FINANCE: U.S. Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars

U.S. lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a review of their accounts has revealed.

AFGHANISTAN: More, But of What

At the Bucharest summit, NATO adopted an undisclosed "comprehensive" security strategy in Afghanistan, which combines military with civilian efforts. The publicised discussions on Afghanistan, however, were focused on the numbers of troops.

POLITICS-US: Campaigns Spar Over Where to Focus Troops

Last week's violent clashes in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra reverberated all the way to Washington, where suddenly, the Iraq war was thrust back into the limelight just as the 2008 primary season enters its final stretch.

NORWAY: Afghanistan Gets a &#39Super Envoy&#39

The U.N. has given Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide an ambitious new mandate to coordinate the international community's much criticised military and civilian efforts in Afghanistan. "For me it will be important to work in a closer dialogue with the Afghan leadership," the 'super envoy' told IPS.

AUSTRALIA: Bone to Pick With NATO On Afghan Deployments

As the largest non-NATO contributor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, Australia is expected to make its own demands at this week’s crucial summit of the arms pact in Bucharest.

PAKISTAN/US: Elected Gov’t Wants War On Terror Reviewed

With a democratically-elected government firmly in place, the United States is anxious to see that its ‘war-on-terror’, which depended heavily on cooperation from the erstwhile military regime run by President Pervez Musharraf, does not get derailed.

AFGHANISTAN: Disappointed With Karzai, NATO

The Shahr-e-now park in the centre of Kabul has seen better days. "It used to be really beautiful," Kabul resident Torialay says, "back during the early-90s. But after the Mujahiddin war (a civil war between warlords and commanders in the mid-90s that destroyed much of the city) it has never been restored."

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Refugees Fear Return to Afghanistan

The countdown has begun for Afghan refugees to vacate the Jalozai camp, 35 km east of this border city in Pakistan.

AFGHANISTAN: Terrified Civilians Flee NATO Bombings

Jumakhan Said Muhammad was working on his land when he first heard the planes. "I looked up," the farmer from Musa Qala, in the southern Helmand province, says. "Suddenly a plane flew by and I saw smoke rising from my house, which was down the road."

CANADA: Pro-U.S. Panel Was Key in Extending Afghan Mission

Buoyed by the recommendations of a government-appointed blue-ribbon panel, Canada's parliament last week approved a motion to extend its combat mission in Afghanistan until the end of 2011.

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.