Mothers in Afghanistan feed their children drugs.

Dr. Reddy is marketing drugs in Russia.

Italy wants to send 1,200 troops more to Affy.

More on the secret prison in Bagram.

The Afghan NGO Safety Office, a nonprofit aid agency in Afghanistan has released the information that aid groups in Afghanistan should deal with the Taliban.

Michael Pritchard was killed in Affy, and his family believes that he may have been shot by the military.

US missile strikes kill nine in Pakistan.

International Media

The union of the Slovenian military has formally objected to being sent to the war in Afghanistan, fearing that it will be considered a peacekeeping operation no longer, and it is illegal, in a strenuous letter to the president of their country.

Press TV is reporting that a Polish soldier has been killed in the war in Afghanistan.

The Local has the story of a Swedish filmmaker that was shot while filming in Afghanistan this week.

Babies in Afghanistan are born at a terribly low birthweight, and many have extreme deformities, report RAWA.

Coverage of the Aafia Siddiqui trial here.

North American and Antipodean (NZ and Australia) Media

Outside the wire in Afghanistan, write two staff reporters at the Burlington Free Press.

Kandahar roulette with a nine millimetre, writes Rajiv Srinivasan in the New York Times' At War blog.

This is a wonderful tale about Afghanistan and how people with disabilities are treated in the country. Read it here.

The St. John's Telegram in Newfoundland is one of many outlets reporting that General Petraeus is supporting a plan to reach out to the Taliban.

CNN gives us the astonishing revelation that the soldiers alleged in the Afghan killing team implicated themselves on tape.

Another CNN story examines plans for a railway in Afghanistan.

The Colorado Gazette has this story, from the Associated Press, about NATO moving into Pakistan.

In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the chief of Homeland Security calls a plan to monitor various groups in America, including animal rights and gay rights groups, a mistake.

A Pakistani minister resigned after criticizing the army, in this report carried in Wisconsin's Capital Times.

A drone strike killed four people in Pakistan last night, report Agence France Presse.

Guam is grieving an Afghan war death, record ABN news.

Charlotte, North Carolina's Observer has a breaking news update about Pakistan's response to the attacks.

The Idaho Statesman leads with the news that a mistrial was declared in the Blackwater trial about the Afghans that were killed, and that the jury was deadlocked.

Idaho's Boise Weekly reports on Project Censored, saying that one of the most underreported stories in 2009-2010 are the covert activities of Blackwater in Pakistan - and that they are apparently running predator drones over the border whose strikes are unknown to the media.

In Helena, Montana, the Independent Record has two interesting, previously unmentioned stories, this one about Pakistani angst in the wake of Aafia Siddiqui, and this one about the three reporters in the country that were detained being released by NATO.

Did 9/11 really change everything, New Zealanders ask, in this front page link at the nation's scoop.co.nz.

Mark Dodd and Jeremy Kelly report on the court martial of Australians in their country for the civilian deaths of children; Australian media have been asking their leaders about whether the rules of engagement should be changed.

NPR chronicles the widening dissent in the ranks of those who must put their reputations on the line to defend Afghanistan war decisions; the lawmakers and top White House officials.

The Atlantic runs Andrew Sullivan's chat with Joe Klein under the headline, Dial Back in Afghanistan, Please in which he describes how ordinary civilians that he has been meeting on the road can't relate to the reasons for the war.

Why are we even there, many here ask. Read the most recent story, published in the Star Tribune of St. Paul, Minnesota, where Americans express misgivings.

Here's an article in Rabble about Canadian war resisters. For "Kevin", who lives in Calgary, the big day is coming..

Carol Dance writes an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald on the Afghan war that is out today. Check it out here.

NATO helicopters violated Pakistani sovereignity yesterday, killing people in Pakistan, according to Reuters. Who will ask the critical question: Is America now at war with Pakistan, too?

Seven more people are killed in a US drone attack, carry Sify, the BBC, AFP...

Rallies are scheduled across the US, Australia and Canada to free Private Bradley Manning, the Wikileaks' Army insider, say Federal News Radio.

These Afghan prisoners came from areas so remote that they did not know how taps worked and had to be stopped from washing in the toilets, when they were detained.

A massive offensive works its way into Arghandab, near Kandahar, by NATO. The aim is to kill as many people that are are actively opposed to US occupation as possible, reports the New York Times.

Con Hallinan questions the US surge in Kandahar in this interesting piece in the Berkeley Daily Planet.

Radio Free Europe gives out radios to rural people in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan War Weekly, by Frank Brodhead. This is excellent.

