Category: Global

The General Accounting Office (GAO) recently issued a report stating that while US humanitarian and short-term assistance benefited Afghanistan in fiscal years 2002 and 2003, longer-term reconstruction projects achieved limited results due to late funding and lack of a comprehensive reconstruction strategy. The report, entitled “Afghanistan Reconstruction: Deteriorating Security and Limited Resources Have Impeded Progress; […]

Yesterday, gunmen killed an Afghan guard and 11 Chinese road workers as they slept in the Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan. The Associated Press reports that yesterday’s brutal attack was the deadliest on foreign civilians since the Taliban lost power. Four other Chinese workers who were injured in the attack are listed in stable condition. […]

After pressure from reformists in Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s party, the ban on women performers on television and radio that was imposed last Friday was lifted. Female entertainers had been declared un-Islamic in the Southeastern province by the deputy provincial governor of Nangarhar. The provincial government ordered state-run television in Jalalabad to stop broadcasting Afghan […]

Female performers in an Afghan province have been banned from performing on television and radio. According to Reuters, female entertainers have been declared un-Islamic in the Southeastern province. The provincial government, according to Radio Free Europe, ordered state-run television in Jalalabad to stop broadcasting Afghan women singer’s performances. Earlier this year, for the first time […]

The United Nations and the Afghan government recently warned that Afghanistan needs $27 billion over the next seven years to avoid going back to a state of chaos and lawlessness. However, at the Berlin donor conference for Afghanistan’s reconstruction, donor countries pledged only $8.2 billion over the next three years, reports BBC News. In addition, […]

The first post-Taliban elections in Afghanistan, which were scheduled to take place in June, have been postponed until September. According to BBC News, poor security has delayed voter registration, resulting in only 1.5 million of an estimated 10.5 million people being registered. According to the New York Times, more than 200 people have been killed […]

Female delegates of Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga won one of their major demands. The final draft of the constitution now states that all citizens of Afghanistan, both men and women, have equal rights under the law. According to IRIN News, a female delegate said, “This is one of the major demands of women and we hope […]

This week, delegates from all of Afghanistan’s 32 provinces are voting to select the 500 members of the loya jirga (general assembly) that will debate the country’s draft constitution. Despite the fact that there will be separate elections are being held for women, nomads, refugees, and minority groups, who have a limited number of seats […]

A United Nations aid worker was killed on Sunday in Ghazni by two men whom authorities believe are Taliban rebels. The 29-year-old Frenchwoman, Bettina Goislard, who was working for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was the first UN staff to be killed in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban two years ago. […]

The United Nations Security Council has given NATO approval to expand its peacekeeping mission beyond Kabul. Last month, the alliance planners had proposed an additional 2,000 to 10,000 troops. However, as Reuters reports, the resolution will have little immediate impact because currently there are only a few countries willing to commit troops needed for the […]

Leading women’s rights, human rights, and Afghan groups sent a letter to Congress today urging an increase in funding to adequately meet Afghanistan’s reconstruction needs. The letter raises concerns that Afghanistan’s reconstruction and security needs continue to be shortchanged. The groups are asking Congress to re-evaluate the current spending priorities due to the fact that […]

House Republicans called for a $1.7 billion cut in President Bush’s emergency supplemental request for the reconstruction funding for Iraq and only a $400 million increase in reconstruction aid for Afghanistan. The additional $400 million makes the $1.2 billion for Afghanistan’s reconstruction aid package only a little more than 1 percent of the $87 billion […]

Two schools for girls in northern Afghanistan and one in eastern Afghanistan were burned down by suspected Taliban insurgents. This brings the number of girls’ schools attacked in Afghanistan since last fall to over 19. Two tents that were used as schools in the Charar Bolak district in the Balkh province were set fire late […]

At yesterday’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the $87 billion supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) raised concerns about the $20 billion for Iraq’s reconstruction compared to the $800 million for Afghanistan’s. He questioned whether the United States should think about spending more money in Afghanistan than Iraq because Iraq and Afghanistan’s […]

At today’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the $87 billion supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) raised concerns about vulnerable populations in Afghanistan and Iraq, including women. She pointed to a Human Rights Watch Report and threats against girls going to school as examples of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. At […]