The New York Times: The Taliban insurgency has spread through more of Afghanistan than at any point since 2001, according to data compiled by the United Nations as well as interviews with numerous local officials in areas under threat. In addition, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan over the past two weeks has evacuated four of its 13 provincial offices around the country — the most it has ever done for security reasons — according to local officials in the affected areas.      Full news...

The Nation: The aerial destruction that rained down on a hospital complex run by Doctors Without Borders in Kunduz, a provincial capital in northeast Afghanistan, on October 3 puts an exclamation point on the story of America’s 14 years of warfare in that Central Asian country. At least 22 people were killed, among them doctors, other medical personnel, and patients, including three children, and dozens were wounded in the attack.      Full news...

Common Dreams: Twin explosions outside Ankara’s main train station on Saturday morning killed at least 86 people and wounded up to 190 in an attack targeting a peace rally in Turkey’s capital city. The peace rally and march was organized by unions, NGO's and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to protest against the conflict between the state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in southeast Turkey.      Full news...

Brave New Films: Today (October 7th) is the 14th Anniversary of “Operation Enduring Freedom” -the day the US invaded Afghanistan. We’ve spent billions of dollars, but we’re no safer as a result. Time after time, we've seen that military solutions DO NOT WORK to solve political problems. Last week, American forces bombed a Doctors without Borders hospital in Afghanistan. WHY ARE WE STILL THERE?      Full news...

AlterNet: The fate of women in Afghanistan has been the moral linchpin for the continued occupation by U.S. and NATO forces since the presidency of George W. Bush. But according to experts and women across the war-torn country, little has changed for women there despite upwards of 1.5 billion USD spent to empower women and girls. Instead, a deeply misogynist culture and ruling class endure in spite of ongoing pledges from political leaders to Western audiences promising progress.      Full news...

MSF: Doctors Without Borders/M?decins Sans Frontières (MSF) nurse Lajos Zoltan Jecs was in Kunduz trauma hospital when the facility was struck by a series of aerial bombing raids in the early hours of Saturday morning. He describes his experience.      Full news...

BBC News: The medical charity MSF says at least nine of its staff were killed in the Afghan city of Kunduz after a clinic was hit by an air strike on Saturday. US forces were carrying out air strikes at the time. The Nato alliance has admitted the clinic may have been hit. MSF says 37 people were seriously wounded in the attack, 19 of whom are its staff.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: The unemployment rate has peaked to 40 percent in Afghanistan, showing a 15 percent increase as compared to the same time last year, officials said Friday. According to Central Statistics Organization (CSO), the unemployment figure for 2015 was only 25 percent. Insecurity, lack of jobs in government and the private sector organizations and a downturn of industries are the main factors behind growing unemployment, CSO officials said.      Full news...

Amnesty International: Mass murder, gang rapes and house-to-house searches by Taliban death squads are just some of the harrowing civilian testimonies emerging from Kunduz as Afghan forces today claimed to have regained control of key areas of the northern city, Amnesty International said. The organization has spoken to numerous people, the majority of them women, who have fled Kunduz since Monday, when the Taliban launched a sudden assault on the city.      Full news...

Khaama Press: At least nine people were feared dead and nearly 51 others were wounded in a suicide attack in eastern Paktika province of Afghanistan. The incident took place in a playground in Khairkot district where scores of people had gathered late on Sunday evening, local officials said. No group including the Taliban militants has so far claimed responsibility behind the incident.      Full news...

TruthDig: “The Kite Runner,” Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 novel, featured a pivotal and highly controversial scene in which one of the young male protagonists is raped by an older youth. That harrowing section of the best-selling book highlighted the rampant sexual abuse of children in Afghanistan. Now, a revelation—even more horrifying—has implicated real-life U.S. soldiers serving in that country.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: A woman in northern Samangan claims a judge who she married about four years ago raped her daughter from her late husband when she was 13-years-old. The mother claimed a judge in Samangan’s primary court married her before he raped her daughter when she was only 13. Telling the story of her marriage, the 42-year-old mother said the judge, who is now under police custody, forcibly married her about four years ago when she visited the court for a legal case she had filed.      Full news...

Khaama Press: The Afghan government could face new challenges from the unofficial religious Madrasas – seminaries, according to a new survey report which suggests extremists thoughts have been adopted and are widely spreading among the students and teachers of these Madrasas. The report has been prepared by Afghanistan Institute for Strategic Studies which covers 50 unofficial Madrasas in ten different provinces of the country.      Full news...

RAWA News: The ousting of the Taliban regime and the establishment of a new government in 2001 brought with it a hope for the emergence of a truly just and democratic society. Many were hopeful that the warlords would go behind bars for the atrocities they had committed during the 1990s. On the contrary, they were reinforced during the Karzai’s administration. Regional warlords and power brokers such as Atta Noor in the North, Sherzai in the South and then East and Ismail Khan in the West of the country, turned the country into fiefdoms and often defied the presidential decrees if they were against their personal interests.      Full news...

RAWA.org: Every nation in the world celebrates the people who have contributed constructively to their respective countries. This contribution can be in the fields of education, science, literature, peace, economy or any other field of life that is of benefit to the citizens of the country. These celebrated people are often called the Heroes of Nation.      Full news...

