31 March 2010

Displacement Fears Ahead of Kandahar Operation, IRIN News, 30 March 2010

EXCERPT: "Mir Ahmad has decided to leave for Pakistan ahead of a much-heralded pro-government Afghan and foreign forces offensive against Taliban insurgents in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. 'I want to save my family no matter how difficult life could be in Pakistan,' Ahmad told IRIN, adding that he was a refugee in Pakistan during the Soviet...

Read the post »

31 March 2010

Afghan Bomb Aims at Anti-Opium Aid, The New York Times, 31 March 2010

EXCERPT: "At least 13 Afghans were killed on Wednesday morning when a bomb exploded at a market in an attack aimed at a NATO-backed program to reduce opium cultivation in the restive southern province of Helmand, local authorities said. Most of the victims were farmers and other Afghans lined up to receive fertilizer and seeds from the NATO-backed Food Zone program,...

Read the post »

31 March 2010

Human Rights Abuses Contributing to Increased Poverty, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), 31 March 2010

EXCERPT: "Patronage, corruption, impunity and over-emphasis on short-term security issues rather than targeted long-term development are exacerbating the already dire poverty affecting more than two-thirds of all Afghans, according to a report published Tuesday by the office of the UN High Commissioner...

Read the post »

31 March 2010

 Afghanistan Leads in Hashish Production, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 31 March 2010

EXCERPT: "Afghanistan, the world's biggest producer of opium, is also a major producer of cannabis. These are the findings of the Afghanistan Cannabis Survey [pdf], the first ever UNODC report on cannabis in Afghanistan, which was released today. The Survey estimates that between 10,000 and 24,000 ha of cannabis plant...

Read the post »