Shahida Raza, a national soccer and field hockey player, wanted her disabled son to have a better life. The boat carrying her to Italy crashed just off the coast.
The violence was the latest to target the country’s Hazara ethnic minority and increased fears about the Taliban’s ability to provide security for all of their citizens.
In northern Afghanistan, hundreds of Shiite Muslims joined an uprising led by a former Taliban commander. Times journalists spent time with the rebels massed to defend themselves.