The Guardian: Iran is financing a range of Afghan religious and political leaders, grooming Afghan religious scholars, training Taliban militants and even seeking to influence MPs, according to cables from the US embassy in Kabul. The dispatches, relating conversations between American and Afghan officials, build up a picture of mounting Iranian involvement in its eastern neighbours. Full story ...

IRIN: Over 80 percent of Afghan women, particularly in rural areas, are illiterate and have very little or no awareness about their human rights, including the right to a fair trial, according to aid agencies. For a woman to refer a case to the police or a prosecutor is widely believed to be pointless, as allegations are not usually taken seriously, properly recorded or acted upon. “Ultimately, authorities are not willing, or are not in a position, to provide women at risk with any form of protection to ensure their safety,” said the UNAMA report. Full story ...

By International Justice Tribune (IJT 118): Transitional Justice has not yet come to Afghanistan, notwithstanding the legacy of three eras of conflict: the communist/Soviet rule (1978–1992), rule of the mujaheddin (1992–1996), and the Taliban regime (1996–2001). This is due mainly to a lack of Constitutional authorisation and statutory tools, exacerbated by the 2010 Amnesty Law and an absence of political will. Full story ...

Rethink Afghanistan: Here’s something to think about when you hear politicians talk about the federal budget deficit: every single Hellfire missile fired in Afghanistan costs USD 58,000.00. U.S. and allied forces are dropping huge numbers of these bombs in Afghanistan this year: So far this year, coalition aircraft have used 4,615 bombs and Hellfire missiles, already exceeding the 4,184 dropped in all of last year. Full story ...

The Guardian: Pakistan's army is covertly sponsoring four major militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and Mumbai attackers Lashkar-e-Taiba, and “no amount of money” will change the policy, the US ambassador warned in a frank critique revealed by the state department cables. Full story ...

Associated Press: Locals in this southern Afghan valley have accused U.S. Marines of regularly killing civilians since they launched an aggressive campaign against the Taliban here over a month ago — claims the Marines say are untrue and fueled by insurgent propaganda. But the Marines acknowledge that unless they can change people’s minds, they stand little chance of winning the local Full story ...

Channel 4 News: Channel 4 News spoke to three of the biggest hospitals in southern Afghanistan, which have all seen major increases in the number of civilian casualties they have treated this year. They agreed that the increased intensity of the war is a factor. In January, President Barack Obama sent 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan, many of which have been deployed in major strikes such as Operation Moshtarak in Helmand in February. Full story ...

Huffington Post: When will the Obama administration stop damaging its credibility by denying the failure of the Afghanistan War? It seems every day we get another report showing that the Taliban’s momentum continues despite President Obama’s massive troop increase. But, somehow, the administration's talking points seem to stay the same. Full story ...

CBS: While the Afghan army has made some strides in recent years, the national police force has developed a reputation for drug abuse, illiteracy and desertion. Earlier this month The New York Times reported that up to 19 Afghan police officers from southwest of Kabul defected to the Taliban en masse, taking their guns with them and burning down their own station house. Full story ...

The Telegraph: Breaking news: secret US diplomatic cables tell us there’s corruption in Afghanistan. Ahmed Zia Massoud, Afghanistan’s former vice-president, was found to be carrying $52 million in cash – which a message from the American Embassy in Kabul, made public by Wikileaks over the weekend, said he was “allowed to keep without revealing the money’s origin or destination”. Full story ...

Oregon Live: The recent NATO summit in Lisbon officially declared that NATO troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan and replaced by Afghan security forces by 2015. But participants were quick to point out that the date was “aspirational,” “transitional” and conditions-based rather than absolute. Also, the Obama administration plans to conduct a strategic review of the Afghan imbroglio in early December... Full story ...

Green Left Weekly: Tough talk by the warmongers at the November 20-21 NATO conference in Lisbon, Portugal, obscured the growing opposition in the US and Europe to the nine-year occupation of Afghanistan. Ten thousand people took to the streets of London on November 20 to protest the war. Angry at the British government’s recent cuts to services and pensions, many carried “Cut war not welfare” placards. Full story ...

The Guardian: Mark Sedwill's claim that children in Kabul are better off than those in many western cities (Children safer in Kabul than in Glasgow, says Nato spokesman, 22 November) deserves attention, not because it is accurate (which it is not) but because it illustrates a shocking disregard by senior Nato officials for the dire situation of children in Afghanistan. Full story ...

International Business Times: The U.S. Department of State is working overtime sending messages to ally capitals warning the impending release of classified documents by WikiLeaks could harm relations in what is seen as a pre-emptive move of unprecedented scale to neutralize the impact of the unveiling of embarrassing and compromising details about the inner workings of the government apparatus. Full story ...

CAF: Save the Children has criticised a top NATO representative for stating that children are safer in Kabul than they are in London, Glasgow or New York. The comments came from a civilian NATO spokesperson in Afghanistan, who spoke to the BBC's Newsround programme yesterday (22 November). Full story ...