The New York Times: One of the most experienced Western envoys in Afghanistan said Sunday that conditions there had become the worst since 2001. He urged a concerted American and foreign response, even before a new American administration took office, to avoid “a very hot winter for all of us.”      Full news...

AHN: Suspected Taliban militants "punished" a schoolteacher for working for the government by dragging him out of a mosque and cutting off his ears in Afghanistan. Zabul provincial education chief Mohammad Nabi Khushal said the armed rebels barged into the mosque while worshippers were at a late night prayer, and took another dozen people and beat them up on similar chargers.      Full news...

IOM: Trafficking in persons is a crime that can impair a personality and even destroy a human life and it gravely affects today’s Afghanistan as a source, transit and destination country. The traffickers ruthlessly exploit men, women and children by violating their basic human rights and this modern-day form of slavery continues to thrive with impunity.      Full news...

CounterPunch.com: The antiwar movement in the U.S. can no longer afford to ignore the war in Afghanistan without fading into irrelevance. The original aims of the war on terror have been resuscitated, and as Obama has repeatedly emphasized in recent months, its “central front” is shifting back to Afghanistan. The Afghan people have endured seven long years of misery thanks to U.S. occupation, and it is high time to take a principled stand against U.S. imperial aims in Central Asia. The war on Afghanistan is no more justified than the war on Iraq.      Full news...

The Washington Post: Rape is an endemic problem in Afghanistan. Whether women are forced into arranged marriages as child brides, or attacked by family members or local warlords, they are often held responsible for their own victimization. Afghan culture views a woman's virginity as sacrosanct, but Afghan law rarely gives her the chance to defend herself. Many women are thrown out of their families following, or even jailed.      Full news...

Reuters: Relatives of Afghans killed in a US-led coalition raid in western Herat province have offered to dig up graves to support claims of large-scale civilian deaths. The Aug. 22 air strike in Shindand district has outraged Afghans and opened a rift between coalition forces on the one hand and the Afghan government and the UN on the other, which both say that more than 90 civilians were killed.      Full news...

PTI: Concerned over continuing civilian casualties in the airstrikes by the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, a leading human rights watchdog has criticised them for major 'collateral damage' and asked to fix the issue.      Full news...

IRIN News: More than six years after the ousting of the Taliban regime in 2001 when all women were denied the right to work and education, many women suffer domestic and social violence, discrimination and lack of access to unbiased justice and other services, women's rights activists say. At least 184 cases of self-immolation were registered by the AIHRC in 2007 against 106 in 2006.      Full news...

Global Research: It is difficult to find out what is really going on in Afghanistan. The focus of the mass media is almost entirely on the military activities of the Canadian and NATO forces. There is absolutely no coverage of political developments. The news on the economy is limited to the state of the poppy industry. This is no accident. The North American media, including the CBC, has strongly supported the U.S./NATO strategy and the administration of President Hamid Karzai. Contrary to the mainstream message, things are not going well.      Full news...

The Associated Press: The bodies of at least 10 children and many more adults covered in blankets and white shrouds appear in videos obtained by The Associated Press on Monday, lending weight to Afghan and U.N. allegations that US-led raid last month killed more civilians than the US reported. The sounds of wailing women mixed with the voices of men shouting inside a white-walled mosque in the western village of Azizabad, where an Afghan government commission and U.N. report said some 90 civilians -including 60 children and 15 women- were killed.      Full news...

PAN: Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of parliament, has prepared a draft law which, when approved, will ban obscene movies, female dances and high-volume music at parties. Those indulging in such acts will be awarded deterrent punishments under the draft bill titled Law against Immoral Acts. The draft has been prepared in three chapters and 20 articles by a parliamentary commission tasked with countering drugs and immoral acts.      Full news...

NBC: "I thought American forces were in Afghanistan for our security," said Attiqullah, his voice trembling. "I could never have imagined that they would bomb my wedding party. They killed my entire family. I will never forgive them." An investigation by the Afghan government concluded that 52 people died in that air attack - 45 women and children were killed.      Full news...

RINF News: An Afghan human rights organisation has accused the United States army of committing war crimes in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) said on Tuesday that, according to their own investigations, civilians are killed in most operations conducted by US forces.      Full news...

Xinhua: Hundreds of citizens in Afghan capital Kabul rushed into streets and burnt tires on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway on Monday protesting against the death of a Kabuli family caused by the raid of U.S.-led Coalition forces.      Full news...

PAN (Translated by RAWA): Seegha (temporary marriage) has made several women in Daikundi province fate-less. Shiite scholars in Afghanistan say that according to Jafari Fiqh, temporary marriage is legal and the wife and husband can be separated after the fixed period, or change the temporary marriage to a permanent one. The scholars say that the husband and wife can marry and live together for a day or till whenever they want; but after the end of the fixed period the legal relationship ends and the wife is illegal to the husband.      Full news...

