Afghanistan's Forests A Casualty Of Timber Smuggling
Despite Afghanistan's fierce winter, it's rare to find a house with insulation or a modern heating system. So Afghans rely on bukharis, stoves that look like an oil drum with a big rusty pipe growing...
View ArticleAfghanistan, Pakistan Struggle To Find Common Ground
Much has changed since last November, when Afghans were praising Pakistan for saying it would no longer support the Taliban and would instead work for peace."We believe that relations between the two...
View ArticleYoung Staffer's Death Binds U.S. Embassy, Journalists
Death comes with the territory when you work in conflict zones. On sometimes a daily basis, those of us who have worked in Iraq and Afghanistan in particular have filed stories with headlines like,...
View ArticleTaliban Says It Will Begin Spring Offensive Sunday
The Taliban will launch their annual spring offensive on Sun., April 28, the group said Saturday.In a press release, the Taliban said that the offensive will target "America, NATO and their backers for...
View ArticleFor Afghan Policewomen, Danger Often Comes From Colleagues
It seems almost trivial at first: the latest Human Rights Watch report on Afghanistan says female police officers need their own toilets. Sure, who's going to argue with that. But why is it a big...
View ArticleSecret Cash To Afghan Leader: Corruption Or Just Foreign Aid?
After a report inThe New York Times this week, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has acknowledged that the CIA has been secretly delivering bags of money to his office since the beginning of the war...
View ArticleAfghans Confront Senstive Issue Of Ethnicity
In Afghanistan, where most people are illiterate and live in areas without paved roads or regular electricity, a state-of-the-art smart-chip ID card may seem extravagant. But the government believes it...
View ArticleHeavy Metal In Kabul? It's The Music, Not The Munitions
When 23-year-old Solomon "Sully" Omar felt the music scene in his native Denver wasn't giving him what he was looking for, he made a radical move.
View ArticleU.S. Hands Over Nation-Building Projects To Afghans
On a sunny spring day in eastern Afghanistan's Paktia province, Afghan officials and U.S. troops and civilians gather inside the ancient mud fort in the center of Forward Operating Base Gardez. They're...
View ArticleAfghan Mineral Treasures Stay Buried, Hostages To Uncertainty
For years, reports have suggested that Afghanistan is sitting on massive deposits of copper, gold, iron and rare earth minerals valued up to $3 trillion. This provides hope for a future economy that...
View ArticleAfghans With Disabilities Fight For The Right To Rights
Climbing the rickety metal staircase is precarious enough if you aren't on crutches, but it's simply dangerous if you are. At the top is the office of Janbazan-e-Mayhan, one of many social councils for...
View ArticleKabul Postcard: Newly Paved Sidewalks, A Lion On The Roof
I've just returned to Kabul after a month out of the country. In a place where it sometimes feels like nothing changes, a lot has changed.First, a few oddities. An Afghan businessman on my street...
View ArticleWith A New Emir, Will Qatar Keep Its Outsized Role?
Qatar's capital, Doha, is a post-modern city rising like a mirage out of the hot sands of the Arabian Desert. The ever-growing skyscrapers are stunning, and in some cases, head-scratching works of...
View ArticleDespite Repeated Tries, Afghan Peace Efforts Still Sputter
The U.S. has been pushing the Taliban and the Afghan government to find a political solution for the past year and a half. But every time it seems the parties are close to starting peace talks, a new...
View ArticleDespite Many Threats, Afghan TV Satire Mocks The Powerful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqpYgTDV8aU
View ArticleAn Afghan Minister Fires Back At Impeachment Attempt
If you think it's tough being a Cabinet secretary in the U.S., having to deal with the demands of a fiercely partisan Congress and testify a few times a year, try being the Afghan interior minister."I...
View ArticleRegimental Combat Team 7 Rolls Up Its Flag In Afghanistan
At the peak of fighting in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, there were 20,000 Marines battling the Taliban. Now there are 8,000 — and more are heading home every month.Among the latest to pack up was...
View ArticleIn Kabul, A Juggling Act That Offers Joy For Afghan Kids
Morning traffic in Kabul can be punishing enough as it is. But on a recent day, there's an extra element clogging up the streets, a scene you don't see on a typical day in the Afghan capital.It's a...
View ArticleFor Pakistan And Afghanistan, Soccer As Reconciliation
Afghanistan and Pakistan are better known for their verbal fights and occasional border clashes, but for the first time since 1976, they battled on a soccer field in Kabul.Some 6,000 rabid Afghan fans...
View ArticleHow To Build An Afghan Army, In A Million Difficult Steps
It's 8 a.m. on a recent day at Forward Operating Base Nolay, a small Marine outpost in Taliban-infested Sangin District of southern Afghanistan's Helmand province. The Marines are in the process of...
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