Latest Afghanistan News
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Protests halt debate over eliminating violence against women in Afghan parliament
A debate held by Afghanistan MPs to back up law to eliminate violence against women came to a standstill amid angry protests by traditionalists. A 2009 presidential decree has banned violence against women, child marriages and forced marriages but was not approved in the parliament, the BBC reports. According to the report, the speaker had to end the debate 15 minutes after the protests ...
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Afghan police officer killed in Taliban attack
A senior police official was killed in Afghanistan's Farah province when two Taliban militants opened fire on him, an official said Saturday. Ghani Khan, the police chief of Khak-e-Safid district, was visiting Charbagh area outside provincial capital Farah city Friday night. Khan was killed on the spot as two Taliban militants, riding a motorcycle, came across and sprayed bullets, reported ...
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Afghan Lawmakers Block Womens Rights Law
Afghanistan's parliament has delayed action on a measure aimed at protecting women's rights. Activists say the move Saturday is a blow to progress made in women's rights in the conservative Muslim country since the ousting of the Taliban from power. The Taliban observed strict Islamic rule that banned Afghan women from attending school or participating in most public activity. ...
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Pune hosts Afghan film festival
A three -day Afghan film festival was inaugurated here by the Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammand Abdali. Speaking on the occasion, theAfghan Ambassador appreciated the work of some . Bollywood actors of the fifties and sixties and expressed the need to revive old camaraderie with India. An Afghan filmmaker, Siddiq Barmak threw light on the difficulties, which they faced while ...
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Divisive womens law overlooked by Afghan Parliament
The country's Parliament failed to pass a law on Saturday banning violence against women. President Hamid Karzai approved the law by decree in 2009 and Parliament's endorsement was required. But a rift between conservative and more secular members of the assembly resulted in debate being deferred to a later date. Religious members objected to at least eight articles in the ...
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Fly a flag for Cody Army confirms Utah man died in Afghanistan explosion
Jim Towse, father of Cody Towse, talks about his son at his home in Elk Ridge Saturday, May 18, 2013. Cody Towse was standing near an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan when it went off. The military has been unable to locate ...
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Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on his 12th visit to India
While Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit is set to dominate headlines, the next few days could also be key for another troublesome part of India's neighbourhood: Afghanistan.With Afghan President Hamid Karzai visiting the country, Vice-President Hamid Ansari visiting Uzbekistan and newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif open to further talks, India's foreign service ...
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Endgame Afghanistan Talking to the Taliban
Kabul: The Taliban is the same group that preferred war with the United States over handing over its friends from the Al Qaeda. It is the same group that continues to haunt Afghans. So what has led to talks with the Taliban in the run-up to 2014, when Western troops will exit Afghanistan completely? It's a story that takes us back and forth between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and many diplomatic ...
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Utah County father waits for word on son missing in action in Afghanistan
Jim Towse, father of Cody Towse, talks about his son at his home in Elk Ridge Saturday, May 18, 2013. Cody Towse was standing near an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan when it went off. The military has been unable to locate ...
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Anger as Afghan MPs halt womens bill debate
Afghanistan Islamic fundamentalist politicians in Afghanistan have stopped a debate on whether to give parliamentary approval to a law protecting women against violence.Proceedings were brought to an end amid angry scenes when traditionalists demanded a repeal of the law.The Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law, which was passed by a presidential decree in 2009, is seen as a ...
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Afghan women’s rights suffer setback
The fierce opposition highlights how tenuous women's rights remain a dozen years after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime, whose strict interpretation of Islam once kept Afghan women virtual prisoners in their ...
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Afghanistans parliament fails to pass womens rights legislation
Women shout during a march to denounce violence against women in Kabul on September 24, 2012. Rashida Manjoo, the expert charged by the UN Human Rights Council with investigating and reporting on violence against women recently stated that "The failure of States to guarantee women's right to a life free from violence allows for a continuum of violence which can end in their ...
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Law to protect women in Afghanistan endangered
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan women, and sometimes even little girls, are sold or traded to pay family debts. So-called honor killings are a constant threat to women, especially in the country’s vast rural areas, where even talking to a man who is not a close relative can be perceived as a transgression punishable by death. Betrothals of girls as young as age 7 are not unknown; in some parts ...
