'Afghanistan has achieved a great deal over the past six years. Even with modest capacity, strong leadership in the ministries of Public Health, Education, and Rural Rehabilitation and Development has begun transforming the country. The Health Ministry, outsourcing through nongovernmental organizations, is supplying basic services and has cut mortality for young children by 26 percent. It is saving 80,000 lives a year. New schools offer classes for 6 million students, the highest level ever, and more...

'It has now been more that six years the start of the Afghan-Pakistan War, and serious questions still exist about the way in which the US, the UN, NATO/ISAF, and individual allied countries plan and analyze the war. The problems involved are partly disguised by the lack of transparency in official reporting. The Department of Defense has issued one meaningful unclassified report on progress in the war. ' View full report: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/ONIN-7GZREK/$file/CSIS_Jul08 more...

In “My Plan for Iraq” (Op-Ed, July 14), Senator Barack Obama correctly points out that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are resurgent and daily launch cross-border terrorist attacks in Afghanistan from safe sanctuaries in Pakistan.

The threat facing Afghanistan and global security is constant and dynamic. Taliban and Qaeda terrorists have increasingly become sophisticated in carrying out attacks against civilian and military targets, killing more than 30 American soldiers alone since early Jun more...

06/11/08 - The Korea Times - There are unfortunately already signs of popular frustration with the slow process of rebuilding ― which has had no meaningful impact on Afghans' daily lives yet. Moreover, civilian casualties frequently caused by the Taliban's cross-border terrorist attacks and coalition bombing are taking their heavy toll on Afghans.

We often hear about Afghanistan’s domestic, regional, and transnational challenges each posed by the country’s abject poverty, the Taliban’s cross-border insurgency, and terrorism and drug trafficking that collectively destabilize Afghanistan. But we seldom pay attention to the greatest challenge posed to Afghanistan’s nation-building process by a lack of aid resources coupled with weak strategic coordination of aid implementation by the international community. Some of these challenges more...

Despite the tremendous rebuilding needs of Afghanistan, the international community re-engaged in the country with a very light footprint from the very beginning.

According to a recent report by Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), for example, Afghanistan received just $57 per capita in foreign assistance, whilst Bosnia and East Timor received $679 and $233 per capita respectively, in the two years following international intervention. Per capita security assistance to Afghan more...

To reaffirm and further strengthen the resolve of two brotherly countries to bring sustainable peace in the region, the Afghan-Pak Joint Peace Jirga was convened in Kabul, Afghanistan from August 9 to August 12, 2007 as a result of an initiative taken by the presidents of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on September 27, 2006.

This was the first historic event of its kind that opened a channel of people-to-people dialogue in which around 700 people incl more...

The reform process of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan is ongoing. The Ministry is implementing a comprehensive reform program, its monthly publication of Stoory transparently provides updates each month on the reform process, which you will find on the left side of the Ministry’s website homepage

The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) was established as a registered society in New Delhi on November 11 1965. It is considered to be the premier strategic and security studies Think Tank in India. Over the years the Institute has enlarged its focus of research from Defence Studies to cover issues of National and International Security. The Institute is funded by the Indian Ministry of Defence, but functions autonomously. Apart from research, the Institute also provides training more...

(from EXECUTIVE SUMMARY) The current study is a follow-up to the 2005 baseline report In the Balance: Measuring Progress in Afghanistan. The report’s conclusions are based on 1,000 structured conversations that took place in half of Afghanistan’s provinces; 13 surveys, polls, and focus groups; 200 expert interviews; and the daily monitoring of 70 media sources and 182 organizations. Three of the report’s main findings are: Afghans are losing trust in their government because of an escalati more...