RAWA News: The U.S. bombs struck a large gathering of people who had congregated in Azizabad to honor a local leader who had died months earlier. A resident, Fatima, 25, explained from her hospital bed in Herat, where she wept and cursed those who carried out the air strike. “We were holding a memorial service in our home,” she said, tears running down her face. “Suddenly the infidels attacked and I lost consciousness. When I came to, I was in hospital, and they told me that all of my family were dead and already buried. Was my two-year-old child a terrorist? Then am I not also a terrorist? Why did they let me live?”      Full news...

PAN (Translated by RAWA): In the present year, 47 cases of self-immolation have been reported in special burn hospital in Herat. Out of these, 42 of the cases had been death as a result of the burns. This shows the rise in the graph of self-immolation, compared to last year. Seema Shir Mohammadi said the reasons for self-immolation are domestic violence, lack of awareness of families about each others’ rights, poverty and unemployment.      Full news...

DailyMirror.lk: Imagine what would happen if a terrorist kills 95 US citizens or citizens of any of the Nato countries. Such a massacre would have dominated the headlines for weeks, if not months. Giving a melodramatic touch, the western media would also carry photographs of the dead children, interviews with their neighbours, friends and teachers and statements of grieving parents and political leaders. But 60 Afghan children who died in the US attack had none of it. No speaker addressing the ongoing Democratic Party convention, dared to mention the Afghan civilian massacre, though they talked about US troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.      Full news...

AFP: A former member of Afghanistan's cricket team has been killed in an overnight raid by international forces on his home, officials and former colleagues alleged Wednesday. Rahmat Wali, 32, who played for the war-torn country's national team between 2001 and 2006, was killed when troops attacked his home in the eastern province of Khost.      Full news...

The Frontier Post: In the contemporary time, Afghanistan is under the grip of chaos, anarchy and became a home base for terrorism. It seems that the land is without state, society and system and has been converted into "failed state" because of chronic un-ended war imposed by the United States.      Full news...

New York Times: President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned on Saturday a coalition airstrike that he said killed up to 95 Afghans — including 50 children — in a village in western Afghanistan on Friday, and said his government would be announcing measures to prevent the loss of civilian life in the future.      Full news...

PAN: Afghan National Army opened fire on angry protesters who were protesting the killing of dozens of civilians in the US bombardment in Shindand district of western Herat province. Hundreds of civilians came out in streets of Azizabad city.      Full news...

Telegraph.co.uk: US-led coalition forces killed 76 civilians - including 50 women and 19 children - in a military operation yesterday, the Afghan government said. The attack, which included air strikes, took place in the Shindand district of Herat province in the west of Afghanistan and an investigation is now underway, its interior ministry said in a statement.      Full news...

PAN (Translated by RAWA): In Talaqan (capital city of Takhar province) nine men raped a 13-year old girl. Six people, including three policemen, have been accused of being involved in the crime and detained.      Full news...

The Christian Science Monitor: Naseer Fayaz, one of Afghanistan's most famous television presenters, is used to fans and other well-wishers coming by the office. The host of a popular weekly program, "The Truth," his exposés of government malfeasance have won him awards as well as a devoted following. But after a recent episode of the show that was especially critical of the government, Mr. Fayaz received unexpected visitors: members of the Afghan secret police.      Full news...

Quqnoos: Unknown militants have killed a drum musician in Logar province, one of the victim’s family said. Hazrad Din, a 50-year-old drum player, had played drums at celebrations in the province’s Baraki Barak district for the last 30 years.      Full news...

NCRI: "In the third phase of the plan to deport illegal aliens, the [Iranian regime] is bulldozing their slums in the outskirts of southern city of Shiraz," Jam- e jam added. Ali Gholami, Shiraz governor said that city council will deal swiftly with those providing shelter to Afghan refugees.      Full news...

PAN: A parliamentary commission, assigned to report on the plight of prisoners in notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison Wednesday termed the conditions under which the inmates were cursed to live as ' awful'.      Full news...

AP via MSNBC: Rape — a crime long hidden in Afghanistan by victims fearing a life of scorn — is getting a public airing in this conservative Islamic country. In recent weeks, several outraged families have appeared on nightly news shows, demanding justice while sharing heartbreaking stories of sexual assaults on teenage daughters.      Full news...

AFP: Eight civilians being held in a compound by Taliban militants were killed in an air strike by US-led troops during a battle that also left 25 rebel fighters dead, the force said Monday. "Survivors reported that coalition aircraft dropped a bomb on the enemy position which killed eight of the civilians."      Full news...