United Nations to locate its staff and secure their release. Taliban authorities reportedly arrested the workers and brought them to Kabul last week, then closed the IAM office in Ghor province.

On Saturday, a Taliban spokesman told reporters that the staff was “inviting people to join Christianity,” but IAM says it does not know the charges filed against its team.

An IAM employee in Ghor tells CBS News:

“They arrested my coworkers whose names were with them and told the rest of us to go home. They might come back for us, too. We are in a state of shock. We are accused of something I never imagined. We are waiting to see what happens next and when they arrest us.”

Shahnaz Ebrahimi, a Heart4Iran partner who was born in Afghanistan, says Taliban governance allows no room for the Gospel. “Since two years ago, [when the] Taliban [took] over the country, life [is] miserable for all the people, especially for believers,” Ebrahimi says.

Shahnaz and her husband, Hossein Ebrahimi of Ariana Ministry, are actively ministering to fellow Afghan believers around the globe.

In its latest report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) describes Afghanistan’s failing religious freedom conditions. For example, the Taliban announced no Christians in Afghanistan soon after its 2021 takeover.

The Lord had other plans. Soon after the Taliban’s resurgence, “The Lord spoke to my heart, ‘I will give you a new harvest.’ [Today,] I can see the new harvest, more than before,” Ebrahimi says.

“Even [though] the Taliban came and [put in] these rules, people are accepting Jesus Christ more than before.”

Pray for Heart4Iran and its partners as they ensure Gospel access in Afghanistan through digital media.

“One reason we [started an online] church was because the believers [were] left behind and they were thirsty. They want to know more about the Lord, but nobody was there to teach them. Most believers came out of the country [in 2021,]” Ebrahimi says.

Find more ways to help secret Christians in Afghanistan here.

Header image is a representative stock photo from Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo courtesy of Mohammad Husaini/Unsplash)

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is formally investigating the State Department’s 2021 evacuation. The panel is also considering the Afghan Adjustment Act, which allows evacuees to stay in America after their temporary status ends in August.

Afghan evacuees have little reason to return. Currently, “there are many problems on so many fronts [in Afghanistan.] It’s difficult to summarize,” Transform Iran’s Lana Silk says.

“It’s a struggle for survival, particularly for Christians. Some 500 Christians in Afghanistan [rely upon] us for aid, and their situation is dire.”

Afghanistan is the world’s most significant and most severe humanitarian crisis. Two-thirds of the population needs outside help to survive. The economy bottomed out when the Taliban took over two years ago, pushing millions into poverty.

“The daily [cost of] food, basic amenities, fuel for heating is impossible for most families,” Silk says.

(Photo courtesy of Transform Iran)

“It’s particularly impossible for Christians who need to support themselves [because] where there is work, the Taliban get the first refusal. Those who are part of their group will be offered the livelihoods.”

Transform Iran needs your help to keep its Afghan program going. The primary funding source for this work ends on March 31, leaving hundreds of Afghan believers with no life support. Help provide essential aid, including food, hygiene material, winter supplies, medicine, and more.

“You’re looking at a whole generation of people who cannot work [or] access food and fuel,” Silk says.

“We must pray for a breakthrough in Afghanistan. The situation right now is impossible in human terms; we need God to intervene.”

Transform Iran has been working with churches and partners to help vulnerable leaders and their families escape Afghanistan, as well as provide food for families who remain. (Photo, caption courtesy of Transform Iran)

Biden’s administration defends the decision, while opponents call for accountability and accuse the president of breaking promises to Afghan allies.

Shahnaz*, an Afghan Christian, says many Afghans feel betrayed. “They are upset because everything changed; every single thing they had planned or programmed, it changed,” she explains.

“Transition is always hard. But this kind of transition is more difficult, more hard.”

Hope remains

Today, the world’s attention is elsewhere, but Afghanistan’s dire needs remain unmet. Millions rely on humanitarian aid to survive another day. One aid worker says this Taliban regime is worse than the one that ruled during the ‘90s.

(Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran)

“People are scared. They [are afraid]; we need the peace of the Lord [to] touch their heart,” Shahnaz says.

“They say, ‘Each day when we go out, we are not sure [if] we are coming back home or not.’”

Shahnaz and her husband Hossein lead a trauma counseling call center and Dari Virtual Church under Heart4Iran’s newest initiative, Heart4Afghanistan. The call center offers hope to Afghans like Abdullah*.

“He was so thankful I called him. Crying is not easy for Afghan men, but he was crying so hard. It broke my heart,” Shahnaz says.

“He said, ‘I came to Christ nine months ago after Taliban took over the country. I was so overwhelmed. I thought everybody forgot about me; everybody forgot about us.’”

Abdullah told her, “I have so many problems, so many difficulties… but I don’t want to [focus on those] because for nine months now, I have not prayed with my brothers and sisters, I have not worshipped [with others]. So let’s pray and worship,” Shahnaz says.

“We prayed, worshipped, just listened to a (Dari) song. He prayed for the country, Afghanistan, and believers’ protection. It was a beautiful moment. He said, ‘This is true love. I experienced it.’”

Help Afghan Christians through Heart4Afghanistan. Most importantly, pray. “Pray for the security for all the believers now left behind. So many key people came out, but we have so many left behind,” Shahnaz says.

*Names changed for security purposes.

In the header image, A U.S. Air Force security forces raven, assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, maintains security aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), Afghanistan, Aug. 24, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen)

Watch this powerful video marking the anniversary of Afghanistan’s fall.

