Full Coverage: Afghanistan

30.06.2006 Violence in Afghanistan is now at its worst level since the Taliban's ouster in 2001, and civilians have increasingly become caught in the the cross-fire between Taliban insurgents and coalition forces, reports a UN news service.

28.06.2006 Afghanistan, the center of gravity in the post-9/11 war on terrorism is unraveling. A massive opium trade, a dysfunctional central government, and rampant corruption at all levels of authority have led to a resurgence of organized Taliban militant forces, says the Asia America Initiative.

27.06.2006 Five years after Western countries promised Afghans to rebuild their country, Afghanistan is on the brink, facing its worst crisis since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, says Ahmed Rashid.

27.06.2006 When Raazia Baloch, a mother of four with a 1,000-watt smile, was elected to Helmand's provincial assembly in October, local authorities congratulated her with an unusual present - a Kalashnikov rifle.

21.06.2006 The Afghan government is accused of "absolutely outrageous" behaviour for trying to impose censorship and self-censorship in media coverage of the security situation and the presence of foreign troops.

19.06.2006 Unable to win on the battlefield, the Taliban are trying to undo one of the biggest changes initiated by the Kabul government in the past four years: the resumption of education for girls, which the Taliban outlawed soon after taking power in 1996.

01.06.2006 The Pakistani government has proposed a three-year plan to gradually close all Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan. Some of these camps are a quarter of a century old and still house many who fled the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.