Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who plans to return home on Thursday despite being asked by General Musharraf to delay it by a few days, says she envisages building “common markets” in South Asia from the “mountain peaks of Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal” as part of a strategy to push forward the [...]

Afghanistan - Hedayatullah Ahmad Zai slaps his hand against one of the ancient mud brick walls that separate this historic neighbourhood from the rest of Kabul, a bustling city now despite the remnants of war.
“There was garbage up to here,” he says, shaking his head. “We hauled it out for weeks. And there were people [...]

The British government plans to improve security across its embassy network and provide for a new embassy in Kabul under a 183 million capital investment programme.
An additional funding of 37 million a year by 2010-11 will be used to support London’s counter-radicalisation programmes, addressing weakness in governance, education, civil society, human rights and rule of [...]

The Bookseller of Kabul has a new literary ambition: to take a bus across the rubble-strewn roads of his war-torn homeland offering a “mobile” bookshop service to those living in the most remote regions.
Shah Muhammad Rais gained fame after the Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad wrote a bestselling novel, The Bookseller of Kabul, on his life [...]

The Bamyan Disaster Management Committee said food crops in Punjab and Waras were extensively damaged by recent floods and asked for over 22,000 tonnes of food items for the vulnerable people. Muhammad Ishaq Poya, member of the provincial council and the Disaster Management Committee told Pajhwok Afghan News on Tuesday more than 50 percent of [...]

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary today called for the adoption of an ambitious international reconstruction plan for Afghanistan during his address to the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate.
“No country stands to gain as much as Pakistan from peace and stability in Afghanistan,” said Riaz Mohammad Khan, voicing support for “every initiative” that could help with rebuilding and [...]

Since major repatriation operations to Afghanistan resumed in 2002, more than 4.8 million Afghans have returned to their country, mostly from Pakistan and Iran. Another half million internally displaced people have gone back home. However, approximately 3.5 million Afghans still remain in the two neighbouring countries alone. Localised conflict continues to displace some communities within [...]

The Rural Rehabilitation & Development Minister HE Mohammad Ehsan Zia will inaugurate the work of a 20 bed hospital in Mer Bachakot District of Kabul. Inauguration ceremony take place tomorrow 9th Oct 07 on site at Mer Bache Kote District.
The construction of the hospital is an initiative of 37 community development councils who have unanimously [...]

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education (MoE) must devise and implement strategies to keep children in school, draw more teachers to rural areas, and fund and build more schools, or the significant gains in education since 2001 may be lost, a consortium of Afghan and international human rights, research and advocacy organizations said today.
While praising the MoE [...]

Germany has promised to increase its annual assistance for Afghanistan to 125 million euros next year.
Addressing a news conference here on Tuesday, German ambassador to Kabul Hans Ulrich Seidt said the assistance was 100 million euros a year earlier. However, it will be increased by 25 million next year.
He said his country had pledged one [...]