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".

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.