BBC News: Prisoners are being abused at a “secret jail” in the main American military base in Afghanistan, according to a report from a US policy think tank. Ex-detainees said they were deprived of sleep and held in cold isolation cells in the site at Bagram, says New York-based Open Society Foundations. Full story ...
France 24: Afghanistan’s health authorities Friday appealed for international help in dealing with a parasitic disease that is believed to threaten millions in the impoverished country. Leishmaniasis, transmitted by a species of sandfly, threatened the health of 13 million Afghans, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a report on neglected tropical diseases. Full story ...
...herever we can outside the school,” said Mustafa. “We had a toilet but it has been clogged for some time,” said Aisha, a teacher, adding that the children had to use toilets in a nearby school or go home.... Full story ...
IRIN: Over 100,000 people have been forced out of their homes by clashes in different parts of Afghanistan over the past 12 months but by no means all of them have received aid, according to aid agencies and affected people. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says civilians are trapped in a difficult environment... Full story ...
Reuters: Cash from the US military and international donors destined for construction and welfare projects in restive parts of Afghanistan is ending up in the hands of insurgents, a contractor and village elders said. The alliance of largely Western nations who back President Hamid Karzai and have nearly 150,000 troops on Afghan soil have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on aid... Full story ...
PAN: Casualties inflicted on ordinary people in northern Afghanistan over the past six months this year has doubled compared to the same period last year, a United Nations official said on Wednesday. The casualties increased by 55 percent among children and a six percent among women, Georgette Gagnon, Director of Human Rights for United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told... Full story ...
The Guardian: Last week marked the ninth anniversary of the United States's invasion of Afghanistan, and the beginning of the 10th year of the current international engagement there. In the coming months, the US, Nato and its international allies will take a hard look at the current military counterinsurgency strategy, and the prospects for peaceful reconciliation. Full story ...
ABC News Radio: The number of U.S. and NATO air strikes over Afghanistan has spiked since General David Petraeus replaced General Stanley McCrystal as commander of the war effort in June. U.S. Air Force statistics show a 172 percent increase, with 700 separate missions flown in September. A total of 257 assault missions were flown in September, 2009. Full story ...
PAN: A Taliban-fired rocket hit a vehicle in southwestern Paktika province on Tuesday, killing six civilians, the interior ministry said. The early morning incident happened in the Ghaibikhel area of Yahyakhel district, the ministry said in a statement. The dead included a woman, it said. However, a local named Gul Muhammad Katawazai, said the rocket was fired NATO-led forces after they were attacked by insurgents in the area. Full story ...
The Epoch Times: In Afghanistan, where warlords and their militias still play a large role in ruling the tribal lands, U.S. and NATO forces are faced with the challenge of stabilizing the country as a democracy while not overstepping their boundaries. Warlords and their militias have a lengthy history in Afghanistan, and the current war is just another phase in that history. Full story ...
Straight Goods News: Those who feel it is good news that the Afghanistan government is secretly negotiating with the Taliban won't get any reassurance from Malalai Joya. A year after her last visit to Canada, the outspoken former member of Afghanistan's parliament risks her life every day by speaking out against the three threats to her people: warlords, the Taliban and outside occupiers. Full story ...
The Montreal Gazette: This month, more than four years after she became the first Canadian servicewoman to die in combat, Captain Nichola Goddard is back in the news. Goddard, who was deployed to Afghanistan in January 2006, was killed in a battle with the Taliban on May 17, 2006, two weeks after her 26th birthday. Before she died, she wrote to her husband about a culture of oppressive sexual harassment and assault at her camp in Afghanistan... Full story ...
CNN: War casualties in a Kandahar hospital are “hitting record highs,” figures that illustrate the “deteriorating security situation in southern Afghanistan, the International Committee for the Red Cross said on Tuesday. Mirwais Regional Hospital had nearly 1,000 new patients with weapon-related injuries. Full story ...
Calgary Herald: An outspoken critic of NATO and the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, as well as that country's youngest woman elected to parliament, was in Calgary on the weekend, appealing for Canadians to open their minds and support democracy in the war-torn nation. Malalai Joya was invited to speak at the University of Calgary on Sunday by the Afghan Canadian Students’ Association. Full story ...
AFP: Afghanistan’s election watchdog confirmed Sunday that more than 170 candidates who stood for parliament, including 25 current lawmakers, have been accused of electoral fraud. The Electoral Complaints Commission (EEC) said they have registered 4,149 complaints since polling day on September 18. More than half the complaints have been given top priority and if proven, could affect the final results. Full story ...
