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.

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.