Last month, senior staff in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration voiced concern about the August anniversary. Many people view the Afghanistan withdrawal as “one of Biden’s biggest failures,” and its commemoration could shake voter confidence as midterm elections approach.

Reports like this one from the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations add fuel to the fire.

“A lot of people have forgotten about Afghanistan, and the decimation that has happened since the American pull out,” says Reza*, a believer working with Global Catalytic Ministries.

“There’s not a lot of [NGOs or] people who care left (in Afghanistan).”

Today, most Afghans rely on help from foreign aid organizations to survive. Taliban authority led to diplomatic isolation, and the country’s economy tanked. It’s no longer in “free fall,” economists say, but Afghans still cannot access daily essentials.

Testimony on the ground: “A woman and her children moved to the city and have been having a hard time. She was so happy to receive these materials. The previous night, she had a dream that God would help her. God was in her dream and told her, ‘Don’t worry. I am with you. I will help you. Not just in the city, I am with you every place you go. Just don’t worry, and don’t fear. I am with you.’ The Lord was already speaking, and today just proved that we are workers for Him.”
(Photo, caption courtesy of Global Catalytic Ministries)

Read our full Afghanistan coverage here.

Hope for Afghanistan

Working through a network of underground churches, GCM delivers relief aid and helps people escape. More about that here. “We’ve brought out thousands of people,” Reza says.

“It’s become [increasingly] difficult and more expensive, but praise the Lord, He’s given us new avenues to bring people out.”

Afghanistan’s future is bleak. Yet, hope remains. Underground church leaders are staying put to share Christ and make disciples.

“The people of Afghanistan are so tired; Islam has decimated them and the Taliban has controlled them in such wicked ways. They’re looking for any sign of hope,” Reza says.

“Their only hope is Jesus.”

Connect with GCM here to help. The ministry reports the following on its Facebook page regarding Afghanistan Relief Work:

We set out with an initial goal of $500k for Afghanistan relief. We ended up raising $4.5 million. Because of this ground swell of support, we expanded our Afghanistan relief vision to include a 3-year “Restore and Rebuild” plan. Since we have worked in Afghanistan for several years and planted around 100 churches there, we were able to mobilize our existing network of trusted leaders to deliver resources to believers in Afghanistan.

“God is moving so powerfully; we want to start underground churches who make disciples in the darkest places on the earth. With your prayer support and with your generosity that really can happen,” Reza says.

“Afghanistan is still the second-fastest growing church in the world, even with the Taliban in power. Imagine if, one day, we hear 10 percent of the Afghan population has turned to Jesus.”

*Pseudonym

In the header image, U.S. Air Force loadmasters and pilots assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, load passengers aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), Afghanistan, Aug. 24, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen)

“Hundreds of Afghan Christians fled Afghanistan to Pakistan, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. They don’t have much freedom in those countries, and the future is also unknown,” Voice of the Martyrs Canada partner Shoaib Ebadi says.

Today, believers who stayed behind face constant turmoil. “They are under daily threat; they live in danger,” Ebadi says.

“Fighting is ongoing, and we hear every day, ‘They (the Taliban) are attacking, they are killing civilians.’”

Listen to the entire conversation on VOM Canada’s podcast here.

(Photo courtesy of VOM Canada)

The United States’ chaotic withdrawal ended a 20-year war last August and left Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Last week, the United Nations released a report describing human rights abuses since the Taliban took over.

Additionally, nearly two-thirds of the population needs humanitarian assistance to survive. That total does not include survivors of the June 22 earthquake in eastern Afghanistan.

The Lord is helping His followers persevere in the world’s most dangerous place to be a Christian.

“In the midst of darkness, they’re trying to help others; they are trying to help the poor people,” Ebadi says.

“[From] the most conservative area of northern Afghanistan, believers call us and they say, ‘Hey, we are here; we worship together, we meet with other families.’”

Connect with VOM Canada here to learn how you can help.

“The priority now is to find a secure place and food and water. [Those are] the basic needs for all people of Afghanistan, including thousands of Afghan Christians,” Ebadi says.

Header and story photos courtesy of VOM Canada.

Nehemiah talks about one man named Abdar, who became a Christian with his whole family while in Pakistan. “He was with us for the last few months. He is from Afghanistan, studying in Pakistan, and he said last month that he was going to Afghanistan for evangelism purposes. And it’s been more than a week since we have been unable to hear from him. We have lost contact.”

Christianity in Afghanistan

The Taliban’s conquest of Afghanistan puts Afghan Christians in great danger. Nehemiah says it’s a small community, and many of them converted to Christianity from Islam. “The number of Christians in the country is thought to be below 30,000, perhaps as low as 1,000. Because most Christians in Afghanistan are underground.”

Afghanistan has very little in the way of an organized church. There is a small Catholic church located in the Italian embassy in Kabul, but Nehemiah says that has been shut down.

Historically, Afghan Christians have belonged to the sprawling Church of the East, once the largest Christian communion in the world. Read more about this church here.

Dangers to Christians

Despite these low numbers, the Taliban is keeping a close eye on Christians, even sending them letters warning them not to meet. Nehemiah says, “One man received a letter saying his house now belongs to the Taliban. He’s a simple man who makes crafts, and his entire savings are in his house. The Taliban will take the property and the assets of Christians.”

Pray for the safety of Christian women in Afghanistan, as the Taliban may seek to kidnap them as well. Nehemiah says, “Christians in Afghanistan will be bracing themselves. Will they be forced to convert back to Islam? Will they be killed if they refuse?”

Header photo courtesy of FMI.