GERMANY: Doubts Rise over Afghan Intervention

German non-governmental organisations operating in Afghanistan are urging the government to reduce its military focus in favour of development and civil cooperation.

HEALTH-AFGHANISTAN: US Army Medics Win Some Hearts and Minds

Colourfully-clad Afghan villagers with dirty, barefoot children sit outside a makeshift coalition clinic in a tiny village in Kandahar province, impatiently awaiting their turn to see the medics.

ENVIRONMENT-AFGHANISTAN: Goodbye Stinky, Dry Latrines

The pervasive smell of human ordure is warning enough that this is a city that badly needs a sanitation system.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Fukuda to Fight Fires at Home First

Japan’s new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has begun smoothening feathers ruffled in the neighbourhood by his predecessors, Shinzo Abe and Junichiro Koizumi. But what he really needs is goodwill at home until he can lead his battered Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) into a snap poll, expected next year.

PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN: Conflict, Shortages Push Food Prices Up

An acute shortage of food items in Afghanistan and Pakistan have sent prices shooting upwards in both countries.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Ready for Talks – Agenda Unknown

Taliban spokesperson, Qari Yusof Ahmadi, has confirmed to the press that the Taliban are ready to directly negotiate with the Afghan government.

Q&A: &#39War on Terror Served Iran&#39s Interests Best&#39

Eminent writer, historian and filmmaker Tariq Ali was born in Lahore in 1943. While a student at Oxford University, he became involved in the movement against the war in Vietnam. That was the beginning of a long career in the literary arts and in peace activism that has earned him iconic status.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Abe&#39s Exit a Distinct Possibility

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s declaration at a press conference in Sydney on Sunday that he would resign if parliament does not extend refuelling support for the United States-led coalition in Afghanistan showed the country’s first postwar leader failing in his conservative policies.

PAKISTAN: Afghan Refugee Camp Spared Closure Till Spring

Afghan refugee leaders heaved a sigh of relief Friday after the Pakistan government agreed to postpone the closure of the Jalozai refugee camp, 35 km east of this border city, to April next year.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Mines Take Toll on Civilian, Coalition Lives

New landmines planted since the Taliban returned to challenge the Afghan government and the United States-led coalition in Afghanistan have claimed hundreds of civilian and military lives.

PAKISTAN: Taliban Taunt Musharraf by Detaining His Soldiers

The seriousness of the challenge to Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s authority in the remote tribal areas bordering Afghanistan was apparent this week when the Taliban captured 180 soldiers in two separate incidents.

AFGHANISTAN: End in Sight to South Korean Hostage Crisis

A visiting delegation of South Korean Muslims was Tuesday celebrating the sudden breakthrough in talks in Afghanistan, between the Taliban and South Korean officials, on the release of 19 South Koreans taken hostage in July.

MEDIA-AFGHANISTAN: Reporters Put Life on Line

The media in conflict-scarred Afghanistan is under increasing attack from Taliban forces and powerful social interests.

HEALTH-US: Defence Contract Workers Fall Through Insurance Cracks

New statistics from the United States Department of Labour offer greater insight into the number of defence contractors killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, but questions remain about compensation for injured or dead contract workers and their families.

AFGHANISTAN: Women Defy Tradition, Run Shops in Mazar Town

Women have stormed a male bastion in this historic city, capital of the northern province of Balkh, and traditionalists are clicking their tongues in disapproval.

PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN: Kabul Peace Jirga Falls Short

In a sharp departure from Pakistan's repeated denials of providing sanctuary to the Taliban, President Pervez Musharraf for the first time acknowledged in his speech to the Kabul peace jirga that there is support for the Taliban in the tribal areas of his country.

AFGHANISTAN: Reconstruction Can Help Win War Against Taliban

On Jul. 26, coalition aircraft pounded Taliban targets in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, killing 78 civilians and reducing to rubble, countless mud-walled homes.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Gitmo Inmate’s Trial a Charade – Law Council

The Law Council of Australia’s third and final report on the trial of former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks slams the Australian Government’s acquiescence in the process and faults the overall trial.

TRADE-PAKISTAN: Smugglers Profit From Landlocked Afghanistan

Taking advantage of the United Nations-facilitated Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA), a massive contraband trade has grown around goods imported into Afghanistan and smuggled back into the markets of this frontier town in Pakistan.

SOUTH KOREA: Public Frustration Over Afghanistan Hostage Crisis

South Koreans are shocked, confused and furious over the uncertain fate of 21 compatriots held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan, as the government presses the United States and Pakistan to support its efforts to bring them back alive.

Q&A: &#39Targeting Fundamentalism Does Not Help Muslim Women&#39

Rising fundamentalisms around the world are challenging human rights, and particularly women's rights, feminist groups say. But this is not an Islam-related problem only, and isolating Muslim fundamentalism does not help Muslim women.