POLITICS: Canada Ponders its Future in Afghanistan

As the Conservative government of Stephen Harper awaits a panel report on Canada's military role in Afghanistan beyond February 2009, when the current mandate expires, there is widespread unease among analysts on both sides of the North American border that operational decisions are deep-sixing political goals and about the possibility of a widening conflict.

PAKISTAN: Musharraf’s Blame-Game Raises Pashtun Hackles

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s initial assertion that the pro-Taliban, Baitullah Mahsud, a Pashtun tribal leader, was behind the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has not gone down well in the restless North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Controls Over Ex-Taliban David Hicks ‘Excessive’

As David Hicks, former ‘Australian Taliban’ and Guantánamo Bay inmate after his capture in Afghanistan in 2001, savours his freedom restrictions imposed on him continue to be excessive say lawyers and human rights activists.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Spate of Suicide Bombings Auger Ill for Pakistan

As hundreds prostrated in prayer on one of Islam’s major festivals in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP), last week, a powerful bomb exploded inside the mosque killing 48 worshippers and wounding close to 200.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: ‘Rudd’s Policies Won’t Hurt US-Australia Ties’

Analysts argue that while the new Australian government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will charter a more independent course from the United States, the bilateral relationship is likely to remain strong in the coming year.

POLITICS: Soldiers of (Mis)Fortune

The United Nations is increasingly critical of the use of deadly force, including indiscriminate shooting of civilians, by private security guards in some of the world's battle zones.

AFGHANISTAN: Teaching Counterinsurgency – Too Little, Too Late

The Afghanistan Counterinsurgency Academy is a work in progress - the clamour of construction, the bulldozing of garbage and the sparse staff are all clear signs.

AFGHANISTAN: Militancy Spreads to Northern Provinces

Militancy, which has turned southern Afghanistan into a conflict zone, has spread to the northern provinces that have been relatively peaceful since the Taliban regime was ousted from Kabul in end-2001.

AFGHANISTAN: Uneasy Over Pakistan’s Emergency

A wary Afghanistan has been closely following events across the border in Pakistan where President Gen. Pervez Musharraf clamped an emergency on Nov. 3 citing rising militancy and "interference" by the judiciary.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Compromise Possible on Role in Afghanistan, Iraq

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda cleared his first major test when the lower house of the parliament (Diet) passed a contentious bill, this week, allowing Japanese vessels to resume refuelling United States and coalition warships engaged in the war on terror.

EDUCATION: Schools, Academics in the Gun Sights

A "dramatic increase" in targeted violence against schools and educational institutions, mostly in conflict zones, is having a devastating effect on students, teachers, trade unionists, administrators and education officials, according to a new U.N. study released here.

Q&A: "When I Leave My House, I&#39m Not Sure I&#39ll Make It Back"

Malalai Joya was four years old when her family fled Afghanistan in 1982 to the refugee camps of Iran and later Pakistan.

AFGHANISTAN: Police Academy Duties Faze US Troops

Like other troops, the Sep.11, 2001 attacks against the United States inspired Sgt. First Class Darryl Cheatham to join the military. The South Carolina native had already served 10 years in the army before returning to civilian life, but patriotism lured him back into uniform.

MEDIA: Three Names the World Should Know

"I am staying in Afghanistan to prove that women are brave and strong," says Afghan journalist Farida Nekzad.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Pro-Taliban Militants Grip Swat Valley, Defy Army

Violence has escalated this week in Swat, a high valley in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan, where a tenuous ceasefire was broken by brazen attacks on government targets by pro-Taliban militants.

AFGHANISTAN: Training Cops Not To Be Robbers

In a mud-walled village on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Qalat, police checkpoint commander Abdul Rasool complains he is tired of his country's six-year war and longs for peace.

PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN: Civilians Flee Air Strikes on Militant Targets

Civilians are fleeing Pakistan’s lawless border areas abutting Afghanistan following heavy artillery fire and air strikes by the military against militant targets.

AFGHANISTAN: Unveiling Women&#39s Rights

A giggly, sweet demeanour masks Shaqofa's toughness.

Her dark hair swept up in a traditional headscarf secured under a standard police cap, Shaqofa offers a stark contrast to the many Afghan women who don the restrictive, full-length burqa, a symbol of Taliban rule in the 1990s still observed six years after the regime's fall.

Q&A: “We’ve Stopped Believing in Ourselves”

Dr. Michael Byers, a professor of politics and international law at the University of British Columbia, recently released a provocative book titled "Intent for a Nation - A Relentlessly Optimistic Manifesto for Canada's Role in the World."

AFGHANISTAN: To Mourn or Celebrate – Afghans’ Dilemma

Ismarai has recently refurbished his shop selling soft drinks on the newly tarred avenue of Deh Mazan in the Afghan capital. Next to it stands a bombed out cinema house with white chalk signs that warn of landmines.

AFGHANISTAN: Battling the Taliban With Soviet-Era Weapons

In the dry Afghan heat a small band of hopeful soldiers, vying to become elite commandos, swiftly falls into line as drill instructor Lt. Abdul Hussein barks orders during a physical fitness exam.