The Guardian: Mohammad Qassem had been chained to a wall for 13 days. Locked in a tiny concrete cell with his hands and feet shackled, he had 27 days left before he would be declared healthy. During that period, the keeper of the holy shrine where Qassem was held would feed him only tea, bread and black pepper, ostensibly to rid him of what his family said was insanity.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: Tens of thousands of Afghans have swelled the ranks of those seeking refuge in Europe this year. Second only to Syrians, Afghans represent the next largest group - 13 percent - of those making the journey so far in 2015, Human Rights Watch reported this week. This is because, for many Afghans, the war is only getting worse - something that’s easy to forget as international interest in Afghanistan wanes and most foreign troops are long gone.      Full news...

Khaama Press: The former Afghan President Hamid Karzai had ordered the security officials not to attack the training centers belonging to the Taliban militants in central Logar province, it has been reported. According to the local security officials quoted by BBC, the former president had ordered to prevent military operation on the training center despite the Taliban militants were using the center as launching pad for suicide attacks in Logar and capital Kabul.      Full news...

Khaama Press: A man and woman have been stoned to death by Taliban militants in northern Sar-i-Pul province for having immoral contacts. Abdul Jabar Haqbin, acting governor of Sar-i-Pul province said that Taliban had kidnapped the man and woman three days before. He said Taliban planned to execute the hostages on Friday but it was delayed due to an airstrike by Afghan forces.      Full news...

Hambastagi.org (Translated by RAWA): Every year on 9th September, the death anniversary of Massoud, the people of Kabul experience barbarism of the factional kind (reference to factional infighting during the 1992-1996 civil war and the commission of horrendous crimes during that time). A group of reckless men belonging to Shorae Nizar roamed the whole city wildly, spreading terror, and causing disturbance and concern among the residents of Kabul.      Full news...

IRIN: When 30 Kalashnikov-toting men came to Mohammad Miakhil’s house demanding he donate a large sum of money and three tonnes of wheat to their Afghan government-aligned militia, he knew it was time to leave. “They gave us two hours to pay,” said Miakhil. “If not, they would set our house on fire and kill my family.” Miakhil could not afford to hand over such a large portion of his harvest and 120,000 afghanis (about 1,000 USD), so his family joined the exodus from Khanabad, a district in northern Kunduz province...      Full news...

NPR: In 2010, photographer Gabriela Maj was working on a project about an artist in Afghanistan when one of her editors suggested she take a look at Afghan women’s prisons. Maj recalls: “He said, you know there are all these stories kind of floating, kind of bubbling up in the international media about women being incarcerated for something known as ’moral crimes.’ And they’re being put into these prisons with their kids.’”      Full news...

IBTimes: At least 300 girls have been admitted to hospitals after facing suspected gas attacks in their schools. Authorities believe the mysterious gas poisoning was carried out by those with suspected links to Taliban extremists. The girls’ age ranges from nine to 18. Three separate gas attacks were reported from Herat province.      Full news...

IRIN: The United States has allocated 950 million USD for assisting Afghan refugees and returnees, but much of that money has been lost to corruption while those in need remain in dire conditions. That’s just one finding in a scathing report released today by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)...      Full news...

1TV: An Afghan man and a woman received 100 lashes each after they were found guilty of committing adultery in western Ghor province. The punishment was given in public on Monday and after they were found guilty in a primary court. Judges said that the punishment was based on Sharia laws and that the man and woman confessed that they had sexual relations.      Full news...

NBC News: Nearly 100 Afghan schoolgirls fell sick on Monday, prompting officials in the western city of Herat to investigate whether they were poisoned by Taliban militants. “Our initial finding shows some kind of spray was used by some of the students to freshen up the classrooms,” provincial police spokesman Col. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi told NBC News. “Our investigation is ongoing to determine if it was an act of sabotage or poor quality spray.”      Full news...

PAN: Emboldened by lingering insecurity, gunmen are digging up historical sites to plunder the national wealth in parts of remote northeastern Badakhshan province -- home to the region’s rich cultural heritage and a key link between China and South Asia.With a diverse ethno-linguistic and religious community, the people of Badakhshan retained opulent cultural heritage and they have preserved unique ancient forms of music, poetry and dance. Badakhshan was an important trade centre during antiquity.      Full news...

TOLOnews.com: A man in northern Baghlan province reportedly beheaded his wife after a court failed to grant her a divorce. The woman, Trina, apparently married her husband nearly a year ago but was so unhappy she filed for a divorce a few months back. According to Trina’s sister: “Trina got married nearly a year back and she was not happy with her marriage and she wanted to break up...      Full news...

ABC News: The American soldier who murdered 16 Afghan civilians was based at an Army post with Special Forces teams immersed in a culture of drugs, booze and casual racism – one not overseen by Special Forces leadership because they chose to take a “hands-off” approach, according to newly released military report. The damning assessment by U.S. military officials came in the aftermath of the 2012 massacre by Sgt. Robert Bales, now serving a life sentence after being convicted in a court-martial of multiple counts of murder.      Full news...

1TV: More than half of teachers in Afghanistan are incompetent to carry out the task, an independent anti-corruption body warned Saturday. The finding by the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee alleged favoritism and patronage widely prevail over merit and ability in appointment of teachers.      Full news...