And the FBI just raided a whack of antiwar activists in the midwest. We all know its a hotbed, but one wonders how many other anti-war folk in other parts of the country are organizing as well. Many activists have been threatened and warned.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has some riveting photographs in a gallery about Afghanistan's election.

Regrets about the war in Afghanistan? Who on earth wouldn't have them, say those who have actually been fighting the Taliban ; have a look if you get the chance.

More than half of all of the military officers randomly surveyed by the Air Force Times, an industry publication, would not vote Republican in the next election, and the majority favour a greater soft power approach in Afghanistan and in Third World disaster areas.

Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller inform in the Washington Post that CIA activities and assassination units in Pakistan and Afghanistan are far greater than previously thought, according to the new book out by Bob Woodward.

This Canadian woman's daughter died in Afghanistan in the Panjwaii District and she is openly questioning the point of the war, write the Toronto Star, who also interview the author of a book about the fallen soldier's life.

The Guardian reports that Britain is to send two more Tornado jets to Afghanistan, which are to be deployed for the next three months by the British Royal Air Force.

Code Pink front this open letter about John Stewart, to their readership, on their blog, in which they call for an end to America's wars.

Nine foreign troops are blown up in Kandahar, in a helicopter crash, report the South Asian Link, and a number of bystanders wounded.

Thirty-three people have died in bomb blasts yesterday in Afghanistan, including three foreign troops, as reported in an AP story in the Miami Herald.

Another bomb blows up in Afghanistan, killing forty-one.

Four killed in a drone attack in Pakistan, reveal Voice of America.

The jury in the Blackwater case is out.

The intense surge moves deep into Kandahar, report ABC News.

Christopher Ketcham has an opinion piece out today on rendition and the Afghan kill team.

Paul Jay of the Real News network also talks to embedded reporter Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times about the Afghan kill team.

A second journalist was detained in Afghanistan today, reports the Winnipeg Free Press, this time from Al Jazeera.

Three foreign troops were killed in Afghanistan this week, and two Taliban were captured.

One child was killed and 29 were injured in Afghanistan when a suicide bomber blew up in Balkh province.

Canadians gather to protest the Afghanistan war.

The US gives out kites in Afghanistan.

There are many recent, excellent written reviews of The Tillman Story movie, based on John Krakauer's book, out this month, and here is one of them by John Dillingham.

The Cost of War blog represents an interesting new site that has tirelessly researched the news, stories, and spin from America's war zones.

A film review of Essential Killing, about one Afghan that tried to get away.

Declan Walsh writes in the Guardian about the reaction in Pakistan to the Aafia Siddiqui case.

Angela Harper writes about how the return of Australian troops is an emotional event. The Australian Age has also reported that the federally driven national security committee is independently reconsidering its role, in addition to the parliamentary debate on the war that is expected to take place in the near future.

London's Tricycle Theater puts on a three night play about Afghanistan and brings it to Minneapolis, where the Star Tribune has given it a review.

Toronto folk get ready to head to the Stewart and Colbert rallies.

The Business Insider is the first in what will doubtless be a long list of publications to reveal that covert operations have been conducted by the Americans on the Pakistani side of the border.

The Daily Mail leads with the news that Ed Milliband of the Left has won leadership of the Labour Party in Britain.

UK's Guardian newspaper carries the most recent call from United Nations Rapporteur Philip Alston, who asserts that there should be a public inquiry into the deaths of Afghan civilians along the lines of Gaza.

The Seminal calls for an end to the Afghan war.

Wonkette calls Afghanistan, "America's favourite manmade disaster" and talks elections.

The US suppresses freedom of the press in Afghanistan, according to this audio clip by the Progressive, out today.

America want more recognition for aid, the Associated Press write in this story in the Miami Herald.

Katy Booth details in the Colorado Gazette that new license plates have been designed in Colorado for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

The Baltimore Sun have a story on the bomb threat hoax- a Canadian man was said by a caller to be carrying explosives on a flight to Pakistan, and Swedish police, where the plane was detained, have found that this wasn't the case.

The San Francisco Chronicle has Laura King's byline about attacks against the NATO base.

Today there is an interview out of Australia on philosophy in Afghanistan.

Also, nine Coalition forces were killed in a helicopter crash. NATO has said that they currently have no more information on what happened, but that there is no evidence of a firefight. It is believed that many of the dead are American, but the exact nationalities of each of the fallen are not known. The article also says that one American civilian and one Afghan were injured in the blast.

The Baltimore Sun editorializes that it might be wise to rethink and bring "our troops home as quickly as possible".

