EXCLUSIVE: Taliban uses Afghan fear to fight surge

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Madrassa seeks to unite Afghans

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Situated along the dusty outskirts of Helmand's capital, the newly built madrassa sits like an island between opposing armadas.

Taliban kill Afghan students, burn schools

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Taliban and other militant groups are forcing schools to close across Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, assassinating teachers and students and destroying school buildings, educators and government officials say.

Civilians bear brunt of Afghan war

Desperate for security, they're dying or becoming beggars

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Mohammed Zahair stands passively outside the offices of the Red Crescent as a throng of Afghans seeking help pushes frantically toward the compound's black metal gates.

Democracy slow to come to Afghan women

Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009

Khadija Ahmadi was the only woman on the 13-person radio station staff.

Poppy fields turn to saffron

Spice more profitable than opium plants

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009

The Afghan government, international aid groups and private businesses have been distributing saffron bulbs to farmers in what appears to be an increasingly successful effort to persuade them to give up cultivating opium poppies.

Afghan maternal mortality rate high

Doctors cite lack of facilities

Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008

Afghanistan's struggle to provide basic human services underscores the fragility of a government also facing terrorism, drug trafficking and insurgency.

War-torn land also faces ruin of drought

7 arid years causing hope to evaporate

Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008

ARGU, Afghanistan

Pakistan quake victims wait years for aid

Many homeless for third winter

Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan | Three years after a life-shattering earthquake ripped across a swath of northern Pakistan, thousands of citizens are preparing to spend their third winter shivering in tents and other makeshift shelters.

Bus passengers defy Taliban on road to renewal

Monday, Oct. 6, 2008

The mood inside the bus is grave and doubtful. The passengers have come with suitcases, cardboard boxes, cloth bundles and flasks of green tea.