HEALTH: No Frontiers for Indian Medicines in Pakistan

Next to pirated films and music on CDs, the hottest selling Indian items in Pakistani markets these days are pharmaceutical drugs smuggled in from the neighbouring country.

AFGHANISTAN: From Search-and-Destroy to Reconciliation?

A day before the spectacular arrests of 17 Muslim men under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act, a McMaster University professor now working in Afghanistan was in Ottawa to tell Canadian officials that their war against the Taliban is ill-advised.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Regaining Influence, Report Warns

The Taliban are beginning to regain influence in the south of Afghanistan, according to an independent group actively engaged in local work in the region.

REFUGEES: Afghan Camps in Pakistan to Close in July

It took a meeting in Qatar's capital Doha for officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to agree on the future of four Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan.

US/AFGHANISTAN: Bush May Have to Rethink Withdrawal Plans

By just about any measure, May has been a bad month for U.S. policy in Afghanistan.

POLITICS-US: Massacre Story Mars Memorial Day

Monday's observance of Memorial Day, the annual commemoration of U.S. soldiers who died in the service of their country, has taken place at a particularly difficult moment for both the U.S. armed forces and the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.

AFGHANISTAN: Civilians Die as Taliban Fights US-led Troops

A sudden upsurge in Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan has seen casualties mount daily among combatants and the civilian population.

AFGHANISTAN: Massive Demining Follows Decades of Warfare

In Afghanistan, the most mined country in the world after Cambodia and Angola, landmines and unexploded ordnance kill or maim people almost daily.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Wooed as Violence Spreads

Almost daily armed attacks on government officials by the Taliban may have prompted President Hamid Karzai to renew his amnesty offer to supporters of the ousted Afghan regime.

CORRUPTION: The Enron-isation of Afghanistan?

"Contractors in Afghanistan are making big money for bad work" - that is the conclusion reached in a new report from CorpWatch written by an Afghan-American journalist who returned to her native country to examine the progress of reconstruction.

POLITICS: Iraq, Afghanistan Among Top Ten Failed States

Despite receiving some eight billion dollars a month in economic aid and military support over the past year, Iraq and Afghanistan rank among the world's 10 weakest states, along with much of Central Africa, according to the "Failed States Index" for 2006 released here Tuesday.

RIGHTS-US: Gitmo Releases Suggest Numerous Mistakes

News that the Pentagon will soon release about a third of the prisoners still detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has prompted the U.S. media and many in the blogosphere to recall Defence Secretary Rumsfeld's 2002 statement referring to Guantanamo prisoners as "the worst of the worst".

DEATH PENALTY: First War Crimes Trial Exposes Weak Afghan System

Afghanistan's intelligence chief in the pro-Communist era has been sentenced to death for extra-judicial killings, raising troubling questions about the current judicial system and its capacity to investigate and prosecute violations of human rights in a fair manner.

AFGHANISTAN: Farmers Fight Ban on Poppy Growing

Agitated poppy farmers in western Herat province say they will not destroy their crops unless the Afghan government provides them with alternative sources of income.

HEALTH-AFGHANISTAN: Good Tidings on the TB Front

For once, Afghanistan can report good news on the public health front. The country has been selected for a special award for its effective fight against tuberculosis (TB), which claims 20,000 lives every year, the majority of them women, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced.

WORLD HEALTH DAY: Sandfly Plagues Afghans, Pakistanis

A parasitic skin disease spread by a hairy fly, that thrives in insanitary conditions, has assumed epidemic proportions in Afghanistan and across the border in camps for Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

POLITICS-US: Public Ever More Sceptical About Bush’s Crusade

The vast majority of the U.S. public appears to have grown thoroughly disillusioned with Pres. George W. Bush's crusade to spread democracy abroad, according to a new survey by one of the country's premier public opinion analysts.

AFGHANISTAN: Women, Socially Bound and Officially Neglected

Every 30 minutes, an Afghan woman dies from delivery-related complications. Girls have minimal access to education in many parts of the country and forced marriages are widespread, say rights watchdogs.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: A Chance to Reach ‘Missing’ Persons

Of several local issues bound to get an international airing during the World Social Forum that opens here on Friday, most deserving is the case of persons gone 'missing' as a result of this country's deep involvement in the 'war on terror' prosecuted by the United States, in neighbouring Afghanistan.

AFGHANISTAN: Canadian Forces Stray Further From Peace Mission

In a bid to boost support for Canada's military mission in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently made a surprise two-day visit to his country's troops in the volatile southern province of Kandahar.

AFGHANISTAN: Refugees Nudged Back From Iran, Pakistan

For nearly three decades, Afghans poured into neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, fleeing the unending war in their country. Now, Pakistani officials and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iran are encouraging them to go home.