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...

The Independent: The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has pardoned three men who had been found guilty of gang raping a woman in the northern province of Samangan. The woman, Sara, and her family found out about the pardon only when they saw the rapists back in their village.      Full news...

IRIN: After Sierra Leone, Afghanistan has the worst maternal mortality rate in the world with 1,600 deaths for every 100,000 live births (at least 24,000 deaths annually), according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Badakhshan has the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the country.      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...

Democracy Now: As violence escalates in Afghanistan, both Barack Obama and John McCain support sending more troops. “Both of them are wrong,” says Sonali Kolhatkar, host of Uprising on Pacifica radio station KPFK and co-author of the book Bleeding Afghanistan. “You really cannot solve the situation in Afghanistan by throwing more troops at it, because over the last several years tens of thousands of troops in Afghanistan have not managed to do anything other than worsen the war.”      Full news...

PAN: local commanders and local officials still forcibly collect money by different names and forms from the farmers in northern Afghanistan, farmers and shepherds lamented. Commanders and local officials get unlawfully ten sheep as well as cash money from shepherds while they graze their sheep on different areas and mountains.      Full news...

RAWA News: On July 26, 2008, an Afghan woman was killed by her husband in Badakhshan province, in north of Afghanistan.      Full news...

PAN: At least 17 civilians including women were killed during a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) raid in mountainous areas of Mahtarlam capital of eastern Laghman province, local elders complained Wednesday.      Full news...

ReliefWeb: The average Afghan household pays an estimated $100 in petty bribes every year. With around 70 per cent of the population surviving on less than $1 per day, the burden on families is enormous. A staggering $100-$250 million is paid in bribes every year. This is equivalent to half the national development budget for 2006.      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 expos?s 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...

The Independent: Two-thirds of the women in Lashkar Gah's medieval-looking jail have been convicted of illegal sexual relations, but most are simply rape victims – mirroring the situation nationwide. The system does not distinguish between those who have been attacked and those who have chosen to run off with a man.      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...

Reuters: British troops accidentally killed four civilians and wounded three others with rockets during an operation against Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, NATO and British officials said Sunday.      Full news...

Quqnoos: The men jailed for raping and killing a seven-year-old girl in the northern province of Takhar were let out of prison early because of police corruption, the murder victim's family have said.      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...

AFP: Three Western women aid workers and their Afghan driver were shot dead Wednesday by gunmen who fired numerous times into their vehicle near the capital Kabul, Afghan police and their organisation said. The killings, claimed by the insurgent Taliban, are the deadliest in years involving international aid workers.      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...

IRIN: A sharp increase in fuel prices has pushed up the already high cost of food in Afghanistan making daily survival even more difficult for millions of vulnerable people. The rise in food prices bodes ill for millions of people in a country where, according to a National Human Development Report, almost half its estimated 26.6 million population live on less than $2 a day.      Full news...

Quqnoos: More than 42% of the Afghan population live in extreme poverty, according to figures released by the central statistics bureau. Long-lasting drought, insecurity and the import of cheap foreign goods are the main causes of poverty, the statistics bureau said.      Full news...

PAN: 31 civilians including one woman and children were killed and injured as coalition troops bombed Tagab district in central Kapisa province, officials said on Saturday.      Full news...

CNN: The young Afghan girl sits in the center of the room, weeping. Using her hand and her blue scarf to hide her face, she recounts how she was brutally raped by five gunmen. The girl's tragic case is one of many in war-torn Afghanistan, activists say. "This is just an example among thousands of other cases," Shaima, a member of RAWA, tells CNN. "The rest go unnoticed by the media."      Full news...

Quqnoos: The deputy head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Dr Abdullah, told parliament on Tuesday that a "number of delegates" in Parliament "supported drug traffickers and terrorists", our political correspondent said.      Full news...

The Chicago Tribune: In a country plagued by war and Islamic militants, by one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, by malnutrition and starvation and even by locusts, AIDS has arrived. So far the Afghan government has officially identified only 435 cases of HIV — a small number, considering how many there are in neighboring countries—but international and Afghan health experts say there are likely thousands in Afghanistan.      Full news...