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Head of Afghanistan Turkish Industrialists Businessmens Association was kidnapped…
KABUL - A Turkish businessman was kidnapped by armed assailants in Afghanistan late on Sunday.Sami Yavuz, head of Afghanistan Turkish Industrialists & Businessmen's Association, was kidnapped at around 11:40 p.m. on Sunday.Armed assailants forced 41-year-old Yavuz to get on a car, and kidnapped him in Kabul.Yavuz has been living in Kabul with his family for more than ten years.Afghan ...
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Report Obama Trims Afghan War Budget Request
The Reuters news agency quotes an unidentified White House aide as saying the president has decreased his request for funding the war in Afghanistan by 10 percent for the 2014 fiscal year budget. The report says the president reduced his original request from $88.5 billion to $79.4 billion. The White House issued a statement Friday saying the change was made to account for the drawdown of ...
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Afghan lawmakers block legislation protecting women’s rights
In this April, 2013 file photo, an Afghan woman peers through the the eye slit of her burqa as she waits to try on a new burqa in shop in the old town of Kabul, Afghanistan. Conservative religious lawmakers in Afghanistan blocked a law on May 18, 2013 that aims to protect women's freedoms, with some arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles or encourage women to have sex outside ...
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Afghan MPs stall on womens rights
The Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law, which was passed by a presidential decree in 2009, is seen as a benchmark piece of legislation marking progress since the fall of the Taliban regime nearly 12 years ago.But ratification by parliament was postponed after several MPs branded the bill as against Sharia law - the Islamic teachings drawn from the Koran, the Prophet Mohammad and ...
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Efforts to Strengthen Afghan Law on Women May Backfire
KABUL, Afghanistan ...
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Female politicians help block womens rights legislation in Afghanistan
Conservative religious politicians in Afghanistan blocked legislation today aimed at strengthening provisions for women's freedoms, arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles and encourage disobedience.The fierce opposition highlights how tenuous women's rights remain a dozen years after the ousting of the hard-line Taliban regime, whose strict interpretation of Islam once ...
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Afghan Police chief shot dead An official says motorcycle-riding gunmen have shot dead a police chief who led an anti-Taliban campaign in western Afghanistan in front of his house.
anti-Taliban campaign in western Afghanistan in front of his house. Abdul Ghani was leaving his driveway in his car when the two raced up and opened fire in Farah province. Provincial ...
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Police Officers Are Targets in Wave of Afghan Violence
KABUL, Afghanistan ...
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Endgame Afghanistan Indias worries
Kabul: Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai will be on a two-day visit to India starting Monday. He will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on enhancing strategic ties, security and developmental work in the run-up to next year's withdrawal of western troops. As Afghanistan braces for 2014, we travelled extensively in the AfPak region to find out whether the proposed end of ...
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Two Blasts Kill Dozens in Afghanistan
Kabul, May 18 (Prensa Latina) Two explosions in the eastern provinces of Khost and Paktika killed and injured dozens of people, police sources reported today. According to Head of Security in Khost province Mohammad Yagoub, a borderguard died and three were wounded by a blast in the eastern area of the capital, while six civilians were also injured. On the other hand, a blast killed a person and ...
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Afghanistan Blocks Law Protecting Women
Afghanistan's parliament has blocked a law banning violence against women in what is being seen as a serious blow to the progress of women's rights. President Hamid Karzai approved the legislation by decree in 2009 but the country's politicians were required to endorse it. However, a rift between conservative and more secular members of the assembly meant the debate was ...
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Afghan law to protect womens rights blocked by opponents
An Afghan MP has accused her conservative opponents of blocking a law to protect women's rights saying parts of it violate Islamic principles.The law was enacted in 2009 by presidential decree but Fawzia Koofi wanted to cement it with a parliamentary vote to prevent its future reversal.The law bans child marriage and the practice of selling and buying women to settle disputes. Kofi said the ...
Afghanistan Feature
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Why should American troops remain in Afghanistan?
Afghanistan is widely regarded, even by its own people, as a puppet state, and has little hope of breaking away from US influence in the foreseeable future, there is wide-spread resentment toward foreign troops, and increasingly loud calls in the states for a withdrawal of troops. But, like or not, these two countries have been tied together irrevocably, even before the war on terror.
Since the invasion of Afghanistan by allied forces in 2001, the country’s destiny has in many ways not been its own. Read more
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