RIGHTS-US: CIA Probe Should Go Farther, Groups Say

Attorney General Eric Holder's decision Monday to investigate whether interrogators from the Central Intelligence Agency or its contractors violated any federal laws in applying "enhanced interrogation techniques" to detainees in U.S. custody overseas triggered immediate criticism from human rights advocates and appeared to widen the partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats.

RIGHTS-US: Justice to Probe Detainee Abuses

The issue of detainee interrogation and abuse – lately eclipsed by the debate over U.S. health care reform – bubbled back to the surface Monday in a number of headline-making developments.

POLITICS: “Cautious Optimism” In U.S. About Afghan Elections

Security and diplomacy experts here are calling Thursday's polls in Afghanistan relatively successful, though they caution that the ultimate success of the elections in terms of security and legitimacy is yet to be seen.

AFGHANISTAN: Stolen Land and Political Power

Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission says that in the last seven months they have received 12 complaints about stolen land. The complaints cover the map, ranging from Wardak, Panjsher and Kapisa, to Parwan and Kabul.

AFGHANISTAN: Near-Epidemic of Land and Home Theft

Afghans are queuing up Thursday to vote in an election that could give President Hamid Karzai a second term. Still, many among them could be wondering if democracy is working for the majority of people.

AFGHANISTAN: Karzai and Warlords Mount Massive Vote Fraud Scheme

Afghanistan's presidential election has long been viewed by U.S. officials as a key to conferring legitimacy on the Afghan government, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his powerful warlord allies have planned to commit large-scale electoral fraud that could have the opposite effect.

BOOKS-US: Soldiers Who Just Say No

Six months into Barack Obama's presidency, the U.S. public's display of antiwar sentiment has faded to barely a whisper.

AFGHANISTAN-US: Military Translators Risk Low Pay, Death

Murtaza "Jimmy" Farukhi was killed while on patrol with the U.S. Marine Corps on Sep. 9, 2008, at the age of 23. He was not a soldier, but a local translator employed by Columbus, Ohio-based Mission Essential Personnel (MEP).

AFGHANISTAN-US: Govt Withholds Information About Bagram Detainees

The U.S. government continues to withhold even the most basic information about prisoners in the Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a New York-based legal rights organisation.

GERMANY: Opposition Builds Up Over Afghanistan

German writers and philosophers have begun to condemn military intervention in Afghanistan as an "invasion", a "mistake", and a "delusion".

AFGHANISTAN: Holbrooke Heralds US Engagement Pre-Election

Facing a worsening security situation in Afghanistan, as well as rapidly approaching elections in that country, the Obama Administration is touting a new, broad approach to winning the fight against insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

AFGHANISTAN-US: Mission Essential, Translators Expendable

Basir "Steve" Ahmed was returning from a bomb-clearing mission in Khogyani district in northeastern Afghanistan when a suicide bomber blew up an explosive-filled vehicle nearby. The blast flipped the military armoured truck Ahmed was riding in three or four times, and filled it with smoke. The Afghan translator had been accompanying the 927th Engineer Company near the Pakistan border on that October day in 2008 that would forever change his life.

AFGHANISTAN: Carpet Industry Crippled Without Govt Help

Carpet weaving has long been a part of Afghanistan's history and culture.

TRADE: Carpets – Made in Afghanistan for Pakistan’s Profit

The Afghan carpet weaving industry is Afghanistan's second largest, behind only agriculture in terms of size and number of people employed.

POLITICS: Pakistanis See U.S. as Biggest Threat

A survey commissioned by Al Jazeera in Pakistan has revealed a widespread disenchantment with the United States for interfering with what most people consider internal Pakistani affairs.

PAKISTAN: Ruined Farmers Say Children Won't Go to School

Fertile Swat's famous orchards of peach, plum and apple were just starting to ripen when the Pakistan military launched an air and land attack on Taliban fighters in end-April, uprooting tens of thousands of civilians.

CULTURE: Young Women in Chat Rooms Beware

Internet and mobile phones have spawned a new kind of marriage in the Gulf.

HEALTH-AFGHANISTAN: Patients at Private Doctors' Mercy

Thirty five-year-old Habibulah Khan walks out of a private clinic in the Afghan capital, covered in dust and looking dog-tired.

HEALTH-AFGHANISTAN: Private Care – Designed to Make Money

Forty five-year-old Rahima thought she was going to die. Her family had checked her into Shenuzada, a private hospital in Makroyan in the Afghan capital, for an operation on her abdomen.

POLITICS: U.S. Officials Protect Pak Military on Aid to Taliban

Despite evidence implicating the current Pakistani Army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, in a major military assistance program for the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan over the past few years, senior officials of the Barack Obama administration persuaded Congress to extend military assistance to Pakistan for five years without any assurance that the Pakistani assistance to the Taliban had ended.

AGRICULTURE: Disease Threatens Afghan Wheat Crop

Agronomists and crop experts fear that an aggressive disease that attacks wheat crops could soon reach Afghanistan, potentially threatening food security and initiatives to curb the cultivation of illicit crops.