MIDEAST: Obama Besieged by Policy Challenges

Rarely, if ever, has a post-World War II U.S. president been beset by so many foreign policy challenges and uncertainties in one key geo-strategic region at the same time.

PAKISTAN: At Home, and In Hell

"Life is next to hell as we pass the entire day and night inside four walls of our houses. Militancy and the local male-dominated culture are the reasons for the women’s problems," says Jabeena Bibi, 38, a resident of Khyber Agency, one of the seven tribal districts of the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of Pakistan.

WOMEN’S DAY: Pakistan Is Not for Single Women

Sobia Aslam, in her forties and twice divorced, often feels she should get married a third time.

PAKISTAN: Mullahs Fight Math in Madrassas

The government has launched a programme to modernize religious schools so that students get a basic education in such subjects as math, English and even computers.

PAKISTAN: Killer Sets Off National Introspection

The United States is putting pressure on Pakistan to release jailed American Raymond Davis, who has confessed to killing two men. But some Pakistanis want their government to demand concessions from the U.S. in exchange for Davis's freedom.

Pakistan Sees Too Much Change

The Muslim world is reeling from the fall of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak, but the effect is unlikely to ripple through Pakistan despite people’s disenchantment with their leaders, officials and academics say.

Pakistan Sinking Into Water Crisis

Pakistan is still reeling from flooding that caused one of the world's costliest natural disasters in 2010, with millions of people lacking shelter, infrastructure in ruins and donations falling short of appeals. But worse may come.

AFPAK: Polio Rises With Border Flows

Pakistan became the world’s top polio-endemic country in 2010 and is now the biggest source of the polio virus to countries declared polio-free many years ago. Due to the unrestricted movement of children along the long and porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, both countries have begun to put in place a joint strategy to stem the tide of the ailment.

RIGHTS: Pakistani Christians Under Increasing Threat

Forty-seven-year-old Gulsher Masih has been living in constant fear since fleeing his native village of Chuk Jhumra, near Faisalabad, a year ago.

PAKISTAN: Militancy Takes On a Female Face

On December 25, a female suicide bomber, not more than 18 years of age, blew herself up killing at least 47 people and injuring 105 others.

AFPAK: People Turning Against Taliban

The Taliban once regarded as true jihadists here are rapidly losing popularity in response to their ongoing targeting of mosques, schools and innocent people.

AFPAK: Give Us This Day Our Weekly Drone

Hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders have fallen to drones since the first attack that killed Taliban leader Nek Muhammad in South Waziristan. Now many local people welcome drones.

PAKISTAN: When Men Fear Telling Their Wives About HIV

As a peer educator at a local HIV/AIDS organisation, Ahmad (not his real name) has taken care to teach his own wife anything and everything he knows about the disease.

US Stepping Up Pressure on Pakistan

This week's leak to the New York Times of a proposal for U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) raids against Afghan insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan may be intended to put more pressure on the Pakistani military to take action against those sanctuaries.

PAKISTAN: Locals Rue Price to Pay for Role in U.S. Intervention

Kareem Khan probably expected his wife to break down once he brought their 18-year-old son’s body to the women’s section. But when she saw their dead boy, she just smiled and wished him farewell.

U.S.: Pakistani Ambassador Unknowingly Hosted Neocon Fundraiser

Amid putting on a two-and-a-half day conference focused on escalating measures against Iran, a neoconservative think-tank held a fundraiser at the residence of Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., according to an IPS investigation.

ENERGY: Cleaner Coal Technology Heats Up in Pakistan

As a dutiful new bride, Rubina Ikram moved into her in-laws’ home lugging a huge dowry that consisted not only of clothes, furniture and linen, but also a wide array of electric appliances – from a DVD player to a washing machine.

PAKISTAN: Death Sentence Revives Calls to Scrap Blasphemy Laws

What began as altercation among farm workers has become a full-blown nightmare for Pakistani mother Asia Bibi, one that points to her being led to the gallows.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Educated, Glamorous and Wearing A Hijab

They are young, educated, urban women who frequent cafes, shop at ritzy fashion outlets, and go to yoga classes whenever they have time off work.

U.S.: Blue-Ribbon Panel Finds AfPak Strategy at “Critical Point”

The administration of President Barack Obama should begin shifting to a counterterrorism (CT) strategy requiring many fewer troops in Afghanistan if its pending review finds that the current counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy is not working, according to a new report by a bipartisan task force of 25 prominent analysts and former top foreign policy officials.

PAKISTAN: Pneumonia Season Takes Toll on Poor Children

Asleep in her mother’s lap, three-year-old Amna Ghafoor looks at peace with the world. But mother and child are at Karachi’s National Institute of Child Health (NICH), and a plastic cannula inserted in the child’s tiny left wrist is a sure sign that all is not well.