The Sydney Morning Herald: AUSTRALIAN officers are training Afghan police who are corrupt, obtain money from the Afghan drug trade and are often sexually abused or sexual abusers, a new report says. The report, by the non-government organisation The Liaison Office in Afghanistan, comes as the Home Affairs Minister, Brendan O'Connor, and the Federal Police Commissioner, Tony Negus... Full story ...
PAN: Over 60 percent of Afghans suffered from mental health problems and stress due to the decades of war, poverty, political vulnerability and poor health facilities, the health minister said on Sunday. Speaking at a ceremony marking the World Mental Health Day, Dr Suraya Dalil said 'major steps' had been taken to improve the health sector, but added those measures were still insufficient and there was a need for doing more. Full story ...
HeraldNet: U.S. military suicides have claimed more lives than combat-related deaths in Afghanistan. This week marks the start of our 10th year there. It’s long past time to ask, “Why are we sending troubled soldiers back into combat?” We didn’t bat an eye when Saddam Hussein was still spooking us. We didn’t care when the VA funding was cut at the same time we wanted to throw our youth into battle with our president’s enemy. Full story ...
The Guardian: The two Afghan warlords were referred to as “Mr White” and “Mr Pink”, the characters from Quentin Tarantino's movie Reservoir Dogs. They were well named, every bit as ruthless and bloody as their namesakes in the 1992 film. Their activities are documented at length in a US Senate committee report, published last night, that provides a rare glimpse into the world of private security companies operating in Afghanistan. Full story ...
BBC News: Heavy US reliance on private security in Afghanistan has helped to line the pockets of the Taliban, a US Senate report says. The study by the Senate Armed Services Committee says this is because contractors often fail to vet local recruits and end up hiring warlords. The report demands "immediate and aggressive steps" to improve the vetting and oversight process. Full story ...
PTI: Pakistan's ISI is pushing the Taliban to attack US troops and their allies based in Afghanistan, the media here has said, close on the heels of a White House report that slammed Islamabad for not doing enough to battle terrorists holed up near the Af-Pak border. Several similar charges against ISI have been made in the past but 'The Wall Street Journal' suggested that this one was the "strongest yet"... Full story ...
Washington Square News: Peace activists held an anti-war press conference at the CUNY Graduate Center yesterday, marking the ninth anniversary of the U.S.-NATO invasion of Afghanistan. The group of veterans, community groups and global justice organizations said U.S. military presence in Afghanistan did not benefit anyone. Full story ...
AFP: The Afghan and US governments have recently made contact with insurgent group the Haqqani network, one of the most feared foes of NATO forces in Afghanistan, a British paper reported Thursday. The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai took part in direct talks with senior members of the Haqqani group over the summer, said the Guardian daily, citing Pakistani and Arab sources. Full story ...
The Washington Post: Taliban representatives and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai have begun secret, high-level talks over a negotiated end to the war, according to Afghan and Arab sources. The talks follow inconclusive meetings, hosted by Saudi Arabia, that ended more than a year ago. While emphasizing the preliminary nature of the current discussions, the sources said... Full story ...
The Canadian Press: Malalai Joya, a rights activist and former Afghan MP, says U.S. President Barack Obama's policies in Afghanistan are as bad as those of his predecessor, George W. Bush. She says Obama's surge of troops into her country has made things worse for ordinary Afghans. Joya says Canada has been following the wrong policy for nine years, going along with what she calls American war crimes. Full story ...
CNN: Authorities in southwestern Afghanistan have seized 19 tons of explosive devices that had been transferred across the border from Iran, police said. Nimruz Police Chief Abdul Jabar Purdel said a suspect was detained. Nimruz province, in Afghanistan's southwestern corner, borders Iran and Pakistan. Full story ...
Xinhua: "Like the past decades, war once again forced me to leave everything behind and migrate to safer place in Kandahar city," Hamidullah, a 22-year- old from Arghandab district, whispered. Hamidullah, who like many Afghans used only one name is one of hundreds of war-weary villagers who left his home in Arghandab, southern Kandahar province... Full story ...
CNN: Nine children were among 10 people killed Tuesday when explosions rocked a residential area near the city of Kandahar, an Afghan government official said. Zalmai Ayoubi, spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor's office, said 25 people also were injured, including children and four police. Full story ...
Reuters: At least three civilians were killed along with 14 insurgents in a NATO air strike targeting a senior Taliban commander in southern Helmand province, Afghan authorities said on Monday. The raid comes only a day after another air strike by foreign forces targeting insurgents in Helmand which Afghan police said killed civilians. Full story ...
Le Monde diplomatique: On 7 October 2001, the US-led invasion of Afghanistan began. Barely a month later, Kabul fell to the Northern Alliance. It was, it seemed to observers at the time, a short and relatively painless conflict. A new type of war that relied on using proxy local militia commanders and the power of the American air force appeared to have been fought with ease. Full story ...
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