27 February 2009

'IDPs In Northwest Battle Cold, Diseases And Hunger', IRIN News, 26 February 2009

EXCERPT: "Freezing temperatures, hunger and sickness are unrelenting inside an old tent where Dadullah's family has been living near Qala-e-Nau, the capital of the northwestern Afghan province of Badghis. The family abandoned their home in Moqur District because of recurrent armed conflict between insurgent groups and pro-government forces and...

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27 February 2009

 'Afghanistan Still Largest Opium Poppy Producer: US', AFP, 27 February 2009

EXCERPT: "Afghanistan remained the largest opium poppy producer, which increasingly fuels the Islamist insurgency there, despite a 19-percent drop in cultivation last year, the US government said Friday. The report, which evaluates anti-drug efforts country by country, said: 'Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan declined in 2008 by 19 percent,...

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27 February 2009

'Up To 15,000 Taliban In Afghanistan: Minister', Herald Sun, 27 February 2009

EXCERPT: "Afghanistan's interior minister has revealed 10,000 to 15,000 Taliban are still fighting in the nation, offering a rare estimate on the insurgency which the new US administration has vowed to tackle. Minister Hanif Atmar dismissed the strength of the insurgents, saying that a wave of high-profile attacks showed the desperation of the...

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27 February 2009

'Protests Over "Mosque Raid"', Al Jazeera, 27 February 2009

EXCERPT: "Hundreds of protesters have clashed with police in southern Afghanistan amid claims international forces opened fire inside a mosque and copies of the Quran were ripped up. Rocks were thrown at police and at least three demonstrators were wounded by gunfire after about 500 people demonstrated in Ghazni on Friday, said Mohammad Zaman, the province's...

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