[1] The organization's work included developing factories for producing roof-building materials and rebuilding irrigation systems.

[1] In August 2001—just six weeks before the September 11 attacks—Shelter Now garnered international attention when the Taliban arrested two Americans, two Australians, and four Germans working in Afghanistan for the organization, on charges of proselytism.

[7] The activities of Shelter Now have varied over the years and have been affected by such factors as the availability of resources, the attitudes of local populations and governments, and the effects of armed conflict.

[8] Shelter Now's aid work in Afghanistan has included contracting with Afghanaid to build homes for local landowners in exchange for their promise not to cultivate opium on their land.

[13][14] On April 26, 1990, the Shelter Now International project office at Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan, was attacked.

[12][15] On June 16, 1990, Shelter Now International's director, Dr. Thor Armstrong, was stopped by armed Islamists while driving in the area of Peshawar with his son as a passenger.

[24] When the Taliban refused demands by the United States that Bin Laden be extradited,[25] the continued imprisonment of the 8 western aid workers became a point of serious tension in the conflict that was to follow 9/11.

[24] In mid-August, the Taliban looted Shelter Now factories and stole approximately $45,000 worth of equipment, including a Toyota pickup truck, two generators, several cement mixers, and manufacturing tools.

[27]Shelter Now resumed operations in Afghanistan in the summer of 2002, where it has assisted with reconstruction, clinics, schools, and other forms of humanitarian aid ever since.

[1] In January 2006, the organization assisted with the U.N. effort to provide residents of Kashmir and Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province with essential aid to survive the winter after sustaining crippling damage on October 8 from a 7.6-magnitude earthquake.