The Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) is an independent research organization headquartered in Kabul. AREU's mission is to conduct high-quality research that informs and influences policy and practice. Read Newsletter of Number 17, April 2008.

During the Taliban regime only one government control radio station operated for conveying religious message. Television and Internet were banned. Today Afghanistan’s’ media are lauded as a development success story in light of the obstacles and challenges the country faced after the Taliban regime was defected in 2001. Afghanistan looked as if it managed to establish a relatively free flow of information and a number of solid media outlets capable of informing its people.

The BBC Trust released its business performance Annual Report which included Afghanistan audience measurement research commissioned from D3. Conducted for the BBC World Service, the research reports the current state of Afghanistan’s broadcast media market and the position of the BBC World Service’s programming in it. General demographics for the market are also detailed. The full Annual Report is available here and the Afghanistan report is below. Source: D3 Systems

"Afghanistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. UNESCO (2003) defines literacy as the ability to understand, interpret and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. A 2000 UNICEF report estimated literary rates in rural areas to be 26% of men and 3% of women. In March 2004, more than 5 million students were enrolled in schools from the first to the twelfth grade in which 35% were girls. The number, however, differs from one region to another. more...

"This paper presents a research proposal to investigate the diffusion of democracy in one of conservative areas of the world, Afghanistan. It focuses on the large turnout of women in the general presidential election of 2004 in Southeast, Afghanistan. In this paper, it is assumed that the unique social structure, particularly the family setup, has influenced the diffusion process and to some extent caused the unexpected 47.5% women voters turnout. The paper also examines how and where women obta more...

Touted as "the single-largest, most comprehensive public opinion poll ever conducted in Afghanistan," this survey by Asia Foundaiton reflects perceptions of security, democracy, poppy cultivation, the media, the economy, the roles of Islam and women in society, the parliamentary elections, as well as attitudes towards governing institutions. The methodology employed is random sampling and in-person interviews with 6,226 men and women, 18 years of age and above, of various ethnic backgrounds and more...

Mosaic, an independant Media produced by Link TV, features selections from daily TV news programs produced by national broadcasters throughout the Middle East. The news reports are presented unedited and translated, when necessary, into English. See also, Mosaic Intelligence Report on Google Video.

Mosaic includes television news broadcasts from selected national and regional entities listed on the right. Some of the broadcasters are state controlled and others are private networks, often aff more...

This is a list of attacks on the press in Afghanistan. The information was compiled by Committee to Protect Journalists

Global Voices Online is a non-profit global citizens’ media project, sponsored by and launched from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School.

A growing number of bloggers around the world are emerging as “bridge bloggers:” people who are talking about their country or region to a global audience. Global Voices is your guide to the most interesting conversations, information, and ideas appearing around the world on various forms of participatory media such a more...

The winner is Afghanistan’s main privately-owned TV station, Tolo TV. It was founded by an Afghan-Australian media group, Moby Capital Partners, and broadcasts very independent news programmes (and also music) that contrast with the dry style of the government TV station. Since Tolo’s October 2004 launch, the religious authorities have called its programmes “immoral and anti-Islamic” and are pressing very hard for the station to be banned. Despite these threats, Tolo TV continues and has more...