Washington Post, 29 April 2014 A protrait of Haji Gulalai who, writes the daily, “had run Afghan intelligence operations in Kandahar after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 and later served as head of the spy service’s detention and interrogation branch. After 2009, his whereabouts were unknown”.
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Pajhwok News Agency, 24 April 2014 Another story about the mining hazard, will all ingredients: weak government and insurgents’ influence.
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Washington Post, 9 April 2014 "As the U.S. military withdraws from Afghanistan, it is leaving behind a deadly legacy: about 800 square miles of land littered with undetonated grenades, rockets and mortar shells. The military has vacated scores of firing ranges pocked with the explosives. Dozens of children have been killed or wounded as they have […]
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Harper's Magazine (blog), 7 April 2014 Repiortage from Matt Aikins and Anand Gopal's courageous E-Day trip into Wardak. "At the far limit of Afghan government control", they found a ghost polling station, at the village school of Ambu Khak, protected by a "US-backed" militia. "A supervisor of the Wardak branch of an independent election-monitoring organization […]
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Le Point, 3 April 2014 Emmanuel Derville portraits the presidential candidate (in French).
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IWPR, 2 April 2014 "In one district of Afghanistan where a popular public uprising succeeded in ejecting the Taleban, people have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into preparations for the upcoming elections. The last time elections were held in Andar district in the southern province of Ghazni, just three ballots were cast. But the long lines of […]
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IWPR, 24 March 2014 Most weddings are held without music again in many parts of Nangrahar province, reports Kabul-based IWPR, due to influence of the Taleban. Musicians struggle to survive and their profession is in danger again: as one musician relates: "Three years ago, we would go out to weddings in the districts. There were […]
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Reuters, 27 March 2014 Growing violence before the elections despite doubling of security forces ahead of the elections, a rift in the Karzai family with one leading member campaigning for Ashraf Ghani and a remarkable quote from a tribal leader: "People in Kandahar are tired of exclusive rule by the president's brothers, while other tribes have […]
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Pajhwok Afghan News, 23 March 2014 Interesting survey by the Kabul-based news agency of 307 of the sitting 420 provincial council members on which presiedential candidate they support. There, Ghani (15.4%) was slightly the frontrunner, followed by Dr Abdullah (14.5%) and Rassul (12.1%). The three together scored 64.1 percent. The others followed way behind: Sayyaf (5.2%); Sherzai […]
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BBC, 23 March 2014 The story of Abdul Ahad Momand, the first Afghan cosmonaut who became a deputy aviation minister under President Najibullah. He fled the country when that regime collapsed and turned into an accountant in Germany. Now, he has returned to his country of origin for the first time and found out that […]
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Washington Post, 22 March 2014 The US daily says Russia is coming back with investments to Afghanistan. It looks at the Kabul prefabricated hosusing factory, once build by the Soviets, where for the first time after 25 years material from Russia arrived and at its main 'product', the Mikrorayons in Kabul. It quotes an Afghan general […]
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NPR, 18 March 2014 Excelölent photo-text essay on the life of displaced Afghan in a camp in an old textile mill, Nasaji-ye Bagrami, outside Kabul.
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