ABC News: Sexual slavery involving boys as young as 10 is being condoned and in many cases protected by authorities in northern Afganistan. Afgan journalist Najibullah Quraishi has filmed police attending a party where a young boy is the “entertainment”. The police shown on the video include one officer from the youth crime squad....
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Archive for May, 2010
The Warlord’s Tune: Afghanistan’s war on children
Kabul Bank’s Sherkhan Farnood feeds crony capitalism in Afghanistan
The Washington Post: Afganistan’s biggest private bank — founded by the Islamic nation’s only world-class poker player — celebrated its fifth year in business last summer …. Less publicly, Kabul Bank’s boss has been handing out far bigger prizes to his country’s U.S.-backed ruling elite: multimillion-dollar loans for the purchase of luxury villas in...
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Afghans call for Nato to leave after airstrike kills 27 civilians
The Times: Relatives of 27 people killed when Nato aircraft bombed a civilian convoy in southern Afganistan have demanded that foreign forces leave the country. Afgan officials said that at least four women and a child were among the dead. Twelve other civilians were wounded when three minibuses were attacked on Sunday in a...
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UN: 346 Afghan children killed in 2009, more than half by NATO
DPA: The United Nations said Wednesday that 346 children were killed in Afganistan last year, more than half of them by NATO forces, mostly in airstrikes. “In 2009, 346 children were killed,” Radhika Coomaraswamy, the special representative of the UN secretary general for children and armed conflict, said in Kabul after a seven-day visit...
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Diplomats angry at Karzai election move to take control of a key election watchdog
AFP: Moves by the Afgan president to take control of a key election watchdog have dismayed diplomats and analysts who said today there is now even less chance that future polls will be free and fair. The president Hamid Karzai has changed a law to give himself control of the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC),...
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Officials puzzle over millions of dollars leaving Afghanistan by plane for Dubai
The Washington Post: A blizzard of bank notes is flying out of Afganistan — often in full view of customs officers at the Kabul airport — as part of a cash exodus that is confounding U.S. officials and raising concerns about the money’s origin. The cash, estimated to total well over $1 billion a...
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Kabul bombings and gun battles leave 17 dead
AP: Suicide bombers mounted attacks in the heart of Kabul today, triggering a series of explosions and gun battles that killed at least 17 people, including Indian government officials. The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying five suicide bombers conducted the early-morning attacks on two buildings in an area that is home to small residential hotels...
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Afghanistan worlords’ unwelcome return
The Australian: Hekmatyar is being feted with offers that reportedly include ministries and governorships for his party, Hezb-e-Islami, in a future Afgan regime. The devils with whom Kabul and Washington must now deal are largely of America’s own making, assisted by its long-time ally, Pakistan. During the US-backed jihad against the Soviets in Afganistan,...
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