PAKISTAN: Cafe Bombing – Fallout of Musharraf’s Pro-US Policy

As Pakistan's new parliament meets for its inaugural session on Monday legislators must ponder over a wave of bomb attacks, the latest of which killed one weekend diner and injured 12 others at an Italian eatery in the capital, frequented by Westerners.

US/IRAQ: "We Reacted Out of Fear, and With Total Destruction"

Hart Viges joined the U.S. Army the day after Sep. 11, 2001, in the belief that he could help make the world a safer place.

POLITICS-US: Just Waterboarding Under the Bridge

U.S. President George W. Bush appeared headed toward another train wreck with Congress as he carried out his threat to veto an intelligence bill that would have banned the Central Intelligence Agency from using waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques" in questioning terrorism suspects.

AFGHANISTAN: Unable To Cope With Returning Refugees

The rate of return of refugees to Afghanistan from neighbouring countries is causing tremendous stress to the Afghan government and society, government officials here say.

POLITICS-US: Embattled Veterans Official Resigns Post

Another high-ranking George W. Bush administration official has resigned. The Department of Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Benefits Daniel Cooper quit Thursday amid mounting criticism over a backlog of disability claims for injured veterans that runs six months long and an appearance he made in a fundraising video for an evangelical Christian organisation where he said Bible study was more important than doing his job.

PAKISTAN: Suicide Bombers – Chickens Coming Home to Roost

The assassination on Monday of the surgeon-general of Pakistan’s armed forces in the garrison town of Rawalpindi has brought home the enormity of the threat posed by suicide bombers - once nurtured by the establishment to fight the enemies of Islam in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

POLITICS-US: Vets Break Silence on War Crimes

U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are planning to descend on Washington from Mar. 13-16 to testify about war crimes they committed or personally witnessed in those countries.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Moderates&#39 Poll Victory Can Brake Extremism

Is the landslide election victory of liberal political parties likely to stem the tide of religious extremism and ‘Talibanisation’ that has engulfed Pakistan’s frontier areas bordering Afghanistan?

CANADA: Some Say Afghan Mission Is in the Wrong Hands

As Canada's parliament debates whether to extend the country's mission in Afghanistan beyond next year's withdrawal deadline, some peace advocates and conflict resolution experts say a U.N.-led mission is the best bet to negotiate a peace settlement involving all of the major parties in the ongoing civil war.

AFGHANISTAN: Ousted By Iran, Afghan Refugees Languish At Home

Thousands of Afghan refugees, forcibly repatriated by Iran, have been living in makeshift camps across Afghanistan.

RIGHTS-AFGHANISTAN: Women Speak Out On Sexual Abuse By Relations

Violence against women perpetrated by a member of the woman’s family or someone known to her appears endemic in Afghanistan.

POLITICS-US: The Cat’s Pause

As the man responsible for the health and strength of the U.S. military, Pentagon chief Robert Gates is increasingly finding himself between the devil and the deep blue sea.

POLITICS: Pakistan-Based Al Qaeda Biggest U.S. Threat

With key improvements in the security situation in Iraq during 2007, al Qaeda - and particularly its central leadership based in border regions of Pakistan - continues to pose the most significant threats to the United States, both at home and abroad, according to the director of national intelligence (DNI), ret. Adm. J. Michael McConnell.

AFGHANISTAN: Emergency Services Collapse Under Bitter Cold

An unprecedented cold wave sweeping parts of Asia has been especially tragic in Afghanistan where emergency services have failed completely.

AFGHANISTAN: NATO Winning Battles, Losing the War

"Make no mistake," begins a new issue brief from non-partisan think tank the Atlantic Council of the United States, "NATO is not winning in Afghanistan."

PAKISTAN: Sunni-Shia Strife Triggers Exodus Along Afghan Border

Violent sectarian strife in the border Kurram tribal area, already riven with conflict between pro-Taliban and Pakistan government forces, has led to over 500 deaths, and an exodus of civilians to the neighbouring North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).

POLITICS: U.N. Grapples With Suicide Attacks by Children

The United Nations is expressing "serious concern" over the growing number of suicide attacks involving children, specifically in Afghanistan and Iraq.

RIGHTS-AFGHANISTAN: Internet Article Lands Journalist on Death Row

An Afghan court has sentenced a 23-year-old journalist to death for blasphemy, apparently after criticising the Prophet Mohammed's views on women's rights, and downloading and circulating material from the Internet.

POLITICS-US: War on Terror Moves East

The Pentagon's announcement here Tuesday that it is dispatching some 3,200 marines to Afghanistan underlines both Washington's mounting concern about the strength of the Taliban insurgency and the growing sense here that the central front in its nearly six-and-a-half-year-old "war on terror" has moved back to its South Asian roots.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Wounded Vets Trade One Hell for Another

Last year, the United States woke up to the reality of hundreds of thousands of soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan - and began to grapple with what to do about it.

RIGHTS: Afghan Prison Looks Like Another Guantanamo

As the world marked the sixth anniversary of the arrival of the first orange-jumpsuit-clad prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, human rights groups are attempting to focus public and congressional scrutiny on what some are calling "the other Gitmo".