· October, 2007

Stories about Afghanistan from October, 2007

Afghanistan: Private Military Contractors

  31 October 2007

Afghanistan Watch quotes an online foreign policy daily World Politics Review, which has published a piece devoted to the private security contractors in Afghanistan. As reported, the media has generally interpreted the authorities’ actions to shut down the contractors as a “crackdown”, but apparently the truth is more complicated.

Afghanistan: NATO Leases Out?

  30 October 2007

Afghanistan Watch reports on the NAYO decision to lease cargo helicopters (perhaps, from Russia and Ukraine) because members of the alliance again refused to provide airlift out of their own military assets.

Afghanistan: Exports Go Up

25 October 2007

Afghanistan Watch reports that the country's exports, which are 10 times lower than imports, have shown the upward trend this year.

Afghanistan: Asia Foundation Survey

24 October 2007

Afghanistan Watch looks inside the Asia Foundation's latest survey of the Afghani people and notes that it paints a nuanced picture and provides some fascinating data on various issues: from support for traditional institutions to democracy and women’s rights.

Afghanistan: Countering the Narcotics

23 October 2007

Informed Comment Global Affairs continues its series of posts to analyze the main aspects of counter-narcotics policy in Afghanistan, in response to the recently published U.S. Counter-Narcotics Strategy for Afghanistan and the UNODC Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007.

Afghanistan: The View from Herat

22 October 2007

Informed Comment Global Affairs reports on the 17th meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization that has taken place in Herat last week, being focused on the issues of development and security.

Afghanistan:Freedom of press in danger

  21 October 2007

Baktash Syavash,blogger and journalist has interviewd[Fa]Tavab Nyazi, an Afghan journalist who was jailed for seven months.Yavab Nyazi was accused of collaborating with Taliban.The blogger writes that Nyazi was jailed illegally and no document was presented by officials to prove his links with Taliban.

Afghanistan:Father of Saffron

  14 October 2007

Safrang writes about a man who used to be a opium poppy growing farmer and then he shifted to grow saffron.The blogger says this man who is called “father of saffron” by government, helps other farmers to do the same thing.Safrang has published a photo of this saffron farmer.

Afghanistan:Four years old bride

  14 October 2007

Nasim Fekrat writes[Fa] about the story of a girl who was forced to get married at the age of four with a thirty years old man. The blogger adds that according to Hasht Sobh journal,this girl,after several years of being beaten up and tortured,could escape and now she lives in...

Afghanistan: Corruption, Beauty, and Hope for the Future

  4 October 2007

Afghan blogger Mohammad Fahim Khairy asks, is President Hamid Karzai out of touch? "On the night of the [suicide] attack, Karzai showed up on national television and announced “The attacker is definitely a foreigner because Afghans do not kill any Muslims in the month of Ramadan.” How easily Karzai dismisses the crimes of the so-called Muslim Taliban that millions of people have witnessed with their own eyes."