Further, last week, the Economist newsmagazine opined that the entire Afghan war is "a waste of time".

Another Taliban commander has been killed in a drone attack.

NATO's War

Radio Free Europe is saying that eight children have died overnight in northern Afghanistan due to fighting around the elections, an update on the six previously reported by other sources.

A drone strike has killed five people overnight in Afghanistan.

RAWA is noting that forty people were also injured at the elections.

Al Jazeera's Afghanistan correspondent Sue Turton explains the security situation in Kabul.

This article illuminates the reality on the ground during the election process in Afghanistan, and demystifies the stories emerging in the press. An extremely worthwhile read.

Seven people were just killed in eastern Afghanistan by NATO forces, according to CNN.

Eighty insurgents were killed by NATO elsewhere in the last twenty-four hours, and one family has had one person killed and eight members wounded in Southern Afghanistan.

NDTV has shared the news that a Sikh woman is running in the Afghan elections.

There has been a new delivery of aircraft to Afghan forces, reports Robert Leese of the ISAF mission.

One reporter that is embedded with a force in the Kunar mountains reports that they have killed over 200 insurgents during his tenure in the last while.

Politico's Laura Rozen updates us that ISAF has denied an Iranian report that seven ISAF soldiers crossed the Iranian border with Afghanistan and were detained in Iranian territory.

Over 1,100 people have been killed in non-Afghan drone attacks since 2008, write Zee news, including four people who were killed in a strike in Pakistan last night, according to a report by Agence France Presse.

The Hindustan Times documents that the number of total people killed as a result of the Afghan elections was eighty-nine.

The Canadian government is boosting aid for soldiers wounded in the Afghan war.


Marjorie Cohn editorializes about Bradley Manning, the Wikileaks whistleblower, who is currently being held in an American military prison.

A Japanese reporter adventures to cover stories and take pictures in Afghanistan, after previously having done the same in Iraq.

Georgia are debating their role in Afghanistan, sources in eastern Europe report.

116 people are dead and 180 are wounded in a conflict over water in rural Pakistan, says CNN.


NATO has updated its numbers to twenty-two people killed in election violence, and the bodies of three kidnapped election workers have been found in Afghanistan.

CTV reports that Canada's Security Intelligence Service, CSIS, interrogated fifty Afghans in the latter's own country, but has not admitted to mistreating them.

Frontier Post: Afghanistan

There is an updated and revised article from Los Angeles Times correspondent Laura King, giving her account of the Afghan elections here.

This report suggests that Russia will be discussing Afghanistan at the United Nations.

Bloomberg newspapers discusses Kabulbank's meltdown, stating that "unlike many institutions in Afghanistan, Kabulbank actually worked."

Today Marisa Taylor and Warren F. Strobel of McClatchy Newspapers shine a light on Blackwater and KBR's activities in Afghanistan

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has a leader on violence in Afghanistan's elections. They are citing ten people as the body count, which is less than sources previously mentioned.

Afghanilandia

There was a recent article in the Georgian Daily on Afghanistan that looked interesting. I can't find it online, but if I do I will post it here.

The Washington Post has a video, and an article out about the Winfield affair here in which Thomas Winfield reported that his platoon would go out and kill and dismember Afghan civilians as a game. The soldiers, after having killed a number of Afghans, are now being prosecuted.

An American airstrike kills seventy people in Afghanistan last night.

Drone strikes in Northwest Pakistan have stepped up hugely.

Julian Assange, the founder of wikileaks, has been completely acquitted of any charges of improper conduct in Sweden and is now free to leave. Mr. Assange is widely rumoured to be planning a release of documents to his website on the Iraq war.

Two French hostages in Afghanistan are in sound health.

The Afghan diaspora in Russia asks for help in voting in future elections in Afghanistan.

I just came across this article, about charitable donations to Afghanistan, whilst browsing the web.

A judge in America may review the drone attacks in Afghanistan.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that fourteen people were killed on Afghanistan's election day.

There are two new films out at the Toronto Film Festival about Afghanistan's neverending conflict, one from the Danes- the famed and long awaited Armadillo, and the other from a Polish director, a portrayal of a Taliban fighter who escapes from captivity and his fight to survive.

The Toronto Star's James Travers' writes on the Afghan detainee abuse affair.

Laura King writes in the Los Angeles Times about the Afghan election, adding that total numbers for how many people were killed is not known, and that one insurgent was killed as he was about to attack a polling station.

The United States of America's forces are currently pushing a massive offensive into rural Kandahar, reveal the Washington Post.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports an engagement between Afghan protestors and Australian forces here.