Afghanistan

Tribesmen in Pakistan’s tribal region bordering Afghanistan have promised not to shelter foreign militants.The assurance came as part of a deal signed by the government and local tribes in Bajaur agency. Unlike other controversial deals in the troubled Waziristan region nearby, this deal was with tribesmen not militants. The government …

In this exclusive report for the ‘IoS’, three members of the Taliban waging war on British troops in Afghanistan tell Chris Sands why they feel they have no choice but to take up arms against the ‘foreign invaders’ When Zahir Jan set out on the journey from his home in …

ROME // Italy’s strategy of negotiating the release of Taliban militants in exchange for an Italian hostage in Afghanistan has put Premier Romano Prodi under fire days before a crucial parliamentary vote on keeping the country’s troops in Afghanistan.The move has drawn the ire of conservative opponents – whose backing …

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says if the Congress does not approve additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by mid-April, without special conditions, the department will have to make cuts that could affect troop training and deployments.  VOA’s Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon. Secretary Gates began …

UNITED NATIONS, March 22: The United Nations drug Czar said on Wednesday that corruption must be stamped out and borders strengthened to run emerging Afghan drug cartels out of business, particularly in the new ‘Golden Triangle’ of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

Photo: IRIN Thousands of girls go to school in Kabul KABUL, 21 March 2007 (IRIN) – Schools in Afghanistan will open their doors to more than six million pupils at the start of the new academic year on 24 March – almost double the number of the past five years. …

Freed reporter tells of murder           Mastrogiacomo was met by his wife and children at Ciampino airport in Rome [AFP] Daniele Mastrogiacomo, the Italian journalist freed on Monday after being held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan, has described how he was forced to watch his chauffeur …

ndia is funding the construction and reconstruction of various power projects in Afghanistan. Some of these are: Construction of 220kV double circuit transmission line of 202 km from Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul and a 220/110/20kV substation in Kabul, Afghanistan, at an estimated cost of Rs 478 crore. It involves the construction …

Photo: IRIN Refugees arrive in Kabul in brightly coloured vehicles KABUL, 20 March 2007 (IRIN) – Afghan refugees living in Iran and Pakistan will receive a six-fold increase in cash grants upon their return to Afghanistan, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). “We want to support the reintegration …

Photo: WFP Destruction and damage left by flooding KABUL, 20 March 2007 (IRIN) – More than 50 people have been killed and hundreds displaced because of heavy rainfall, avalanches and floods over the past few days in Afghanistan’s southern and south-western provinces, officials say. In Uruzgan, Helmand, Badghis and Ghor …