A woman poet well-known in literary circles in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat has died after being severely beaten by her husband, authorites report. Nadia Anjuman, 25, died late on Nov. 1, said provincial police chief Nisar Ahmad Paikar. “We… Read moreBeing a writer —or woman— still dangerous in Afghanistan
Baz Mohammad, a reputed Afghan drug kingpin who allegedly condoned selling heroin in the US in the name of jihad, has become the first person to be extradited from Afghanistan for prosecution. Upon his arraignment in Manhattan Oct. 24, Mohammad… Read moreAccused Afghan narco-jihadi extradited to NYC
Freedom’s on the march in Afghanistan—the freedom of fundamentalist fanatics to protect their faith from such blasphemous assaults as newspapers that condemn public stoning. From Reporters Without Borders, Oct. 24: Reporters Without Borders today called on President Hamid Karzai to… Read moreAfghanistan: newspaper editor gets prison for “blasphemy”
The US Army is probing claims that its troops in Afghanistan burned the bodies of two Taliban fighters they had killed and used the smoldering corpses to taunt insurgents. An Australian TV show broadcast images Oct. 19 of US soldiers… Read moreAfghanistan: dialectic of desecration
Freedom’s on the march in Afghanistan—freedom of opium kingpins to exploit the peasantry and make a killing. The opium economy has exploded since the country’s “liberation” from the Taliban, and efforts by the Anglo-American-led occupation forces to crack down on… Read moreAfghanistan: “narco-state under NATO’s nose”
From the UK’s New Statesman, Sept. 19, via the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA): As the country wakes up from 25 years of conflict and despair, a young female politician is taking on the warlords and winning…. Read moreWomen of Afghanistan find a leader
While 11 candidates (out of some 3,000) were barred from Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections for ties to warlordism, many veteran Mujahedeen commanders with pasts tained by human rights abuses—or even ethnic cleansing—seem to have slipped through the cracks. Reported Newsday Sept…. Read moreWarlords to maintain power in Afghan elections?
The polling stations closed last night in what was hailed as Afghanistan’s first free parliamentary elections since 1969. Overseeing the security of the elections in the capital was the special Kabul Multi-National Brigade (KMNB VIII), composed of units from 24… Read moreAfghan elections marred by violence, disenfranchisement of women
A military jury at Fort Bliss, TX, spared an Army reservist prison time but reduced his rank Aug. 18 for abuse of a detainee who later died at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Prosecutors had asked that Pfc. Willie V…. Read moreNo prison for soldier in Bagram abuse case
The campaign officially opened for Afghanistan’s first post-Taliban parliamentary race Aug. 17, even as violence continues to plague the country. Authorities are still not ruling out the possibility of an attack against a helicopter that crashed near Herat Aug. 17,… Read moreAfghanistan: election campaign opens amid violence, warlordism
A Taliban spokesman called Hakimi said guerillas destroyed a US military vehicle Aug. 9 in Ghazni Province. “The Americans suffered loss of life in the attack,” Hakimi said. US military sources acknowledged that a vehicle was destroyed by an improvised… Read moreAfghanistan: woman candidates threatened
Bad news for Nuristan, the remote and isolated region of Afghanistan’s central mountains, known until just over a century ago as Kafiristan (land of the infidels) because of the survival of the ancient Indo-European nature religion there. The region straddles… Read moreOsama bin Laden in Kafiristan?
